Acquisitions and Discovery Manager
Contract: permanent
Salary: £44,002.80 to £51,336.60 per annum plus benefits
Location: St James’s Square, London SW1
Hours: 35 hours per week from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday
Ref: LL/24/10
About The London Library
For 180 years, The London Library has stood as one of the UK's greatest literary institutions, inspiring creativity, and ideas. Our esteemed members, past and present, include literary giants like Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, and contemporary authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro and Sarah Waters. Our collection boasts around one million books, a vast eLibrary, and an invaluable postal loans service, making it a sanctuary for those who cherish the written word. We are championed by our President, Helena Bonham Carter CBE, and operate as a registered charity.
About the role
We are seeking an Acquisitions and Discovery Manager to join our dedicated Acquisitions and Discovery team. This newly established post will lead a recently restructured team following a period of exciting change and consolidation.
In this pivotal role, you will:
- Support the Head of Collections and Discovery in all aspects of acquisitions, discovery, cataloguing and classification processes.
- Manage the team of Acquisitions and Discovery Librarians and the Acquisitions and Discovery Assistant.
- Streamline and develop the acquisitions processes, harnessing the full capabilities of the Library Management System (Alma).
- Take responsibility for the development of specific parts of the Library’s collection.
About you
- Sound knowledge and experience of online cataloguing, acquisitions work and familiarity with book selection/relegation.
- Knowledge and experience of working with and developing workflows with Library Management Systems, such as Ex Libris Alma.
- Ability to lead, manage and train staff, organising teams and own work effectively and engendering and maintaining consistently high-performance standards.
- Good communication, numerical, IT skills and good attention to detail.
Personal attributes include:
- Creative thinking beyond existing practices to identify and implement new approaches.
- Patience, persistence, and a good-humoured approach to problem solving and lateral thinking skills.
- A genuine commitment to delivering a first-rate user experience.
Why Join Us?
The London Library offers a friendly, hardworking, and inclusive workplace where we strive to support the diverse needs of our team. We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to equality and diversity. Specific adjustments and access needs can be discussed to make this role suitable for you.
If you have the expertise to deliver a great member experience and are passionate about using your skills to contribute to the development of The London Library, we want to hear from you!
Please note:
- We can only consider candidates with the current right to work in the UK.
- We reserve the right to shorten or extend the closing date of any position where a high or low volume of suitable applications are received. Therefore, if you are interested in this role, an early application would be encouraged.
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: Sunday 1 December 2024 @ midnight
Interviews: 11 / 12 / 13 December 2024
