Academic & research librarians

Academic and research librarians work in universities and further education colleges, their role centres around providing academic staff, researchers and student with access to the information they need and supporting the skills needed for effective research. This includes training staff and students in information literacy, referencing, literature searching and copyright law.

Traditional library skills such as collection management, cataloguing and classification are usually required for jobs in this sector and many institutions now have specific roles for librarians managing Open Access and e-resources.

Other job titles you might encounter in this field include subject librarian, liaison librarian, information advisor, learning resource manager or learning support librarian.

Qualifications and experience

Library assistant posts in this sector usually do not require formal qualifications and many of the larger academic libraries and some special collections also advertise graduate trainee roles. An accredited postgraduate qualification in library and information science is usually required for more senior posts.

Many employers also look for CILIP chartership or a willingness to work towards chartership for higher-grade roles.

Related roles

Subject librarians

Relevant Special Interest Group

Academic and Research Libraries Group