page

library assistant

librarian

library page

branch manager

Edmonton Public Library

 Will say if you can find a gokd branch, stay there. There a few good ma agers but they are few and far between. There's not a lot of job growth. You'll start in a temp position and find it hard to progress further. Work life balance isn't great. The schedule changes constantly and they'll rarely, if ever, give you a set schedule. They'll also only hire you if you have open availability but notnpay enough or give enough hours to survive. There's a lot of training but it's all from staff who've taken the training so it's mostly secondhand information. Management has a lot of buzzwords but there's no real change that gets done. Which is also jist on a corporate level. Not paid fairly for the work that is done. Some managers haven't done the work thay the library assistants do but expect us to do better or ask how we could fix situations that were out of our control. Some managers can undermine the rules to make the library assistants the bad guy and allow customers who are rude to get away with treating staff badly. Benefits only after a certain amount of hours but definitely relies on unbenefitted labour to cover staff shirtages. Management and corporate does a lot of gas lighting into making the employee think they're the problem and from a managers mouth, "EPL doesn't owe its workers anything," which goes to show what they think of their employees. I found it very had to work there as a neurodivergent person. Long story short, unless you have a library tech diploma or MLIS I'd stay away from epl. 

The best part of working for EPL is the amazing staff, who are overworked, under appreciated, and often put in dangerous situations due to the ‘customer is always right’ attitude from upper management; even when that customer is spewing swear words or being physically aggressive (no signs about not condoning abusive behaviour here.) Be prepared to have no life outside of work, as even part time staff are expected to be available 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, with no ability to plan ahead. Don’t dare try to get another job to make up for the lack of full time positions, or try to advance your education or spend regular time with family and friends, because you won’t be available due to the horrible scheduling. Essentially staff are expected to be highly knowledgeable and skilled in an array of technology, to go above and beyond in every aspect of the job, but are treated like glorified fast food workers. I left because I’d rather be paid less and appreciated for my contributions, and have a weekend off more than once every six weeks. 

I learned so much when I worked there. Before my days there, the Dewey Decimal System was a foreign subject to me. I picked up on it in no time. Once an elderly man asked me for help finding a book, and after getting the Dewey Decimal reference for the book, I found it in seconds. That man was so happy, he gleefully responded by saying, "Young eyes!"
I met so many great people there, both customers and fellow colleagues. My supervisor was typically fair, and eventually came to realize that while 
I could not work at as fast a pace as my fellow Student Pages, I did my work with absolute precision. I never once got in trouble, and I really appreciated my superiors, including librarians, library technicians, management, and supervisors. There are numerous former colleagues of mine from there that I'm still friends with to this very day.

While EPL can be a really amazing place to work, that is largely determined by who you're working with and what position you hold. You'll notice almost all the 5.0 star ratings are from student pages who directly report to a Library Assistant as their supervisor. The higher up in the organization the position is, the more critical the reviews become. 
There is deep and difficult divide between employees, management, and senior leadership. The employee satisfaction has been rather abysmal in recent history, and employee morale isn't great, largely because of this disconnect and the tone deaf action (or inaction), policies, and expectations. 
The pay is good, the benefits are good, but beware these are golden handcuffs. Once you get in, particularly to a full-time permanent position, it becomes financially difficult to leave. Though I should say, IF, you get in, because the hiring process is a bit shady. 

I left a position I loved for a similar position at the Library. The salary benefits and the leadership promise attracted me to the Library. 
The staff at branches are amazing. There seems to be a disconnect between the leadership and the rest of the Library.
I would describe the environment as very corporate and bureaucratic. There is more of a concern about how the public perceives the Library rather than the function of one’s actual position. 
The on-boarding training and the leadership promise lead you to believe it is an environment to approach leadership and that it is a flat structure. Unfortunately that is just talk.
As a result, I found I couldn’t work in what I found to be an unhealthy workplace.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The staff are wonderful and you are doing meaningful work for your community.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Executive management does not care about the staff. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Day to day operation with local branch staff is wonderful however, upper management is only focused about EPL reputation and lining their own pockets. Staff has not gotten raises for over 5 years while executives have been getting raises annually. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Customer service and community support work.

it was a well paying job for a high schooler with four hour shifts twice a week so i could still focus on school and other activities, although you could choose to double hours in the summer which was great for some extra spending money. overall it was good, the people were nice and although the work could get boring, due to its repetitiveness, it wasn't particularly difficult and the environment made going to work enjoyable. it was also really easy to talk to the managers about any concerns i had about the job and they tried their best when scheduling to take into account personal schedules.

I worked as a Student Page in high school, and I was one of the first student pages that was trained for that branch. The staff is easygoing and friendly. Hours were pretty good, and the library was not open on holidays. There were times where customers of questionable character would come in and harass the female student pages, but they were dealt with swiftly and in some cases banned from the library. They take the security of the staff quite seriously.

I worked at EPL as a student page and a page. I had a very pleasant experience working there. Work can sometimes be slow but you always find something to do. Most days are spent shelving, managing transits and book returns. The people are amazing, everyone cares for each other. They’re also very flexible with schedules, just let them know what your availability is. Overall, EPL is a very great place to work at. You learn so much interpersonal skills from working colleagues and customers. 

Excellent Team Work Everybody that is involve in the process make they best to make the job go smood 
Excellent Management Style: You always has the opportunity to share with your direct Manager the best way the get the job done on time
Life work balance: You always have the time to finish you job during the time they give you to finish it so you never have to take work at home

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Page 54 salaries reported	$20.31 per hour
Library assistant 54 salaries reported	$36.42 per hour
Librarian 14 salaries reported	$47.21 per hour
Library page 8 salaries reported	$20.37 per hour
Branch manager 2 salaries reported	$123,237 per year

Working at Edmonton Public Library: company overview and reviews

Edmonton Public Library

Edmonton Public Library ratings

Popular jobs at Edmonton Public Library

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected