The Ohio State University - Middle East & Islamic Studies Librarian

The Ohio State University - Middle East & Islamic Studies Librarian

Libraries | Special Collections and Area Studies

The Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian is a tenure-track faculty position within The Ohio State University Libraries. The Libraries supports one of the nation’s leading public research institutions, Ohio State University, a Carnegie R1 university recognized for excellence in research, teaching, and global engagement. Ohio State’s Area Studies Centers are nationally prominent and play a vital role in advancing interdisciplinary scholarship and outreach.

At Ohio State, this role is positioned as a next-generation area studies librarianship—a scholarly connector and catalyst who links collections, people, and ideas to generate new research. As a large public, land-grant institution, the Libraries’ strength lies in activating and connecting resources across collections, disciplines, and communities.

The Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian serves as the primary liaison to the Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures (NESA) and the Middle East Studies Center (MESC), and works closely with colleagues across International and Area Studies, including East Asian, South Asian, African, Slavic, East European and Eurasian, and Latin American Studies.

The position supports interdisciplinary research and teaching related to the Middle East and broader global and transregional contexts, with particular emphasis on discovery, access, emerging research practices, strategic collection development, faculty engagement, and collaborative program-building. In addition to longstanding partnerships within the Office of International Affairs (OIA), the librarian is expected to cultivate and strengthen relationships with evolving campus initiatives involving global studies, world languages and cultures, interdisciplinary learning, community engagement, and career-connected education.

As a faculty member, the successful candidate will develop an independent research agenda and contribute to the profession and the University through scholarship, teaching, and service.

• Provide research consultations and course-integrated instruction across all levels.
• Act as a scholarly partner to faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars, while also supporting undergraduate learning and research development.

• Lead efforts to enhance the discoverability, accessibility, and interpretive use of collections.
• Advance user-centered approaches to navigating complex, multilingual, and global information environments.
• Engage with digital scholarship, data-informed, and AI-assisted research practices.
• Collaborate across library units to improve access and usability of resources.
• Stay abreast with scholarship in the disciplines themselves, maintain current awareness of developments in relevant scholarly and cultural content, and use this knowledge to respond to departmental needs.

• Provide strategic oversight of collection development in Middle East and Islamic Studies.
• Align priorities with research and curricular needs while evaluating and building upon institutional strengths to advance the role of collections in globally engaged scholarship and teaching.
• Identify opportunities to connect local and external resources.
• Promote the use of distinctive and underutilized materials.

• Collaborate with colleagues in Special Collections and Area Studies to integrate special and general collections into teaching, research support, and programmatic initiatives, advancing their visibility and use.

• Identify, develop, initiate, and support programmatic initiatives that advance engagement with collections and research services.
• Collaborate with NESA, MESC, and Area Studies and libraries colleagues to design and implement programs, events, and projects.
• Strengthen the visibility and impact of Area Studies across campus and beyond.
• Build interdisciplinary and cross-institutional partnerships that support…