Director, Research Library (NY HELPS), Box OCE-1618/22642

The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Office of Cultural Education is seeking candidates for a Director, Research Library, M5, position in the New York State Library. The New York State Library is seeking an accomplished and forward-looking library leader to serve as Director of the Regent Joseph E. Bowman, Jr. Research Library, one of the largest research libraries in North America. Reporting directly to the New York State Librarian and serving as a senior leader in the New York State Library, the Director leads the Research Library and serves as a key strategic partner to the State Librarian.

Established in 1818 and home to more than 20 million items, the Research Library preserves and provides access to extraordinary collections that document New York State government, history, and culture while serving the information needs of State government, scholars, researchers, and the public. The State Library is also the official repository for New York State government publications and serves as a Regional Depository for federal publications. Beyond the Research Library, the New York State Library includes the Talking Book and Braille Library and the Division of Library Development, which works with 72 library systems and a statewide network of approximately 7,000 academic, public, school, and special libraries.

The Director will lead a large, experienced, multidisciplinary staff and provide strategic and operational leadership for the Research Library’s collections, services, programs, facilities, and resources. Working closely with the State Librarian, the Director will help shape broader institutional priorities, strategy, partnerships, and initiatives across the New York State Library. The Director will also set priorities for an institution with more than two centuries of history—expanding access to collections, advancing digitization and digital preservation, strengthening public and research services, modernizing spaces and operations, and ensuring that the Research Library continues to meet the evolving needs of New Yorkers.

As part of the Office of Cultural Education, the New York State Library is located in Albany’s Cultural Education Center alongside the New York State Museum and New York State Archives. Together, these nationally significant institutions steward extraordinary collections that document and illuminate New York’s history, government, culture, and natural heritage. This distinctive setting provides the Director with opportunities to collaborate across the Office of Cultural Education, bringing together collections, expertise, and resources to advance shared priorities and expand public access and engagement.

For candidates ready to take on a major leadership role at one of the nation’s most significant state libraries, this position offers a rare opportunity to pair stewardship of extraordinary collections with institutional leadership, innovation, public service, and statewide impact. Working in close partnership with the State Librarian, the Director will help shape how the Library’s collections, expertise, technology, and services can best serve New Yorkers today and for generations to come.

The major duties of this position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide strategic, administrative, and operational leadership for all aspects of the Research Library, including its collections, services, programs, staff, facilities, and resources, establishing priorities and ensuring excellence in service to State government, researchers, and the public;
• Serve as a key strategic partner and advisor to the State Librarian, contributing to broader New York State Library strategy, policy, planning, partnerships, and major institutional initiatives;
• Lead and develop a large, multidisciplinary organization, including senior managers and specialized professional staff, building a high-performing culture that embraces change, collaboration, accountability, innovation, professional growth, and service excellence;
• Set and execute an ambitious agenda for the modernization and future direction of the Research Library, reimagining how its collections, expertise, spaces, technology, and services can best meet the needs of contemporary and future users;
• Direct the management, development, preservation, and long-term stewardship of the Research Library’s nationally significant collection of more than 20 million items in print, digital, and special formats, balancing the enduring responsibility of preservation with an ambitious commitment to access and use;
• Advance digitization, digital preservation, technology, and innovative approaches to discovery and access that expand the reach and use of the Research Library’s collections and services across New York State;
• Develop and oversee the Research Library’s budget, operations, facilities, and resources, including space planning and capital improvement projects, ensuring responsible fiscal stewardship while strategically directing resources toward institutional priorities, modernization, and long-term sustainability;
• Build and sustain strategic partnerships with government agencies, libraries, educational institutions, cultural organizations, and community partners to extend the Research Library’s reach, relevance, and impact;
• Collaborate with executive leadership of the New York State Museum, New York State Archives, and Office of Educational Television and Public Broadcasting to advance shared priorities and initiatives across the Office of Cultural Education; and
• Represent the Research Library and New York State Library at the state and national levels, advocating for the Library’s collections, services, expertise, and public mission and advising the State Librarian and agency leadership on major issues and emerging opportunities affecting research libraries, collections, preservation, access, technology, and the future of library services.

Minimum Qualifications

Ny Helps

This title is part of the New York Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement Statewide Program (NY HELPS).

For the duration of the NY HELPS Program, this title may be filled via a non-competitive appointment, which means no examination is required but all candidates must meet the minimum qualifications of the title for which they apply. At a future date (within one year of permanent appointment), it is expected employees hired under NY HELPS will have their non-competitive employment status converted to competitive status, without having to compete in an examination. Employees will then be afforded with all of the same rights and privileges of competitive class employees of New York State. While serving permanently in a NY HELPS title, employees may take part in any promotion examination for which they are qualified.

Non-Competitive Minimum Qualifications:

To be considered for appointment through NY HELPS candidates must meet the open-competitive minimum qualifications for this position. The qualifications are:

• A master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from an ALA-accredited institution; AND seven years of post-degree professional library experience. Three or more of the seven years must have included significant leadership experience involving administrative or management responsibility in a research library, academic library, archive, library consortium, or similar knowledge organization.

Competitive Minimum Qualifications:

Section 52.6 Transfer: Candidates must have one year of permanent competitive or 55b/c service in a title allocated M3 or higher eligible to transfer under Section 52.6 of the Civil Service Law. Candidates must also possess a master’s degree in Library and Information Studies from an ALA-accredited institution to qualify for transfer.

For information regarding the transfer options of your current title, please visit the Civil Service Career Mobility Office Website. https://careermobilityoffice.cs.ny.gov/cmo/gotit/title-search/index.cfm

Preferred Qualifications:

Preference will be given to candidates who possess:

• Demonstrated success as a senior leader in a complex library with a record of setting strategic direction, driving organizational improvement, and leading people and resources through periods of change and transformation.
• Proven ability to serve as a trusted strategic partner to senior leadership, helping shape institution-wide strategy, policy, priorities, and major initiatives and translating ambitious ideas into meaningful organizational change and results.
• A strong record of leading and developing senior managers and multidisciplinary teams, advancing new ways of working, building alignment around new directions, and fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, adaptability, and service excellence.
• Significant knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing major research libraries, coupled with a forward-looking perspective on the stewardship and use of significant collections, digitization and digital preservation, technology, evolving user expectations, and new approaches to access, discovery, and engagement.
• Exceptional communication, judgment, and relationship-building skills, with demonstrated success developing strategic partnerships, working effectively with senior government and institutional leaders, building consensus across diverse constituencies, and representing an organization effectively at the state and national levels.