Job description
Salary: £43,622 - £49,097 p.a. (depending on experience) plus benefits
Job type: Fixed term for 13 months, commencing May 2026
Hours: 36.25 hours per week
St John’s College, one of the largest Colleges within the University of Cambridge, is seeking to appoint a Special Collections Librarian to cover maternity leave within the Library & Archives department. The principal purpose of this post is to oversee the collections, security and day-to-day operations of the Old Library and its special collections, including rare books, manuscripts and personal papers, at the direction of the Librarian. The special collections include personal archival material but not the college archive, which is the responsibility of the Archivist.
The Library aims to provide a modern, efficient and welcoming Library service for all members of the College, and for all others with valid reasons to make use of the College’s library collections and facilities, so enabling the College to fulfil its statutory and strategic aims.
The College offers a competitive benefits package including membership of a defined contributory pension scheme, 36 days’ annual leave (inclusive of Bank Holidays), access to a private healthcare scheme currently provided by BUPA, access to a ‘cash plan’ healthcare scheme currently provided by Simplyhealth, free lunch, free use of an on-site Gym and free parking close to the College site, subject to availability.
Before You Apply – Please Read
To help you submit the strongest possible application, we’ve created a Candidate Information Pack that provides further information about the role and how to apply. It outlines what we’re looking for, how to structure your CV and covering letter, and tips to stand out. We strongly encourage all applicants to read this guidance before applying. You can find it here: Candidate Information Pack
The closing date for the receipt of completed applications is 9.00am on Monday, 9 March 2026. Interviews are expected to be held during the week commencing 16 March.
Please be advised that you will receive system-generated updates regarding the status of your application after it is submitted directly through our recruitment system to the email address you provided. To ensure you receive all communications without interruption, we kindly ask that you:
Add the following email addresses to your safe sender list:
peoplexd@accessacloud.com
recruitment@joh.cam.ac.uk
Regularly check your junk or spam folders, as emails may occasionally be filtered there.
In applying for this role, you will provide personal data which the College will process in accordance with its data protection obligations and its Data Protection Policy .