Research Impact and Bibliometrics Librarian
McMaster University – Hamilton, ON
Job Details
Job Title: Research Impact and Bibliometrics Librarian
Job ID: 58612
Location: Central Campus
Open Date: 10/18/2023
Close Date: 11/02/2023
Job Type: Continuous Appointment
Employee Group: McMaster University Academic Librarians Association
Department: Library Digital Scholarship Infrastructure and Services.
Salary Grade/Band: Level 2 or 3
Salary Range: $67,255.99 – $99,221.08; or $72,860.83 – $110,135.06
Hours per Week: 35
Posting Details
Schedule: 35 hours per week, Monday – Friday
Education Level: Master’s Degree
Career Level: Level 2 or 3 – Requires 5 years of relevant experience.
Job Description:
Department Description:
McMaster University Library seeks an innovative, forward-looking, and technologically agile librarian to support Library and institutional initiatives related to research impact analysis, bibliometrics and research assessment. The Research Impact & Bibliometrics Librarian serves as a key leader and connector of research impact and bibliometrics related initiatives taking place across McMaster University. By establishing and growing partnerships with a variety of campus stakeholders, they assume a leadership role in advancing awareness, knowledge, and competency of advanced bibliometrics and research impact analyses and their innovative and responsible application at McMaster.
As a member of University Library’s Digital Scholarship Infrastructure & Services Division and the Lewis and Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship, the librarian works closely with integrated teams of librarians and information professionals from within and beyond the University Library to meet the broad and diverse digital research support needs of McMaster scholars. This includes co-ownership and co-management of the University’s research impact and bibliometrics service (with the Health Sciences Library) and participation in the cross-institutional Digital Research Commons Pilot.
The librarian will share a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and lead efforts to expand and increase the University Library’s connections and partnerships with communities beyond McMaster.
Representative Duties & Responsibilities:
- Working closely with the Associate Director, Digital Scholarship Infrastructure & Services and colleagues in the McMaster University Library and Health Sciences Library, establish and nurture campuswide partnerships with Faculties and departments, research centres and institutes, the Office of Institutional Research & Analysis, Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs, the Office of the Vice-President Research, etc., to elevate the role of research impact analysis and bibliometrics in research assessment, security, support, and strategic development.
- Serve as a campus leader and resource on bibliometrics and research impact assessment by collaborating with partner groups and contributing deep expertise and knowledge of analytical methods, ethical approaches, software, platforms, and data sources in these areas. Support partner groups to apply best practices in bibliometrics and research impact analysis when developing and implementing workflows, plans, strategies, guidelines, and policies.
- In collaboration with partners in the Health Sciences Library, develop, manage, and continually refine a formal and sustainable bibliometrics and research impact service; working independently and in collaboration with partner units, prioritize, evaluate, negotiate, and manage requests for bibliometric data and support.
- In collaboration and in support of university leadership, advance campus efforts to discuss, adopt, and implement community-developed principles for responsible research metrics, including the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), the COARA Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment, and the Leiden Manifesto for research metrics.
- Champion the broad adoption, incorporation, and use of persistent identifiers (including ORCID, other researcher identifiers, RORs, DOIs, etc.) by McMaster researchers, research administrators, research support units, and campus systems to build and leverage the benefits of an interconnected research information landscape.
- Work closely with the McMaster Experts team, the Office of the VPR, and faculty and departmental administrators to promote the effective use of McMaster’s research information management system and external systems like ORCID to improve assessment outcomes, elevate the profile of non-traditional scholarly works, and enhance the profile of McMaster’s researchers.
- Lead or consult on efforts by academic and administrative units to develop quantitative and qualitative reports that disseminate research impact information to University leadership, staff, and faculty in a meaningful and organized manner.
- Collaborate with internal Library units, including the Content, Access, and Open Licensing Division, Digital Scholarship Infrastructure and Services Division, and the Office of the University Librarian, on projects and initiatives that incorporate or rely upon bibliometrics and research impact analyses, including content analysis and internal assessment.
- Collaborate with colleagues in the Health Sciences Library, the Digital Research Commons Pilot, and the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship to develop and deliver synchronous and asynchronous training on research impact concepts, bibliometrics platforms, software, methodological approaches, data sources, and researcher profiles. Develop and sustain communities of practice to facilitate information sharing, coordination, and collaboration.
- Lead on, perform, and coordinate complex technical analysis projects that use and synthesize a variety of bibliometric databases, methods, and analytical tools such as R, Python, SQL, etc. Develop, employ, and supervise the application of best practices for managing, manipulating, analyzing, and interpreting numerous, heterogeneous, and large bibliometrics data sets.
- Chair or serve as a member on library and university committees, task forces, and projects aligned with position responsibilities.
This is a full time, continuous appointment reporting to the Associate Director, Digital Scholarship Infrastructure & Services. Normally scheduled weekly hours will be Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm (35 hours/week).
Qualifications:
- ALA-accredited Master of Library & Information Science degree, or equivalent.
- Significant relevant experience (including coursework/training) with research impact assessment and/or bibliometric analyses.
- Comprehensive understanding of the various research impact metrics used to assess impact at the document-, researcher-, and journal-level and their relative merits, weaknesses, and biases.
