London Health Libraries 'Library Assistants' Day'

On the 7th December, I attended the 'Library Assistants' day' at Stewart House. The event was run by the NHS London Deanery and is a yearly event aimed to allow library assistants from a range of London health libraries a chance to engage with current issues and network. Although not based in a NHS library, I was keen to attend due to the insight the day would give to wider issues within the health sector and for an opportunity to meet those working in similar roles within different institutions. The day began with introduction by Richard Osborn, Strategic Library Services Development Manager, NHS London and a presentation on 'How is the NHS changing? How might these changes affect our library services?' Richard provided an overview of the current organisation within the NHS and explained the timeline for the proposed changes to take place. The infographic below was referenced which details how the health and care system will look from April 2013.

 Richard continued to explain that the changes within the system are based on two principles from the Health and Social Care Act 2012, being that;

1.  Patients should share in every decision about their care
2. Those responsible for patient care should have power to continually improve care for patients 

 After a summary of the proposed changes, Richard referenced the Peter Hill report of 2008 in order to explore the purpose of NHS library services and their influence in developing the health and care system. In line with developments in electronic publishing and accessibility, he announced that the NHS would move towards journals being  delivered primarily electronically by January 2014 and for information services to promote and pilot mobile access to information resources.
The second aspect of the day focused on comparing the work of Library and Information Assistants across the network. It was great to hear from others what their day to day duties consist of and to discuss the levels of responsibility that library assistants have in different institutions. It was clear from the discussion that working in the information sector provides you with transferable skills; focused on customer care, effective administration and information provision and retrieval. I enjoyed the opportunity to discuss with other assistants what we 'like the most' about working in health libraries, to which I contributed that I enjoyed the aspects of specialist research involved in providing a health information service and the opportunity to provide healthcare professionals with the support and resources needed to further their learning and practice. e-Learning was next on the agenda and the resources available to those within the London and national networks.
Following a discussion on e-learning resources, Richard headed a particularly helpful session on answering enquiries. The session involved group discussion and some useful tips on how to best manage the enquiry process. The importance of ascertaining exactly what a user is asking for was re-enforced and follow up questions were suggested in order to clarify important information. Richard suggested agreeing deadlines with users to ensure they are kept informed of the progress of their enquiry. As a conclude to the day we were introduced to Sian Aynsely, Information Skills trainer for the South London Healthcare NHS Trust, who gave a presentation on Social Media and its usage in London NHS information services. She discussed a survey that herself and a colleague had conducted within the London health library network and it's findings. She confirmed that social media is widely used within the network and discussed the drawbacks and access issues that can arise within the network while accessing social media platforms, although she noted that access to social media is widely assumed.

For more information about the content of the event, you can view Richard's presentation slides here, where he provides links to useful information and resources discussed. You can find out more about the London Health Library network on the London Links website, where details of upcoming events are posted.

Reading for New Professionals

       

As a trainee/library assistant it can be difficult to know the best resources to use when preparing to undertake an MA course. It may be that you want to find out a little more about the profession before investing in a degree, or you may be just researching ways to develop in your current role. In either case, I've been lucky to have some really good reading recommendations from colleagues and friends and thought I'd share a few.

Prior to starting my graduate traineeship I had a browse around Facet publishing's website, on the lookout for a general introduction to the library and information sector that would give me an idea about the day to day skills I would need to develop during my traineeship and an overview of different cataloguing and classification schemes. I found the new professionals section of the site really helpful and invested in Librarianship: An Introduction which I've found useful in providing an overview of Librarianship, I think it provides a good starting point for further reading. Ordering books from Facet can be quite expensive if you are a student or just starting out, but CILIP members are offered a 20% discount if you enter you membership number when purchasing.

I was very lucky to have been recommended Bethan Ruddock's, The New Professionals Toolkit by the Information Services manager, which I found accessible, humorous and extensively detailed in coverage. After having a really interesting discussion with the Collection Development manager about her role, the college's collection development policy and the future of managing collections, she recommended I take a look at Peter Clayton and G E Gorman's Managing Information Resources in Libraries. This text is on the UCL Library and Information Studies reading list, along with Graham P. Cornish's Copyright which provides an extremely useful resource for understanding the copyright issues that affect the information profession and how to ensure information services adhere to legislation.

