Librarian

Thompson Rivers University Library seeks a user-centered Discovery Librarian to lead strategic efforts to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and impact of our digital and physical resources. This position directly supports TRU’s teaching, learning, and research goals by ensuring seamless access to resources across synchronous, asynchronous, and flexible modes of delivery, as well as by enhancing the discoverability and impact of TRU faculty scholarship and research data hosted on library platforms.

This role requires a flexible approach to enhance resource discoverability in a predominantly digital and subscription-based environment. The successful candidate will focus on bridging metadata, discovery, and access technologies and systems to provide an optimized user experience, emphasizing holistic discoverability over traditional metadata or cataloguing.

The successful candidate will join a dedicated team of faculty librarians, and the ideal candidate will champion a collaborative approach, working with colleagues across the library to improve discoverability. They will have a broad skill set, interests, and knowledge-base and bring a pragmatic, user-centred approach to their work. They will join a faculty department that supports innovation, service, and scholarly practice.

Responsibilities

• Lead efforts to improve discoverability and access to the library’s digital and physical collections with the aim of supporting teaching, learning, and research across delivery modalities.
  • Responsible for improving the user experience for finding and accessing digital resources by developing and refining systems, interfaces, and search functionalities in collaboration with other librarians.
  • Responsible for the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of metadata related to resource discoverability and access across library systems and services, both directly and through overseeing paraprofessionals.
  • Responsible for e-resource troubleshooting and ensuring seamless, reliable access for TRU’s students, faculty, and staff, both directly and through overseeing paraprofessionals.
• • Collaborate with colleagues to collect and analyze data about the usage of resources and the needs of users.

• • Collaborate with colleagues to test and integrate digital technologies that support user discovery and access.
  • Coordinate ongoing review and revision of cataloguing and metadata policies, aligning them with best practices, standards, and user needs.
• • Incorporate decolonizing initiatives related to truth and reconciliation into discovery systems and practices.
• Lead efforts to improve the discoverability and impact of TRU’s scholarly outputs hosted on the TRU Library’s scholarly publishing and research data management platforms.
  • Responsible for the metadata processes related to the library’s Research Data Management(Borealis) and Institutional Repository (Islandora) platforms, with the goal of enhancing the discoverability and impact of TRU faculty’s research outputs, both directly and through overseeing paraprofessionals.
  • Collaborate with the Scholarly Communication Librarian and other colleagues to support publishing and sharing of TRU faculty research and data.
  • Consult with researchers who have complex metadata needs when their skills and priorities align.
• Oversee staff.
  • Oversee library technicians assigned to support their areas, including providing training, ongoing direction, support, and mentorship with the goal of fostering a collaborative team.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Qualifications:

• An MLIS or equivalent from an ALA-accredited program.
• Understanding of the resource lifecycle, from acquisition to discovery to deaccession, as well as with how discovery and metadata practices intersect with information literacy.
• Demonstrated experience in metadata creation and standards (ex. MODS, RDA, emerging metadata frameworks).
• Demonstrated experience with discovery system management.
• Demonstrated experience troubleshooting e-resource access issues.
• Demonstrated experience with data analysis and familiarity with tools for creating, cleaning, and interpreting large datasets to inform strategic decisions and improve resource discoverability.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with colleagues across departments to support strategic goals and library values.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience managing institutional repositories, scholarly publishing platforms, research data sharing platforms, and/or electronic resource management systems.
• Experience using MARCEdit
• Experience collaborating with and overseeing paraprofessionals.
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering an inclusive and equitable working, teaching, and learning environment