University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Library Assistant Apprentice

The closing date is 25 July 2025

Job summary

University Hospitals Birmingham Library and Knowledge Services (LKS) operates over four hospital sites, delivering services to over 22,000 staff and students on placement. The key aims of the LKS are to support evidence-based practice, research, patient care and clinical and managerial decision making. This position is based at the Heartlands Hospital library.

Main duties of the job

This role is an 18-month apprenticeship, where the post holder will gain the skills, knowledge and behaviours to become a library assistant gaining a Level 3 Library, Information and Archives qualification. The successful candidate will receive a day a week of dedicated study time to support their learning needs.

As a Library Apprentice, the post holder will work closely with a team of librarians and library assistants to provide a customer service to our diverse user base.

The responsibilities of the post are broad and wide ranging. These include:

*Being the first point of contact for library users, answering a range of enquiries and triaging more complex enquiries to the relevant member of the team

*Providing technical assistance to users

*Inducting new users and sharing relevant knowledge of services and resources

*Maintaining both physical and digital resource collections to provide an efficient document supply service

*Recording Literature Search requests onto a shared database, alerting the librarians to new searches and gathering impact when searches are complete

*Supporting the marketing and promotion of library services and resources

*Contributing to service development through active engagement in task and finish groups and team meetings maintaining the library space by shelving, tidying and reporting issues to the relevant departments

Although the position is based at Heartlands Hospital, occasionally additional cross site working may be required.

About us

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.

Date posted

18 July 2025

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£14,762 to £23,875 a year

Contract

Apprenticeship

Duration

18 months

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

304-9009829

Job locations

Heartlands Hospital

Bordesley Green E

Birmingham

West Midlands

B9 5SS

Job description

Job responsibilities

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*

Job description

Job responsibilities

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description*

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

*GCSE A-C (or 4-9) or equivalent in maths and English OR Functional Skill
*Interest in working in health libraries and willing to complete the apprenticeship training at Level 3 or above

Desirable

*Further academic qualifications e.g. A levels or Undergraduate Degree

Experience

Essential

*Use of a library for research or study

Desirable

*Customer service experience or experience in a voluntary capacity

Additional Criteria

Essential

*Confident using the internet, IT systems and Microsoft Office packages
*Excellent interpersonal skills at all levels especially verbal communication skills
*Ability to work to a high degree of accuracy and with attention to detail
*Experience of using the Internet to access websites and locate information
*Ability to work independently and as part of a team
*Able to manage a varied workload and prioritise accordingly
*Strong focus on providing a high-quality and personable customer experience
*Ability to manage and safeguard sensitive and confidential information
*Committed to Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
*Willing and able to attend all required study days, teaching sessions and reviews with the Apprenticeship training provider

Desirable

*Awareness of NHS principles including patient safety and safeguarding, data protection and confidentiality
*Ability to work calmly in a busy environment
*Enthusiasm to support education and training in the healthcare setting

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

*GCSE A-C (or 4-9) or equivalent in maths and English OR Functional Skill
*Interest in working in health libraries and willing to complete the apprenticeship training at Level 3 or above

Desirable

*Further academic qualifications e.g. A levels or Undergraduate Degree

Experience

Essential

*Use of a library for research or study

Desirable

*Customer service experience or experience in a voluntary capacity

Additional Criteria

Essential

*Confident using the internet, IT systems and Microsoft Office packages
*Excellent interpersonal skills at all levels especially verbal communication skills
*Ability to work to a high degree of accuracy and with attention to detail
*Experience of using the Internet to access websites and locate information
*Ability to work independently and as part of a team
*Able to manage a varied workload and prioritise accordingly
*Strong focus on providing a high-quality and personable customer experience
*Ability to manage and safeguard sensitive and confidential information
*Committed to Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
*Willing and able to attend all required study days, teaching sessions and reviews with the Apprenticeship training provider

Desirable

*Awareness of NHS principles including patient safety and safeguarding, data protection and confidentiality
*Ability to work calmly in a busy environment
*Enthusiasm to support education and training in the healthcare setting

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Heartlands Hospital

Bordesley Green E

Birmingham

West Midlands

B9 5SS

Employer's website

https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/jobs.htm (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Heartlands Hospital

Bordesley Green E

Birmingham

West Midlands

B9 5SS

Employer's website

https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/jobs.htm (Opens in a new tab)