Senior Library Assistant: Enquiry Services – Academic Services – 34582 – Grade 4

Birmingham, Staffordshire
city of San Elizario
Position Details

Academic Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £25,866 to £27,518, with potential progression once in post to £30,820

Grade: 4

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 26th August 2024

Role summary

You will act as a key point of contact for the full range of library customers (internal and external). You will provide advice to colleagues within the Library and the wider University.When senior staff are not on site you will use your initiative and take responsibility for the service. Postholders will usually work in one of three functional areas: Enquiry Services, Stock and Circulation or Front of House.

In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or the wider University.

Main duties

• Supporting library procedures for borrowing, renewing, returning and reserving information resources; dealing with more complex queries which will be referred to them.
• Ensuring that services, spaces and facilities provided within the libraries are well maintained and reporting issues as appropriate.
• Supporting and delivering customer relationship activity such as surveys, feedback, and events.
• Intervening when issues are reported such as noise, eating, incident reporting and lost property, and identifying appropriate referral routes for students in academic or physical/mental distress.
• Providing assistance with navigation in the buildings, the use of facilities and appointments with staff working in the building; library equipment support.
• Assisting with user education programmes for library customers and helping to promote the University and the Library to visitors and potential students, for example, by conducting library tours.
• Training of colleagues within Library Customer Support e.g. staff inductions and casual staff.
• All Senior Library Assistants are expected to participate in rotas which enable Library Customer Support to provide staffed services during advertised opening hours.This may include working outside core hours (e.g. evenings, weekends and University closed days/bank holidays), both within their usual team and, where necessary, in other teams within Library Customer Support.Senior Library Assistants will ensure that the evening and weekend service runs smoothly when Assistant Managers are not present by:
  • Coordinating the work of colleagues, with particular attention to handling queries and transactions.
  • Handling difficult situations (such as unhappy library users, security alerts, fire evacuations etc.).
  • Liaising as necessary with University Security and with agency security staff working in the Library.
  • Contacting senior Library Services staff as necessary for guidance.
  • Undertaking handover to agency security staff during 24/7 opening and supervising opening and closing routines at other times.
  • Maintaining cash levels and supervising cash handling procedures.
  • Reporting back to the relevant Assistant Managers and informing them of issues and problems which have arisen (or could arise) during evening and weekends.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Postholders will usually be based in one of the following Functional Areas.

Front of House

• Welcoming library users and providing directions to facilities and services; registering new users and visitors to the Library; answering queries regarding access control, membership, room booking, visitor day pass systems, handling all issues from initial contact to resolution; providing information regarding other University facilities and events which are taking place on campus; making appropriate referrals to colleagues within and beyond Library Services.
• Maintaining records of external members of Library Services; undertaking administration relating to reciprocal access schemes, corresponding with registered external users regarding membership renewal; updating publications and information regarding external access to the University’s libraries.
• Ensuring the Training Suite rooms, and other spaces where appropriate, are all well maintained and prepared in readiness for events; checking layouts of furniture, ensuring IT equipment is in place and reporting problems as appropriate; supporting events and ensuring a high quality customer experience.

Enquiry Services

• Supporting researchers, students and staff to gain maximum benefit from the extensive range of physical and electronic resources managed by the Library; achieved by understanding the needs of users, providing initial advice in relation to different information resources and advising on relevant search techniques.
• Explaining library procedures for borrowing, reserving and requesting information resources and identifying improvements to workflows to ensure service quality is continually improved.
• Providing support with basic/intermediate first line IT enquiries relating to password self-service system, printing, Wi-Fi, email, Canvas, cluster PCs.
• Refer users to specialists within Library Services and other teams.Handling and signposting requests for support(for example, from users with disabilities, or those requiring additional skills support).

Stock and Circulation

• Welcoming users to the Allport Room; giving them access to material they have requested from the Reserve, maintaining a safe and appropriate study environment in the Room, offering assistance with copying, scanning and printing, answering queries about resources and facilities relating to the Research Reserve.
• Mediating access for library users who need to browse and consult material in situ on the shelves in the Research Reserve, briefing them on health and safety and access requirements; checking that their requirements can be fulfilled by providing consultation access or by supplying material for loan or use within the Main Library; maintaining a record of those who have entered the Research Reserve and ensuring that the area has been completely vacated by closing time of the service.
• Providing an out-loans service by checking the availability of materials requested and working with Collections Assistants to retrieve material from within the libraries (including the Research Reserve).
• Ensuring such requests are compliant with copyright/other laws/restrictions and communicating any breaches to the requester, identifying alternative solutions as appropriate.
• Supporting the work of Collections Assistants in the team; ensuring that material returned via the sortation system is re-shelved in accordance with agreed targets, dealing with queries and material which cannot be handled by the Collections Assistants, organising the repair and tidying of material held on the open shelves in the Main Library.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to A level or equivalent qualification level, or substantial equivalent relevant experience.
• Substantial practical experience of customer support.
• Numeracy, literacy and classification skills with excellent communication skills.
• Comprehensive knowledge, understanding and the ability to use complex and specialist processes (e.g. for Main Library stock reserve) and systems (e.g. British Library System, sortation system).
• Ability to act as the escalation point and source of advice for Library Assistants on many different specialist processes, IT systems and databases.
• Ability to work with accuracy to required standards and deadlines and to demonstrate attention to detail.
• Organisational skills with the ability to plan own work and that of others.
• Demonstrable ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• Proven ability to work reliably and flexibly in a busy environment, preferably in a library or in a busy customer focused environment.
• Excellent and demonstrable customer service skills.
• Experience of receiving and resolving customer enquiries and the ability and willingness to adopt a friendly customer orientated approach in a busy service environment.
• Communication skills including the ability to ensure action or acceptance by a colleague or customer by listening to and understanding another person’s request or perspective, influencing, and providing a well-reasoned response.
• IT literacy including Microsoft office and on line systems.In addition, the ability and willingness to further develop skills in this area and to learn and adapt to new technologies.
• Knowledge and substantial practical experience of using many different specialist processes, IT systems (e.g. library management systems or equivalent) and databases (e.g. for catalogue systems)
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Dimensions

You will have supervisory responsibilities when senior staff are not on site, but no budgetary responsibilities.

Planning and organising

Advice is available, but most of your work will be completed independently.You will be responsible for managing your own time . click apply for full job details