Join Our Team at Gladstone’s Library!
Reading Room Assistant: Gladstone’s Library
An exciting new opportunity has opened up here at Gladstone’s Library.
We are looking to recruit a Reading Room Assistant who will work front of house in the Library’s busy Reading Rooms. This is a part-time role averaging 20 hours a week. Working in a team of four, with projects involving the printed book and archive collections, this role is front-facing and includes lots of interaction with the public: a typical day might involve giving an induction to someone staying at the Library for the first time, helping a Reader find a book
or use the catalogue, and delivering a Glimpse tour to a visiting group.
We are looking for someone who is confident, well-organised, and happy to speak in public. As well as having a passion for the work of Gladstone's Library, anyone in this role should find detailed work enjoyable.
About the Library:
Gladstone's Library is a unique institution. It is the UK's finest residential library, boasting 26 bedrooms, an on-site restaurant and a comfortable guest common room. It is also the UK's only Prime Ministerial library and was built following a bequest from William Ewart Gladstone, Victorian statesman and four-times Prime Minister of Great Britain. The current building, raised in 1902 and designed by John Douglas, was funded by public subscription.
The organisation is a self-sustaining registered charity. We host a lively programme of events which include talks, workshops, masterclasses and residential courses.
Our world-famous silent Reading Rooms house over 150,000 books and over a million archival items, including the Gladstone Foundation Collection, which comprises approximately 20,000 items from Gladstone's own personal library. They are also home to multiple unique archival collections, making it a destination for scholars from across the globe.
Unlike many similar institutions, it is free to join the Reading Rooms and we therefore attract visitors locally, nationally and internationally including school and University students, academics, researchers, writers, or those simply seeking a quiet space to read.
The Role:
Being the first point of call in the Reading Rooms, both in-person on the Enquiry Desk and through the shared team email inbox and calendar.
• Invigilating researchers when they work with special collections and archives.
Working with the collections: reshelving, box-listing, and catalogue checking are all regular tasks (full training will be given).
Helping to produce social media posts about the Reading Rooms and collections.
Delivering some of the Library’s outreach and engagement events, including Glimpse tours and ASC Us Anything (a monthly drop-in hour where we display some of the collections).
When working on a Saturday, you will typically be the only member of the Reading Rooms team on site. The building will be busy with other staff members and visitors, but it is important that you are comfortable working alone on these occasions.
About You:
• You really enjoy – and are confident with – working with the public.
• You really enjoy detailed and sometimes repetitive work.
• You are well-organised, and happy liaising and problem-solving with a team.
You are at ease with computer- and desk-based work and feel confident about your ability to learn how to use new software.
• You have good written English, both typed and handwritten.
You might have some experience of library and archive collections, but full training will be given.
The history and significance of the nineteenth century is something you’d like to know a lot more about.
You might be someone thinking about a career in GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) but perhaps haven’t had the chance to gain much experience or apply for the postgraduate qualification.
Things about the job you might like to know!
This is a part-time position, and the usual hours of working are 9am-5pm over 3 days (Monday-Saturday) with a 45-minute unpaid lunch break. This is an average of 20 hours per week. The likely shift pattern is a rolling 2-week rota: week 1 Monday and Tuesday 9am-5pm and 9am-1pm on Wednesday and week 2 Monday, Tuesday and Saturday, 9am-5pm.
Your holiday entitlement is 11 days per year. In addition, the Library closes for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year. The holiday year runs from January-December.
You will be paid £12.91 per hour. An optional pension scheme is available and we can provide further information.
• There will be a 3-month probation period.
• You will be line-managed by the Head of Collections, Isobel Goodman.
When not working in the Reading Rooms, you will share an office with the Reading Room team.
• A light lunch is available free of charge, and free tea and coffee during the day.
Parking on site is currently not available. There is free parking in Hawarden village itself.
You must respect and support the liberal and inclusive values of the Library and reflect these in your everyday performance.
• We are a friendly team – committed to a safe environment where colleagues can flourish and develop.
To apply:
Please send your CV together with a covering letter saying why you are just the person we are looking for to:
Revd Canon Dr Andrea Russell, Warden of Gladstone’s Library.
Email: tracey.vallance@gladlib.org (PA to the Warden)
Make sure that you provide us with enough information to see how you fulfil the criteria.
We look forward to hearing from you and good luck!
Application deadline: Tuesday 7th July 2026 at 10am
Interview date: Friday 17th July 2026
Interview times are likely to be between 10am-2pm. Please allow just over an hour for the visit. This will be made up of a thirty-minute interview, a short tour, and some basic skill trials (for which no revision is needed!).
Start date: to be agreed.