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2024/25 Trainees

Let’s Talk About Toy Books!

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As we move into December, it feels like the festive season has finally begun to settle over Oxford. But while the joys of the season limit themselves to one month a year for most of the Bodleian libraries, Osney One has the unique ability to retain a little Christmas spark throughout the entire year. This is all down to the presence of one of my favourite collections at Osney: the Toy Books.

What are Toy Books?

Despite the slightly misleading name, Toy Books are not always toys. Instead, they are books from our Legal Deposit intake that require special treatment for the sake of conservation. A book could fall into this category for multiple reasons, but broadly speaking it’s because they have the potential to either damage or be damaged by other books as they are moved around and/or start to deteriorate. We therefore handle this kind of material with slightly different processes to better ensure that they are available for reading and research in perpetuity.

What kind of books ‘require special treatment’?

There are many factors that could transform a regular old Legal Deposit book into a Toy Book. In fact, there are so many heavily contextual reasons that it would be immensely tedious to have to slog through a paragraph or two of reasonings and caveats. So, for your viewing pleasure, I have instead picked out a selection of seven Toy Books that represent a range of conservation concerns. Some of the books could pose threats to others, some could be threatened themselves – but all of them are an absolute joy to look at!

 

A collage of three images of books. The left-hand image shows a yellow toy dog and blue ‘Spot Says Goodnight’ book inside a light blue box. The central image shows a furry blue-and-yellow striped book titled The Yuckiest and Most Fun Counting Book in the World. The right-hand image shows a book made up of multiple differently-sized pages that layer together to form a jungle-scape with monkeys when the book is closed.

First up we have the triple threat of Spot Says Goodnight: Box and Toy Gift Set, The Yuckiest and Most Fun Counting Book in the World, and Exploring the Adventurous World of the Jungle.

Spot, despite its innocent looks, poses some of the most varied risks of any Toy Book on this list. We have no idea how the degradation of its (adorable) toy might affect any books located nearby, and its box could easily be damaged by the pressure or sharp corners of other books around it. Furthermore, its plastic window may eventually become brittle and shatter with age, creating further possibilities for damage down the line. Similarly, The Counting Book’s fluffy exterior could degrade strangely or leave loose fibres on the covers of other books. Finally, the layered pages of The Jungle could easily catch on other books when being moved around on shelves, causing damage to itself or the other books.

 

A collage of three images of books. The left-hand image shows a black book titled Chinese Proverbs Illustrated that has been bound using red string. The central image displays a book called Dior: Style Icon, which features a fashion illustration of a woman in a white dress on its pale pink cover. The right-hand image shows a book called Play Along Humpty Dumpty, which features an illustration of the titular egg-shaped character wearing a red and blue outfit whilst sitting on a brick wall. Attached to the bottom of this book is a small, playable keyboard.

Moving on to our next selection, we have Chinese Proverbs Illustrated: The Wisdom of Cheng-Yu, Dior: Style Icon, and Play Along Humpty Dumpty & Other Songs.

Chinese Proverbs Illustrated is difficult to deal with because of its binding. Although it is a wonderful example of stab binding, the threads could end up fraying or damaging other books were they to end up catching on anything in their surroundings. Moving on, a quick test performed on Dior’s gilded edges revealed that the gilding is liable to come off when rubbed against other bits of paper – which is an issue for a book that could see high use in a library setting. Last but certainly not least, Humpty Dumpty not only comes with a protruding, difficult-to-shelve keyboard, but with one of Osney One’s most feared enemies: a battery. Were we to miss this battery in our initial check of the book, it could end up quite literally exploding right in the centre of the Bodleian’s offsite book repository. This would be (to put it mildly) an absolute disaster.

 

A collage of two images that show the same book open and closed. The right-hand image shows the book closed and directly facing the camera. It is titled ‘Calligraphy Manual’ and displays a sample of calligraphy in a rectangle at the top of its otherwise plain brown cover. The left-hand image shows the book opened and at an angle. Its pages are made up of one long sheet of paper that has been folded many times to fit within the book’s covers.

