Job title
Assistant Librarian
Department
Library
Grade
6
Reports to
Deputy Librarian
Coordination with
Liaison with other College members, departments, and Bodleian and college libraries as appropriate.
Location
The Queen’s College, Oxford
The Queen’s College
The Queen’s College is one of the oldest Colleges in the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1341 to provide education for poor scholars from the north of England, and today it remains committed to excellence in education and to welcoming students and academics from across the UK and around the world. Situated on High Street, the College has around 330 Undergraduates, 160 Graduates, 40 Official and Professorial Fellows, and a varying number of Junior Research Fellows and College Lecturers. The College employs a permanent non-academic support staff of around 120. The Fellows are academics present in College throughout the year working on their individual research or carrying out their College responsibilities, and who also support the education and research of graduate and undergraduate students who live at Queen’s College for all or part of the year. In addition, during the vacation periods the College provide conference facilities to external bodies to bring in income that assists in the support of other College activities.
The Library
The Queen’s College has one of the best-stocked college libraries in Oxford, with around 50,000 volumes in the current lending collection and access to a wide range of electronic resources. Extensive provision is made for all subjects taught within College, and the Library supports learning and wellbeing through its collections and facilities. Thanks to a number of generous benefactions made over the last three hundred years, Queen’s also has one of the largest and richest collection of rare books in Oxford, as well as important manuscript holdings. Items from the collections are often on display in the Upper and New Library reading rooms.
The Library is spread across three floors, offering generous and varied reading spaces, ample shelf space for both the open access and reserve circulating collections, a multipurpose room, a specialist Egyptology Library (the Peet Library), and an environmentally conditioned storage area for the Library’s extensive historic collections and associated specialist historic collections reading space.
The Library is staffed by the Librarian, the Deputy Librarian, the Assistant Librarian, the Library Assistant, and a small team of hourly Library Assistants. All members of the team are dedicated to providing the best service possible to College members and are always willing to help readers.
The New and Lower Library reading rooms are open 24 hours. The Library is staffed 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10-3pm Sat during term time, with the hours usually extended to 10pm Mon-Fri during Trinity Term (summer term). Saturdays and evenings in Trinity Term are staffed by hourly Library Assistants. The Library is staffed 9am-5pm Mon-Fri during the vacations.
For further information on the College and the Library, see https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk.
Purpose of the role
To assist with the day to day running of the College Library, ensuring an excellent standard of service for all users. The postholder helps to maintain and enhance the modern collections of the Library in all formats and makes the resources and services of the library fully accessible to all library users.
Main duties and responsibilities
(The following duties are not shown in order of priority or frequency, nor is the list exhaustive, but rather an indication of the type and level of duties expected of the post-holder.)
Collection Management
Acquisitions and Cataloguing
Storage Management
Technical Services and Communications
Reprographics, Web and Social Media
IT and other Equipment
General Library Operations
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
Desirable
Good standard of general education:
· Fluency and accuracy in written and spoken English
· Good level of numeracy
X
Postgraduate qualification in librarianship
Skills
A good degree of competency in computer skills –
· Word
· Outlook
· Excel
Practical skills–
· Attention to detail and ability to undertake routine tasks
Experience of working in a library
Experience of working in a college, school or educational environment
Good knowledge of library management systems (e.g., Clarivate’s Aleph or Alma)
Experience of original and/or copy cataloguing according to RDA standards, familiarity with RDA, AACR2 and LCSH
Experience of writing for the web and social media in an institutional context
A good understanding of privacy, copyright, intellectual property, and data protection regulations in relation to libraries and a willingness to undertake further training as required
Excellent communication with students and colleagues
Attributes
Good interpersonal skills, with the ability to work with colleagues, student members and members of the public in order to communicate the Library’s functions and regulations.
Demonstrates flexibility and creativity in solving problems
Interested in continuous professional development
Ability to work accurately with excellent attention to detail
Excellent organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise workloads
Flexible and adaptable attitude towards duties and the ability to work independently and in a team
Capacity to deal sensitively with people from a wide variety of backgrounds
Ability to deal with demanding customers and to resolve difficult situations successfully
Proactive and with a focus on continuous improvement
SUMMARY OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Full terms and conditions of employment will be provided in writing to the successful candidate. The information below is for guidance only and does not constitute the contract of employment.
Salary
The salary range for this post is £30,502-£36,386 (Grade 6). It is expected that the successful candidate will be appointed at the bottom of the salary range.
Contract/Duration
This is a permanent full-time position. Ideally, the postholder will commence as soon as possible following a successful interview.
Hours of work
This is a full-time post of 37.5 hours scheduled Monday to Friday, ensuring that the Library enquiry office is staffed with full-time staff 9am-5pm. Occasionally, early-evening work or additional hours of work may be required. If additional hours are worked time-off in-lieu (TOIL) will be offered.
Probationary and notice periods
The post is subject to a six-month probationary period. After successful completion of the probationary period, three months’ notice of termination of employment is required by either party.
Benefits include:
Appointment Procedure
Referees will be contacted before appointment is made. If you are called to interview you will be asked to bring documentation to prove your right to work in the UK.
Ideally, the appointee will take up the post as soon as possible.
HOW TO APPLY
Click ‘Apply online’ at the foot of this web page and complete the application form - which must include the contact details of two referees - and the Supporting Statement section stating why you are interested in the post and how your qualifications and experience match our essential and desired requirements. Please study the job description and person specification and explain what skills and personal qualities you would bring to the College, how they relate to the post you have applied for and demonstrate your ability to undertake the duties of the post.
The appointment will be subject to proof of the right to work in the UK, acceptable references, proof of any required qualifications and the satisfactory completion of a medical questionnaire.
Any enquiries about the application process should be emailed to HR@queens.ox.ac.uk
The closing date for the receipt of applications is 19 February 2023.
Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
Interviews
We expect to hold interviews during the week of 6 March 2023.
Data protectionAll data supplied by applicants will be used only for the purposes of determining their suitability for the post and will be held in accordance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.
Privacy Policy
The College Privacy Policy can be viewed here:
https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/sites/www.queens.ox.ac.uk/files/Applicants-for-office.pdf
All data supplied to us during the application process will be processed and stored in accordance with this policy.
Diversity and Equal Opportunity at Queen’s College
The Queen’s College is an equal opportunities employer and a living wage employer.
Entry into employment with the College and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria which are related to the duties of each particular post and the relevant salary structure. In all cases, ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration. No applicant or member of staff shall be discriminated against because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
Applications are particularly welcome from underrepresented groups. We are committed to the principles of equal opportunities and respect for individuals in creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We value and celebrate diversity and feel that is critical to achieving our strategic aims and long-term success. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.
For more information, visit https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/equality-information
The College also shares the university’s commitment ‘to fostering an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected.’ The university’s full policy is available at https://edu.admin.ox.ac.uk/equality-policy
The College invites all applicants to familiarise themselves with its equal opportunities policy, available at https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/sites/www.queens.ox.ac.uk/files/Equal-Opportunities-Policy-%28May%202020%29.pdf