Sources of Job Adverts
Because of the diverse nature of the job titles and employment sectors that are relevant to careers in the area of library and information work, there is consequently a wide range of potential sources of job advertisements. The rule of thumb here is...leave no stone unturned! Note that in order to use some of the World Wide Web sites of the newspapers, journals, online job seekers services etc. you may need to register on-line the first time you access their pages. In addition, some of the websites below may not provide their job vacancy information in web-based format but only in their related hard copy publications.
National Quality Press
A particularly good way of accessing a large number of different electronic versions of national newspapers, magazines and periodicals is to visit the Journalism UK site or to look at the listing of UK newspapers on The Newspaper Society website.
Educational/Computing/Health/Scientific Press and Associated Websites
The Times Higher Educational Supplement (THES)
The Times Educational Supplement (TES)
ChemWeb is a jobs website aimed at the chemical community which includes information-related jobs in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries in the UK and overseas.
Library and Information-Related Press and Associated Websites
This is an important source of library and information job vacancies in the UK (and occasionally abroad). All job vacancy details are available in electronic form on the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professional (CILIP) LIS jobnet webpages. They are also available in hard copy in the fortnightly recruitment bulletin Library and Information Gazette available to CILIP members. This publication may also be available for reference at public/academic libraries as well.
This monthly publication contains an appointments section which usually has individual job vacancies as well as a selection of jobs available with the main LIS recruitment agencies.
Graduate Training Opportunities
This is an annual publication available online and in hard copy from October each year from CILIP. It lists 1-year graduate trainee posts (incorporating the SCONUL trainee scheme) in library and information services in the public sector, national and university libraries, and in business and commercial firms. These posts are most suitable for people seeking pre-library school experience.
Recruitment Agencies
There are a number of recruitment agencies that specialize in permanent and temporary positions in library and information work, as well as in IT/computing/information services. These are detailed on the Recruitment Agency pages.
Higher Education Vacancy Services
There is a national recruitment website called Jobs.ac.uk for job vacancies within the UK higher and further education sector. This comprehensive site includes academic, research, administrative and support posts. Searches for job vacancies in the following disciplines are available: Librarianship, Computing, Professional (Technical); Professional (Managerial/Senior Admin); Business and Administration etc. A particularly useful service at this site allows users to register for a direct mailing facility, which means that daily or weekly updates of jobs in up to four different disciplines will be automatically emailed out to you.
Eduserve Job Vacancies Service
Eduserve is a not-for-profit organization providing IT services. It provides a job vacancies service which includes job vacancies for academic, research, adminstrative and support posts in UK higher education institutions. There are sections devoted to Librarianship and Information Science related posts, and Library Support and Computing/Software Support posts.
JISCMail provides electronic (e-mail) discussion lists for the UK higher education community. It currently has thousands of list covering a wide range of topics (including Library, Information Resources and Computing). Many of the lists receive postings about job vacancies so it is worth subscribing to some lists. In particular, a good source of regular job vacancies in the library and information work area is the lis-link list.
Graduate Job Information Services
The GraduatesYorkshire website is a comprehensive employment-related resource, managed in partnership with all the yorkshire regional University Careers Services (including University of Sheffield). It includes access to Graduate Link which promotes graduate jobs and careers in the Yorkshire and the Humber region. It has new vacancies each week, in all areas including business and marketing, IT/computing, engineering, professional and many others. It also has a database of full information of over 1800 local employers in small and medium sized enterprises, known to recruit graduates, which you can search through by industrial sector and area.
The CSU Prospects website has a section on graduate job opportunities and jobs in particular sectors such as IT/information management and information services can be searched for. CSU also offers the Prospects Direct Email Service, which allows you to register and be sent personalised emails about relevant job opportunities. CSU also publishes Prospects Today, a fortnightly publication listing graduate job vacancies, and available free from University Careers Services or on subscription from CSU, Armstrong House, Oxford Road, Manchester M1 7ED.
The Hobsons Careers and Educational Service website has links to their The Graduate Careers Centre and Careers in Europe websites devoted to helping graduates find jobs.
The following websites are examples of other sources of on-line graduate job vacancies and careers information.
University Careers Services
Your University/College Careers Service is a useful source of job vacancy information. The University of Sheffield Careers Service has an online vacancy service for its students and graduates. Once registered, users can search for graduate job vacancies, work experience opportunities (including part-time term-time work), employer insight courses and an employer directory which includes information about employers who have links with the University of Sheffield Careers Service.
Careers Fairs
Graduate Recruitment Careers Fairs held in London and around the UK are a good source of information about employers and the types of jobs they have on offer. Some examples are the fairs organised by the Universities of Manchester and London (typically in June and in the Autumn). The University of Sheffield Careers Service website also gives details about a number of careers fairs that are run in Sheffield.
Local Press or Job Centres
Check your local newspapers and job centres for relevant jobs in the library and information work area.
Jobs Overseas
There are many job vacancy websites which are general in nature and usually require online registration before they can be accessed extensively. More specific detail may be found on the Overseas Careers Information page.