Hi everyone! As you can probably guess from the picture (right), I’m Nuffield College’s 2012 Library Trainee. This is the start of my third week here, and I am slowly but surely getting to grips with my many and varied tasks! So far I’ve been doing shifts on the circulation desk; trying to remember which switches do what as I get the library ready for readers coming in each morning, and resisting the temptation to read each newspaper as I check it in. I’ve also been learning how to process new acquisitions – Nuffield gets a lot of journals and government publications – and have just begun the heady task of initiating orders (I’m being trusted with the credit card – argh!)
I’ve spent quite a bit of time going up and down in Nuffield’s old-fashioned cage lift, partly because I keep forgetting my key for the closed access shelves… I have also been acquainting myself with the label maker as I get books ready to go out on the shelves. Shelving is also playing a part in keeping me fit this year (who needs a gym membership?) as I run up and down the tower steps! Everyone here at Nuffield is very friendly and willing to help, even if I ask what seem to be completely random questions. Hopefully at some point everything will, as they promise me, become second nature, but for now I’m just enjoying the novelty of it all (and the free lunches).
