The Value of the Oxford Library Graduate Trainee Scheme – Margaret Watson

Posted on 28 July 2016 by Lee Colwill — No Comments ↓

The Value of the Oxford Library Graduate Trainee Scheme: Margaret Watson’s keynote address at the Trainee Showcase, Headley Lecture Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, 15 July 2016

I was very glad to be invited to speak to this subject on this occasion, because I’ve experienced the Graduate Trainee programme both as a trainee and as a supervisor, and also as a librarian who has seen what our trainees have gone on to contribute to the profession, to academia and to wider society.

I started out as a Graduate Trainee in Oxford in 1981. So far as I can remember, there were trainees that year at Christ Church, the English Faculty Library, the Bodleian (two of them), St Hilda’s and – my own post – at St Anne’s. Pretty much all of us planned to go to University College, London (UCL), which was the ‘go-to’ course for the humanities in those days. I was phenomenally lucky to be at St Anne’s: at the time, it was one of the better paid posts (there seemed to be a negative correlation between the wealth of the institution and the trainee’s salary), and there were free lunches and even free cakes for tea. However the best thing about it was that I worked with two professional librarians, in a library that had been organized by a professional librarian. That organizing librarian had been Lady Richmond, whom I remembered from when I was a little girl growing up in North Oxford as a very tiny old lady, and indeed the catalogue drawers were at a very low-level. It wasn’t until 15 years later, after I joined the Bodleian, that I really understood what Lady Richmond had done for St Anne’s, when Sue Miles the Bodleian’s Head of English and Foreign Cataloguing told me that Lady Richmond had worked in public libraries and took the view that the same principles that lay behind the efficient running of a public library could equally usefully be applied to a college library.

Summaries of Showcase Talks

Posted on 28 July 2016 by Lee Colwill — No Comments ↓

If anyone’s wondering about the sort of work the trainees get up to during their year in Oxford, below are the summaries of the talks we gave at the Showcase. Slides from the presentations can be found on Slideshare. Due to technical issues, Clare Hunter’s presentation has been uploaded as a separate file.

Read more Summaries of Showcase Talks ›

Graduate Trainee Showcase – Lee Colwill

Posted on 21 July 2016 by Lee Colwill — No Comments ↓

This year’s Graduate Trainee Showcase was held at the Ashmolean’s Headley Lecture Theatre. In previous years, it’s been held in the training rooms at Osney, but the Ashmolean benefitted from being a space specifically designed for conferences, as well as being in a central location, which probably upped the attendance.

CC BY Image courtesy of Newton2 on Wikipedia.

Full disclosure, I was one of this year’s organisers, and I’m trying very hard to steer away from being too self-congratulatory, but as far as I’m aware, everything went pretty well on the day, and everyone seemed happy (although that may have been down to the Ashmolean’s excellent catering). We won’t talk about the 15 minutes of pure panic where it looked like the presentation remote I’d brought wasn’t going to connect to the computer. Or the bit where trying to change between presentations caused the entire computer to freeze up for five minutes.

Graduate Trainee Showcase 2015 – The Programme

Posted on 20 July 2015 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

When the email came round asking for two trainees to organise the Showcase, Hannah and I volunteered without really knowing what we were letting ourselves in for! It turned out to be a great experience and, despite a few nagging emails, not as stressful or as complicated as we feared.

As part of our planning we decided it would be nice to have a programme to give out on the day. Sadly Hannah’s idea of black and white headshots like a theatre programme never did come to fruitition! However, we did get each Trainee to write a short paragraph on their highlights of the year and their future plans which I have included below. Enjoy!

Emily Chen – Digital Archivist Programme
I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year! I’ve loved learning how all the different parts of the library (many of them parts I didn’t even know about!) work together. A few of the highlights of my year were: my colleagues who are all amazing to work with; participating in workshops and talks and seeing how readers use our unique collections; and the variety of projects, big and small that we’ve had a chance to work on. Next year I will be continuing with my traineeship and hopefully applying everything I’ve learned and finishing my professional qualification.

