Weekend Assistant (Clacton Library)

Essex County Council; Tendring; On-site; GBP 7,400 - 8,000; Part time

Job summary

Essex County Council is recruiting a Weekend Assistant at Clacton Library. The part-time role is 11 hours per week, every Saturday 9am to 5pm and one weekday 3.30–7pm, with a pro rata salary of £7,717. You will help customers, run Rhymetime sessions, and support library services while keeping the library welcoming and efficient.

The job involves stock handling, signposting to services, and occasional keyholding duties, all within a dynamic, inclusive team. A driving licence is desirable.

Qualifications

• Possession of a Driving Licence - desired
• Demonstration that you know how to use IT systems
• Customer service experience in any area
• Confidence in speaking to customers and signposting to Library services
• Enthusiasm and ideas
• Enjoy working within a team

Responsibilities

• Assist customers with the library catalogue and the full library offer
• Arrange and deliver Rhymetime sessions for families
• Support Health & Safety by spotting and sorting issues
• Participate in promotional activities to generate income across libraries
• Ensure seamless stock circulation: sorting, shelving, reservations and memberships
• Be a trusted keyholder for unlocking/locking duties and routine security

Skills

Driving licence

IT systems

Customer service

Signposting

Teamwork

Tools

Library catalogue system

Job description

About The Role

Weekend Assistant (Clacton Library)

Permanent, Part Time

£25,959 per annum (full time equivalent)

Location: Clacton on Sea

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Interview Date: 7th October 2026

Come and join us in Libraries where we’re starting to reimagine what our libraries are going to be and help our present and future customers have the best experience possible.

We are currently recruiting a Weekend Assistant based within our Clacton Library. This is a part‑time position working 11 hours per week every Saturday 9am to 5pm and one evening during the week 3.30 – 7pm.The pro rata salary will be £7,717 per annum.

The Role

You’ll join a service that is undergoing change. Libraries around the UK are evolving to meet the differing demands of our customers. The demands are often different dependent on the location of our Libraries, and this is where your knowledge will be invaluable. You’ll support with book circulation and issuing, signpost customers to different services and be our ears and eyes for what makes the difference to our customers. We want you to feel proud to play your role.

The Opportunity

Our Customer Service team are at the heart of what we do- they are the face of our libraries and our driving force. To join them you’ll need to be confident helping a diverse range of customers, with demands that change daily. We have an inclusive environment – your experience, your age and your perspectives are welcome in our team.

Key Responsibilities

• First and foremost – you like helping people. If you’ve got some IT skills – self‑taught or not, that’s ideal. We use self‑service equipment, and our customers need your empathy and patience at all times.
• Arranging and conducting Rhymetime, an inclusive session for all families with babies and toddlers.
• Health & Safety is key to what we do. We’d like you to be the kind of person who sees things that need sorting and help sort them out.
• You’ll help with promotional activities – we generate income in all our libraries and value your ideas. Especially ones that can be rolled out across all Libraries.
• Assisting customers to use the library catalogue and learn to use the full library offer.
• Ensure seamless stock circulation and management, involving sorting, shelving, tidying, and handling reservations, fines, and membership activities.
• Data drives us – you’ll help us look at it in different ways, ensuring that we focus on the customer and staff to improve what we offer.
• Our smaller libraries have less staff, so we’ll ask you to help out with unlocking / locking up, and ask you to be a trusted keyholder.

Experience And Qualifications

We welcome candidates with a diverse range of experiences and qualifications. Here’s a sample – what we’re interested in is if you are brilliant at the basics which include:

• Possession of a Driving Licence - desired
• Demonstration that you know how to use IT systems, or have the ability to learn.
• Customer service experience in any area
• Confidence in speaking to our customers and signposting them to Library services, other parts of the Council services and our partner organisations.
• Enthusiasm and ideas
• Enjoy working within a team to make us as brilliant as possible.

We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diverse community we serve. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.

Together, let’s create a welcoming and inclusive library experience for everyone.

Interviews

As a Customer Services Assistant, you will be required to work with children to develop and grow our audience in this key area of our service. Part of your responsibilities will be to deliver story and rhyme sessions to groups of parents and toddlers in a library setting. As part of the interview process, you will be asked to deliver a short 5‑minute activity to demonstrate your ability to engage with children. This could include reading a short children’s story or leading a nursery rhyme. Interviewees are welcome to use their own resources for this activity if they wish (for example, a story book or simple props), but these will not be provided on the day. Examples of our current rhyme time sessions can be viewed via the Essex Libraries YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/EssexLibraries

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, Greater Essex was accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle, or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.