CILIP members (on proof of membership and ID) can get a readers pass for the British Library, who have a collection of Library and Information Science books and journals. I plan to make full use of the resources during my traineeship so I have a balanced understanding of all the basics before I start a course at library school.

I'd love to expand upon this list, if anyone can point me towards any more pre-course reading to add, I'll welcome all ideas.

Applying to library school- issues surrounding LIS vocational masters

Last Friday, I attended an event organised by the M25 Academic Libraries Consortium on 'Applying to Library School'. I was particularly interested in attending this event as it involved presentations from past and current students studying the MA and a selection of representatives from different library schools.

There were several speakers throughout the day, the majority being recent graduates of library school themselves. The speakers made some really interesting points about the pros and cons of different modes of study, allowing attendees a balanced view of what it is like to study whilst juggling part-time or full time work. The speakers included Sarah Maule (Ravensbourne), Sarah Ison (University of Brighton), Helen Murphy (Trinity Hall) and Sophie Pattison (UCL).
Vanda Broughton, Programme Leader for MA Library and Information Studies at UCL also gave a talk, which went in to detail about the types of skills that a library qualification provides and the different jobs and sectors a selection of UCL graduates had progressed to recently. Vanda suggested that prospective students should ensure that they are making sure the institution they apply to is right for them, by looking at staff and student blogs, researching courses and asking relevant questions at interview.

The course fair, which was held at lunch time, allowed me to have some interesting conversations with the course representatives from the different institutions. One thing I really wanted to clarify was the statement that I had heard from time to time in regards to funding, that being only students with a 1:1 at first degree level will be considered for AHRC funding, or in some instances funding in general. I've heard mixed opinions around this 'statement' but understand that universities holding AHRC block grant partnership awards have a great deal of pressure put on them to put forward 1:1 students for funding, even though the AHRC guidelines state that students with a good second class degree will be considered. I heard mixed opinions again from talking to the course representatives, but I did get the impression that course leaders are looking for well rounded individuals who are taking steps to develop themselves professionally outside as well as inside academia. This provides hope for the profession's development in encouraging new professionals with a host of  professional skills and experiences, from a wide range of backgrounds.
 I would be really interested to hear from anyone who had a different route in to librarianship, or managed to secure funding or financial support during their qualification without that 'elusive 1:1'.

 Funding a postgraduate qualification that is almost essential to career development seemed to be a hot topic at the event. Vanda Broughton explained that 2013/14 will be the final year for the AHRC's 'Professional Preparation Masters' funding, which LIS qualifications have fallen under for several years. Upon further research of the AHRC website and looking at their proposed plans for funding, it is made clear that UK research councils are pulling away from vocational MA/MSc's and looking to fund only at masters level where courses lead subsequently to PhD level study. You can find out more about the AHRC's plan's here.

I would  recommend the event to prospective students as it's a brilliant opportunity to learn a bit more about the application progress, especially in regards to what library schools expect from potential students. It also provides a chance for trainees and library assistant's to meet some new faces and share thoughts and ideas about their course choices. I found the panel discussion consisting of three very different LIS students really engaging, especially as they were all in very different services and holding down differing levels of  professional work and volunteering whilst studying.

Take a look at the hash tag for this event #applis12 to see other people's thoughts.

Month 2

I've just finished the second month of my traineeship. In two months I have had a chance to take on a multitude of different tasks and projects and get used to invigilating researchers and managing the enquiry desk. I do an average of three desk shifts a week. Desk shifts are organised in four hour shifts, 9.30-1.30 and 1.30- 5.30. This means that over the last few months I have had plenty of experience working on the enquiry desk. Our library has two enquiry desks and I am normally situated in the main reading room, meaning I get to meet the members and researchers that visit and say hello to the members of the public who might be stopping by to take a look at the library.
My day starts with the usual email and calendar checking, a coffee and then checking the email enquiry in-boxes for the library. This involves answering users enquiries regarding Athens, answering general queries and actioning requests. I find this a nice way to start the day and enjoy the opportunity to help and build rapport with users over email and phone. It's always good knowing you've helped a professional reach the information they require for an important case report, or given some much needed advice about e-journals.

