Hi everyone!  

As we enter October and the new academic year begins, we thought it was high time that the new batch of trainees said hello. Our first month in Oxford has flown by in a whirl of training sessions and desk duty, and we’re all braced for the imminent chaos and excitement of noughth week. It’s been strange working at a university with no students, but whilst waiting for them to turn up, we’ve certainly been busy! We’ve learnt our way around the libraries (some of which are more complex than others…), processed books, and reviewed many, many reading lists to prepare for the start of Michaelmas term. Over the next year, we plan to keep you well informed about the adventures and mishaps of graduate trainee life, but thought we’d start by introducing ourselves: 

Trainee Introductions: Arts and Humanities

Catherine Birch – Bodleian Library / History Faculty Library 

Hello all! I’m Catherine and I’m one of two trainees in the Bodleian Library. As the Collections trainee, I can usually be found in the History Faculty Library, but the role actually involves working across multiple libraries – more on that later.  

I started university with no clue what I was going to do with a History degree, and I only fully decided on a career in libraries in my final year. I gravitated towards collections work while volunteering in a few different archives in my spare time, where I realised I really liked transcribing and digitising materials. I got a job working in reader services to test the waters, and after a lot of shelving, researching, and scanning, I felt confident that library work was definitely for me. 

Being based in the HFL has been excellent because I’m surrounded by my favourite subject, but even if you aren’t a history buff there’s something for you at the Bodleian. Our holdings include English, Classics, Philosophy, Theology, and more, so there’s no shortage of interesting material. There’s also a study space for every mood, as our site includes the historic Old Bodleian, the underground Gladstone Link, and the iconic Radcliffe Camera. I do already have a favourite, but I’ll never say which… 

I’ve only been working in the HFL a short while now, but I’m enjoying it a lot. There’s a real variety of work to do every day, from processing new acquisitions and creating displays to helping readers use the printer or find a misplaced book. The team have been offering me plenty of useful support and advice, and they’ve been very patient when I ask where the light switches are for the hundredth time. I’m looking forward to finding my confidence and developing new skills through the traineeship, and I’m excited to see what this year has in store! 

Rebecca Cartwright – Bodleian Library / Reader Services 

Hello! I’m Rebecca, one of the two Bodleian Library trainees. While I’m primarily based in Reader Services and spend most of my time in the Old Library, I also pick up work in the Radcliffe Camera and Gladstone Link (which host the History Faculty Library’s undergraduate teaching collections). 

I studied BSc Geography at Lancaster University, during which I completed a placement year. Living and working in the South is all very new to me, let alone in Oxford! Over the years, I’ve worked as an ambassador for my university, in an automotive manufacturer’s Environment Team, and even as an Assessment Coordinator for a major education company. However, the extent of my experience working in libraries is volunteering one hour a week at my sixth form college library. Librarianship has always appealed to me, but it wasn’t until I graduated that I began to seriously consider it.  

Over the course of my degree, I developed an interest in data. So much so, that my dissertation was a data synthesis project using Python, where I examined trends in the carbon intensity of global primary energy (thrilling stuff, I know). I graduated with a whole host of skills—from research and report writing, to customer service and administration—and after some soul-searching realised maybe a career in libraries was possible after all. Enter: the Bodleian Libraries Graduate Trainee scheme. 

While there has been a lot of information to absorb (and a few trials by fire), my first month has flown by. There are some major changes taking place at the moment, so it’s an exciting time to be working at the Bodleian. Working on the Main Enquiries Desk three days a week gives me the opportunity to engage with readers and exercise my problem-solving skills. Besides this, it’s varied work and you never stop learning. Can’t wait to see what chaos awaits in Michaelmas!

Olly Marshall – Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library 

Hello- I’m Olly and I’m the new trainee in the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library (better known simply as Art).  

My background doesn’t lie in art, archaeology OR the ancient world, but in environmental science; I graduated this summer from the University of the West of England with my BSc. In my final year I wrote my dissertation on how coal has been represented in British art and I developed an interest in art history and criticism through that.  

Other than briefly volunteering in a public library for my bronze Duke of Edinburgh award (which I did not complete…) my only experience in libraries is as a reader. Last summer I did an internship at Kew Gardens Herbarium re-curating the fern specimen collection, and learnt a lot about classification systems, considering users when managing collections and I made good use of the amazing library in the herbarium! Here someone suggested to me that I consider a career in libraries and I liked the idea a lot. 

It’s early days in my traineeship and I’ve already learnt so much! I’ve issued, returned and shelved a lot of books, helped a lot of readers find items in our confusing classification systems, made new book displays, completed some minor book repairs, traversed many flights of stairs and become very distracted by our collections – this happens most in our second-floor art collections and ancient coin materials in the Haverfield Room. I also swap with Jules to work in the Taylor Institute Library a few times a week, because I can’t get enough of confusing collections and stairs.  

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the wonderful team here in the humanities libraries and I’m looking forward to the rest of my year- though nervous for the chaos of the start of Michaelmas!

Jules McGee-Russell – The Taylor Institution Library

Hello world (and future trainees probably reading this blog)! I’m Jules, my pronouns are they/them, and I’m the trainee this year at the Taylor Institution Library. 

I graduated from Newcastle University with a Combined Honours degree in English Literature, Spanish and Latin American Studies, and Chinese in 2021 – which feels like forever ago! I graduated thinking I’d go into journalism, publishing, or marketing, and completely wasn’t expecting to fall in love with library work.  

I first volunteered in my college library during A-Levels for my silver DofE award, but in 2023 I found myself a casual job in the library I visited weekly as a child. Working in public libraries completely shifted my career goals, and I found a true passion! Two years later, I had worked in six libraries across West Sussex, from a small lone-working library to the second largest in the county. I decided I wanted to become a librarian. 

Many google searches later, I came across this blog, and the Graduate Trainee programme here at the Bodleian libraries. I was thrilled to accept the position here at the Taylor, the exact library I had put on my vision board months before.  

I’m still finding my feet within the Oxford University system – it has only been a few weeks after all! Things work very differently here to public libraries (what is a Michaelmas and why does it have a week -1?). The Taylor is two beautiful buildings mushed together, with the spiral staircases to match. It also has a plethora of both old classifications and newer Library of Congress classification all in the same places. At the moment, I’m looking forward to shadowing the Assessment Team, and getting my teeth into my own project over the course of the year – if I can get through student inductions that is!