One crucial marker of the DPLA’s transition from a planning initiative to a fully independent 501(c)(3) organization will be the hiring of a brilliant, driven, and visionary Executive Director. We welcome nominations and suggestions for prospective Executive Directors via the form below. If you know someone who would be a perfect fit for this incredible opportunity–including yourself–please don’t hesitate to let us know. We encourage you to share the job description below with colleagues, peers, and anyone else who might be a good fit for the role, or to recommend candidates of your own via the form at the bottom of this page, or via email to dpla at cyber.law.harvard.edu.
DPLA Executive Director Job Description
The vision for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is expansive and inclusive — an open, distributed network of comprehensive online resources that will draw on the nation’s living heritage from libraries, universities, archives, and museums to educate, inform, and empower current and future generations. The DPLA will make available extraordinary information resources to students of all ages and anyone seeking self-instruction; it will be a deep reserve for community colleges, vocational schools, colleges, universities, and adult education programs. It also will support and supplement what public libraries can offer in every corner of America and, potentially, the world.
The DPLA planning initiative grew out of an October 2010 meeting at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, which brought together more than 40 representatives from foundations, research institutions, cultural organizations, government, and libraries to explore the best approaches to building a national digital library. In December 2010, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, convened leading experts in libraries, technology, law, and education to begin a two-year process of intense grassroots community organization that will result in a realistic and detailed plan for launching the DPLA, as well as the unveiling of a prototype of the system with specially digitized materials.
Since October 2010, the DPLA initiative has made great strides. Initial funding and support have been secured from national institutions and major libraries and foundations, and early plans have been implemented based on the feedback through focused workstreams. With the DPLA set to officially launch in April 2013, it is timely to recruit an executive director to take these early initiatives and lead them to a new level.
Reporting to the DPLA Board of Directors, the founding executive director will lead a highly complex and networked organization that will create the resources, support, and infrastructure necessary to build this national resource. The executive director will carry early initiatives into large-scale implementation and be expected to make the most of the opportunity to build and determine the character of an important new organization. This digital network will incorporate input from multiple interested constituencies at the grassroots and higher levels, as well as provide increased public access to digital resources. By adhering to the fundamental principle of free and universal access to knowledge, it will promote education in the broadest sense. The DPLA requires an individual with passion for the mission and with the leadership characteristics and intellectual acuity to guide its long-range strategy, as well as the experience as a resource and coalition builder — someone who will work effectively with the DPLA board, staff, volunteers, and a broad range of stakeholders across the U.S. and around the world.
Leadership of the DPLA is a unique and extraordinary opportunity for a talented individual to shape service to the global scholarly community and make a remarkable impact on society by successfully leading the creation of this invaluable resource. The position can be based in any metropolitan location, and compensation will be competitive.
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