Finally, rounding out our selection with an image all to itself, is Sun Guoting’s Calligraphy Manual. The source of this beautiful handbook’s conservation concerns is its form; its concertinaed pages have no protective spine to cover them from the sharp corners of other books or the stressors of handling and time. Whilst this might not be a concern for a more specialised library, the regular shelving methods of the Bodleian may expose this handbook to more wear and corrosion than is warranted.

How could you get hold of a Toy Book?

Once we’ve finished the fiddly process of cataloguing a Toy Book at Osney, we place it in a conservation box and send it to the Collections Storage Facility like we would any other book. After it goes through the intake process there, it would become possible to request delivery to Rare Books for in-library use only.

So, if your research endeavours require you to one day meet Spot in-person, it is very much possible to do it through the Bodleian! You would just have to live with the tragic knowledge that you cannot take him home with you – no matter how much you might want to.

Disability History Month 2024 Book Displays

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Disability History Month runs from 14th November until 20th December 2024 and the theme is Disability, Livelihood and Employment this year. In our job as trainees, many of us create book displays for our libraries. Take a look at the displays for Disability History Month (DHM) in the Social Science Library (SSL), the Bodleian Law Library and the New College Library.

 

Social Science Library – Gia Simmons

As this month is Disability History Month, one of my colleagues and I have put together a display of books surrounding this year’s theme, Disability, Livelihood and Employment. In addition to creating the book display, I also followed in the footsteps of my SSL trainee predecessor and created an updated ORLO reading list. On this reading list, you can find titles linked to this year’s theme, as well as other resources about disability history more generally.

While putting this display together, I first had to look to our collections to see what books we had in the SSL that were on theme and also appropriate for the display. As we are the Social Science Library, the books in our display are mainly academic social science books. While selecting my books, I was looking at both their content and physical appearance (because, in reality, we all do gravitate towards pretty books!)

Once I figured out how many physical books and eBooks to include, I had to pull them from our shelves and make sure that they were the right fit. For instance, I checked that they were on topics that were relevant to the theme as well as ensuring that the texts contained up to date information. Once I was happy with the books that I selected, I then had to create the visual elements to go along with them. This included a poster, a display for our screen behind the issue desk, bookmarks that indicated whether a book was loanable or library use only and also a blog post for the SSL blog. A lot of work goes in to our book displays here at the SSL!

 

I followed the theme for DHM quite closely while selecting the books and used the title of this year’s theme as the key words in my search terms. While searching SOLO, I first looked to titles that were physically in the SSL and then to the Collections Storage Facility. Once I had chosen a few titles that were on theme or very closely linked to the theme, I moved on to select titles which covered other topics in disability history. Of course, some titles are only available via eBook, so I had to decide how best to display those. For this, I adapted a pre-existing template that I frequently use to create our new eBook displays in the SSL. This includes the cover of the book, as well as a QR code that brings readers to the SOLO record.

In my post for the SSL blog, I also included links to other important online resources that have been created in previous years by other colleagues around the Bodleian and the wider University community. For instance, I linked a reading list on understanding disability on ORLO which was created by a joint team of staff across the Bodleian Libraries, College Libraries and the Oxford Union Library. It covers a range of topics from ‘Disability and the Law’ to ‘Neurodivergence’.

I also linked the Disability History Resources LibGuide, which contains a great deal of information. This guide was created by the 2022-23 History Faculty Library trainee as part of a year-long project. The resources within were crowdsourced during a Hackathon by 24 volunteer researchers in 2022.

 

New College Library – Jess Pascal

Normally when I’m putting together a book display, I’ll go for a walk around the library to look for inspiration under the shelfmarks associated with the theme of the display. However, disability history is so spread out across different subjects that I tried a different approach with this display, and began by searching online. My starting point was the Disability History Resources LibGuide, which provided a list of introductory sources and directions to more extensive reading lists with suggested books that I could then look for in my library.

