POSITION DETAILS

Academic Services
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,166 to £28,768, with potential progression once in post to £32,145
Grade: 4
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 15th June 2025
This role is full time on campus only.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE

• Educated to A level or equivalent qualification level, or substantial equivalent relevant experience.
• Substantial practical experience of customer support.
• Good numeracy, literacy and classification skills with excellent interpersonal and 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.
• Good 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.
• Good 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.
• Good 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.

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. Post holders 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.
Work pattern : Monday : 2pm - 8pm, Tuesday 8am - 2pm, Friday 4pm - 10pm and Sunday 4pm - 10pm. Due to the frontline nature of the role these shifts are fixed.

MAIN DUTIES

Generic 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.

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