Librarian III

ABOUT THE ALAMEDA COUNTY LIBRARY

The Alameda County Library provides library services from ten branch libraries in the cities of Albany, Dublin, Fremont, Newark and Union City and the unincorporated communities of Castro Valley and San Lorenzo. Outreach services are provided through the Bookmobile, the Literacy Program, the Senior Outreach Program, and the County Jails.

The County Library was established in 1910 and is governed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The Alameda County Library Advisory Commission advises County Librarian Carmen Martinez and the Board of Supervisors on library services.

The County Library is funded primarily by local property taxes, with additional revenue from State grants and contracts with cities for additional open hours and services. The Board of Supervisors allocates a portion of a utility users and business license tax which is collected only in the unincorporated areas of the County to the Library for service to the unincorporated areas. The Alameda County Library Foundation and active Friends or Library League groups in each community support library programs and services.

THE POSITION

Incumbents in the class of Librarian III are professional superjourney librarians with a high degree of expertise in a designated specialized area.

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

Incumbents in the class of Librarian III are distinguished from incumbents in the class of Librarian II in that the former has a specialized knowledge of a unique subject or directs the course of a special program of service. Their assigned responsibility is either for system-wide collection development in that field of knowledge or community-wide implementation of a designated special service. Incumbents in the class of Librarian III are distinguished from incumbents in the class of Librarian IV in that their responsibility is limited to consulting, and their expertise is directed toward the knowledge of the materials or direction of the course of the designated special service. The classification of Librarian III is not considered to be supervisory.

Two immediate vacancies are located in the Technical Services Unit with responsibility for adult and children’s materials selection.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications listed below, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated a successful track record in the following:

• A demonstrated ability to use trends in new, electronic media.
• An outstanding background customer service.
• A keen understanding of library materials, publishers, vendors and trends in publishing.
• A superior command of oral and written communication.
• A history of being a team player, having a positive attitude, being adaptable, taking initiative

NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the “Examples of Duties” section of this specification.

Knowledge of:

• Principles and practices of librarianship, including those for bibliographic entry reference work and cataloging.
• Public library programs and their relationship to community needs.
• Books, periodicals in general use, common indexing services.
• Specialized source materials in a given area.

Abilities:

• Planning, managing and organizing the development of a small specialized collection.
• Analyzing and problem solving.
• Providing guidance to staff and volunteers.
• Working harmoniously and effectively with the public and staff members.
• Preparing written reports.
• Communicating effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Speaking effectively about library materials and services to community groups.

The examination will consist of the following steps:  1) A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements;  2) Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the position will move onto the next step in the examination process which is a  review of the Supplemental Questionnaire to determine the best qualified - only the most suitably best qualified candidates will be invited to the oral interview process; 3) the final test component which is an oral examination interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidates' final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION

We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit.  Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position.  Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position.  Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance.  The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:  

 TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN: 
 

Deadline for Filing	5:00pm, Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Review of Minimum Qualification	August 28, 2015
Supplemental Questionnaire Review for Best Qualified	September 11, 2015
Oral Interview Exam	October 7, 2015

*WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN*  

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Welfare Benefits

• Medical – HMO & PPO Insurance
• Dental – PPO & DHMO Insurance  
• Vision
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage) 
• County Allowance
• Health Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Short-term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Retirement Plan – (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Group Auto/Home
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.  

Nicole Lewis-Bolton, Human Resources Analyst
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
510-272-6468    Nicole.Lewis-Bolton@acgov.org

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer