Library Director I

Job Title: Library Director I

The Library Director I plays a crucial role in supporting the LS&S mission, vision, and values through exceptional leadership and dedicated customer focus.

This position ensures contract requirements are met in a single-location library system and leads a team of library staff members committed to creating a thriving library in the heart of their community.

The Library Director I will be responsible for building, maintaining, and nurturing communications with local officials and managing the customer relationship in partnership with the VP of Library Operations.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Leadership and Culture: Manages with integrity, honesty, and knowledge to promote the culture, values, and mission of LS&S and creates thriving libraries in the heart of our communities.
• Evaluation and Improvement: Evaluate library environments and key operational indicators to identify problems, concerns, and opportunities for improvement.
• Reporting and Communication: Reports to the VP of Library Operations and prepares a written agenda before weekly Zoom meetings.
• Staff Coaching and Development: Coaches' library staff to help achieve operational goals and develops the library team to deliver excellent customer service and patron experiences.
• Staffing and Performance: Monitors and manages staffing levels, evaluates and supports the performance of library staff, and implements action plans that meet operational and organizational objectives.
• Professional Development: Keeps current with library trends, issues, and technology, as well as political, economic, and demographic issues that may affect library services and advanced programming.
• Initiative and Planning: Plans and executes local, regional, and company initiatives to achieve both operational excellence and business results; follows up consistently to ensure accountability to plans.
• Operations and Management: Utilizes existing tools and best practices to ensure effective library operations, utilizes and helps Library staff utilize management information tools, and analyzes financial reports and other library-related data (usage, demographics, trends, etc.) to identify and address library system trends and issues.
• Collections and Materials: Oversees the selection, acquisition, and processing of library materials to meet public needs within the structure of library selection policies and budgetary limitations.
• Community Relations: Responsible for the local operations communications with the customer relationship (city/county officials, governing boards, library boards).
• Client Feedback and Engagement: Regularly solicit client, other stakeholder, and patron feedback to understand client needs and the needs of the local community.
• Safety and Wellness: Establish a positive, healthy, and safe work environment following all appropriate legislation and regulations.
• HR and Policies: Oversee the implementation of the human resources policies, procedures, and practices.
• Literacy and Access: Know, understand, and administer the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read Statement, and Freedom to View Statement, recognizing that freedom of access is a fundamental tenet of a public library. In addition to these freedoms, support client discretion of materials available at your local library(ies).
• Patron Privacy: Follow all legal and policy requirements related to patron privacy and custodianship of patron records.

Job Requirements:

• Education: MLIS degree is required.
• Experience: Three years of supervisory experience is preferred, and three years of progressively responsible library managerial experience and/or administrative functions of a library or equivalent knowledge preferred.
• Skills and Abilities: Experience analyzing and applying financial reports and library-related data (usage, demographics, trends, etc.), basic understanding of programming and financial management, and experience in a role that requires frequent interaction with patrons, fulfilling the requests of patrons, and responsibility for addressing patron issues, questions, and suggestions.
• Core Competencies: Adaptability, ethical conduct with integrity and honesty, build relationships, communicate effectively, creativity/innovation, focus on client needs, foster teamwork, lead, make decisions, organize, plan, solve problems, and think strategically.