Attention: who wants to work at Snell?

 

Snell Library has recently posted two open positions for hiring. Both are full time positions that all may apply to. Below are descriptions of the positions.

1. Advancement and Marketing Assistant, Northeastern University Libraries

Help us to grow! This position assists with advancement and marketing efforts of the University Libraries. Major responsibilities include setting up appointments with donors, making thank you calls, drafting correspondence to donors and alumni, coordinating tasks, communicating with advancement and marketing staff across campus, running database reports, and assisting the department head with priority projects. S/he will also be responsible for payroll and monitoring departmental expenditures and the department budget. In addition s/he will hire, train, and supervise 1-2 coops and 3-6 work study students. Other responsibilities include collaborating with the Programming & Communications committee and managing coop students on marketing and programming projects such as author talks and panel discussions.
  
  
 
Qualifications   This individual must have excellent written and verbal communication skills, very strong interpersonal abilities, a positive attitude, and be detail oriented. S/he should feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling anyone. S/he should be able to prioritize, manage multiple projects, and to meet project deadlines. S/he must be able to work independently and in teams, possess decision-making abilities and problem-solving skills, and effectively supervise others. S/he should be flexible, adaptable, and creative. Eagerness to grow and learn is a plus. Experience with client relations, sales, or advancement experience is preferred. Two+ years computer experience working with databases, word processing programs, and generating reports is necessary. Experience with SalesForce is a plus. Budget experience is preferred. Bachelor’s degree is required. Flexibility in work schedule is required (some evening and weekends).

If you have questions about this position at Northeastern, please contact:
Maria Taesil Hudson Carpenter
Director of Advancement, Marketing & Communications
Northeastern University Libraries
617.373.2821 o
857.719.8009 c
m.carpenter@neu.edu

2. Digital Library Developer
Are you interested in applying your technical skills in an academic environment? Do you think about the future of libraries, scholarly publishing, and digital information management systems?  Do you enjoy working with dedicated colleagues and solving interesting problems?  If so, consider applying to be our Digital Library Developer!

As part of a new Digital Library Management department, the Digital Library Developer will develop and maintain the core technical infrastructure for a comprehensive digital library/repository service.  The successful candidate will work closely with colleagues in the Libraries and in Information Services and will play a leading role in designing the primary architecture, workflows and applications for Northeastern’s digital repository service.

Typical duties include: working with open-source and commercial applications to develop an OAIS compliant infrastructure that supports the ingestion, storage/preservation, and distribution of digital assets.  The Digital Library Developer will be responsible for designing, developing, testing and deploying new technologies, tools and resources to extend and enhance digital content and services, developing application programming interfaces (APIs) to facilitate multiple submission and access pathways; and collaborating with IS colleagues to implement appropriate identity management and authentication policies.
Qualifications
Qualifications for this exciting position include:
–    Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and four to six years of significant development experience in an object oriented development environment such as Java.
–    Strong working knowledge of Java, SQL, XML/XSL.
–    Experience with web programming frameworks such as PhP, Rails, or Django.
–    Demonstrated experience with Unix, Unix utilities, device handling, data storage, and basic UNIX administration.
–    Knowledge of current web development standards and cross platform compatibility and accessibility techniques.
–    Experience with Open Source software.
–    Excellent oral and written skills.
–    Strong interpersonal skills; ability to work successfully in a collaborative environment.
–    Experience with IT in a higher education setting desirable.
Additional Information
Questions about this position or Northeastern’s digital library program should be sent to Patrick Yott at p.yott@neu.edu.

To apply for these jobs:

If applying from the Careers @ Northeastern site:
1. Click on the ‘Add to My Positions’ button;
2. Click on the ‘View My Positions’ button;
3. Click on the ‘Apply for Positions’ button;
4. Follow the instructions on how to complete ‘The Application Process’.

Important: remember that these jobs will be listed under the heading “College/Area: Libraries”

If applying from an external job site:
1. Copy the following URL and paste it into a new browser window:
https://psoft.neu.edu/psc/neuhrprdpub/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/NEU_HR.NEU_JOBS.GBL
2. Find the position(s) you are interested in applying for and follow the instructions available on the Careers @ Northeastern site.

Please contact only the aforementioned staff if you are interested in applying; feel free to refer friends outside of Northeastern who may be qualified/interested.

