About Our Job
The Denver Public Library (DPL) is a growing urban library system that serves the residents of the City & County of Denver. DPL sees more than 4 million visitors every year across its 27 locations, serves Denver’s most vulnerable communities through outreach and mobile services, hosts thousands of programs a year and manages a collection of more than 1.4 million physical and digital materials. We believe a strong library is vital for a strong community. DPL is committed to serving the evolving needs of Denverites through inspired programming, diverse collections, culturally-representative spaces, and equitable policies & procedures.
For more information, go to denverlibrary.org. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.
DPL is hiring a Reference Services Supervisor who will collaborate with a team of department supervisors to oversee department operations, maintaining our reputation for outstanding reference service. Duties include hiring, training, daily supervision, scheduling and evaluation of a team of librarians and library assistants. In this position, you will directly supervise staff who maintain our extensive reference collection, including serving as Coordinator of our Federal Depository Library Program collection, leading our Interlibrary Loan team and overseeing collection maintenance of Reference Services collections, including bound periodicals, federal documents and general reference materials. You will foster curiosity by providing professional reference service and basing collection maintenance decisions upon staff and public needs. Members of our team strengthen connection by sharing in staffing busy service points, including switchboard phones, chat reference and the reference desk, serving a diverse clientele of all ages. You will challenge inequity by welcoming customers with thorough and culturally sensitive reference interviews, teaching customers of all backgrounds information literacy and technology skills and promoting library resources and services. We are looking for strong internal and external customer service skills to honor the public trust through effective communication about issues and initiatives with customers, staff, and administration. If you enjoy collaborating with other librarians in continually expanding knowledge of reference resources and creating staff learning opportunities to support reference skills development, this may be the job for you!
About Our Branch/Department
Reference Services provides professional reference service to the city and region, furthering information literacy skills and lifelong learning and supporting staff system-wide in reference skills acquisition. Located at the Central Library, our collection includes 20,000 reference books, 120,000 bound periodicals, 1.1 million federal government documents and a wide range of electronic resources. We are a Federal Selective Depository Library, a Patent and Trademark Resource Center and a Funding Information Network of Candid. We support students from middle school through college and lifelong learners in developing research skills. The successful candidate will demonstrate passion in providing exemplary reference service to adults and teens.
About You
Our ideal candidate has:
Experience with effective supervision, team-building, staff motivation, change management and decision-making
Experience with providing high-volume reference service to people from all backgrounds and age groups in a variety of formats (in-house, telephone, chat, email and mail)
Experience with maintaining large, retrospective reference collections, including skill in analyzing statistics and creating weeding plans and reports
Exemplary customer focus and customer service skills
Knowledge of a wide variety of reference resources, including federal documents, interlibrary loan apps, subscription databases and authoritative free websites
Skill in conducting effective reference interviews and information literacy instruction for customers with different levels of literacy or technology abilities
Skill in interpreting, communicating and presenting information, both orally and in writing
Ability to self-motivate in constantly learning and sharing about new reference resources
Ability to thrive working in an environment with frequent public contact and interruptions
Ability to demonstrate a positive attitude, excellent interpersonal skills, diversity sensitivity, teamwork, flexibility and a sense of humor in working with customers, coworkers and the community
Ability to creatively problem-solve, negotiate and handle stressful situations in a positive manner
Ability to prioritize projects and manage time effectively
Minimum Education Requirement
Master’s Degree in Library Science.
Experience Requirement
Three (3) years of supervisory experience in a retail or public service operational setting, or three (3) years of professional library experience.
Other things to know:
A cover letter is required with your application.
Reference Services is open seven days a week. The schedule will be determined by the needs of the department and will include a regular weekend rotation and some early evening shifts.
The Central Library is currently under major renovation and only Floor 1 is open for limited hours. Many Reference Services librarians will be chiefly working from home while staffing the Switchboard phones, chat reference, email reference and remote one on one appointments before returning to our space on Floor 3 in the fall.
There is no free parking for staff at the Central Library and staff who drive to work must make their own parking arrangements. Free bus/light rail passes are available to staff.
Spanish language fluency is preferred.
The City and County of Denver benefit package will be offered.
We expect this position to close on 5/24/2024. Please submit a resume and cover letter at your earliest convenience.
About Everything Else
Job Profile
LA3325 Library Branch Supervisor
To view the full job profile including position specifications, physical demands, and probationary period, click here.
Position Type
Unlimited
Library Hiring Range
$70,765.00 - $93,764.00
Assessment Requirement
The City and County of Denver provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or any other status protected under federal, state, and/or local law.
It is your right to access oral or written language assistance, sign language interpretation, real-time captioning via CART, or disability-related accommodations. To request any of these services at no cost to you, please contact Jobs@Denvergov.org with three business days’ notice.
Applicants for employment with the City and County of Denver must have valid work authorization that does not require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the U.S.