Head of Marx Library Access Services

Position Focus :

Reporting to the Associate Director for Front Line Services, the Head of Marx Library Access Services provides leadership and recommends strategies and innovations to deliver the highest levels of customer service and patron satisfaction at Marx Science and Social Science Library.

This position is responsible for ensuring the quality, efficiency, and strategic alignment of all services in the areas of circulation, interlibrary loan, document delivery, reserves support, and resource sharing.

This role directly manages 5 FTE, including the Manager of Access Services for Evenings and Weekends, who in turn, directly supervises two staff.

The incumbent is responsible for hiring, training, coaching and performance management and oversees student employment in coordination with the Evenings / Weekends Manager of Access Services and the Access Services Team Leader for Marx Science and Social Science Library.

The Head ensures that library-wide access services policies and procedures are followed and contributes, as appropriate, to the creation of those policies and procedures through committee memberships and by working closely with peer positions across Yale Library.

To ensure continuous improvement of services, this role is responsible for coordinating access services statistics reporting and analysis and workflow design.

The Head is also responsible for communicating with Marx Library leadership and librarians to ensure continuity and efficiency of services across all areas of support.

The incumbent is expected to demonstrate professional leadership and commitment in appropriate regional, national, and international professional organizations.

Ensures the delivery of high-quality and user-focused service consistent with Yale Library standards and best practices.

Implements policies and procedures for Marx Library Access Services in accordance with Yale Library policy in the interest of ongoing improvement.

Successfully manage and coach academic library services staff working collaboratively and independently within a complex organization and rapidly changing team environment.

Provide and train staff on excellent customer service skills including problem solving, innovation, creativity and excellence.

Hires, trains, schedules, supervises, and coaches the Marx Library Evenings / Weekends Manager of Access Services. Train, assign, coordinate and evaluate staff who are responsible for Access Services.

Collaborates with the Director of Research Support and Outreach Programs, research support librarians, and the Statistical Support Manager on staff training to ensure consistent referrals and high-quality user experience.

Represents Marx Library on standing committees, task forces, and working groups as assigned related to the work supervised including but not limited to Access Steering Committee, where the incumbent will serve as the sole representative for Marx Library, as well as the Ares Users Group and ILLiad Users Group.

Works with the YUL office of Assessment & User Experience Research in the collection and use of data for process and service improvement purposes.

Fosters a collegial, creative, collaborative, and team-oriented work-environment and facilitates positive communication and effective coordination among team members.

Maintains an active role at Yale and within the profession, working to shape and improve services for library users by establishing and maintaining professional networks and collaborative relationships with other campus service providers.

Recommends and oversees implementation and training of new technologies and procedures and leverages technology for continual improvement and increased efficiency.

This position will be assigned the rank of Librarian 2 to 3 based on a combination of professional experience and qualifications.

Librarian ranking information can be found at

Essential Duties

1. May be responsible for staffing and services in the following areas : information desk, circulation, course reserves (electronic and print), resource sharing, stacks maintenance, privileges, security, and / or oversight of and liaison for facilities operations.

2. Participates in hiring, training, coaching and evaluating the work of access services staff members. 3. Participates in planning and implementing new services, and supporting and improving existing services.

4. Responsible for ensuring consistency in service quality, policy interpretation, and following procedures. 5. Works with vendors or other units that support library operations, such as technical services, collection development, Library IT, facilities maintenance, and security.

6. Participates in departmental library access services program planning. 7. Participates in library system-wide planning, committees, and work groups, and engages in campus, regional, and national professional organizations and collaborative activities.

Participates in professional activities outside of Yale and monitors developments and best practices elsewhere to help ensure the excellence of Yale's collections and research support services.

8. May be required to assist with disaster recovery efforts. 9. May perform other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience

Master's degree from an ALA-accredited library school. In selected instances, a post-graduate degree in a related discipline may be required or substituted for a master's degree in library science.

Demonstrated excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communications and analytical ability. Demonstrated record of designing projects and bringing them to a conclusion in a timely fashion.

Proven experience working collegially and cooperatively within and across organizations. Demonstrated experience working collaboratively and independently with varied groups within a complex organization and rapidly changing, team environment.

Yale University assigns ranks to librarian positions based on a combination of professional experience and accomplishments (see range assigned to this description as noted in the posting position title).

Librarian ranking information can be found at :

Required Skill / Ability 1 :

Minimum of 2 years of related professional library experience required.

Required Skill / Ability 2 :

Demonstrated ability in academic library access services or public services.

Required Skill / Ability 3 :

Demonstrated excellent customer service skill including a strong commitment to innovation, creativity and excellence in providing service and coaching service staff.

Required Skill / Ability 4 :

Demonstrated skill managing and developing library staff including performance assessment and development.

Preferred Education, Experience and Skills :

Demonstrated skill in managing in a union environment. Demonstrated experience managing staff in an academic library. Demonstrated experience interacting with librarians and others providing research support and collections activities in an academic research library.

Management experience in a union environment. An undergraduate or graduate degree in the sciences or social sciences.

Drug Screen

Health Screening

Background Check Requirements

All candidates for employment will be subject to pre-employment background screening for this position, which may include motor vehicle, DOT certification, drug testing and credit checks based on the position description and job requirements.

All offers are contingent upon the successful completion of the background check. For additional information on the background check requirements and process visit "Learn about background checks" under the Applicant Support Resources section of Careers on the It's Your Yale website.

COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement

The University maintains policies pertaining to COVID-19. All faculty, staff, students, and trainees are required to comply with these policies, which may be found here :

Posting Disclaimer

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative summary of the essential functions that will be required of the position and should not be construed as a declaration of specific duties and responsibilities of the particular position.

Employees will be assigned specific job-related duties through their hiring departments.

EEO Statement :

University policy is committed to affirmative action under law in employment of women, minority group members, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans.

Additionally, in accordance with Yale’s Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment, and as delineated by federal and Connecticut law, Yale does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment against any individual on account of that individual’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, status as a special disabled veteran, veteran of the Vietnam era or other covered veteran.