Information Assistant

About us

Do you want to change healthcare for the better?

Join the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) and you will be part of a professional membership organisation and registered charity that is committed to advancing surgical care.

We provide world-class education, assessment and development to 30,000 surgeons and dental surgeons at all stages of their career. Our vision is to see excellent surgical care for everyone. We do this by setting professional standards, facilitating research and championing the best outcomes for patients.

Our heritage home in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn

Nestled in the heart of bustling London, our beautiful heritage building in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, Holborn, offers an easily accessible location steeped in history. Now transformed into a centre of excellence for surgery, it provides a welcoming place for all our members to train, meet or network, wherever they live and work.

About the role

The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) is looking for an Information Assistant to support the delivery of high-quality and customer-focused library services and activities that are provided on-site from RCS England Library, as well as remotely via the Internet. The post holder’s principal duties will be divided between direct customer-facing support activities for Members and Fellows, RCS staff, and external researchers, and non-customer facing technical and administrative activities that support service and resource delivery.

Responsibilities

• As part of the Library Team, provide a varied range of high-quality and responsive customer support services for in-person and remote library users, including staffing the Library’s enquiries desk, welcoming and assisting library users, and answering enquiries from library users.
• Undertake a range of collection management support activities, such as retrieving and shelving library materials, assisting with preparing stock for binding, and maintaining collections statistics.
• Carry out various clerical and administrative activities associated with the delivery of library services, including ordering items, processing invoices, and taking minutes at meetings.
• Undertake support activities required for the production and delivery of the Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows resource.

About you

• You will possess:
• A Level or equivalent qualifications.
• Knowledge of or experience in the work of library and information services.
• Experience of working in teams in a customer services environment, and of dealing with customers in person.
• Experience of answering enquiries efficiently and effectively, meeting service level targets.
• Knows how to self-initiate and prioritise between tasks and to be proactive in workload planning.
• Able to work accurately with minimal supervision across a wide range of stakeholders and audiences.
• Experience of working collaboratively as a team player, having a positive regard for other colleagues; confident of own ability to engage with a wide range of customers.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including a high standard of written and spoken English and the ability to work with internal and external contacts.
• Excellent IT skills; experience in using standard Microsoft Office applications.
• Sound administrative aptitude, including excellent numeracy skills.

What’s in it for you?

• 27 days paid holiday + bank holidays and up to 4 college closure days over the festive period & other leave entitlements (carers leave, fertility treatment leave, etc.)
• Hybrid and flexible working. We require staff to spend a minimum of 20% of their time in the office, subject to role requirements.
• Enhanced contributory pension scheme
• Equal access to enhanced parenthood leave
• A range of staff and peer networks
• Employee health and wellbeing committed (Healthcare cash plan, menopause friendly, disability confident employer, mental health first aiders, EAP etc.)
• Retail discount platform
• Sabbatical and volunteering opportunities
• Variety of learning and development opportunities