Open Access Project Manager vacancy

SANLiC requires the services of a suitable candidate for the new position of Open Access (OA) Project Manager starting as soon as possible. This work from home position will be for 5 years. The annual remuneration package will be in a band not exceeding R 710,000 per annum (total cost to company) plus a small monthly taxable work from home allowance.

About SANLiC
SANLiC is a membership-based not for profit company. It serves the interests of its member libraries which include all 26 public South African higher education libraries and six national research institution libraries. SANLiC’s mission is to facilitate, on a non-profit basis, affordable access to scholarly electronic information in support of the learning, teaching, and research activities of its members. SANLiC harnesses the collective purchasing power of member institutions to optimise their expenditure on scholarly information and communication.

Position Summary
he role of the OA Project Manager is to support the transition of SANLiC members to OA publishing by co-ordinating the core processes of related knowledge management. This will be achieved by engaging in data analysis projects. The OA Project Manager will support work within SANLiC, member institutions and with other partner institutions, creating reports and visualizations which can communicate results to various stakeholders.

Responsibilities will include:

  • Advising and supporting negotiation teams for transformational agreement deals.
  • Advising and supporting library OA helpdesks (or equivalent) on complex (workflow) issues, solve OA related issues between helpdesks and publishers.
  • Monitoring the status and quality of deals (workflow, OA uptake) including meetings with publishers about improvement.
  • Monitoring capped deals and coordinating appropriate actions.
  • Building and managing a data warehouse for publication related metadata. Harvesting, processing, analysing, reporting, and using publication related metadata (partly automated because of the data warehouse).
  • Monitoring missed OA and coordinating retrospective OA repair actions.
  • Deputising for the licensing manager when required.
  • Communicating new developments to libraries and providing deal related information for authors via central tools.
  • Actively participating in SANLiC’s communication strategy including co-ordination of social media (website, X (Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn)

Requirements:

  • A bachelor’s degree in library and information science (LIS), or a bachelor’s degree with a postgraduate diploma in LIS, or equivalent qualification.
  • Minimum three years of relevant experience, including some combination of experience in data analysis, data visualization, academic publishing, academic research, or library services.
  • Strong computer proficiency, including a sound knowledge of the Windows environment.
  • Excellent qualitative and quantitative analytical skills to develop, assess, and synthesize information from multiple sources on a broad range of issues; ability to identify issues and the appropriate data sources or methodologies to address them, evaluate alternatives, and draw conclusions relating to policy or practice.
  • Demonstrated ability to produce reports in a variety of formats for easy interpretation and use, and to design and prepare graphs, tables, and other visuals.
  • Effective written and verbal communication skills as demonstrated by the ability to articulate ideas, thoughts, and information in a logical manner and to summarize complex issues clearly and succinctly.
  • Self-motivated and able to work both independently with minimal supervision and collaboratively as part of a team.
  • Able to consistently meet deadlines.
  • A suitable home office with a high speed internet connection.

Recommendations:

  • Knowledge of library systems, bibliographic tools, and/or library acquisitions practices.
  • Strong interpersonal skills to establish and maintain effective working relationships.
  • Master’s degree in a related area, e.g., publishing, business, data science, information science, computer science or social science.

Application process:
To apply, please e-mail your application (maximum 1500 words) outlining how you evaluate yourself against the relevant job responsibilities and requirements, accompanied by your curriculum vitae and contact details of 3 referees, to director@sanlic.org.za. Your application will be treated as confidential and referees will not be approached without your permission.

Contact Glenn Truran for further information, telephone T: +27 21 206 5427, M: +27 82 773-0377, email director@sanlic.org.za

Applications close on 22 September 2023.

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