Library Analytics, Metrics & Assessment Librarian

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

The UCLA Library invites applications for the Library Analytics, Metrics & Assessment Librarian (LAMAL) to advance evidence-informed decision-making across Library units. The role partners with leaders to define measures, design assessments, analyze data, and develop dashboards using Alma Analytics and Tableau to inform planning and service improvement.

The successful candidate will lead analytics projects, create data dictionaries, and train staff while promoting responsible data use and

Qualifications

• ALA-accredited MS in Library or Information Science required at hire.
• Experience generating queries/reports from library analytics environments.
• Experience with data-visualization and dashboard platforms (Tableau/Power BI).
• Ability to translate findings into actionable recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Collaborates with Library leaders to translate questions into assessment plans and deliverables.
• Extracts and analyzes data from library systems and other sources.
• Applies descriptive statistics, benchmarking, and survey design to evaluate outcomes.
• Develops and maintains dashboards and recurring reports using analytics tools.
• Creates data dictionaries, templates, and reproducible workflows.
• Manages analytics projects from intake to completion.
• Partners to improve data collection, quality, and workflows.
• Coordinates reporting for donor and collection-related initiatives.
• Synthesizes findings into narratives and visuals for leadership.

Skills

Data visualization

Analytical thinking

Data literacy

Collaboration

Communication

Project management

Documentation

Education

ALA-accredited MS in Library Science

Advanced degree in Information Sciences

Tools

Tableau

Power BI

Alma Analytics

Looker Studio

Choreo Insights

Google Analytics

Job description

The UCLA Library seeks a collaborative, service-oriented, and analytically skilled Library Analytics, Metrics & Assessment Librarian (LAMAL) to advance a culture of evidence-informed decision-making. Reporting to the head of Library Analytics, Metrics & Assessment, the librarian will partner with units across the Library to define meaningful measures, design assessments, analyze and interpret data, and develop reliable dashboards and reports that inform planning, resource allocation, service improvement, and organizational learning. The LAMAL will have an opportunity to help shape shared analytics and assessment practices, data definitions, documentation, and project priorities. The LAMAL uses a variety of systems and tools like Alma Analytics, Tableau, and other Library and campus systems and communicates methods and findings clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences.

The incumbent is responsible for supporting and enabling consistent, targeted, data-informed decision-making in relation to the UCLA Library collections, workflows and services. The LAMAL leads in and contributes to expertise in statistics and data analysis, metrics development, and documentation. The incumbent manages analytics projects and completes work related to the development and maintenance of dashboards and reports for the Library, and supports LAMA and Library staff capacity-building through developing well-documented analytical resources.

The incumbent exercises the utmost discretion in managing sensitive information learned in the course of performing their LAMA duties and working on LAMA projects. Sensitive information includes but is not limited to staff and student records, financial data, strategic plans, proprietary information, and any other sensitive or non-public information learned during the course and scope of their work. The LAMAL ensures that sensitive information is properly safeguarded and follows all organizational policies and laws on data protection and privacy. This includes secure handling of physical and digital records and proper usage of IT systems.

Position Duties

Specific duties and responsibilities include:

1. Collaborates with Library leaders, departments, and project teams to translate strategic and operational questions into clear assessment plans, measures, data requirements, priorities, and deliverables.
2. Extracts, integrates, cleans, validates, and analyzes quantitative and qualitative data from Library systems and other sources, including the integrated library system, discovery and electronic-resource platforms, service and space-use systems, web analytics, surveys, and project-management tools.
3. Applies appropriate assessment and analytical methods, including descriptive statistics, benchmarking, survey design, workflow analysis, and user-centered research, to evaluate service outcomes, organizational performance, discovery, user experience, collections, and operational efficiency.
4. Develops, maintains, and enhances dashboards, recurring reports, ad hoc analyses, and shared data resources using Alma Analytics, Tableau, and related tools; establishes quality‑assurance checks and ensures outputs are accurate, accessible, understandable, and appropriate for their intended audiences.
5. Creates and maintains shared metric definitions, data dictionaries, documentation, templates, and reproducible workflows to promote consistent, reliable, and sustainable reporting and assessment practices across the Library.
6. Manages assigned analytics and assessment projects from intake through completion, including scope, priorities, timelines, dependencies, stakeholder communication, and documentation, while contributing expertise in library processes, metrics development, and project‑management practices.
7. Partners with Library technology and functional units to improve data collection, data quality, system configuration, and workflows that support reliable analysis, reporting, discovery, user experience, and operational effectiveness.
8. Coordinates or contributes to recurring institutional, consortia, and professional reporting and partners with Library Development to provide impact metrics and analyses that support donor identification and stewardship, endowed‑fund reporting, and collection‑related initiatives.
9. Synthesizes findings into concise narratives, visualizations, presentations, and actionable recommendations for Library leadership and other stakeholders, clearly communicating assumptions, limitations, and uncertainty.
10. Provides consultations, workshops, and training that strengthen staff capacity in assessment planning, data literacy, analytical tools, interpretation, workflow development, and responsible data use.
11. May provide project‑based training, work direction, and supervision to student employees.
12. Participates in professional activities, scholarship, and University or community service appropriate to a UC academic librarian and performs other responsibilities as assigned.
13. May also work closely with Library Development to identify and steward donors, collections, and endowed gift funds.

The successful candidate will be committed to engagement with and promotion of the UCLA Principles of Community and the True Bruin Values.

Additionally, in order to be successful in this role, the incumbent will need to continuously demonstrate:

Ability to work in a highly collaborative and inclusive environment, one that values and leverages the benefits of diverse perspectives.
Significant interest in education, outreach, mentoring, consulting, community‑building, and/or formal communication activities.
Ability to embrace and utilize new or emerging technologies; skill in responding quickly to technology challenges; awareness of existing or emerging social media trends, the audiences who use them, and other protocols for use within the organization to allow for effective and timely communication to its stakeholders.

General Information

Professional librarians at UCLA are academic appointees. Librarians at UCLA are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC‑AFT). This is a represented position. Represented librarians are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month of vacation leave, one day per month of sick leave, and all other benefits bargained in the collective bargaining agreement. The University has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits. Relocation assistance may be provided.

Appointees to the librarian series at UC shall have professional backgrounds that demonstrate a high degree of creativity, teamwork, and flexibility. Such background will normally include a professional degree from an ALA‑accredited library and information science graduate program. In addition to professional competence and quality of service within the library in the primary job, advancement in the librarian series requires professional involvement and contributions outside of the library, and/or university and community service, and/or scholarly activities. Candidates must show evidence or promise of such contributions.

Description of Unit

The Library Analytics, Metrics and Assessment (LAMA) team is part of the Digital Strategies unit. LAMA supports UCLA Library’s mission by enabling consistent, targeted, data‑informed decision‑making. The team gathers data & assists leadership to identify opportunities to enhance efficiency, optimize workflows, & strengthen the Library’s ability to deliver effective, high‑quality services. LAMA is charged with the following:

1. Leveraging technology, metrics & systems for workflow development & enhancement for Library services.
2. Establishing dashboards & reports that provide metrics for Library leadership for the purpose demonstrating impact & improving services.
3. Cultivating a culture of project management by providing resources, consultations, templates & best‑practices guidelines for the Library.
4. Sharing resources enabling Library staff to gather data that could be used to inform their work.

Campus Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) provides services such as equipment lending and innovative technology support for use in teaching and learning and employs 40 some student staff in delivering these services.

The Digital Strategies (DS) unit supports library staff & users by providing local & remote access to library technologies. Supported technology resources include the integrated library system & online catalog; network connectivity including servers, storage, operating system & application services delivery; and programming & application development in support of digital & web‑based initiatives. Through collaborative efforts with all areas of UCLA's libraries, DS assists in the development & delivery of technologies for all types of electronic resources. The staff also work as collaborative partners with units in other areas of the library, & provide tech support for the major business systems used by the libraries.

