Library Assistant, Public Services

Job Summary

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is a research center in Washington, DC affiliated with Harvard University and supporting scholarship in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies. The Library Assistant reports to the Reader Services Librarian, supporting all aspects of public services, interlibrary loan, and collection management in the Research Library.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Librarian with ILL requests using ILLIAD software: receiving and returning loans, preparing lending and borrowing forms, assigning due dates, tracking due dates, and emailing users.

• Monitor ILL email box
• Retrieve materials from the stacks and prepare them for ILL shipment.
• Open and process incoming ILL shipments.
• Track overdue books. Contact patrons by email and phone.
• Assist Interlibrary Loan Librarian with article requests: screening lending requests for articles, processing outgoing and incoming requests to verify citations and availability, imposing copyright restrictions. 
• Retrieve items, and scan articles or books chapters for electronic transmission.

• Assist with managing circulation activity, fulfillment in the integrated library system, recalls, returns and special searching.

• Participate in staffing the reference desk and monitoring researchers using archival collections as needed.

• Compile statistics on ILL, library, and collection use.

• Shelve books, assist with collection shifts, shelf-read, and inventory collections.

• Assist with final steps for processing new books and journals. 

• Bibliographic searching for pre-order purposes.

• Other duties assigned as time permits.

Basic Qualifications

Previous library experience required or experience working in a scholarly environment

Additional Qualifications 

• Experience using computerized library systems, with ILLIAD experience strongly preferred (specify systems experience in curriculum vitae). 

• Bachelor’s degree in Art History or humanities preferred. 

• Graduate coursework in library and information science is strongly preferred.

• Attention to detail and ability to meet deadlines. 

• Knowledge of at least one foreign language like Greek, Spanish, etc. is highly preferred. 

Physical Requirements

The physical requirements of this position relate primarily to collections shelved in a research library and work done in an office environment. The incumbent should be able to bend, stoop, and reach to retrieve library materials and be able to push a fully laden truck of books. This position requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time associated with working at a desk with a computer and monitor.