Director of Digital Collaborations & Partnerships

The Opportunity

The University of Oklahoma Libraries invites applications and nominations for the position of Director of Digital Collaborations & Partnerships. The Libraries seek a creative, collaborative, and highly strategic leader to serve in this inaugural role and to lead the launch and development of a unified Research, Creativity, & Digital Scholarship Hub and Studios initiative.

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Digital Strategies and Innovation, the Director will play a central role in shaping the Libraries’ evolution as a campus-wide partner, supporting computational research, digital scholarship, multimodal and media-rich creative work, and interdisciplinary collaboration. This position is critical to advancing OU’s Lead On Strategic Plan, particularly the university’s goals to elevate research excellence, foster innovation, and provide world-class academic infrastructure.

This is a rare opportunity to build and lead a new enterprise-level initiative at a flagship public research university during a period of institutional transformation, growth, and investment in digital research capacity.

University of Oklahoma Libraries

The University of Oklahoma has recently established a central University Libraries system, bringing together the Norman campus libraries, the Health campus Library, the Tulsa campus library, and the Law Library. This unification positions the Libraries to deliver coordinated, equitable, and scalable research and creative activity support across disciplines and campuses.

Building on more than a decade of experience in digital scholarship, data services, digital humanities, 3D technologies, and emerging technologies, the Libraries are launching a sustainable, clearly scoped digital research, creativity, and scholarship support ecosystem. The Research, Creativity, & Digital Scholarship Hub and Studios will serve faculty, students, and research teams working on small- to medium-scale digital and computational projects, complementing domain-specific and high-performance computing resources elsewhere at OU.

The Research, Creativity, & Digital Scholarship Hub and Studios

The initiative centers on a hub-and-spoke model, with:

• A central Hub providing project intake, consultation, referral, lifecycle planning, training, and community-building
• A coordinated network of specialized Studios supporting:
• Computational and AI-assisted research
• Digital humanities and text/data analysis
• Quantitative and qualitative methods
• Geospatial and spatial analysis
• Multimedia, XR, and digital storytelling
• 3D imaging, modeling, and fabrication

This ecosystem is designed to deliver stable, high-impact services, reduce reliance on single individuals, formalize campus partnerships, and build infrastructure that evolves alongside campus needs.

Strategic Priorities for the Research, Creativity, & Digital Scholarship Hub and Studios

• Develop partnerships with campus units (IT, DISC, A&H Forum, VPRP’s office, academic departments) to provide coordinated services and facilitate referrals under an agreed upon alliance model (DAVIS model) with clear handoff mechanisms.
• Define and launch a faculty fellows program.
• Define and launch a Capstone support program.
• Develop methods for assessing the program's impact and collecting data on activities and outcomes.
• Participating in developing a funding strategy to recruit an increased number of graduate and undergraduate students with technical skills based on program assessment data.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the phased implementation of the Research, Creativity, & Digital Scholarship Hub and Studios.
• Establish programmatic services capable of operating in distributed and evolving environments, leveraging existing digital scholarship and data services.
• Contribute to the development of a coherent, user-centered support framework across the Libraries.
• Build and sustain strategic partnerships with academic departments, research centers, campus units, and faculty communities.
• Lead the coordination of services delivered through distributed studio spaces and partner facilities, ensuring seamless user experience.
• Contribute to technology planning, including strategic investments in equipment, software, and digital platforms.
• Lead the development and coordination of workshops, consultation models, and scalable programming that support research, teaching, and creative activity.
• Foster interdisciplinary research communities and networks across campus.

Supervisory & Team Leadership

• Hire, supervise, mentor, and evaluate three to five employees, cultivating a high-performing, collaborative team.
• Participate in the design of staffing models, training pathways, and professional development strategies that scale.
• Promote an inclusive, cross-functional culture across distributed program areas.

Analytics, Assessment & Continuous Improvement

• Support data collection, reporting, and analysis related to service usage and system performance.
• Use assessment and analytics to inform decision-making and continuous program improvement.

Campus Engagement & Professional Activity

• Participate in Libraries- and university-wide committees and initiatives.
• Maintain professional engagement in areas related to digital scholarship, research support, and library innovation.
• Present and publish on work related to primary job responsibilities, as appropriate.

Why OU Libraries

This role offers the opportunity to:

• Shape a new, institutionally significant initiative from the ground up
• Work at the intersection of research, technology, creativity, and collaboration
• Partner with campus leaders, faculty, and research units across disciplines
• Advance OU’s reputation as a top-tier public research university
• Lead with both vision and pragmatism in a highly supportive environment

Qualifications

Required

• Master’s degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Minimum of two years of related experience in academic libraries, digital scholarship centers, or research support environments.
• Demonstrated experience developing or managing programs that support research, digital scholarship, or creative activity.
• Strong understanding of digital research tools and methods (e.g., text and data mining, data visualization, digital publishing, 3D or multimedia tools).
• Proven ability to build strategic collaborations across departments and institutional units.
• Supervisory or team-leadership experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to engage users at varying levels of technical expertise.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and respectful collaboration.

Preferred

• Experience launching or directing a digital scholarship center, research hub, or similar initiative.
• Knowledge of research lifecycles, open scholarship, data management, or digital preservation.
• Graduate degree in library and information science, digital humanities, data science, or a related field.

Application Process

The search committee will begin reviewing applications immediately and will continue to review materials on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Application materials should include a letter of interest and curriculum vitae. For best consideration, applicants are encouraged to submit materials by June 30th. The search will remain open until the position is filled.

Please send materials to:

Buffkin / Baker

oulibrariesdirector@buffkinbaker.com

Ms. Chelsie Whitelock, Associate Partner