Overview
Skills Librarian (0027-26) – Derby, DE22 1GB
About the University
We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.
The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.
We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.
Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.
About the College/Department
Our Provost – Learning and Teaching department drives forward the University’s ambition to provide excellence and opportunities for all students; building on Derby’s long-standing reputation for teaching excellence, ensuring the development of sector-leading flexible, integrated learning that aligns to the needs of learners, not just now but in the future.
Our Library is one that supports our communities to realise their ambitions by opening up new areas of knowledge & understanding and through fostering applied creative thinking.
At the centre of our approach is a high-quality student experience, outstanding student outcomes and supporting an excellent research environment. With this in mind, our teams deliver against three core strategic themes:
- Community – The original missions of libraries were not about repositories of books or as gatekeepers to knowledge but about fostering communities of scholars. With that in mind, our focus is on how the Library supports the wide range of communities we have, fostering connection and empowering academic culture.
- Confidence – There is a fundamental role for the Library to ensure all students become confident, independent learners and researchers. We shall support students to develop confidence and applied creative thinking through our academic skills provision and an industry relevant skills offer that enhances performance whilst at university as well as into their chosen future.
- Content – Exploration and access to scholarly content is critical to the process of learning, teaching, research, and knowledge exchange. The Library plays a significant role provisioning scholarly content, working with our academic colleagues and students. We shall work to ensure that relevant content is delivered in a sustainable way and that we leverage technology and meta data expertise that enables our students and academics to explore and access the scholarly record.
The Skills Librarian will be based within the Academic Enhancement Team within the Library, whose core functions are to provide direct delivery of skills support to students, supply guidance to academic teams on how to incorporate skills development within course design and assessment and work collaboratively with colleagues across the institution to further enhance personal development and growth opportunities for key stakeholders.
About the Role
You will be responsible for the operational delivery of high-quality development opportunities that enable students to enhance, evidence, and articulate transferable skills. You will partner with colleagues across the University to plan, design, create and deliver in-curricular and extra-curricular skills development sessions, engaging digital resources and pathways and provides one-to-one or small-group support to help students succeed academically, professionally, and personally. This role is hands-on, student-facing, and central to embedding the University’s Skills & Personal Development Framework into the core student experience.
The working pattern for this role is 8.30am – 5pm Monday to Thursday, 9am – 5pm Friday with an hour lunch each day.
About You
You will have experience of managing and delivering user-focussed services with a focus on supporting the development of skills. The role will require supporting students in their academic success and preparing them for career readiness, employability or entrepreneurial activity and will need to have a knowledge of developments and best practice in relation to skills and personal development and academic success. The post holder will need strong presentation skills and the ability to design, develop and produce learning and guidance materials in a range of formats.
Benefits
- Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
- Local Government Pension Scheme
- Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
- Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
- Discounted onsite gym
- Holiday purchase
- Cycle to Work scheme
- A flexible working environment
- A commitment to personal and professional development
Key Contact
For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Hazel Roome, Academic Enhancement Team Manager via h.roome@derby.ac.uk
For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk
Important Information
If you are successful, you will be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Any information you provide will be treated in confidence and only used when considering your suitability for the post.
To enable us to process your DBS check please ensure you are able to supply the documentation listed on the DBS website at interview stage.
The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
Please visit our website for more information.
The University of Derby is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our staff, students and children. At the University of Derby, safeguarding is everybody’s concern.
Please find our Safeguarding pages including our Safeguarding Policy here.
Closing Date: 22 Feb 2026
Area: Management, Professional and Specialist
Salary: £38,285 to £45,738 per annum
(For exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £52,605 per annum)
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
