Library Assistant

St Antony’s College invites applications for the post of Library Assistant to provide an efficient library service. Working closely with the Librarian, the Library Assistant will undertake a broad range of essential day-to-day tasks to ensure optimal use of the collection and space. Based mainly at the reception desk in the Library’s main reading room, the Library Assistant will be the first port of call for visitors to the Library and will offer assistance as required. A significant part of the role will involve cataloguing and interacting with library users, most of whom are graduate students (many international), academic visitors and Fellows of the College.

We offer generous employee benefits including:

• 41 days’ holiday (including bank/public holidays)

• Free meals in College when on duty and when the Hall is open

• An excellent contributory pension scheme (OSPS)

• Free access to a car parking space in the College’s grounds if available

This is a varied role, which includes cataloguing, classifying, barcoding, labelling and stamping resources, and creating and maintaining inventories. The Library Assistant will carry out a range of transactions at the issue desk including issuing and receiving books, managing reservations and renewals, checking materials for damage and communicating with readers regarding overdue, lost, or damaged books. They will assist with maintaining and monitoring study space and storage, as well as answering routine enquiries and providing guidance to users.

The successful candidate will have previous library experience, preferably in an academic library, knowledge of library cataloguing following RDA and the MARC 21 format, strong interpersonal skills, and experience of delivering a high standard of customer service to a broad range of people. An ability to maintain attention to detail during routine tasks, and an ability to prioritise multiple demands will also be essential. Creativity and insight to help develop effective methods for sharing and promoting information and resources would be desirable.

The College Library was established following the opening of the College in 1950, and currently holds over 50,000 published titles and a small collection of archival materials. It primarily supports members of St Antony’s only; however external researchers often visit to view rare and unique items. The Library seeks to provide core teaching materials for courses taken by substantial numbers of St Antony’s students, and maintain its historic strengths. Collections on international relations, development studies, modern history, politics, and economics, as well as area studies of Africa, Asia (not including the Middle East or Japan), Europe, Russia and the former USSR (in languages other than Russian) are especially strong.

Almost all books are catalogued on Aleph and searchable on SOLO. Work on the retrospective conversion of the card catalogue continues for holdings of journals, microfilms and pamphlets.

To apply, please send a completed application form by email to recruitment@sant.ox.ac.uk by 09:00 on Thursday 1st June 2023.

Interviews are expected to be held on Monday 19th June 2023.

Candidates will be shortlisted solely on the extent to which they meet the essential and desirable criteria of the person specification based on their application form. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Any offer of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and the right to work in the UK.

St Antony's College is an equal opportunities employer.

A privacy notice for applicants and information about how we use your data can be found at https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about-st-antonys/how-we-use-your-data

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