{"id":2639441,"url":"https://alion.io/job/davis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair","title":"HEAD LIBRARIAN & CAPSTONE CHAIR","company":{"id":4417897,"name":"Davis School Chicago","domain":"davischicago.org","url":"https://alion.io/company/davischicago","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Marketing","role_family":"Marketing","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Chicago, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":71000,"max_usd":184000,"period":"year","method":"role_country_seniority_unknown","sample_n":10699},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-21T08:45:27Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-21","last_verified_at":"2026-11-03T09:44:00Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":74,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":74},"description":"Full-Time Founding Leadership Position · Reports to the Principal · Master’s degree required - Library and Information Science (American Library Association accredited) preferred, or Humanities, Curriculum, Education, Educational Leadership, or a related field; doctorate preferred · Illinois School Librarian or Library Media Specialist certification preferred and National Board Certification a major plus · 3+ years of successful secondary (grades 6-12) teaching or school-library experience required; high school (grades 9-12) experience highly preferred · Some form of leadership experience is preferred; department, administration, or instructional leadership preferred · College-preparatory, independent, Jewish day or faith-based school experience is a plus · Being Jewish is not a requirement for this role · Fewer years but exceptional craft? We hire for mastery, not seat time.\nAre you a librarian built for what’s next, a builder of libraries rather than a keeper of them, who believes that extraordinary schools are built by extraordinary people? Do you want the unique opportunity to help launch and shape a new Jewish college-preparatory high school and its library, research, and internship / partnership programs from the ground up? Are you passionate about cultivating intellectual curiosity, academic integrity, advanced research skills, innovation, and scholarly excellence in students? If so, Davis School Chicago wants to hear from you.\nThe Dream Team\nDavis School Chicago is a proudly Jewish, college-preparatory high school opening in fall 2027 in downtown Chicago, in a state-of-the-art building at the heart of a great city for learning. Every adult at Davis Chicago is an educator and a culture-builder. We hold two expectations at the same time: deep human warmth and uncompromising intellectual excellence. High health and high results, never one at the cost of the other. This is a summary of the characteristics that describe our dream team. Please read the full Profile of the Ideal Davis Chicago Educator and more information about our opportunities before you apply.\nTo thrive here you are:\nWarm and intellectually formidable. Genuinely kind and seriously bright. We hire for intellectual horsepower; only sharp minds grow students to their full potential.\n\nYou bring the room to life. Passion people feel, loud or quiet, with the range to teach, support, and lead.\n\nA builder who owns it. Startup grit, a real growth mindset, open about mistakes, gives the gift of feedback, and the drive to create what doesn’t exist yet.\n\nTeach how to think, not what to think. Rigor, evidence, and a love of hard questions, including the controversial ones. Students reach their own conclusions.\n\nRooted in tradition, built for what’s next. Ancient wisdom and modern tools, AI included, aimed at today's problems.\n\nUnapologetically Jewish. Israel has a right to exist; that is not up for debate. Everything else is fair game, including spirited debate about Israel’s actions. You’re excited to help build a proudly Jewish, pro-Israel school.\n\nWhat Davis Chicago Needs\nDavis Chicago is hiring a founding Head Librarian to build the library of tomorrow and the Capstone program it powers: a true library in the classic sense, books worth loving and real research help, that is also a makerspace, a home for learning games and game design, and the school’s launch pad into downtown Chicago - and to teach in it every day. As a founding leader, the Chair is a member of the team opening a school from scratch. Therefore, the person needs to be a builder-leader: someone who can take a bold founding vision and turn it into a living school, then run a department in that school at a level of excellence every student, parent, and teacher can feel.\nWho Thrives in This Role\nWarm, Relational, and High-Performing - Kind, emotionally intelligent, intellectually rigorous, and committed to excellence.\n\nAn Inquiry Evangelist - Makes research feel like detective work, not homework.\n\nA City Connector - Builds internship and mentor relationships across Chicago.\n\nA Builder of the Library of Tomorrow - Books worth loving and a makerspace, research help and game design, in one space students actually want to be in.\n\nAn Entrepreneurial Builder - Thrives in ambiguity, solves problems, and creates programs, systems, and traditions from the ground up.\n\nA Curious and Courageous Thinker - Embraces learning, evidence, critical thinking, and meaningful debate.\n\nRooted and Forward-Looking - Honors tradition while embracing innovation, technology, and AI.\n\nCommitted to Jewish Life and Community - Values Jewish identity, the diversity of Jewish thought, and meaningful engagement in Jewish life.\n\nA Collaborative Culture-Builder - Balances accountability, care, and results while elevating everyone around them.\n\nThe Role\nThe Head Librarian & Capstone Chair is the academic and instructional leader of the school’s research, information literacy, library, Capstone, and internship / partnership programs and serves as a key member of the school’s academic leadership team. Reporting to the Principal, the Chair provides vision, leadership, supervision, and support for a culture of inquiry, scholarship, and academic excellence across all disciplines. The Chair carries all five roles the profession names for a school librarian - leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator - plus a sixth that is particular to Davis Chicago: the person who connects the school to the city.\nThis is a founding seat. Build the research program, the library, and the internship pipeline that put downtown Chicago inside every student’s education, and make Davis Chicago a destination for exceptional scholarship. The Chair will establish and steward the systems, programs, and experiences that cultivate advanced research skills, information literacy, ethical scholarship, meaningful work-based learning, and intellectual independence. The Chair will partner with faculty across disciplines to develop a vertically aligned research curriculum, oversee Capstone experiences, and ensure students are prepared for the rigorous research and analytical demands of college and beyond.