THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
Recruitment Role Profile Form

Job Title:Senior Library Adviser (SLA)

School/Department:Libraries and Research and Learning Resources – Customer Services

Salary:£22,249 - £26,537 per annum, pro rata depending on skills and experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance

Job Family and Level:Administrative, Professional and Managerial Level3

Contract Status:Permanent

Hours of Work:29 per week:

Tues9am - 1pm

Weds2pm - 10pm including one hour unpaid break

Thu9am - 1pm

Fri8am - 4pm including one hour unpaid break

Sat9am - 5pm

The post holder will also be required to work on one public holiday or University Closure day per annum. This will be agreed in advance, by mutual consent wherever possible, dependent on operational requirements. It may be in a different library from the normal place of work, and may be at a different time from the normal hours of work but will not exceed the longest shift in the normal work pattern.

Location:George Green Library. The role holder may be asked to work in other libraries.

Reporting to:Senior Librarian (Customer Services)

Purpose of the New Role:

Our vision is of a Library that puts students and academics at the heart of everything we do, enabling us to provide a consistently excellent service aligned to the teaching, learning and research priorities of the University. Our shared ethos is that we Aspire to be WISE: Welcoming, Inspiring and Supportive of Everyone. As a Senior Library Adviser you will lead a team of staff to deliver this pro-active, timely and student-focussed service vision. You will manage the frontline delivery and efficient running of a wide range of high quality, frontline library services at one or more sites and throughout extensive opening hours.

Our service is constantly developing to reflect the changing needs of the University and Senior Library Advisers need to be able to learn quickly and embrace this dynamic environment.

Main Responsibilities / % time per year
1. / To be responsible for the day to day delivery of high quality, frontline library services within policy guidelines.
  • Develop and maintain expertise across the relevant services so that more complicated queries/issues can be answered and support offered to frontline staff
  • Understand the appropriate referral routes for those queries/issues that cannot be dealt with locally
  • Take responsibility for the banking and auditing arrangements of all cash, card and vouchers transactions
  • Be the key contact at the site taking responsibility for the library in the absence of more senior staff
  • Use initiative and discretion as appropriate and within guidelines to maintain high quality services
  • Liaise regularly with more senior staff so that there is a co-ordinated approach to service delivery across sites
Services include:
  • front of house service including welcome, access control and security of the building and contents throughout library opening times
  • a comprehensive frontline help and enquiry service (physical and virtual)including welcome and orientation support for students at key times of the year
  • a wide range of lending services including laptop/tablet loans
  • interlibrary loan services
  • shelving, shelf tidying and procedures for finding missing items
  • collection of requested items for book delivery service across sites
  • efficient provision of study space including room bookings
  • support for print, copy and scan services
  • library building management including health and safety
  • support for collection management activity
  • 24/7 opening
/ 40%
2. / To line manage, train and support a team of staff to ensure that they are motivated and enabled to provide the best service possible
  • actively manage a team of staff to provide a consistently excellent service, role modelling good behaviour and leading by example.
  • provide informal feedback, formal appraisal (Personal Development and Performance Review) and support with HR issues e.g. sickness absence
  • arrange staff rotas and organisetasks efficiently
  • arrange cover and payments for extra hours within guidelines
  • lead the recruitment of APM2 staff including chairing panels contribute to developing and delivering staff training
/ 30%
3. / To work proactively to continually improve and develop services
  • actively demonstrate a commitment to high quality service delivery
  • contribute to the review of services, highlighting any discrepancies or improvements that might be made
  • contribute to projects to review and develop services
  • maintain an awareness of library services as they develop
  • respond positively to customer feedback
  • liaise with staff from other sites and sections to provide an integrated and consistent service
/ 10%
4. / To draft clear documents within guidelines supporting service delivery and publicity
  • Draft procedures and training materials for staff so that they are able to deliver excellent service consistently
  • Draft publicity in a variety of formats to promote awareness of services to a wide range of customers
  • All documents to be produced within guidelines and for approval by the Senior Librarian (Customer Services) or Librarian (Customer Services)
as required / 5%
5. / To implement procedures and equip the building to ensure that staff, customers and contents comply with current health and safety and Disability Discrimination Act legislation and good practice. / 5%
6. / To ensure that library customers adhere to the regulations about behaviour in order to maintain an acceptable standard and a suitable learning environment in the library. / 5%
7. / To pursue a programme of continuing personal development, including development of specialist skills and knowledge required for the role. Attendance outside the role holder’s normal working hours may be required. / 5%
The post holder will be required to travel to other campuses on a regular basis.
Any other duties appropriate to the grade and role of the person appointed.

Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience

Essential / Desirable
Qualifications/ Education / Good standard of education evidenced by GCSEs/A-levels including GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above, or
equivalent /
  • A degree or equivalent in a relevant subject
  • A postgraduate library/information studies qualification
  • Associate of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (ACLIP)

Skills/Training /
  • A commitment to deliver a high quality professional service to students and staff
  • Excellent interpersonal skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills at all levels
  • Good leadership and motivational skills
  • Effective time management and organisational skills including work flow management
  • Ability to work well under pressure
  • Change management skills
  • Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
  • Flexible approach to working
  • Ability to work accurately and pay attention to detail
  • Ability to deal efficiently with cashand card payments
  • Ability to gain new skills quickly
  • Good IT skills (confident with Microsoft Office applications, Email and the web)
/
  • An interest in and awareness of university libraries and the services they offer
  • Working knowledge of other relevant areas of the University
  • Awareness of business continuity procedures and processes

Experience /
  • Broad vocational experience demonstrating general knowledge of professional practice and development through involvement in a series of progressively more demanding, relevant customer service work
  • Supervisory experience
  • Experience of training staff either formally or informally
  • General enquiry work
/
  • Experience of staff recruitment and development
  • Experience of project management
  • Knowledge of basic reference sources and techniques
  • Experience of supporting high demand frontline equipment
  • Relevant experience in a library or an academic environment

Statutory/Legal /
  • Good knowledge of health and safety legislation
  • Good knowledge of accessibility issues

Decision Making

i)taken independently by the role holder

Prioritisation of own workload within supervisory guidelines
Prioritisation of work within the teamwithin supervisory guidelines
Training staff in new procedures, induction and refresher training
Minor staff disciplinary issues e.g. efficiency, performance, time keeping
Review of working practices within the team
Responsible for staff rotas and staffing cover including arranging extra hours to cover sickness/annual leave as required within guidelines
Supervising and guiding staff dealing with departures from procedure, e.g. waiving of small fines or adjustments to copy/print credit(less than £10),within guidelines
Personally dealing with exceptional circumstances for handling disputes over payments with discretion following discussions with customers and within guidelines
Extending the holding period for a requested book if possible and where appropriate
Altering and amending reservations if possible and where appropriate

ii)taken in collaboration with others

Authorisation of staff leave - with fellow CS Senior Library Advisers to ensure adequate cover across the team
Senior Librarian (Customer Services) or Librarian (Customer Services) -
Involvement in the recruitment and selection of Library Advisers
Implementing new developments and putting procedures in place
Devising training for new policies and procedures
Senior Librarian (Customer Services) -
Staffing issues such as changes to rotas to provide more effective cover
Responding to requests for additional ILL quotas and providing background information to enable decisions to be made

iii)referred to the appropriate line manager (please name) by the role holder

Senior Librarian (Customer Services) –
Customer complaints which are becoming difficult or impossible to resolve
Taking on casual staff during peak periods
Matters requiring change to policy
Changes following review of working practices
Serious breaches of regulations
Serious staff issues e.g. dealing with long term underperformance, unauthorised absence – the SLA’s line manager
Approval for all expenditure - Associate Director Customer Services

Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR) at the University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham’s position as a world-class University is confirmed by its ranking in the global league tables. We are ranked in the UK and European top 30 and in the top one per cent of all universities worldwide. In order to build upon this position our Global Strategy 2020 sets out goals and actions that target areas of challenge while laying the foundations for ongoing success into the future. The Strategy aims to strengthen and enrich our core activities of Education and Research; address the changing expectations of our students; target investment in research strengths; focus on enhancing quality; and continue to differentiate The University of Nottingham on the basis of an outstanding student experience and our distinct approach to internationalisation.

The Libraries, Research and Learning Resources (LRLR) department provides a full range of library and learning technology services to the University. LRLR puts students and academics at the heart of everything, working in partnership with academic and professional service colleagues to provide the right environment for learners, teachers and researchers to discover, develop, use and share information and learning content in support of knowledge creation and dissemination. We work closely with colleagues at our international campuses, and share the same library systems and virtual learning environment.

LRLR provides a comprehensive range of services, including eight libraries in the UK; over one million print books and journals; 450,000 electronic books and 40,000 ejournals; four million manuscripts including special collections of international importance; and a full range of learning technologies including Moodle. Services are provided over extensive hours, seven days a week, and 24/7 at key times.

The department has approximately 180 FTE staff distributed around the University’s campuses in the UK, and grouped into six sections: Learning Technology, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Research and Learning Services, Customer Services, Content and Discovery, and Strategy and Planning.

Our wide-ranging services include:

  • frontline lending and enquiry services across eight libraries
  • managing a variety of study spaces
  • information skills teaching
  • acquiring, managing and promoting printed and electronic information resources for research, learning and teaching, including Manuscripts and Special Collections
  • delivering eLearning services and development of new technologies

If you are emotionally intelligent, committed to working in partnership with customers, adaptable to change and you meet the essential specifications of the role, we’d really like to hear from you.

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