Job Posting Title:
Associate Director for Library Services, The Harry Ransom Center
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Hiring Department:
Harry Ransom Center
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Position Open To:
All Applicants
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Weekly Scheduled Hours:
40
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FLSA Status:
Exempt from FLSA
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Earliest Start Date:
Jun 30, 2026
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Position Duration:
Expected to Continue
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Location:
UT MAIN CAMPUS
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Job Details:
General Notes
About the Harry Ransom Center
The Ransom Center is an internationally renowned humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin. Its extensive collectionsprovideunique insight into the creative process of writers and artists, deepening our understanding and appreciation of literature, photography, film, art, and the performing arts. Visitors engage with the Center's collections through research and study, exhibitions, publications, and a rich variety of program offerings including readings, talks, symposia, and film screenings.
The Ransom Center encourages discovery, inspires creativity, and advances understanding of the humanities for a broad audience through the preservation and sharing of its extraordinary collections.
Purpose
The Associate Director for Library Services provides strategic leadership for the Ransom Center’s library services portfolio, including Metadata & Discovery, Collection Management, Technology & Database Administration, Digital Projects, Digital Imaging, Reference, and Public Services.
This role is responsible for setting vision, priorities, and long-term direction for how collections are described, accessed, and stored—ensuring that library programs and services are aligned with institutional goals, sustainable over time, and responsive to evolving research and public needs.
The Associate Director primarily leads at the portfolio level, with day-to-day operations led by the Heads of each unit.
Responsibilities
- Strategic leadership and portfolio direction
- Establishes the vision and long-term strategy for library services across physical and digital environments.
- Defines department-wide and portfolio-level priorities and outcomes in alignment with the Ransom Center’s strategic plan.
- Ensures that collection stewardship, access, and service models reflect best practices in archives, libraries, and special collections.
- Leads the development of multi-year roadmaps for each unit.
- Program and portfolio oversight
- Determines the portfolio of programs and initiatives across the seven units, including which initiatives are launched, continued, paused, or concluded.
- Ensures alignment and coordination across units.
- Establishes success measures and performance indicators for the overall portfolio.
- Monitors progress toward strategic outcomes and addresses portfolio-level risks and dependencies.
- Organizational capacity and resource strategy
- Leads staffing and capacity planning for the library services portfolio in partnership with the Executive Director and senior leadership team
- Makes resource and investment recommendations related to staffing models, skills development, tools, infrastructure, and facilities.
- Ensures that resources are aligned with the Ransom Center’s highest priorities.
- Stewardship, risk, and sustainability
- Oversees institutional risk related to library services.
- Ensures appropriate policies and frameworks are in place for collection stewardship, access, and use.
- Leads long-term planning for all units.
- Leadership of unit Heads
- Provides strategic direction, coaching, and performance leadership to the Heads of units.
- Reviews and approves division-level program plans and annual priorities.
- Supports Heads in translating strategy into executable programs while maintaining clear accountability boundaries between strategy and delivery.
- Institutional and cross-divisional leadership
- Serves as a senior member of the organization’s leadership team and contributes to institution-wide strategy and planning.
- Leads cross-divisional initiatives that intersect with library services.
- Represents library services in internal and external partnerships, professional networks, and institutional collaborations.
Required Qualifications
- Advanced degree in library and information science, archival studies, museum studies, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Significant senior-level leadership experience in a research library and archive
- Demonstrated experience leading complex portfolios that include collections, access and reader services, and digital programs.
- Strong record of strategic planning, organizational leadership, and change management.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, build trust across disciplines, and navigate highly specialized professional environments.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in an institution with strong public engagement, research, and teaching missions.
Salary Range
$100k+, depending on qualifications
Working Conditions
Standard office conditions including repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation.
Moving and lifting of up to 40 lbs.
Required Materials
Resume/CV
- 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
- Letter of interest
Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.
Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.
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Employment Eligibility:
Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.
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Retirement Plan Eligibility:
The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.
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Background Checks:
A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.
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Equal Opportunity Employer:
The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
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Pay Transparency:
The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.
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Employment Eligibility Verification:
If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.
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E-Verify:
The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:
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Compliance:
Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.
The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.
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