Lydia Wright – Sackler Library
With my background in Arabic and Eastern Art I could not have spent my graduate trainee year in a better place than at the Sackler Library. The Sackler has almost an entire floor dedicated to Eastern Art and as well as helping out with this collection I have used my language skills to assist with the cataloguing of Arabic and Persian material. However one of the best aspects of doing my traineeship at the Sackler has been the variety of experience I have gained both at the front desk and behind the scenes, always supported by an amazing team and a constant supply of cake, biscuits and cheese. In the future I hope to go on to work specifically with my academic area of interest, becoming more involved with cataloguing, special collections and subject specialist tasks.

Bethan Watkins – Taylor Bodleian Slavonic & Modern Greek Library
My highlight of the year has been learning about how a library is run, both through my experiences at work in both TABS and Taylor Institution, and through our training. I will study Information Management part-time at UWE, and will be working in Bristol.

Yannis Choupas – Taylor Institution Library
Having already worked in libraries for more than a year before starting the traineeship, the highlight of my trainee year was the freshers’ inductions back in October. Their lack of awareness of basic things, such as shelfmarks, was a powerful reminder of the value of the librarian’s role; I learnt to not take anything for granted when answering readers’ enquiries. (By the way, most of the freshers have made excellent progress in finding their way through the Taylorian labyrinth by now!) In August, I am returning to Greece, hoping eventually to be able to do the masters by distance learning.

Jamie Stokes – Sainsbury Library (Said Business School)
The highlight of my trainee year has simply been working with a genuinely wonderful team, each member of which has been generous, supportive and excellent by nature. Being given the responsibility to work on both my own and joint projects throughout the year, in between a large amount of face time with students and other patrons on the enquiry desk, has been invaluable in reinforcing and refining my future plans. Next year I’m heading to University College London to study the MA in Library and Information Studies course full time.

Hannah Hickman – History Faculty Library
This year has been a really enriching experience and I’ve loved being a part of the Radcliffe Camera team. Attending the Committee for Library Provision and Strategy in History was a real highlight for me – it was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the ways in which the Library and Faculty work together to support student learning. I am going on to a role in community engagement at University of Warwick Library, and hope to pursue an MA the following year.

Michelle Cook – Codrington Library (All Souls College)
The past year has been very interesting, and I have most enjoyed working alongside people in such diverse roles and from varied academic backgrounds. It has allowed me to learn by observation about different facets of librarianship, including conservation, law librarianship, and the cataloguing of a wide range of materials including modern books, serials, early printed books, manuscripts and archival collections. The highlight of the year happened in the period of time when Dr Mir Ansari was cataloguing the Codrington’s Persian manuscripts. His work allowed us to learn about a previously enigmatic collection. More specifically, however, whilst perusing the books at the end of one workday, and to our great excitement, we discovered small paper stencils between the leaves of MS 373 used to create illustrations in another unidentified manuscript! I will be starting the MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL in September, taking modules on historical bibliography and cataloguing. I would like to follow rare books librarianship, specialising in antiquarian and special collections cataloguing.

Tom Cullimore – St John’s College Library
It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to research, describe and promote items from the St John’s College special collections, a rare, diverse and fascinating resource for any kind of historian. I will take this experience into a librarianship MA at the University of Sheffield, where I will endeavour to explore the field in greater detail and depth.

Rebecca Wray – Social Science Library
While helping readers with varied, weird and wonderful queries has been my favourite part of my trainee post, my highlight has to be all the fantastic training and trips I have had the opportunity to attend. From visiting the vast BSF, to talks from book sellers, voice training, and tours of all sorts of Oxford libraries. I loved our day in London where I got to visit the Natural History Museum Library! Next, I’m going to be working at the Cairn’s Library (which we also got to visit!) up at the JR Hospital and studying for my Masters via distance-learning through Aberystwyth University.

Sarah Arkle – English Faculty Library
I would say that the highlight of my trainee year has been being part of a really nice team that have been really pleasant to work with. Everyone’s been really supportive of me and responsive to my ideas and I’ve been allowed to get involved with lots of different things. The rest of the team really made the EFL a fantastic environment in which to be a trainee. I’ve really enjoyed being allowed to pursue my own projects alongside my more regular duties, which is largely thanks to the encouragement and support of my colleagues. I’m going to be incredibly sad to leave the EFL, but after the traineeship ends, I’ll be moving back up north in September to start my MA in Librarianship at The University of Sheffield, which I’m very much looking forward to.

