LIBRARY DIRECTOR AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN

The University of Chicago invites applications and nominations for the position of Library Director and University Librarian. Reporting to the Provost, the Library Director is a critical partner in, and facilitator of, the rigorous intellectual engagement that characterizes the University of Chicago. The new Library Director will have a tremendous opportunity to work across the entire university, building upon the Library’s exceptional service-oriented culture in order to further the rigorous academic goals of the University. Working with a team of approximately 200 talented and dedicated library staff, the new Library Director will lead the process of developing and implementing a comprehensive strategic vision for the future of the Library, in terms of both its role within the University ecosystem and its relationship to the fast-changing world of information management. The new Library Director will be an experienced and effective leader who will be a champion for the centrality of the library in an academic research university. The new Library Director should bring a creative, intellectual, and collaborative spirit to the challenge of making a library that is already well respected and beloved for the depth of its collections and prominence both on- and off-campus even more central to the University of Chicago’s mission and even more recognized around the nation and world.

The Joseph Regenstein Library University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 2

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY

The University of Chicago is a research university in a dynamic urban setting that has driven new ways of thinking since 1890. The University’s commitment to free and open inquiry draws inspired scholars to its global campuses, where ideas are born that challenge and change the world.

The University of Chicago empowers individuals to question conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. Students in the College develop critical, analytic, and writing skills in its rigorous, interdisciplinary core curriculum. Through graduate programs, students test their ideas with UChicago scholars, and become the next generation of leaders in academia, industry, nonprofits, and government.

UChicago research has led to breakthroughs such as discovering the link between cancer and genetics, establishing revolutionary theories of economics, and developing tools to produce reliably excellent urban schooling. The University generates new insights for the benefit of present and future generations with its national and affiliated laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois; and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Within the University’s programs of study and academic departments, more than 2,300 full-time faculty educate approximately 7,000 undergraduate students and 10,000-plus graduate, professional, and other students. The undergraduate College consists of 52 majors and 41 minors; four graduate divisions (Biological Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences) and seven schools (Booth School of Business, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, the Divinity School, Harris School of Public Policy, the Law School, Pritzker School of Medicine, and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering) support and provide homes for a full range of graduate and professional study.

The University of Chicago is enriched by the city it calls home. In partnership with its neighbors, the University invests in Chicago's mid-South Side in health, education, economic growth, and the arts. Together with its medical center, the University is the largest private employer on the South Side.

HISTORY

On July 9, 1890, the University’s founders defined what they believed would build an enduring legacy: a commitment to rigorous academics for people of all backgrounds, including “opportunities for all departments of higher education to persons of both sexes on equal terms.”

An initial pledge of $600,000 (more than $25 million in today’s currency) from John D. Rockefeller, along with contributions from the American Baptist Education Society and land from Marshall Field, helped to found the University of Chicago.

William Rainey Harper, the University’s first president, envisioned a university that was “‘bran splinter new,’ yet as solid as the ancient hills”—a modern research university that would combine an English- style undergraduate college and a German-style graduate research institute. The University’s first buildings were modeled after the English Gothic architectural style used at Oxford, complete with towers, spires, cloisters, and grotesques. The campus landscape was shaped by legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s designs for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, which was just a short walk from where the University held its first classes. University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 3

Harper recruited the highest-quality faculty possible, including several college presidents, who were drawn to the University of Chicago by the idea of a community of great scholars. In his address marking the University’s 1902 decennial, Harper reminded his audience of the University’s most important tradition: “Complete freedom of speech on all subjects,” he declared, “has from the beginning been regarded as fundamental in the University of Chicago. This principle can neither now nor at any future time be called in question.”

By 1910, the University had developed a variety of traditions, including a coat of arms bearing a phoenix emerging from the flames and a Latin motto, Crescat scientia; vita excolatur (“Let knowledge grow from more to more; and so be human life enriched”). In 1894, maroon had become the University’s official color and “the Maroons” its nickname.

In 1907, the University of Chicago’s first Nobel laureate, Albert A. Michelson— the first of many Nobel laureates from the University, as well as the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any of the sciences— was recognized for his breakthrough advancements in measuring the speed of light. Since then, University faculty, scholars, students, and alumni have been recognized with the highest international honors in their fields.

