RECRUITMENT ROLE PROFILE FORM
Job Title:
Senior Library Adviser, Periodicals
School/Department:
Libraries and Research and Learning Resources – Collections
Management
Salary:
£22,029 to £26,274 per annum, depending on skills and
experience. Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to
performance.
Job family & level:
Administrative, Professional and Managerial Level 3
Contract Status:
Permanent
Hours of Work:
Full time
Location:
King’s Meadow Campus
Reporting to:
Senior Librarian, Resource Acquisitions
Purpose of the Role:
The Senior Library Adviser, Periodicals, co-ordinates purchase of journals and ejournals, and acts
as line manager for the staff involved in periodicals work.
Main Responsibilities
i.e. What is done.… To what / for whom…. With what outcome, or result.
1. To manage orders and subscriptions and liaise with suppliers
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30%
Liaise with library colleagues, team leader and suppliers for all orders relating
to periodicals (journals, e-resources and e-journals) – including some
preparation of related licence documents ready for signing by authorised staff.
Be the main point of contact for suppliers.
Monitor supplier performance and provide input for regular supplier review
questionnaires and meetings.
2. To respond to enquiries about subscriptions and e-access
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% time
per year
Resolve subscription-related enquiries concerning journals supply and e-access
and deal pro-actively with any problems as they arise.
Liaise with team leader and with Digital Library Support colleagues in checking
and setting up access to e-resources using sfx and Metalib, and removing when
required.
Work with APM2 staff in producing monthly sfx checking spreadsheet following
sfx Knowledge Base update – to cover all three campuses
25%
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Keep the VERDE supplier files up to date with relevant contacts for e-resources.
Assist with collection/supply of usage data for e-resources
Act as backup for E-library Gateway email enquiries
3. To supervise Periodicals Group staff and workflow
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4. To manage the handling and payment of invoices for subscriptions
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5%
Co-ordinate binding of journals – arrange requisitions where required, advise
staff involved on procedures for sending binding (most sent direct to binder
from libraries).
Liaise with binding suppliers with regard to new procedures or new services
available.
7. To work proactively to improve and develop services
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10%
Oversee periodicals-related activities on the Aleph library system: allocation of
agreed funds at the start of the year, creation of orders and subscriptions,
check-in, payments and holdings records.
Create new check-in patterns for receipt of printed issues, liaise with Collections
& Metadata Team with regard to changes of title, etc.
Carry out basic systems checks for orders/periodicals following upgrades etc,
and advise colleagues on other campuses about typical Aleph routines and
features for periodicals.
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6. Binding
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10%
Check invoices for journals and e-journals/e-resources – sign and code any
which need passing on to Finance
Provide backup for staff involved in the input of invoice data to the library
system or other recording systems
Assist team leader in estimating spend on periodicals at key points during the
financial year
Liaise with Finance Office where suppliers have queries on payments
Maintain records of purchasing card payments where appropriate
5. To coordinate Library systems tasks for subscriptions
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15%
Line-manage Periodicals staff and carry out annual Performance Review for
those identified.
Allocate and supervise their work to ensure that workloads are managed
effectively in response to demand – monitoring performance and identifying
measures to improve productivity (with attention to the need to meet
established targets.)
Devise and deliver training for periodicals staff, and others where appropriate.
Collate any Group/Periodicals statistics required.
Revise Group procedures and documentation as required.
3%
actively demonstrate a commitment to high quality service delivery
contribute to the review of services, highlighting any discrepancies or
improvements that might be made
contribute to projects to review and develop services
maintain an awareness of library services as they develop
liaise with staff from other sites and sections to provide an integrated and
consistent service
8. To pursue a programme of continuing personal development.
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2%
Any other duties appropriate to the role and level.
Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications & Experience
Please give details of any specific knowledge, skills or training that are essential in order to carry out this role
in an effective manner. Please give details of any qualifications and/or experience that would be essential to
carry out the full range of responsibilities detailed above. This information will form the Person
Specification for this role and will be used in the recruitment process. Please access
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hr/local/Recruitment/JD-PS.doc for guidance.
Qualifications/
Education
Knowledge/Skills
/Training
Essential
 Good general standard of
education to A level/HND or HNC
or equivalent, to include English
and Maths at GCSE
Desirable
 Library/Information
qualification
 Education to degree level or
equivalent
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High level of IT skills, including
MS Word and substantial use of
Excel.
Training and supervisory skills
Good communication and
interpersonal skills including
excellent spoken and written
English.
Excellent organizational and timemanagement skills.
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Considerable relevant experience
of serials work or e-resources
administration within libraries.
Experience in the use of library
management systems, and the
use of library online catalogues.
Proven experience of supervision
of clerical staff
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Experience
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Other
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Ability to work accurately under
pressure and to meet deadlines.
Ability to plan workflows,
especially around seasonal peaks
and troughs.
High standard of numeracy.
Excellent attention to detail and
accuracy.
Ability to work on own initiative
and as part of a team
Flexible approach to working
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Knowledge of the periodicals
supply industry/publishing
industry
Knowledge of one or more
foreign languages
Knowledge of purchasing and
payments workflows
Experience of the Aleph library
system
Experience of working in an
academic library environment,
and of the typical University
context
Experience of carrying out
performance/development
review
Experience of liaison with
library suppliers.
Decision Making
Please provide examples of the nature of the role and the sorts of day-to-day decisions that will be:
i) taken independently by the role holder;
Prioritising work for the Group
Amending and updating procedures as appropriate
Choosing suppliers to be used for orders and advising on these.
Contacting suppliers/publishers to resolve problems with supply or access.
Selecting records to activate on sfx and creating entries on Metalib.
Resolving issues not of a routine nature.
Drafting reports, feedback and training documents.
ii) taken in collaboration with others;
Placing orders for new serials/resources and renewing or cancelling existing ones – in
conjunction with the Resource Acquisitions Librarian and subject specialists.
Establishing policies for improving Group work – in conjunction with Books Group SLAs
(for “shared” staff) and with Senior Librarian, Resource Acquisitions
iii) referred to the appropriate line manager (please name) by the role holder.
Referred to Senior Librarian, Resource Acquisitions:
Adjustment of budgets where appropriate, to enable further orders to be placed
Orders and renewals of large publisher packages and major e-resources
Authorisation/completion of new e-resource licences
Issues of re-deployment of Group members within the Team in response to fluctuating
workloads.
Staff disciplinary matters, should they arise.
Scope of the Role
Please outline the impact the role has on the work of the team/ project/work area etc. Please outline how the
role fits in with the organisational structure of the unit and the contribution it makes to the identified goals
and objectives of the Team/Division/Department/School.
This role is within the Resource Acquisitions Team, and reports to the Senior
Librarian, Resource Acquisitions. It focuses mainly on managing subscriptions for
printed and electronic journals, but also on supervising the work of others and all that
this entails. Providing consistent access to printed and electronic resources are a key
feature of performance indicators for the team, and electronic access particularly is
monitored so that problems can be quickly identified and resolved. A large proportion
of issues in this area relate to renewals and payments for subscriptions so this
role plays a key part in keeping the service running smoothly.
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Additional Information
Please provide any additional data or detail that you feel we need to know and understand about the role,
which has not been described earlier in the form.
The Periodicals Acquisition Group currently consists of 4 individuals, and it works closely
with colleagues within Collections & Metadata and Digital Library Support teams. The
role-holder currently has responsibility for carrying out Performance Reviews on three
staff.Expenditure on periodicals (including ejournals) is more than £4million annually.
Subscriptions are managed on behalf of 6 libraries, with delivery of printed issues for
most of these coming direct to the Group for checking in and onward distribution. A large
proportion of the orders are with a preferred supplier, but many remain direct with small
publishers and there is occasionally the need to use a purchasing card for payments.
There are approximately 20 main Periodicals funds, and expenditure on these is reported
to relevant library staff during the year, including estimates for the final spend where
possible.
Much of the work involved in managing periodicals is carried out using Aleph500, a
library management system which integrates all areas of library work, including in this
case creating order records for new subscriptions, recording holdings/access in the
catalogue, tracking receipts and recording payments. The holder of this post is required
to become proficient in the use of the serials module, able to design optimum workflows
and fully conversant with the ways in which this module interacts with the rest of the
system. Excel spreadsheets are used heavily to assist in monitoring and predicting
spend, and the team also makes use of the sfx link-resolver software.
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The Libraries and Research & Learning Resources (RLR) department plays a key role in providing
library facilities and learning technologies to support this world-class institution. Our services
range from state-of-the-art learning and teaching facilities to frontline library and lending
services. The department has approximately 183 FTE staff distributed around the University’s
campuses in the UK and an operational budget of around £11 million. In addition, the Libraries &
RLR department is responsible for the provision of library and learning technology services at the
University’s campuses in Asia.
We currently provide resources and services to around 40,000 students, postgraduates and staff
in the UK.
These include:
 over 1 million books and journals in 8 libraries
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330,000 electronic books
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4 million manuscripts including special collections of national importance
In addition, services are provided for about 10,000 students and staff at our campuses in Asia.
The department is responsible for many customer-facing activities, support of the University’s
library resources (print and electronic) and the provision of Learning technologies, including:
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frontline lending and enquiry services for libraries
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managing a variety of study spaces
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ensuring library and IT resources are accessible to students and staff with disabilities
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managing and promoting printed/electronic information resources for research,
teaching
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delivering eLearning services and development of new technologies
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acquiring/managing digital and print library collections, including Manuscripts and
Collections
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hosting the Nottingham Centre for Research Communications
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hosting the Centre for International ePortfolio Development
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learning and
Special
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