Children and Youth Services Librarian (20-25 hours per week)

Bixby Memorial Free Library

Serving and Supported by Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham, Vermont

Summary: The Bixby Memorial Free Library in Vergennes, VT, seeks an enthusiastic, creative, and adaptable Children and Youth Services Librarian with strong planning, communication, and organizational skills to grow youth engagement. The successful candidate will have a passion for literacy and an ease of working with children and young adults and will be responsible for creating and managing relevant, high-quality collections, programs, partnerships, and spaces for our area youth and their families. The candidate will be a collaborative team player who is effective in building rapport and creating a positive library experience with preschoolers through teens and their caregivers.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Plans, develops, maintains, and evaluates all aspects of the Library’s juvenile and young adult collections, programming, and spaces within budget, including audiovisual and electronic resources, using standard review sources and considering patron requests and usage.
• Plans, organizes, facilitates, and evaluates educational, literacy, and cultural programs and series for children and young adults.
• Partners with local schools, childcare providers, community youth organizations, and others to assess needs and coordinate offerings, including outreach to local preschools
• Develops approaches to expanding the use and enjoyment of library resources and participation in library programming, particularly among underserved groups.
• Recruits, trains, manages, and supports teen volunteers.
• Provides regular circulation desk coverage and support.
• Prepares and provides reflections on monthly reports on activities, results, and plans
• Performs similar or related work as required, directed, or as the situation dictates.

Preferred Skills:

• Passion and ability to interact meaningfully with children of all ages and their caregivers
• Current knowledge of trends in children and youth culture, literature, literacy, and programming
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including public speaking
• Highly effective partnering and collaboration skills and ability to work in a team environment
• Self-directed with excellent time management, judgment, and creative problem-solving skills
• Skillful in learning and leveraging a range of technology, tools, and platforms for communications and productivity
• Strong sense of humor, positivity, resourcefulness, and resiliency

Education and Experience: A Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree and/or Vermont Certificate of Public Librarianship and three or more years of working with children and youth in a library or school setting is strongly preferred, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Physical Requirements: Work is performed under typical library and office conditions on multiple floors. Duties require intermittent light to moderate physical effort in carrying, lifting, or moving lightweight materials or equipment. Accessibility note: Please be advised that our historic building is currently not fully ADA-compliant. We are working hard on an accessibility project to make sure that all members of the community can access our second floor, but currently, the only ADA accessibility is to the basement and first levels.

Compensation: $19 - $20 per hour, depending on qualifications. This position is eligible for a matching Simple IRA retirement plan of up to 3%.

Please send a cover letter and resume to Catharine Hays, Library Director, at catharine.hays@bixbylibrary.org.

About the Bixby Memorial Free Library

The Bixby Memorial Free Library proudly serves and is supported by the people of Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham, Vermont, offering both traditional library lending as well as a range of services, programming, digital resources, and technology for every age and every stage of life. The stately 110-year-young library serves as the public cultural and community center, offering welcoming spaces to read, relax, work, meet, socialize, host events, and take in the view of the stained-glass dome from the marble lobby or Otter Creek Falls and the Adirondack from the west porch rocking chairs. Hours: Tuesday – Thursday: 10am to 7pm; Friday and Saturday: 10am to 3pm.