Ceri Ashwell – Social Science Library
At the SSL I have been very fortunate to get involved in a wide variety of tasks but my highlight has been working on the front line in reader services. I started just one month before the new academic year commenced and it was great to get to know the regulars and help the new readers with what they thought were ‘obvious questions’. They didn’t realise that they were actually helping me to learn too; inadvertently providing me with extra training. These ‘new’ readers are now the regulars who ask more involved queries which I am (mostly) able to answer. There’s always the chance to learn more! It’s been a great experience to have developed with the readers in this way. I hope it’s a feeling I have the chance to experience elsewhere. Currently my future plans aren’t certain. I won’t be taking the masters course next year but I am aiming to find library work in another city and hope to start the masters in September 2016.

Andi Glover – Law Library
I’m Andi, and my trainee post at the Law Library was very varied, with experience of both reader and technical services; as well as finally getting to use my German A-Level, working with EU law textbook catalogues. I’ve applied to UCL for their MA in LIS, and my particular areas of interest are cataloguing and the history of the book. The highlight of my trainee year was volunteering in Rare Books. This included processing a 17th century work on magic and medicine, a meeting with the Weston’s incunabula expert Alan Coates, and learning not to be too alarmed when an old leather binding starts flaking a little in your hand (just extra careful!) At the Law Library, I particularly enjoyed contacting Continental publishing firms for a serials claims project; one publisher even sent me a lovely postcard of an avant-garde clown.

Duncan Jones – Bodleian Library
The highlight of my trainee year has been the chance to work at the Main Enquiry Desk and to deal with the great variety of enquiries that pass through it. I also really enjoyed volunteering at the Weston opening weekend and getting to tell the public about the libraries. What’s next is still up in the air but I’d like to start studying towards my MA and keep working in libraries!

Harriet Costelloe – Digital Archivist Programme
The highlight of my trainee year has to be meeting and working alongside Emily and my other colleagues. This is because having someone to run things past, collaborate with, and, obviously, take tea-breaks with has made me feel settled and competent much more quickly. I am really looking forward to another year at the Weston Library where my role will focus more heavily on acquisitions and funding, outreach initiatives and cataloguing literary collections, alongside my continuing responsibilities of webarchiving and processing digital material.

Sam Hughes – Law Library
It is difficult to choose a highlight of my time as a trainee as there are many positive aspects to the role. I really enjoy the challenge of finding material in answer to more obscure requests but I also appreciate the variety of tasks that come my way including creating a libguide, Moys reclassification, clerking a Moot, conducting SOLO usability testing and I have even written a blog entry for SLA and been on Twitter. I am delighted to be staying on at the Law Library for another 12 months during the refurbishment works and I am going to start a distance learning library and information management MA in September.

Graduate Trainee Showcase 2015

Posted on 17 July 2015 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

The Trainee Showcase gives trainees the opportunity to deliver a presentation on a project they have undertaken or a particular aspect of work enjoyed during the year.

This year Becca (from the SSL) and Hannah (from the HFL) were the hosts. We were joined by colleagues as well as ex-trainees who came to talk to the group about their experiences after the traineeship.

We’d like to thank everyone who came to support us or impart their knowledge and wisdom of what happens next!

It’s fair to say that the majority of us were quite nervous about going up to present but everyone did a great job and the mix of people in attendance created a great atmosphere!

Here’s a run down of the day:

9.30-9.40 – Welcome!

9.40-9.50 – Emily Chen, Workshop with History and English department students about discovering the authors of anonymous travel diaries through contextual clues
9.50-10.00 – Hannah Hickman, Finding books, surveying students
10.00-10.10 – Jamie Stokes, The Oxford Futures Library – Creating the Art Kleiner Archive Catalogue
10.10-10.20 –Rebecca Wray, Social Science Social Media
10.20-10.30 – Andi Glover, Blues and 852s – Organising and Barcoding a Series of Police Reports

10.30-10.50 – Coffee break!

