Head of Lejre Library & Archives - would you like to help shape the library and archive of the future in Lejre Municipality?

We are looking for a leader who can balance our focus on storytelling and knowledge, communities and operations.

Lejre Library & Archive consists of five different libraries and a joint archive. We work with literature, information, cultural heritage, dissemination, vibrant local communities, citizen engagement, and new forms of knowledge communities.

Lejre is rich in stories, history, and local knowledge. The stories are found in the books, in the archive, in the landscape, and in the people who live here. We want to help citizens find what they are looking for, ignite curiosity about what they do not yet know, and become better at bringing citizens' own knowledge into play.

We want the Library & Archive to be an active partner in a living local community. We will support the communities that already exist, help new ones on their way, and develop new ones with the citizens.

And then the operations must work. Five libraries and an archive must fit together with relatively few staff, many opening hours, a high degree of self-service, and an archive where volunteers play a significant role. Therefore we are seeking a leader who can both develop and prioritise, and who understands that good operations must support the professional ambitions.

You will have a workplace with skilled staff, engaged volunteers, great freedom, good colleagues, and a relatively informal culture where we continually practice together to solve tasks better.

We believe that the municipality should be a good dance partner for the life already lived among citizens, associations, and local communities – and create frameworks that make it easier for people to take initiative, get involved, and create something together. Here, Library & Archive has an important role.

Five libraries – and an archive

The five libraries are different, and that is a strength.

• In Gevninge the library is located together with the residents' house. Here there is, among other things, a children's library with an almost French boudoir feel.
• In Allerslev lies the beautiful station library, which is both a library and an informal daily lounge with direct access to the platform, where it is pleasant to stay or wait for the train. Here, dissemination has been deliberately developed, for example by letting all books stand with the covers facing outward.
• In Osted we have a completely new combined public and school library.
• In Kirke Hyllinge we have worked with the children's library inspired by Tøyen in Oslo. It features a light sky, wooden shelves, play houses, and gold frames … In Hvalsø the library is housed in settings inspired by nature, the stories, and the urban Berlin. The archive has its own well-appointed premises and secured storage.

Departments should not be the same. They should work together with the local communities they are part of. What is common is that we have taken care with the spaces. They should invite people in and support immersion, dissemination, meetings, and activities. This is part of how we want Library & Archive to function.

The Archive

The Archive is an integrated part of Library & Archive and is based in Hvalsø. Here, volunteers work to digitise, register, and bring to life the municipality's history and stories. They hold extensive knowledge about Lejre and the local areas and are an important part of the archive's life and development.

But knowledge is not found only in books and archives. It is also found with citizens. Therefore we are committed to whether Library & Archive can to an even greater extent help circulate that knowledge. This is one of the tasks we would like to explore together with our new leader.

We want We want a humane and wise leader with good judgment, curiosity, and a desire to be close to both people and the task.

You must be able to set direction without overstepping and have the courage to delegate. We envision a leader who is more often a coach on the sideline than a captain on the field – a leader who makes others solve the tasks, take responsibility, and succeed with them.

You should have an eye for each employee's potential and be committed to making capable people even more capable. This applies to both experienced and younger staff, who should have opportunities to grow with the tasks and take on responsibility.

At the same time, you should strengthen employees' ability to collaborate – with each other, across the organization, and with citizens and local communities. And you should be able to lead in an organization where volunteers do not merely help out, but also bring substantial knowledge, experience, and engagement into the task. As a leader, you must therefore also have the desire to work with volunteers and create good frameworks for their commitment, knowledge, and initiative to flourish.

We place less emphasis on your exact professional title. You may be a librarian, historian, philosopher, cultural professional, or come with another relevant background. The decisive factor is that you want to lead and make others shine.

You must also understand a politically governed organization, be able to collaborate across and have an eye for digital development. Library & Archive has an important information and formation mission in a world where the way we find, produce, preserve, and use knowledge is changing rapidly. This also includes AI.

We offer

You will have a workplace with a good working environment in beautiful surroundings, flexibility in daily life, and skilled colleagues around you.

That applies to staff, leaders, managers, and directors. The tone is relatively informal, and we continuously practice together to become better at solving tasks, collaborating across, and creating the best possible framework for the municipality to be a good dance partner for citizens, associations, and local communities.

There are high ambitions, but also room to ask, try something, and become wiser along the way.

The practicalities

As the head of Lejre Library & Archive you report to the center chief of the Center for Culture, Leisure & Communities, Thure Dan S. Petersen, and you will be part of the center's leadership team.

Your daily workplace will typically be Library & Archive in Hvalsø, but you will move across the libraries, the archive, the cultural institutions, and our partners. Therefore, it is expected that you have access to a car.

Salary and terms of employment are set according to the applicable collective agreement and in agreement with the negotiating organisation.

We expect to hold first interviews in week 46 and second interviews in week 47.

Between the two interview rounds you will be invited to a test.

If you have questions about the job, you are very welcome to contact the center chief Thure Dan Petersen

Lejre Municipality is a community of 49 small towns and villages. Here live just under 30,000 people, and more and more are coming. As a municipality we work to create a good life in the countryside, now and for future generations. It is about incorporating nature into everything we do. To find solutions in communities and to create spaces where citizens, associations, and businesses can unfold themselves.

We have a total of around 2,000 employees who work to create welfare in close cooperation with all those who are affected by the effort.

That is why we call Lejre Municipality Our Place.

In Lejre Municipality there is a smoke-free working time policy.

In Lejre Municipality we obtain criminal records and child-safety checks for a number of positions. Please note that you may be asked to consent to obtaining these checks for the positions where it is relevant.