Sunglasses? Check. Road atlas? Nope. This isn’t the 70s, folks. Laptop bag and cellphone? Check. Spirit of adventure? Check and underline!
Imagine jumping into the car one morning and heading east on I-70 through a sunny and scenic Colorado landscape, then exiting south on Hwy 287. An audio book is playing as you drive, or perhaps some George Clinton-inspired P-Funk. (Not your style? You get to pick the music/audio for your trip.)
Three hours pass in a blink. You arrive at a rural library and start your day of service as a Colleague on Call Consultant. “Good morning! I’m so happy to see your library. I’d love a tour…” During your visit with the new library director, the two of you may talk about all sorts of library topics. Weeding and collection management. How to decipher reports generated by the ILS. Steps for redrafting the library’s policy on room reservations. Community engagement strategies. The ins and outs of ILL. Budget constraints and potential impacts. A challenging personnel situation. Ideas for reconfiguring the children’s area. Virtual programming for adults. And the list goes on…
The next day you’re working from home on your laptop. You select a few resources that you know will be useful to that new library director, and you draft a follow-up email… Later, you contact another rural library director when you see she’s posted a question about her library’s privacy policy… You join a scheduled Teams call to chat with other members of the Colleague on Call team and offer commentary on the revision of a previously-published CLiC guide… To round out your day, you spend an hour researching a topic, send and read some more email, then jump on a Zoom call to observe another staff member’s virtual training session…
No, this is not a dream, but it could be your dream job. It’s a mix of travel and work in a home office. The job involves diverse, stimulating challenges – all related to CLiC’s mission: “Connecting. Energizing. Inspiring. Services for libraries throughout Colorado.” A consultant’s job is to help rural and small libraries achieve greatness in their communities.
We’re seeking Listeners and Doers and Thinkers and Connectors to apply for CLiC’s Colleague on Call Consultant position. Our consultants serve in teleworking, traveling, interactive roles -- promoting rural & small library cooperation, supporting ways to strengthen those libraries, and providing practical guidance to those libraries. An effective consultant likely will have specific knowledge and subject expertise, may not be an expert in literally ALL things library-related, but WILL collaborate with other Colleague on Call team members to provide targeted resources and smart referrals and custom training.
CLiC strives to put its employees first. This isn’t just something we say. You’ll see evidence of this philosophy at every turn.
How? Sure, CLiC offers competitive pay and comprehensive benefits. But there’s so much more to gain when working at CLiC. We value professional development and stimulating work for every position. We value wellness and life-work balance. And we value fun, which is why on any given day you'll overhear a conversation about an episode from Bob's Burgers, learn secrets about smoking a brisket from a coworker, see a staff member's shared video of a Great Dane in a staring standoff with a deer, or any number of other entertaining topics.
Consider working at CLiC, where our culture is built around this concept: our people are our greatest asset, and investment in people is key to our success.
Required:
- Familiarity with challenges facing rural and small libraries.
- Passion about working with diverse individuals: the capable leaders and staff members of such libraries.
- Proven ability to play well with others.
- Residence in Colorado (anywhere along the Front Range or in Eastern parts of the state) -OR- willingness to relocate.
- Five or more years of humane supervisory experience (non-library experience acceptable).
- Evidence of having completed projects that address community or library needs through: outreach, public service, technology, collections or any other library-based activity.
- Bachelor’s degree in either a practical or esoteric subject, plus eight or more years of progressive working experience in one or more libraries.
- Demonstrable experience communicating and using technology tools. If you dislike listening, talking, writing, interacting with people or using technologies related to communication, this job isn’t a good fit.
Strongly preferred:
- Five years of post-MLIS experience, with evidence of impact.
- Curiosity about the world. Interest in one or more topics not DIRECTLY “library” related (though in some regards, nearly everything in the world can be connected back to a library).
- Attention to detail. Read our application procedure. ALSO read the official job description! If you find your professional library background is captured in the words above and in the official description, we’d love to receive your application.
If you’re a library professional chomping for an opportunity to have your work impact many libraries across Colorado, then consider working at CLiC. While your coverage territory would include rural and small libraries throughout the eastern portion of the state, your playground would occasionally extend to other regions.
Apply by sending your material to HR & Fiscal Manager Andrea Pettegrew via email: apettegrew@clicweb.org. Professional references are not required for initial-stage applicants, but will be required of finalists for the position. Should you have any procedural questions, please address those to the HR Manager via email. Application DEADLINE is 10:12 a.m. on June 20, 2022.
Please submit a non-form cover letter and a professional resume. If your letter begins with “Dear Hiring Manager,” then you’re already off to a bad start. Please include within your letter an answer to this question: “Envisioning yourself in a role supporting rural library directors, what special skills would you bring to the conversation?” Also, tell us about yourself as it relates to this job opportunity. Not all of the places you’ve worked (hello, that’s in your resume…), and not the trite “I’m a hard-working, dependable, enthusiastic, and experienced person who will make a positive contribution to your organization.” If you’re indeed such a person, believe us, we’ll ferret that out.