Job ads for electronic resource librarians

This week's Albitz and Shelbern (2007) reading pointed out that many electronic resource (ER) librarian positions vary dramatically from library to library. Some jobs focus more on public services while others focus more on technical services. Other jobs throw the "kitchen sink" at their jobs ads and expect the librarian to complete tasks that only a "superhuman" could perform.

I can see how this might happen. It seems like electronic resources management in general is still shaking out...which means that we will probably see lots of differences between jobs ads. As it turns out, I am planning on applying for an "e-resources librarian" at a law school library. (Hopefully I can get that cover letter finished very, very soon...) I thought it would be interesting to take a look at this particular position and relate this week's readings to it.

The main role of the e-resources librarian position at the law school library is to manage the "evaluation, acquisition, licensing, cataloging, maintenance, training, and promotion of electronic and serial resources." The incumbent will also have to collaborate and coordinate with library staff. The next important duty is supporting the research duties of school staff, including faculty, staff, and students conducting statistical research. Much of the emphasis is on helping staff the research community find data sources and to help with statistical analyses. The librarian also provides related instruction, for datasets and statistical software programs (e.g., Stata), but also to advise the research community on acquiring other online resources. The librarian will also have to develop their own web-based projects and will supervise staff. The list of required and preferred characteristics matches to the duties quite reasonably (e.g., MLIS and advanced degree in law or social science required, Drupal and HTML preferred, etc.).

This position seems to fall more strongly in the public services camp than the technical services camp. When I read Albitz and Shelbern's article, I found it surprising that an ER librarian position might fall into public services at all. It seemed to me that managing electronic resources would map pretty well onto more traditional technical service job duties. But this position description helps me to see how it makes sense that an ER librarian might work in a public services capacity. The ER librarian can be the person to both manage the electronic resources, but also promote their use to their community. And who better to instruct users on electronic resources than the ER librarian herself?

The emphasis on statistical support seems to fall somewhere between public services and kitchen sink. It is obviously public services in that you are actively supporting the research community's statistical needs. On the other hand, it feels a bit like a kitchen sink-y in that providing such statistical support is a pretty unique, niche role to fill. It might be hard to find someone who would have experience in both e-resources and statistical support.

On yet the other hand, it seems like there are quite a few jobs ads that require a bit of everything. It seems like this is not at all unusual for librarians. I think that is a pretty interesting and fun part of librarianship--you get to be a jack-of-all-trades that enables access over here, supports scholarship over there, and instructs a bit over here. There is so much change happening in our field that it is necessary to stay flexible and be able to fill multiple roles.

References:

Rebecca S. Albitz, Wendy Allen Shelbern (2007) “Marian Through the Looking Glass: The Unique Evolution of the Electronic Resources (ER) Librarian Position” in Mark Jacobs (Ed) Electronic Resources Librarianship and Management of Digital Information: Emerging and Professional Roles, Binghamton NY: Hayword, pp 15-30.