Miriam Barr Librarian for Jewish and Near Eastern Studies - University Library

Scheduled Hours

37.5

Position Summary

The Miriam Barr Librarian for Jewish and Near Eastern Studies is a member of the Area Studies, Social Sciences, & Humanities Librarians Department within the Research & Academic Collaboration Services Division, based in Olin Library on the Danforth Campus, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). The Miriam Barr Librarian for Jewish and Near Eastern Studies Librarian is an endowed position.

The Miriam Barr Librarian for Jewish and Near Eastern Studies will support Washington University Libraries’ priorities related to access and discovery, research and scholarship, and student success; maintain a clear understanding of research, curricular, and scholarly communication practices and needs; set a strategy for Library support of teaching and learning for the assigned departments; and spearhead efforts to communicate and engage with faculty and students in assigned departments on behalf of the University Libraries.

As a member of the Area Studies, Social Sciences, & Humanities Librarians Department, the librarian will serve as a subject librarian to disciplines, departments, and/or schools as assigned; collaborate with other members of the Area Studies Disciplinary Research Team; provide virtual chat and in-person reference services at Olin Library to support the broader WashU community; and provide instructional support for the College Writing program for incoming first-year students and/or discipline-specific undergraduate writing programs.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

Research Services

• Provide customized reference and research services through email, chat, and individual/group consultations.
• Seek opportunities to extend services through embedded work and outreach.
• Use database interfaces, citation management tools, and other research tools used on campus.
• Refer patrons to other librarians, library staff, campus stakeholders and units, as appropriate.

Teaching & Learning Services

• Design, deliver, and assess effective instruction and activities for assigned departments through the solicitation of user and instructor feedback.
• Design, implement, and assess effective online learning objects.
• Develop and enhance teaching skills, as appropriate.
• Provide instructional support for the College Writing program for first-year students and/or discipline-specific undergraduate writing programs.

​Other Collaborative Services

• Curate, describe, and promote materials, including materials within the Special Collections department, related to Jewish and Near Eastern Studies, particularly the Brisman Collection -  https://library.wustl.edu/spec/shimeon-brisman-collection/.
• Investigate and keep current with subject-specific trends in functional areas, e.g., open educational resources (OER), open access publishing, copyright, data services, digital library services, and special collections services in order to educate and inform constituents in assigned subject areas about these topics and related services when relevant.
• Promote library functional area and special collection services as appropriate.
• Maximize the impact, accessibility, and discovery of scholarly outputs produced at WashU by facilitating their ingest into WashU repositories (e.g., Open Scholarship) and disciplinary repositories in collaboration with appropriate staff in the University Libraries.
• Anticipate evolving modes of scholarship in support of the University’s mission to discover and disseminate knowledge.

Collection Development Services

• Develop subject-specific collection policies.
• Manage, assess, and maintain allocated collection budgets, collection materials, and collection approval plans.
• Engage with departmental faculty, students, and staff as necessary to inform collection development work.
• Maintain professional awareness in subject area and collection criteria.
• Collaborate with Interlibrary Loan and Technical Services as necessary to assist with language-specific questions and/or processing.
• Maintain professional awareness in subject area and collection criteria.

Professional Development and Service & Other Duties

• Participate in professional library and/or subject-related organizations and committees.
• Attend or participate in professional webinars and/or training sessions.
• Stay current in assigned subject areas.
• Complete other duties as assigned.
• Promote the role of the WashU Libraries to the University and St. Louis community at large through participation in campus and regional committees an