Your career at University of Leeds Libraries
Join us to deliver
Knowledge for All
University of Leeds Libraries are looking for people with talent and potential from all backgrounds to join us as we deliver our exciting and ambitious vision for the future: Knowledge for all.
We offer a wide range of roles within different specialisms, with colleagues from a range professions and with a variety of expertise. These include digital archivists, metadata specialists, customer services, collection care and conservation, public galleries, academic and digital skills teaching, open research and data advisors.
Find out what job opportunities are available, what it's like to work in one of the UK's major research libraries and what we can offer you.
Your place of work
Leading libraries
University of Leeds Libraries are one of the major academic research libraries of the UK, with globally significant collections and a strong service ethos. We believe knowledge grows when shared and that it’s our responsibility to preserve this knowledge for future generations.
We support our students to develop their academic and digital literacies, to become global citizens and reach their full potential. We are an active partner in research and education initiatives across the University; we engage in policy discussions and provide support to implement open research and education. Our curators, archivists, learning developers and other colleagues help to shape new forms of research and scholarship drawn from their rich expertise and our extensive collections.
Through our collections, galleries, exhibitions and public art, our cultural offer captures the imagination of our communities and brings them closer to the University’s civic mission.
Our ambition is to become one of the greatest libraries in the world.
Culture and values
We are a values-driven organisation, with a strong customer service ethos within a supportive and collaborative environment. We care deeply about our staff, researchers, students and wider cultural communities. They are at the heart of our services. We aim to live the University values of collaboration, compassion, inclusivity and integrity in all aspects of our working culture.
Our work encompasses creating, disseminating, applying and preserving knowledge, and our mission focuses on digital transformation, open education and open research, sustainable environments and enriched experiences.
We are cultivating a libraries culture that embraces risk, where experimentation and learning are celebrated. We employ design thinking approaches and focus on supporting innovation.
What are we like
For a large organisation, we are noted for our friendly and supportive culture. We believe in developing and nurturing potential and offer many opportunities for professional and personal development.
There are chances to develop professional interests, with different ways to participate in cross-team projects to achieve our vision and support the University's strategic aims.
We are ambitious, hard-working and collaborative in nature, united by a passion to understand and fulfil the needs of our users and deliver high quality experiences.
Our locations
You will be based in one of our four libraries whilst you are working on campus. Although we are split across four buildings on campus, we are one library service and you could find yourself working with colleagues in different buildings as the need arises.
We support hybrid working where the responsibilities of the role allow it.
Look around
Take a 360 degrees tour of some of the public parts of our libraries.
The University
The University of Leeds is one of the UK’s largest higher education institutions, with more than 38,000 students, over 9,000 members of staff and alumni from 197 countries around the world.
We are a values-driven University determined to shape a better future for humanity and collaborate with others to tackle inequalities, achieve societal impact and drive change. Our strategy: Universal Values, Global Change is built on three pillars: culture, community and impact. It sets out our ambitions to create a Fairer Future for All – for our staff, our students and our wider global community.
The Libraries play a key part in achieving the University's strategic aims.
Benefits
We offer a range of generous employee benefits.
Work-life balance
Up to 26 days paid holiday plus up to 16 days that the University is closed by custom (including bank holidays and Christmas – the actual number of days will depend on the amount of hours you work) – that’s over 40 days a year!
Flexible working opportunities – not every job needs to be in the office five days a week.
Financial benefits
Generous pension scheme options plus life assurance, as well as a raft of offers for discounted shopping and leisure.
Family-friendly
Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave and high quality on-campus childcare facilities.
Personal development
Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team, as well as training opportunities organised within the libraries and nationally.
Self-development courses including languages, creative writing, wellbeing therapies and much more.
Health and wellbeing
Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.
A range of wellbeing services and initiatives, including discounted healthcare.
Travel
We support sustainable travel to minimise our environmental impact and offer discounts on public transport and a Cycle to Work scheme.
Culture on campus
Our beautiful campus offers fantastic green spaces and a range of world-class facilities, which include:
- Theatres and a concert hall
- Our Galleries and public art trail
- Sustainable garden and biodiversity pond
- Onsite shops, bars and cafes.
Take a look around campus with our 360 Virtual Campus Tour.
About our city
Leeds city centre is just a ten-minute walk away from campus. Perfectly placed in the centre of the UK, Leeds is one of the country's largest and fastest-growing cities with a global reputation in business, culture and sport.
