Head of Special Collections (Librarian)

About the role

The University of Houston (UH) Libraries seeks a collaborative, forward-thinking leader to serve as Head of the Special Collections department. This position oversees rare books, archival collections, and University Archives, providing strategic leadership, vision, and operational management in alignment with the Libraries' strategic goals.

Responsibilities

• Provides strategic leadership, vision, and operational management for the Special Collections department in alignment with the Libraries’ strategic goals.
• Collaboratively develops priorities, initiatives, and workflows for the department and engages in all aspects of special collections stewardship.
• Guides collection development across all collecting areas, providing high-level oversight of archival processing and space management.
• Supports research, engagement, and instruction.
• Works collaboratively with the Preservation and Reformatting department on shared approaches and initiatives related to collection care, reformatting projects, digital preservation, and collections-related disaster planning.
• Manages all department personnel, providing coaching and support for effective goal setting and professional development.

Requirements

• Master’s degree from an American Library Association (ALA)-accredited program.
• Experience managing special collections or archives in a library, museum, or related field.
• Demonstrated knowledge of special collections stewardship best practices, current issues, and trends for provisioning a robust program of research support engaged with primary sources.
• Demonstrated ability to provide vision and leadership for a library department.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated awareness of ethical and legal frameworks for managing cultural heritage collections.
• Experience establishing collecting priorities and strategies in collaboration with organizational leadership.
• Experience working effectively with external stakeholders, including community partners and donors.

Salary

The salary is dependent on qualifications and rank. Department head salary ranges are $90,000-$92,000 for Assistant Librarians, $97,000-$99,000 for Associate Librarians. Comprehensive benefits package; choice of retirement programs, including TIAA; tax-deferred annuity program available; release time to take a class up to 3 hours/week; no state or local income tax.