Director - Law School Library

Title: Director

Department: Law School Library

School or Management Center: Law

Location: Gund Hall

Supervisor Name and Title: Dean

POSITION SUMMARY

The director is the senior manager of the law school library, with responsibility for all aspects of library operations, including: budgeting, facility planning, hiring and supervision of library staff, oversight of technology needs, strategic planning with respect to the future growth and development of the law library, and initiating and monitoring library programs and services. This person ensures that the law library's collection and resources are sufficient to meet the primary goal of supporting the teaching and research needs of the school of law's faculty, staff and students; ensures that the law library is in compliance with accreditation standards of the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools; and supports the library's relations with the law school, the university, library consortia, and professional organizations. The director has teaching, law school committee service, scholarship, and/or other administrative responsibilities. The director also represents the law school and university by providing leadership and service in local, state, regional and national professional organizations. The librarian's role in the academy is changing, and the director must be on the forward edge of that change, able to collaborate closely with the academic enterprise and to apply innovative thinking, effective planning, and tireless advocacy to these and other challenges. This position is a non tenure-track Instructor role. The director reports to the dean of the school of law.

 ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

1.       Responsible for the budget, personnel, collection development, facilities, policies and procedures, technology needs of the law library.

2.       Develops objectives, strategies and plans for addressing short- and long-term library issues, develops library services, coordinates library and scholarship repository projects, coordinates space planning efforts (including collection access and storage).

3.       Assures delivery of quality services to law faculty and students, university faculty and students, and other library users through establishment of policies and procedures. Guides by diplomatic handling of conflicts and problems.

4.       Coordinates with other campus library administrators on campus concerning university-wide library services and issues.

5.       Represents the law library through service on various university, law school, and faculty committees.

6.       Work closely with the law school finance office to ensure accurate allocation, reporting and planning of law library funding.

7.       Provides leadership in evaluating existing services and in developing new services.

8.       Conducts domestic, foreign, and international legal and non-legal research utilizing print and electronic research tools.

9.       Consults, as necessary, with colleagues on a local, regional and national basis. Publishes articles in law reviews and/or in library science literature. Presents at professional conferences. Plans, prepares and delivers presentations to local area librarians and attorneys and assists in coordinating local programs.

10.   Counsels faculty and students in devising research strategies and identifying and using appropriate research materials in all formats. Advises and instructs students on law review and law journals concerning research and citation issues. Provides and coordinates training and instruction to law library staff in various aspects of conducting legal research. Provides training for law school staff concerning library services.

11.   Advises librarians, faculty, and staff concerning challenging reference and research questions.

12.   Maintains knowledge of copyright issues and works with library staff to develop procedures for complying with copyright requirements, including those applicable to electronic media.

13.   Devises and identifies means for gathering appropriate service and management statistics. Maintains awareness of resource sharing and document delivery opportunities and developments. Maintains awareness of relevant developments and professional issues through review of professional literature and attendance at professional conferences and workshops.

14.   Oversees and directs the development and maintenance of the law library website. Coordinates with the law school webmaster concerning the law library’s needs with regard to the internet and intranet.

15.   Advises and directs staff concerning the development of electronic resources.

16.   Maintains awareness of updates and changes in university’s automated library system, and communicates those changes to staff.

17.   Oversees originality investigations of SJD theses.

18.   Assists law school administration and the university’s Office of General Counsel in investigating alleged violations of the law school honor code. 

NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Perform other duties as assigned.

CONTACTS

School: Frequent contact with the dean, faculty, staff and students of the law school.

University: Regular contact with other university students, faculty, and professional staff of other campus libraries, the associate provost and university librarian, the general counsel’s office, and other non-library related departments.

External: Regular contact with publishers and other content providers.  Moderate contact with law alumni and other members of the practicing bar, members of the legal and/or librarianship communities.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

Directly supervise three professional librarians. Indirectly supervise the work of additional professional librarians and support staff positions. Indirectly supervise students, interns, and temporary employees.

REQUIRED SKILLS

1.       Excellent written and oral communication skills.

2.       Ability to read, analyze and interpret the most complex documents, including legal documents.

3.       Ability to work independently and exercise considerable independent judgment.

4.       Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to function effectively in a team environment and to work effectively with a wide variety of people.

5.       Ability to assess needs, assign priorities, set goals and objectives, develop strategies, evaluate outcomes and make recommendations.

6.       Ability to translate directives into plans for action, to coordinate with others, to schedule projects and maintain follow-up to completion, to address unanticipated problems and to bring projects to completion. 

7.       Ability to initiate appropriate organizational change.

8.       Ability to make sound and informed decisions; to perceive the impact and implications of decisions; and to commit to action, even in uncertain circumstances.

9.       Ability to motivate and guide others toward goal accomplishment and to coach, mentor and counsel staff.

10.   Ability to negotiate and to advocate a position in seeking mutually acceptable solutions.

11.   Ability to deal effectively and sensitively with confidential and difficult personnel matters.

12.   Ability to mediate difficult situations.

13.   Strong skills in using Westlaw, Lexis, the Internet and other electronic resources for legal and non-legal research.

14.   Strong knowledge of legal resources and legal research strategies.

15.   Strong knowledge of and familiarity with law library collections and government documents.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Standard office environment.

In compliance with the City of Cleveland’s Pay Transparency Ordinance (effective October 27, 2025), the annual starting base salary range for this position is from $140,000.00 – $150,000.00 . CWRU considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer. University employees enjoy a comprehensive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare, retirement plans, tuition assistance, and paid time off.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience: Ten years as a professional librarian, with increasing supervisory experience, required. Three years library budgeting experience, required. Experience using automated library systems and providing services in a networked academic law library is required. Experience in selecting legal materials and in making collection decisions is required. Experience teaching legal research is preferred. Experience using multimedia to support teaching is preferred.

Education/Licensing: Master of Library Science degree from an ALA accredited school required.  J.D. degree from ABA accredited law school.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit the following: