Sarah Hogg, Women’s Health Library

Sarah

Hello, I’m Sarah and I am the library trainee at the Women’s Health Library, based at the Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The library is an online resource, and part of an NHS wide service called ‘NHS Evidence’ and was created as part of the ‘High Quality Care for All Report’ from Lord Darzi who stated that “All NHS Staff will have access to a new NHS Evidence service where they will be able to get, through a single web-based portal, authoritative clinical and non-clinical evidence and best practices” (NHS Evidence webpage).

With librarians and Clinical Leads/Fellows working on the project, it is designed to provide professionals involved in the care of woman access to the best current knowledge available, and is checked and updated regularly. I look forward to learning more about the ways a digital library works, and doing a project which will benefit the library.

Previously, I was working in the NHS as a health records clerk whilst studying for my LL.M in Commercial Law; and before this, I read English Language at Lancaster University.

Helen Matthews, Bodleian Law Library

HelenHello. I am one of two trainees at the Bodleian Law Library. I recently graduated from Bath Spa University in a Creative Writing and English Literature degree. My only previous work experience in a library was at my local library in my hometown in Bristol. What attracted me towards this career was providing a service to people, which I loved doing in my previous job. I also like that there are such a variety of libraries to work in, whether it’s public or academic, and that there are many different departments to work in within a library. Whilst my fellow trainee works in Academic Services, I work in Information Resources, which deals with books as they first enter the library to be catalogued. I’m looking forward to working in such a large library and also in Oxford, which is a beautiful place to live.

Laura Williams, Bodleian Law Library

LauraHello, I’m one of two trainees working at the Bodleian Law Library. I have just graduated from the University of Warwick with a BA in Theatre and Performance Studies and have never worked in a library before.  My interest in this career path stems from the time spent in various libraries doing research for my degree.  I was able to spend time at specialist theatre libraries and archives, which resulted in an interest in working as a librarian rather than using libraries an academic!

The Bodleian Law Library is used by a wide range of people, not just Oxford students but also law firms and legal researchers, thus the job will offer contact with many different people and a variety of enquiries to help with.  My role within the library mainly centres on the Academic Services team which means lots of interaction with library users, something that I’m particularly looking forward to.

Emma Folwell, History Faculty Library

Emma

Hi, I’m the Graduate Trainee at the History Faculty Library. I’m really enjoying learning so many new skills, learning how the library works and gaining an understanding of the roles of the HFL staff. I look forward to putting my new skills to good use when term begins and to undertaking a project that will benefit the HFL’s readers.

I have previously studied here in Oxford for a Masters degree in History at The Queen’s College and before that I read History at the University of Leicester.

Alice Nelson, Social Sciences Library

Alice

Hello, I’m Alice and I am one of two trainees at the SSL this year.  I have just graduated with a degree in French and International Relations from Aberdeen University.  I spent my year abroad during my degree running a small language resource centre at a school for postgrad engineering students.

The SSL is a very busy lending library, in particular because it offers stack requests from the Bod, and has a wide variety of users.  I’m looking forward to meeting lots of library users and learning more about how such a large library operates.

Victoria Sloyan, futureArch Project

Victoria

Hi everyone. I’m the graduate trainee for the futureArch project, which is about developing the Bodleian’s archive system so that it can cope with hybrid and born-digital archives. I’m really excited about getting to work on this project and hope I can be useful to the team. I’m also going to be helping out in the Special Collections Reading Room in the Bodleian and am really looking forward to exploring the stacks.

Before this I worked for the Living Archive in Milton Keynes and before that I did a history degree at Lancaster. I still live in Milton Keynes and am commuting to Oxford, which involves getting up a lot earlier than I’m used to!

Charlotte Brooke, Sainsbury Library (SBS)

Charlotte Hello, I am really excited about my graduate trainee year at the Sainsbury Library.  I am look forward to interacting with the readers and being a productive member of staff who is a really valuable part of the library team. I am really enjoying  learning new skills and  hope that I  can do a project this year that will really benefit the readers and staff at the SBS library.

Before the graduate traineeship I worked as a shelver at Oxford Brookes University Library and I have a Philosophy degree from Leeds University.