Over the last week I've been given a new task to focus on, which incorporates both systems and user services. I've been asked to seek out and compile a list of open access clinical and surgical journals to be added to the library's catalogue. The aim of this, is to make finding open access material more accessible to users and to add relevant and complementary resources to the library's existing subscriptions. Rather than the users having to actively seek out OA material themselves, relevant journals will be added to the speciality journal lists on the college website. This additional service will help members of the library, but also make it a great deal easier for library staff when conducting research and literature searching. I'm excited about this project and it's addition to the website and will be prioritising it as my main user-services task over the coming weeks. Over the last month I have and boxed, labelled, organised and stock checked the print journal collection. I've really enjoyed doing this and have found it really useful, especially when a member asks me to direct them towards a particular journal.

October saw a number of trainee developments taking place, the first being the London graduate trainees meeting at Senate House library. Although not technically a University of London trainee, my managers very kindly set up a link with the scheme in order to provide me with the support of library visits and meet ups with other trainees. The other development came in the form of my library school applications. I started writing my supporting statement, which was a lot less scary than I had anticipated. Now I've just the CPD25 'Applying to Library School' event to attend and then it will be time to submit my applications!

Collections

The best way to learn about a libraries collections is to shelve and explore at regular intervals. At least, that's what I've found. Our library uses the Barnard classification system, which I will admit I had never heard of before working at RCS. I had experience using the Dewey Decimal system in my university library and had read up about several different systems including Library of Congress classification before starting my traineeship, but as I had no real background of what working in a medical library would be like, it took me a few days going through the collections and their call numbers and getting to know where everything is organised. I'm really looking forward to the collections aspect of my traineeship, as there is so much scope to learn. My initial collections project, which is now an ongoing weekly task is journal check-in. Every Wednesday I check in and circulate the new journals, count and measure and archive the older titles. This task gives me a opportunity to keep an eye on the collections and to ensure clearly labelled boxes and general housekeeping standards. This task has given me a chance to use the library management system Symphony whilst overseeing a large part of the modern collection.

As well as getting to know the modern collection, I was looking forward to learning more about the library's rare book and specialist aspects to the collection. After completing a stock-check of the tracts on the Hunterian museums founder John Hunter and updating the call numbers of several of the call numbers on the catalogue, I began my next project in to creating a resource guide for the Surgical Instrument collection in the rare book room. This has been my first experience with rare books and I have to admit, the thought of handling some of the books made me feel quite nervous, especially when I realised the intricacies of their design and noted their dates! I'm really enjoying this particular task because it gives me insight in to the work of collections librarians where preservation and collection management is central. I'm hoping I will have the opportunity to explore these aspects further during the course of my MA, as the history and tradition of librarianship interests me as much as the forward-thinking aspects of service provision and technology.

Over the coming weeks I will be discussing ideas for future collections projects with my managers and have been using the CILIP Professional Knowledge and Skills base as a guide to areas I would like to develop in and as a guide to further reading. I've been trying to get an overview of cataloguing and classification, as at present these tasks do not feature in my role. I've been researching AACR2, RDA, MARC21 and FRBR, so I have a basic overview before undertaking my MA, but with so much to learn and so much variety between institutions, I have the feeling that cataloguing will be a skill that I will develop during my time working alongside library school.

