Young Adult Librarian - New Canaan Library

Young Adult Librarian - New Canaan Library. The young adult librarian is passionate about connecting and building relationships with adolescents in order to spark curiosity, fuel discussion and enrich lives through the collections, services and programs of the library. This is a permanent, full time position with one weekend day and one evening per week serving the youth (13-18) of our community. The position reports to the executive director and is a member of the leadership team. New Canaan Library serves a community of 20,000 about 1 hour from NYC in Fairfield County Connecticut. Role Purpose: This position is responsible for the planning, delivery and evaluation of programs and services that meet the expressed and anticipated needs of our young adult community. Responsibilities: Actively participate in long range strategic planning for all of library as well as youth area; Advocate for youth in the library; Develop and grow an active teen advisory group; Create and contribute to services, programs and collections that attract an increasing number of targeted clientele (13-18 year olds); Collaborate with colleagues in the Children’s and Adult services teams; Feed in to collection manager to develop the YA collections; Seek out and form partnerships with other relevant organizations in the local community; Maintain the teen area of library website; Develop a productive relationship with the local school librarians; Set goals, measure impact, for long term programming and services; Provide information and readers advisory to target group; Coordinate any volunteers in the YA area; Lead and participate in project teems; Develop and maintain clear documentation for all programs and services; Meet negotiated timelines and deadlines; Create collateral to promote programs and services using relevant tools. Skills and attributes: Empathetic with a genuine interest in youth, and an understanding of adolescent development; Develops rapport easily with teens; Focused on excellent user experiences for adolescents in the library environment ( physical and virtual); Fluent user of social media; Excellent communications skills; Confident and capable user of internet/communications technologies; Deep and broad knowledge of YA literature; Agile, able to adapt easily to a changing environment and work on multiple projects simultaneously; Confident, outgoing and self motivated; Personal commitment to ongoing professional development and expertise in youth librarianship including currency on youth services in libraries; Confident and effective public speaker; Both participates in and leads in-house professional development with colleagues. Competencies: 1. Focus on positive user experience. 2. Innovation in development of services and programs. 3. Continuous improvement: monitoring and evaluation of relevant collections, services and programs. Use of evidence based decision making. 4. Professional demeanor. Qualifications and Experience: 1. Master’s Degree in Library Science from ALA accredited university- required. 2. Previous experience working with youth. Starting Salary $48,000. To apply, send your cover letter and resume to loldham@newcanaanlibrary.org by October 14, 2013.