Our lively city centre is home to an abundance of museums, theatres, music venues, independent restaurants, bars and shops. Whatever your interests, there's plenty to explore – day or night.
Leeds is also well connected, nationally and internationally, with excellent rail and air transport links – so it’s easy to access our stunning Yorkshire countryside and everything beyond.
Current vacancies
We are recruiting for the following role(s):
Director of Cultural Collections and Curatorial Practice
Salary: £69,757 to £83,079
Post type: Full time
Closing date: Friday 14 February 2025
Are you a senior leader who is comfortable operating in complex environments? Do you have a strong understanding of how to manage diverse cultural collections and demonstrate their impact? Are you committed to staff development and the advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion?
In this role, you’ll join the Library Executive team and help shape the strategic direction of our libraries and galleries. You’ll develop ambitious plans for our Cultural Collections, which are key to achieving our ambition to be globally significant.
You’ll enthusiastically lead staff, motivating and enabling them to reach their full potential. Through a programme of public and digital engagement, you will engage new audiences and raise the profile of Cultural Collections within the University and around the world. You'll strengthen the collections through fundraising, gifts and purchases.
You’ll have strong senior leadership experience in a relevant environment and be able to support and motivate teams of staff. You’ll demonstrate an extensive knowledge of cultural collections and prove your ambition and ability to enhance collections, along with expertise in securing external funding. With excellent communication, networking and influencing skills, you’ll have the ability to build strong relationships and present a compelling view of our future to stakeholders.
Events & Engagement Assistant
Salary: £25,148 to £26,642
Post type: Full time
Closing date: Sunday 16 February 2025
Interview date: Tuesday 04 March 2025
Do you have a passion for engaging people with rare books, archival material and the visual arts? Do you have great organisational and people skills? Are you committed to outstanding service delivery?
This role is based in the Special Collections at the University of Leeds, which offers a world class research facility, an engaging programme of events and exhibitions, and community-focused projects.
You'll support our busy engagement team by preparing and assisting with events, engagement activities, exhibitions and projects. This includes administration, greeting visitors, supporting online and hybrid events, and briefing front of house colleagues. You'll also use our collections management system to conduct basic collections research and collection retrievals for events.
We are looking for a proactive and organised individual with experience in planning and supporting the delivery of public events, demonstrating excellent customer service skills. You will have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to interact with a diverse range of people. You’ll enjoy using your initiative to solve problems and make a positive contribution to our audience development work.
Research Centre & Galleries Supervisor
Salary: £27,344 to £31,387
Post type: Full time
Closing date: Sunday 16 February 2025
Interview date: Tuesday 11 March 2025
Are you committed to outstanding service delivery? Do you have great people skills and know how to motivate others to deliver an effective service and go the extra mile? Would you like to join a team that supports our users, visitors and researchers in accessing unique cultural collections?
The role is responsible for overseeing customer-focused services and operations, ensuring that they are delivered to our visitors effectively. Our Research Centre and Galleries offer facilities for teaching, learning, events, engagement and research, making use of our unique and distinctive collections.
You will supervise and manage staff within the Visitor Services & Teaching Support Team, ensuring that collections and exhibitions are accessible, staff are appropriately deployed, audiences are welcomed, high-quality information is available, and that collections and objects are safe and secure. You will also contribute to the broader development of our services.
You will have substantial experience supervising staff and running a busy day-to-day customer service operation. With excellent interpersonal, communication and team-working skills, you will be able to engage and motivate your team to deliver a high-quality service. You will be flexible, proactive and can effectively manage your own and others' workloads. Experience working within archives, libraries, galleries or higher education service delivery would be an advantage.
Recruitment ethos
We are committed to providing a culture of inclusion, openness, respect and equality of opportunity that attracts, supports, and retains the best students and staff from all backgrounds and from across the world.
Whatever role we recruit for we are always striving to increase the diversity of our community, which each individual helps enrich and cultivate. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, Black, Asian, people who belong to a minority ethnic community; people who identify as LGBTQ+; and people with disabilities. Candidates will always be selected based on merit and ability.
Useful links
Libraries website
Learn about our services and facilities and see About the Libraries for our Forward Plan.
Knowledge for all
Our ambitious strategy Knowledge for all: University of Leeds Libraries Vision for 2030.
University Jobs
Search the current vacancies and learn how to apply for positions at the University.
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