Learning Styles

Image courtesy of  Aaron Schmidt 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronschmidt/281619803/sizes/m/in/photostream/

One of my earlier posts was on 'Reflective Learning', where I discussed the Learning Styles Questionnaire by Peter Honey. Yesterday I had the chance to take the questionnaire which aims to ascertain your individual learning style in order to become a more balanced and well rounded learner. Honey suggests there are four styles of learning; Activists, Reflectors, Theorists and Pragmatists. The aim of the questionnaire is to determine which styles you utilise the most and those you use the least, in order to make you are more well balanced learner.
Continuing personal development is a core part of the information profession. In order to train users to use new technology and systems your individual skills must be up to date and it helps to have a wide overview of your profession and the different needs and options available to your library users. CILIP emphasises this on their website in the criteria for those wishing to work towards chartership;

      " Candidates must demonstrate:

• an ability to reflect critically on personal performance and evaluate service performance
• active commitment to continuing professional development
• an ability to analyse personal and professional development and progression with reference to experiential and developmental activities
• breadth of professional knowledge and understanding of the wider professional context"

 In order to get started in the process of CPD I have committed to writing regular blog posts documenting my trainee year and attending as many library events and visits as I can. The reason I bring up CPD as a process is to illustrate how useful the Learning Style Questionnaire can be to professionals from all backgrounds. Not only does it act as a platform for your own professional development, but it acts as a point of reference for those in managerial roles, or anybody who deals with team leadership. Just as understanding your own strengths and weaknesses can be useful, learning about the skills that others in your team can bring to projects can be equally useful, as generally the more rounded the team and their skill set, the better the result.

Honey suggests that 'Learning styles are malleable, not fixed.'(1) We may have a preference to the way we like to learn, but the most successful learners are those who work on utilising the areas they feel least comfortable with. So I went about completing the questionnaire, with some preconceptions about my preferred learning styles and waited in interest to work out my result.

Before discussing my result and how I plan to use it to further my own development, I will briefly outline the different learning styles as provided by Honey; (2)

Activists

'Activists like to take direct action. They are enthusiastic and welcome new challenges and experiences'

Reflectors

'Reflectors like to think about things in detail before taking action. They take a thoughtful approach.'

 Theorists

'Theorists like to see how things fit in to an overall pattern. They are logical and objective systems people who prefer a sequential approach to problems.'

 Pragmatists

'Pragmatists like to see how things work in practice. They enjoy experimenting with new ideas.'

My results determined that I was almost a 50/50 Reflector/Theorist who utilises very little Activist and Pragmatist styles. For me that suggests that I have a lot of room for development, as it shows that I tend to play it safe and lack spontaneity with my learning. The workbook then provides a more detailed summary of the learning styles and what you can do to encourage your less utilised styles. For me this may be actively seeking out new experiences, doing less planning in advance and responding more flexibly, being more direct and straightforward in my approaches and becoming more hands-on and seeing whether things work, in practice.(3)

Over the coming weeks I will be discussing with my manager ways to actively utilise more Activist/Pragmatist styles and to try and incorporate this awareness in to the future projects I undertake.


(1)Honey, Peter,The Learning Styles Questionnaire, 80-item version, Peter Honey Publications Ltd
(2) The Learning Styles Questionnaire, p.19-20
(3)The Learning Styles Questionnaire, p.30-56

What Comes Next?

Created on http://www.wordle.net/

Forward thinking and planning for the future is a major focus of mine at present. In regular mentor meetings with my manager we have been discussing library school applications, career prospects and funding opportunities. As well as learning the job on a day-to day basis, the graduate trainee scheme provides an opportunity to initiate and influence your work experience to suit your individual professional interests and to give you the best grounding for a MA course in Library Studies. Recently I've been looking in to course details, module options and have been exploring past students experiences of several different universities in order to get an insight in to what comes next...

 I want to make sure that I gain a practical and contextual overview of the profession as a whole before I start my course, in order to choose the right university and the best suited modules to help start my career. In order to make sure I have a good overview of librarianship in a wider context I have joined CILIP and plan to join SLA Europe this month. The great thing about SLA is that it is an international network of library and information professionals who provide a great deal of support to those in the first five years of their careers. They also run some fantastic and incredibly relevant events, which I will be making the most of once I have confirmed my membership.

