Community Library Assistant

Cambridge County Council; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job description

We are looking for an enthusiastic and versatile person to help us shape the future of Cambridgeshire Libraries. We maintain a high-quality public library service, working in partnership with a range of other organizations and community groups.

Our Community Library Assistants are the first point of contact for members of the public who are visiting and using our Libraries, and consequently the role is varied and allows staff to develop many different skills.

This role is based at Central Library, Cambridge, however you must be able to travel to any of the other Libraries within the District.

We want to recognise and celebrate the diversity of our local communities and be responsive to their needs. We also want to ensure that we are a fair and equitable employer, striving to achieve a diverse workforce that has the ability to understand, communicate and interact with people across cultures. We therefore encourage applications from all areas of our community.

Interviews will be held at Cambridge Central Library on Friday 2nd May 2025.

For more information or to chat about this opportunity please contact Christopher Waters, District Library Manager via e-mail [e-mail] or 07391730796.

Appointment to this post will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced Disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our benefits

We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage:

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family.
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances.
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings.
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth.
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day.
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards.
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes.

Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.

What will you be doing?

• Providing friendly, efficient, customer-facing, front-line public services to users of Cambridgeshire Libraries.
• Contributing to and promoting the library offer.
• Supporting library events and activities, including delivering rhymetime and storytime sessions.
• Supporting the wider aims and objectives of the service by assisting in delivery of partnership initiatives and outreach work.
• Deliver the UK Visa and Immigration Biometrics verification service which we offer at Cambridge Central Library, for which training will be given.

Please refer to the attached job description for further details about the role.

Please note:

• This post requires the post holder to be mobile and able to work in any of the libraries identified within the hub and cluster.
• Library work can be physically demanding. This post involves some lone working.

About you

The successful candidate will have a flair for working with people, able to create a friendly and welcoming environment for a diverse range of customers. They will be excellent at multi-tasking, be quick and efficient, and enjoy working under pressure.

The candidate will be passionate about what public libraries can offer, and able to promote our services. Although there is plenty of routine work, there is also scope to be creative. Training will be given on specific library systems, but an ability to work with IT is assumed. Although library experience is an advantage, we would also like to hear from candidates who have demonstrated exceptional customer service skills in other contexts.

When completing the supporting statement for this position, please tell us how your skills, experience, capability and potential match each of the criteria in the person specification. Think carefully about the following criteria and provide practical examples of how and when you have used the particular knowledge, skill or experience:

• Demonstrate your understanding of delivering good customer service.
• Interpersonal skills, including patience and listening skills with an ability to establish exactly what the customer requires.
• A pleasant, helpful manner with customers of all ages and abilities.
• A strong team player, able to work with colleagues on projects and contribute to team goals.
• Flexibility and adaptability in all areas of work, including being able to respond to a change in hours or workplace location.

Please note: all applications must be made online and we cannot accept CVs.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.

Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.

We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.

https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers