Apprentice Library, Information & Archive Services Assistant (Apprentice LIAS Assistant)

UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH

Greenwich, London (SE10 9BD)

Closes in 10 days (Friday 29 May 2026 at 11:59pm)

Posted on 18 May 2026

Print

Contents

Summary

University of Greenwich libraries teams play a key role in delivering high-quality services to students, staff, and visitors. We are currently seeking committed, enthusiastic, and proactive individuals to join our Library Operations team. 

For Job Advert and Job Description please go to https://www.waes.ac.uk/courses/apprenticeships/

Wage

£25,249 a year

Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)

Annual salary: £25,249 (pro-rata 0.86 FTE)

Training course
Library, information and archive services assistant (level 3)
Hours
0.86 FTE. 4 weekdays (Monday to Friday) with 5 hours 45 minutes work per day (23 hours total), plus 1 paid study day (7 hours). Working hours will be assigned according to service needs, and flexibility may occasionally be required.

30 hours a week

Start date

Wednesday 1 July 2026

Duration

1 year 6 months

Positions available

1

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

  • On a daily basis, you will provide friendly, inclusive support to library users, helping them access digital and physical library resources and answering queries
  • You will spend time on the library floors, offering assistance, encouraging positive student behaviour and maintaining a safe and welcoming study environment
  • You will promote library services, policies, and digital literacy, working proactively with colleagues across Library Services and other University departments to ensure effective and consistent service delivery.
  • From time to time, you will also support behind‑the‑scenes activities such as cataloguing, digitisation, and record‑keeping of library resources
  • Alongside your operational duties, you will engage fully with the Level 3 apprenticeship programme and ongoing professional development, while upholding University policies relating to equality, health and safety, data protection, and accessibility

Where you'll work

Stockwell Street Library
University of Greenwich
10 Stockwell Street
Greenwich, London
SE10 9BD

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

Training provider

WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

Training course

Library, information and archive services assistant (level 3)

Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)

What you'll learn

Course contents
  • Interpret and implement policy, e.g. communicating clearly the basic copyright restrictions and reasons for not sharing personal data
  • Undertake regulation and compliance checking, e.g. in order to ensure data protection is not breached
  • Solve user problems in a range of situations using their knowledge and interpretation
  • Use information management processes to store, manage and retrieve records and data to support collaboration, exploitation and the organisation’s Information Management (IM) practices
  • Describe and arrange material/resources, by observing and applying identified cataloguing standards in order to create online catalogues and other finding aids to meet users’ needs
  • Employ information retrieval techniques to identify and use relevant media and systems, e.g. searching online databases, catalogues or physical stores, and EDRMS (electronic document record management systems)
  • Perform preservation (analogue/physical and digital) practices to keep collections physically safe using institutional/sector guidelines, and supporting work that provides digital access by creating alternatives that meet a range of user requirements
  • Use enquiry techniques to clarify and meet users’ information requirements and manage expectations, e.g. by signposting to alternative resources and providing solutions
  • Develop knowledge sharing with users, cultivating an environment where knowledge is freely shared and sought within a ‘safe’ environment, including online solutions
  • Use relevant approaches to learning support to contribute to the development of learning activities for different audiences to enhance knowledge and literacy, e.g. reader development
  • Select and use appropriate tools and technologies to support users in researching and disseminating information, e.g. databases, search engines, digital libraries, repositories and social media
  • Develop information and digital skills to support users to identify, find, access and evaluate information, to share knowledge and to promote self-help
  • Demonstrate information sharing by contributing to learning activities for specific audiences, e.g. inductions and events, catering to a variety of levels of knowledge and understanding
  • Use promotion techniques for resources so that users and potential users are aware of their value, impact and benefit, e.g. by curating collections and displays in effective ways, undertaking outreach activities to guide users to achieve independence in their use of information
  • Implement the organisation’s collection management policy, e.g. through identifying stock that should be acquired and that which is no longer used or needed, and relegating or removing these appropriately
  • Develop the service by assessing the learning environment and anticipating user needs, e.g. re-organising study/virtual spaces, suggesting improvements to catalogues or web pages
  • Use teamwork and collaboration to achieve goals, e.g. with stakeholders and partners beyond the organisation
  • Use information provision to enable users to access materials, e.g. through lending books/artefacts, emailing documents, accessing original archives, signposting links to information
  • Exercise communication skills - oral, written, presentation, interpersonal, listening, assertiveness (online and face to face)
  • Interpret and implement policy, e.g. communicating clearly the basic copyright restrictions and reasons for not sharing personal data
  • Undertake regulation and compliance checking, e.g. in order to ensure data protection is not breached
  • Solve user problems in a range of situations using their knowledge and interpretation
  • Use information management processes to store, manage and retrieve records and data to support collaboration, exploitation and the organisation’s Information Management (IM) practices
  • Describe and arrange material/resources, by observing and applying identified cataloguing standards in order to create online catalogues and other finding aids to meet users’ needs
  • Employ information retrieval techniques to identify and use relevant media and systems, e.g. searching online databases, catalogues or physical stores, and EDRMS (electronic document record management systems)
  • Perform preservation (analogue/physical and digital) practices to keep collections physically safe using institutional/sector guidelines, and supporting work that provides digital access by creating alternatives that meet a range of user requirements
  • Use enquiry techniques to clarify and meet users’ information requirements and manage expectations, e.g. by signposting to alternative resources and providing solutions
  • Develop knowledge sharing with users, cultivating an environment where knowledge is freely shared and sought within a ‘safe’ environment, including online solutions
  • Use relevant approaches to learning support to contribute to the development of learning activities for different audiences to enhance knowledge and literacy, e.g. reader development
  • Select and use appropriate tools and technologies to support users in researching and disseminating information, e.g. databases, search engines, digital libraries, repositories and social media
  • Develop information and digital skills to support users to identify, find, access and evaluate information, to share knowledge and to promote self-help
  • Demonstrate information sharing by contributing to learning activities for specific audiences, e.g. inductions and events, catering to a variety of levels of knowledge and understanding
  • Use promotion techniques for resources so that users and potential users are aware of their value, impact and benefit, e.g. by curating collections and displays in effective ways, undertaking outreach activities to guide users to achieve independence in their use of information
  • Implement the organisation’s collection management policy, e.g. through identifying stock that should be acquired and that which is no longer used or needed, and relegating or removing these appropriately
  • Develop the service by assessing the learning environment and anticipating user needs, e.g. re-organising study/virtual spaces, suggesting improvements to catalogues or web pages
  • Use teamwork and collaboration to achieve goals, e.g. with stakeholders and partners beyond the organisation
  • Use information provision to enable users to access materials, e.g. through lending books/artefacts, emailing documents, accessing original archives, signposting links to information
  • Exercise communication skills - oral, written, presentation, interpersonal, listening, assertiveness (online and face to face)

