Location: St James’s Square, London SW1 or remote

Status: PAYE or Contract

Salary band: £120 / per day worked

Duration: 12 months (July 2025 to June 2026)

Hours: Anticipated 2 days/week in 2025/26 and 1 day/week in 2026/27. Working patterns to be mutually agreed upon appointment

Deadline for applications: Sunday 13 July 2025 (at midnight)

 
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 over 180 years. Well-known members and frequent borrowers have included Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, Bram Stoker, Virginia Woolf, EM Forster, Daphne du Maurier, TS Eliot, Muriel Spark, Angela Carter, AS Byatt, and Ian Fleming. 13 winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have been members. Current writers in membership include Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Sir Tom Stoppard, Raymond Antrobus, Sir Simon Schama, Jessie Burton and Sarah Waters.

Nearly all of its collection of around one million books can be borrowed with around 5,000 new books being added each year. It also offers a vast eLibrary and invaluable postal loans service.

The Library is a membership library and charity, and is championed by its President, Helena Bonham Carter CBE.

About the role

We have an exciting, fixed term opportunity for a Marketing Executive (Freelance or Casual) to provide backfill support to the Marketing and Communications team during delivery of another project, which will contribute to membership growth and revenue for the Library. In this pivotal role you will:

• support the Library’s marketing and communications team
• increase awareness of the Library and grow membership
• implement the Library’s digital communications strategy, creating content and growing and engaging audiences

About you

You are an experienced and self-motivated professional with:

• Social media management experience, including growing and engaging audiences, and preferably from an arts/cultural or charity organisation
• Knowledge and experience of digital communications and content creation across a variety of channels including copy, visuals, and video, and analysing its performance
• Experience of digital marketing techniques and software including email software, CRM, and Google Analytics
• Experience of growing membership, visitors, or income
• High-level interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with a variety of people
• Highly organised with a creative flair, and attention to detail

Personal attributes include:

• Being pleasant, approachable, and helpful, even under pressure.
• A flexible attitude and adaptable to change
• Self-motivated and dedicated, with a willingness to collaborate as needed.

Why Join Us?

We are a friendly, hardworking team and a welcoming workplace that supports flexible working.

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 communication skills to tell the world about 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)

Application Form

Deadline for applications: Sunday 13 July (by midnight)

The Library welcomes applications from all sections of the community and all applicants will be considered on the basis of their merits and abilities for the post. Please note we are only able to consider candidates with a current right to work in the UK.

The London Library Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy

The London Library is committed to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the abolition of modern slavery and human trafficking.

View the Modern Slavery Policy here

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)

Application Form

Deadline for applications: Sunday 1 December 2024 @ midnight

Interviews: 11 / 12 / 13 December 2024

Shelving Assistant (Part-time)

Contract: permanent

Salary: £25,345.05 - £27,479.37per annum (pro-rata) plus benefits

Location: St James’s Square, London SW1

Hours: 28 hours per week (0.8FTE) between Monday and Friday, though we will consider applications from candidates wishing to work 14 hours per week (0.4 FTE)

Ref: LL/24/08

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 a Shelving Assistant to join our dedicated Member Services team. In this pivotal role, you will:

• deliver the key tasks of re-shelving, maintaining shelf order and retrieving stock in the most efficient way possible
• fetch books from open shelves or locked safes as required
• return stock to the open shelves, reporting any areas of congestion, damage or concern
• general awareness of conditions in the open shelves including reporting signage requirements, identifying books in need of repair and reporting defective stack lights
• work in any part of the Member Services Department as the demands of the service require ensuring the provision of a seamless and high-quality service to members at all times

About you

You are an enthusiastic professional with:

• Previous experience of library-based work and familiarity with library computer systems
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team, and communicate confidently, effectively and courteously with a wide range of people
• Self-motivation and organisational skills to undertake routine work diligently, accurately and positively

Personal attributes include:

• A genuine commitment to delivering first rate services
• A willingness to be flexible and adaptable, assisting with various tasks as needed.

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)

Application Form

Deadline for applications: Monday 14 October (by 5pm)

Interviews: week commencing 21 October 2024