Head Librarian Job at Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York

Position Title: Head Librarian

Department: Education & Interpretation

FLSA Status: Full-time, Exempt

Reports To: Vice President of Education & Interpretation

Grade: 5

Position Description:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s head librarianoversees library collections (general, special, archival, rare, and art) including their development, maintenance, preservation and conservation assessment, and access. The librarian works to share the collection with various audiences, connecting visitors to the collection, developing bridges to unique aspects of the collection, and managing visitor queries regarding the Garden and the collections.

About the Library:

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) library is committed to teaching about plants and the environment and the legacy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The audience for the library ranges from BBG membership to the general public—visitors to the Garden, students of all ages, horticulturists, gardeners, plant enthusiasts, artists, researchers, and scholars. Patrons of the library are local residents and patrons worldwide.

The library also provides key research support to the staff of the Garden and plays a vital role in program development with gardeners, educators, program staff, botanists, media and digital team, public relations personnel, and executive leadership.

The library is the caretaker for archival material that represents the legacy of BBG as a world-renowned urban garden and a world leader in education. In addition, the library holds important material about plants, botany, and botanic garden history, with some material over 500 years old.

As a 110-year-old institution, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an important source of history about urban gardening in the borough. BBG’s archives and one-of-a-kind collection are an important resource for those interested in this history.

About the library collections:

The collections consist of books, journals, pamphlets, images, artifacts, fine art, and the institutions archives of records, personal papers, and images housed in the beautiful Reading Room in the Administration Building, and collections in storage offsite.

Contents of the collection :

• 70 active serials and additional back titles
• Monograph titles, slides (some film, some glass), photos (largely positives, but also glass plate negatives), engraving plates, art and artifact pieces, pamphlets, archival documents

Responsibilities:

Collections management:

• Develop library collection based on institutional strategy and in consultation with the vice president of Education including accessioning and deaccessioning of collections as determined by institutional direction.
• Oversee BBG’s library collections, including physical organization, conservation and preservation priorities, and collection safety; maintain, care for, and manage all collections including the rare book room and art collections.
• Periodically review and update the institutional collection management plan.
• Research and maintain institutional knowledge and history as a resource for staff and external researchers.
• Maintain external-facing representation of BBG’s library for internal and external use.
• Manage offsite storage of collection, calling items back and transferring to offsite storage as needed.
• Manage library staff and volunteers.
• Organize and assist with record management and transfer in collaboration with business office and mailroom staff.
• Oversee, maintain, and develop the automated library system and train library staff including volunteers and part-time staff in use of automated library system.
• Train library staff and volunteers and manage processing and cataloging of accessioned or deaccessioned items (monographs, serials, archives, special collections), and record management files.
• Prepare and maintain library budget with vice president of Education & Interpretation.

Audience engagement:

• Plan and collaborate on programmatic engagements to connect users to unique aspects of the collection through events, exhibits, and other kinds of programming for staff, visiting groups, BBG program participants, and BBG volunteers.
• Perform curatorial work associated with exhibitions and other content.
• Oversee the gardener’s resource line and responses to visitor questions.
• Set access policies and arrange for access to all collections.
• Assist with provision of reference services to BBG staff.
• Train BBG staff and program participants in library use and facilities.

Qualifications:

• MLS from an ALA accredited program and minimum of 5 years of “special library” technical and reference service experience
• Experience with both facilitating access to special collections and their conservation and preservation
• Experience with visitor engagement through programming preferred
• Familiarity with core metadata approaches, library system tasks, design projects, and backend database architecture
• Lucidea/SydneyEnterprise library system experience helpful
• A degree or equivalent experience in botany or horticulture strongly preferred
• Academic or special library experience preferred
• Ability to work with materials in foreign languages preferred
• Passion for connecting users to resources

Compensation and Benefits:

• Salary Range: $81,000–$105,000
  
  Brooklyn Botanic Garden considers several factors when determining the appropriate salary to offer a candidate within the listed salary range. These factors include (but are not limited to), the scope and responsibilities of the position, a candidate’s relevant work experience and education/training, job skills, equity across the institution, as well as market and organizational considerations.
  
• BBG offers a comprehensive benefits package including:
  
  • Health Insurance that begins the date of hire; employees are offered coverage through the City of New York’s Office of Labor Relations and can choose from a variety of plans, some at no cost to the employee.
  • Dental/Vision/Prescription Benefits
  • Pre-Tax Benefits including flexible spending, dependent care, transit/parking accounts
  • CIRS Pension/401K/Life Insurance: BBG is a member of the Cultural Institutions Retirement System (CIRS) and offers a pension and 401K plan for eligible employees. Life insurance is provided through CIRS as well.
  • Life Insurance and Long-Term Disability Insurance
  • Generous Paid Time Off including sick time, vacation time, and 13 annual holidays
  • As a 501(c)3, BBG is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Eligible Employer.
  • Museum Pass, which provides employees the opportunity to enter many museums in New York City for free

To be considered for this position, please submit an application by clicking Apply below. Applications submitted without a résumé and cover letter will not be considered.

No telephone calls for position inquiries, please. Applicants with disabilities who need assistance with the online system, or who may require a reasonable accommodation during the application process, should contact Human Resources at hr@bbg.org .

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

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