Job Title: Stock Services Manager Starting Salary: £33,366 opportunity to progress to £36,124 Hours: 37.0 Location: Welwyn Garden City relocating to St Albans within 2 years. Contract Type: Permanent Directorate: Resources About the team Our Stock Services Unit is a small team of 6, including the Stock Services Manager, Assistant Customer Service Supervisor and 4 Stock Services Assistants - who process daily stock deliveries and provide the stock acquisition, cataloguing, and inter-library loan service for all 46 public libraries in Hertfordshire. This well-established team play an essential part in ensuring our Libraries stock offer is kept fresh and a good range of new stock titles are available for our customers to read and enjoy. The team work in our Central Stocks Unit along-side other support services teams to ensure our frontline library services have everything they need to run smoothly. Our customers and our focus are our libraries and their local communities. The Stock Services Manager works closely with the Support Services Manager and the Senior Librarian: - Stock to provide a strong understanding of stock management across the county. They also have a key role in liaising with Hertfordshire Libraries 3rd party stock suppliers ensuring our relationship with these key stakeholders is maintained. About the role The Stock Services Manager manages the Stock Service Team. Responsibilities include performance and development, leading staff meetings, HR process, and mentoring. Being the point of escalation of queries to ensure optimum levels of service and best practice. Tasked to build and provide specialist knowledge on the day-to-day use of the acquisitions module of the Library Service's Library Management System (Spydus) to staff across the service. The Stock Services Manager attends and contributes to meetings such as stock budget reviews, Spydus Management Group & Buying Team Convenors meetings. They provide insight on the potential impact of developments on the acquisitions function of the Library Management System. This includes participating in the testing and development of new software. The financial year transition period is an important time for the Stock Services Manager role. They ensure stock invoices are processed in line with Hertfordshire County Council Financial Regulations. They carry out Spydus financial year end housekeeping actions as well as inputting and maintaining stock budget funds for the new year. The Stock Services Manager role is essential in liaising with Hertfordshire Libraries 3rd party stock suppliers. This includes involvement in Central Buying Consortium tenders to ensure the best outcomes for the library service. About you Essential: Able to lead, motivate and manage a team, including the ability to train and mentor staff on a 1:1 or small group basis Experience of budget management Competent in the use of IT and IT systems. Able to use initiative and problem-solving skills to manage conflicting priorities Able to work collaboratively and confidently with other HCC colleagues, external organisations, partners and suppliers to achieve service aims and objectives Ability to instigate and manage change positively Desirable: Experience of working in a public library service or customer focused environment Experience of applying HR policies and procedures accurately Understands and can apply the principles of a staff appraisal scheme Understanding of a tender process and contract management Awareness of the Inspiring Libraries strategy Awareness of Universal Library Offers and other national developments Taking on this role would give the post holder the opportunity to understand the Library Service from a unique perspective. Over time, they will gain specialist knowledge in an area of libraries and information where they will be the point of contact for day-to-day acquisition functions for Hertfordshire Library Service. A recent project across libraries in the South-East consortium has streamlined the Library Management system (database). Developments such as these impact the everyday work of frontline libraries as well as stock services functions. We are always looking at ways to improve how we do things and make them more efficient. The Stock Services Manager has a key role recommending and implementing change for the benefit of the service and the team to make processes more efficient. Being successful in this role the post holder will enjoy managing people. They will also have a strong understanding of the value of effective support services and the positive impact they have on Libraries frontline service delivery and our communities. The Central Stocks Unit will be relocating to St Alban's within the next 2 years. The post holder will play a key role in ensuring that the team successfully relocates to the new working environment. This job role is within the Community Services, level COM9 job profile. Please locate this via: Job profiles - Community services To hear more about this opportunity please contact Stock Services Manager, Kay Murphy, kay.murphyhertfordshire.gov.uk or 01442 454413 for an informal discussion about the role. Interview Date: 13th February 2025. Benefits of working for us How to apply As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences. Disability Confident We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post. English Fluency The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.