Director of the Bowdoin College Library

Bowdoin College, one of the oldest and most selective coeducational, residential liberal arts colleges in the country, seeks an experienced and strategic library leader to serve as the next Director of the Bowdoin College Library. As the intellectual heart of the Bowdoin campus and serving as a major research resource in the state of Maine, the College Library is highly valued for its rich collections, extensive services, and outstanding staff. The library strives to be forward-thinking, welcoming, and to promote inclusive excellence to support Bowdoin’s diverse community.

 

Reporting to the Dean for Academic Affairs, the Library Director is a critical partner in the unique educational environment at Bowdoin – one where students build an education for themselves in the service of the greater common good.  

 

Bowdoin College has always had a deep-seated commitment to its libraries. Since Bowdoin’s founding in 1794, its leadership, faculty, students, and staff have all acknowledged the centrality of the Library to realizing the mission of the College. The College’s current libraries—Hawthorne-Longfellow and the art, music, and science branch libraries—serve not only as vast repositories of knowledge but also as physical hubs of the College’s intellectual life and future.

 

The Library’s strong endowment and funding are important indicators of Bowdoin’s past and current commitment. The Bowdoin Library is well-funded, with a current overall annual operating budget of $6,775,000, of which $3,500,000 is for library materials. 

 

Working in collaboration with library staff and with college administration and other campus partners, the Director oversees all areas of operations for the Bowdoin Library, including (but not limited to) the management of budget, facilities, staff, collections as well as the Library’s strategic planning.  The Director is responsible for providing vision, leadership, and administrative guidance in planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, and evaluating all library functions and in integrating (and advocating for) library resources within the academic programs of the college.  The Director plays a vital role in developing and maintaining strong collegial and consortial relationships to further the library’s mission, vision, and values. 

 

It is the mission of Bowdoin College to engage students of uncommon promise in an intense full-time education of their minds, exploration of their creative faculties, and development of their social and leadership abilities in a four-year course of study and residence that concludes with a baccalaureate degree in the liberal arts.

 

A Bowdoin education rests fundamentally on the free exchange of ideas—on conversation and questioning—that thrives in classrooms, lecture halls, libraries, laboratories, studios, dining halls, playing fields, and dormitory rooms. Ultimately, a liberal arts education promotes independent thinking, individual action, and social responsibility. Graduates leave Bowdoin with the ability to engage competing views critically, to make principled judgments that inform their practice, and to work effectively with others as informed citizens, committed to constructing a just and sustainable world.

 

Bowdoin’s 215-acre campus is situated on the lands of the Wabanaki (Dawnland Confederacy). The campus is located on the Maine coast in Brunswick – 30 minutes from Portland, Maine’s largest city, and approximately 120 miles from Boston. 

 

The next Director of the Bowdoin Library will understand the opportunities and challenges facing academic libraries today. The successful candidate will be an accomplished librarian with an advanced degree in librarianship or a relevant field of study and will have advanced through progressively more responsible positions in library administration. Of critical importance for success in this role is a deep understanding of and passion for the mission and goals of an outstanding liberal arts college and the commitment to excellence that is an integral part of Bowdoin’s culture. 

 

Salary for the role is currently anticipated to range from $185,000 to $210,000, based on experience and ability to have broad and early impact. The compensation package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, college funded 401(a) retirement plan (no employee contribution required), Paid Vacation and Paid Sick Leave, as well as short- and long-term disability, life insurance, FSA/HSA, EAP, and paid and discretionary holidays.

 

To view the full position profile, please visit Storbeck Search’s https://diversifiedsearchgroup.com/search/bowdoin-library-director/

 

For best consideration, please send all nominations and applications (CV and letter of interest) to:

 

 

Bowdoin College complies with applicable provisions of federal and state laws that prohibit unlawful discrimination in employment, admission, or access to its educational or extracurricular programs, activities, or facilities based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry and national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, marital status, place of birth, genetic predisposition, veteran status, or against qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities on the basis of disability, or any other legally protected statuses.