Librarian, Youth Services

Position Summary

We are seeking a Youth Services Librarian to empower Tacoma's youth from infant through teen to become creative thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and resourceful users of information. Successful candidates will embody these characteristics themselves.

Responsibilities

• Develop, plan and conduct comprehensive programming for toddlers, preschoolers, school age children, teens, and their families and caregivers
• Provide outreach and develop partnerships with community-based organizations, city support agencies, child and teen educational institutions and local businesses to promote the library's services, programs and collections with a focus on children, teens, and their families and caregivers
• Determine public programming needs for children and teens, including identification of new and underserved populations
• Engage library patrons with the collection in ways that allow them to follow their interests and discover new ones
• Collaborate with the collection and technical services team to build and maintain a collection that anticipates and meets the needs of children and teens, ensuring it is diverse, current, and relevant and meets the needs of the community
• Encourage digital literacy and provide technology instruction with a focus on children, teens and their families and caregivers
• Participate with others in cross-functional teams to accomplish goals and objectives
• Maintain the appearance of the children's space ensuring a safe and inviting atmosphere filled with relevant resources for children and their families
• Collaborate with the Library's Public Information Office to promote and market your amazing programming
• Explains, demonstrates, and assists patrons in the use of library resources; helps patrons to identify, locate, and retrieve materials appropriate to their interests
• Participate in branch activities and library initiatives

Qualifications

• Master of Library Science (MLS) or a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from an accredited library school and/or Washington State certification as a Librarian or currently enrolled in such a program with completion within 6 months of hire
• Desired Experience: creating and conducting a variety of innovative programs for children and their parents/caregivers, developing, maintaining and marketing youth collections, developing partnerships with local organizations and schools, working successfully as part of a team, strong organization and planning skills, bilingual skills desired, knowledge and appreciation of children's literature, audiovisual materials, computer resources, and other materials that constitute a balanced, relevant youth collection, knowledge and appreciation of emerging library technologies, service and programming trends for children in urban public libraries, ability to translate the needs and interests of children and teens into materials for our collection, in all formats, ability to innovate and think creatively, ability to map out a process from idea through implementation, to set and meet project timelines, and to communicate effectively to project stakeholders, ability to identify, plan and prioritize job responsibilities and tasks, excellent oral and written communication and organizational skills including public speaking ability, ability to recognize and set priorities and to use initiative and independent decision-making skills, ability to be flexible and adapt to change