CAMPUS LIBRARIAN

GENERAL

1.The University of the West Indies, Open Campus serves the following English-speaking Caribbean countries:

2.The University began teaching in 1948 at Mona in Jamaica as a University College affiliated with the University of London, and became independent in 1962.  The University is now a dual mode institution offering teaching by distance education as well as face-to-face.  The University has campuses at Mona in Jamaica, St Augustine in Trinidad, and Cave Hill in Barbados.  It also has University Centres in the countries listed in the foregoing section.  The UWI on-campus student population is currently over 30,000 full-time equivalent students.

3.In a major initiative to grow our student population and service the widely dispersed needs of country partners, the University has launched the Open Campus, an entity that is built on the outreach services, including distance education and continuing studies, being offered throughout the Caribbean at present.  The current population of our distance and continuing education students is over 20,000 and it is hoped that this number will increase to over 40,000 Open Campus students by 2012. Open Campus currently utilises a wide variety of distance delivery methods, has 52 education centres in 16 different English speaking countries and a staff of almost 400 professionals to support our growing student population.

OPEN CAMPUS

4.The UWI Open Campus works with faculty on the three campuses, as well as with other tertiary institutions and development agencies throughout the Caribbean to design, develop and deliver quality programmes by distance and blended modes to meet the learning needs of the people of the Caribbean.  The Open Campus library will share library resources with the other campus based libraries to avoid duplication and reduce costs. 

5.    The office of the Campus Librarian may be located at any UWI site.  Some faculty and staff are currently located on the Mona campus in Jamaica, the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados, the St Augustine campus in Trinidad and Open Campus centres which exist in Non-Campus Countries and off-campus sites in campus territories.  These sites are managed by Heads of the Centres or Site Coordinators in collaborating institutions and a number of the larger sites have an on-site library assistant.

REQUIREMENTS

6.The successful candidate must possess a post-graduate degree in Library and /or Information Science  (Doctorate highly preferred).

7. The successful candidate must also demonstrate:

1. substantial managerial and administrative experience in positions of increasing responsibility in a university or research library
2. knowledge of emerging trends and issues in university libraries and related instructional/information technologies
3. a strong commitment to the educational role of the library and a clear understanding of open and flexible learning and in addition, the candidate must have
4. a distinguished record of contribution and service to the profession locally and internationally.

8.    The preferred candidate should also demonstrate:

1. ability to provide visionary and innovative leadership
2. excellent skills in budgeting, communication, interpersonal relations, management and planning
3. capacity to develop and implement innovative strategies to enhance services.

Experience with expansion/renovation projects would be an asset.

ACADEMIC LEVEL

9.    Senior Lecturer or Professor, depending on qualifications and experience.

WORK LOCATION

10.  Although the position of Open Campus Librarian may be physically located in any of the UWI Open Campus sites for administrative support, the job incumbent will be required to travel throughout the Caribbean as part of her/his job responsibilities.  Campus location will be negotiated with the successful candidate.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

11.  The job incumbent must be able to work in a virtual team environment.  The incumbent will live and work in one country and manage and collaborate with others located throughout the Caribbean.  The incumbent must be able to engage others in team meetings, developing ideas, and supervise the work of others using a variety of ICT and collaborative web tools. 

REPORTING

12. The Open Campus Librarian reports to the Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of Open Campus for the effective execution of his /her duties and responsibilities.  He/she will also be required to work regularly with senior members of the Open Campus academic community to support our learners, faculty and researchers.

TENURE

13. Appointment will be for three years in the first instance.                               

OPEN CAMPUS JOB DESCRIPTION: CAMPUS LIBRARIAN

The Open Campus Librarian will be responsible for the completion of the following duties and tasks.

Duty:  Library Services

1. Assess the existing library support system for distance learning, with respect to its availability, appropriateness, and effectiveness and produce plans to enhance the services provided to the Open Campus distance learners and faculty.
2. Establish and manage an online Open Campus Library Information Desk service.
3. Participate with administrators, librarians, and teaching faculty in course planning for distance learning to ensure that appropriate library resources and services are available.

4.    Identify the requirements for, manage and continually enhance the Open Campus online library environment.

5.    Respond to enquiries from Open Campus students, faculty and researchers seeking library support. 

6.    Provide training, professional development and library help-sheets about how to effectively use the services and access the resources of an online library.

Duty:  Library Management

1.    Lead, evaluate and supervise Open Campus library professionals and support staff.

2.    Manage the growth of the library collection to ensure existing and new programmes have access to appropriate literature to support their students’ academic studies.

3.    Collaborate with Country Heads and Open Campus sites to manage the services of the onsite library technicians and to define the requirements for new services and library support.  This means for all technical and library matters the local librarian technicians report to the OC Librarian.  For student support issues the local librarian technicians work with the Heads of Centre. 

4. Liaise with other UWI campus libraries to explore and implement the sharing of common services, databases and other online tools.
5. Initiate dialogue leading to cooperative agreements and resource sharing with campus and/or unaffiliated libraries.
6. Represent the Library to internal and external stakeholders.
7. Maintain and compile statistical reports that will help guide the effective management and growth of the library services.
8. Produce and manage the Open Campus annual library budget.

Duty:  Facilities Management

1. Plan library facilities, equipment, and communication for all students and faculty to attain the objectives of the distance learning programmes.
2. Collaborate with information technology services to provide integration of appropriate information technology.
3. Provide support to and manage the library equipment and resources located in the Heads and of Centre and Open Campus sites.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE NEEDED

The successful candidate should have: 

• strong reference skills
• excellent knowledge of distance education library services and support
• knowledge of how a university administrative and management environment works
• knowledge of how to plan, design, deliver and implement academic programmes and courses
• An understanding of the academic research process and the role of the library in supporting that process
• instructional delivery skills
• excellent organizational skills
• excellent written and oral communications skills
• time management skills
• ability to resolve problems and respond in a timely manner
• supervisory skills
• ability to manage personnel and resources located in a variety of different locations and countries
• ability to work independent of direct supervision
• excellent computer and database skills.