Graduate Assistantship Program
Graduate Assistantships
2018-2019 Academic Year
Application Deadline: May 25, 2018
Overview: The Florida State University Libraries in partnership with the School of Information invites eligible School of Information Masters and Ph.D. program students to apply for Graduate Assistantships in the University Libraries. The purpose of these assistantships is to provide graduate students with valuable, applied work experience that will enhance their classroom learning and their marketability to potential employers after graduation.
Areas of Concentration: Five assistantships will be offered in the following areas: Research & Learning- Learning Commons, Research & Learning- STEM Libraries, Collections & Technical Services: eResources, Special Collections & Archives, and Digital Research & Scholarship.
Research & Learning Services (Learning Commons): The Learning Commons Graduate Assistant will gain experience in academic library instruction, reference, and circulation in Strozier Library’s Learning Commons. The graduate assistant will work closely with the Instruction and Learning Services Librarian to facilitate, design, and assess library instruction classes for Florida State University’s undergraduate population. This position provides the graduate assistant with extensive experience in library instruction, teaching over fifty one-shot classes annually. Additionally, the graduate assistant will provide research and citation management consultations to the undergraduate population, in both a reference and circulation setting. The graduate assistant will also learn skills necessary to be an effective subject specialist, including collection development and subject-based instruction and reference.
Research & Learning Services (STEM Libraries): The graduate assistant will have an opportunity to play an important role in the growth and development of STEM research and learning services at FSU. They will work closely with STEM librarians to provide research and learning support to students and faculty in STEM disciplines. This will include providing library instruction sessions, conducting research consultations, and other related subject librarian activities. The graduate assistant will also work with librarians to increase engagement between the Libraries and the STEM community. This position will allow for deep exploration into areas such as scholarly communication and research data management, with a focus on STEM disciplines.
Collections & Technical Services, eResources: The graduate assistant will gain experience administrating e-resource access for FSU Libraries. Work will be technical in nature and involve learning about the different e-resources licensed, how and where access is provided to users, and common ways to troubleshoot access problems. The graduate assistant will learn how different types of e-resources (databases, eBooks, eVideo), acquisitions models, and metadata provided by different sources, effect the user experience. Working with e-resources staff, the graduate assistant will complete a review of FSU Libraries e-resource holdings to identify issues or areas for improvement. The graduate assistant will utilize multiple internal and external systems daily to accomplish their work including EXCEL, the library integrated management system, database administrative pages, and project management software. Through this experience the graduate assistant will gain a familiarity with e-resource management including the intersection between e-resources, acquisitions, cataloging, and discovery.
Special Collections & Archives: GA will gain practical special collections & archives experience through the arrangement, description, metadata creation for items and collections. Work will be project based and may occur in Strozier Library Special Collections (rare books and manuscripts), Heritage and University Archives, the Pepper Library (manuscript collections), and the Digital Library Center. GA will also assist in providing reference services to patrons in Special Collections, creating research guides or work on other projects designed to improve access to unique collections. GA may also have opportunities for creating both physical and online exhibits, to work with software such as Omeka, Archon, digital asset management systems and metadata and collections cataloging. GA will also have opportunities to learn about and help with projects related to the Sunshine State Digital Network, Florida’s DPLA service hub.
Office of Digital Research & Scholarship (DRS): GAs will gain practical experience related to core DRS work areas, including Academic Publishing, Digital Humanities, Digital Pedagogy, and Research Data Services. GAs will perform duties related to a variety of digital scholarship activities, including: digital repository services, training in digital methods (i.e. text encoding, altmetrics), project development and consultation, data management and curation, open educational resources, multimodal publishing, and working with a variety of digital tools and platforms. GAs will be encouraged to specialize in a single DRS work area, developing a specific and highly marketable set of skills under the mentorship of the librarian responsible for said area. GAs will also be given the opportunity to build their professional portfolio by identifying and pursuing capstone projects related to their chosen work area.
Qualifications: Admission into a FSU School of Information: Library and Information Studies Masters or Ph.D. program is required. Consideration will be given to incoming students; offers will be contingent on acceptance into the program. (Note: GAs must be enrolled as full-time students for each semester of the assistantship.) Successful applicants must demonstrate the following skills and abilities:
- ability to balance graduate coursework and work responsibilities
- commitment to public service
- strong technology skills
- familiarity with searching techniques
- commitment to teaching and learning
- strong communication skills
- ability to develop detailed and accurate resources
- library experience preferred but not required
Work Hours/Stipend: The assistantships start in the fall 2018 and runs through the end of the spring 2019 semester. The assistantship requires 20 hours of work each week during the academic term, and may include evenings or weekends. The stipend is $11,800.00 and will include a tuition waiver of nine hours each semester.
To Apply: Complete the University Libraries Graduate Assistantship online application form at https://fsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BRkH8u6WS42fLn. The deadline for submission for 2018-2019 year is May 25, 2018. Applicants will be selected for in-person interviews with University Libraries’ staff from the pool of applications in early June.
Contact: Please email lib-hr@fsu.edu with any questions