\nThis is a teaching role as well as a program-building one, and the balance evolves by design. In the launch years, the Chair teaches research and information-literacy instruction while building the library and Capstone program from scratch. As the school grows, the role carries increasing dedicated time for curriculum development, faculty collaboration, and partnership building - the steady state Davis Chicago is building toward.\nDavis Chicago Capstone is a distinction, not a requirement. Students begin as early as ninth grade, apply after a first-year course, and commit to a multi-year sequence, in tracks running from engineering and computer science to business, law, the performing arts, and the College Board’s AP Seminar and AP Research route. Every Davis Chicago student learns to find, judge, and use evidence; Capstone students carry it further into original work they present and defend before people who do that work for a living, and wear the distinction at graduation. The Chair builds the research spine underneath all of it, runs the library as the front door that pulls students toward Capstone, creates meaningful partnerships with institutions, and holds every track to one standard.\n1. Academic Vision and Department Leadership\nDevelop and articulate a compelling vision for research, library, and Capstone education that aligns with the school’s mission, strategic priorities, and educational philosophy.\n\nLead the design, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of a vertically aligned research curriculum, from ninth-grade information literacy through Capstone.\n\nExercise founding-level design authority: architect the research and Capstone sequence from first principles, making the program classroom-embedded, seminar-based, and in line with best practices for the whole spectrum of work-based learning. Ambitious models are welcome, provided the result prepares students for the research demands of the most selective colleges.\n\nEnsure curricular coherence, rigor, and relevance across all grade levels and disciplines.\n\nPromote interdisciplinary learning experiences that connect research and information literacy with the humanities, STEM, Jewish studies, and the arts.\n\nBuild the research and library program on the current American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National School Library Standards, with their six Shared Foundations (Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, and Engage) as the research-skills scope from ninth grade through Capstone.\n\nAnalyze student achievement data and assessment outcomes to strengthen teaching and learning.\n\nBuild a culture that values intellectual curiosity, academic integrity, ethical scholarship, and independent thinking.\n\nCreate a dynamic library and research environment - the school’s academic town square - that supports student learning, faculty collaboration, and a school-wide commitment to academic integrity, curiosity, and scholarly excellence.\n\nOpen the library itself: the space, the opening-day collection, the college-level digital access behind it, and the systems that make all of it findable - working with the Principal and the design team on the zones the program needs, from quiet study to making to play to public conversation.\n\nDesign, equip, and run the makerspace: training and safety systems first, then work that goes past the trinket stage - real design, real iteration, and real failure, tied to coursework and Capstone work.\n\nBuild internship and mentorship relationships with universities, research institutions, businesses, cultural institutions, and civic organizations across Chicago, and develop signature experiences that distinguish Davis School Chicago among leading college-preparatory schools.\n\nServe as an ambassador for research, scholarship, and the library within the school and broader community.\n\nShowcase student achievement through Capstone presentations, research symposia, competitions, and public events.\n\n2. Faculty Leadership and Professional Growth\nRecruit, hire, onboard, mentor, supervise, and evaluate department faculty.\n\nFoster a collaborative professional culture focused on continuous growth, reflective practice, and instructional excellence.\n\nServe as an instructional coach, providing regular feedback and support to teachers.\n\nLead department meetings, professional learning initiatives, curriculum reviews, and collaborative planning sessions.\n\nSupport teachers in implementing innovative instructional strategies and meaningful assessments.\n\nEncourage faculty leadership and cultivate opportunities for professional growth and advancement.\n\nPromote a culture of accountability, collegiality, and shared responsibility for student success.\n\nFacilitate weekly common planning time centered on student work, so the department's collaboration is about what students actually produce.\n\nRun a peer observation and coaching cycle focused on one targeted instructional area at a time.\n\nCo-lead the school’s instructional leadership team.\n\nLead a department that is both high-health and high-results, never one at the cost of the other.\n\n3. Teaching and Learning Excellence\nModel exemplary teaching and instructional leadership.\n\nSupport faculty in creating engaging, student-centered classrooms that challenge students academically while nurturing student voice and agency.\n\nEnsure curriculum and instruction prepare students for success in selective colleges and universities.\n\nEnsure the research sequence meets or exceeds the demands of AP-level and college research: every student learns to find, judge, and use sources and to defend a claim with evidence, and every Capstone student completes a substantial, source-driven product they can present and defend.\n\nPromote inquiry-based learning, source evaluation,...","description_format":"text","description_chars":18475,"description_truncated":true,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Health insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-15T18:25:05Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":11,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.38,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":73,"expected_fill_days":24,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-03T05:54:40Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/davis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/davis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-03T13:55:54Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":19398,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-04T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":4417897},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4417897"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fdavis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fdavis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fdavis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/davis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fdavis-chicago-head-librarian-capstone-chair"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":2639441}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"davischicago.org","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":2639441},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}