Director of HKS Library Services

Job overview

The Director of HKS Library Services role is hybrid, based on campus in Cambridge, MA, with in-person work required at least three days per week. Compensation is not specified. Harvard Kennedy School’s mission is to improve public policy and leadership through research, teaching, and engagement with practitioners. The director leads library services, collections, staff, and facilities to support research, teaching, and learning across the School. The role advances a modern, user-oriented research library by aligning services with community needs and collaborating across Harvard Library and HKS research and academic teams.

What you'll do

• Provide strategic leadership for library services, collections, and facilities
• oversee collection development, research services, course services, and space utilization
• coordinate with Harvard Library units and align local delivery with university standards and initiatives
• engage the HKS community and communicate available resources
• lead staffing, budgeting, resource allocation, and personnel management
• collaborate with research and library services teams, faculty, academic leadership, and research centers
• support discovery, data services, digital scholarship, open science, scholarly publishing, and emerging technologies
• build university relationships and participate in professional networks.

What we're looking for

Skills & competencies

academic library leadership

library services

research collections

public policy

data services

digital scholarship

open science

cambridge ma

harvard kennedy school

hybrid

three days onsite weekly

mls or equivalent

no visa sponsorship

Work arrangement

• Weekend coverage required

Benefits & perks

• Paid time off including parental leave, medical, dental, and vision coverage starting on day one, retirement plans with university contributions, wellbeing resources, family and caregiver support, professional development and tuition assistance, commuter benefits, discounts, and campus perks.

Why this role

Requires an ALA-accredited MLS degree or equivalent professional experience, at least eight years in library management, and demonstrated success leading in a highly matrixed environment. Harvard is unable to provide visa sponsorship.

About the employer

Harvard Kennedy School is hiring for this role. Industry: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools. Sector: 61.