10.50-11.00 – Ceri Ashwell, ORLiMS: Designing the logo
11.00-11.10 – Yannis Choupas, Creating an online Shelfmark Locator for a labyrinthine library: the work so far

11.10-11.30 – Guest Speaker: Verity Westgate, Bodleian Libraries
11.30-11.50 – Guest Speaker: Charlie Lythgoe, Oxford Brookes
11.50-12.10 – Guest Speaker: Niall Sheekey, Harris Manchester College Library
12.10-13.00 – Lunch!

13.00-13.10 – Sam Hughes, General Year in Review
13.10-13.20 – Duncan Jones, Redesigning/rebranding the Bodleian notices and signs
13.20-13.30 – Bethan Watkins, Preventing book damage
13.30-13.40 – Harriet Costelloe, Cataloguing the papers of the Tilling Society

13.40-14.10 – Break out!

14.10-14.20 – Micha Cooke, #digital: a survey of manuscript viewers in the digital humanities
14.20-14.30 – Tom Cullimore, Leaving Out: Curating livres d’artiste in St John’s College Library
14.30-14.40 – Lydia Wright, A Collection in Review: Bringing the Sackler’s Eastern Art Periodical Collection Up-to-Date

14.40-14.50 – Thanks!

Finally…a little picture collage. Including (maybe) the first Graduate Trainee Showcase selfie! Yes!

Organising the Trainee Showcase (Part Two), Emily Delahaye

Posted on 28 July 2014 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

Anja has already covered the getting started process in her blog post, so I’ll cover what tasks I tackled and my experience of the day!

What did I do?

1. Finding Guest Speakers

I took responsibility for finding guest speakers from the world of library and information management in Oxford for the showcase. Anja and I decided that we wanted to have speakers that had previously been trainees, as they would be able to give us good advice on what to do once we had finished our year here. To find some suitable people I looked through the graduate trainee blog and also LinkedIn.

We were very lucky to have three guest speakers at the event – Alice Nelson, the librarian at Hertford College, Helen Matthews, the assistant librarian at Nuffield College and Laura Cracknell, the librarian at Pembroke College. They decided amongst themselves to cover in turn; what the traineeship was like, what postgraduate study involves and then career advice for after the traineeship and the course.

2. Blog posts

Unfortunately, not all of the trainees were able to attend the showcase. In order that there was still a record of what they achieved visible at the event, I emailed non-attending trainees to request that they write a blog post about their project and their year at Oxford. At the event, we displayed these blog posts on some of the computers, so that the showcase guests could see the wide variety of projects we had this year. You can see their posts below.

3. Collecting the presentations

In order to make the day run as smoothly as possible I collated all of the trainees’ presentations beforehand, so that they could be accessed on the same USB stick. This avoided needing to plug in 13 different sticks/access 13 different email accounts on the day. I just had to be careful to not forget the USB stick in the morning!

4. Planning in the immediate run-up to the event

Anja and I got together shortly before the showcase to plan the practicalities of the day itself. Luckily, we had some volunteers to help us on the day – Eóin Davies, Diana Hackett and Emma Jones! We worked out when we needed to arrive to set up, go down to collect the tea and coffee urns, and then the lunch, how many people we needed to send to carry these things and how we would clear away for the next event. I also planned what we would say to start the day, introduce the guest speakers, and close the day. Thanks to our planning, the day itself went surprisingly smoothly!

Key Skills

Before the showcase, I didn’t have much experience of presenting information in front of strangers, so this was a challenge. I knew that I needed to try to make what I was presenting interesting and relevant, so I thought a lot about my audience when writing my speech. I practiced a lot so that I didn’t need to check my cue cards too much as well. As I was presenting on something close to me, it was easy to be enthusiastic! The showcase has introduced me to making formal presentations on my work, which I’m sure will be handy further down the line.

Like Anja, I also feel that organising the showcase has also given me some new skills. It’s been great to work so closely in a team, corresponding through email and on the phone as our libraries are in opposite sides of town. We’ve had to plan ahead, divide tasks, manage our time well and liaise with lots of different people – all this has given us a taste of what organising an event can involve.

