If there’s one thing that appears to unite all library people, it’s a love of cake…
One of the great things about the traineeship with the Bodleian Libraries, is that you have a network of other trainees for support both socially and professionally. This year there are 18 of us all together, and this means that there’s always another trainee to talk to about your mistakes, concerns and the stress of impending library school applications.
But it isn’t all about the work. This Friday the majority of us gathered in the Bodleian tea room for a pot luck style cake picnic over lunch. The instruction was merely ‘bring desserts’. I decided upon what I believe is festive, but not too aggressively festive, shortbread, but Hannah had actually MADE biscuits, and Mandi had even brought cake from M&S, so there was a nice spread of sweet treats for us to enjoy. We decided that we should make it a regular Friday thing, and even took a picture to celebrate the occasion.
As I said, it’s really great to have several other people in the same boat as you. Working in a fixed term post means it can be hard to feel comfortable all the time, as well as the fact we all need to consider investing a huge amount of money in a professional qualification. A few of the group have already done one Masters degree so the thought of another can be quite daunting.
Having been previously offered a traineeship at a school elsehwere in the country, where I would have been the only trainee for miles and miles, I am glad to be part of a scheme where I know I can just shoot an email off to a mailing list, and be in the pub of an evening a few days later, trying really hard not to talk about MA tuition fees…
