Skills Librarian

derby.ac.uk; East Midlands; On-site; GBP 40,000 - GBP 60,000; Full time

Job description

£38,285 to £45,738 per annum (For exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £52,605 per annum)

Onsite
This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location.

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

Our Provost – Learning and Teaching department drives forward the University’s ambition to provide excellence and opportunities for all students; building on Derby’s long-standing reputation for teaching excellence, ensuring the development of sector‑leading flexible, integrated learning that aligns to the needs of learners, not just now but in the future.

Our Library is one that supports our communities to realise their ambitions by opening up new areas of knowledge & understanding and through fostering applied creative thinking.

At the centre of our approach is a high-quality student experience, outstanding student outcomes and supporting an excellent research environment. With this in mind, our teams deliver against three core strategic themes:

• Community - The original missions of libraries were not about repositories of books or as gatekeepers to knowledge but about fostering communities of scholars. With that in mind, our focus is on how the Library supports the wide range of communities we have, fostering connection and empowering academic culture.
• Confidence - There is a fundamental role for the Library to ensure all students become confident, independent learners and researchers. We shall support students to develop confidence and applied creative thinking through our academic skills provision and an industry relevant skills offer that enhances performance whilst at university as well as into their chosen future.
• Content - Exploration and access to scholarly content is critical to the process of learning, teaching, research, and knowledge exchange. The Library plays a significant role provisioning scholarly content, working with our academic colleagues and students. We shall work to ensure that relevant content is delivered in a sustainable way and that we leverage technology and meta data expertise that enables our students and academics to explore and access the scholarly record.

The Skills Librarian will be based within the Academic Enhancement Team within the Library, whose core functions are to provide direct delivery of skills support to students, supply guidance to academic teams on how to incorporate skills development within course design and assessment and work collaboratively with colleagues across the institution to further enhance personal development and growth opportunities for key stakeholders.

You will be responsible for the operational delivery of high-quality development opportunities that enable students to enhance, evidence, and articulate transferable skills. You will partner with colleagues across the University to plan, design, create and deliver in‑curricular and extra‑curricular skills development sessions, engaging digital resources and pathways and provides one‑to‑one or small‑group support to help students succeed academically, professionally, and personally. This role is hands‑on, student‑facing, and central to embedding the University’s Skills & Personal Development Framework into the core student experience.

The working pattern for this role is 8.30am - 5pm Monday to Thursday, 9am - 5pm Friday with an hour lunch each day.

You will have experience of managing and delivering user‑focused services with a focus on supporting the development of skills. The role will require supporting students in their academic success and preparing them for career readiness, employability or entrepreneurial activity and will need to have a knowledge of developments and best practice in relation to skills and personal development and academic success. You will need strong presentation skills and the ability to design, develop and produce learning and guidance materials in a range of formats.

• Working collaboratively, and in‑line with operational plans, provide operational delivery of initiatives that enable students to develop industry‑relevant, transferrable skills, which align with regional, national and global requirements, placing strong focus on continuous improvement to align with university priorities.
• Informed by insights from students, academics and industry, support the development, implementation and currency of a university‑wide Skills & Personal Development Framework and processes that support student attainment and positive graduate outcomes.
• Partnering with academic and other colleagues, plan, design, create and support delivery of skills and personal development opportunities within the curriculum, aligning with learning outcomes, assessment design and agreed pedagogical approaches.
• Plan, design, create and deliver extra‑curricular skills and personal development opportunities across all university sites and online, aligning with agreed pedagogical approaches.
• Plan, design, create and curate engaging skills and personal development resources and pathways, tailored to diverse student needs, and which align with agreed pedagogical approaches.
• Oversee the design and creation of promotional materials.
• Oversee associated website design and development, with a focus on human centred design and customer centricity.
• Provide one‑to‑one and small‑group development support to help students identify, develop, and apply their skills.
• Support students in evidencing and reflecting on their skills and personal development needs.
• Manage a responsive enquiry service, providing specialist advice to queries from students and academic staff to support confidence in developing skills and utilising tools to assist in their success.
• Embed inclusive and accessible practices into all provision.
• Build positive and effective relationships with stakeholders, including students, academics, industry and civic partners.
• Contribute to establish key performance indicators and the capture, collation, analysis and reporting of data in accordance with defined measures and benchmarks.
• Maintain awareness of best practice and innovation related to skills and personal development across the sector.
• Actively participate as a member of working groups to conceptualise, ideate, develop and implement initiatives, contribute towards decision‑making, resolve issues and working assigned projects through to completion.
• Contribute towards exploring, evaluating, embedding and reviewing processes, tools and solutions that support students to develop, apply, evidence and articulate their skills.
• Contribute towards the development and implementation of operational plans associated with skills and personal development provision.
• Provide line management to reporting colleagues as appropriate, defining agreed objectives, securing effective performance management and fostering inclusive approaches to service development.
• Actively promote and support inclusion through operational activities undertaken through the role.
• Undertake continuous personal and professional development in support of the role.
• Expected to be flexible with working pattern and in working onsite at different University locations as required.
• Actively support university‑wide events, for example: Open Days, Clearing, Welcome events, Graduation, industry and civic events.
• Ensure compliance with relevant University policies and procedures.

Experience

• Experience of managing and delivering user‑focused services with an emphasis on continuous quality improvement
• Experience of designing and delivering learning, supporting the development of skills
• Experience of supporting students in their academic success
• Experience of supporting students in their career readiness, recruitability, employability or entrepreneurial activity
• Experience of using digital technologies to support learning
• Experience of building positive relationships and working productively in collaboration with a wide range of colleagues
• Experience of managing and delivering successful projects in a professional context

Skills, knowledge & abilities

• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion with the ability to role model, adhere to and advocate the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy
• Knowledge of developments and best practice in skills and personal development
• An understanding of the skills relevant to academic success
• An understanding of the skills relevant to recruitability and employability
• Confident and self‑assured with strong presentation skills in the context of a learning environment
• Ability to design, develop and produce learning and guidance materials in a range of formats
• Ability to plan, prioritise and organise work to achieve objectives on time
• Confident in approaching new technologies
• A flexible approach to change

Business requirements

• Willingness and flexibility to travel and work between all University sites in a cost effective and timely manner, as required
• Ability to be flexible within the working pattern to meet the business needs, including working evenings, weekends, or extended hours
• Willingness to provide support at University events from time to time e.g., Graduation, Clearing and Open Days, (some of these events occur outside of normal working hours, such as evenings and weekends)

Qualifications

• Postgraduate or additional relevant professional qualification
• Membership of relevant professional bodies

Experience

• Experience of working within a higher or further education environment

Skills, knowledge and abilities

• Knowledge and understanding of the post‑16 education environment
• Understanding of conditions and policies affecting learning and teaching in the education sector
• Knowledge of user experience principles and application
• Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family‑friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
• Discounted onsite gym
• Holiday purchase
• Cycle to Work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Hazel Roome, Academic Enhancement Manager via [e-mail]

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via [e-mail] .

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

If you are successful, you will be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Any information you provide will be treated in confidence and only used when considering your suitability for the post.

To enable us to process your DBS check please ensure you are able to supply the documentation listed on the DBS website at interview stage.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.

We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non‑binary‑inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.

When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender‑neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns.This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non‑binary candidates.Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.

The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

Apply today to invest in your career with University of Derby.

How to apply

You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application.

The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at [e-mail] .

Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy.

The University of Derby is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our staff, students and children. At the University of Derby, safeguarding is everybody's concern.