The Mansueto Grand Reading Room

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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Since its founding, the University of Chicago has been an open institution, committed to attracting the best minds across all disciplines and modes of inquiry. In the fall of 2017, the University renewed that commitment by launching the Diversity & Inclusion Initiative.

The Diversity & Inclusion Initiative was created in response to the results of the 2016 Campus Climate Survey and based upon input from the Diversity Advisory Council, a faculty group that examined diversity issues on the University’s campus.

Today, the University is focused on fostering an intellectual environment that invites all people to belong, find community, contribute, and grow, regardless of their background or belief systems. This is a campus-wide effort, building upon the important work that was already underway and led by students, staff, faculty, and other members of the campus community.

To support and further this work, the University has developed a strategic approach, in concert with senior leadership, engaged critical offices, and launched key initiatives—all of which provide the necessary framework for ongoing, systemic, and lasting change.

For more information on the University’s Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, please visit: https://diversityandinclusion.uchicago.edu/.

LEADERSHIP

On February 25, 2021, the University of Chicago’s Board of Trustees named Paul Alivisatos as the University’s 14th president. He will assume his role on September 1, 2021.

An accomplished leader in higher education and a world-renowned scientist, Alivisatos is currently executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Samsung Distinguished Professor of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in the Department of Chemistry and the former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

A native of Chicago, Alivisatos is also a University of Chicago alumnus, having received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1981. Alivisatos will become only the second University of Chicago graduate to serve as University president in its 130-year history.

A preeminent scientist and entrepreneur, Alivisatos has made pioneering research breakthroughs in nanomaterials. His inventions are widely used in biomedicine and QLED TV displays, and his scientific advances have yielded more than 50 patents. He also founded two prominent nanotechnology companies: Nanosys, Inc. and Quantum Dot Corp. (now part of Thermo Fisher).

Among his more than 25 awards and honors, Alivisatos has received the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and the Priestley Medal. It also was announced recently that Alivisatos will share the prestigious international BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 5

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, Alivisatos earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986. Alivisatos joined the Berkeley faculty in 1988 as an assistant professor and was appointed associate professor in 1993 and professor in 1995.

Ka Yee C. Lee serves as the 14th provost of the University of Chicago. As provost, she is responsible for academic and research programs across the University and oversees the University’s budget.

She is the David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Chemistry, the James Franck Institute, the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, and the College, and a member of the Board of the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. Prior to her appointment as provost, Lee served as vice provost for research, working with deans, faculty, and researchers across the University to increase access to research funding and resources, among other responsibilities.

Lee is an elected member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Her research focus lies in the area of membrane biophysics, and she is the author or co-author of more than 125 scholarly publications.

Lee joined the University in 1998 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and was appointed full professor in 2008. She has served as director of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and associate director of the James Franck Institute, as well as chair of the Faculty Advisory Board for The Hong Kong Jockey Club University of Chicago Academic Complex | Francis and Rose Yuen Campus in Hong Kong. Her honors include being named a Searle Scholar, a David and Lucile Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering, and a Sloan Research Fellow. She also was the recipient of the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the inaugural recipient of the Arthur L. Kelly Prize for Exceptional Faculty Service in the Physical Sciences Division.

Lee holds an Sc.B. degree in Electrical Engineering from Brown University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from Harvard University. She completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY

The University of Chicago Library puts users at the center of all it does and exists to empower users with deep and rich collections, extensive expertise, innovative programs, and diverse spaces. The Library is committed to cultivating an inclusive community, enhancing access to scholarly resources, advancing digital scholarship, engaging locally and globally, and exceling in a changing environment. It is the Library’s mission to work with scholars, students, and all members of the university community in the pursuit of intellectual discovery, rigorous learning, and global engagement.

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By the Numbers (as of June 2020) Collections • 9th largest academic library in North America (as of 2019 Association of Research Libraries rankings) • 12.4 million volumes in print and electronic form • 68,824 linear feet of archives and manuscripts • 294 terabytes of born-digital archives, digitized collections, and research data

Collection Use • 128,356 print volumes circulated to 10,995 unique individuals • 6.0 million electronic articles delivered • 1.9 million uses of electronic books • 64,000 uses of streaming media

Services • 11,371 filled Scan & Deliver requests • 13,640 filled requests from Big 10 libraries • 10,986 filled requests from Ivy Plus libraries • 7,908 other filled Interlibrary Loan requests • 28,527 items on course reserve for 1,446 classes • 12,372 questions to librarians • 11,993 attendees at training sessions

Visits • 884,123 entries into Regenstein and 56,172 entries into Crerar • 13,076 visits by researchers unaffiliated with the University • 1.6 million visits to the Library website • 727,407 visits to the Library catalog

Collections The Library builds and preserves research collections that support the present and future needs of its faculty, students, and staff. Thirty-nine percent of the Library’s collections are in languages other than English, supporting faculty research with a global impact and making the Library a mecca for international scholars.

