AcademicLibraryJobDescriptions:CLIPP#46 Format: Paperback

The College Library Information on Policy and Practice (CLIPP) publishing program, under the auspices of the College Libraries Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, provides college and small university libraries analysis and examples of library practices and procedures.

Academic Library Job Descriptions: CLIPP #46 contains a thorough literature review and bibliography, analysis and discussion of survey results, and sample job descriptions for a variety of positions including assistant director of library services, research and instruction librarian, outreach and engagement librarian, and more.

Small to mid-sized academic libraries, like the institutions they are part of, focus mainly on teaching undergraduate students and how best to support their learning. Without large master's and doctoral research programs, these libraries provide extensive guidance and services for undergraduate student success. CLIPP #46 seeks to explore how these libraries are staffed in order to meet their needs and the needs of their students and faculty, and how they are embracing new and emerging trends in librarianship to create new positions or reinvent existing ones. It examines how changes in the overall higher education environment are affecting the types and numbers of positions that these libraries currently have, and looks at the trends and importance of soft skills in small and mid-sized academic libraries.

Kathleen Baril is the director of Heterick Memorial Library at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.

Jennifer Donley is the cataloging and knowledge architect librarian at Heterick Memorial Library, where she and Kathleen Baril have worked together since 2010.