Executive Brief

Vice-Provost & University Librarian
Queen’s University

September 2020

The Opportunity

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This is a rare opportunity for an inspiring leader, bold visionary, and community builder to continue to re-imagine, transform and position the Queen’s University Library as a 21st century library. Your goal, as Vice-Provost & University Librarian, is to build on a strong foundation by ensuring the Library, in all physical and virtual environments, remains a catalyst for innovation and excellence in teaching, learning, research, scholarship and community engagement, through its people, collections, services, and partnerships.

Queen’s has a rich academic tradition dating back to 1841. Located in Kingston, Ontario —one of Canada's most vibrant small cities, and a short commute to Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and New York State — Queen’s consistently ranks among Canada's very best universities.

The Library’s vision is to inspire learning, spark creativity and build community. Its librarians, archivists, and staff work closely with students and faculty in every discipline and in the spaces where they intersect. In close collaboration with faculties and schools and through several regional, national, and international partnerships, the Library is integral to Queen’s commitment to engage people to address critical questions, discover new knowledge, and have a lasting impact on society.

As Vice-Provost and University Librarian, you are a campus leader who models and promotes the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and decolonization in library spaces, programs, collections, and service to the community.  You lead and nurture a team to develop and actualize a clear, bold, and unifying vision that advances the university’s academic mission and creates a welcoming, inclusive, accessible, and respectful environment for all students, faculty, staff, and the community.  You embrace and promote the library’s important role at the intersection of teaching, learning, and research where it can best support and impact pedagogy and scholarly pursuits. As an advocate, you collaborate across campus as well as with partners locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally. Core to success is relationship building with national and international consortia and library organizations, governments, research partners, alumni, and donors. Your leadership functions are varied and include strategic advice and support to the Principal, Provost and university leadership, mentorship and coaching of a talented team, entrepreneurship and revenue generation, and administrative and budgetary oversight.

As the ideal candidate, you are an exemplary communicator with strong interpersonal skills and a commitment to collegial governance and consultative decision-making. You have built and promoted partnerships that diversify, enrich, and increase access to library collections and services. You have deep experience in equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization within a large and complex library environment. A unique and highly respected librarian, you are a trustworthy facilitator of change who can drive a systems-wide digital strategy and plan.

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