Please email completed forms to librarydeansoffice@stcloudstate.edu no later than noon on Thursday, October 5.

According to the email below, library faculty are asked to provide their feedback regarding the qualifications for a possible faculty line at the library.

1. In the fall of 2013 during a faculty meeting attended by the back than library dean and during a discussion of an article provided by the dean, it was established that leading academic libraries in this country are seeking to break the mold of “library degree” and seek fresh ideas for the reinvention of the academic library by hiring faculty with more diverse (degree-wise) background.
2. Is this still the case at the SCSU library? The “democratic” search for the answer of this question does not yield productive results, considering that the majority of the library faculty are “reference” and they “democratically” overturn votes, who see this library to be put on 21^st century standards and rather seek more “reference” bodies for duties, which were recognized even by the same reference librarians as obsolete.
   It seems that the majority of the SCSU library are “purists” in the sense of seeking professionals with broader background (other than library, even “reference” skills).
   In addition, most of the current SCSU librarians are opposed to a second degree, as in acquiring more qualification, versus seeking just another diploma. There is a certain attitude of stagnation / intellectual incest, where new ideas are not generated and old ideas are prepped in “new attire” to look as innovative and/or 21^st
   Last but not least, a consistent complain about workforce shortages (the attrition politics of the university’s reorganization contribute to the power of such complain) fuels the requests for reference librarians and, instead of looking for new ideas, new approaches and new work responsibilities, the library reorganization conversation deteriorates into squabbles for positions among different department.
   Most importantly, the narrow sightedness of being stuck in traditional work description impairs  most of the librarians to see potential allies and disruptors. E.g., the insistence on the supremacy of “information literacy” leads SCSU librarians to the erroneous conclusion of the exceptionality of information literacy and the disregard of multi[meta] literacies, thus depriving the entire campus of necessary 21^st century skills such as visual literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, etc.
   Simultaneously, as mentioned above about potential allies and disruptors, the SCSU librarians insist on their “domain” and if they are not capable of leading meta-literacies instructions, they would also not allow and/or support others to do so.
   Considering the observations above, the following qualifications must be considered:
3. According to the information in this blog post:
   https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/06/14/technology-requirements-samples/
   for the past year and ½, academic libraries are hiring specialists with the following qualifications and for the following positions (bolded and / or in red). Here are some highlights:
   Positions
   digital humanities
   Librarian and Instructional Technology Liaison

library Specialist: Data Visualization & Collections Analytics

Qualifications

Advanced degree required, preferably in education, educational technology, instructional design, or MLS with an emphasis in instruction and assessment.

Programming skills – Demonstrated experience with one or more metadata and scripting languages (e.g.Dublin Core, XSLT, Java, JavaScript, Python, or PHP)
Data visualization skills
multi [ meta] literacy skills

Data curation, helping students working with data
Experience with website creation and design in a CMS environment and accessibility and compliance issues
Demonstrated a high degree of facility with technologies and systems germane to the 21st century library, and be well versed in the issues surrounding scholarly communications and compliance issues (e.g. author identifiers, data sharing software, repositories, among others)

Bilingual

Provides and develops awareness and knowledge related to digital scholarship and research lifecycle for librarians and staff.

Experience developing for, and supporting, common open-source library applications such as Omeka, ArchiveSpace, Dspace,

Responsibilities
Establishing best practices for digital humanities labs, networks, and services

Assessing, evaluating, and peer reviewing DH projects and librarians
Actively promote TIGER or GRIC related activities through social networks and other platforms as needed.
Coordinates the transmission of online workshops through Google HangoutsScript metadata transformations and digital object processing using BASH, Python, and XSLT

liaison consults with faculty and students in a wide range of disciplines on best practices for teaching and using data/statistical software tools such as R, SPSS, Stata, and MatLab.

In response to the form attached to the Friday, September 29, email regarding St. Cloud State University Library Position Request Form:

1. Title
   Digital Initiatives Librarian
2. Responsibilities:
   TBD, but generally:
   – works with faculty across campus on promoting digital projects and other 21^st century projects. Works with the English Department faculty on positioning the SCSU library as an equal participants in the digital humanities initiatives on campus

• Works with the Visualization lab to establish the library as the leading unit on campus in interpretation of big data
• Works with academic technology services on promoting library faculty as the leading force in the pedagogical use of academic technologies.

3. Quantitative data justification
   this is a mute requirement for an innovative and useful library position. It can apply for a traditional request, such as another “reference” librarian. There cannot be a quantitative data justification for an innovative position, as explained to Keith Ewing in 2015. In order to accumulate such data, the position must be functioning at least for six months.
4. Qualitative justification: Please provide qualitative explanation that supports need for this position.
   Numerous 21^st century academic tendencies right now are scattered across campus and are a subject of political/power battles rather than a venue for campus collaboration and cooperation. Such position can seek the establishment of the library as the natural hub for “sandbox” activities across campus. It can seek a redirection of using digital initiatives on this campus for political gains by administrators and move the generation and accomplishment of such initiatives to the rightful owner and primary stakeholders: faculty and students.
   Currently, there are no additional facilities and resources required. Existing facilities and resources, such as the visualization lab, open source and free application can be used to generate the momentum of faculty working together toward a common goal, such as, e.g. digital humanities.