How do I think it went?

Pretty well, I think! I really enjoyed seeing all of the presentations, hearing what the guest speakers had to say and meeting lots of new people over coffee and lunch. It was interesting to hear about what everyone had achieved this year, after hearing snippets about people’s projects at training sessions.

Overall, I’ve had a really great year in Oxford, and I feel that I’ve learnt a lot in my library! This Autumn I am going on to study for an MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL, which I’m excited about. It’s been a pleasure to meet all the other trainees, a few of whom I will be seeing at UCL 

Organising the Trainee Showcase, Anja Badock

Posted on 28 July 2014 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

Each year the traineeship at Oxford ends with a Showcase where all of the trainees have the opportunity to speak about their experience as a trainee at their library. This can be about a particular project they have been involved in or more generally about what they have learnt and enjoyed about the year.

This year I organised the Showcase along with Emily Delahaye from the Sainsbury Library. I must admit to having been a little nervous when I heard I would be expected to present in front of an audience as I’m sure were many of my peers. This is why when an email was circulated asking for volunteers to organise the event I decided to get involved. Not only would it be a good chance to gain experience of organising an event (which is something I had never done before), but I figured that by being involved in the planning stages I would feel more confident on the day. I am pleased to say that I think my theory worked. I still felt a bit nervous when I stepped up to present, but I came away from the day feeling really proud of myself and I know that when I need to present in front of a large group again in the future, it will seem less intimidating.

Getting Started

I could talk for much longer about my experience of presenting, but I really want to talk to you about my experience of organising the Trainee Showcase. Knowing where to begin when we first started organising the event was quite daunting. We were lucky, however, to have the assistance of Tamsyn from the Staff Development department who explained how the Showcase has worked in previous years and helped us get a sense of the different tasks we would be responsible for organising.

Once we had a general impression about what the Showcase entailed, we started out by agreeing upon a few key things:

– What we needed to do

– Who would do what

– When things needed to be completed

Making these decisions straight away made the rest of the process run very smoothly. By dividing up responsibilities we were able to share the workload so that the Showcase didn’t take too much time away from our normal jobs. We also made sure to start things off as early as possible so that we wouldn’t be rushing to get everything ready at the last minute. This also had the added bonus that if something unexpected happened (such as Emily or I became ill) we would still have time to get everything ready.

What did I do?

Contacting Trainees

We started off by emailing all of the trainees to give them a basic idea of what the Showcase would be like. Once we had given everyone a chance to think about what they would like to present about, we then contacted the trainees again to ask them for the following information:

– Whether they would be able to attend the Showcase

– What they planned to present about

– A short biography of themselves

– Any dietary requirements for the buffet lunch

The main reason we needed this information was to help us produce a programme of the day that could be sent out to everyone we planned to invite. Knowing how many trainees would be speaking would help us divide up the day evenly and we wanted to add as much detail as possible about each trainee and what they would be speaking about to help our invitees decide which part of the day to come along for if they were unable to attend the entire event.

I created a spreadsheet to record attendance and dietary information and I saved each trainees biographies and presentation information in a folder. This made the information easily accessible when it was needed.

Sending Invitations

When we had received everything we needed from the trainees, we could start creating the programme to be sent out with our invitations. It was quite easy to put the programme together, but it was more difficult to decide on timings. There were a few keys parts of the day that couldn’t be too massively altered such as lunchtime (no one wants lunch at 11.15am), but we were also restricted by the start time as well as the number of trainees we had presenting. After some work, we managed to timetable the day quite well.

Next was to send out invitations. The trainees’ Supervisors were all invited as well as everyone who had spoken to us or trained us over the year. Due to the fantastic and varied training programme offered as part of the Oxford traineeship this was a very large list of people! As with receiving details from the trainees, we needed a central location to record responses. To make this easier, I asked all those invited to contact me, and I created a spreadsheet to record who would be attending and whether they had any dietary requirements.

