Acquisitions and Discovery Assistant
Contract: permanent
Salary: £28,333.80 - £33,056.10 per annum plus benefits
Location: St James’s Square, London SW1
Hours: 35 hours per week
Ref: LL/24/03
About The London Library
The London Library is one of the UK’s greatest literary institutions, providing a centre of creativity, inspiration, and ideas for 180 years. Well-known members and frequent borrowers have included Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, George Eliot, Bram Stoker, Rebecca West, Virginia Woolf, Angela Carter, Daphne du Maurier, H G Wells, T S Eliot, Stanley Kubrick, and Ian Fleming. Current writers in membership include Kazuo Ishiguro, Raymond Antrobus, Simon Schama, Hallie Rubenhold, Tom Stoppard, Antonia Fraser, Jessie Burton, and Sarah Waters. Nearly all of its collection of around one million books can be borrowed and it offers a vast eLibrary and invaluable postal loans service. It is a home for everyone who loves the written word.
The Library is a registered charity and championed by its President, Helena Bonham Carter CBE.
About the role
The London Library is looking for an Acquisitions and Discovery Assistant to assist in the acquisition and management of Library E-resources and print resources.
The role includes supporting the successful acquisition and seamless delivery of electronic resources to library users, utilising and maintaining relevant library systems and records; assisting purchasing decisions and supporting licensing, ordering and payment processes; verifying access, liaising with suppliers & Library IT, and ensuring correct metadata is presented to users; plus monitoring resource use and collecting data for the evaluation of subscriptions. There is the opportunity to support membership and services, including giving tours to prospective members.
In addition to assisting with the administration of E-books, the role requires processes associated with the management of the print journal collection, including serials and donated materials, such as checking in new issues and ensuring publications are shelved correctly, applying stamps, recording invoices, recording changes in publishers' information and preparing completed volumes of serial parts for binding and checking.
There is potential to grow and develop the role, which will join our busy Acquisitions and Discovery team and assisting with administrative tasks associated with cataloguing along with supporting the Library’s internal Digitisation processes as required.
About you
Flexible and adaptable, with an ability to get on with a wide variety of people, even under pressure, you will have proven experience of working in a Library environment and of basic clerical/administrative routines.
You will have exceptional organisation and communication skills with the ability to convey information clearly and courteously, with a methodical approach to tasks, including physical duties such as shelving.
Most importantly, you will have a passion for your work, literature, reading and writing, and the work of The London Library; to inspire new ideas that create a unique impact on the UK’s literary and artistic output.
We are a friendly, hardworking team and a welcoming workplace. We aim to be as inclusive and equitable as possible and can discuss specific adjustments and access needs to help make this role fit for you.
If you are excited by the opportunity to use your skills to develop The London Library, we would love to hear from you.
TO APPLY
Please complete an application form including the Library's equal opportunities monitoring form - available below - and email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Candidate Information Pack (including job description)
Deadline for applications: Monday 20 May (by 9am)
The Library welcomes applications from all sections of the community. All applicants will be considered on the basis of their merits and abilities for the post. Please note we are unable to consider candidates without a current right to work in the UK.
