Technical Services Associate

Date Posted: 11/28/2025

Req ID: 45614

Faculty/Division: Library

Department: Collection Development Dep

Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)

Description:

About the University of Toronto Libraries

The University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) system is the largest academic library in Canada and is ranked in the top five among peer institutions in North America. The system comprises 40 libraries located across three university campuses: St.George, Mississauga, and Scarborough. This diverse and extensive network of college libraries, special collections, and specialized information centres plays a pivotal role in supporting the teaching, scholarly, and research needs of nearly 100,000 students enrolled in a wide array of graduate, professional, and undergraduate programs.

The library system provides access to millions of resources in various formats, including electronic, print, audio-visual, data and geospatial materials. UTL also boasts impressive holdings of archival material and substantial digital collections, securely preserved in the libraries' data centre. The staff at UTL are integral to the academic and scholarly enterprise, working closely with faculty and students to support their teaching, learning, and research requirements. They are subject matter experts; they are skilled in research data management, collections, statistics, GIS, metadata, digital preservation, scholarly communications, copyright, teaching, knowledge synthesis, open access and much more. Our work is grounded in our commitment to support equity, diversity, and inclusion. UTL continuously evolves to meet the changing academic priorities and pressures at the University and within the broader landscape of higher education.

Your Opportunity

Under the direction of the Acquisitions Manager, the Technical Services Associate (6 month Term Contract) performs duties related to the acquisition, activation, processing, and cataloguing of library materials in all forms. An important member of the acquisitions and discovery & access workflow, the Technical Services Associate creates, downloads, and maintains accurate order and catalogue records in the Library's resource management system, assists with the receiving, licensing & renewal of library materials, and serves as a member of the user support team responsible for troubleshooting access and other service problems.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Receiving and Maintenance: receives materials and confirms access to e- Resources, examines vendor statements and follows-up when there are issues, processes invoices for payment, assists in the renewal and maintenance of ongoing and e-resources including supporting the evaluation and assessment of materials, claiming, year-end cleanup, and serials check-in.
• Processing: assists with activation of e-resources, updates catalogue records by adding holdings, items, and volumes, edits records in the areas of physical description and contents, uses established tools and procedures to load records for materials not coming shelf ready. Generates call number labels for added copies and volumes of print resources and affixes to materials. Provides feedback on established or new processes and workflows
• Editing catalogue records: Creates additional holdings and items in catalogue records for added copies and volumes. Updates cataloguing information and contents notes when appropriate.
• Resolution of Problems: Under supervision, assists in the resolution of problems with content access and payments. Serves as a member of the user support team troubleshooting access and other e-Resource service problems that are associated with orders, subscriptions and licensing.
• Searching: Performs online bibliographic searches and selects best record for ordering/cataloguing purposes.
• Ordering: Imports selected records for ordering purposes, assigning vendor, fund and selector information. Follows up and amends information in the library database as necessary, e.g. donor information, special handling.
• Other duties as required

Qualifications (Minimum):

Formal Education: University graduation required or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience: A minimum of one year of related experience working in a research or academic library setting required. Working knowledge of library systems required; working knowledge of international cataloguing standards including MARC and other metadata standards required.

Skills:

• Ability to work with more than one system simultaneously and the facility to learn new systems and adapt to new technology and new workflows.
• Ability to carry out standardized and moderately complex work by reviewing readily available facts and following general guidance.
• Demonstrated intermediate knowledge of the Excel or other comparable software application (ability to create sort and compare complex spreadsheets)
• Ability to conduct online searches of bibliographic databases and assess quality of bibliographic records.
• Demonstrated strong organizational, analytical, and time management skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills, ability to thrive in a team based work environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to the values of inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
• Knowledge and understanding of the University of Toronto and/or academic libraries is an asset.
• Basic knowledge of a wide variety of languages other than English, some of which may be written in non-Roman alphabets and require transliteration.

NOTES:

• This position is a 6 month term contract.

Closing Date: 12/08/2025, 11:59PM ET

Employee Group: CUPE 1230

Appointment Type: Budget - Term

Schedule: Full-Time

Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone: CUPE U) - Step 1: $70,296 - Step 2: $72,971 - Step 3: $75,781

Job Category: Library Services