Circulation Assistant (Late Night) (6760C), Library Administration #89407

About the Organization

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are dedicated to fostering a community where everyone feels welcome and can thrive. Our culture of openness, freedom, and belonging makes it a special place for students, faculty, and staff, who are among the most talented and accomplished anywhere, including Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and MacArthur Fellows. Since our founding in 1868, we have been an engine for innovation — driving intellectual, economic, and social progress that benefits California, the U.S., and beyond.

The Access Services Division has leadership for planning and coordinating access and circulation policies and procedures across the UC Berkeley Library. The division consists of Library Privileges, Doe/Moffitt Circulation Services, Information and Welcome Desks Services, Newspapers/Microforms Library and Current Periodicals, Media Services, and Stacks Maintenance. The Doe/Moffitt Circulation and Gardner Stacks unit is the largest circulation services unit in the Library System, handling more than one million circulation transactions annually, loan of electronic devices, and the largest undergraduate course reserve operation. The Gardner (MAIN) Stacks collection management includes daily oversight and strategic planning for a 2.7 million volume collection housed on campus and retrieval for the 3 million volumes shelved at the Systemwide Library Facility – North (SLF‑N). This unit controls access to the Gardner (MAIN) Stacks, group study rooms, and the 65 Doe (Medium Rare collection).

About the Role

The Circulation Assistant (Late Night) supports 24‑hour circulation services for enrolled students, faculty, staff, and non‑UC affiliated library card‑holders. This position performs all duties associated with providing access to collections and explains and interprets library policies and procedures as necessary. Serving as the sole library career staff during late night and early morning hours, the Circulation Assistant (Late Night) assists users at the Circulation Desk with checking materials in and out, renewing items, placing holds, requesting material from the NRLF, and managing study room reservations and electronic device loans. Additional responsibilities include assisting the circulation supervisor with electronic device maintenance and inventory, handling day‑to‑day circulation record cleanup, and serving as a workleader by training and monitoring student library employees. This position also provides support to Library Security during emergencies, manages assignments at the Privileges Desk to issue library cards and resolve billing issues, and contributes to the e‑reserves operations team by processing course reserve request lists.

Responsibilities

Circulation — 60%

• Adds volume/copy information and changes circulation codes in local online catalog; handles difficult communications and complaints referred from lower‑level staff; corresponds with faculty, staff, and other patrons.
• Serves as the sole library career staff during late night/early morning hours (Monday through Friday, 2 a.m.–11 a.m. during the semester).
• Explains and interprets library policies and procedures (enforces policies when necessary).
• Assists library users at the Circulation Desk: checking out/in, renewing and placing holds on library materials, requesting material from NRLF, reserving and monitoring study rooms, and checking out electronic devices.
• Answers user inquiries in person, via email, or telephone.
• Serves as workleader: training, assigning tasks, and monitoring performance of circulation desk student library employees working the late shift; provides support to Information Desk student employees and Library Security as needed, especially during emergencies.

Collection Maintenance and Stacks Management — 25%

• Performs advanced bibliographic verification; recalls NRLF materials and prepares NRLF deposits; makes final scanning determination on brittle, disintegrating volumes.
• Assists the Circulation Supervisor with electronic devices: re‑imaging machines, checking for damage, maintaining inventory, and monitoring usage.
• May assist with compiling electronic device use statistics.
• Assists the Circulation Supervisor with day‑to‑day circulation duties: handling snags, maintaining statistics, editing and updating item records, and other record cleanup projects as assigned.

Reference and Instruction — 10%

• Serves at a reference desk or general public service desk providing routine information.
• Maintains a regular Privileges Desk assignment (in person and online via LibAnswers): issues library cards and borrowing privileges, interprets library policies and procedures related to library access and borrowing, resolves problems, and answers questions regarding billing or borrowing issues.
• Replies to users regarding circulation policies or billing questions; refers privileges/borrowing inquiries to the Privileges Desk.

E‑Reserves Operations — 5%

• Serves as a member of the e‑reserves operations team processing course reserves request lists in a timely manner.
• Performs bibliographic checking of citations provided by faculty to determine whether the Library owns an item requested for course reserves.
• Works with e‑reserves coordinator to find alternatives if the Library does not own the requested material.
• Follows process for purchasing requests as outlined by e‑reserves coordinator.

Required Qualifications

• General knowledge of library practices and procedures, acquired through library experience, specialized training, or relevant academic preparation.
• Experience with circulation services and/or technical processing in a library.
• Recent experience with an integrated library system (ILS) and understanding of ILS bibliographic, item, and holdings records.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, problem‑solving, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Experience using common software applications: Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint), Google Drive (Docs and Spreadsheets), cloud data storage (e.g., Box), and email applications (Gmail, Outlook, or bCal).

Preferred Qualifications

• Academic library experience.
• Experience with and/or ability to learn the Alma integrated library system (ILS).

Pay & Benefits

The budgeted hourly range the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $29.07 – $30.36 (Step 1 – 3). This is a non‑exempt, bi‑weekly paid position. It is a 5‑month, full‑time, limited (temporary) appointment eligible for UC benefits. For information on the comprehensive benefits package, visit the University of California's Compensation & Benefits website.