The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center is home to the Library’s rare books, manuscripts, and the University of Chicago Archives. Highlights include: • A comprehensive collection of print editions of Homer’s works • The Goodspeed New Testament Manuscript Collection • The Ludwig Rosenberger Library of Judaica • Editorial files of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse • The Chicago Jazz Archive • The John Crerar Collection of Rare Books in the History of Science and Medicine • Papers or medals of 21 Nobel Prize winners including Enrico Fermi, Saul Bellow, S. Chandrasekhar, Ronald H. Coase, George Stigler, and James Cronin; papers of Harriet Monroe, Ida B. Wells, and Edward H. Levi • Business archives and printing samples of RR Donnelley • The John Maloof Collection of Vivian Maier University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 7

The Library digitizes its own collections in order to provide greater access, preserve at-risk materials, and enable new forms of digital scholarship. One hundred subject-based collections, 44 archival collections, and 150 early manuscripts have been made accessible online, with items ranging from fourth-century Egyptian manuscripts to early editions of the Maroon student newspaper and maps of Chicago before and after the Great Chicago Fire. Many more individual titles are available via the Library catalog and through participation in the international digital preservation repository, HathiTrust.

Campus Libraries The University of Chicago Library collection is located in six facilities, all located on campus, providing faculty and students with access to its collections, attractive research and study spaces, and diverse services. The centrally located Joseph Regenstein Library was built in 1970 to provide consolidated access to the collections in the humanities, social sciences, business, and special collections. The John Crerar Library for science, medicine, and technology is located by the medical center and science buildings. Two of the professional schools, the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice and the Law School, have separate libraries and there is one departmental library, Eckhart Library, for mathematics.

The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library was opened next to and adjoining the Joseph Regenstein Library in 2011. Designed by renowned architect Helmut Jahn, the Mansueto Library has been recognized with a Distinguished Building Citation of Merit by the American Institute of Architects’ Chicago chapter and a Patron of the Year Award by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. It features a soaring elliptical glass dome capping a 180-seat Grand Reading Room, state-of-the-art conservation and digitization laboratories, and an underground high-density automated storage and retrieval system that retrieves materials in a median time of 3 minutes through use of robotic cranes. The Mansueto Library provides rapid, on-campus access to print materials that had expanded beyond the capacity of the existent library facilities.

The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 8

Library Strategic Directions, 2020–2023 Below are six strategic directions the Library is currently pursuing for years 2020–2023.

1) Cultivate an Inclusive Community Build an inclusive organization that cultivates and values diversity, recognizing the strength that it brings to the Library’s community and operations.

2) Empower Faculty and Students with Library Services, Collections, and Spaces Advance state-of-the-art research, teaching, and engaged learning by implementing innovative and inclusive services and reimagining library collections and spaces.

3) Advance Digital Scholarship Increase the University’s scholarly impact by building spaces, services, and technologies that facilitate digital approaches to creating, analyzing, preserving, and openly sharing research.

4) Enhance Access to Scholarly Resources Connect scholars with resources at the point of need by developing a user-centered, content-rich, integrated discovery environment and by providing fast and convenient access and delivery services.

5) Extend the University’s Impact through Local and Global Engagement Engage with local and global partners to extend the University’s impact on pressing challenges in the city, nation, and world.

6) Excel in a Changing Environment Build an agile, creative, and inclusive organization that values diversity and encourages experimentation, collaboration, bold thinking, and cultural competence in order to meet the needs of the ever-changing academic environment.

To learn more about the Library’s mission, values, and strategic directions, please visit: https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/about/thelibrary/mission/.

Board of the Library The Board is appointed by the Provost, chaired by a faculty member, meets monthly, and advises the Library Director on issues relating to the work of the Library. The Board seeks to understand the challenges and issues facing the Library and investigates ways the Library could and should continue to evolve. In so doing, it plays a strong advocacy role for the Library.