 

When choosing books, I tried to cover a range of types of disability, as well as a range of time periods. I picked out as many personal stories from the biography section of the library as possible, as biographies and autobiographies are a relatively approachable form of non-fiction, and I felt it was important to include as many disabled people’s own voices as I could. One difficult decision was whether to use books that contain terms that could be considered offensive to disabled people. I ultimately decided to include the books I was concerned about, as I felt it was clear based on context that the terms they used were being reclaimed by disabled people themselves, and it felt wrong to censor them.

 

Finally, I had to make a sign, which is one of the most fun parts of putting together a book display, giving me the chance to get a bit creative. I designed the sign around the disability pride flag, because it’s colourful and eye-catching while still being meaningful and relevant to the subject of the display. I made sure to use high-contrast text and a clear, readable font so that it would be as accessible as possible. I always include a reminder that books on the display can be borrowed – it isn’t just there to look pretty!

 

Books used: 

Adam, David. The man who couldn’t stop : the truth about OCD. London: Picador, 2015.

Bauby, Jean-Dominique. The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly. London: 4th Estate, 2019.

Girma, Haben. Haben : The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law. New York: Twelve, 2019.

Hanes, Roy, Ivan Brown, and Nancy E. Hansen, eds. The Routledge History of Disability. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

Kafer, Alison. Feminist, Queer, Crip. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2013.

Keller, Helen et al. The Miracle of a Life : The Autobiography of Helen Keller. London, New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909.

Metzler, Irina. Disability in Medieval Europe : Thinking about Physical Impairment during the High Middle Ages, c. 1100-1400. London: Routledge, 2010.

Ryan, Frances. Crippled : Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People. London: Verso, 2019.

Shakespeare, Tom. Disability : The Basics. London: Routledge, 2018.

Shakespeare, Tom. Disability Rights and Wrongs Revisited. 2nd edition. London: Routledge, 2014.

Silberman, Steve. Neurotribes : The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter about People Who Think Differently. Paperback edition. London: Allen & Unwin, 2016.

Turner, David M. Disability in Eighteenth-Century England : Imagining Physical Impairment. Abingdon: Routledge, 2017.

Wong, Alice, ed. Disability Visibility : First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century. New York: Vintage Books, 2020.

 

Bodleian Law Library – Hannah Richmond

With just over half a million volumes on our shelves here at the Law Library, you would think finding items for display would be easy. Despite the hefty collection, however, finding items that are relevant whilst being varied enough to offer a range of perspectives has proven to be a tricky (but extremely rewarding) part of curating displays. Mainly, I am aiming to put the spotlight on pieces of the collection that readers (and sometimes staff) might not be familiar with.

A good way to start is by identifying some keywords to pop onto SOLO. Although this isn’t how I usually find some of the more interesting items, it helps me get an idea of whereabouts in the library I should be looking. I always check official websites early in the process to see if there is a particular focus for the year. In this case it is ‘Disability, Livelihood and Employment’, with UK Disability History Month raising awareness of both the history of employment within disabled communities as well as the barriers still faced by many disabled individuals seeking employment today. I’d recommend checking their website for some really informative resources on the topic, as well as past years’ themes.

I make a list of potential options before embarking on a hunt around the library. This is my favourite part as I often discover really interesting books that weren’t suggested on SOLO, usually because the keywords aren’t in the title. Sadly, this is also where I have to cut some books from the list as I don’t have the space to display everything. For this one, I originally had 30 titles on my list (not including the ones I pick up along the way) but I managed to reduce it to 17.

Accessibility is always a crucial factor in curating a display and is somethingSome of the books on display I aim to improve on throughout the year. Fonts and colours used for any posters should be chosen with everyone in mind, factoring in readers who may have dyslexia or sight impairments, for example. Positioning is also something I try to be aware of. I tend to use the middle shelves and avoid placing heavier items higher up. Having a Disability Liaison check your display and always being receptive to feedback from staff and/or students are two really helpful ways to strive for accessibility improvement.

