The Head of Research & Instructional Services is a tenure track position and serves as a member of the Law Library faculty.  As a collaborative group, this faculty team shares governance of the Law Library with the Associate Director and Associate Dean for Library & Technology Services and assists with the development and implementation of library strategies, policies, and procedures for delivering services, providing legal information resources, and maintaining a welcoming environment in support of the mission and goals of the library and the College. The Head of Research & Instructional Services is generally responsible for the important activities of providing research support to faculty and students and coordinating legal research teaching. 

The Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee is seeking candidates who have the ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the diversity and intercultural goals of the University. In furtherance of the University?s and the College?s fundamental commitment to diversity, we seek a robustly qualified and diverse applicant pool, and so we strongly encourage applications from a wide spectrum of applicants, including people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ people, veterans, and others whose background, life experiences, viewpoints, or philosophy would contribute to the diversity of our faculty, curriculum, and programs. 

The anticipated start date is January 2025.

Specific responsibilities include the following.

Responsibilities

·       Provide leadership and guidance to the research librarians in all aspects of their day-to-day work at the Law Library.

·       Collaboratively with the Associate Dean for Library & Technology Services and other law library faculty, plan and teach legal research, including the first-year legal research course, advanced legal research course, and other research-related courses.

·       Individually engage in supporting an active law faculty with scholarly, teaching, and service legal information needs, as required. 

·       Assist the Associate Dean and Associate Director in mentoring departmental Law Library Faculty and Staff, and provide additional leadership for scholarship and librarian engagement with the College of Law and law or library-related professional organizations.

·       Contribute to the advancement of law or law librarianship through scholarship and professional activities at local, regional, and national levels.

Required Qualifications

·       Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA-accredited law school, and Master's degree in Information or Library Science from an ALA-accredited institution, to be conferred by time of appointment;  

·       Librarian experience in a law school library in a university setting with significant, demonstrated experience supervising law school librarians;

·       Librarian experience supporting law faculty actively engaged in teaching, service, and scholarly research;  

·       Excellent administrative abilities including aptitude for and interest in planning, conducting projects, and working in a collaborative environment; 

·       Demonstrated exceptional written and oral communication skills; 

·       Demonstrated commitment to and success in researching and writing; 

·       Demonstrated successful experience teaching; 

·       Excellent organizational and time-management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

·       An understanding of developments in legal research methodologies and legal information management, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies;  

·       An ability to adapt to evolving work environments. 

Applications must be submitted through Interfolio ( apply.interfolio.com/153678 ). Applicants should submit a letter of interest, a CV, and the names and contact information of three references. While applications will be considered on a rolling basis, applicants should submit their materials no later than October 6, 2024, when application review begins. For questions, please contact Professor Scott Childs, Chair of the Committee at schilds3@utk.edu.

All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment and admission without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, and parental status, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state law. In accordance with the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the University of Tennessee affirmatively states that it does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or disability in its education programs and activities, and this policy extends to employment by the university. Requests for accommodations of a disability should be directed to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Accessibility, 1840 Melrose Avenue Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-3560 or eoa@utk.edu or (865)974-2498. Inquiries and charges of violation of Title VI (race, color and national origin), Title IX (sex), Section 504 (disability), the ADA (disability), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (age), sexual orientation, or veteran status should be directed to the Office of Investigation & Resolution 216 Business Incubator Building 2450 EJ. Chapman Drive Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 or (865)974-0717 or investigations@utk.edu.

About University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Our primary mission is to move forward the frontiers of human knowledge and enrich and elevate the citizens of the state of Tennessee, the nation, and the world. As the preeminent research-based, land-grant university in the state, UT embodies the spirit of excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity, outreach, and engagement attained by the nation’s finest public research institutions.

Connections working at University of Tennessee, Knoxville