Library Council The Library Council was formed in 1973 to provide volunteer leadership and philanthropic support. Today, the Library Council comprises about 20 distinguished and generous individuals with wide-ranging interests and employments. The expectation is that Council Members will: be active and have consistent participation; provide advice to the Library Director in their area of expertise; advocate for the Library and University within their sphere of influence; and, make annual philanthropic contributions to the Library.

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The Laird Bell Law Quadrangle

THE ROLE OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN

The new Library Director and University Librarian will be a strong, effective advocate for the Library, as well as a collaborative and communicative community builder, responsible for the leadership and overall management of Library services and collections. The Library Director will oversee planning, budget, and staffing of the Library in support of the academic, instructional, and information needs of faculty, students, and staff across the University.

Reporting to the Provost, the Library Director oversees 200 full-time staff and 110 part-time student workers. Direct and dotted-line reports to the Library Director currently include:

• Associate University Librarian for Collections and Access • Associate University Librarian for Information Technology and Digital Scholarship • Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning • Assistant University Librarian for Administrative Services • Director of Communications • Director of Development • Director of the Law Library (dotted-line) • Executive Assistant to the Library Director and University Librarian

The Library’s total annual operating budget for 2020–2021 stands at approximately $33 million, including salaries. University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 10

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

The next Library Director and University Librarian will follow the current Library Director, Brenda L. Johnson, who is retiring after many fruitful years in the position. The new Library Director will inherit a creative and devoted team of library staff who have built within the Library an impressive ethos of service. The new Library Director will be asked to further enhance the Library and its services by addressing several compelling opportunities and challenges:

• Collaboratively leading the development and implementation of a new strategic and shared vision for the Library: In concert with the University’s strategic priorities, the new Library Director will work together with library staff and other campus constituents to identify priorities that take into account existing strengths and current strategic directions as well as the changing nature of patron needs. Drawing upon a strong sense of national best practices and emerging trends in knowledge management, the Library Director will foster innovation while ensuring that the University’s students and faculty view the Library as an essential and supportive partner in their intellectual and creative work.

• Advocating for and promoting the value of the Library and its critical role in the University’s educational mission, both internally and externally: The Library Director will serve as a thoughtful, passionate champion for the Library on a campus which already holds its Library in high esteem. The Library Director will form and sustain relationships across the University’s undergraduate college and the graduate divisions and schools to assure that the Library’s work is meaningfully integrated into the research, teaching, and intellectual life of the University. The Library Director will also represent and promote the interests of library staff at the level of university academic administration.

Additionally, as a creative, flexible, and intellectually generous leader, the Library Director will inspire engagement and collaboration and be a partner in a wide range of consortia, including the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation and the Big Ten Academic Alliance, among others. Within Chicago, the Library Director will provide leadership in achieving social impact through closer partnerships with other regional libraries and valued institutions and work to open up the Library’s collections to the broader community.

• Overseeing the Library’s recruitment, inclusion, support, retention, and promotion of qualified individuals from all backgrounds: The University of Chicago is proud to be home to an ever- diversifying student body, faculty, and staff, which are diverse in many dimensions. However diversity is defined, the benefit to the University and those who are part of it will be realized only within a community that is inclusive and welcoming. The new Library Director will reaffirm the University’s and the Library’s commitments to, and on-going training around, diversity and inclusion, continuing the work of creating and sustaining an intercultural community that respects differences and welcomes and empowers all its members.

• Identifying and attracting additional resources for the Library through effective advocacy, strategic partnerships, and effective long-term planning: Working with the Provost and University Alumni Relations and Development, the next Library Director will set development goals to further the Library’s strategic aims and initiatives. The Library Director will lead all elements of the Library’s fundraising efforts at the local, regional, and national level by University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 11

developing a distinct and compelling case for gifts and other forms of support for the Library, including grant funding, stewarding individual and institutional donors, and actively building the pipeline of future major and principal gift donors. The Library Director will collaborate with development officers at the Library and around the University to enhance funding for the Library.

