Open Access & Repository Senior Assistant – 2 posts

Experience Oxfordshire; Kidlington; Hybrid; GBP 29,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

38 days annual leave

Childcare services

Family leave schemes

Discounted bus travel

Job summary

Experience Oxfordshire is seeking two Open Access & Repository Senior Assistant roles in Oxford. You will join the Bodleian Libraries’ ORA team, handling metadata, deposits, and enquiries to ensure OA compliance and discoverability of research outputs.

These full-time, open-ended posts (36.5 hours/week) offer remote-working flexibility 2–3 days per week and opportunities to develop bibliographic skills in a dynamic, academic setting.

Qualifications

• Excellent attention to detail and accurate data-entry skills.
• Experience of providing helpdesk support.
• Confident written and verbal communicator.
• Knowledge of open access, copyright or licensing.
• Experience with metadata or structured records.
• Experience in a library or academic setting advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Create, check and enhance metadata records.
• Use bibliographic databases and specialist systems.
• Assist researchers with deposits.
• Ensure compliance with publisher and funder open access policies including REF.
• Contribute to service improvements and maintain continuity of service.

Skills

Attention to detail

Helpdesk support

Written and verbal communication

Microsoft Office

Confidentiality

Open access knowledge

Job description

Job Title: Open Access & Repository Senior Assistant – 2 posts

Location: Osney One Building, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EW

Hours: Full time (36.5 hours per week)

Contract type: Open-ended

Grade: Grade 4: £28,971 - £32,716 per annum

About The Role

You will join the Bodleian Libraries’ Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) team, helping to make Oxford’s research outputs discoverable and accessible. You will provide first-line helpdesk support, respond to enquiries and process repository deposits to agreed quality standards and timescales. This role offers an opportunity to apply and develop bibliographic skills of cataloguing and authority control in the evolving field of open research.

You will create, check and enhance metadata records; use bibliographic databases and specialist systems; assist researchers with deposits; and help ensure compliance with publisher and funder open access policies, including the Research Excellence Framework (REF). You will also contribute to service improvements and support colleagues to maintain continuity of service.

There are two full-time, open-ended posts available, working 36.5 hours per week. The roles support remote working for 2-3 days per week.

About You

You will have excellent attention to detail and accurate data-entry skills, alongside experience of providing helpdesk support and responding to user enquiries. You will be a confident written and verbal communicator, able to organise your own workload, work independently and collaborate effectively in a hybrid team.

You will be proficient in Microsoft Office and online communication tools, willing to learn specialist software, and able to handle confidential information discreetly while adapting to competing priorities and deadlines. Knowledge of open access, copyright or licensing, experience with metadata or structured records, or experience in a library or academic setting would be an advantage.

What We Offer

Benefits

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days of annual leave
• A comprehensive range of childcare services
• Family leave schemes
• Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans

More information is available at https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/life-in-oxford

Diversity

Our staff and students come from all over the world, and we proudly promote a friendly and inclusive culture. Diversity is positively encouraged, through diverse groups and champions, as well as a number of family-friendly policies, such as the right to apply for flexible working and support for staff returning from periods of extended absence, for example, shared parental leave.

We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment processes are inclusive and accessible. If you require the job description or any other materials in an alternative format, or if you would like to request any adjustments to support you through the application or interview process, please contact the recruitment team at [e-mail].

The Chair of this recruitment panel will be Tom Mitchell, Open Access Service Manager, who can be contacted with enquiries relating to the role ([e-mail]). General queries about the recruitment and application process should be directed to the Recruitment team within our Human Resources department ([e-mail]).