The LIS profession is based around tradition and preservation, but as we are moving even further in to a culture of technology and open access,  where systems and IT form the core of service delivery, I'm learning more and more about the conflicts that come with the 'evolution' of libraries from speaking to professionals and from reading reports such as the Finch Group report on open access and  the Educational Advisory Board's 'Redefining the Academic Library- Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services'.
I've named this post  'what comes next?' because of the likeness between the transitional stage that I myself, and the profession seem to be in. As I look forward to what comes next, I am mindful of my present experiences and importantly, reflective about the experiences I have already had. I look forward to learning more about the profession and looking to the future.

Opportunities

One of the elements that attracted me to doing a traineeship was the opportunities it provides to develop skills and experiences outside of the institution, as well as on the job internally. The RCS traineeship offers me the chance to meet with other library trainees as part of the University of London trainee scheme which I see as an invaluable opportunity to share experiences and ideas about current and future development, especially leading up to the process of library school applications and looking in to various courses. One thing that I didn't consider before starting my traineeship was the huge spectrum of difference between sectors, I have had discussions with librarians working in law backgrounds, and those working in the health or academic sectors and the systems they use to support them in their roles varies dramatically, sometimes  do the skills they use on a daily basis. Therefore it is a great opportunity to engage with trainees following the same scheme in different types of library. My first opportunity to meet the other trainees will be for a welcome lunch at Senate House (part of the University of London) in a few weeks time. Following the welcome lunch, my managers have arranged for me to take part in a CPD 25 event on applying to library school in November, which I am really looking forward to, as it will be a good chance to get feedback and clarification on potential applications before the application deadlines approach.

I'm hoping to arrange a selection of visits to other libraries during the next 9 months to get a better overview of their operation and to provide me a clearer focus of the opportunities they may provide. Initially I entered the profession with a clear view to become an academic librarian, due to the nature of the sector being highly involved in liaison, education and training. Working in a medical/membership library has opened me up to experiencing other sectors and has provided me a growing interest in libraries in a wider context. I look forward to learning more about each sector and varying roles in the information profession during the next few years and welcome advice and ideas from established professionals from all backgrounds.

Month One

Almost a month has passed since I began my traineeship. The first few weeks were very much focused on allowing me to settle in to my role and to begin taking on my own projects. Last week I began enquiry desk duties on my own which gave me a chance to interact with users on a closer basis, learning a lot on the job! My customer service experience has really started to come in handy when dealing with users face to face and over the phone, especially during the times when I don't know the answer to a question or can't find something! As our library forms part of a membership organisation, whose members are often based all over the country, the typical day to day duties have been substantially different to what one would expect from say, a public or academic library where library staff are more likely to deal with users in person by way of a busy enquiry desk. A different user base calls for a different kind of service and this month has taught me the different ways to provide information to users who aren't necessarily in the library building itself. I've been involved with the document delivery service which has involved processing inter-library loans and delivery of items from the library's print collection, to users who would otherwise not have easy access to them. I've gained a good grounding of the different systems involved with this process including our scanner and editing software. Electronic resources are another essential area I have had the opportunity to get involved in by checking and amending the holdings information for the libraries electronic subscriptions and ensuring that all the information corresponds correctly to the catalogue. I have taken over dealing with Athens enquiries each morning, which has increased my procedural knowledge and given me a good grounding in administrating Athens accounts and ensuring efficient access to members.

Getting to know the collections and how they are classified has been high on my list, so I have been using the weekly journal check-in as time to get acquainted with our modern collections, which also allows me a chance to re-organise and oversee the archived journals to enable the easiest access. In terms of collections projects I have utilised the LMS to ensure that the Hunterian tracts which form part of our rare book collection are catalogued correctly and consistently. Ultimately, I've had a fantastic overview of library life so far and am really looking forward to what comes next!

Social Media

There has been much debate in the information profession about the use of social media, with many professionals advocating its use as a powerful networking and marketing tool for Librarians to keep up to date and provide a useful service to their users. Some Librarians differ in this view, seeing it as unnecessary to service provision and an attempt to make libraries 'trendy' and up to date. Most however, agree that if used correctly, social media platforms can be incredibly useful at allowing the Library to reach out further to it's users. Using Twitter for example can be really useful at expanding your professional network or keeping up to date with relevant news or special interest groups within your field. As a newbie to Twitter (I am now around six months old) I use the service to keep up to date with the latest news, I follow people who interest me and I tweet and re tweet not just about Library stuff, but about a wide range of subjects that interest me and sometimes just about personal thoughts and comings and goings.