• Anticipating, planning, and advocating for the evolving needs of faculty and students in ways informed by best practices for the future of academic libraries: The Library should be a leader in adapting to the changing requirements of learning, study, and research in the twenty-first century. The new Library Director will help to create and implement a comprehensive forward- looking plan for making the most strategic use of its resources, which include space, funds, and personnel, in service of its mission. The Library Director will bring a deep and nuanced understanding of current issues and trends in order to meet the research and information needs of today’s faculty and students, as well as those of the future. Specifically, the Library Director will play a leading role to encourage new and enhance existing interdisciplinary relationships across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences through support of pioneering research and innovative teaching and learning practices.

• Supporting the Library’s dedicated community of librarians and staff: The new Library Director must bolster the community within the Library through listening and consensus-building focused on shared purpose and transparent communication. The new Library Director should solicit, consider, and genuinely value the views and contributions of library staff. Modeling and encouraging transparent decision-making and meaningful staff participation will also promote trust and nourish the spirit of mutual respect that will be necessary as the Library attempts to move forward together through these extraordinary times.

• Assessing the Library’s current organizational structure and operating guidelines so as to more effectively support the Library’s mission: Library staff would welcome an inclusive and transparent process of self-study in order to refine the Library’s organizational structure to better support interdepartmental collaboration, increase the speed of decision-making, and avoid marginalizing certain areas. Such a review would also take into consideration the professional development pathways for individual staff. In addition, a comprehensive review of the Library’s personnel policies and procedures would affirm that the standards are clear and equitable and that the Library provides an inclusive and welcoming climate in which all can thrive, in keeping with the University’s values.

• Collaborating closely with Information Technology Services (ITS), the Vice Provost for Research, the Associate Vice President of Research Computing, and other campus partners to ensure innovative and thoughtful use of instructional and library technology: Working closely with the Library’s IT staff, the new Library Director will partner with ITS, the Vice Provost for Research, and the AVP of Research Computing, among others, to ensure that faculty and students are able to access information and create knowledge in ways that are convenient and conducive to research and learning. The new Library Director, in partnership with library departments, ITS, and other campus partners, will help lead the complex conversation around pedagogical and scholarly uses of technology as well as emerging trends in digital knowledge management and open access. University of Chicago, Library Director and University Librarian Page 12

The underground automated storage and retrieval system at the Mansueto Library

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DESIRED QUALITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS

Candidates for the Library Director role must hold an ALA-accredited degree or an international equivalent, or an advanced degree in a relevant field, as well as demonstrate effective leadership and management experience. In addition, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following preferred qualifications:

• A nuanced understanding of the mission, values, and goals of the intellectual enterprise in higher education and a generous interpretation of how an academic library can enthusiastically and creatively partner with faculty, staff, and students in pursuit of the same; • Experience leading an organization through a transparent, inclusive, and collaborative strategic visioning process; • An inclusive, proactive, collaborative, self-reflective, and open-minded approach to leadership; • A strong and visible personal and professional commitment to diversity and inclusion, and experience applying these values in the context of library collections, services, and programs, with a commitment to continually building a professional climate for library patrons and staff in which all are welcome and can thrive; • A willingness and inclination to attract additional friends and resources to the Library through effective grant-writing and cultivation of relationships, specifically with individuals, foundations, and corporations; • Exceptionally strong interpersonal and communication skills, both one-on-one and with larger groups; • A deep understanding of current issues and trends facing the future of academic libraries nationally and globally; • A broad understanding of the work of librarians and staff; • Knowledge of emerging technologies and trends and the ability to partner effectively and creatively with the Library’s IT staff and Information Technology Services; • The ability to view issues from an institution-wide perspective, foster teamwork across departments and divisions, and stimulate cross-functional collaboration within the Library and across the University; • Experience managing complex budgets and allocating resources strategically; • A genuine eagerness to engage in the life of the University as a collegial and approachable representative of the Library and its user-focused mission; • A passion for thinking creatively, collectively, and flexibly about the future of academic libraries; and, • An appreciation for the University of Chicago’s commitment to rigorous inquiry and passion for empowering individuals to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas.

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Ex Libris Café in the Regenstein Library

CONTACT

Please send nominations, applications, and queries in confidence and electronically to:

Sue May, Managing Director Matthew Bunting, Managing Associate Storbeck Search [email protected]

Please note that all job seekers wishing to be considered for the position must also submit their materials through the University of Chicago’s Interfolio site (https://apply.interfolio.com/88571).

The University of Chicago seeks a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages diverse perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange. The University’s Statements on Diversity are at https://provost.uchicago.edu/statements- diversity.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.