Open Day for New Professionals with SLA Europe, BIALL and CLSIG – Part 1

Written and edited by: Micha Cook, Codrington Library; Andi Glover, Bodleian Law
Library; Hannah Hickman, History Faculty Library; Becca Wray, Social Science Library

In April, seven of the Bodleian trainees headed off to CILIP HQ in London for the
SLA Europe, BIALL & CLSIG New Professionals’ Open Day: a chance to hear presentations
by information professionals from several well-known “special libraries”, and to network with the speakers, other trainees and Master’s students. Here, we report back on our
experiences of the day: what we learned, and why the next Open Day might be useful to others considering careers in library and information science.

Photo by WordShore on Flickr
Photo by WordShore on Flickr

NERA Economic Consulting

In the first talk, Hanna Shearring spoke about her role as Associate Information Resources Consultant (IRC) at NERA (@NERA_Economics), which undertakes research on behalf of mostly corporate clients. Her job is similar to a subject librarian’s role with academic
researchers; she works closely with clients and uses specialist knowledge to ascertain
exactly which information they need, and which sources and institutions could provide it. This may entail persisting with enquiries involving several institutions and individuals, such as tenders taken on for the EU: more negotiation than is usually necessary in an HE
library. IRCs are less desk-based than many Graduate Trainees, and, interestingly, work with fewer book-based sources than most of our readers.

For Hanna, her post offers a chance for continual learning, for gaining new skills and knowledge; she also said that socialising with colleagues after work helped to build her network and professional identity. For trainees, chatting with fellow librarians can be a good way of finding opportunities, such as chances to volunteer; and indeed, Hanna left us with the advice to follow our natural curiosity, asking established professionals about their careers and pursuing any intriguing leads. – Micha, Andi

Wellcome Library

Danny Rees’ talk on the Wellcome Library and his role as an outreach librarian touched on and accentuated the diversity of the library’s collections and the active involvement of the Wellcome Trust with the dialogue on access, outreach, and hot topics like the digitisation of manuscripts. Getting excited about cataloguing makes me a rare beast in our group of trainees and it was Danny Rees’ answer to my question about the structure of the
cataloguing department at the Wellcome Library, including specialist librarian and
archivist cataloguers working on specific parts of the collection, which sticks with me.

Photos by Hannah Hickman
Photos by Hannah Hickman

His talk was complemented by the fact that it was followed directly by a fascinating tour. The latter took us to the library and the newly incarnated reading room filled with a bizarre collection of singularly remarkable objects. We were told during the tour that every staff member at the Wellcome library had come to the job with different academic backgrounds and interests and so brought something unique to the greater team. From the fondness with which this reading room/ gallery/social space was described, I like to imagine that the displays included exciting discoveries made by the staff!

The wonderfully unique reading room, with its enlightening medical history exhibits and cosy staircase seating
The wonderfully unique reading room, with its enlightening medical history exhibits and cosy staircase seating

Looked at in unison, the library and this hybrid space confirmed that the Wellcome is not only a multi-faceted institution, but the outcome of a concerted effort to incorporate the pursuit of knowledge, with the preservation and promotion of culturally and historically significant objects relating to the medical sciences. The library, open to anyone who wished to join, felt exactly like an academic research library made more by the beautiful paintings from the Wellcome collection which were unaffectedly exhibited throughout. Small things like the colour-coded finding aids on the shelf-ends, both considered and
decorative, hinted at a careful guardianship and respect for the space and collections on
behalf of both readers and staff.

The leaflet for the library boasts the heading “the free library for the incurably curious” and adorns my wall as a reminder that I have yet to walk up to the reception desk, identity proof in hand, to officially join the ranks of the inquisitive. That said, I expect it’ll stay there; it gave me great delight to see what I hope was an intentional medical pun—the readers are incurable, not terminal, you see! – Micha

Andi, Micha and Duncan with the virtual autopsy table, the popular exhibit revealing layers of the human body
Andi, Micha and Duncan with the virtual autopsy table, the popular exhibit revealing layers of the human body

Extract Information (Intellectual Property)

As trainees, many of us are most familiar with academic librarianship, and perhaps with working in public libraries; so Jane List surprised us with her talk about
Extract Information, the patent research company she founded in 2013. Jane works
primarily as a consultant involved in research to solve her clients’ IP-related problems.
She set up her business after a career in research and development librarianship, and
database-testing for scientific research bodies. She has built up a wealth of experience of
information roles in intellectual property, with one of her areas of expertise being Asian patent information; an area that is fast growing with the advance of technology in the Far East, particularly in Korea. She told us that this has created a demand amongst businesses and legal organisations for translators of Asian languages; so Korean-speaking information
managers could find they have an unexpected skill to offer in the field of IP. – Andi

Photo by Michael Neubert
Photo by Michael Neubert

Careers tips from Suzanne Wheatley and Victoria Sculfor, Recruitment Specialists

Suzanne and Victoria from Sue Hill Recruitment (@SueHillRec) and TFPL (@tfpl_Ltd)
gave some extremely useful advice on careers planning and writing a CV for
recruitment agencies. Highlights included:

• Make the personal profile on your CV reflect what you’re doing at the moment: recruiters want to build up a picture of you to help them find the most suitable opportunities

• Also on your CV, list your achievements, technical experience such as the software you regularly use at work, and professional activity (training, forums, open days you’ve been to)

• Recruiters are very willing to work to your timescale: let them know when you’re looking to start work, and they’ll bear this in mind when finding opportunities for you

• Creating a profile on a site like LinkedIn makes you more accessible to potential
employers

• Find a job you love: you will be more productive at work, and much happier

– Andi

This is the first of a 2-part series of blog posts on this excellent open day. The next
instalment features the BBC Archive, Mishcon de Reya, Morgan Stanley and the LSE Library!
Primary editor: Andi Glover

Visit to Christ’s College Library, Emily Delahaye

This is part of a series of blog posts on the recent trip to Cambridge that we organised. On the 17th of May, we got up very early in the morning, to board the X5 from Oxford to Cambridge, in order to meet up with the Cambridge University Library Trainees! After what felt like a million roundabouts in Milton Keynes, we arrived and promptly went to Tatties Café, so that we could get a caffeine boost for a day full of walking and touring.

I am going to talk about the library at Christ’s College, where the lovely trainee Lucy gave us a tour and discussed what it was like to work in the college. As we were visiting during exam time, we had to be very quiet! Lucy told us about how the library staff were trying to support the students as much as possible – one of the ways they are doing this is through ‘Squash O’clock’. Every day at 3.30pm the librarians ring a bell to let students know that they have laid out squash and biscuits for them to come and enjoy. This seems like a great way to help with exam stress!

Students can use the facilities 24/7, and borrow books for two weeks. The library caters to the courses taught at Christ’s, with the aim to have all of the required texts for undergraduates. Similarly to other college libraries that I have visited, the library also has a more general interest collection – this includes fiction, travel guides and DVDS.

Christ’s College Library is also special in that it also has one of the largest collections of sheet music in Cambridge that students are able to borrow. One of the most unusual things that students can also borrow is a skeleton, to help with studying anatomy!

 

The Old Library at Christ's College
The Old Library at Christ’s College

After visiting the working library of Christ’s, Lucy then took us into the Old Library. This dates back to 1505, when the college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. Famous alumni of Christ’s College include Charles Darwin and John Milton – the library owns items linked to them, such as first editions of On the Origin of Species and Paradise Lost. It was amazing to be able to see some of the treasures of Christ’s College. In the Old Library, they regularly put on exhibitions so that readers can see some of Christ’s special items. Lucy told us about how she is working on the next exhibition which will highlight the relationship between the college and America.

We all had a great day in Cambridge, because each of the libraries that we visited was so interesting and because it was nice to meet up again with other trainees who do very similar things to us. Thank you again for having us, Lucy, Meriel, Emily, Charlotte and Harriet!

Visit to Oxford Central Public Library, Emily Delahaye

This week, we were invited to Oxford Central Library to meet the library staff there and discover more about the workings of public libraries. Many of us have never worked in a public library before, so it was great to see another type of library, which was simultaneously similar and different to our own libraries.

