Job Description
You are the connective tissue of the library’s culture, providing the public with information and assistance directly and through managing operations and staff at the library’s branch.
Who you are:
- You are a positive motivator.
- You are a lot of things to a lot of people – coach, leader, mentor and host.
- You are an effective communicator, able to lead meetings and relay pertinent information.
- You engage well with others and are passionate about providing an exemplary patron experience.
- You are a team player who thinks quickly on your feet and can lead from within a team.
- You are a connector, working with stakeholders to make your library a community hub.
- You are an active listener with lots of patience.
- You are fearless, always willing to tackle challenges and handle surprises with grace.
- You are excited about leading others in a changing environment.
- You inspire fun in the people around you.
Your work:
- You embrace the library’s mission, vision, and values, and can apply them to your daily operations and team.
- You develop goals, plans, services, and procedures for your branch with the Operations Manager and team.
- You are a strong manager, able to coach and lead a superb team.
- You can handle the most challenging situations, whether it is a building emergency or patron service conflict. You take charge with grace and confidence.
- You create and model superb patron hospitality skills.
- You strategize and develop the best staffing plan to best serve our patrons’ needs.
- You negotiate, resolve issues and work with patrons to find solutions to disputes and service gaps.
- You take the initiative, working together with your team to find solutions.
- You embrace innovations including tools and practices to produce an effective and efficient operation.
- You understand the strength of collaboration and support your team in bringing great ideas to life.
- You take ownership of your library.
- You warmly welcome patrons into our library, ensuring a great experience and a fond farewell.
- Out on the floor and in the stacks, you foster discovery and help ensure a seamless visit by helping patrons find the materials they want or assisting them with self-checkout services.
- You take pride in our library, ensuring it is clean and tidy and the displays are refreshed and looking beautiful.
- You orchestrate the opening and closing of the library, ensuring that when we open our doors, we are ready for the day’s adventure.
- You are a natural at teaching library patrons and staff how to use technology from e-readers to our online databases.
- You understand our community’s needs and how the library’s services can meet those needs.
- You have the energy to juggle many tasks with a smile; you are out on the floor making sure things are running smoothly, modeling excellence in how the branch is to be run.
- You are amazing at coaching your super-talented library team honestly, directly and consistently to achieve new levels of success.
- You are patron, too. You love to read/watch/listen and make great recommendations to others.
- You assist with continually training and developing staff in areas of patron service, product knowledge, collection management, and visual merchandizing.
- You build your team with job recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse and brilliant group of library employees and volunteers.
- You demonstrate excellent communication skills with staff, patrons, community partners and library leadership.
- You do the right thing. Every decision you make and action you take is an opportunity to demonstrate our collective integrity.
Additional Info & Requirements
Master’s Degree in Library Science from an ALA accredited or approved equivalent graduate school. Experience working in a public library. Any applicable graduate degree or relevant work experiences that acts as a practice foundation to lead a top-tier library.
The Community
Cedar Rapids is a vibrant city, encompassing unique attractions, exciting events, specialty shopping, a dynamic art scene, and a large variety of restaurant and nightlife options. You’ll find that Cedar Rapids offers one of the best places to live, work and play in the Midwest.
Every year the Cedar Rapids community experiences the wonders of changing seasons in our Midwestern landscape. Some say that taking the time to appreciate everyday beauty extends life, almost like an extra season is added to every year. Cedar Rapids offers a unique balance of big city amenities without all the typical hassles and headaches that come with a large city. This extra time afforded to our residents and visitors is why Cedar Rapids is known as “The City of Five Seasons.” This fifth season affords us time to enjoy all other seasons, and to enjoy life. http://www.cedar-rapids.org/discover_cedar_rapids/about_us/index.php
HR Info
City of Cedar Rapids, Human Resources. 319-286-5000.
Apply at the following website: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/cedarrapids/jobs/1746496/library-branch-manager-downtown
The process will include a cover letter, resume and application.