Description

Visiting Open Educational Resources Librarian

Visiting Assistant Professor

Scholarly Communication and Publishing

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Position Available: This position is available as soon as possible. There is the possibility of a hybrid work schedule for faculty, determined through conversation and approval by the faculty supervisor based on unit needs, but as a residential campus all faculty are expected to have an on site presence. This is a 100%-time, twelve-month, visiting faculty appointment, renewable annually for three years, and may become permanent in the University Library. This position is designed to build expertise for librarians new to this field, and early career librarians are encouraged to apply.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Statement: The University Library of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign values diversity of thought, perspective, experience, and people, and is actively committed to a culture of inclusion and respect. We are dedicated to the practices of social justice, diversity, and equality, and we strive to overcome historical and divisive biases in our society and embrace diverse points of view as assets to the fabric of our community. All positions will be called on to contribute to building this environment in the Library and throughout the campus community, and we encourage candidates who share these values to apply. Additional information can be found on the Library’s DEIA webpage: https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/deia/.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeking an Open Educational Resources (OER) Librarian to participate in outreach and education initiatives that encourage the adoption, adaption, and publication of OER. The librarian in this role will also further other textbook affordability goals and may contribute to other unit initiatives depending on time and areas of interest. This position serves as part of the Scholarly Communication and Publishing Unit and reports directly to the unit head. 

The University of Illinois Library has emerging and evolving OER services including publication of open textbooks through the library publishing program in addition to outreach to foster OER adoption, adaption, and creation. Members of the library are also partners, with the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), on a grant to foster OER creation in the field of medicine and are working to develop many new OER textbooks funded through the Office of the Provost and a State Library Grant funded through 2026. This role offers the opportunity to build on these emerging services and explore new directions with collaborators in the library and across campus.

Specific duties include but are not limited to:

       Lead OER outreach and education services to encourage adoption and adaption of OER for local contexts, and publication of new OER.

       Participate in OER publishing workflows with the library-based press, the Illinois Open Publishing Network (IOPN), or with partners such as CARLI through OER grant and other initiatives.

       Monitor developments in OER legislation, policy, and practice, and educate internal stakeholders on these developments and issues related to OER and course materials affordability.

       Assess impact of OER efforts, including development of metrics for internal use or external reporting.

       Participate (in lighter way or alternating during course of time) in other scholarly communication services including the institutional repository (IDEALS), copyright, and open access outreach.

       Pursue professional development and continued learning relevant to the position through participation in regular unit training, collaboration with other librarians, work time allotted to self-study, and other opportunities that arise. 

Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment and be detail-oriented.

Appointment Information                                                                                              

Scholarly Communication and Publishing includes digital publishing, repository services (including the library’s institutional repository, IDEALS), copyright, researcher profiles, scholarly communication, and digital humanities. Unit staff, with others on campus and in the library, have grown support for open educational resources from early outreach and publication pilots to more recent open textbook incentive programs for faculty funded by the Office of the Provost, University Library, and State of Illinois grant programs.

Environment: The University of Illinois is a predominantly residential university. Therefore, it is understood that most employees, including both academic and classified personnel, will maintain an onsite presence to effectively meet institutional and operational needs. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library is a leader in the delivery of user services, and active programs in information, instructional, access, and scholarly services that help the Library to maintain its place at the intellectual heart of the campus. Considered among the preeminent research libraries in the world, the University Library curates and provides access to over 15-million print and digital volumes and 23-million manuscripts, maps, and other resources to students, faculty, and scholars on campus and across the State of Illinois. The Library is committed to maintaining the strongest collections and service programs possible, and to engaging in research, development, and scholarly practice - all of which support the University's missions of teaching, research, and public engagement. The Library employs approximately 90 faculty members, and more than 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more information, see: http://www.library.illinois.edu/ .

Salary and Rank: This is a bargained position and as such the salary is driven by the NTFC Agreement. The salary for this faculty position is $76,389 . The successful candidate will join the University Library as a Visiting Assistant Professor. 

Non-tenure track faculty positions are represented by the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition IFT-AFT, AAUP (NTFC). Please be advised that this position is subject to a collective bargaining agreement between the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and the Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition union. For more information regarding the contract, please go to Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Union Contract.

Terms of Appointment: Twelve-month appointment; 24 annual vacation days; 11 annual paid holidays; 12 annual sick-leave days (cumulative), plus an additional 13 sick-leave days (non-cumulative) available, if needed, each year; health insurance requiring a small co-payment is provided to employee (with the option to purchase coverage for spouse and dependents); required participation in State Universities Retirement System (SURS) (8% of annual salary is withheld and is refundable upon termination), with several options for participation in additional retirement plans; newly-hired employees are covered by the Medicare portion of Social Security and are subject to its deduction. 

Campus and Community: The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a comprehensive and major public land-grant university (Doctoral/Research University-Extensive) that is ranked among the best in the world. Chartered in 1867, it provides undergraduate and graduate education in more than 150 fields of study, conducts theoretical and applied research, and provides public service to the state and the nation. It employs 2,848 faculty members who serve more than 34,000 undergraduates and 21,000 graduate and professional students. More information about the campus is available at www.illinois.edu.

The University is located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, which have a combined population of 207,000 and are situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 125 miles west of Indianapolis, and 180 northeast of St. Louis. The University and its surrounding communities offer a cultural and recreational environment ideally suited to the work of a major research institution. For more information about the community, visit: https://illinois.edu or https://www.champaigncounty.org.

Application Procedures & Deadline Information: Apply for these positions using the Apply Now button at the top or bottom of this posting. To ensure full consideration, all required application materials must be received by 6:00pm (CST) on December 5, 2025. Please create your candidate profile, upload a cover letter, your curriculum vitae, and the names and email addresses of four professional references by the close date. Applications not submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered.

For questions about this position, please contact the Search Coordinator, Aneitre Johnson at 217-265-0244. For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.

The University of Illinois offers a very competitive benefits portfolio, depending on the position. Click for a complete list of Employee Benefits.

 
The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.

Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodations portal, or by contacting the Accessibility & Accommodations Division of the Office for Access and Equity at 217-333-0885, or by emailing accessibility@illinois.edu .

Requirements

Required:

• ALA-accredited Master’s degree in Library and/or Information Science or equivalent; OR Ph.D. in a relevant field and significant work experience with developing and delivering courses in higher education, or working for a press in a position related to higher education textbook or other educational resources publishing.
• Demonstrated excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to learn and experiment with new publishing, repository, or other open educational resource (OER) technologies.
• Demonstrated interest in open educational resources.
• Potential to contribute to the national and international reputation of the University Library through professional research, service, and collaboration with colleagues and organizations. 

Preferred:

• Awareness of best practices for accessibility of digital resources.
• Awareness of relevant copyright issues for OER, particularly Creative Commons licensing and fair use.