Retail Associate (Library Shop SD)
Title: Retail Associate
Reports To: Library Shop Manager
Employment Status: Part-time, Non-Exempt
Schedule: Flexible schedule totaling 15 – 25 hours/week
Location: San Diego (Downtown) Central Library.
Compensation: $15.50-$17/hour, depending on experience
Organization Overview:
Library Foundation SD strengthens communities by supporting excellence in the San Diego Public Library (SDPL) system through philanthropy, advocacy, and outreach. Library Foundation SD supports the entire system of 36 library branches across the City of San Diego. Our team of 15 staff members is based at the downtown Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common.
The Library Shop SD is a well-curated nonprofit book & gift shop catering to librarians, library lovers, literary obsessives, and book nerds owned and operated by Library Foundation SD. We are located inside the Downtown Central Library, and proceeds support the San Diego Public Library system.
Library Foundation SD is an equal-opportunity employer and embraces a philosophy where diversity and inclusion are core values. As the San Diego Public Library serves every citizen in the City of San Diego, so does the Foundation. A broad understanding of diversity is employed that includes but is not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, and religion. The Foundation acknowledges that personal identity is complex and various. The Library Foundation aims to facilitate broad participation, particularly by historically underrepresented groups, throughout the organization’s staffing and activities.
Position Overview:
The Retail Associate works in the Library Shop SD, helping customers and patrons and performs general cashier/customer service duties associated with a small independent book & gift shop, including but not limited to:
- Shipping and receiving merchandise and entering inventory data into the Point-of-Sale system
- Restocking, merchandising, straightening, and styling the Shop
- Light cleaning duty such as sweeping and dusting
- Brainstorming and providing content for social media and marketing
- Working author events at Central (and occasionally at other branch libraries throughout the system or at outreach events/pop-ups, ie, Comic Con, Festival of Books)
- Maintaining and updating the Shop’s e‑commerce website
Qualifications:
Required
- An abiding appreciation and love for libraries as an essential institution
- Good customer service skills
- Attention to detail and the ability to multi-task
- Comfortable with uncertainty
- Empathy and compassion for people from all backgrounds and walks of life
- Ability to work effectively without supervision
Preferred
- Previous Retail Experience
- A passion for books and the written word
- Flexible schedule; available for occasional evening and/or offsite events and ability to pick up extra shifts on short notice
- A good eye for merchandising and appreciation of the Shop’s brand aesthetic
- Social media savvy
- Familiarity with Canva or Photoshop
- Comfortable articulating the Library Foundation SD’s mission to customers and patrons
Being part of the Library Shop SD Team is not just a retail job- we’re also brand ambassadors for the Library and Library Foundation SD’s mission and often staff pop-up shops at important community outreach events such as Comic Con, San Diego Pride Festival, San Diego Festival of Books or occasionally just curbside at library branches across the city.
How to apply:
Please send a resume and cover letter to the address below. In your cover letter, please let us know how you learned of this opportunity and answer the question: How has the library impacted your life?
Scott Ehrig-Burgess
Public Engagement Manager
libraryshopjobs@libraryfoundationsd.org