Director of Library Information Technology

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library <www.library.illinois.edu> seeks a visionary leader for the position of Director of Library Information Technology who will be an advocate for library critical services.  The Director of IT serves as the head of the Office of Library Information Technology (IT), and leads efforts to provision the Library with the IT support and services needed to fulfill its mission.  The successful candidate will lead planning, testing, and implementing IT services to meet Library and campus strategic goals.

The Director of IT sets high expectations and realistic metrics that will deliver excellent service on a consistent basis. A key part of the Director’s role is ensuring robust services and cost-effective approaches that take appropriate advantage of campus shared services and cloud (including community cloud) options, balancing these strategies against the value offered by local implementations. The Director actively engages with faculty, staff, and units in the Library to identify needs and priorities.  The Director is also responsible for representing Library IT at the University and campus level, including with the campus IT governance structure, Technology Services, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Administrative Information Technology Services, and other college-level IT organizations. 

The University Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign values diversity of thought, perspective, experience and people, and is actively committed to a culture of inclusion and respect. We are dedicated to the practices of social justice, diversity, and equality, and strive to overcome historical and divisive biases in our society and embrace diverse points of view as assets to the fabric of our community. All positions will be called on to contribute to building this environment in the Library and throughout the campus community, and we encourage candidates to apply who share these values.

The Director reports to one of the Library’s Associate Deans and contributes to committees and working groups responsible for planning and evaluating the impact of IT services throughout the Library.  The position has direct reports from each of the major units within IT, and broader oversight of Library IT staff which currently comprises approximately 30 FTE. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

Specific duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provide leadership, management, and planning for IT services and infrastructure that support Library programs, services, and staff, and actively support a workplace culture that values and promotes collaboration, efficiency, flexibility, innovation, and service;

• Lead the development of Library information technology in support of the campus’ current and emerging needs and the campus mission of research, teaching and learning, and engagement;

• Responsible for delivering key projects and initiatives across multiple application and technology domains - ensures that projects are delivered on-time and on-budget.

• Work closely with allied units to provide technical leadership for the Library’s established and emerging digital library services and programs including 1) digitization and digital production services, 2) repositories and digital preservation, 3) information discovery and access, 4) publishing and scholarly communication, and 5) web applications;

• Foster professional development of staff to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing environment;

• Work with the Library Business Office to manage IT expenditures, including funds for personnel, equipment, software and services; oversee the procurement process for these;

• Work with the Office of Library Facilities on the planning and design of technology rich environments throughout Library facilities;

• Work with the Library and campus IT governance stakeholder groups, actively participating in IT committees and activities, seeking advice on Library IT programs and services, and representing the Library in setting campus IT strategic directions;

• Act as the primary point of contact for Library Faculty and Staff engaged in grants and research which have a major IT component, or which require significant IT support;

• Represent the Library in technology collaborations on campus, and through collaborations with regional and national partners.

Qualifications:

Required:

Bachelor’s degree

• Minimum 5 years of experience in a professional IT environment, with a minimum of 3 years of management experience

• Proven track record of successful budget management

• Demonstrated experience building collaborations around IT services

• Experience developing and successfully following through on strategic priorities in an IT environment

• Commitment to mentoring and support of staff professional development

• Professional written and oral communication skills.

Preferred:

• Advanced degree in information technology, computer science, or library and information science related discipline

• IT experience in a large academic setting

• Demonstrated experience supporting technology-integrated learning spaces

• Experience implementing or maintaining digital library infrastructure

• Experience managing enterprise-level integrated systems, such as library catalogs.

Environment:  The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library is a leader in the delivery of user services, and active programs in information, instructional, access, and scholarly services that help the Library to maintain its place at the intellectual heart of the campus. The Library also holds one of the preeminent research collections in the world, encompassing more than 13 million volumes and a total of more than 23 million items. The Library is committed to maintaining the strongest collections and service programs possible, and to engaging in research, development, and scholarly practice - all of which support the University's missions of teaching, research, and public engagement. The Library employs approximately 90 faculty members, and more than 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more information, see: http://www.library.illinois.edu/.

The University Library’s IT unit supports most of the technology-based systems in use at the Library. The unit provide many tools that enable the Library to play an active role in the research, scholarship, and learning activities of the University.  Over 30 IT professionals and additional hourly employees are organized into several groups to fulfill the unit’s mission, including Help Desk, which serves as the first point of contact for most technology related services; Workstation & Network Support, which is responsible for the installation, maintenance, and support of the Library networked computing hardware and software infrastructure; Infrastructure Management & Support, whose work includes managing server and storage systems and support of production systems; the Web Team, which facilitates the development, deployment, and maintenance of web services and applications; Scholarly Communication and Repository Services, which is responsible for providing programming and technical support for all components of the Library’s large-scale digital preservation management system and institutional repository; and affiliated groups like the Technology Prototyping Service and Grainger Digital Library Group.

Campus and Community: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a comprehensive and major public land-grant university (Doctoral/Research University-Extensive) that is ranked among the best in the world. Chartered in 1867, it provides undergraduate and graduate education in more than 150 fields of study, conducts theoretical and applied research, and provides public service to the state and the nation. It employs 3,000 faculty members who serve 31,000 undergraduates and 12,000 graduate and professional students; approximately 25% of faculty receives campus-wide recognition each year for excellence in teaching. More information about the campus is available at www.illinois.edu.  The University is located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, which have a combined population of 100,000 and are situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 120 miles west of Indianapolis, and 170 northeast of St. Louis. The University and its surrounding communities offer a cultural and recreational environment ideally suited to the work of a major research institution. For more information about the community, visit: http://illinois.edu/about/community/community.html or http://www.ccchamber.org/.

Salary and Rank: Salary commensurate with credentials and experience.

Terms of Appointment: Twelve-month appointment; 24 annual vacation days; 11 annual paid holidays; 12 annual sick-leave days (cumulative), plus an additional 13 sick-leave days (non-cumulative) available, if needed, each year; health insurance requiring a small co-payment is provided to employee (with the option to purchase coverage for spouse and dependents); required participation in State Universities Retirement System (SURS) (8% of annual salary is withheld and is refundable upon termination), with several options for participation in additional retirement plans; newly-hired employees are covered by the Medicare portion of Social Security and are subject to its deduction.

To Apply: To ensure full consideration, please complete your candidate profile at https://jobs.illinois.edu and upload a letter of interest, resume, contact information including email addresses for three professional references.  Applications not submitted through this website will not be considered. For questions, please call: 217-333-8169.

Deadline: In order to ensure full consideration we urge candidates to submit application materials on or before July 23, 2018