Evening & Weekend Reader Services Supervisor

Location: Taylor Institution Library, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3NA

About the Role

The Taylor Institution Library is one of the University of Oxford’s principal research libraries and forms part of Section 3 of the Bodleian Humanities Libraries, supporting research in modern and medieval European languages, literatures and linguistics.

You will act as the senior member of staff on duty during evening and weekend shifts, supervising a small team of library assistants and ensuring that services run smoothly and securely out of hours. You will oversee library closing procedures, respond to incidents, and ensure that readers adhere to the Bodleian Libraries’ Rules of Conduct.

Working at the Issue and Enquiry Desk, you will assist readers with enquiries and a full range of circulation tasks, including issuing and returning books, managing reservations, and supporting access to offsite and inter-library loan material. You will monitor the library email account during your shifts, provide training and guidance to colleagues, and contribute to stock management and other routine library tasks, including shelving and helping readers use library equipment and IT facilities. You may occasionally be asked to provide cover at other Bodleian Humanities Libraries.

This is a part-time post for 10.25 hours per week (0.28 FTE), to be worked over a two-week rota. The working pattern is: Week A: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings (16:45–19:15); Week B: Tuesday and Thursday evenings (16:45–19:15) plus Saturday (09:45–18:15, including a 30-minute unpaid lunch break). This role includes working at heights and regular manual handling.

About You

You will be educated to A-level standard or equivalent and will have experience of Reader Services work in an academic library, including use of a library management system, online catalogues and e-resources. You will demonstrate a strong customer focus and excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, and be confident supporting a wide range of library users.

You will have good IT skills, including Microsoft Office and email, and be able to work effectively both independently and as part of a team. Experience of training colleagues in a customer service environment is essential. An understanding of good manual handling practice is required, and previous experience of staff supervision would be advantageous.

What We Offer

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days of annual leave
• A comprehensive range of childcare services
• Family leave schemes
• Cycle loan scheme
• Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans

More information is available at https://hr.admin.ox.ac.uk/staff-benefits 

 How to apply

You will be required to upload your CV and a supporting evidence form using the attached template as part of your online application. Your supporting evidence form should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria, as listed in the job description, and explain how you meet each one. CVs alone will not be considered.

The Chair of this recruitment panel will be Frank Egerton, Head of Reader Services, Section 3 Bodleian Humanities Libraries, who can be contacted with enquiries relating to the role (frank.egerton@bodleian.ox.ac.uk). General queries about the recruitment and application process should be directed to the Recruitment team within our Human Resources department (recruitment@glam.ox.ac.uk).

Only applications received online by 12.00 midday (GMT) on Monday 9 March 2026 can be considered. Interviews are expected to take place on Monday 23 March 2026.

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