Assistant Librarian in Research Data & Scholarly Communications

The University of South Alabama invites applications for an Assistant Librarian in Research Data & Scholarly Communications, a 12-month, non-tenure track faculty continuing appointment in the Charles M. Baugh Biomedical Library (CBBL) with an approximate start date of September 1, 2023. As a member of the CBBL team, this position plays a central role in implementing data management support programs at the University of South Alabama (USA), including appropriate library-based scholarly communications services. This new position will contribute to the Libraries’ efforts to provide practical and valuable services in support of the research enterprise on campus. The position collaborates with faculty, graduate students, academic units, research center personnel, and colleagues to provide customized library services for research and scholarly communication. They will be involved in library, professional and university service; professional development and scholarly activities that will lead professional growth; fostering an accessible, inclusive, welcoming, and safe environment; supporting USA Libraries Values of service, collaboration, communication, professionalism, and adaptability; and performs other duties as assigned.

• Takes a leading role in efforts to develop and enhance research data literacy/management awareness and skills among faculty, researchers, and students in collaboration with other research support entities on campus.

• Serves as the primary contact for the university’s data management plan platform, working in coordination with the university research office.

• Builds and maintains professional relationships with researchers, clinicians, and graduate students in order to increase understanding of the information needs of the research community.

• Consults content owners on research and metadata strategies across various aspects of the data life cycle, including introducing them to best practices, selection of appropriate metadata standards and schemas, and advising on tools and workflows for metadata creation, cleanup, and visualization.

• Analyzes current practices for USA researchers’ management of data in order to develop tools, services and instruction to address assessed needs in collaboration with institutional partners.

• Contributes to institutional knowledge of and support for funder mandates regarding research products.

• Supports the collection and dissemination of digital scholarship, including research data, through the institutional repository.

• Collaborates with others in the Libraries to develop and promote robust and cohesive research data services; helps train library staff to handle basic research data management inquiries.

• Build partnerships with research departments and user communities and serve as a conduit for their research and scholarly communication needs. Services will include NIH-Public Access Policy support and troubleshooting; promoting awareness of the role of Open Access in digital scholarship; providing support for scholarly publishing, author rights, and fair use.

• Assist researchers and staff with meeting funder (including Federal agencies) and university requirements for providing public access to research results, including data.

• Promote awareness of current scholarly communication trends to faculty, students, and researchers through outreach and instruction.

• Serve as a library liaison to designated departments, supporting the information literacy needs of associated faculty, staff and students, including the development of systematic reviews and advising on collection development relevant to liaison departments.

• Participate in initiatives and projects with library faculty colleagues.

• Serve as an active member of library teams, task forces, and committees.

• Participate in and represent USA Libraries in local, regional, and national professional activities.

• Master’s degree in Library and/or Information Science from an ALA-accredited (or foreign equivalent) program.

• Excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of or interest in library roles in research data management with experience in the research data life cycle.

• Familiarity with emerging scholarly communication tools and trends.

• Demonstrated knowledge of health science resources, databases and library trends.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team-based environment; excellent interpersonal skills; and the ability to communicate clearly and knowledgeably, orally and in writing.

• Ability to provide instruction and outreach services in a university setting. Ability to build collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationships with people of varying backgrounds; work effectively with faculty, students, professional colleagues and diverse academic groups; ability to advocate and promote library resources and services to a variety of constituents.

• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written English language skills.

• Experience in curriculum development and instruction/delivery.

• Basic knowledge of copyright law and its application in digital scholarship.

• Experience working with structured data such as RDMA, XML, open source programming tools, and/or data management workflows.

Review of applications will continue until the position is filled.

The University of South Alabama is an EO/AA employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression), religion, age, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.