Assistant Librarian

National Museums Scotland; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 36,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

National Museums Scotland seeks an enthusiastic Assistant Librarian to support library services for staff and visitors. The role involves managing library operations, training users, and ensuring quality metadata for resources. Join a creative and inclusive team in a hybrid working environment with excellent benefits.

Benefits

28.5 days annual leave, rising to 33.5 after 5 years

28.97% contribution to Civil Service Pension Scheme

Cycle to Work scheme

Free access to national and international museums

Wellbeing benefits including 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Experience of working in a library or information service in a museum or similar environment.
• Experience in the use of fully automated, integrated library systems.
• High level of competence using office applications and online resources.

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day operations of library services and user training.
• Line manage staff and participate in policy development.
• Create high-quality metadata for resources.

Skills

Excellent ICT skills

Experience in library services

Tools

Koha

MS Word

Excel

Outlook

Job description

Assistant Librarian| Full time | 35 hours

Full Time Salary: £36,932 to £40,123 pro rata, subject change due to Pay Award for 2025-26 pending

Location: National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh | Hybrid

National Museums Scotland is one of the leading museum groups in Europe with one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world.

As an organisation our values are Creative, Inclusive, Collaborative and Forward-thinking.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, passionate, service-driven individual to join our Library and Archives team.

Benefits of joining us as our Assistant Librarian will include:

• Annually alongside your salary of £36,932 to £40,123, National Museums Scotland contributes 28.97% of this towards you being a member of the Civil Service Pension Scheme
• A generous annual leave of 28.5 days - rising to 33.5 after 5 years, plus an additional 8 paid days public holidays.
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Free access to national (and international) museums and exhibitions
• Exclusive discounts on both local and national High Street and online retailers
• A range of wellbeing benefits including Employee Assistance Programme 24/7
• Flexible working options such as hybrid working, part time working, paid special leave, career breaks and unpaid leave
• Access to all the above and more from day one of employment.
  
  

To see more of our benefits please visit out dedicated benefits page on our careers portal.

About the Assistant Librarian role:

The new post holder will report to the Library and Archives Manager and play a key role in providing professional support, and in the effective development and delivery of library services to Museum staff and visitors, and online enquirers.

As an Assistant Librarian at National Museums Scotland you will:

• Be responsible for day-to-day management, planning, delivery and evaluation of core service areas including the Library enquiry desks, the Library Management System, Archives and Special Collections, user training, marketing and collections management of physical and online resources.
• Line manage staff including involvement in induction, appraisal and development
• Participate in the process of negotiating and producing collections and service-related policies and best practice
• Sourcing and/or creating high quality metadata for printed and online resources utilising relevant standards (e.g., MARC21, Dublin Core, AACR2, RDA
  
  

Skills and experience we’re looking for in our Assistant Librarian

• Experience of working in a library or information service in a museum, other heritage organisation or similar environment
• Experience in the use of fully automated, integrated library systems (Koha or similar)
• Excellent ICT skills, with a high level of competence using windows-based office applications (MS Word, Excel, Outlook) and information resources in print and online
• Experience of the range of functions within Libraries to include enquiries service, cataloguing, classification, shelving, stocktaking, cleaning and inspection of the collection, re-ordering, and marketing
  
  

Hiring the right person for the right job is everything to us. We want to encourage you to apply if you think this is the role for you.

Please be sure to view our recruitment pack for this role (available on our careers website: careers.nms.ac.uk) for full details of the position that may help with your application.

The closing date for this role is 01/06/2025. The Selection Event is likely to take place 16/06/2025.