Vacancies at the Feminist Library – Library Assistant role

The Feminist Library has received an exciting grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete various projects centred around making our collection more accessible and supporting our relationship with our local community. As part of this funding we’re excited to be seeking a Library Assistant to work 3 days a week at the Library in Peckham for a fixed term of 12 months. Days are flexible – some training may take place on Saturdays, some organisational meetings will take place on weekday evenings. We are happy to discuss the Library’s Covid-19 safety measures with potential applicants. 

The Feminist Library is a registered charity, managed by a collective of volunteers and paid workers making decisions by consensus. Set up in 1975, we have evolved through a series of  premises to remain open, and eventually moved to our current home at the Sojourner Truth Community Centre in Peckham in 2019. The Library is a large archive of feminist work and campaigns with a strong grounding in material from the Women’s Liberation Movement (roughly late 1960s to 1990s). Our Peckham Library contains a bookshop and houses the majority of our collection (fiction and nonfiction books, periodicals and zines). Additionally, in 2016 we gave our archive collection of pamphlets, posters and institutional papers to the Bishopsgate Institute to house and catalogue.

The main focus of the role outside of facilitating opening hours alongside volunteers will be cataloguing our Periodicals Collection. Probably one of the largest collections of feminist journals in Europe, and one of the most used parts of our Collection, this is an exciting opportunity to catalogue and research a unique run of approximately 1,500 titles. Subjects include psychology, sociology, anarchy and communism; focussed journals on topics such as abortion, prison abolition and worker’s rights; queer interest, arts and culture; and range from internationally published titles still active to rarer independently published regional journals. 

Training will be provided. Specifically, the key priorities for the initial 12 months of the role would be:

• facilitating improved access to collections and reliable opening hours at the Library alongside a collective of volunteers, including a dedicated point of enquiry for researchers and helping our visitors find their way around the collections;
• cataloguing the periodicals collection using our Library Management System, Koha: ensuring our holdings are accurate and they can be contextualised within the collection (once completed, subject indexing will go across books, zines, and periodicals); 

• using preservation equipment to improve the state of the collection; and
• attending our bi-monthly management meetings, contributing to discussions around events, outreach, volunteer training and opportunities, and various other projects.

We would like to provide an entry level position to someone who is passionate about celebrating and preserving feminist activism and give them an opportunity to gain experience completing a cataloguing project. We don’t require the Library Assistant to have a librarianship qualification or cataloguing experience, although an interest in a career in the Museum, Library or Archive sectors would be desirable. We will provide full cataloguing training to the successful candidate.

Person Specification: Library Assistant 

[Any mention of work experience – referring to paid or unpaid work, or academic work where relevant]

Qualifications

• None

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working on a project including efficient time management 
• Experience working collaboratively in a team

Desirable

• Experience of user/customer facing work
• Experience working in either a cultural organisation, library or archive

Knowledge 

Essential

• Ethos aligns with the Feminist Library (please see our community policy)
• Good working knowledge of English language, verbal and written

Desirable

• Knowledge of using library/archive catalogues
• Some knowledge of the history of feminist theory and activism

Skills

Essential

• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Good computer and internet literacy
• Ability to follow detailed procedures with minimal supervision
• Ability to prioritise own time and tasks 

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter addressing the attached person specification and suitability for the role to admin@feministlibrary.co.uk using the subject: APPLICATION Library Assistant. Alternatively if you’d prefer you may send a video application alongside your CV. Please contact admin@feministlibrary.co.uk to discuss any reasonable adjustments you may need for the interview. Interviews will likely be held on Zoom.

You can access the Feminist Library’s Community Policy, Equality Diversity Policy and Health & Safety Policy here. You can also read a recent statement on trans-inclusivity and accountability here.
In line with these statements and with ongoing work within the organisation, as well as the team’s desire that it remains a space for all, we strongly encourage applications from marginalised and/or historically oppressed groups, as well as applicants from the local area of South East London and those who have had non-typical work experience pathways.

This position is part of a project funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund – with thanks to National Lottery players.

We are thrilled to have received a grant from the National Heritage Lottery Fund to support this position! 

This project will allow us to give increased access to our unique material, both digitally and in our local area of South East London. It is ever so important that collections like ours are being recognised as valuable parts of our heritage. We thank the National Lottery players!