My QR code booklet

I like to include QR codes in my displays. Just print them out and put them with the relevant item so readers can go directly to the SOLO link. This allows them to view related texts and/or view the shelfmark for future use. One tip is to save the QR codes and print them out on a sheet, which can then be added to a ‘QR code booklet’ kept beside your exhibition space. This grants your display some degree of permanence and allows readers to browse past displays and gain easy access to any of the texts that pique their interest.

Some titles currently on display in the Law Library include ‘Ableism at Work: Disablement and Hierarchies of Impairment’, ‘Deaf People in the Criminal Justice System: Selected Topics on Advocacy, Incarceration, and Social Justice’, ‘The Disabled Contract: Severe Intellectual Disability, Justice and Morality’, and ‘Discrimination, Copyright, and Equality: Opening the E-Book for the Print-disabled’. You can browse the full list here: DHM

 

 

Margaret MacDonald: Philosopher and Librarian in Oxford

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MacDonald in Cambridge (1936)

Margaret MacDonald (born. 1903) was a British philosopher who was active from the early 1930s until her death in 1956. An insightful and original thinker, she has nonetheless been largely neglected in academic philosophy since her death, like many of her female peers. Fortunately, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in her work. This has brought to light her contributions to a number of areas in philosophy, including ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of language.

Aside from her academic work, MacDonald served as the librarian of St Hilda’s College in Oxford between 1937 and 1941. Not much is known about her time as a librarian. Her obituary in St Hilda’s Chronical of the Association of Senior Members states only that she ‘efficiently carried the burden of a growing library, and in particular she greatly improved our philosophy section’ (Whitlock, 1955-1956, 16). What’s interesting, however, is how much of an impact she was able to have on the academic world, whilst holding a position in a library rather than an academic department.

MacDonald’s time as a librarian followed on from her PhD at the University of London (under Susan Stebbing, the first woman in the UK to become a philosophy professor) and a stint in Cambridge as a research fellow, where she was something of an acolyte of Ludwig Wittgenstein. As such, by the late 1930s she had been steeped in the cutting edge of academic philosophy, and her relocation to Oxford provided an opportunity to expand into another corner of the philosophical world.

Whilst working at St Hilda’s MacDonald published a number of interesting and original papers that covered a wide range of areas in philosophy. In her paper ‘The Philosopher’s Use of Analogy’ (1938) she argues, like Wittgenstein, that many traditional philosophical perplexities arise because philosophers misunderstand and misuse perfectly ordinary and unmysterious words. The job of philosophers, then, should be to better understand our ordinary use of these words, in order to avoid these conceptual confusions. Her paper ‘The Language of Political Theory’ (1941) applies this linguistic approach to the question of natural rights and the social contract. It represents MacDonald’s first foray into political philosophy, an area she would be preoccupied with for the rest of her career.

A reprint of ‘The Philosopher’s Use of Analogy’ (1938)

MacDonald’s close relationship with Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle (1900 – 1976) also attests to her intimate involvement with the world of philosophy during this period. It was a relationship that seems to have had a great impact both on their academic and personal lives. Just after her arrival in Oxford, MacDonald participated in a symposium entitled ‘Induction and Hypothesis’ (1937), along with Ryle. Historian of philosophy Cheryl Misak (2024, 647-651) has recently argued that Ryle was heavily influenced by the paper MacDonald contributed to this symposium. Most importantly, she argues that MacDonald brought to Ryle’s attention the distinction between knowing how to do something (practical knowledge) and knowing that something is the case (propositional knowledge). This distinction would go on to play a major role in Ryle’s work, and he would discuss it at length in his magnum opus The Concept of Mind (1949).

In addition to their academic interactions, MacDonald and Ryle developed a close friendship, which has been explored in detail by philosopher Michael Kremer (2022). This friendship is evidenced by a letter from MacDonald to Ryle that is kept in the Ryle archive in Linacre College, Oxford. This is unfortunately the only surviving letter in what was likely a lengthy correspondence (Kremer, 2022, 294). Indeed, friends of MacDonald and Ryle speculated about them getting married, a possibility which never materialised, likely due to the fact that Ryle was a closeted gay man (Misak, 2024, 653).

