POSTING 1 OF 3
Title: Librarian, Private Family Library
Type: Full-time, on-site
LIBRARIAN, PRIVATE FAMILY LIBRARY. You’ve catalogued other people’s libraries long enough. Come build one. A family in the Phoenix area is building a serious private library on their own property: room for about 12,000 books, a thousand so far, the rest still to find. A Great Books formation library, the Catholic intellectual tradition its spine, the American founding its frame, the Southwest alongside, read through by the family one generation to the next. The systems don’t exist yet and you build them. Small staff, long commitment. You know what makes these books great, and why a person alive today should still read them. You’ve read them yourself, not just catalogued them, and you can shelve the Catholic tradition whether or not you share it. You also know what makes a physical book great: you’ve run a special collection or a rare book business, you’ve bid at auction on your own authority, and you can collate a copy. AI does the register work; you hold the book. Full-time, on-site, benefits, bonus, relocation considered. We’re hiring either one senior Librarian who runs all of it, which is this seat, or an Assistant on-site with a Senior Bibliographer on retainer as the eye, and we’re running both searches at once. Resume and a cover note on why you’re interested to Elizabeth Taylor at [email protected].
POSTING 2 OF 3
Title: Assistant Librarian, Private Family Library
Type: Full-time, on-site
ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN, PRIVATE FAMILY LIBRARY. You read the Great Books for four years. Now come live with them. A family in the Phoenix area is building a serious private library on their own property: room for about 12,000 books, a thousand so far, the rest still to find, the catalog and systems still to build. A formation library, Catholic in its spine, the American founding its frame, read by the family one generation to the next. The children’s shelves are yours. Both what is in the books and the books themselves matter here. You bring the reading and grow into the objects. You love Augustine, Aquinas and Jefferson because you’ve read them, and you’d argue Jefferson against Hamilton for fun. You know the Catholic tradition well enough to shelve it, whether or not you share it. You’re early-career and serious, however you got here: a Great Books degree, an MLIS, a Rare Book School course, library or bookshop hours, or a classroom where you taught the canon. Fast, exact, honest about what you don’t know yet. We’ll teach you the rest and send you to Rare Book School. Full-time, on-site, benefits, bonus. We’re hiring either this seat with a Senior Bibliographer on retainer as the eye, or one senior Librarian who does all of it. Same job to be done either way. Different routes to get there. Resume and a cover note on why you’re interested to Elizabeth Taylor at [email protected].
POSTING 3 OF 3
Title: Senior Bibliographer, Private Family Library (retainer)
Type: Retainer, part-time, a couple of days a quarter on-site
SENIOR BIBLIOGRAPHER, ON RETAINER. You know Gaskell from ESTC and you’ve spent a career proving it. You don’t want another institution, and you may not want to move. Good. Neither is required. A family in the Phoenix area is building a serious private library on their own property, read through rather than displayed, one generation to the next. What we need from you is the eye on the rare books. The owner is the judge on every expensive purchase and wants to be sold properly. You’ve read these books, not just handled them, and you know the Catholic tradition well enough to judge the copy, whether or not you share it. A couple of days a quarter here, the fairs, the rest from wherever you are: collation, condition, comps, the auction calendars and the bidding, the dealer conversations, and the second eye before anything over five figures is bought. Monthly retainer discussed on the first call, two-year term, real budget. AI does the desk work. We’re hiring either this seat with an Assistant Librarian on-site who needs a mentor, or one senior Librarian who does all of it. We’re running both searches at once. Resume and a cover note on why this interests you to Elizabeth Taylor at [email protected].