First, we visited the children’s section of the library. This is an amazing resource for the children of Oxford – with the arrival of the era of self-service machines, the librarians have been able to cut down on the size of the help desk, meaning that there is more space in which children can read and play. We heard about how the library staff hold ‘rhyme time’ sessions here for the children, which involve singing and stories, and which go down very well with the audience. In response to the multicultural population of Oxford, the library has also held story time sessions in different languages, ranging from French to Czech, which have proved popular too.

Next, we visited the music library, which is very well stocked and even contains a piano, for readers to use and on which to try out sheet music! The library has a large number of scores that it loans to local choirs in Oxford, as well as play scripts, CDs, and books on music and musicians.

After that, we entered the main section of Oxford Central Library. When the self-issue machines came in, the librarians were also able to revamp this section. In the atrium, there are new book displays, designed by the company ‘Opening the Book’, which specialises in creating library furniture that will make the books it holds more attractive to readers, for example by displaying certain books’ covers, instead of their less artistic spines. The library chose to move many of its popular items into this new section in the atrium. This was so that during the peak lunchtime hours, readers would be able to pop in and find something interesting to take away, instead of having to go deep into the library.

During the tour we heard about how the Oxfordshire libraries operate in tandem – readers can borrow books from one library in Oxfordshire, and then return them to a different one, if that is more convenient. While this creates more work in transporting books, it makes life much easier for the readers around the county. This is similar to our libraries in the university – even though readers can’t return books from a different university library to another, we still need to communicate with each other all the time and work inside a much larger team, than just that of our specific library.

The main difference between my library and Oxford Central public library was the content, as we specialise in business, management and economics resources, instead of covering a wider range of subjects. We also serve a much narrower type of reader. However, like in the university libraries, Oxford Central library provides both physical and electronic content for readers, so in this way, the method of providing information to readers is similar.

Thank you to Oxford Central Library for having us over for the tour!

Visit to Trinity College Library, Cambridge

On a gloriously sunny Saturday a group of trainees ventured to the Other Place to meet with our Cambridge counterparts and have a nose around their libraries. After a lovely cup of tea, our first visit was to Trinity College, where Harriet Hale, the current trainee, showed us round.

Trinity is the largest of the Cambridge colleges, founded by Henry VIII in 1546. Two existing colleges were combined to form Trinity: Michaelhouse (in existence since 1324) and King’s Hall (originally established by Edward II in 1317). It is stunningly beautiful – if I had been a student there, I’m not sure I would have ever managed to get much work done because I’d have been too busy gazing around in a gormless fashion!

The Wren Library (image from Trinity College Cambridge website: www.trin.cam.ac.uk)

The library can be found on two sides of one of the courts. The Wren Library is situated above the colonnades where Sir Isaac Newton (a member of the college) is said to have conducted experiments on the nature of echoes – quite a claim to fame. It was also interesting to hear how the colonnades were used as a hospital for wounded soldiers in World War 1 – we even got to see some photos showing the rows of beds along the corridors, with the courts simply blocked off by a temporary wall.

We headed first to the working library, which is spread over the Reading Room and Lower Library. Stocking books for all undergrad courses, it was full of hard-working students getting ready for Finals. All loans are issued at the desk by humans, and they have a large team of librarians to keep on top of this. As well as books and journals, there is a large selection of DVDs available to borrow, and it certainly seemed to be a very busy and popular library. We had a quick peek down in the Stacks as well, which were lovely and clean (something I’m not used to) and contained some rather unusual holdings: a collection of skeletons and even a couple of brains that students can borrow!