MacDonald’s time as a librarian was characterised by financial hardship and professional uncertainty. Kremer (2022, 292) reports that she had significant student debts following her PhD, and had to supplement her income at the library with marking examination papers, as well as by doing some teaching in her college. At the end of the war, however, her fortunes change. She was finally appointed to a permanent academic position at Bedford College in London (which would later merged with Royal Holloway), and she became one of the editors of Analysis, still one of the most prestigious philosophy journals published in the UK. She stayed at Bedford College until she died in early 1956, while recovering from heart surgery (Waithe, 1995, 365).

MacDonald’s story will feel familiar to a lot of people working in libraries today. The market for academic jobs in the humanities is particularly tough at the moment. Like MacDonald, many aspiring academics struggling to find work turn to libraries as an alternate way to make a living in a broadly academic environment. It’s fortunate that MacDonald had the opportunity to participate so fully in her chosen subject, despite not holding an academic position. This opportunity allowed her to make the contributions that she did to philosophy in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

 

References

  • Kremer, M. (2022). ‘Margaret MacDonald and Gilbert Ryle: A Philosophical Friendship’. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 30, pp.288–311.
  • MacDonald, M. (1938). ‘The Philosopher’s Use of Analogy’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, 38, pp.291-312.
  • MacDonald, M. (1941). ‘The Language of Political Theory’. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, 41, pp.91-112.
  • MacDonald, M., Ryle, G. and Berlin, I. (1937). Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, 16, pp.20–102.
  • Misak, C. (2024). ‘Ryle’s Debt to Pragmatism and Margaret MacDonald’. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 62(4), pp.639-656.
  • Ryle, G. (1949). The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson’s University Library.
  • Waithe, M. E. (1995). A History of Women Philosophers, Vol. 4. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
  • Whitlock, D. (1955–56). ‘Margaret MacDonald’. Chronicle of the Association of Senior Members, pp.16–17.

Trainee Introductions – Colleges & Union

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Millie Krantz (All Souls College)

Hi, I’m Millie, and I’m the graduate trainee at All Souls College Library. Compared to some of the other trainees, I’ve had a fairly straightforward route to this position: I studied Classics at Oxford, then worked in a sixth form college library in London for a year before applying to the traineeship.

Working in a school library was a really fascinating experience. Like a lot of school libraries, there weren’t many staff members and there wasn’t much oversight, so I got to do virtually everything – I helped students, acquired new books, catalogued (badly), weeded, classified and reclassified, and did endless amounts of shelf-checking. I loved the wide range of tasks I got to do and the level of independence I had, but I wanted more training and a better idea of how other libraries work, which made me more interested in traineeships at smaller institutions with more of a jack-of-all-trades attitude to librarianship.

It’s been wonderful and exciting working at All Souls so far, and much more glamorous than working at a state school! The library is a bit unusual for a college library – we’re open to readers from the rest of the university, but we only lend books to our small population of Fellows, which means we see very little circulation. We primarily have books on European history and law, though we end up collecting a little bit of everything based on the needs of the Fellows. As the trainee (and only library assistant) I’ve been able to get involved with quite a lot: I do a lot of acquisitions and journals processing, book fetching, scanning, and shelving, with a generous amount of coffee cup policing and shooing tourists away. A real highlight has been getting to look at and handle some of our manuscripts, especially the Amesbury Psalter!

