Research Librarian at University of the Witwatersrand

Key Responsibilities

• Provide research support advisory services to academics and postgraduate students in all aspects of scholarly communication and publication processes
• Develop and manage relationships to support academics and researchers with research assessment and NRF ratings
• Maintain awareness of research tools, methodologies, and resources, including citation management, evidence synthesis, and data analysis
• Conduct reference research interviews to determine client needs
• Develop and maintain subject guides (LibGuides) to support research and teaching
• Provide library orientation, information literacy training, and instruction in information resources
• Contribute content to the University’s Learning Management System (e.g., Blackboard) and develop information literacy tutorials
• Initiate and support innovative teaching and learning modalities for information literacy
• Administer and manage Student Workers
• Attend Faculty Board and relevant committee meetings
• Liaise with academic staff, researchers, and postgraduate students to assess needs and provide solutions
• Implement traditional and new services, including Scholarly Communication, Altmetrics, Bibliometric Analysis, and Research Data Management (RDM)
• Advise on copyright and intellectual property compliance
• Support researcher profiles (ORCID, Google Scholar, etc.)
• Provide institutional research performance reports, aligned to SDGs or specified requirements
• Promote Institutional Research and Data Repositories, Open Educational Resources, and e-research initiatives
• Participate in library marketing, outreach, and community engagement initiatives
• Contribute to the development of research collections and policies, and participate in data-driven evaluation of collections

Minimum Requirements

• Honours in Library and Information Science (LIS)
• At least five (5) years’ experience in an academic or research library as an information librarian

Competencies (Knowledge, skills and behavior)

• Subject knowledge in relevant fields
• Knowledge of systematic reviews and citation resources
• Knowledge management, bibliographic, and authority control skills
• Knowledge of anti-plagiarism software and open scholarship services
• Understanding of research processes and methodology
• Collection management skills
• Information analysing, evaluating, organising, and management skills
• Searching, interviewing, and reference skills
• Training, instruction, and user experience skills

Technical Competencies

• Relevant information technology (software and hardware)
• Administration systems, policies, and processes
• Marketing methods and procedures
• Legal requirements regarding information distribution, copyright, and intellectual property
• Relationship management with faculty, researchers, and students
• Knowledge of specialist subject areas, current and future courses, and trends in tertiary education

Closing date: 19 March 2026