Graduate Library Trainee

Location: Warburg Institute

The University of London is both the UK’s largest provider of international distance and online learning and the convenor of a federation of 17 renowned higher education institutions.

The federation brings together more than 250,000 learners and 50,000 staff in a collaborative community that is delivering high-quality research and education across all disciplines.

Since 1858, we have expanded access to world-class higher education. Today, around 40,000 students in more than 190 countries are part of our global learning community.

The University of London is also home to the School of Advanced Study, the national centre for the humanities, whose mission is to advocate for the discipline.

By working together, we expand access to outstanding higher education and resources, and extend their benefits to learners and researchers across the UK and around the world.

The Warburg Institute

The Warburg Institute is the premier institute in the world for the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture. Research at the Institute is cross-disciplinary and global: it is concerned with the survival and transmission of cultural forms across national borders and from the earliest times to the present. It has historic strengths in the reception of the classical tradition in the Renaissance and has been home to some of the most innovative and influential scholars in the fields it covers.

Its library holds some 380,000 volumes, stored on open shelves and structured according to Aby Warburg’s own unique scheme: it is the world’s largest collection of its kind and includes a large proportion of continental books and journals unavailable elsewhere in the UK.

Since 1944, the Warburg Institute has been part of the University of London, one of the oldest and largest universities in the UK—and its most diverse. The Institute is a founding member of the University’s School of Advanced Study, a cluster of internationally renowned institutes that form the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities.

The Role

The Warburg Institute Library is appointing a Graduate Library Trainees for September 2026 – September 2027. This post is designed for a graduate carrying out a year of work experience and training prior to attending library school.

The trainee is based in the Reading Room but works with everyone in the Library’s team of ten, and alongside the Warburg Archive and Photographic Collection teams. They are given training and experience in a broad range of library tasks. This enables the position holder to gain specific experience and skills, and also to develop an overall understanding of the work of a busy research library. The daily work is varied and will include tasks such as working at the enquiries desk, overseeing Inter Library Loans, assisting with conservation procedures, updating the Warburg Digital Library, contributing to the Institute’s social media feeds, and devising and researching book displays.

The Library Trainee works under the direction of the Deputy Librarian.

A staff development programme is available for the trainee, along with other Graduate Library Trainees in the University of London and beyond.

For a full role profile, please refer to the job description below.

Further information

To be considered for this opportunity, please submit your application and CV (via the 'Apply' button above) before the closing date at midnight on 01 February 2026.

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