Public librarian : Employers and vacancy sources

Public libraries are operated by local authorities and offer a very wide range of services to adults, children, the business community, minority ethnic groups and the housebound. Schemes may cover areas such as web awareness, homework clubs and reading groups.

Many major cities have large, central libraries with extensive loan stocks, specialist reference collections, rare and valuable materials and possibly music collections, with sub-branches in other cities and counties.

Towns and villages usually have smaller libraries. The role of the library in the community will greatly influence the type of positions available. Many branches are also used as community centres and some provide a base for citizens' advice bureaux, volunteer bureaux and other community information services. In addition to this, some libraries also devote space to town and village festival information, writing and literary events, and meetings with authors. Some local authorities also run prison libraries.

Other employers include:

• hospitals;
• universities and other educational establishments;
• charities;
• large companies, chartered surveyors and law firms;
• government departments;
• research associations;
• library technology companies;
• book aggregation services.

Sources of vacancies

• Search graduate jobs on this site.
• Lisjobnet  
• CILIP Graduate Training Opportunities  
• Local Government Jobs  
• Jinfo  
• Jobs for Info Pros  

Specialist recruitment agencies handle vacancies for full-time, part-time, temporary and permanent positions, nationwide and sometimes abroad. These include:

• Sue Hill Recruitment  
• TFPL  - recruitment agency for knowledge, information, library, web and content management positions.

Get tips on job hunting, CVs and covering letters and interviews.