With a personal (I'll try to avoid saying addiction) interest in social media, I was eager to find out how best to use these platforms within the information world, so I attended the SLA Europe event 'Engaging with social media for fun and career success'.  I listened to three very different speakers providing their personal and professional experiences with social media and came out with some new ideas of how to think about my professional use of social media. The major learning point for me from this event was to 'network, network, network'. Speak to people after events, make contacts and engage with discussion both in person and over social media platforms. Learning and discussion helps Libraries immensely and anything you as a professional can do to raise your profile and expand your portfolio is important. The key pointers I will be taking away from the event are;

1)Be yourself! Even if your twitter account or blog is based around your professional identity, show you are human. It makes for much more interesting reading and makes you more approachable to others.

2) When blogging, the key is consistency and focusing your blog around a specific thing, i.e new job, learning etc.

So... From now on, I will try and be more regular with my posts and try not to worry so much about keeping my personal and professional identities separate (within reason!)

If you are interested in reading attendees tweets from the event search for #slae on twitter

Diary of a New Professional

Recently I have been looking to Facet publishing, CILIP's publishers to find appropriate pre-study material to engage with during my trainee year. And boy did they deliver!

My first glance at Librarianship was through Librarianship: An Introduction  (G G Chowdhury et al.) which I spent many a coffee- fuelled morning browsing through in Starbucks before starting my traineeship. This text gave me a good overview of  the overall role of a Librarian in different sectors and certainly helped me to understand the differing classification schemes out there. On my managers advice, I have started reading Bethan Ruddock's 'The New Professional's Toolkit' (Facet Publishing, MPG, 2012). I have found it a useful, up to date resource, perfect for anyone just starting out in the profession, or those who are entering their first professional post. The areas I have found most interesting are the chapters on networking and raising your profile in the wider LIS community.
It can be quite daunting entering a new profession, whether you are starting your first career, or embarking on a second career but the information field is a profession which is supportive to new professionals from all backgrounds. CILIP is a great place to start for those interested in Librarianship or those already working in a library and information role. I found details of my traineeship on their website and it provided me with a good starting point for exploring the profession and the various opportunities that are available within the field. I have recently submitted a membership application to join CILIP, who provide support and guidance for professionals along with a host of interesting events and information.

One such event is  the CILIP in London Branch - The TUC Collections: Celebrating 90 Years of Contribution to Research, which I am hoping to attend on the 8th of October. Another interesting event that I have found out  happening very soon is the SLA Europe: Engaging with social media for fun and career success event being held on the 25th September.

Development Projects

My first week has ended and now I am starting to get more involved in the Library's processes. I am split between the User Services and Collections departments, meaning I get a broad overview of the operational aspects of the library. This results in me having two line managers, which is beneficial as I get varied input in to my work and development and gain a wider awareness of the different responsibilities of Librarians, which I am sure help influence my future interests and career choices.

Alongside my weekly activities, such as manning the enquiry desks and library housekeeping, my line managers and I have agreed a range of projects for me to get involved in, which include document delivery, stock checking and cataloguing the rare book collection on Surgical Instruments, answering Athens queries from college members and over-seeing the print journal collection. I have also had the chance to start a project checking and collating the holdings information for the Library's e-journals. After not having used electronic resources a great deal since finishing my undergraduate degree, the task has got me re-acquainted to using Athens and e-journal providers and allowed me to explore and utilise the college's online collections.

 

Reflective Practice

As an ongoing process I have been thinking of ways that I can document and learn from the experiences during my traineeship in order to better prepare myself for further study and career development. Traineeships are fantastic opportunities to get on the job training and gain vital skills which are so important to individuals like myself, who have no prior library experience. I am a firm believer in the importance of both theory and action in learning, finding that a combination of both reading theory and completing practical tasks and projects is the most effective learning method for me as an individual.