Organising Catering

We decided to offer a buffet lunch which would allow everyone in attendance to get a chance to circulate and chat with each other. We were conscious that this could be a good opportunity to people to ask questions and share feedback about the presentations we had seen so far.

Using the spreadsheets I created for recording attendance made organising the catering very straightforward. I could easily calculate how many people would require lunch as well as pass on dietary information.

This information had to be passed on to the caterers at least a week before the event which was made easy by the fact that we had contacted the trainees and sent out invitations quite a long time in advance.

Key Skills

Obviously, the main skill needed for running the Showcase was organisation. Emily and I spent time at the start planning what exactly needed to be done and we were able to reach our objectives through good time management.

Looking back at the organisation Emily and I did for the Showcase has made me realise that it was not just all about planning, but communication was also actually a big element. We needed to be able to communicate with each other so that we didn’t become confused or disorganised. We also needed to communicate with our fellow trainees, with those who were invited to the Showcase and with many other people. In these instances, we always tried our best to be friendly and approachable as well as to make our messages clear and informative so that everyone knew what was happening. Image - computer

Another common theme was being able to record information accurately and efficiently. It would have been a real challenge to plan the timings of presentations or know how many chairs to place out in the room if we hadn’t recorded people’s replies clearly.

How do I think it went?

I really enjoyed organising the Trainee Showcase because it taught me a lot about how to plan an event and it has shown me that I am very good at managing my time and strategizing. I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to work closely with Emily which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise because we work in different libraries.

The day itself was a little nerve-wracking, but thanks to the positive audience and our careful preparation before the day, everything ran smoothly and I can even say I enjoyed myself! The trainees all did a fantastic job at presenting. Everyone had clearly taken time to plan a professional presentation and it was a pleasure to discover how varied each of our experiences and projects have been.

Overall, I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to organise the Trainee Showcase. It has taught a lot about event management as well as about my own strengths and weaknesses. If you are ever offered the chance to challenge yourself, as I was in this case, I highly recommend you take it…

Anja Badock, Graduate Trainee, Bodleian Social Science Library

Project Showcase 2012

Posted on 9 July 2012 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

On July 4th, Oxford’s contingent of graduate trainees held a showcase to present the projects we had been working on in our libraries. Each year, most of the trainees choose or are given a project to work on alongside our regular duties. These projects often reflect our particular skills or interests, as well as the needs of the library. Towards the end of the year, two of us (this time Natalie and I) organise the showcase event, and most of the trainees give presentations about our progress to an audience of our supervisors, colleagues and fellow trainees.

There were fifteen presentations this year, covering a range of topics. Some projects focussed on creating videos and libguides to help students use resources or find services. Others compared different Oxford libraries’ rules or signage to offer advice about possible improvements. The reclassification projects made collections easier, quicker and less frustrating to browse. Some of us also worked on making specific resources more available by digitising, cataloguing, creating searchable databases or, in one case, physically finding them!

In addition to the presentations, Emma Sullivan gave a short speech about the benefits of projects, both for us as trainees, and for the libraries. We have a chance to develop skills and experience that will be valuable in our future careers, both from the specific content covered, and also from learning how to plan and implement an extended project. The libraries have a chance to get a project completed that will be of lasting benefit to them, which in turn allows us to feel that we are really part of the library.

The presentations were well received, and the event was enjoyed by all (with the exception of pre-presentation nerves…)

Here is a very brief summary, in alphabetical order, of each trainee’s project:

Vicky Arnold (All Souls) managed to track down some 17^th century Russian maps mentioned very briefly in the library committee’s minutes, but subsequently lost amid the library’s collections.

Lizzie Atkinson (RSL) created video and libguide resources to showcase what the mapmaking and spatial analysis programme ArcGIS can do, and to help students and researchers decide if they need to use it.

Louise Cowan (St Hugh’s) discovered common factors influencing how frequently students disobey library rules, including whether they see the effect that breaking a rule would have on others.

Rebecca Hunt (EFL) used the University archives to research the EFL’s history, creating a booklet, a display and a facebook timeline in preparation for their centenary in 2014.

Charlotte Kelham (Nuffield) catalogued the architects’ plans for Nuffield College, discovering very different pre- and post- World War Two designs.

