Business Librarian

About the role

Serves as the primary library liaison to the Orfalea College of Business and the Agricultural Business Department in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, actively integrating library programs, services, and resources into curricular and research activities.

Provides specialized business reference and research services, including scheduled and unscheduled consultations via email, chat, phone, and in-person.

Designs and delivers workshops, orientations, and instructional materials in both in-person and online environments.

Collaborates with library colleagues to build and maintain the Library’s collections in all formats to support business curricular and research needs at Cal Poly.

Takes individual and collaborative measures to understand constituent needs, assess the reach and effectiveness of library services, and close the assessment loop by taking steps to ensure the Cal Poly goal of universal student success.

Develops and assists with library outreach and collaborative initiatives, participates in campus events, and fosters community engagement for the mutual benefit of students and the region.

Active and contributing member of the Academic Services team.

Responsibilities

• Serves as the primary library liaison to the Orfalea College of Business and the Agricultural Business Department in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, actively integrating library programs, services, and resources into curricular and research activities.
• Provides specialized business reference and research services, including scheduled and unscheduled consultations via email, chat, phone, and in-person.
• Designs and delivers workshops, orientations, and instructional materials in both in-person and online environments.
• Collaborates with library colleagues to build and maintain the Library’s collections in all formats to support business curricular and research needs at Cal Poly.
• Takes individual and collaborative measures to understand constituent needs, assess the reach and effectiveness of library services, and close the assessment loop by taking steps to ensure the Cal Poly goal of universal student success.
• Develops and assists with library outreach and collaborative initiatives, participates in campus events, and fosters community engagement for the mutual benefit of students and the region.
• Active and contributing member of the Academic Services team.

Requirements

• ALA-accredited Master’s Degree in Library and Information Sciences, or comparable experience with a relevant advanced degree, at the time of appointment.
• Three years of relevant experience.
• Experience providing instruction and/or reference support for entrepreneurship, company/industry research, labor relations, operations and supply chain management, or intellectual property information needs.
• Experience or demonstrated ability communicating and promoting library services to varied audiences.
• Experience participating in collections planning, assessment, or prioritization.
• Ability to work at both tactical and strategic levels, translating disciplinary needs into sustainable research support and collections approaches.
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, with and in support of culturally diverse faculty, students, and staff.
• Excellent oral and written communication, collaboration, and project management skills.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree, or substantial subject experience, in business, economics, marketing, or a related field.
• Ability to articulate trade-offs, advocate for resources in consortial decision-making, and incorporate diverse economic perspectives, global contexts, and nontraditional research outputs.
• Familiarity with evidence synthesis practices and their implications for research support and collection strategy.
• Familiarity or expertise with quantitative, statistical, or spatial analysis tools (e.g., SPSS, ArcGIS, or programming languages/environments such as R).
• Experience or demonstrated ability using instructional software and multimedia tools (such as Camtasia, Articulate, Powtoon, etc.), to create engaging learning experiences.
• General public services experience in an academic or special library.
• Professional competency in Spanish.