(Image taken by Lucy Woolhouse)
(Image taken by Lucy Woolhouse)

We then moved on to the ridiculously impressive Wren Library. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren (who also designed much of the furniture within the library), it was completed in 1695, and is simply stunning. It contains the manuscripts and early printed books that made up the collection in 1820, along with other special collections, such as medieval manuscripts, a large section of Sir Isaac Newton’s own library and much more! On display was a First Folio, a beautiful map, some fascinating notebooks belonging to Newton, and A. A. Milne’s manuscript for Winnie the Pooh. A very grand stained-glass window at one end depicts the presentation of Newton to George III (with Francis Bacon looking on approvingly) and there is a rather fabulous marble sculpture of Byron, another alumnus, created by Thorvaldsen and originally intended for Westminster Abbey. However, due to his tendency towards scandalous behaviour, the Abbey refused to accept the statue and so he now gazes down on hard-working students and tourists alike. No sign of his pet bear though…

(Image taken by Lucy Woolhouse)
(Image taken by Lucy Woolhouse)

I really enjoyed the tour of Trinity’s libraries: it was great to see a beautiful example of a special collections library sitting alongside a bustling, working college library. I really liked the way the two were accessible to the college members, and how open the Wren was to non-University visitors – sharing a resource like that sets such a great example. The Union Library is of interest to a great many people from outside the Union, and I am always pleased when people are excited to come and visit it – fostering interest in any kind of library has got to be a good thing in the current climate!

Many thanks to Harriet and her colleagues for letting us invade.

Visit to the House of Commons Library

Hi, I’m Rachel, and alongside Catherine I work as one of the graduate trainees at the Taylor Institution Library. Recently I was lucky enough to be selected to attend an open day at the House of Commons Library, London.

The House of Commons Library
The House of Commons Library, via www.parliament.uk

The library is situated at the heart of the Palace of Westminster, very close to the Commons debating chamber. As a working library it maintains a lending collection of 260,000 monographs, a detailed reference section and a large holding of journals.  Interestingly, thanks to a recent freedom of information request, we know that the two most borrowed books from the library are ‘How to be an MP’ and ‘How Parliament Works’ (I’m not sure whether to be reassured by this or not!).

The House of Commons Library also has a unique role in providing a fully confidential and impartial research service to MPs and their staff. The library employs around 60 subject specialists tasked with carrying out detailed research in response to member’s requests and enquiries. These enquiries cover a huge range of subjects, and can range from a simple question of fact checking (e.g., “What proportion of votes did the Labour candidate receive in the 2013 election of a Borough Councillor for Parbold?”), to more complex and controversial issues (e.g. “What is the evidence for and against the culling of badgers in the British countryside?”). The library describes its major function as ensuring that its readers – our elected representatives – are kept as well informed as possible.

As well as responding to individual requests, the library also produces a selection of pre-prepared information resources. These can be in the form of short “standard notes” that cover the basic information central to an issue or topic, or longer research papers. Staff also produce “debate packs” which are put together in advance of every debate held in the chambers that is scheduled to last for 90 minutes or longer. These packs allow every MP to familiarise themselves with the facts and figures, as well as with the broader debates surrounding an issue. Much of this material is made publicly available online.

One of the most interesting parts of the day was a talk given by Chris Sear, head of customer services, who explained that the library was in the process of creating a new dedicated front of house customer service team to focus more on ‘face to face’ customer support.

That the library chooses to use the term “customer” is interesting. Whilst I am not sure how comfortable I feel with the commercial connotations of the term, its use does place an important emphasis on the quality of a library’s relationships with its readers. A customer is not a passive service user; they are paying for this service (though, in the case of libraries, often indirectly) and therefore expect it to be of a certain standard. In thinking about how to create a positive relationship between library and user, perhaps the concepts of customer service are not a bad place to start.

Chris argued that the first, and in many ways most important, step in achieving good customer service is to identify what those customers actually want. To do this, the library is working hard to collect as much information and feedback from their customers as possible. One interesting and simple measure they had recently taken in response to an identified customer need was to provide facilities for charging mobile phones, and in doing so they found that footfall through the library increased dramatically. Chris also pointed out that there are wider needs that the library tries to cater for.  For example, many of the MPs would like to use the library not only for work but for relaxation. In response to this the library provides plenty of comfortable and informal seating areas, and a selection of journals and books intended for leisure use.

Chris emphasised that it is important to think carefully about who your customers are, and how they access the library. In addition to many readers using the library in person, the House of Commons Library also caters for a large number of constituency-based staff. For these customers, phone and email-based services are essential, and the library actively tries to reach out to them in terms of promoting the services they can provide.

