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Caltech Library Student Employment: Types of Student Positions

Information about student employment opportunities at the Caltech Library.

Access & Collection Services Positions

  • Circulation Assistant

    • Manage the circulation desk.

    • Checkout and check-in library materials to patrons.

    • Check IDs when patrons enter the building.

    • Register new Caltech patrons.

    • Collect head counts hourly.

    • Scanning patron requests.

    • Adhere to privacy policies around patron accounts.  

    • Other duties as assigned by shift supervisor.

  • DocuServe Assistant

    • Support the Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery (DocuServe) Office. 

    • Provide user assistance at any ACS service point. 

    • Process requests to borrow materials from other libraries.

    • Process lending requests made by other libraries to Caltech. 

    • Verify patron information.

    • Adhere to privacy policies around patron accounts. 

    • Other duties as assigned by shift supervisor.

  • Stacks Maintenance Assistant

    • Pull items from multiple library locations. 

    • Re-shelve items across multiple library locations.

    • Shelf reading. 

    • Support projects that ensure our library collection is meeting our overall library needs and goals.  

    • Adhere to privacy policies around patron accounts. 

    • Other duties as assigned by shift supervisor.

  • Student Technology Advisors Assistant

    • Provide technical assistance and training to users of the Caltech Library’s TechLab. 

    • Assist with user orientation to equipment available in the TechLab

    • Assist with software and printer training to groups.

    • Provide expert assistance to student project teams and assigned projects.

    • Perform basic maintenance tasks, including equipment and supplies; troubleshooting.

    • Provide technical advice and support for projects based in the TechLab.

  • Metadata & Discovery Services Assistant

    • Assist the Systems Librarian in identifying harmful or outdated terminology in the Library’s systems.

    • Contribute to researching relevant best practices among other libraries.

    • Help update local records and systems with new terminology. 

    • If the student is interested, they will be welcome to co-present with the Systems and Discovery Services Librarian at a library conference (to be determined) about the project’s successes, failures, and next steps.

Archives Positions

  • Oral History Assistant

    • The Caltech Archives Oral History Project (https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu) has recorded oral history interviews with Caltech faculty and other affiliates since the 1970s.

    • The Oral History Assistant will conduct their own recorded interviews with Caltech alumni and staff about their lives, careers, and experiences of Caltech.

    • Training will be provided on oral history interviewing.

  • Web Archiving Assistant

    • The Caltech Archives runs a web archiving program to preserve Caltech websites as they change over time (https://archive-it.org/collections/9060).

    • The web archiving assistant will identify Caltech websites for web archiving and troubleshoot web archiving of websites already captured.

    • Training will be provided on web archiving using the Archive-It system.

    • The Web Archiving Assistant may also help start a social media archiving program to archive the tweets (and potentially posts on other platforms) of Caltech organizations and faculty.

  • Digital Archives Description Assistant

    • The Caltech Archives has digitized the unpublished papers of aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready, physicist Donald Glaser, and astrophysicist George Ellery Hale, as well as thousands of photographs of Caltech people and buildings (https://digital.archives.caltech.edu).

    • The Digital Archives Description Assistant will examine these digitized papers and add description such as the names of those with whom these scientists corresponded.

    • The Assistant may also create or edit transcriptions for audio, video, and handwritten manuscripts.

    • Training will be provided on archival description and transcription.

  • Archives Collection Development Assistant

    • The Caltech Archives is reaching out to alumni to collect documentation of their experiences of diversity, inclusion, and exclusion at Caltech, including records of student organizations, written recollections, and oral history interviews.

    • The Archives Collection Development Assistant will identify alumni as prospects for this collection development effort.

    • Training will be provided on how archives work with donors to build collections.

Business and Operations

  • Accounts Payable Processor

    • Receive and process invoices for book purchases and periodicals subscriptions.

    • Intake invoices.

    • Record pertinent data into our electronic resource management system.

    • Ensure proper submission for final payment.