Senior Librarian – Bilingual Language Skills Preferred (Open & Promotional)

Apply for a Senior Librarian – Bilingual Language Skills Preferred position with San Mateo County Libraries to become a part of an award-winning team and work with amazing people! As a valued member of our organization, you'll collaborate with a remarkable group of individuals who share your passion for library excellence. We invite you to be part of our innovative and well-funded library system, where your creativity and public services skills can thrive without limits.

We currently have multiple openings at Community Libraries across our system.

Community Library Senior Librarian: Make a difference by helping to create an informed community through creative outreach, exciting programming, and innovative technology. At San Mateo County Libraries we celebrate diversity, strive for equity, and practice inclusion. Bilingual skills are valued as we serve a variety of communities.

Successful candidates will be excited about new challenges, eager to learn, and energized by working with people from a variety of backgrounds. This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled librarian to step into a supervisory role as part of a progressive, forward-thinking organization!

The eligible list generated by this recruitment may be used to fill current and future vacancies throughout San Mateo County Libraries.Currently there are vacancies to be filled at our Community Libraries in Atherton, Belmont and Foster City. Library staff are required to work weekends and evenings. Because of the diversity of the communities we serve, bilingual language skills (Mandarin, Cantonese, or Spanish) are strongly preferred.

NOTE: This recruitment will fill multiple and anticipated future vacancies throughout the library system.

Under the direction of Community Managers, the Senior Librarian will:

• Assist in oversight of the day-to-day operations of a community library.
• Supervise, coach, and mentor an engaged team of staff and ensure that every customer has a positive experience.
• Provide excellent customer service and develop innovative, relevant community outreach and programs.
• Continually train and develop staff in areas of customer service, product knowledge, collection management, and visual merchandising.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of programs and conduct community needs assessments.
• Design and deliver virtual and in-person training to build staff capacity to support system priorities.
• Represent the library in the community and build relationships with stakeholders including elected officials, schools, Friends of the Library groups, and other community organizations.

The ideal candidate will be:

• Excited about new initiatives and challenges and energized by working in a rapidly changing environment.
• Engaged and skilled in every aspect of public libraries, able to juggle many tasks and modeling excellence in library public services.
• Passionate about the library’s vision and enthusiastic about inspiring a team to apply it to daily operations and goal setting.
• A creative problem solver that has great ideas to share with others.
• A positive, enthusiastic librarian with strong interpersonal and advanced technological skills. Skilled at promoting library services to the community through education and outreach.
• A relationship builder who is skilled creating impactful community partnerships.
• Skilled at supervising, coaching and inspiring a diverse and talented team of staff.
• Passionate for staying ahead of library trends and presenting to colleagues locally and nationally.
• Able to create a positive team environment that fosters collegiality, participation and empowering staff.
• A good listener and communicator, present positive attitude, enjoy working cooperatively as a team member, and place top priority on customer service.
• Able to foster a welcoming and inclusive library environment through user-centered and equitable patron service practices.
• Passionate and creative about marketing and able to advocate for clear campaigns with measurable goals to provide the greatest level of service to our community members.

SAN MATEO COUNTY LIBRARIES

San Mateo County Libraries is a Joint Powers Authority comprised of 11 member cities and the unincorporated areas of San Mateo County. Our family of libraries include Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Millbrae, North Fair Oaks, Pacifica-Sharp Park, Pacifica- Sanchez, Portola Valley, San Carlos, and Woodside. Our service area spans rural and urban communities, with approximately 270,000 residents, 75% of whom have library cards. For more information about San Mateo County Libraries, please visit www.smcl.org

Qualifications

Education: Master's of Library Science or recognized equivalent degree, from an American Library Association accredited college or university.

Experience: Any combination of experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to qualify is two to three years of experience as a librarian, or a combination of library and supervision experience.

IMPORTANT: Applications for this position will only be accepted online. If you are currently on the County's website, you may click the "Apply" button. If you are not on the County's website, please go to http://jobs.smcgov.org to apply. Online applications must be received by the Human Resources Department before midnight on the final filing date. Responses to the supplemental questions must be submitted in addition to our regular employment application form. A resume will not be accepted as a substitute for the required application materials.

TENTATIVE RECRUITMENT SCHEDULE

Final Filing Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 11:59 PM PST

Application Screening: Week of August 26 - 30, 2024

Civil Service Panel Interview: September 12 and/or 13, 2024