Director of the Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American (AAACNA) Studies Center

About the role

The SJSU King Library at San José State University seeks a Director of the Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American (AAACNA) Studies Center. This is a full-time, tenured Associate or Full Librarian position beginning February 2027. Faculty duties are split 0.6 FTE (60%) Directorship and 0.4 FTE (40%) Liaison Librarian. The Director normally serves a renewable, four-year term.

The AAACNA Studies Center is a 6,000-square-foot academic and cultural hub on the fifth floor of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Born from decades of student advocacy and campus equity movements, it serves as an open-stack research and community space dedicated to amplifying the histories, literature, and voices of historically underrepresented communities. Its distinctive model physically and academically integrates four ethnic studies collections—Africana, Asian American, Chicano, Native American, and comparative Ethnic Studies—under one roof to foster cross-cultural dialogue, interdisciplinary research, and belonging.

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Student and Faculty Engagement, the Director develops collections, programs, exhibits, and services that foster academic and community engagement, and provides research and reference services aligned with curricular and scholarly needs. As a faculty member, the Director participates in library and university governance and engages in scholarship. The Director is a member of the University Library Leadership Team (ULLT), a collaborative group advancing the Library's mission, vision, and values.

The Director facilitates and leads the AAACNA Advisory Board, which advises on community connections. The role advances philanthropic interests including development and management of the Center's endowments, creating opportunities for new gifts, and pursuing grants to position the Center as a national leader. The Director strengthens infrastructure for long-term sustainability: establishing priorities and annual work plans, clarifying roles and decision-making processes, and reporting practices that demonstrate impact. Continuity is ensured by maintaining institutional knowledge, reviewing operating agreements and governance documents (including the existing MOU), and aligning activities with the Library's strategic priorities.

The Center is directly supported by the Director and up to three faculty librarians with partial assignments in the Center, who collaborate on programs, collections, and advocacy. Partnerships include the San José Public Library, SJSU community, and other aligned community organizations.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library is a unique partnership between SJSU and the City of San José, opened in 2003 as the first U.S. library to integrate a major university and public library system. The 475,000-square-foot, nine-floor facility serves as the SJSU library, the main branch of the San José Public Library system, and a community cornerstone. SJSU enrolls over 40,000 students; approximately 45% of undergraduates are first-generation and 38% are Pell Grant recipients. SJSU is both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).

Responsibilities

AAACNA Studies Center Director (0.6 FTE)

• Provide strategic leadership for the AAACNA Studies Center, establishing priorities and advancing a vision that supports the Center's mission and the teaching, research, and student-success goals of the University Library and SJSU.
• Plan, implement, and assess the Center's programs, exhibits, events, research initiatives, and other activities highlighting the histories, experiences, scholarship, and contributions represented by the Center's four focus areas.
• Guide the development, stewardship, visibility, and use of the Center's specialized collections, including identifying opportunities to improve discovery, preservation, digitization, and access.
• Build and sustain collaborative relationships with academic departments and programs, faculty and staff associations, student organizations, campus resource centers, advisory groups, community organizations, and other partners.
• Oversee the Center's daily operations, including its space, budget, program calendar, policies, workflows, and allocation of available resources.
• Coordinate the work of employees, student assistants, interns, volunteers, and project teams assigned to Center activities, fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and service-oriented environment.
• Establish measures of effectiveness, collect and analyze relevant data, communicate the Center's accomplishments, and use assessment findings to guide planning and continuous improvement.
• Represent and advocate for the Center within the University Library, across SJSU, and in relevant community and professional settings, while pursuing grants, gifts, endowment support, and other opportunities.

Liaison Librarian duties (0.4 FTE) include research consultations, instruction, and collection development aligned with AAACNA's mission and assigned liaison areas.

Qualifications

Required

• Master's degree from an ALA-accredited program (or equivalent international degree) plus a minimum of five (5) years of experience as a leader developing ethnic studies services, programming, and collections.
• Demonstrated leadership experience providing strategic direction and advancing university library outreach and user engagement initiatives across campus and within the broader community.
• Demonstrated success establishing and sustaining strategic partnerships with academic programs, advisory groups, cultural and community-based organizations through effective communication, while cultivating philanthropic support and securing funding for programs and endowments.
• Expertise providing instruction and research consultations across a range of ethnic studies and interdisciplinary courses, and developing specialized collections aligned with AAACNA's mission and areas of focus.
• Record of scholarly achievement in relevant areas of specialization, including research that examines or engages with diverse communities, populations, experiences, or perspectives.
• Awareness of and sensitivity to the educational goals of a socially and economically diverse student population, as gained through cross-cultural study, training, teaching, or comparable experience.

Preferred

• Experience working in an academic library or comparable higher education environment.
• Experience incorporating diverse perspectives and culturally responsive practices into instruction, collections, exhibits, programs, or services.
• Demonstrated success leading significant organizational change or complex, multi-phase initiatives.
• Prior supervisory experience.

Pay

Compensation is commensurate with qualifications, experience, and rank per the CSU Salary Schedule. Anticipated hiring annual salary range: $112,000–$118,000 for Associate Librarian; $125,000–$135,000 for Full Librarian.

Benefits

Faculty employee benefits are very competitive for the higher education sector. See the CSU Employee Benefits Summary for details.

Schedule

• Full-time, tenured faculty position (Associate or Full Librarian)
• 0.6 FTE Director of AAACNA Studies Center / 0.4 FTE Liaison Librarian
• Renewable four-year term as Director
• Target start date: February 2027