All student employment roles within the Library are filled through a competitive recruitment process. While ensuring that access to these roles is transparent and equitable, the recruitment process is also designed to be a learning experience for all student applicants.

The recruitment process provides students with firsthand knowledge and experience of job application processes and expectations in a professional environment (including practice undertaking key tasks such as writing applications/cover letters/responses to criteria and participating in interviews).

Feedback is also made available to all applicants who request it, providing a valuable learning opportunity for every student applicant who partakes in the process, regardless of the outcome.

This amplifies the impact on student employability and widens the reach/benefit of the Library offering these employment opportunities, beyond just the successful applicant(s). Key to this approach to recruitment is the partnership and support provided by the Jobs on Campus team in the University’s Employability and Enterprise unit.

Examples of employment opportunities for students within the Library include:

Student Peer Support Assistants (SPSAs)

The Library Student Peer Support Assistants contributes to the delivery of high quality, client focused services and engagement activities across Library locations. In this role student employees, deliver peer to peer support which guides our student-clients in connecting to vital services and resources; contribute to the smooth running of Library service points; and assist in the development, organisation and delivery of student engagement activities and programs

The Library Student Internship Program

Our internships provide students with a range of opportunities which support employability and future life skills. The internship projects are designed to be valuable learning opportunities for our interns, which expose them to a variety of professional experiences and provide opportunities to develop both their employability skills and their professional identities. Internships are offered within and across a variety of arenas of work within the Library, including in Special Collections and both client-facing and ‘back-end’ Library teams.

By offering these internships as part of the Library Student Internship Program the Library has been able to scaffold a program of professional development and support around a set of diverse internship projects embedded across multiple Library teams. This professional development and support is offered not only to the interns themselves, but also, in parallel, to the Library staff who take on supervisory roles for our interns.

Casual Project Officers and Project Assistants

Students are recruited through Jobs on Campus and join Library staff on specific projects. These projects often involve large-scale time-critical activities where the students learn new skills and gain valuable professional experience while helping the Library meet significant deadlines.

Library Placements Program

As part of our community engagement and commitment to the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum (GLAM) sector, the University of Newcastle Library welcomes applicants for industry or professional placements from tertiary students undertaking Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museum studies; and from secondary students interested in the GLAM professions.

To apply to undertake placement at the University of Newcastle Library, please liaise with the placement coordinator at your home institution. Please contact Library-Business-Services@newcastle.edu.au if you need further information.