The Humanities Bibliographer develops, manages and evaluates the library collections that support teaching and research in literature, folklore, history, religion, philosophy, communication studies, mass communication, journalism and related subjects. In terms of the Library of Congress classification schedule, the humanities bibliographer selects materials in the A, B (except BF), C, D, E, F, P, and Z classes. In terms of imprint areas, she is responsible for materials published in North America, the English-speaking Caribbean, the British Isles, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Australasia, and Oceania.

In order to develop library collections in the humanities, the Bibliographer organizes identification tools so that they provide comprehensive coverage of published works in print, microform, and electronic formats. She then selects appropriate materials from them. Selection involves three separate tasks: establishing the relevance of an item, determining its value, and assigning it a priority. The selector's initial consideration is whether or not a work is relevant to the needs of the university's academic programs and the library's users. If a work does not meet these needs, the selector rejects it, regardless of its intrinsic worth. If it does meet these needs, she considers it in terms of its relative value. On the basis of this evaluation, selectors then assign it a priority. In order to determine the relevance, value and priority of an item, the Humanities Bibliographer works closely with faculty, particularly library liaisons; other library users, especially graduate students; and librarians in the Collection Development Department, the Reference Department, the special collections, and the fine arts branches.

In addition to selecting titles for the library, the Humanities Bibliographer establishes identification programs for serials, requests samples, works with faculty book chairs who actually select serials for purchase, and designs review mechanisms to help faculty evaluate serials for cancellation. She reviews the general serials and newspaper collections. The Humanities Bibliographer also provides support to the academic departments for the selection of retrospective and specialized resources, largely through the provision of bibliographical information involving dealers' catalogs, prospectuses, and reprint notifications. She writes descriptions of collection development programs, reviews and evaluates them periodically, and interprets them to faculty and library staff. In addition she recommends allocations for books and new subscriptions; participates in collection management duties such as preservation, digitization, transfers, and discards; gives specialized referral and reference assistance; establishes approval programs and blanket order programs to ensure a systematic and economical selection of titles appropriate to the collections; works on library committees; accepts special assignments in connection with departmental responsibilities; and develops cooperative programs with librarians at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and North Carolina State University.

The position reports to the University Bibliographer, who is the head of the Collection Development Department. See the following page for more specific assignments.