Description of Institution and Library

As one of the world's great public research universities, UCLA integrates education, research, and public service so that each enriches and extends the others. From its beautiful neighborhood campus in a uniquely diverse and vibrant city on the Pacific Rim, teaching and research extend beyond the classroom, office, and lab through active engagement with communities, organizations, projects, and partnerships throughout the region and around the world.

UCLA’s diverse community of scholars encompasses nearly 30,000 undergraduates pursuing 125 majors, 13,000 graduate students in fifty‑nine research programs, and 4,000 faculty members including Nobel Laureates; Rhodes Scholars; MacArthur Fellows; winners of the Fields Medal, National Medal of Science, Pritzker Prize, and Pulitzer Prize; and recipients of Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, and Golden Globes. UCLA ranks tenth in the Times of London Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, twelfth in the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and fifth in the U.S. by Washington Monthly. The National Research Council ranks forty of its graduate and doctoral research programs among its top ten.

To enable our accomplished students, faculty, and staff to create, disseminate, and apply knowledge for the benefit of global society, the UCLA Library is re‑envisioning how it acquires, synthesizes, and shares knowledge and information across academic audiences and with the public. The services and expertise we provide via our collections connect users to their learning needs, their research, or their creative efforts. We do this by ensuring discoverability; engaging in curricular support and advancing information literacy for our students; by offering scaled support asynchronously, through online training modules, and research support. We offer targeted services for our graduate and undergraduate students trying to solve a problem, understand a system, or learning how to use a new tool to responsibly manage and explore data. We develop public programming, exhibitions, curated experiences, and other engagement opportunities to connect our unique collections, cultural materials, research resources, and services with the campus and greater LA communities fostering discovery, dialogue, and access to collections for visitors, researchers and lifelong learners alike.

The Library serves UCLA students, faculty, and staff whenever and wherever they need its resources and expertise. Reconfigured, high‑tech spaces and services in its ten campus libraries enable users and librarians to explore and work with print and digital materials collaboratively or individually, pursue new lines of inquiry, and develop new pedagogical approaches as well as novel forms of scholarship. More than 3.5 million people visit annually, while an additional 3.4 million visitors enter online through its virtual front doors.

Whether on campus or online, the Library forms the intellectual heart of UCLA, a hub for cutting‑edge discovery, scholarship, and instruction.

Under federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States as established by providing documents specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Employment is contingent upon completion of satisfactory background investigation.

1. ALA‑accredited Master’s Degree in Library or Information Science required at the time of hire; OR Master’s degree (or other advanced degree) in Information Sciences or related field at the time of hire and work experience in a library setting.
2. Demonstrated extensive experience generating queries and reports from an integrated library system analytics environment or a comparable enterprise reporting or business‑intelligence platform, along with knowledge of library analytics tools such as Springshare applications, Choreo Insights, Scopus, and Google Analytics.
3. Demonstrated experience using data‑visualization and dashboard platforms such as Tableau, Power BI, Looker Studio, or equivalent tools.
4. Demonstrated experience preparing, analyzing, interpreting, visualizing, and communicating data to answer operational, service, and strategic questions, including the use of effective data storytelling.
5. Demonstrated experience designing and implementing assessment activities and translating findings into actionable recommendations, service improvements, or organizational decisions.
6. Demonstrated working knowledge of quantitative and qualitative assessment methods and foundational statistical reasoning.
7. Demonstrated ability to document analytical methods, processes, and workflows and communicate findings clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences.
8. Demonstrated ability to collaborate across teams, gather and clarify requirements, manage competing priorities, and complete projects within established timelines.
9. Demonstrated understanding of data privacy, confidentiality, ethical data use, and the secure handling of sensitive information.
10. Demonstrated ability to learn new tools and adapt analytical practices in response to changing technologies, priorities, and organizational needs.