Senior Law Librarian, Northeastern University, Boston, MA

Posted October 9, 2018

Northeastern University

Senior Law Librarian

Requisition Number: STFR004937

Division/College: School of Law

Location: Boston Main Campus

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time

Responsibilities:

The Law Library is a center of legal research teaching at the law school. It provides crucial resources and training to faculty, staff and students. The four Senior Law Librarians are critical to the strategic planning, development and implementation of the Law School’s educational mission. Each Senior Law Librarian’s major areas of responsibility are

1. faculty research support;
2. project management;
3. teaching and legal research instruction;
4. team management; and
5. management and operations.

Each Senior Law Librarian shares the first four duties and spends thirty percent of their time on the fifth area: management and operation of a department head level specialty. The four specialties are Collection Development, User Services, Law Practice and Scholarship & Publishing Services. This opening is for the Law Practice specialty.

Under the shared faculty research support responsibility, these librarians work with faculty and administrators to support and promote faculty teaching, scholarship, and publication, including providing research assistance and training RAs and TAs. Under the shared teaching and legal research instruction responsibility, each librarian teaches upper level research courses; provides coaching and training at the InfoDesk for drop in and email research assistance Monday-Friday 8:30-5:00 p.m.; and provides custom research support to students in the first year Legal Skills in Social Context program that serves clients in an innovative law office structure. The team also works closely with faculty, law school departments, clinics, institutes and centers to support community members in research, digital, and information literacy. The librarians work with the Assistant Dean for the Center for Co-op and Career Development, the Director of the Academic Success Program, the Assistant Dean and Director of Bar Admission Programs, and the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in planning and supporting student research, digital, and information literacy and to produce graduates who are reflective and well-prepared to embark upon a career of life-long learning. The Law Library provides a wide range of professional development services to assist students and recent graduates in their efforts to master experiential research skills including staffing the Library’s for-credit course offerings and other teaching and instruction; presenting informational programs and workshops; developing and offering research information online; fielding research questions and training during co-op placements; prepare for co-op appointments; and providing research assistance, coaching, and tutoring to students.

Each Senior Law Librarian manages several department-head level functions in their specialty. The Law Library has a team management structure, where the dedicated team of attorney librarians and professional staff is charged with sharing strategic legal research, digital, and information literacy skills with faculty, staff, administrators and students. In the area of management and operations for Law Practice, this Senior Law Librarian will investigate legal research in various practice settings and keep up to date on the latest trends and technologies; plan how to adjust and develop the research curriculum to prepare students for practice; investigate law practice technologies and workflow management and participate in law school community planning to better prepare students; work closely with the co-op and career office to better support students and new graduates; train other staff and faculty in these areas; and periodically review the collection and make recommendations to strengthen it based on faculty and student interests.

Qualifications:

Candidates must have completed a J.D. degree from an accredited law school. In addition, a Master of Library or Information Science degree or substantial progress toward this degree is preferred, but we will train the right candidate. Three to five years of professional law library experience is particularly desirable, although we will train the right candidate. Teaching experience is also a plus. Given the law practice focus, some law practice experience as an attorney or law firm librarian is a plus, but not required. Since this management and operations specialty needs to be developed, an ability to investigate, create relationships with lawyers and librarians in practice, and to create recommendations and support structures at the law school are all important. We need a creator, not just a maintainer.

The candidate must enjoy interacting with students, faculty and staff and possess excellent public services skills. Excellent research, reference, writing, and bibliographic skills are required. Word-processing, e-mail, basic web publishing, and basic Excel skills are also required. We need a responsible, motivated, creative team player who is also able to work independently. You must enjoy completing a variety of tasks. Some evening and weekend hours are required.

Additional Information:

To be considered for this position please visit our web site and apply http://apptrkr.com/1307367

Northeastern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Educational Institution and Employer, Title IX University. Northeastern University particularly welcomes applications from minorities, women and persons with disabilities. Northeastern University is an E-Verify Employer.