Position title: Associate Librarian-Librarian, Career Status or Potential Career Status

Salary range: The UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and salary point at appointment. See the following table(s) for the current salary scale(s) for this position: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2025-26/represented-july-2025-scales/t26-b.pdf. A reasonable estimate for this position is $94,277-$133,296.

Percent time: 100%

Anticipated start: As soon as Spring 2026. Exact start date negotiable.

Position duration: This is a full-time career appointment.

Application Window

Open date: December 16, 2025

Next review date: Saturday, Jan 31, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Thursday, Apr 30, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position description

Job Summary

The Bancroft Library seeks a Curator for its Western Americana collections to serve as a creative, user-centered, and collaborative professional in stewarding, developing, and interpreting the library's exceptional collection of manuscripts, archives, rare books, photographs, and maps documenting the American West. The Curator will determine strategic priorities for the Western Americana collection, lead collection development, engage in teaching with the collections, curate exhibitions, build sustainable relationships with donors, and participate in research services activities.

The successful candidate will work with Bancroft colleagues to steward and ensure equitable and wide public access to newly acquired and existing collections, while offering intellectual guidance on acquisition and processing. This position requires demonstrated experience working with people from diverse racial, ethnic, religious, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds using a welcoming, inclusive, and accessible approach. The Bancroft Library is committed to a collecting agenda that foregrounds diverse perspectives and historical voices, activating collections for multiple audiences. This position reports to The Bancroft Library director and is part of a curatorial team that includes a University Archivist, Curator of Latin Americana Collections, Curator of Pictorial Collections, and Curator of Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts.

Summary of the Collections
The Western Americana Collection at The Bancroft Library documents the history of human activity in Western North America, with the greatest emphasis on California, from the earliest days to the present. The collection provides an unparalleled opportunity to explore primary and secondary sources about the social, political, economic, environmental, and cultural development of the western half of the United States.

Topical strengths include materials documenting Indigenous, Spanish, and Mexican California; exploration of the Pacific Coast and the American West; the California Gold Rush and subsequent settlement; economic development (mining, transport, lumber, agriculture, commerce); land and water use; the environmental movement; labor; urban development; politics and social movements; and religious and utopian communities.

The Environment
The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned research and teaching facility at one of the nation's premier public universities . A highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 33,070 undergraduate students, 12,812 graduate students, and 1,525 faculty. The library comprises 20 campus libraries, including the Doe/Moffitt Libraries, The Bancroft Library, The C.V. Starr East Asian Library, and numerous subject specialty libraries. With a collection of more than 12 million volumes and a collections budget of over $15 million, the library offers extensive collections in all formats and robust services to connect users with the collections and build their research skills. Discover more about our collections and services at the UC Berkeley Library website.

The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley, is one of the largest and most heavily used libraries of rare materials in the West. Its holdings include more than 800,000 volumes, 210 million manuscript items, 9 million photographs and other pictorial materials, 86,000 microforms, 9.4 million digital files, and 25,000 maps, as well as numerous other categories of unique material.

Collection strengths include rare books, literary manuscripts, pictorial collections, and the Western Americana and Latin Americana collections, spanning the colonial era to the present. The Bancroft Library is home to three research groups: the Oral History Center (formerly the Regional Oral History Office), the Mark Twain Papers, and the Center for the Tebtunis Papyri. The archival and rare book materials of the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life are also part of the Bancroft holdings. The Bancroft Library is an active center of teaching and research. Supporting the programs of about 30 campus departments annually, it mounts a regular series of public exhibitions, roundtable lectures, and open houses.

