An Invitation to Apply for the Position of
	Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian
	Columbia University
	New York, NY

The Search

Columbia University seeks a creative leader with an understanding of modern scholarship and education to manage its extraordinary research collections, shape its vigorous electronic resources programs, and ensure that it maintains state-of-the-art networks and academic information systems to meet the needs of faculty and students. Reporting to the University's Provost and Dean of Faculties, Jonathan R. Cole, the Vice President oversees the operations of the University's Libraries and the Academic Information Systems (AcIS). This institutional structure, bringing information systems and the libraries under a single head, affords a remarkable opportunity for the University to take the lead in the integration of traditional and digital resources and the use of the new information technologies for teaching, learning, and research.

In searching for a new Vice President, Columbia wishes to identify an imaginative leader who will build on the momentum of its current development and provide strategic direction in a time of rapid change.  The new Vice President will be in a position to create both a library of the future that combines books and manuscripts with electronic materials and one of the most advanced academic information systems in the country.  As the advocate for the libraries and information systems, the Vice President must articulate a vision for this core institutional resource, both within the University and without.  A capacity for participatory leadership, skill in integrating varied programs, an understanding of academic culture and of cultural preservation, an ability to forge links with multiple constituencies, and an interest in fund-raising will be necessary for success.

The Provost has retained the national executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to assist in recruiting the new Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian.  Applications, nominations, or inquiries should be directed to Isaacson, Miller as indicated at the end of this document.  This position profile has been approved by the Search Committee to be shared with prospective candidates and key contacts in the field.

Context

Columbia University possesses one of the world's great research libraries.  Assembled through decades of acquisitions, its collections now contain 7.3 million monographs, more than 67,000 serials, over 28 million manuscript items, more than 5 million items of microform, and a rapidly expanding array of electronic resources.  Each year, the Libraries add over 160,000 items to their collections.  These unique resources are housed in 23 branch libraries, all of which report to the Vice President and University Librarian, with the exception of the Health Sciences and Law Libraries.

AcIS (Academic Information Systems) is dedicated to improving the quality of the University's academic programs through the strategic use of computing and communications technologies.  It maintains the information infrastructure on the University's main campus, the campus network, and many central networked services, including the e-mail system and Columbia's World Wide Web.  AcIS manages the central public access facilities, including microcomputer labs, electronic classrooms, and public workstations located on the main campus; works with the Libraries to expand the University's growing array of on-line information resources; supports the efforts of individual departments and schools to use information technologies for academic purposes; and offers a range of services to individual faculty and students.  Though a much younger organization than the Libraries, it has assumed a leading role in the University's efforts to utilize new information technologies to further its educational and research programs.  In partnership with the Libraries, it has also been responsible for much of the work that has made Columbia a leader in the development of the digital library.¹

Recognizing the centrality of the Libraries and AcIS to its core academic mission, the University developed a six-year strategy, begun in 1998-99, which has significantly increased their operating budgets and made substantial capital improvements in their operations and facilities.  By fiscal year 2004, the operating budget of the Libraries will increase by 33.8 percent over fiscal year 1998 and that of AcIS by 113.5 percent.  Their combined operating budget for this year is $39 million.  Between fiscal years 1995 and 1999, the University invested $67 million in capital funds in the Libraries and AcIS; by fiscal year 2004, it will commit at least another $68 million in capital funds to their enhancement.

The fruits of these investments have already become evident in an aggressive program of renewal and innovation. 

