Library Engagement Advisor - Library Services - 48371 - Grade 7 in Birmingham

Library Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade: 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 19th May 2026

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Background

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence.

To support the University’s ambition to be a global top 50 institution this post will provide discipline level support to the academic community linking together key services, resources and people networks to deliver seamless service provision. The primary purpose of the role is to develop proactive relationships with an extensive number of stakeholders within Schools and Departments, including those with key research and teaching responsibilities and professional Services. The ethos of the team focuses on collaborative working to ensure that all Schools receive a consistent and high level of service from across Libraries and Learning Resources.

Role Summary

Library Engagement Advisors are responsible for providing an engagement service to Academic Schools and Professional Services. The ethos of the team focuses on collaborative working to ensure that all Schools receive a consistently high level of service from across Libraries and Learning Resources at all times.

Library Engagement Advisors work collaboratively with key academic stakeholders to inform the development and management of both collections and services. Key activities include promoting, and increasing engagement with, relevant services and collections; negotiating ways for Libraries and Learning Resources to support the strategic priorities of Schools; and ensuring, as far as possible, an equitable delivery of services and support.

The post holder is required to have a good working knowledge of the range of services and information resources available to support academic staff, students and professional services. The post holder is also required to show strong capabilities in the areas of organisational understanding, communication, and resource management.

Main Duties

• To contribute to the development of Library Academic Engagement Services through, for example:

• Developing knowledge and understanding of the Education and Research strategies of designated Schools, considering their impact on the needs of Libraries and Learning Resources (LLR) users and identifying opportunities for LLR support.
• Monitoring service demand and quality, and planning for sustainable service development accordingly.
• Maintaining an excellent knowledge of curricula, learning & research developments within designated Schools, and how they impact on the needs of Library users.
• Contributing to service improvement activity Maintaining knowledge and understanding of good practice and service developments nationally, through membership of appropriate networks, and contributing this awareness to planning within The University of Birmingham’s Libraries and Learning Resources.

• Building credible, successful, and productive relationships, alliances and partnerships within Libraries and Learning Resources, and across the University, including designated professional services.
• Delivering agreed advocacy, communication, and marketing strategies to ensure that staff and students are informed and engaged with the development of services.
• Identifying opportunities and advocating for the embedded delivery of digital and academic skills and tools within the curriculum, take-up of research support services, take-up of Special Collections services, and adoption of the Resource List system.
• Supporting internal and externally driven action planning in response to student survey and quality assurance activity.
• Providing a second line enquiry service to complement frontline Customer Support provision and overseeing the resolution of issues and complaints from designated Schools.
• Planning and coordinating reports and other documents required for School meetings to ensure consistency of approach.
• Representing Libraries and Learning Resources at Staff-student, Education and Curriculum meetings.
• Supporting designated Schools with quality assessment and accreditation exercises.
• Leading or contributing to relevant Service Improvement Groups, providing the academic perspective and ensuring effective advocacy and engagement around new services.

• Contributing to the implementation of the Libraries and Learning Resources’ Collection Development and Management Policy, and any relevant sub-policies.
• Working in partnership with Schools to develop robust business cases to ensure appropriate prioritisation of the Information Resources Fund.
• Obtaining School feedback on their collection development and management needs, including supporting activity to identify collection strengths and to undertake gap analysis work.
• Leading on collection promotion activity, including through applying usage data and metrics to designated Schools.
• Managing the provision of current awareness information about new resources to School stakeholders to enable them to make decisions about selection of materials.
• Communicating with designated stakeholders about stock editing, explaining space constraints and rationale for decisions.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Essential

• Formal education to degree level or equivalent.
• A proven track record in the development and delivery of quality services to a diverse range of end users within a framework of accountability.
• Customer-oriented approach to design and delivery of services.
• Knowledge base of issues in HE and library services.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to produce and analyse information and data.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Excellent communication skills, preferably with experience of negotiating with and influencing a wide range of stakeholders with diverse professional and academic backgrounds.
• Ability to critically analyse and interpret evidence and use confidently in discussions with stakeholders.
• An ability to prioritise and to schedule workloads in the face of conflicting demands.
• Ability to translate school-level learning, research and information strategies into operational plans.
• An awareness of wider developments in library and information services which might enhance services at the University of Birmingham.

Desirable

• A postgraduate qualification in Library and/or Information Science and/or postgraduate teaching qualification.
• Full or Associate membership of the Higher Education Academy, or another relevant professional body.
• Experience in HE libraries, preferably with some of that experience gained in academic liaison and/or academic skills roles.
• Experience of project management.
• Evidence of familiarity of the changing culture of Higher Education.

Informal enquiries to Tamasine Ashcroft, email t.a.ashcroft@bham.ac.uk

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.