- Familiarity with principles of responsible research assessment and thorough understanding of considerations related to conducting responsible research evaluation via bibliometric data.
- Demonstrated experience extracting, synthesizing, and analyzing information from a variety of bibliometric data sources (Web of Science, InCites, Scopus, SciVal, Dimensions, Altmetric Explorer, OpenAlex, Lens, etc.).
- Experience working with large scale data management and analysis using a variety of tools.
- Demonstrated experience with statistical analysis methods associated with bibliometrics and skills related to managing, manipulating, and analyzing data.
- Experience and demonstrated effectiveness managing projects and working with time-sensitive deadlines.
Additional Assets:
- Experience and a strong record of working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to achieve common objectives.
- Experience and confidence building relationships and working with representatives from all levels of an organization.
- Strong attention to detail and proofreading abilities with an excellent command of the English language.
- A high level of data literacy, with the ability to analyze and synthesize sizable amounts of detail/data.
- Self-motivated multi-tasker with strong organizational and independent working skills.
- Experience working with Research Information Management Systems (Pure, Elements, Uniweb, etc.) and their data.
- Demonstrated ability to apply creativity, innovation, and resourcefulness to daily work.
- Strong written and verbal skills for presenting, teaching, troubleshooting, and writing procedural documentation and reports.
- Experience and skill in training others—whether in workshop or one-on-one settings.
- Knowledge of and experience supporting the use of persistent and unique identifiers (ORCID, Researcher ID, ROR, etc.) to disambiguate entities and build knowledge graphs.
- Experience with advanced analysis software packages (R, Python, SQL, Pandas, TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc.) to automate analyses is desirable.
Compensation:
It is anticipated that the appointment will be made at the rank of Librarian II or III, with an annual salary range of $67,255.99 – $99,221.08; or $72,860.83 – $110,135.06 respectively. This position is included in the McMaster University Academic Librarians’ Association bargaining unit. Salary and rank will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. The position includes a competitive and comprehensive benefit package. The full Position Responsibility Statement is available from the Library Human Resources Office. Further information about the University Library is available at http://library.mcmaster.ca.
Additional Information:
McMaster University Library expects librarians to be active and engaged with the broader library and research community through both professional service and professional or scholarly activity as defined in Article 3 of the MUALA Collective Agreement.
Qualified persons who wish to be considered for this opportunity should submit their curriculum vitae with a covering letter. The estimated start date for this position is January 3, 2024 or sooner.
What you can Expect from Working at McMaster:
As one of Canada’s most research-intensive universities, working at McMaster University is an opportunity to be involved in a thriving community comprised of internationally renowned professionals and research institutes.
McMaster University is principally sited on an attractive campus in west Hamilton, adjacent to residential neighbourhoods and the Royal Botanical Gardens’ Cootes Paradise wetland and trails. It is possible to live within easy walking or cycling distance of the campus, with easy pedestrian-safe transportation on the nearby rail-trail.
Working at McMaster University brings a robust total rewards package, which is more than just a salary. The elements and structure of the total rewards packages vary by employee group but include:
- Employer-paid benefits including Extended Health, Dental, Emergency Out-of-Country Travel Coverage & Basic Life Insurance
- Pension Plan
- Training, coaching and professional development opportunities
- Employee tuition assistance for development and education
- Opportunities to be a part of an academic environment working alongside professionals who share a passion for learning
- Progressive paid annual vacation plan
Please see Total Rewards Overview for MUALA for more Information.
How to Apply:
To apply for this job, please submit your application online.
Link for External applicants:
If you are a current employee of our organization please use the following link instead:
Employment Equity Statement:
McMaster University is located on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Mississauga Nations and within the lands protected by the “Dish With One Spoon” wampum agreement.
The diversity of our workforce is at the core of our innovation and creativity and strengthens our research and teaching excellence. In keeping with its Statement on Building an Inclusive Community with a Shared Purpose, McMaster University strives to embody the values of respect, collaboration and diversity, and has a strong commitment to employment equity.
The University seeks qualified candidates who share our commitment to equity and inclusion, who will contribute to the diversification of ideas and perspectives, and especially welcomes applications from indigenous (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) peoples, members of racialized communities, persons with disabilities, women, and persons who identify as 2SLGBTQ+.
As part of McMaster’s commitment, all applicants are invited to complete a confidential Applicant Diversity Survey through the online application submission process. The Survey questionnaire requests voluntary self-identification in relation to equity-seeking groups that have historically faced and continue to face barriers in employment. Please refer to the Applicant Diversity Survey – Statement of Collection for additional information.
Job applicants requiring accommodation to participate in the hiring process should contact:
- Human Resources Service Centre at 905-525-9140 ext. 222-HR (22247), or
- Faculty of Health Sciences HR Office at ext. 22207, or
- School of Graduate Studies at ext. 23679
to communicate accommodation needs.
Hybrid Work Language:
To ensure an ongoing and vibrant University community that meets the needs of our students, staff and faculty and supports the University mission, ability to work on-site continues to be a requirement for most University positions. The University is supportive of exploring flexible work arrangements that effectively balance operational needs and employee interests.
ViMLoC: Visible Minority Librarians of Canada 