What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Open and Digital Scholarship Services, UT Libraries position at The University of Texas at Austin?
Job Posting Title:
Head of Open and Digital Scholarship Services, UT Libraries
UT Libraries
All Applicants
40
Exempt
May 05, 2025
Expected to Continue
UT MAIN CAMPUS
General Notes
The University of Texas Libraries advances teaching, catalyzes research, and democratizes learning in order to develop critical thinkers and global citizens. As an essential campus partner in building a rich research and learning ecosystem, we are committed to creating and sustaining a community that welcomes and respects all individuals, celebrates different perspectives and experiences, and fosters belonging. To learn more about UT Libraries, please visit our website: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/
Purpose
The Head of Open and Digital Scholarship Services (ODSS) leads the ODSS Team in support of evolving campus research needs around scholarly communication and digital scholarship services. The team’s portfolio of services includes open access, copyright, repositories, open educational resources, and digital scholarship. This portfolio includes oversight for the Scholars Lab, UTL’s digital scholarship center, which provides researchers with infrastructure, access to subject librarian and domain-situated expertise, and opportunities for learning, collaboration, and presentation. Within the Scholars Lab, the ODSS Team supports campus research and digital scholarship needs and collaborates with other teams to provide related services around open scholarship, research data, the digital humanities, and other evolving aspects of research support.
UT Libraries welcomes applicants for this position who have experience with scholarly communication services or digital scholarship. Specific duties for consultation and teaching support will be assigned based on the skills and experience of the successful candidate for this role. Candidates with expertise in scholarly communication may have experience with open access, copyright, digital publishing, and/or repositories. UT Libraries defines digital scholarship broadly to encompass research needs across the disciplines including the digital humanities, emerging technology, and collections as data.
Responsibilities
Preferred Qualifications
Salary Range
$70,000 depending on qualifications
Working Conditions
Between the hours of 7am and 6pm, Monday – Friday, as arranged with manager.
Required Materials (PDF Preferred)
Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.
Employment Eligibility:
Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.
Retirement Plan Eligibility:
The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.
Background Checks:
A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
Pay Transparency:
The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.
Employment Eligibility Verification:
If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.
The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:
Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.
The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.
Head of Open and Digital Scholarship Services, UT Libraries
UT Libraries
All Applicants
40
Exempt
May 05, 2025
Expected to Continue
UT MAIN CAMPUS
General Notes
The University of Texas Libraries advances teaching, catalyzes research, and democratizes learning in order to develop critical thinkers and global citizens. As an essential campus partner in building a rich research and learning ecosystem, we are committed to creating and sustaining a community that welcomes and respects all individuals, celebrates different perspectives and experiences, and fosters belonging. To learn more about UT Libraries, please visit our website: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/
Purpose
The Head of Open and Digital Scholarship Services (ODSS) leads the ODSS Team in support of evolving campus research needs around scholarly communication and digital scholarship services. The team’s portfolio of services includes open access, copyright, repositories, open educational resources, and digital scholarship. This portfolio includes oversight for the Scholars Lab, UTL’s digital scholarship center, which provides researchers with infrastructure, access to subject librarian and domain-situated expertise, and opportunities for learning, collaboration, and presentation. Within the Scholars Lab, the ODSS Team supports campus research and digital scholarship needs and collaborates with other teams to provide related services around open scholarship, research data, the digital humanities, and other evolving aspects of research support.
UT Libraries welcomes applicants for this position who have experience with scholarly communication services or digital scholarship. Specific duties for consultation and teaching support will be assigned based on the skills and experience of the successful candidate for this role. Candidates with expertise in scholarly communication may have experience with open access, copyright, digital publishing, and/or repositories. UT Libraries defines digital scholarship broadly to encompass research needs across the disciplines including the digital humanities, emerging technology, and collections as data.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic direction for the ODSS Team’s outreach efforts, services, and assessment in support of researcher needs around scholarly communication and digital scholarship. Develop strategic relationships with people and units on campus to advance library initiatives. Supervise 4 full time staff and occasional student workers.
- Provide Scholars Lab oversight, support, and assessment-informed enhancement. Provide strategic direction for the Scholars Lab initiative, build and maintain campus partnerships, and develop a sustainable service model. Collaborate with UTL colleagues to offer services in the Scholars Lab around open scholarship, research data services, digital humanities, and other evolving research needs. Leads the Scholars Lab Fellowship program.
- Provide training and consultation services to researchers and students who are incorporating digital tools and methods in their research and classroom instruction. Specific areas of support may include Texas ScholarWorks (TSW), OA, copyright, author rights, trends in publishing or digital scholarship tools as methods.
- Oversight for UTL repositories and digital scholarship tools. Including monitoring and evaluating existing and emerging digital tools and related technologies. Develops policies for and advises on issues related to Texas ScholarsWorks and other UTL hosted platforms and tools.
- Participates in or leads library and university, regional, and national committees, task forces, and special projects. Engages in ongoing professional development and scholarship through attending and presenting at conferences and workshops.
- Other related functions as assigned.
- Master’s degree in library science or equivalent, with four or more years of relevant experience. A degree in a relevant field or a combination of education plus experience in a field with transferable skills may be substituted as appropriate.
- Domain expertise in digital scholarship and/or in scholarly communication which may include: digital collections/archives, project management, natural language processing/text analysis, visualization, network analysis, and/or collections as data (digitization, OCR, metadata, transcription, etc.), open publishing, copyright, and/or repositories.
- Supervisory experience.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, a professional, team-oriented attitude, and the ability to establish positive and productive collaborations,
- Ability to communicate effectively, in person and in writing, including a demonstrated facility in conveying technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Enthusiasm for continual learning and professional development.
- Experience leading/managing projects or groups in a fast-paced, evolving work environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with one or more programming languages like Python, R, or JavaScript.
- Experience providing effective leadership in an academic library or similar setting.
- Experience managing a library space.
- Experience with library instruction, consultation, or reference services.
- Experience with Open Journal Systems and/or DSpace
Salary Range
$70,000 depending on qualifications
Working Conditions
- May work around standard office conditions.
- Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation.
- Typical library conditions.
Between the hours of 7am and 6pm, Monday – Friday, as arranged with manager.
Required Materials (PDF Preferred)
- Resume/CV
- 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
- Letter of interest
- Please describe your expertise in the fields of digital scholarship and/or scholarly communication including projects you have participated in or supported and whether you have any areas of specialization.
- Describe a project or group that you led. What was your role in the project, how did you navigate challenges that arose, and what was the ultimate result?
- Please give an example of when you collaborated with a team member to create or modify a workflow so the workflow could be more flexibly staffed and/or effectively managed.
Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.
Employment Eligibility:
Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.
Retirement Plan Eligibility:
The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.
Background Checks:
A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
Pay Transparency:
The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.
Employment Eligibility Verification:
If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.
The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:
- E-Verify Poster (English) [PDF]
- E-Verify Poster (Spanish) [PDF]
- Right To Work Poster (English) [PDF]
- Right To Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]
Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.
The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.
Salary : $70,000
