Hello! I’m Sorrel and I’m this year’s trainee at St John’s College.
The Library and Study Centre in St John’s is roughly comprised of two main parts: a modern section, completed in 2018, and an older section. The latter comprises the Laudian Library and the Old Library, dating from 1635 and 1598 respectively. Fortunately for me, the beginning of my trainee year coincided with the reopening of the two older libraries, following a long process of renovation. I am lucky to have reason to work frequently in both spaces, shelving in the Laudian and helping with Special Collections consultation appointments in the Old Library.
Like many of the other trainees, my workload is very varied, and no two days are really the same. The past weeks have seen me processing books, checking reading lists, moving manuscripts, photographing early printed books, and preparing posters for new displays. Dealing with Special Collections has definitely been one of the most exciting parts of the job so far. The Library is home to around 400 medieval and modern manuscripts, 20,000 books printed before 1850, and the personal papers of the likes of Robert Graves and Spike Milligan. Some of the materials I have handled in my first weeks include a painstakingly hand-coloured ‘Ortelius Atlas’, dating from 1603, and a 18th century physician’s scrapbook, with ‘A piece of The tapeworm’ pasted and carefully labelled inside.
Before the traineeship, I was working in France as an au pair, studying French and volunteering at the American Library in Paris in my spare time. Before that, I completed my BA in History at the University of Cambridge, specialising in cultural and social history. Alongside my degree, I worked in a small Art museum, and it was this experience which really got me passionate about helping people to access information and ideas.
In the coming months, I’m looking forward to getting to know the library and the cross-library systems well enough to answer almost any reader enquiry with confidence! I’m also hoping to assist with work to ensure that our collections are accessible to an ever-increasing range of people.
