Area Library Manager, Cambridge City

Are you a friendly, organised and proactive person who is ready to lead a team? Would you like a role where you can make a difference in your community? Cambridgeshire Libraries provide a vital information service to local communities. Books are part of the service, but even more important is providing a warm welcome to a diverse range of customers. Our libraries are safe, non-judgemental community spaces where customers are supported to access the resources and information they need.

You will be responsible for running the day-to-day operations of Cambridge City libraries and supporting the District Library Manager to develop the district's library service according to the county-wide strategy and action plan. Based at our flagship, Cambridge Central Library, you will also support our branches at Arbury Court, Barnwell Road, Cherry Hinton, Milton Road and Rock Road, as well as our partnership with Cambridge City Council at the Clay Farm Centre. You will have responsibility for Cambridge Central Library and two of the branch libraries, as well as the UKVCAS service point at Cambridge Central Library. You will also have line management responsibility for our team of Community and District Library Assistants, shared with the other Area Library Manager.

Our benefits

• A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family.
• Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances.
• Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings.
• Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth.
• Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day.
• Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
• Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards.
• An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes.

What will you be doing?

This incredibly varied role blends team management with operational delivery, hands-on customer service and building management. No two days are the same - you could be staffing our UKVCAS service point and co-ordinating a library event one day or recruiting a new team member and facilitating building refurbishments the next. You will often be the first point of contact for external partners and contractors, and will assist the District Library Manager in managing staff, as well as supervising volunteers and buildings to ensure a healthy, safe and secure working environment. Please note that library work is physically demanding; see the Job Hazards information for more details.

About you

You might have supervised a team before or you might never have been a manager; either way you will be confident and excited to lead a team. You will be an empathetic and enthusiastic leader as well as a positive role model for our friendly team. While your day will focus more on administrative and operational responsibilities than front-line service delivery, you will have strong customer service skills, an aptitude for conflict management and a flair for working with people. We are looking for someone who is resourceful, reliable and excellent at juggling multiple priorities. Communication is key in this fast-paced role. You don't need to have worked in libraries before, but you do need to understand what excellent public service looks like - and be committed to helping deliver a high-quality, cost-effective library service that responds to the needs of local communities. If you've got experience of working in a customer-focused environment, particularly in a supervisory role, and you're passionate about making a difference, we'd love to hear from you.

You must be able to travel across Cambridge as the ability to work at any of the libraries in the district is essential. You will need to work flexibly, with a requirement for some lone, weekend and evening working. For a full list of the requirements of the role, please check out the Job Description & Person Specification.

We want to recognise and celebrate the diversity of our local communities and be responsive to their needs. We also want to ensure that we are a fair and equitable employer, striving to achieve a diverse and culturally competent workforce. We therefore encourage applications from all areas of our community.

Key Skills:

• An understanding of delivering good customer service.
• Management of workloads with the ability to delegate and prioritise.
• Experience in team building and team working.
• Management of staff with a commitment to training and development.
• Good interpersonal skills with staff and volunteers, using listening, problem solving and supervisory skills with a positive attitude.
• A methodical, accurate and consistent approach to your work, particularly regarding administrative skills.
• An ability to work under pressure and with limited supervision.

Want to know more?

For an informal chat about the role, contact Hannah Griffiths, District Library Manager (Cambridge City), at hannah.griffiths@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or 0345 045 5225. Interview arrangements: Interviews are provisionally expected to take place on Thursday 10th September at Cambridge Central Library.

About us

Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes. Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do. We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities.

If you don't meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don't be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs.

Through a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, we will offer an interview to all applicants who disclose a disability and meet the essential criteria for a job vacancy. On your application form you can indicate you are disabled. Some examples of reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.

Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.