Publishing Assistant

Salary is £21,000 per annum, inclusive

Full time

Permanent

St Pancras, London

This is an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and efficient Publishing Assistant to join a positive, creative and ambitious team. We publish a wide range of fascinating and beautiful books relating to the British Library’s collections, on subjects including history, literature, maps and crime fiction. You will provide administrative support to all members of the team, handling enquiries from authors, sales reps, agents and distributors; maintaining and correcting data on our online systems; and ensuring that accurate information is communicated to our international sales force. You will undertake a wide range of activities to ensure our books are published on time and to the highest possible standards. This will involve some editorial work on our fiction titles, as well as – depending on your experience and aptitude – taking responsibility for some aspects of work in production, picture research, and editing illustrated non-fiction books. 

With demonstrable experience of previous work in the publishing industry, and with a strong interest in all aspects of commercial book publishing – from proofreading to publicity – you will be highly organised, and able to prioritise effectively when working on multiple projects with demanding deadlines. You must also have an excellent command of the English language, a high degree of numeracy, pay meticulous attention to detail, and have the confidence to build strong working relationships with industry contacts and Library colleagues.

In return we offer a competitive salary and a number of excellent benefits.  Our pension scheme is one of the most valuable benefits we offer, as our staff can become members of the Alpha Pension Scheme where the Library contributes 20.9%. Another significant benefit the Library provides is the provision of a flexible working hours scheme which could allow you to work your hours flexibly over the week and to take up to 5 days flexi leave in a 3 month period. This is on top of 25 days holiday from entry and public and privilege holidays.

More about the British Library

As one of the world’s great libraries, our duty is to preserve the nation’s intellectual memory for the future. At the moment we have well over 150 million items, in most known languages, with three million new items added every year. We have manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints and drawings, music scores, and patents. We operate the world’s largest document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers all over the world. What matters to us is that we preserve the national memory and enable knowledge to be created both now and in the future.

For further information and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers quoting vacancy ref. 01447.

For an informal discussion, please contact Rob Davies on 020 7412 7294.

Closing Date: 22nd August 2017

Interview Date: 7th/8th September 2017