Training schedule

You will gain practical, real‑world experience in libraries and archives in a supportive environment, while working towards a recognised Level 3 Library, Information and Archive Services Apprenticeship qualification.

You’ll receive full training across all aspects of the role, through a mix of a structured induction and hands‑on experience. You can also take advantage of a range of additional training opportunities through our staff development programme.

You will spend one day each week on training (either Thursday or Friday).

The training provider is Westminster Adult Education Service and the college you will be attending is located at:

Westminster Adult Education Service
219 Lisson Grove
London NW8 8LW.

For more information see: https://www.waes.ac.uk/about-us/why-study-at-waes/

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE in:

  • English (grade Grade C or above)
  • Maths (grade Grade C or above)

Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.

Skills

  • Communication skills
  • IT skills
  • Attention to detail
  • Organisation skills
  • Customer care skills
  • Problem solving skills
  • Presentation skills
  • Administrative skills
  • Number skills
  • Analytical skills
  • Logical
  • Team working
  • Creative
  • Initiative
  • Non judgemental
  • Patience

Other requirements

The post holder may be required to attend any of our campuses on occasion outside their usual working hours.

 

About this employer

The University of Greenwich aims to be the top modern university in the UK by 2030, focusing on student success, inclusivity, impactful research, and sustainability. The main campus is in central Greenwich, with two other campuses at Medway in Kent and Avery Hill in SE London. With over 30,000 students, we are a vibrant place to work. For 2023, the University of Greenwich was ranked 60 out of 121 UK Universities according to Times Higher Education (THE).

https://www.gre.ac.uk/ (opens in new tab)

Company benefits

  • You will benefit from the University-wide pay increase in August 2026
  • A pay increase at that point of completion of the Apprenticeship

The University offers a range of other benefits, see:

www.gre.ac.uk/people-directorate/staff-benefits

Disability Confident

Disability Confident

A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.

You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.

After this apprenticeship

Once qualified, LIAS Apprentices can apply for library vacancies at the University of Greenwich or a range of other library, information and archive services in a University, public library, health or school library setting. Career pathways for LIAS Apprentices are described in more detail on the CILIP website at:

https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/LISApprenticeships

Ask a question

The contact for this apprenticeship is:

WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

Ben Spencer

b.d.spencer@greenwich.ac.uk

The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000030764.

Apply now

Closes in 10 days (Friday 29 May 2026 at 11:59pm)