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This job was posted by https://illinoisjoblink.illinois.gov : For more information, please see: https://illinoisjoblink.illinois.gov/jobs/11845807 Description

The University of Chicago Library seeks to recruit a forward-thinking leader as Director of the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), the principal repository of rare books, manuscripts, and archives in the University of Chicago Library. Reporting to the Deputy University Librarian, the Director will provide strategic vision, leadership, and program development for the University of Chicago Library\'s special collections.

The Director will work with stakeholders from within and outside of the Library to articulate an inclusive and compelling vision for activating and stewarding the special collections and the research center - a vision that aligns, supports and enhances the strategic vision for the library as a whole. They will lead a strong team of over 16 librarians, archivists, and library staff who implementprograms supporting knowledge creation and preservation; transformative teaching and learning; and broad-ranging community engagement. Within the Library\'s leadership team, the Director will shape stewardship of special collections through cross-Library collaboration including emerging programs in digital collections and digital scholarship. The Director will lead the department toward advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all facets of special collections work. In collaboration with the Library\'s leadership team, the Director will strengthen and build local, consortial, and professional connections that extend SCRC\'s impact beyond the campus.

The Director will leverage their extensive knowledge of current professional best practices to create and foster initiatives that advance the impact of distinctive research collections in higher education. Additionally, the Director collaborates with the Library\'s Development Office, and will play a significant role in donor relationship activities. The Director is expected to maintain a high level of engagement with professional organizations in the rare book, archives, and higher education fields.

About the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center

The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center is the principal repository for, and steward of, the Library\'s rare books, manuscripts, University Archives, and the Chicago Jazz Archives. Its mission is to provide and preserve a diverse range of primary source research materials to stimulate, enrich, and support research, teaching, learning, and the administration at the University of Chicago. The Exhibition Gallery offers a secure and preservation worthy space ready-made for exhibits from the collection. The Director plays a key role in the exhibits programs of the Library.

The Rare Book Collection consists of approximately 350,000 volumes ranging in date from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Areas of strength include the history of science and medicine, English and American literature, history, economics, contemporary poetry, historical children\'s books, Jewish life and culture, theology, Renaissance humanism, book arts, and the printed works of Frederick Chopin.

The University Archives documents the history of the University of Chicago, the work of its faculty, staff, and students, and the life of the academic community. Collections include records of the University administration, academic units, and campus organizations. Professional papers of faculty, trustees, administrators, and alumni are a particular strength of the University Archives and document ground-breaking scholarship in many fields, and include the papers of more than twenty Nobel Prize laureates. Records of student organizations, publications, activities, and activism reflect more than 120 years of student life and scholarship. The current extent of the U iversity Archives collections is approximately 60,000 linear feet.

Early and modern manuscript collections are developed to support research and teaching at the University of Chicago and include manuscripts from the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance periods to the present. Collection strengths include New Testament texts, modern poetry, atomic science and policy, Cold War intellectual politics, the history of medicine, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era, Chicago jazz, and the history of the Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn neighborhoods. The current extent of the manuscript collections is more than 12,000 linear feet.

Essential Functions:

Leadership and Management

• Articulates a compelling strategic vision for the value of special collections materials in supporting research, knowledge creation, transformative teaching and learning, and broader community engagement

Engages with and provides leadership in the organizational programs to manifest diverse, equitable and inclusive values in both the culture and work of the Special Collections Research Center and the Library

Responsible for the leadership and administrative coordination of all SCRC services, programs and personnel, including strategic planning to rebuild the department and facilitate change where indicated; create a culture of support and develop