Circulation Assistant - Law Library

The University of Iowa Law Library seeks a reliable and collaborative new member of its team. The Circulation & Collections Assistant (Library Assistant II) is an important member of the Circulation Team and is responsible for closing the Law Library multiple days per week. This position supports a wide variety of Law Library functions, including payment, receiving, filing, and claiming; hiring, training, and supervising student workers within the Circulation Team; and processing all course reserve materials for the College of Law. This position also provides backup and support for interlibrary loan and document delivery operations, acquisitions, shelving/shifting/weeding, the mailroom, and assists other staff and patrons as needed.

Essential (Primary) Functions

• Staff the circulation desk on a regular basis and fill in, as necessary, to cover for absences. Greet and help patrons who come to the desk, check books in and out, answer telephone, respond to circulation emails, and issue temporary Guest I.D.s. Deal extensively with the library’s patrons explaining policies and exercising judgment, make decisions about possible exceptions or special handling at times, and address issues or concerns voiced by patrons. Direct patrons to library, law school, and university resources for assistance. Enforce library policies. Regularly close the Law Library. Assist with troubleshooting equipment related to user services operations, including filling printers with paper, dislodging paper jams, replacing printers with toner, and resolving issues with the self check-out machine.
• Complete assigned serials tasks. Receiving: Process and receive serials and continuations materials, in all formats. This includes marking and distributing each received piece, as necessary, with identifying call numbers, stamps, routing slips and barcodes; editing item records and patterns as needed; and routing items to their appropriate location or staff member for further processing. Claiming: Generate routine claims in Alma for missing serials and continuations. Initiate vendor contact by email, telephone, fax or website to resolve outstanding problems and complex claims. Record all vendor correspondence in Alma. Filing: Complete assigned filing in a timely manner.
• As a member of the Payers Team, assist with payment operations including invoice preparation and payment in Alma for subscription and billed by the piece titles; reconciling and paying monthly West and Hein invoices; and bi-weekly voucher assembly. Key data into Alma to pay invoices according to departmental procedures, verifying all data is correct, converting currency as needed, and meeting payment deadlines.
• Maintain the Reserve Collection. This includes completing an annual inventory and removing outdated and superseded items from reserves after consulting with the Selection Team or as new materials arrive.
• Support acquisition and payment workflows including pre-order searching, initial vendor statement reviews, and creating the bi-weekly open orders report. Serve as backup for GOBI selection and ordering operations.
• Oversee, create, and process course reserve materials for the College of Law, particularly at the start and conclusion of each semester. This includes communicating with faculty and staff; requesting and obtaining materials from the Law Library or University Libraries’ collections; setting up the course reserves in Alma/InfoHawk+; communicating frequently with references and acquisitions staff; and other related tasks.
• Provide backup and support for interlibrary loan operations. This includes determining workflow and developing procedures; organizing new initiatives; cross-training staff; taking ownership for daily assignment and processing of queues; resolving problems; processing and/or placing requests; managing physical materials borrowed from other institutions; and communicating with Law Library patrons, as well as staff at other libraries. Initiate and/or contribute to the development and revision of ILL and document delivery policies and procedures. Create and/or maintain procedural documentation, as appropriate.
• Provide backup and assistance for carrell maintenance requests.
   

The schedule for the position is Sunday–Thursday, 1:30–10 pm during most of the academic year, 2:30–11 pm during extended hours during and shortly before exams, and 9:30–6 pm during academic break periods. The position’s schedule may be adjusted with appropriate notice based on library needs.
 

To obtain the full job description including key areas of responsibility, technical competencies, and desirable qualifications, please contact joshua-gulick@uiowa.edu