What are the responsibilities and job description for the Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian position at Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library?
Overview
The Yale Law Library is seeking a 2026/recent graduate or early career professional holding both library and law degrees, or early-career professional, to develop expertise in research and instructional services with a focus on student engagement and legal research education. The Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian participates in the law library’s highly regarded faculty liaison program and provides research and reference support to faculty, students, and scholars. This position will be assigned a librarian rank depending on professional experience and accomplishments. Information about librarian ranks can be found at http://bit.ly/YULRanksPromotions.
Reporting to the Associate Director for Research and Scholarly Services, the Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian coordinates the law library’s legal research program and serves as the primary point of contact for student organizations and academic programs connected to legal research instruction and scholarly activity. The position also coordinates the library’s liaison program for student journals. Students can begin participating in journals in spring of their first year. For a list of student journals and student organizations, see: https://law.yale.edu/student-life/student-journals-and-publications.
As a member of the Research and Instructional Services team, the Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian participates in the faculty liaison program, staffs the reference desk, conducts research consultations, and contributes to the library’s instructional program. This position coordinates the law library’s legal research courses and student training initiatives, teaches in the ILaw/Small Groups program (first year legal research) and may also teach upper-level credit-bearing research courses.
Principal Responsibilities
1. Participates in the faculty-librarian liaison program to provide research support to law school faculty.
2. Coordinates librarian liaison assignments for student journals and serves as a central point of contact for journal-related library support.
3. Coordinates journal training sessions, workshops, and orientation programming in collaboration with librarian liaisons.
4. Assists journals with research-related support, including source coordination, citation support, and referral to appropriate library services and resources.
5. Maintains documentation, research guides, and communication materials related to journals and student research support services, including Perma.cc.
6. Coordinates an annual law library lecture series on legal research and related topics, and other outreach events.
7. Promotes law library programs, workshops, and services through appropriate communication channels.
8. Coordinates administrative and operational support for the library’s legal research program, workshops, and student training initiatives.
9. Develops and organizes shared instructional materials for ILaw and Small Groups.
10. Participates in instructional and educational programming, including ILaw/Small Groups, guest lectures, workshops, and other presentations.
11. Provides in-person and online reference services and research consultations.
12. Maintains and updates research guides as assigned.
13. Participates in the collection development process.
14. Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
Required Education and Experience
J.D. from an ABA-accredited institution and a Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school.
Required Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated experience with legal research resources, techniques, and strategies.
- Strong service orientation and enthusiasm for working with law faculty and students
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills
- Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a collegial environment
- Ability to manage multiple projects effectively and meet competing deadlines
Preferred Skills and Abilities
- Professional experience in an academic law library
2. Interest in outreach and programming for law students
3. Demonstrated experience or interest in event planning
4. Reading knowledge or fluency in one or more non-English languages
Additional Information
Apply by submitting a CV and cover letter on the Yale Careers page at https://bit.ly/4vJBQMW. Applications will be reviewed as received with a priority deadline of July 31.
For job advertisement purposes, Yale University Library provides a compensation range applicable to all librarian positions. Final compensation may vary based on the selected candidate's qualifications, experience, and internal equity considerations.
While we are not conducting interviews at the AALL Annual Meeting, several of our librarians (including three members of the search committee) will be in attendance and available to answer questions about the positions. Look for our badge ribbons!
Salary : $68,000 - $145,250