Assistant Director - Wiggin Memorial Library - Stratham (NH)

The Wiggin Memorial Library in Stratham NH is looking for the right professional to step into our Assistant Director role. Our ideal Assistant Director will be outgoing, have diverse library experience, and enthusiasm for working in a small community.

You don’t have to be ready for anything/everything, but it helps! In this moment of change, we’re ready to reimagine library services and we’re looking for the person who will jump in and help: from ideas to design to implementation. We need someone who is always thinking (whether about a new way to offer programs or what playlist fits best with assembling shelves) and likes to hear about what others are thinking too.

The successful Assistant Director will thrive on variety and challenges, make decisions with an eye to both the traditional and innovation, and find collegial debate to be energizing and necessary for growth. We need someone who knows how to turn ideas into action and is motivated to follow through; not only a collaborator, but a coordinator. Our new Assistant Director will want to be where the action is and involved in making it happen.

In a small library, no project is too big, too small or too unusual to tackle. We’re looking for someone who is able to shift gears at any moment, filling in at a desk, picking up a co-worker’s responsibilities when needed, advocating for the library on the spot. Someone talented enough to take on most anything – and teach the rest of us how.

We need someone who works well with their library colleagues, the public, and Town officials. We want to know about how you build and grow relationships with community partners, Friends of the Library, and volunteers. Show us your successful outreach, engagement, and PR projects. Pitch us an exciting program (and how you will make it a reality)! We need a person who has a great track record managing and developing staff and themselves.

We’re looking for a well-read (-listened, and/or -watched) candidate who can’t resist recommending the right story to the right person in the right moment. Someone who brings their best self to the detailed work of comprehensive collection development and to the expansive nature of mentoring other librarians. We also need someone organized, perceptive, and up-to-speed on current library and business trends. Basically, we want it all. Is that you?

Our Library and Community: A fun and rewarding place to work! We have highly engaged residents and Town counterparts who support the library in visible ways. We were a finalist for the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2018 (along with LA County and Pueblo, CO); we may be small, but we punch above our weight. Our staff and community are excited to build new ideas into reality and we’re not afraid to try things out. We have welcomed two new librarians in the past 4 years – their energy energizes us all. Be prepared for some friendly teasing; we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We know you’ll want to join our team!

Qualifications:  Masters Degree of Library and/or Information Science* from an American Library Association accredited degree program. Three to five years of library management experience; three plus years of experience managing adult services and/or customer service. Excellent oral and written communication skills; listening and interpersonal skills; organizational and evaluative skills; public speaking skills. Sense of humor is a must.  Knowledge of visual design, personnel management, strategic planning, collection development. High comfort level with technology in general including mobile devices, wi-fi, Microsoft Office Suite, Canva, a variety of library digital subscriptions and ILS software – please share your technology comfort level with us.
*May consider Masters-level degrees in public or business administration, nonprofit leadership, or other deemed relevant when paired with desired experience.

Full/Part Time: Full Time

Education: MLS/Masters

Starting Salary: $54,000

Closing Date: Until filled. Interviews to begin the week of March 22, 2021.

How to Apply: Please send resumé, cover letter, and an example of your professional writing style to Lesley Kimball, Library Director – wigginml@comcast.net – and, just for fun, include a favorite meme or quote from 2020.