Scholarly Services Assistant

University of San Diego; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 45,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent benefits

On-campus fitness centers

Retirement contribution

Job summary

University of San Diego is seeking a Scholarly Services Assistant for the School of Law's Legal Research Center. The role supports faculty scholarship throughout the publication lifecycle, coordinating editorial tasks and repository management.

You will help with proofreading, citation formatting, and tracking publications, collaborating with the Reference and Publication Services teams to ensure high-quality scholarly output.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) required.
• 2+ years experience in publishing, libraries, legal setting or other relevant field required.
• 2+ years library experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Copyedits work as requested, identifying and fixing grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors.
• Locates cited source material as necessary, in print or online, via library catalogs, research databases, and online searching.
• Ensures that citations are formatted according to style guides (Bluebook or Chicago).
• Proofreads articles for the Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues and tracks submissions.
• Maintains digital archive and bibliographies for law faculty publications.

Education

Bachelor's degree (B.A. or B.S.)

Job description

Position Title & Department:

Scholarly Services Assistant; School of LawPosting #5727

Department Description:

USD School of Law is one of the 84 law schools elected to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society for law school graduates. The law school's faculty is a strong group of outstanding scholars and teachers with national and international reputations and currently ranks in the top 20% (36th out of 204) among U.S. law schools in scholarly impact according to a 2018 study. The school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. Founded in 1954, the law school is part of the University of San Diego, a private, independent, Roman Catholic university chartered in 1949.

University Description:

The University of San Diego, an engaged and contemporary Catholic institution, was founded by the Diocese of San Diego and the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1949. Governed by an independent board of trustees since 1972, USD remains committed to a liberal arts education grounded in the Catholic intellectual tradition and the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty. Inspired by this centuries old tradition of Catholic higher education, the University welcomes people of all faith traditions and any, or no, religious background. The future success of USD relies on the contributions of those who seek to foster the development of engaged global citizens and an earnest confrontation of humanity’s urgent challenges.

Detailed Description:

The Scholarly Services Assistant plays a pivotal role in the USD School of Law’s Legal Research Center, supporting the full life cycle of faculty scholarship at the USD School of Law. This position reports to the Head of Reference and Publication Services, with some day-to-day direction from the Head of Digital Resources and Cataloging and the Publication Services Library Coordinator.

From meticulous proofreading and citation formatting to updating faculty bibliographies and managing internal and external repositories of faculty scholarship and tracking USD School of Law faculty citations in judicial opinions and academic literature, the Scholarly Services Assistant will provide adept editorial and organizational support, ensuring smooth submission for publication and enhancing the visibility and impact of published works.

The successful candidate will be dedicated to supporting legal scholarship and possess strong communication skills, a keen eye for detail, strong organizational abilities, a collaborative work style, and a commitment to cultivating an inclusive and welcoming service environment for colleagues and patrons of the LRC.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Faculty publication services:

Copyedits work as requested, identifying and fixing any grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors. May also be asked to offer edits that enhance readability, conciseness, and style.

• Locates cited source material as necessary, in print or online, through the use of library catalogs, research databases, and online searching. Checks that sources are accurately quoted and provide adequate support for the matter asserted. May be asked to recommend additional sources when cited sources are inadequate or not provided.
• Ensures that citations are formatted in accordance with the style guide selected by the author or publisher, usually Bluebook to Chicago Manual of Style.
• Proofreads articles for The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues, a faculty‑edited journal. Under the oversight of the Publication Services Library Coordinator, tracks author submissions and author approval of files for the journal.
• Provides support for other faculty projects as requested by the Reference Department.

Faculty scholarship tracking:

• Maintains digital archive and bibliographies for law faculty publications.
• Posts and tracks publications on online repositories like SSRN and Digital USD.
• Determines copyright permissions for posting faculty scholarship and assists with distribution of USD’s SSRN Research Paper Series.
• Compiles faculty publication activity reports and metrics for law school administration.

Digital resources:

• Under the oversight of the Head of Digital Resources and Cataloging, maintains a variety of collections in the law school’s institutional repository including faculty scholarship, archival materials, academic journals and more.
• Digitizes, uploads and describes new collections in law school’s repository.
• Provides support for additional digital resources projects as directed by Digital Resources librarian.

Inclusive Excellence:

• Engages in training and development opportunities that support the LRC’s and Law School’s commitment to inclusive excellence.
• Contributes and collaborates with the LRC’s committee on initiatives as needed.

Special Conditions of Employment:

Background check: Successful completion of a pre-employment background check.

Degree Verification Requirement: Persons offered employment in this position will be required to provide official education transcripts for degree verification purposes.

Job Requirements:

Minimum Qualifications:

• B.A. or B.S. required
• 2+ years experience in publishing, libraries, legal setting or other relevant field required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 2+ years library experience, law library preferred.
• Familiarity with at least 2 citation styles (e.g., Bluebook, Chicago, MLA, APA) preferred.
• Experience with scholarly publications preferred.
• Experience with legal materials preferred.
• Experience with library systems and metadata standards preferred.

Posting Salary:

$21.82 - $28.90 an hour; Excellent Benefits

The University of San Diego offers a very competitive benefits package including; medical, dental, vision, a retirement contribution given to you by the University, and access to on-campus Fitness Centers. Please visit the benefits section of our website to view all of the perks and benefits that USD has to offer. USD: Human Resources: Benefits

The salary range provided in this posting reflects what we reasonably expect to pay for this position. Actual compensation offered or earned is dependent on experience, education and other factors including departmental budget.

Additional Details:

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Closing date:Open until filled

Note: External job postings will be up for at least three days. After that time, applications will be reviewed by the hiring manager/committee throughout the posting period. A candidate may be selected at any time which could then close this posting on a date earlier than listed.

The University of San Diego is a smoking and tobacco‑free campus. For more information, visit www.sandiego.edu/smokefree.