Library assistant resume example with circulation and programme detail
Library hiring reads two things first: the circulation system you know, and whether you have run anything for the public. Everything else — shelving, desk manner, teamwork — is assumed until proven otherwise.
A summary that carries a number
Library assistant in a two-floor public branch: around 120 loans a day at the desk, interlibrary requests, and the summer reading programme for 6–11 year olds. Comfortable on Koha and Alma, and the person staff ask when a record will not resolve.
Replace every figure with your own. If you never tracked the metric, use the scale you can defend — team size, volume per shift, contract size, or how long the situation lasted.
Keywords a library assistant search looks for
- circulation desk
- Koha
- Alma
- Sierra
- interlibrary loans
- cataloguing
- customer service
- shelving accuracy
- reading programme
- library management system
Use the ones that are true of your work, spelled the way the posting spells them. Skills belong in a plain list with one item per entry — icon rows and rating bars frequently extract as a single unreadable string.
Five bullets to adapt
- Handled roughly 120 loans and returns a day at the main desk, including holds, fines, and card registrations.
- Cleared a three-month backlog of interlibrary requests by working the supplier queue twice a week.
- Ran the summer reading programme for 60 children across six sessions, including the volunteer rota.
- Reset the holds shelf by surname and date, cutting time spent hunting for missing items at the desk.
- Trained three volunteers on the catalogue search and the self-service machines.
Skills section
Koha · Alma · Circulation systems · Interlibrary loans · Cataloguing basics · Shelving accuracy · Customer service · Programme delivery · Cash handling
Name the system, not just "library software"
Koha, Alma, Sierra, and Symphony are different products with different workflows, and a branch running one will not train you on the other for free. Put the system you actually use in the skills list by name and repeat it in a bullet with what you did on it.
Separate the desk from the programme
Desk work proves reliability at volume; programmes prove you can hold a room and organise other people. Give them separate bullets with separate numbers — loans per day for one, sessions and attendees for the other.
Say which public you served
"Customer service" is generic. "Summer reading programme for 6–11 year olds", "homework help for secondary students", or "home delivery to housebound readers" tells a branch manager which part of their rota you can cover on day one.
Questions about this page
- Do I need a library qualification to work as a library assistant?
- Usually not for assistant roles — most branches ask for customer service experience and train the systems in-house. A CILIP-accredited qualification matters for librarian posts, and is worth stating explicitly if you hold one.
- How do I show shelving accuracy?
- Use a measurable consequence rather than an adjective: items re-shelved per shift, a shelf-read audit result, or the reduction in "item not found" tickets. Accuracy is the claim; the audit is the evidence.
- Should volunteering in a library count as experience?
- Yes, with the same shape as paid work: hours per week, what you were trusted with, and one outcome. If you ran a reading group or repaired stock, that is programme and collection work, not tea-making.