Research and Instruction Librarian

Working as part of the Research & Instruction team, the Research & Instruction Librarian assists and instructs users in the effective use of biomedical information resources and databases. 

The primary functions are to 

• Support the educational missions of the Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and the Chan Harvard School of Public Health by providing curricular and extracurricular instruction and training, and 

• to support the research missions of these same institutions by providing research and reference services over a broad range of subject domains. 

The responsibilities of the Research and Instruction Librarian include:

Education 

• Develops and implements educational programs in support of graduate programs at the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Chan School of Public Health. 

• Subject matter experience in evidence-based medicine, public health, dentistry, and/or healthcare delivery.

• Instructs students and clinical faculty on using point of care resources.

• Keeps abreast of current developments in clinical research methods, evidence-based clinical practice and medical education. 

• Provides instruction to Harvard-affiliated researches in the use of biological, genetic, and genomics databases. 

• Provides instruction in literature-based research methods and databases searching. 

• Provides training support to the larger academic community for information discovery and retrieval, systematic literature reviews, and in the use of specialized writing and bibliographic tools such as EndNote, Covidence, and Zotero. 

• Designs and creates online educational materials to support both curricular and extracurricular training in the use of information sources.

• Contribute to the creation of online learning tools for resource discovery, literature searching, citation management, and the Countway FAQ.  Provide recorded orientation and training sessions.   

• Provides instruction about generative AI tool usage including use cases, ethical considerations, and limitations.

Research Support

• Provide support to Harvard faculty in producing high-quality systematic literature searches to support the creation of comprehensive and evidence synthesis reviews.

• Consult in the development of research questions, creating appropriate research designs, and designing carrying out literature searches in a variety of electronic databases.

• Provide reference assistance to Harvard-affiliated investigators as needed in the areas of biological sciences, clinical medicine, public health, and health and public health data resources.

Collection Development

• Investigates, evaluates, and implements new information technology resources and tools.

• Participates in the selection of resources to support the educational and research missions of the institutions the Countway serves.

Administrative Service

• Participates in needs assessment, strategic planning, and program development.

• Represents the Countway Library on appropriate Harvard Library committees, task forces, and project teams to support the larger mission of the Harvard Library.

As part of your application, we recommend including a cover letter that will help us better understand your qualifications and background. This can provide valuable insight into your experience and interest in the role.