Davidson College Library seeks an Acquisitions & Metadata Specialist to oversee the procurement and processing of new materials (one-time orders) in all formats, supporting the lifecycle of acquisitions from identification, ordering, resource description, invoicing, and shelf-ready processing. As the primary point of contact for purchase requests and incoming items, the Acquisitions & Metadata Specialist will proactively engage with faculty, staff, and students from across campus to expand access to resources and support projects that seek to refine our existing collections with an explicit emphasis on the values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
There has never been a more exciting time to join our team! In fall 2027, the college’s new George Lawrence Abernethy Library will transform how our campus community learns, creates, and connects. Guided by our organizational values , we work to advance the college’s purpose in developing disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. We do this by offering expertise, space, resources, and services that facilitate research, provide access to, and foster the creation of knowledge.
Our library staff play a critical role in expanding the global reach of traditional scholarship, preserving born-digital materials, supporting digital scholarship, and championing equitable and sustainable access to information. As Davidson embarks on a new transformative, campus-wide strategic plan , we are excited to explore how our expertise, programs, and resources will advance the college’s key priorities. We take pride in our strong collaborations with campus partners such as the John Crosland Jr. Center for Teaching and Learning , the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship , and the D.G. and Harriet Wall Martin Institute for Public Good —strategic alliances that highlight the library’s central role in the teaching and learning mission.
We are inspired by the college’s public commitment to education and reconciliation. To create an inclusive learning community and to reflect the diversity of Davidson experiences, we collaborate on projects that tell the full history of our college, develop collections in partnership with students and faculty, and create meaningful community connections. We seek a thoughtful colleague who joins us in embracing a special set of responsibilities as we articulate the college’s relationship to the past, confront our present moment, and chart a hopeful future.
How you will contribute:
Reporting to the Assistant Director of Collections & Discovery, the Acquisitions & Metadata Specialist plays a key role in the management of the library's acquisition workflows, including overseeing materials processing, bibliographic description, arrangement, inventorying, and collections maintenance. The Acquisitions & Metadata Specialist collaborates with the Research Collections Strategies team to identify opportunities to rethink the Library’s collection management policies and the connections between resource acquisitions, course reserves, and resource sharing as we move toward the next iteration of Davidson College’s library.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Supports acquisition & processing of orders in response to faculty and student requests and strategic acquisition initiatives: (50%)
- Processes all requests for one-time orders (physical and electronic) within vendor platforms and the library services platform.
- Creates and maintains accurate order information, identifying problems and undertaking corrective action.
- Performs basic cataloging for new orders, identifying and evaluating bibliographic records for quality, and makes additions to records to ensure adherence to local cataloging standards. May perform or support original cataloging & enhanced description of unique items without adequate existing description.
- Processes out-of-print and foreign language orders, confirms bibliographic information, identifies appropriate vendors, and evaluates resource costs.
- Communicates with vendors to resolve order-related issues including incorrect, damaged, or claimed items.
- Processes licensing requests for streaming media not held in current library collections.
- Acquires and processes requested course materials, working in coordination with other team members to make materials available on a timely basis.
- Communicates with faculty, staff, and students regarding the status of new and existing orders.
- Proactively identify resources in areas such as faculty publications, resources related to campus programming & events, and DEIA resources to support the library's strategic collection development efforts.
- Tracks acquisitions information and produces regular reports to support data-informed decisions.
- Recommends new processes and workflows that improve access to collections and enhance the user experience.
Supports fiscal oversight of the acquisitions budget in the library’s services platform (20%):
- Process invoices for all one-time orders in the library services platform (currently Alma).
- Monitors EDI invoicing tasks for selected vendors, manually creating invoices as needed.
- Maintains appropriate documentation for credit card purchases and processes payments using the College’s financial payments system.
- Works with the Library Operations & Business Manager to reconcile orders with library and college accounting systems.
- Generates and analyzes fiscal reports periodically to ensure timely and responsible spending of funds.
Supports outreach and campus engagement in service of collection development (10%)
- Conduct routine and specialized outreach to academic departments and individual faculty to encourage more intentional input into collection development, including submitting items to purchase for course reserves in support of affordable educational resources.
- Collaborate with other teams to support the development of curated and specialized collection displays.
- Support the development of specialized and distinctive collections by engaging with student groups, faculty, and campus initiatives (e.g., Deliberative Citizenship Initiative, Institute for Public Good), to recommend titles for procurement.
Supports the responsible management and care of the library's physical collections (10%)
- In cooperation with Assistant Director of Collections & Discovery, develops, reviews, and revises policies, procedures, and workflows relating to acquisitions and collections management.
- Hires, trains and supervises up to 3 student employees and/or summer temporary staff in support of collection processing and management.
- Supports projects pertaining to physical or electronic collections including (but not limited to) maintenance, inventory, shifting, and deselection.
- Evaluates damaged items to determine whether repair, replacement, or deselection is the best decision. Coordinates replacement / conservation work in cooperation with other relevant teams.
Collaborative projects and other duties as assigned. (10%)
- In cooperation with Assistant Director of Collections & Discovery, supports coordination and prioritization of student and Research Collections Strategies assistants’ tasks, providing assistance and support as necessary.
- Supports the work of the Interlibrary Loan Coordinator and Collections Specialist by assisting with course reserves and interlibrary loan requests during periods of vacancy.
- Participates in library committees, steering groups, cross-team initiatives, and other projects as assigned.
Qualifications that will help you flourish in this role:
- You are a thoughtful, open-minded, collaborative colleague with strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- You are committed to creating an inclusive environment that values and celebrates difference.
- You are motivated, adaptable, resilient, and able to change direction as the library landscape evolves.
- You cultivate an optimistic mindset.
- You are able to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
- You have excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to present information clearly and concisely.
- You are highly organized with strong project management skills.
For this job, we require that you have:
- A Bachelor's degree; at least one year of related work experience, preferably within a library setting.
- Demonstrated understanding of library information & organization principles. Prior experience with copy cataloging and/or metadata description is highly desirable.
- Commitment to creating an inclusive environment that values diversity.
For this job, we prefer that you have:
- Relevant library experience in acquisitions, cataloging, collections, or resource sharing.
- Experience using back end functions of library services platforms (Alma / Rialto highly desirable), or related library systems.
- Exceptional attention to detail, ability to analyze complex problems and communicate problems clearly.
- Prior supervisory experience and demonstrated ability to oversee and manage tasks of others.
- Familiarity with budget & accounting practices and tools.
This description indicates the general nature and level of work to be performed. It is not intended to be a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications assigned to the job.
For best consideration, please submit a cover letter and resume with your application materials by Monday, May 25, 2026.
Information about how to submit an application can be found at https://employment.davidson.edu
