Watson Public Services Student Assistant


Position Overview

Do you enjoy helping others? As a Public Services Student Assistant, you would be the face of KU Libraries! Successful candidates for the Public Services positions at Watson Library will exemplify excellent customer service skills.

Job Description

70% - Student assistants provide helpful and friendly assistance to library users in a variety of ways including in-person and by telephone; answering library user questions and providing general information and directional guidance. Student assistants check out, return, and shelve library materials.

30% - Watson Library student assistants also perform collection maintenance duties and many other tasks supporting Watson operations. These tasks can vary from technology support to assisting with setup for events in public library areas.

Required Qualifications

  1. Six (6) months of customer service experience.
  2. Demonstrated experience maintaining assigned work schedule and flexibility to cover shifts for others as evidenced by application materials.
  3. Demonstrated availability to work hours required for a particular opening as evidenced by application materials.
  4. Demonstrated commitment to ongoing training in addition to work schedule as evidenced by application materials.

Preferred Qualifications

  1. Demonstrated experience working with the public and peers as evidenced by application materials.
  2. Demonstrated strong commitment to providing excellent customer service to library users.
  3. Library work experience and/or knowledge of KU Libraries as a user.
  4. Computer skills including knowledge of Office, Google Docs and Adobe products as evidenced by application materials.
  5. Work-study eligibility.
  6. Availability to work when classes are not in session as evidenced by application materials.
  7. Knowledge of the Library of Congress classifications system as evidenced by application materials.
  8. Experience standing for an hour or more as evidenced by application materials.

Position Requirements

  1. During the semester term of the appointment, the student hourly must be enrolled in no fewer than 6 credit hours. For summer periods the student hourly must: (1) have been enrolled in no less than 6 hours in the past spring semester or (2) be pre-enrolled in the upcoming fall semester in no less than 6 hours or (3) be enrolled in summer session or (4) be admitted to study in the upcoming fall semester. Student Hourlies may be undergraduate or graduate students. (Exceptions granted for GRA/GTA/GA appointments DO NOT apply to Student Hourly appointments).
  2. Ability to maneuver heavy book trucks with or without accommodation.

Employment Conditions

(1) Student employees are not eligible for remote work arrangements unless an exception is approved by the unit leadership and HR.

(2) This is an hourly/non-exempt position. A student employee cannot hold an hourly/non-exempt position and a salaried/exempt graduate or undergraduate position (GRA/GTA/GA/RUA/RGA) concurrently.

Additional Candidate Instructions

A resume and cover letter are required as part of a complete application.

Application deadline is Sunday, 1/11/2026, by 11:59PM Central Standard Time.

Contact Information to Applicants

Jack Hawthorn - jhawthorn@ku.edu

Advertised Salary Range

$11/hr

Anticipated Start Date

Sunday February 8, 2026

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Posting Information

  • Posting ID:  31834BR
  • Department:  Libraries-General
  • Primary Campus:  University of Kansas Lawrence Campus
  • Reg/Temp:  Temporary
  • Employee Class:  S-Student

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