Liz Kennedy (St Hilda’s) reclassified the library’s linguistics section, using customised Dewey to fit with the existing system and reflect the level of detail needed.

Rebecca Nielsen (futureArch) investigated how to extract and catalogue the video files stored on an outdated type of camcorder cassette called MiniDV.

Emily Nunn (LawBod) reclassified books and ‘spring-cleaned’ their catalogue records as part of the LawBod’s mass reclassification project to adopt the Moys system, which allows law materials to be browsed by subject.

Siobhan O’Brien (Jesus) established a collection development policy and classification system for the library’s collection of books by and about Jesus members.

Natalie O’Keefe (HFL) made short explanatory videos for students (and staff…) to access online, showing how different services will be provided in the HFL’s new location within the Radcliffe Camera.

Laurence Peacock (Taylor Slavonic) took a collection of letters from an Oxford professor’s trip to Germany in 1913, scanned and catalogued them, then created a website to promote them, including a searchable database of the details and images.

Matthew Pocock (Bodleian) integrated a section of LCC books into the reading room’s existing system, planning and implementing a large book move to accommodate the reclassified books.

Stephanie Wales (SSL) reviewed different iPad apps for the social sciences, creating a lib guide of recommendations.

Janine Walker (SSL) investigated how libraries communicate with their readers, making suggestions about improving signage in the physical library space as well as keeping branding consistent online.

Evelyn Webster (Union Society) designed and began building a searchable database to record information about the Union’s debates, officers and famous speakers.

Trainee project showcase – From QEH to LoC: reclassifying pamphlets in the SSL

Posted on 15 July 2011 by ahernm — No Comments ↓

For our trainee project we have been reclassifying the pamphlets in the SSL from an in-house classification scheme to Library of Congress. The pamphlets came over from the International Development Centre at Queen Elizabeth House in 2005 and cover a huge range of topics including constitutional and conference publications, political and economic reports. Some of these pamphlets are actually the only copies held in Oxford and often date back to the 1940’s and 50’s, so altogether they make a really interesting, almost archival collection.

Why was the reclassification needed? We are still using the shelf marks from QEH, whereas the rest of the SSL uses Library of Congress, which is familiar to our readers and they can already navigate it. Also, the boxes were messy, with unequal amounts in them, and were underused. We hope that reclassifying the section will improve their use and accessibility.

After a brief explanation of Library of Congress classification the presentation then shows the steps we go through in order to assign each pamphlet with a new shelfmark. This involves looking at the item’s MARC record to find the subject heading which can then be used to find a relevant shelfmark on Classificationweb. The final part of the shelfmark is then constructed using information taken from the MARC record such as the author’s name and the publication date. Once a new shelfmark has been found we then update the holdings so that the new shelfmark appears on the catalogue. By processing the reclassified pamphlets in the same way and keeping them all in one section we hope that they will be easy for staff and readers to find.

The project has been going really well, and we are making steady progress. We won’t finish the whole section, but we will be passing it on to another member of staff. It has been an enjoyable project, especially getting to read the pamphlets! It’s also been a fantastic opportunity to learn assigning original classification, which is a really useful skill that not everyone has the chance to learn, especially as a graduate trainee.

From QEH to LoC – Lauren & Ruth from Oxford Trainees

View more presentations from Oxford Trainees

Trainee project showcase – Playground of politics: writing a brief history of the Oxford Union

Posted on 15 July 2011 by ahernm — 2 Comments ↓

Here is another of the presentations from Wednesday’s showcase.

It begins with a little history of the Union to give some of the context for presentation. Then you will find some slides about my project, writing a brief history of the Oxford Union to sell in the Library. Finally, for the library admirers among you, I spoke about, and included some pictures of the Old Library and its murals.

If you are reading this, will be working in Oxford in September, and fancy a spot of library tourism, do come along to the Explore visit, organised by Bodleian Libraries Staff Development, to see the murals and hear about the particular issues the library faces, on 20 September.

Project showcase, Catherine Mackay, Oxford Union Library – http://cateatous.wordpress.com/ from Oxford Trainees