Job Responsibilities

• Collection Development and Stewardship: Work collaboratively to build and steward collections of lasting importance, relevance, and interconnectivity, identifying historic gaps and areas of strategic opportunity. Appraise and select materials for acquisition through donation or purchase across manuscripts, archives, visual materials, digital media, and all formats of print materials. Keep abreast of evolving legal and ethical considerations for provenance, intellectual property rights, privacy, and respectful stewardship of cultural heritage materials. Apply resource-sensitive collecting practices through understanding and use of Total Cost of Stewardship tools and frameworks.
• Donor and Community Relations: Establish and maintain dealer and donor relations. Foster collaborative relationships with communities and individuals whose histories are documented in the collections. Partner with Bancroft Library leadership, the Friends of The Bancroft Library, and UC Berkeley Library Development Office colleagues to build and nurture philanthropic support.
• Technical Services Collaboration: Collaborate with Bancroft Technical Services on collection priorities, facilitation of contract terms and collection fund allocations, appraisal and accessioning, cataloging, archival processing, and appropriate levels of arrangement and description.
• Research Services and User Support: Foster collection use by faculty, students, researchers, and the general public from diverse backgrounds and skill levels. Participate in the fellowship selection committee. Ensure excellent service, friendly reception, and positive research interactions for researchers of all skill levels.
• Teaching and Instruction: Prepare and lead instruction sessions, including material evaluation and selection, lesson plan development, and collaboration with faculty on assignments and learning outcomes. Promote inclusive teaching practices and accessibility in service and program development. Strengthen instructional collaborations across the university and integrate collections into new and existing classes and programs.
• Collection Interpretation: Highlight under-researched materials and broaden the scope of historical narratives through collecting, interpretation, and programming. Interpret collections for diverse audiences through exhibitions, lectures, public talks, tours, presentations, conferences, publications, and digital initiatives. Develop public programs and events in collaboration with Bancroft staff and library colleagues.
• Outreach and Communications: Contribute to outreach activities, blogs, social media, library publicity, and public events.
• Internal Collaboration: Function as part of a curatorial team sustaining collection development, scholarly and educational outreach, description, digitization, preservation, and research. Participate in library projects, committees, policy decisions, and strategic planning.
• External Liaison Work: Serve as liaison with other Library selectors, relevant library and academic departments, and other campus museums and collecting institutions, including the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, the Hearst Museum, the Pacific Film Archive, and the Ethnic Studies Library.
• Professional Service: Represent the Bancroft and contribute to professional organizations at local, regional, national, and international levels

UC Berkeley librarians are expected to participate in library-wide planning and governance and work effectively in a shared decision-making environment. Advancement is partially based upon professional contributions beyond the primary assignment; the successful candidate will show evidence or promise of such contributions to the library, campus, UC System, and profession.

The UC Berkeley Library is committed to supporting and encouraging respect and empathy and nurturing a culture where all employees thrive. The library seeks candidates who recognize and appreciate one another’s contributions, expertise, and accomplishments, and who will strive to provide equitable access to a diverse set of collections and services. For more information, please see the UC Berkeley Library Statement of Values.

Bancroft Library Website: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft

UC Berkeley Library Website: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/

UC Berkeley Library statement of values: https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/library-values

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

Advanced degree or enrolled in an advanced degree program.

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

• Advanced Degree
• 3 years of collection development experience acquiring rare books, archives, or pictorial works

Preferred qualifications

• Advanced degree in a field related to the history and culture of the North American West, Ph.D preferred
• MLS degree from an ALA-accredited library school or equivalent
• Understanding of the history, cultures, and multiple transnational migrations in the American West. Demonstrated cultural competencies in the histories and cultures of Indigenous North America
• Record of publications, exhibitions, and/or academic coursework that demonstrates significant knowledge of the history of the American West and current themes and areas of scholarship
• Experience and success with donor relations
• Awareness of copyright laws and permissions, legal, and ethical issues in acquiring cultural heritage materials
• Demonstrated success in negotiating complex acquisition agreements and purchases
• Experience in curating exhibitions, individually and as part of a team
• Proven success in supporting academic programs of research, teaching, and public exhibitions
• Experience with research and teaching trends, methods, and best practices related to special collections
• Demonstrated familiarity with developments in the field relating to managing and stewarding archival materials, including archival appraisal, accessioning, and processing
• Demonstrated dedication to user-centered services, with experience working respectfully and effectively with diverse communities.
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, proactively, and constructively
• Commitment to positive, solution-driven responses to challenges. Ability to work as a member of a team
• Demonstrated commitment to the Library's values
• Ability to work in languages other than English (Spanish preferred)

The Bancroft Library is interested in finding the best candidate for the job and recognizes that the successful candidate may be one from a less traditional background. We encourage you to apply, even if you don’t meet all of the preferred qualifications/experiences listed above.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
• Cover Letter

Reference requirements

• 3-5 required (contact information only)

Apply link: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05229

Help contact: richard.brown@berkeley.edu