I had a fantastic day at the House of Commons Library and would like to thank Staff Development for funding this visit.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to visit a library which works so differently to one in an academic setting such as the Bodleian and found it particularly interesting to find out more about the role of the librarian-researcher.  If you ever get a chance to visit, go!

Visit to the National Art Library

Although I am undertaking my traineeship at the Law Bod and am hugely enjoying it, my background is actually in Art History and, at the end of last term, I was lucky enough to be able to visit the National Art Library for a private tour and a chance to learn more about the profession of art librarianship.

The library is housed in the wonderful Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington and, having arrived in London a little early on a particularly chilly December morning, I wasted no time in scurrying into this magical place for a quick look around. Established in the 19th century, the collection – which spans over two thousand years and four different continents – is a treasure trove of inspiration and creativity: from fashion and textiles to glass and metalwork; prints, paintings, and photography to sculpture, ceramics, and furniture.

The V&A’s John Madjeski Garden – image courtesy of Edward Hill Photography, via the Victoria & Albert Museum website.

It’s an easy place in which to lose both yourself and your bearings – and I must admit that, in my search for the library entrance, I did spend quite a while wandering around the ironwork galleries in circles and puzzling over floorplans before realising that I was looking for stairs that didn’t actually exist. But I got there in the end, to be greeted by Assistant Librarian Sally Williams and a truly beautiful reading room.

Sally explained that the NAL is a public library that anyone can register to use by applying for a reader’s ticket. This is a straightforward process without the need for formal letters of recommendation or academic credentials (although certain items are restricted), meaning that the library has a reputation for being more friendly and approachable than others of its kind. The library’s welcoming attitude also attracts a wide variety of readers – from curators and academics, to arts professionals and collectors, to students and interested members of the general public.

Like the Law Library here at Oxford, the NAL is reference only – meaning that no books are permitted to leave the reading rooms. Most of the material is stored in closed stacks rather than on open display, and readers are required to order items for consultation either in advance of their visit using the online library catalogue, or on the day by filling out a paper request slip. With the exceptions of the Linder Bequest, Linder Archive and Linder Collection (three groups of material by and relating to Beatrix Potter), the Renier Collection of Children’s Literature, and a large number of other children’s books (all of which are kept in the Victoria & Albert Museum Archives at Blythe House in West London), everything is stored within the library itself and the staff carry out book collections every hour to retrieve requested items. Sally stressed that it can take up to 40 minutes to locate and deliver an item to a reader, so I think she felt a bit better when I told her it can take an entire day here!

The library’s holdings, which consist of over 1 million items, are split into two categories: the General Collection and Special Collections. The first of these spans a variety of formats – such as books, journals, magazines and electronic resources – and includes all key artistic areas covered by the V&A, as well as a broader range of Humanities-based material such as literary and historical works. Two particularly useful features for researchers are the large collections of auction and exhibition catalogues, which can help to provide vital background information regarding the provenance and historical context of specific items. Because the library’s acquisitions remit is so broad, it also holds a number of surprising things: for example, hundreds of back-editions of Vogue (useful for fashion students) and a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio.  The Special Collections continue this broad coverage, and mostly contain items that require extra care for conservation reasons – such as manuscripts or elaborately bound books. For more information about the library’s collections, click here.

The National Art Library's main reading room - image courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum website.
The National Art Library’s main reading room – image courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum website.

Making up one aspect of the V&A’s Word and Image Department (the largest section in the museum), the NAL also functions as the curatorial division for the art of the book. As such, its staff structure – made up of around 40 people – is split into two areas: Collections and Information Services. While the Collections team are concerned primarily with the display and conservation of the physical items themselves, the Information Services team are focused more on front-of-house matters such as reader enquiries and the library’s online presence.

