Job Tittle: Chief Librarian, University of Toronto Mississauga

Date Posted: 07/05/2024

Closing Date: 08/08/2024

Req ID: 38542

Job Category: Librarian - Permanent Status Stream

Faculty/Division: UofT Mississauga

Department: UTM: Library

Campus: University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM)

Are you looking for meaningful work in a diverse, change-making community?

Work where scholars and students from across Canada and around the world come together to discover, learn, and collaborate. Take the next step in your career with one of Canada’s top employers and one of the world’s leading public research universities: the University of Toronto.

Your Opportunity

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) invites applications for a visionary, strategic, and experienced library leader for the position of Chief Librarian. The Chief Librarian will lead UTM’s thriving library and 50-member library team, which includes 21 librarians and 29 staff. They will also collaborate with academic and administrative colleagues across all portfolios to elevate the university’s mission, including priorities of UTM’s strategic framework.

Inclusive, innovative, and collegial, UTM’s Chief Librarian will set library-specific objectives; shape campus-wide strategy; and create data-informed plans for budget, space, and human resources. They will promote a user-centered approach to library services; cultivate a culture of metric-based assessment and continuous improvement; and deliver outstanding programs and resources that advance UTM’s teaching, research, and student engagement goals, including UTM’s commitments to equity and truth and reconciliation.

The Chief Librarian will also build strong, reciprocal relationships, including with donors, alumni, and community members; represent the campus and university on major professional associations; and practice a form of generous, collaborative leadership, which encourages staff to take chances, develop professionally, and experiment with new ideas.

The Chief Librarian serves on both the senior leadership team at UTM and the university-wide executive committee at University of Toronto Libraries. They report directly to the Vice-President and Principal, with a dotted-line reporting relationship to U of T’s University Chief Librarian for university-wide library planning and librarian policy administration. That means that this position has a special opportunity to make broad and deep connections that create positive change on a large scale.

About UTM and U of T

UTM is the second largest division of Canada's leading university, powered by the ingenuity of 18 academic departments and institutes, 16,100 students and 1,250 faculty, staff, and librarians. Together, with partners across U of T and alumni in 170 countries around the world, our community pursues knowledge to build a future better than the present: one that's healthier, more sustainable, more beautiful, and more just. We have the privilege to do it on the traditional lands of the Wendat and Seneca and Treaty 13 territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, where we seek to answer calls for truth and reconciliation and root all our work in reciprocal, right relations.

UTM is one of three campuses of the University of Toronto: Canada’s largest and top-ranked research university, which connects 97,000 students and 25,000 faculty, staff, and librarians across Mississauga, Toronto, and Scarborough. From the discovery of insulin to the present day, U of T has transformed society by challenging the impossible. Our twelve innovation accelerators launch more start-ups than any other public university in North America. Our students thrive as the most employable graduates in Canada. Our community leads by example as the most sustainable university in the world.

We’re delighted to welcome those who want to learn more about what we do, including about campus- and university-wide goals described in UTM’s strategic framework, U of T’s three priorities, and U of T’s statement of institutional purpose.

About the UTM Library and the University of Toronto Libraries

The UTM Library (UTML) is based in the award-winning 86,000 square-foot Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre, which opened in 2006 and now welcomes over 10,000 visitors daily. It brings together expert librarians and staff, signature special collections, such as the Syd Bolton archive of video games, and technology-rich learning and research spaces, including the Li Koon Chun Finance Learning Centre in the campus’ Innovation Complex.

UTML makes important contributions to the University of Toronto Libraries system (UTL), Canada’s largest, which links 40+ libraries across our three campuses. UTL perennially ranks as one of the leading university libraries in the world. Its physical collections span more than 12 million print and microform volumes, alongside one of the most comprehensive collections of electronic materials in North America.

Candidate Profile

Required Qualifications

UTM seeks a dynamic, collaborative Chief Librarian with a Master’s degree in library, archival, or information science from an accredited institution and a professional record of excellence. The successful candidate must qualify for at least the rank of librarian III with permanent status on hire, as defined by U of T’s policies for librarians. Candidates must also have the following characteristics, recognizing that no candidate will have all in equal measure:

• Significant experience in increasingly senior academic library positions, especially those involving comprehensive administrative, supervisory, and resource management responsibilities.
• Strong contributions to the field of academic librarianship, including peer-reviewed publications and presentations, research collaboration projects, professional engagement, or other related activities.
• Outstanding communication and leadership skills, including the ability to:
  • listen openly, welcome challenging conversations, and solve problems collaboratively;
  • engender confidence, co-operation, and consensus and inspire trust and respect;
  • build strong teams, mentor staff effectively, and foster a positive work culture;
  • thrive in an environment of change and nurture that capacity in others.
• Proven ability to:
  • incorporate equity, diversity, and inclusion, accessibility, and truth and reconciliation into library initiatives and relationships;
  • advance excellence in research, teaching, and learning, as aligned with large-scale strategic plans;
  • succeed in a complex institution that balances diverse priorities and invites continuous learning;
  • develop plans for user-centered library services and inclusive student and faculty outreach and support;
  • think strategically, introduce evidence-based innovations, and make sound judgements;
  • create reciprocal partnerships connecting diverse faculty, librarians, staff, and students.
• Substantial knowledge of:
  • higher education trends impacting research-intensive universities and libraries;
  • the power and purpose of library special collections and curriculum-integrated library spaces;
  • best practices in library-based teaching support and knowledge preservation;
  • current and emerging technologies, including those enabling digital scholarship.

Preferred Characteristics

In addition, we also welcome candidates who have:

• Built skills in project management, financial and space planning, and sustainable, operational efficiency.
• Strengthened cultures of continuous improvement and data-informed planning and assessment.
• Pursued new opportunities in scholarly communications, copyright, and open access initiatives.
• Contributed to, or served as members on, relevant professional library associations.
• Connected library-based university programs with communities beyond the university.
• Supported, or are enthusiastic to support, collaborations on major fundraising campaigns.

Terms of Appointment

• The Chief Librarian is appointed for a term not to exceed seven years; terms are renewable without limit.
• Their position as a librarian is in the permanent status stream, with the rank of at least librarian III.
• Salary and appointment level are based on experience and qualifications.
• Minimum salary: LIB III: $ 102,023; LIB IV $120,209.
• U of T Librarians are members of the University of Toronto Faculty Association.

Additional information:

Benefits: We offer generous benefits packages to all employees. Additional information is available at: https://people.utoronto.ca/careers/benefits/

The University of Toronto Libraries thanks all applicants but will only contact applicants selected for an interview.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

How to Apply:

Application Materials Required: A cover letter, curriculum vitae, and contact information for three references of which at least two have supervised your work. Please attach a single electronic file (MS Word or pdf) with a file name convention of Surname, FirstName, Req# 38542]

Diversity Statement

The University of Toronto embraces Diversity and is building a culture of belonging that increases our capacity to effectively address and serve the interests of our global community. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, Black and racialized persons, women, persons with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual and gender identities. We value applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and recognize that diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise are essential to strengthening our academic mission.

As part of your application, you will be asked to complete a brief Diversity Survey. This survey is voluntary. Any information directly related to you is confidential and cannot be accessed by search committees or human resources staff. Results will be aggregated for institutional planning purposes. For more information, please see http://uoft.me/UP.

Accessibility Statement

The University strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.

The University is committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities.

If you require any accommodations at any point during the application and hiring process, please contact utlhr@utoronto.ca

Quick Links

• University of Toronto Library, including UTL’s Anti-Racism and EDI Statements.
• University of Toronto and University of Toronto Mississauga
• University of Toronto Policies for Librarians.