• Central to the ambitious multi-year capital development program has been the $70 million restoration and modernization of Butler Library, Columbia's flagship library and the largest building on the Morningside Heights campus.  Substantial work has already been completed.  The final phase of this project began in the summer of last year and will extend through the spring of 2004. 
• To accommodate the growing demands on the University's network, which extends into every office, library and residence hall on the main campus, AcIS is now completing a upgrade to its architecture, systems servers, and software that will support Columbia's requirements for the next decade.  In addition, it is introducing wireless access and substantially enhancing the ability of faculty and students to connect to the network from outside the University. 
• At the same time, an innovative collaboration among the Libraries, AcIS, and the Columbia Press called EPIC (Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia) is exploring ways of using emerging technologies to develop new organizational and business models for disseminating scholarly content.  EPIC has already launched several successful projects.  Recent examples include the award-winning Columbia Earthscape, an on-line resource on the global environment, and The American Historical Association's Guttenberg-e Dissertation Prize for electronic publication of monographs in several areas of history considered to be "endangered" in the publishing arena. 
• In an equally important and innovative collaboration, Columbia, Princeton, and the New York Public Library have formed the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium to build and operate a state-of-the-art offsite shelving facility in Princeton.  This facility, scheduled to open during autumn 2001, will accommodate the expected growth in the Libraries' collections for at least the next 30 years while opening opportunities for further resource-sharing with the University's consortium partners and other research libraries.

Challenge and Tasks

While historically great and currently innovative, the Libraries and AcIS are in the midst of a period of extraordinary change characterized by rapidly evolving information technology, rising user demand, and the need to maintain the strength of the University's rich print collections while providing access to its own electronic resources, services, and tools, as well as those of the rest of the University.  Compounding the complexity of this transition is a continuing need to modernize many of the Libraries' physical facilities, the short life cycles of the new information technologies, and market forces that are increasing some key costs at a rate that is well above inflation.

As noted in the AcIS annual report, "The pace of innovation in technology itself and the revolution in its use by the University community has generated a new level of urgency and complexity in the University's information systems."  The Libraries face similar pressures from new developments as it seeks to improve the quality of its print collections and the delivery of materials to users while simultaneously helping to develop the digital library.  The Libraries, AcIS, and University administration are united in their dedication to meeting these challenges.

The overarching challenge for the Vice President and University Librarian is to envision, articulate, and drive the development of an academic library and academic information environment for the future.  The Vice President and University Librarian will foster innovation, secure institutional support, recruit outstanding personnel, develop new sources of financial resources, and put Columbia's Libraries and Academic Information Systems in front of an accelerating information demand and development curve. The breadth and complexity of the tasks are remarkable, from preserving mammoth physical collections to creating fast and easy electronic access to information, from enhancing the place of the library in the life of the University community to reinventing its role in the business of communicating scholarly knowledge. The possibilities, however, are inspirational and success is essential.  For what is at stake in Columbia’s Libraries and Academic Information Systems is fundamental to the University’s mission--the creation, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge.

Qualifications and Experience

In searching for a new Vice President and University Librarian, Columbia wishes to identify an imaginative leader who will build on the momentum of its current development, providing inspiration and direction to a core institutional resource in a time of rapid change.  Candidates should bring significant achievement in areas relevant to the administration of library and information resources of a major university:

• The ability to conceive and articulate a vision for the future of library and information services;
• The ability to forge effective links with multiple constituencies, including faculty, students, and administration internally, and foundations and business interests externally;
• Evidence of an ability to work with university development officers to identify and attract sustained funding for collections and on-going operations;
• A history of supporting participatory management and staff development;
• A track record of developing information services into a source of competitive advantage;
• The capacity to integrate multiple programs and initiatives into an effective unified information resource;
• An understanding of the nature of academic culture;
• A flexible imagination and an articulate presence.

Schedule, Salary, and Application Procedure

The search is underway and is scheduled to conclude by the end of the current academic year, with a starting date as soon thereafter as possible.  Salary will be competitive and will depend upon qualifications and experience.  Inquiries, referrals, and resumes should be sent with a cover letter and in confidence to:

Jerry Pieh, Vice President

Isaacson, Miller

Internal Box 2217

334 Boylston Street, Suite 500

Boston, MA 02116-3805

Phone: 207-443-2256

Fax: 207-442-0846

E-mail: jpieh@imsearch.com

_________________________________________

¹AcIS does not support the administrative information requirements of the University. That is the responsibility of Administrative Information Services (AIS) which manages the University's central administrative computers: provides departments and schools with mainframe, microcomputer, and Novell LAN services: and operates the ROLM telephone system.  While AIS reports to the University's Executive Vice President for Administration, it has a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Vice President and University Librarian. (return to text)