Sally is based in the Information Services department, and a large part of her role includes giving tours and inductions like the one she was kind enough to give me. As part of my session Sally introduced me to Librarian Bernadette Archer, who is also part of the Information Services team and is responsible for tasks including the maintenance of the library’s website and intranet, alongside more specialised projects such as the digitisation of artists’ books. Talking to both Sally and Bernadette was extremely interesting, as my conversations with them highlighted two different views on the best route into art librarianship:

Sally originally trained in textile practice, before going on to work in a museum and obtaining an NVQ in curating. In exactly the same way I’ve done, she then decided to move from the museum sector to the library profession, which is how she came to her position at the NAL and is now being sponsored through an NVQ in Information Studies. Although Sally was quick to admit that hers has been a rather unconventional journey, she was very encouraging of the idea that it’s possible to get into art librarianship at a junior level before undertaking a postgraduate qualification.

Bernadette, however, took the more traditional route of gaining a Masters in librarianship prior to employment in the field and advised that, in her experience, art libraries value a postgraduate qualification from an accredited library school more highly than a background in the arts. I was hugely surprised to learn that, as far as Bernadette knew, none of the staff members at the NAL are trained in Art History!

So, all in all, I came away with a lot of positive guidance to consider. I have since joined the UK branch of the Art Libraries Society (ARLIS UK) in order to further my knowledge and current awareness of the field, as well as to receive information on job vacancies and events. I have also been researching City University’s MA in Information Studies in the Cultural Sector, which looks incredibly interesting and is definitely something I would like to consider in the future.*

Many thanks to Emma Sullivan and Tamsyn Prior from the Bodleian Staff Development team for helping me to arrange this visit, and to Sally Williams and Bernadette Archer at the NAL for sparing the time to tell me a bit about what they do.

*Edit 01/04/2014: Since writing this post I have been informed by City University that, unfortunately, the MA in Information Studies in the Cultural Sector is being discontinued.

St John’s College Library Tour

Image
The Old Library

This week, we had a Monday morning treat in the form of our first trainee-led library tour. Joanne welcomed us into St John’s with a bit of historical background, describing the college’s foundation by a wealthy Merchant Taylor and its staunch loyalty to the Royalist cause during the Civil Wars. In fact, finding images of King Charles I in and around the library took on a distinctly Where’s Wally feel after a while!

We were welcomed in and asked to stow our bags safely behind the desk: in contrast to most of the reading rooms we saw on the Bod tour, the librarians are the main form of book detectors here. Then it was onwards into the Paddy Room, a light and spacious area with open shelves holding the library’s science, social sciences and DVD collections.

Upstairs provided a striking change of scene with the Old Library, complete with a laser security system (which Joanne managed to disable for us with her secret library ninja ways). One of the other librarians, Stewart Tiley, then treated us to a hands-on display of some of the manuscripts and early printed books. These works were passed around very gingerly! As we walked through we took in some of the display on the Seven Deadly Sins organised by Joanne’s predecessor; who knew Jane Austen would be one of the guilty party?

Image
The Laudian Library

We then passed into the Laudian Library, named after Charles I’s archbishop. As well as holding modern humanities works and providing an atmospheric workspace for readers, this room housed yet more special collections.

We saw a botched piece of royal propaganda, a tiny New Testament written in indecipherable shorthand and a Renaissance horoscope. Some of the more bizarre curios included a macabre walking stick used by Laud right up until his execution,  while Stewart suggested the reinstatement of the skeletons which used to flank the door. And to keep up the Charles I quota, there was an image of the king composed of a psalm in miniscule handwriting.

Finally, we got to take a peek into the archives, which offered a mix of the modern and the unique. St John’s is very lucky to hold collections of papers previously belonging to Robert Graves and Spike Milligan. What better way to finish a visit by looking at the Milligan’s illustration of Fluffybum the cat?

Tour of the Bodleian Library

Last Tuesday we had our second trainee get together when we were treated to a tour of the Bodleian library, the Radcliffe Camera and the Gladstone Link, as well as a wine reception at the Divinity School. It was very exciting seeing behind the scenes at these grand libraries!

