Hello,

Has anyone else seen this advert and been horrified by the completely demeaning title ?

http://www.platform2recruit.co.uk/universityoflondon/pages/jobdetails.asp?id=1490

Perhaps someone from the relevant department (Library, HR, Recruitment Office ?) could explain in exactly what way a floor assistant differs from a library assistant ? I've taken a look at the job description and it seems suspiciously similar to library assistant tasks...

"You will work at the Membership and Circulation and Bibliographic service-points performing a range of front of house and manual support duties, including dealing with user enquiries, the issue, return and renewal of books, servicing the Closed Stack collection, and moving bookstock. You will also provide support across a range of routine activities related to the maintenance of book stacks and the up-keep of the library areas in general.
Previous experience of working in a customer service or similar environment is required and you must possess a helpful and friendly demeanour combined with the ability to undertake a number of tasks simultaneously in such a way as to be immediately helpful to library visitors and users. A good team member, able to work independently to meet set targets, you will have basic keyboarding skills and the ability to acquire new skills on standard library systems.
The duties of the post involve a requirement for the manual handling and movement of furniture, equipment and library bookstock and some Evening/Saturday duties."

Is this where the library profession is going ? Removing the word 'library' from all our titles so people will never understand what we do ?

Ann-Emily Brew
Assistant Librarian

BMA Library
British Medical Association
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP


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