The theme of learning styles is a topic that my manager and I discussed today, a topic that I believe is highly relevant in a field which is constantly changing and adapting. We discussed the Honey and Mumford learning styles questionnaire which is used as a tool to gain a better understanding of your individual learning style in order to effectively, become a more successful learner http://www.peterhoney.com/. This idea is of particular interest to me, having plans to forge a career in academic librarianship where education and training form a core part of the role. I am looking forward to completing the test myself, in order to establish my own development areas, but until then I am planning several reflective exercises alongside my daily duties as a Graduate Trainee.

Learning Journal

The first is my Learning Journal, which I am using to formally document my weekly learning, highlighting particular processes and skills that I acquire. This will be a print record of my year, which I will be able to go back to at any point to look over my achievements and use as a reference guide.

Blog

As well as keeping a journal, I am keen to interact with Librarianship on a more interactive level, using social media and forums to aid my learning and networking. I set up this blog to run alongside my journal in order for me to be a little more creative and to post relevant links and pictures.

I am also hoping that from blogging about my experiences it will give me a chance to network with other trainees from other institutions, allowing us to compare experiences and ideas and helpful websites and reading material.

My First Two Days At RCS

The first two days of my traineeship have been varied and have often involved my new colleagues helping me navigate around the college and it's many floors and coded doors along with becoming accustomed to the policies of the College and the roles of my colleagues.

 Day One...

My first day was spent with the college's User Services Manager who gave me a good overview of my office and had planned an extensive induction period to last for the initial two weeks, for which I greatly appreciated, detail and organisation are the way forward! Along with the procedural and health and safety information I read as general compliance, I got opportunities to engage in wider LIS reading and explored the college's journal 'bulletin' which gave me a good idea about the Library's main objectives and achievements over the past few years. What I immediately noticed was the presence of the Library and Information Service in the wider college community and  sense of engagement with it's users in a factual and user-focused way, factors which are imperative in keeping the service current and relevant for it's users. I am looking forward to exploring the upcoming User Services projects in more detail and contributing to a competitive and accessible service.

Day Two...

Day two was spent getting to know the role of the Collections Manager and her role in developing and maintaining the college's collections. It was hugely satisfying to learn of the scope and historical significance of the texts and tours of the collections and store rooms made me feel a little more confident about the prospect of enquiries from members, however I calm any hesitations around fulfilling these needs by trying to remember the role of the information professional is not to know the complete details and instantaneous location of everything in the collection, but to successfully seek out and utilise the systems available to find the right information to suit the user's needs. My main issue on day two in particular was finding my way back to my office. Rather than stick to the tried and tested way I knew, the explorer in me fancied an adventure and ended up taking several lift trips at lunch time to different floors of the building, only to find the loft annexe (where my office is situated) isn't really that close to a lift. I'll stick to the stairs I think...

Tomorrow, I look forward to learning about journal check-in and a tour of the Hunterian Museum after lunch followed by systems and electronic resources in the afternoon and hopefully many more excellent food and restaurant suggestions from my colleagues!

A Girl From the South West Moves to SW17

 

This is it! After a year of working, applying for traineeships and looking for flats in London, it's time to start the journey in to Librarianship. After a stressful few weeks preparing to move, we finally got settled in a lovely flat in South West London. Although not perfect for my daily commute in to Central London, Earlsfield seems like a nice area and I'm looking forward to doing a little more exploring!

I begin my role as Graduate Trainee at the Royal College of Surgeons next week and after weeks of reading, research and anticipation, I am looking forward to learning on the job and finding my feet in such a beautiful library!

For those of you who don't know me personally, I come from a Customer Service background and have an active interest in academics, teaching and learning. I am hoping to combine these skills and interests and develop upon them further during my year as a Graduate Trainee.

I will be posting about my experiences as a trainee in London where I am well and truly out of my comfort zone! A world away from the walk able beauty of Bath, I fully expect to get lost, confused and excited during my year as a Londoner.