Collection Development Lead for Sciences and Agriculture

Do you have a passion for building collections that drive innovation in Agriculture and Life Sciences? Are you eager to lead a team of disciplinary experts dedicated to ensuring timely and equitable access to scholarly resources? Do you aspire to influence the future of scholarly publishing towards sustainability? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you!

Cornell University Library (CUL) seeks forward thinking applicants for the role of Collection Development Lead for Sciences and Agriculture. This pivotal position, reporting to the Director of Science and Agriculture Libraries, oversees both physical and online collections supporting Agriculture and Life Sciences. Additionally, you will also serve as the Lead of the Sciences Collection Development Team. In consultation with the Director of Collections and working closely with the other four Leads (Area Studies, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary), the Lead of Sciences will coordinate a team of disciplinary experts from across the CUL to build and sustain collections in Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry, Veterinary Medicine, Medical Sciences, Life Sciences, Agriculture and Engineering.

As the primary selector for Agriculture and Life Sciences,  the Collection Development Lead will assess, develop, and manage the distinctive and extensive collections based at Mann Library to meet the learning and research needs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), College of Human Ecology (CHE), and other related fields at Cornell University. Engaging faculty, staff and students through teaching, research support, and other activities, the forward-thinking Lead will establish an in-depth understanding of research data and information needs in Agriculture and Life Sciences fields and use it to inform decisions in collection development and management. In addition to managing the dedicated endowment funds, the Lead will be the subject experts on Agriculture and Life Sciences topics in the Sciences Collection Development team to advise on fund allocation and spending on collections in a diverse range of formats.

Leading the Sciences Team in CUL’s highly collaborative Collection Development Team model, the successful candidate is responsible for materials budget funds allocated to the Sciences disciplines. The Lead coordinates the group of subject experts, ensuring that available funds are effectively utilized to provide timely, sustainable, and equitable access to research and learning content that meets the needs of Cornell communities. Fostering a community of practice among the subject experts, the Lead engages the Team in setting collection development priorities, fostering data-informed decisions, advising the Director of Collections on materials budget allocation, and recommending collection policy and procedures. The Lead will also guide the team to collaborate with CUL’s Collections Data Analysis team in developing reports or tools for budget analysis, value assessment and decision-making.

As a Research, Teaching, and Extension (RTE) faculty member, the Collection Development Lead will engage in service, scholarship, and ongoing professional development to meet the requirements of promotion and reappointment at Cornell University Library.

Candidate Profile:

• A master’s degree in library and/or information science from an ALA-accredited institution or an advanced degree in a relevant discipline.
• At least six years’ professional experiences in libraries, including at least four years' experience. in the development of major print and digital collections in support of research and learning. 
• Demonstrated effective budget management skills and experience with a complex fund structure.
• Ability to lead, motivate, and work successfully with a team of professional colleagues.
• Excellent collegial, communication, and analytic skills, including the ability to work well independently, within multiple team environments, and with diverse groups of library staff. 
• A commitment to fostering diversity, inclusion and belonging in the organization where you work and/or in the communities that you engage.
• Evidence of professional contributions in collection development and/or scholarly communication, including publishing, creative works, presentations, and/or professional service at the state, regional, national, or international levels.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Background in STEM fields, including but not limited to Agriculture, Plant, Food, Biological, Physical or Life Sciences.  
• Demonstrated knowledge of research and scholarly publishing processes and trends.
• Experience with assessment of collections and resource-related services. 
• Experience with library-vendor and publisher negotiation for scholarly resources. 
  1. A cover letter;

This position is located in Ithaca, New York. The selected candidate will typically work on the Ithaca campus four days per week, with potential for entering into a flexible work arrangement to allow remote work one day per week. The university reserves the right to modify, suspend, revoke or terminate the hybrid work arrangement at any time.

The New York Convenience of employer guidelines require New York State individual tax reporting and withholdings for this position. Additional individual state income tax filings may also be required if working temporarily outside New York State.

Our Vision: Empowering Cornell’s research and learning community with deep expertise, innovative services, and outstanding collections strengthened by strategic partnerships.

Our Mission: Cornell University Library promotes a culture of broad inquiry and supports the University’s mission to discover, preserve, and disseminate knowledge and creative expression. It engages with the ongoing transformations of society to deliver world-class physical and digital content and services critical to research, education, and outreach, now and in the future. The Library acts globally, supporting Cornell’s land grant mission in New York State and beyond, and builds partnerships within and outside the university. It invests in its staff, collections, and physical and virtual libraries. And, it serves as a neutral and trusted party supporting information access and scholarly communication.

Diversity and Inclusion: As a university founded to be a place where “…any person can find instruction in any study,” diversity and inclusion are at the core of our values and mission. We strive to be a welcoming, caring, healthy, and equitable community where students, faculty, and staff with different backgrounds, perspectives, abilities, and experiences can learn, innovate, and work in an environment of respect, and feel empowered to engage in any community conversation. As a member of the Cornell University community, it is important to recognize our shared responsibility to each other to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all.  Cornell Core values

Benefits:  Our comprehensive benefits package includes 22 vacation days, 13 paid holidays, health insurance, life insurance, university retirement contributions, childcare and adoption assistance, and child tuition reimbursement. Funding is available to support professional training and research. More information regarding Cornell’s generous contract college benefits can be found at https://hr.cornell.edu/jobs/benefits-snapshot . We expect to fill this position at the academic rank of Associate Librarian. The anticipated salary range is $78,000-$110,000 and will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. 

Relocation assistance may be provided.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

How to Apply: All candidates must apply online via the Cornell Careers site: See job requisition ID WDR-00049898. For full consideration, please include the following with your application:

1. A Curriculum Vitae;
2. A statement supporting diverse communities. To continue to meet our educational, research and service goals and to meet our commitment to our founding principle, we hire and invest in faculty members who share our historical commitment to pursuing knowledge for …any person…in any study. We ask applicants for all faculty positions to share their experiences and/or approaches (past, current or future). Applicants can submit a stand-alone statement or embed the information in other parts of their application materials.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until a viable pool of applicants is identified; early submission is strongly encouraged. Although we prefer to receive your application as one, multi-page pdf document, we will accept multiple documents in other formats.