Old School Quad
Old School Quad

As there are quite a few of us, we separated into two groups and our tours took different routes. In my group we looked around the Bodleian reading rooms first. We heard from our excellent guide all about how books are sent from the remote storage facility in Swindon (which we will be visiting this year!), and the different ways readers can collect their requests once they have arrived in Oxford. We then headed outside to see the Radcliffe Camera (currently undergoing some construction) and travelled back to the Bod underground through the Gladstone Link. I really liked the reader space in the Link, which was very modern compared to the reading rooms in the Bod and the Camera, but which still had the traditional stacks, designed by William Gladstone himself.

The Bodleian Library at Sunset
The Bodleian Library at Sunset

Afterwards, we went to a reception in the Divinity School, the university’s first purpose-built teaching room which was constructed in 1488. We were joined by senior members of the Bodleian library staff and were given a very warm welcome. The librarians present all wished us well for the coming year and were very encouraging!

 

Reflections on the Oxford-Cambridge College Libraries’ Conference

On Monday, some of the trainees had the opportunity to step into the alternate universe that is Cambridge. The structural similarity of Oxford and Cambridge means that a lot of useful comparison and discussion can occur amongst the universities’ college libraries. Even within a group of ostensibly similar institutions, the conference really highlighted how different each college library is, in terms of number of staff, scope of the collection, integration into wider college life, service to external readership—hearing the excellent papers and speaking with library staff throughout the day demonstrated the enormous energy and passion with which all the college libraries meet, exceed, and expand expectations on a daily basis.

Below are reflections on some of the many fascinating aspects of the day!

Katherine Steiner (Law Library):

One of the talks was by Amelie Roper, Charlotte Byrne and Steven Archer on ‘Unlocking the Old Library at Christ’s College, Cambridge’. They told the story of challenging their college’s expectations about the Old Library, built in the 19th-century and housing many unique and precious items in a 25,000-strong collection dating from the 11th-century onwards, a few of which were donated by the College’s re-founder Lady Margaret de Beaufort. Amelie, Charlotte and Steven explained that the Old Library was previously accessible only upon request, but now they have opened it to the public three afternoons a week and are holding exhibitions and outreach events there on a regular basis. As well as the obvious benefits of increased numbers of people seeing the treasures of Christ’s (their statistics record the considerable footfall), they have really helped to integrate the Old Library’s history into the life of the college again, so that now guest lectures and college events are planning receptions held in the Old Library. This in turn makes it more likely that the college will respect the uniqueness of the collection, and perhaps find some money for further exploration of it (much of it is in ArabTiny books at Christ'sic and other non-Latin scripts). I was very interested to hear about the interweaving of college and library, as well as the exciting ideas for exhibitions (including non-book items), the team at Christ’s’ foray into social media (they have a blog specifically about the Old Library, and a twitter and facebook page), and their great online guide to the Old Library.

Later in the day, I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the library itself, which did not disappoint. The Working library (built in 1974 and home to undergraduate texts, reading room space, computers etc) holds about 80,000 volumes on 3 floors, as well as a real skeleton. Among some of the items on display in the Old Library were notebooks by alumnus William Paley (known for his version of the design argument for the existence of God), a beautiful 15th-century illuminated copy of Euclid’s Elements in Latin, and some of Charles Darwin’s correspondence. Seeing some of these books and papers made me even more appreciative of the staff’s efforts in opening the place to the public – it is definitely worth a visit!

Olivia Cross (Oxford Union):

Being the trainee at the Oxford Union Library, it was fascinating to be given a tour of the Cambridge Union. The Librarian showed me and my two colleagues around the building and we soon noticed similarities and differences to our own beloved Union! The Cambridge Union similarly functions as a private members club, it houses many student debates and invites famous speakers to give talks to its members. Like the Oxford Union, it is an organization that is headed by students. Many of the rooms in the Union are very similar to ours, including the bar, snooker room and the debating chamber. One difference is that the Cambridge Union is in fact a registered charity. The best part of the tour (apart from the hot mug of coffee in their comfortable café bar!), was definitely being able to see the Keynes Library. Although it is a lot smaller than our Library, it is a lovely working space and provides many useful texts for its members. We were told that the South Wing of the Library was severely damaged by a bomb during the Second World War. You could even see holes in some of the books where pieces of shrapnel had pierced the spines and the covers! This tour was a brilliant experience and made the Oxford-Cambridge College Librarians Conference extra special.