Furthermore, spread this blog post around!

-Damon G

National Parks Magazine

NCPA image

A new resource is now available at the Library. The National Parks Magazine may be read online as an EJournal. Please note that your browser must enable cookies to access this webpage.

Archival copies of this magazine from 1969-1970 are also available in the Snell Periodicals stacks on the third floor. The call number is S1N2500. We are happy about this new resource and hope those interested will find it useful!

Students at the Library

This post is not about students who use the library. We all know that tons of students find us useful. This post is about students who work here; some have for many semesters, others have begun only recently. Most are work study students, several are co-ops. Below are their profiles, with pictures.

(Co-op Jordan Hellman, 2013)

(Graphic Design Co-op Steve Olimpio, 2013)

(Work Study student Kristin Richardson, 2011)

(Erin Beach, Resource Sharing)

(Vicky Lucas, part time worker, circulation)

(Joyce Lin, DMDS co-op)

If there is anybody I missed who wishes to be profiled, please let me know. I’m sure there are. (Unfortunately for my ego, I can’t profile myself. No longer a student.)

Cinephilia of The Hub

Being a film fanatic, I want to express my appreciation of  The Hub’s numerous books on cinema. Each time I wander back there, I see a new book on film. A few weeks ago I sat down and read Akira Kurosawa: master of cinema, compiled by the film historian Peter Cowie, and today I skimmed through a scholarly book on portrayals of  immigration in World Cinema. I also was glad to see that David Thomson’s The Moment of Psycho is available, which allowed me to include it in the summer reading exhibit I recently put together with Krissy. There is a large book on Fellini’s films called Fellini: The Films, which is similar to the Kurosawa book in size, reliance on pictures and biographical structure. There are certainly more.

I found these books mainly because I was looking for them. (The Kurosawa and Fellini books noticeably tower above the dinky paperbacks, though.) But at the same time, they are so well-organized they are unmissable. Most of the film books seem to be placed in the middle row of the Hub’s shelves. This makes them much easier to find than the section on the third floor for books on films, because in that section they are mixed in with VHS’s and DVD’s.

Whenever I look at a book on movies, with only a few exceptions, I feel as if I am one of the last people to be doing such a thing. I feel as though nobody takes criticism seriously anymore, and even movies are not taken seriously in the traditional sense. These sentiments can be backed up with other data and observation, but that’s for a different piece. This motivates me to find out more about them. But I don’t feel this way in the Hub; I figure, if this is a newly created space, popular with students, then perhaps students wanted more film books? Or maybe just the professors? Whatever the case, it is a pleasant surprise. But I might still be the only one who actually reads them for pleasure.

University of California vs. Nature Publishing Group

Have you heard about the confrontation between Nature Publishing Group and the University of California faculty and library? If not, or if you want more information, read on!

In short, The Nature Publishing Group (NPG) (which publishes Nature along with many other journals) wanted to renegotiate its contract with the University of California system, with a price increase amounting to about 400% (or over one million dollars). The University not only resisted such an increase, but some faculty there have organized a boycott of Nature journals (PDF): no submitting papers, no peer review, no editorial boards, and so on. In other words, withholding their mostly-free labor in the face of this price increase. Since then, NPG has responded and UC/California Digital Library has responded to that response (PDF).
(Text borrowed from Steve Lawson, with his permission.)

This is a topic that touches on a lot of different aspects of scholarly communication — faculty as authors, the peer review process, journal prices… I welcome discussion, and will post updates as they come.

More reading on the subject:

Bidwell, Allie. 14 June 2010. UC Librarians Urge Professors To Boycott Publishing Company. The Daily Californian. http://www.dailycal.org/article/109651/uc_librarians_urge_professors_to_boycott_publishin

Howard, Jennifer. 8 June 2010. U. of California Tries Just Saying No to Rising Journal Costs. Chronicle of Higher Education. http://0-chronicle.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/article/U-of-California-Tries-Just/65823/

Oder, Norman. 24 June 2010. UC Libraries, Nature Publishing Group in Heated Dispute Over Pricing; Boycott Possible. Library Journal. http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/885271-264/uc_libraries_nature_publishing_group.html.csp

Smith, Richard. 10 June 2010. University of California takes on Nature Publishing Group. BMJ Group Blogs. http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/06/10/richard-smith-university-of-california-takes-on-nature-publishing-group/