Frontline Library Assistant 

About us:

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world.

Within Libraries & Collections, we aspire to be leaders in enabling access to knowledge and information fundamental to this vision. Developments in digital education, e-research and AI are transforming our services. Our Open Library strategy outlines our ambitious plans and how they contribute to student success and research excellence. We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, which manages the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond.

About the role:

Library Assistants contribute to the work of the Frontline Services team by supporting the delivery and operation of our first-line enquiry service across Libraries & Collections; enabling users to access our resources, services and facilities and maintaining library spaces. Library Assistants act as an identifiable and welcoming presence for our users and have an understanding of the breadth of the library’s work in order to respond, signpost or refer enquiries effectively and promote our services. 

All grade 3 staff are assigned a placement brief within a particular team but may be moved across to a different placement brief elsewhere within Libraries & Collections in order to support service needs or your development.   

All Libraries & Collections staff are encouraged to take responsibility for their own performance and development, through agreeing clear objectives, maintaining professional awareness and reflecting on own performance. We expect all colleagues to role-model a positive, proactive, flexible and committed approach that encourages others.   

You will be required to participate in frontline services as required, including contributing towards a rota for evening and weekend working.   
These are full-time posts and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

1 post will be based in the Franklin-Wilkins Library (Waterloo Campus) and the other post will be based in New Hunt's House Library (Guy's Campus).

About you:

Essential criteria

• Relevant work experience and/or education: Relevant work experience might include work in a Library or customer-facing service. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training
• Excellent organisation and time management skills
• Ability to work to a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to work as part of a team in a fast-changing environment
• Commitment to personal accountability and continuous improvement, driving own professional development
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience in positively and proactively dealing with routine problems
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively question and understand user needs and enquiries
• Ability to work effectively and proactively with other teams and stakeholders

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in a customer-oriented environment
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Experience of using library catalogues and resource discovery tools
• Experience of or proven interest in working within higher education environment
• Working knowledge of IT within an office environment and the ability to learn new systems

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