Niall Sheekey (St. Hilda’s):

I was particularly interested in the presentation on RFID implementation. Having worked on a large-scale project in a university library previously, I was interested to see how a college library would go about this. As the machines are quite noisy when programming and printing tags it can be quite disturbing for students studying, making the timing of the implementation an important issue. In Birmingham we were able to do much of this in the staff area in the basement or a lesser used area of the library. Colleges are perhaps more hamstrung by perhaps having only one or two reading rooms and obviously shorter staffed. The options included to close the library for a period of three weeks in the summer and use a team of student workers to process the entire collection. This was done in two teams of four, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. My own experience tells me that this is a monotonous, laborious task which requires a high level of accuracy and concentration so attempting to do this in 7/8-hour shifts is not recommended.

RFID technology is relatively new and impressive, and students were surprised by the ease of use. If looking to move to self-issue, 24-hour access or extended opening hours it is a more preferable option than the traditional magnetic strip, which is going out of date. The RFID tag can combine catalogue information as well as security settings. Some other advantages over this system included the decrease in false alarms that the old desensitising self-issue system caused, making student use easier and saving staff time from investigating these. However, if moving from this system to RFID tags it is important to deactivate old tags as they still might register if brought into other libraries. Stocktaking can also be performed without removing books from the shelf with the aid of a hand-held scanner that can read the tags by being waved across the spines (“Magic,” according to some students). Advanced settings can even tell if the books are in order!

Some other suggestions/considerations included running demos with a mixture of students, academics, IT and other staff to ensure that the machines are user-friendly. If planning RFID implementation it is important to consider the installation and long-term costs, such as annual maintenance. It was noted that the attractiveness of the system and the benefits for students and staff should justify the budget for such a project.

The trip to Gonville and Caius was very pleasant and we had the chance to view the gorgeous Lower Library containing a display of early printed books, manuscripts and oddly a logbook of the wagers placed between college members over the years– Examples, whether there were more than 50 members in college at that time or that England would be at peace within a month (dated December 1914!).  The Upper Library containing the undergraduate collection was just as spectacular, combining beautiful arched double-height ceilings and cathedralesque windows illuminating the long, narrow reading room with the added bonus of sockets at every desk, which beautiful old libraries are unfortunately not always able to provide.

All in all, we returned from “the other place” unscathed and got to interact and network with our fellow trainees and other library staff.

 

The Great Bodleian Tour 2012

Tower of the Five Orders

On Tuesday 11th September the graduate trainees of 2012/13 were invited for a tour of the Bodleian, followed by a wine reception. We were met by Vanessa Corrick and Kate Petherbridge in the Old Quad, where we tried not to look too much like tourists and, ironically for a group of wannabe librarians, were shushed by the diligent Quad patrols…­

We worked our way up myriad staircases until we reached the impressive Special Collections room where the Bodleian’s rare books are housed, then creaked and squeaked our way through the reading rooms (the silence really augments any footfalls, and a gaggle of graduate trainees trooping through raised a few heads from books!)

The History Faculty’s new home

In the Radcliffe Camera, we were confronted by empty shelves in the upper level. A major shift of the History Faculty’s entire stock meant that we were present at one of the few times that a room in the Bodleian would be seen in such a bookless state; the shelves are awaiting the History department’s books, currently being reclassified. It is hard to believe that the entire space will be filled before 0thweek, but staff are optimistic that everything will be ready in time for the students’ arrival. It was a good example of the dedication and hard work of librarians behind-the-scenes to ensure that they are ready to provide their customers with a timely service.

After the tour it was time for wine and nibbles and mingling with library staff from all around Oxford, who were only too happy to explain their routes into the profession and to provide the trainees with sage advice. Mike Heaney, Executive Secretary at the Bodleian, welcomed us all and assured us that we were at the start of a great year ahead: something that everyone was happy to raise a glass to!

Some of the trainees in the Old Schools Quad, joined by the Earl of Pembroke!