Assistant Director, User Services
Internet Public Library
The iSchool at Drexel

Position Overview
Under the supervision of the IPL Directors, this position has overall
responsibility, coordination, and authority for the Internet Public
Library's (ipl.org) online reference and user services.  Specific primary
duties include overseeing the daily management of the service; recruiting,
instructing and supervising students and volunteers, both locally and
remotely; performing maintenance on the IPL website; and, assisting in the
development of the IPL collections

Description
- Overall responsibility, coordination, and authority for the Internet
Public Library's online reference and user services.
- Primary responsibility for overseeing the daily management of the
service and other related projects, and coordination of collection
development activity.  Handles incoming correspondence regarding the IPL
services and collections.
- Responsible for orderly flow of reference work, including timely
processing of incoming requests, archiving questions, supporting
volunteers and students, maintaining and building FARQs and Pathfinders,
and answering reference questions as time and demand permit.
- Instructs and supervises students in IPL reference question answering
policies and procedures.
- In the IPL educational laboratory for digital reference, works with
faculty and prepares instruction sessions for new classes of students at
the Drexel I-School and at other I Schools and LIS programs, reviews
students’ practice questions, and provides feedback and problem
assistance.  Evaluates their performance.  Also evaluates policy and
suggests amendments, revisions or new policies as needed.
- Recruits, trains and coordinates the work of IPL volunteer professionals
and communicates regularly with them.
- Trains and supervises advanced students, who assist in reference
administration tasks.
- Collects data and maintains records and files to support on-going
management and decision-making.
- Monitors the IPL website.  This position may require an unpredictable
set of work hours in coordinating volunteers, cleaning out incoming
questions in the role of reference administrator or answering unclaimed
questions that are nearing their deadline.
- Reviews and maintains reference collections and plans new sites as
appropriate.
- Responsible also for maintenance of reference service documentation and
web presence.
- May analyze data and produce reports.  Also participates in IPL
coordinator meetings; provides instruction and mentors students in the IPL
Workshop course, writes proposals; represents the IPL at professional
meetings and briefings.

Qualifications
Required: Graduate degree in library and information science or equivalent
program; public service experience in a digital reference service; working
knowledge of digital information resources; strong written and oral
communication skills; ability to work on a team and to collaborate;
experience in coordinating the work of others; demonstrated interest in,
and desire to participate in, national digital reference forums.

Desirable: Experience with user interface design and evaluation;
experience in teaching; experience in writing and publishing papers;
familiarity with Web authoring tools and server software

To Apply
Please visit www.drexeljobs.com to apply for this position.

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Joel Southern
Communications Specialist
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee
1345 Circle Park Drive, Suite 451
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
______________
(865) 974-6727
jsouthern at utk dot edu
www.sis.utk.edu