Job Description

The Role:

The Linda May Uris Director is the senior leader responsible for the management, fundraising, budget, and visionary leadership of HSSR. They will:

• Work with a talented team to manage HSSR’s day-to-day operations, spanning 130 staff members, millions of items, and more than 2 million annual visitors.
• Partner with NYPL’s senior leadership team to bring wider recognition, access, and vitality to HSSR’s collections and programs in support of lifelong learning, while steering the division’s activities in alignment with broader institutional goals.

Location: New York City

Reports to: Brent Reidy, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries

Team: 130+ total FTEs, direct reports include:

• Rose Associate Director for Access and Operations
• Associate Director, Reference and Outreach
• Associate Director, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs
• Associate Director, Rayner Special Collections Wing and Charles J. Liebman Senior Curator of Manuscripts
• Fellowship Coordinator, Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities
• Administrative Coordinator

Budget: $16 million per annum

Overview & Opportunities:

Audience Development

• Raise the profile of HSSR’s collections and work. Draw new, multi-generational, diverse audiences through exhibitions, public programs and strengthened ties with peer organizations and the cultural sector at large, stimulating attendance, fundraising, and general engagement/support.

Fundraising

• Develop a comprehensive approach to fundraising, in partnership with the Mellon Director and NYPL Development office, supporting the growth of annual giving for operations and in support of strategic priorities, including acquisitions, collection management, preservation and digitization.

Access

• Promote excellent public service and user experiences, and deeper connections to the collections both for the next generation of researchers, and for the public at large. Assess operations to propose new ways of serving the public across the building’s service points.
• Spearhead an inspiring strategy for engagement and outreach that draws on, and increases visibility and understanding of, HSSR’s diverse collections.

Leadership & Change Management

• Guide staff through a leadership transition, reinforcing shared goals and re-energizing morale.
• Provide strong, transparent direction, working to align functions behind a clear vision, reinforcing a positive and inclusive organizational culture, developing stronger ways of working, and mentoring the senior leadership team.

Responsibilities:

• Champion the work of HSSR’s senior management team, while ensuring alignment of HSSR’s efforts with NYPL goals and objectives.
• Maintain HSSR’s standards of excellence and innovation in acquiring and providing access to collections, and in engaging scholars, educators, creative professionals and the general public around our collections.
• In partnership with the Department of Public Programs & Exhibitions, develop and promote programs, exhibitions, and activities that explore and interpret HSSR’s collections, and attract and engage new audiences.
• In partnership with the Mellon Director and Development Department, cultivate and solicit donors, develop fundraising strategies, and secure contributions to support institutional priorities and general operations.
• Foster and promote welcoming and inclusive environments for both staff and patrons that align with NYPL’s mission, vision, and values.
• Act as an advocate and representative of HSSR and NYPL to scholars and the community, and execute a communications strategy to strengthen HSSR’s reputation and to reach current and new audiences.
• Recruit, motivate, mentor, and retain a highly-skilled staff at all levels, and develop a cross-functional team that works collaboratively to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
• Provide leadership and management of the HSSR’s budget and operations.
• Identify, develop, and promote cross-departmental and cross-institutional collaboration needed to provide a seamless and successful staff and patron experience
• Proactively pursue professional growth and demonstrate leadership national field-wide leadership, and represent
• Attend Board and committee meetings and, as needed, prepare and deliver presentations to inform strategic discussions and decision-making.
• Other duties as required.

The Leader

Required Education and Certifications

• Advanced academic degree in the social sciences, humanities, library sciences, or related field; terminal degree preferred.

Required Experience

• Ten (10) or more years of progressively increasing management and operational responsibility in a similar organization or institution.
• Demonstrable experience leading a large staff with a variety of professional backgrounds and working effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• A proven ability to manage strategically, impact and influence key stakeholders, transform organizations, and innovate in and with a diverse community.
• Demonstrated understanding of the ways a research library’s collections facilitate scholarship and of the diverse, changing ways researchers, writers, educators, and students use physical and digital collections for learning and creative pursuits.
• A track record of success in engaging diverse public audiences and making complex ideas accessible beyond scholarly communities.

Required Skills

• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to effectively communicate with, inspire, lead and influence diverse constituencies, including staff, donors, Board members, and high-profile members of the performing arts community.
• Experience and earned credibility to promote and manage a public institution that is both an internationally renowned research library and an important cultural center in the research community.
• Demonstrated experience of budget and resource development and management.
• Demonstrated success in fundraising and advancement activities, at an individual and institutional level.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain close and productive working relationships with colleagues and constituents in a complex environment where consultation, flexibility, collaboration, and cooperation are essential.

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