Summer Positions Available: 2026 Rare Book School Summer Assistants

Rare Book School is hiring summer assistants to provide support in managing course sessions, catering, and other tasks related to the running of our 2026 summer programming in Charlottesville. This is an exciting opportunity to participate in a leading humanities organization and aid in the RBS’s mission of creating a “community equipped to advance historically informed understandings of our cultural heritage.”

RBS is seeking conscientious, detail-oriented, and service-driven undergraduate and graduate students as well as early-career professionals to work as summer assistants in Charlottesville during the following weeks and weekends: 

• Wednesday, 27 May–Saturday, 6 June (Pre-Week 1 training and Week 1)

• Sunday, 7 June–Sunday, 14 June (Week 2)

• Thursday, 2 July–Saturday, 11 July (Week 3)

• Friday, 17 July–Saturday, 25 July (Week 4)

• Sunday, 26 July–Saturday, 1 August (Week 5)

The summer assistants will work in the days leading up to and following the dates of each course week.

The starting wage for this position is $16 an hour, with time-and-a-half paid for hours worked over 40 hours. Summer assistants typically work 40–50 hours a week when courses are running, including work on the weekends.

During each course week, RBS provides housing either in apartment-style dormitories or in a rented house with single-occupant bedrooms for summer staffers who are not based in Charlottesville. During course weeks, RBS offers staff members a daily light breakfast and also lunch; staff are also invited to occasional group dinners. Staff who work four full weeks are eligible for a full tuition credit for one RBS course.

Depending on the nature and focus of their work, assistants report to managers either in RBS’s Programs department or Collections department who create their weekly schedules. Tasks and projects are supervised by full-time members of the Programs and Collections teams.

Responsibilities may include: 

• Retrieving collections materials (books, artifacts, and other objects) from RBS collections storage areas

• Assisting with the transport of collections materials to classrooms in UVA’s main library and in the Harrison/Small Special Collections building

• Organizing collections materials and other classroom supplies in the classrooms

• Assisting RBS faculty members with teaching needs (e.g., making and assembling photocopies, arranging classroom materials, setting up show-and-tells, &c.)

• Assisting with RBS class visits to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

• Assisting with lab sessions (e.g., printmaking, papermaking)

• Assisting with the preparation of materials such as nametags

• Helping to prepare spaces for RBS events (e.g., lectures, coffee breaks, lunches, and dinners)

• Assisting in food preparation, making coffee, managing catering orders, grocery shopping, and clean up

• Other related tasks as assigned

Required qualifications: 

• Demonstrated interest in book history, book arts, antiquarian bookselling, librarianship, archives, museums, bibliography, languages, and/or history

• Interest in service-oriented, hospitality roles

• Punctuality

• Organizational skills

• Ability to lift up to 40 pounds, ability to push/pull carts with books and classroom materials, or carts carrying food and drink, and ability to stand for at least an hour

• Basic aptitude with computers and related devices

Desired qualifications: 

• Previous experience working in a library or similar education setting

• Previous experience in food services

• Driver’s license

• Use of a car

Please note that the RBS workspace is a standard special collections library environment with possible exposure to mold and dust.

Starting on 16 January, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until all open positions are filled. Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, a resumé, and the names of two professional references to rbs_summer_staff@virginia.edu 

Rare Book School is an equal-opportunity employer as a nonprofit affiliated with the University of Virginia. RBS is committed to fostering a welcoming and respectful environment that embraces a representative range of human attributes, perspectives, and disciplines. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, citizenship status, Vietnam era or special disabled veteran’s status, or sexual orientation.