Ash Lammers (Jesus College)

Hi folks! My name is Ash (they/them) and I’m this year’s trainee at Jesus College. I’m originally from Germany, but have lived in the UK for the last five years doing both my BA and MA up in the North East of England. My academic background is History (although I did also study English Lit for my Joint Honours BA) and my MA research focused on modern European Jewish and Queer History. To distract from my sometimes emotionally heavy research and indulge in my love for working with books, data and solving problems, I started volunteering with the book-tracking app The StoryGraph as a librarian! I spent afternoons with such fun activities as solving user-added ISBN messes and sorting out series sequences. While I loved the idea of working in a physical library, I thought it was kind of unattainable and applied to the trainee programme sort of impulsively one evening in June. Apparently, following the dopamine does pay off…

Edgar Allan Croak and Sssssylvia Plath

I’m enjoying library work immensely, especially as I do a rotating variety of different things every day. I process books, help lost readers, compare reading lists with our collection or carry lost property to the JCR. I also have excellent company during the day – namely my manager, Owen, and two crocheted desk pets. I also poke about in the Fellows’ Library, which is always eerily quiet and wouldn’t be out of place in a mystery novel. The majority of the college’s rare books are kept there, and while I don’t work there a lot – my daily checks on whether rain has come through the walls not included – sometimes books need to be set out for classes, or we check specific texts for minute details upon request. An unanticipated side effect of this job is that when reshelving or processing, I find so many interesting books and subjects that my TBR is growing steadily – much to the dismay of my bank account…

Jess Pascal (New College)

I’m Jess (they/them) and I’m the trainee at New College Library. New College is one of Oxford’s older colleges, which means it has an excellent collection of medieval manuscripts and rare books, and I’m lucky enough to get to work with these as a part of my role! This involves fetching items from secure storage elsewhere in the college, invigilating readers who want to consult them, and working on exhibitions. When I’m not doing that, I’m helping with the day-to-day running of the library: since it’s the start of term, this means a lot of unpacking new books and getting them ready to go out on the library shelves while trying to resist the temptation to read them when I ought to be stamping them…

Before this, I was studying French and Spanish at the University of Leicester, where I volunteered in the library and archives. This gave me some experience of working in a library, and it was my first taste of working with special collections, which inspired me to apply for this job. I’m looking forward to sharing more about my work here and the many things I’m sure I’ll be learning throughout the trainee scheme.

Gareth Smith (Oxford Union Library)

Hello everyone, my name is Gareth and I am Graduate Trainee Library Assistant at the Oxford Union Society Library.

The Members’ Library (Image provided by the Oxford Union Society Library)

The Oxford Union is Oxford University’s famous affiliated debating society, known for its debates and interviews on current affairs, occasional controversies, and interminable student politicking. In many ways it is quite a strange place: though nominally run by an elected Standing Committee of Oxford students who decide on the termly programme of speakers and events, we also have a core body of around twenty professional staff including four librarians and an archivist, who, as employees of an organisation separate to the University, are not formally part of the Bodleian Libraries but use the same information management system. We look after a members’ library of around sixty thousand books (housed mostly in a beautiful Victorian building decorated by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, pictured) and play perhaps the most important and visible part in the day-to-day running of the Union.

 

Before working at my current job, I completed my BA in Classics (Literae Humaniores) and my MPhil in Ancient History at The Queen’s College, Oxford. Outside my degrees, I also volunteered on several seasons of archaeological fieldwork in Greece and on archive and object digitisation projects at Blenheim Palace and the Ashmolean Museum. My prior library experience includes a quick stint in a public library when I was a teenager and a paid job as Summer Library Assistant at University College Library immediately after my Masters. As Graduate Trainee, I participate in the training programme organised by the Bodleian Libraries alongside the other trainees.

As you might imagine, this background has made me a very organised and versatile person, and I’m enjoying having my skillset constantly stretched through working at such an idiosyncratic library! As well as all the usual jobs expected of a library assistant, my role has also included working closely with our archivist to produce displays for Union events and publicity as well as archival research and digitisation; I occasionally give tours of the Old Library and the famous Debate Chamber, which are the main attractions for visitors to the Union, and I’m also particularly focused on bringing our social media presence into the 2020s. I am also secretary to the Library Committee, a member-run body which decides on acquisitions and withdrawals: the Union library is the only in Oxford where every book has been suggested by a reader, and we stock a large amount of fiction, travel guides and magazines alongside our academic books.

Jake Banyard (St. Edmund Hall)

A study area inside the library

Despite the wonderful benefit of college lunch as a college library trainee, a free meal was not the reason I decided to embark upon a career in librarianship. In fact, after graduating from the University of Reading with a BA in French and History I wasn’t sure of any reasons to embark on any careers! I found myself working in hospitality, and despite enjoying some aspects of customer service, there are only so many 2am finishes and stressful shifts before change is needed. After some soul-searching I came to the conclusion that a

career in libraries might combine the good parts of customer service with my desire to work in an educational environment. I found a job in a

public library and took great satisfaction in helping readers and contributing to a sense of community in the local area. The allure of academic libraries was too strong though, and I applied for the traineeship here at St Edmund Hall.

Having some experience of a library environment has been a real help in these first couple of months at Teddy Hall, and while not a pre-requisite for the traineeship, the familiarity of books and barcodes has helped to combat the unfamiliarity of the Oxford system – full of terms like cuppers, blades and battels! Working in a college environment means that the library is host to a range of events at Teddy Hall, from Compline in the crypt (did I mention the library is housed in the 10th century church of St-Peter-in-the-East!) to wellbeing sessions like an ‘Hour in the Tower’. The Librarians here work hard to integrate the library into college life, and we are currently running a ‘Blind date with a book’ event, offering readers a chance to read something they might not otherwise pick up. My role also has the exciting benefit of being a three-year position and, after this first year of the traineeship, Teddy Hall will fund the tuition fees for Library School and allow me to study alongside my work – so I will be sticking around for a while!

Trainee Introductions – Arts and Humanities

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Welcome to part three of our trainee introductions; this week it’s all about the humanities! Below, you’ll hear from five trainees, each one stationed at a library within the Humanities division at Oxford University: the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library; the Bodleian Old Library; the English Faculty Library; the History Faculty Library; and the Taylor Institution Library. So, without further ado, make yourself a hot drink and enjoy a gentle read about our respective libraries.

 

Emma Brand – Art, Archaeology, and Ancient World Library

Emma outside the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library

Hello! I am Emma, the trainee at the Art, Archaeology, and Ancient World Library (Art Library for short). Being under Section 3 also means that I get to do a few shifts a week at the Taylor Institution Library (and possibly the Nizami Ganjavi Library later this year). Each library has their quirks and I have been having a load of fun getting lost. In Art, that often means going round and round and round the rotunda until you think you are where you started… but maybe not. The Taylor is a magical place where rooms seem to appear. The best discovery so far has been the ‘secret door’ that leads from the ground floor women’s bathroom into the basement. I have also just moved over from Australia to start this traineeship, so, I am also on a crash course of learning English slang, tasting a variety of new sweets, and learning the art of layers – especially when it’s wet outside!

I have a BA from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Art History and Media Communications. I had planned on starting a master’s in Conservation Practice at Cardiff University in 2020, however, due to the pandemic, I have been trying several different things these past few years. I have worked in marketing, at a local history museum and at a digitisation centre, and also completed an honour’s year in the History of Art. Feeling a bit lost at the end of last year, I found I was still wanting to go to the UK despite the master’s no longer being viable. So, at the start of this year, I began looking for roles that would combine my strengths and aspects of my various jobs that I enjoyed, whilst also developing new skills. For example, I knew that I enjoyed a mix of front facing and backend roles, database work, and also a healthy dose of digital communication. I had honestly not thought of working in a library but when I saw the traineeship, it ticked everything I was looking for! So far, it’s been a wonderful start and I am looking forward to the many months ahead.

 

Elena Brearley – Bodleian Old Library (Bodleian Reader Services)

Hello there, my name is Elena, also known as Len. I am the current Reader Services Trainee at the Bodleian Old Library.

Sunshine in the staff area of the Old Bodleian Upper Reading Room

I’ve pursued a variety of interests and had an assortment of jobs that have led me on the path towards being here in Oxford on the Graduate Traineeship. I started off studying Drama at The University of Manchester, during which time I became interested in the use of theatre and arts in community contexts. After graduating in 2020, my interest in community spaces drew me to apply for a job working as a Library Assistant with Stockport Public Libraries. I was in this role for three years, helping readers with all kinds of enquires, organising events and activities, and doing all those lovely jobs like shelving and straightening that ensure a library keeps running smoothly.  

Alongside my role in libraries, I worked as a freelance artist and creative facilitator, delivering arts and drama sessions in settings such as schools, theatres, libraries, prisons, and probation centres. My favourite of these experiences was spending one month living in Barrow-in-Furness working as an Artist-in-Residence where I ran writing, zine-making, and drama workshops with different community groups. Just before moving to Oxford I was working as a gardener, a bartender, and a wedding registrar.

 

I am new to working in academic libraries and am really enjoying being back in a university environment. Although my traineeship is based at the ‘Old Bod’, myself and Zac get to work across both the beautiful buildings that are the Bodleian Old Library and the Radcliffe Camera. A unique part of my traineeship is having the opportunity to work on the Main Enquiry Desk. Here, we deal with questions from across the world about The Bodleian’s collections and provide support for readers accessing library services and resources. For me, the best part of the job is the people I come across in all aspects of the work. I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of the year unfolds and what adventures are in store!

 

Harry Whattoff – English Faculty Library (EFL) 

Dear reader,

Thanks for tuning in! My name is Harry and I’m the Graduate Trainee at the English Faculty Library this year. I think I’ll start by mentioning that this will sadly be the final introductory post you read from an EFL trainee. Next summer, our library is due to make a long-awaited move into the Schwarzman Centre, a new Humanities building that is currently under construction. I went back in time on the trainee blog, and found references to this move in previous entries dating back to 2009 – it’s all very exciting!

My academic background, rather fittingly, lies in English Literature. I undertook both a BA and an MA in the subject, for the latter of which I examined queer rural representations in British literature and film. Upon graduating, I began teaching English at a school. Here, alongside my usual teaching responsibilities, I was able to interact with the school’s library which gave me a small insight into what it might be like to work in one. Following this position, I undertook a range of volunteering and work experience at various museums, archives, and libraries, all of which played their part in leading me to apply for the Bodleian Library Graduate Training Scheme.

At the EFL, my role is very varied (which I love). I handle all the incoming and outgoing deliveries to our offsite storage facility in Swindon, as well as the majority of the book processing for the library. In addition to this, most staff members will have a daily two-hour shift at the Enquiry Desk, and we are collectively responsible for scanning and email enquiries on a rotation basis. I particularly enjoy helping with the circulation of our rare books and special collections; in my first week someone requested a first edition of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist which was, predictably for an ex-English student, pretty mind-blowing. I’m currently working on a display for the second half of Michaelmas term; I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get creative with our collections and consider what our readers might like to see!

I’ll leave it here for now, but I hope this small introduction has given you an insight into what I was up to before my traineeship, and a little about my day-to-day tasks at the EFL!

Until next time,

Harry 😊

 

Zac Draysey – History Faculty Library (HFL)

Hi, I’m Zac, the new trainee at the History Faculty Library (HFL) in the Radcliffe Camera. My own academic background isn’t in history, but in philosophy, and I finished an MPhil at Cambridge this summer, focusing mostly on ordinary language philosophy in Oxford after the second world war. Before I started here in September, my only experience with libraries has been as a reader, so it’s been an eye-opening experience to see things from the other side. The Bodleian central site libraries aren’t, of course, typical academic libraries, and I’ve been amazed by the complexity of the system here.

A misty day outside the Radcliffe Camera

We have a range of different shelf-marks in the Camera, both lending and reference collections, as well as shelves to house books brought in for readers from off-site storage. This maybe goes without saying, but it’s been a real joy to work in such a beautiful and historic building. The Camera feels very much like the focal point of the university, and especially it’s library system.

The Old Bod and the Camera are slowly becoming a more integrated system, with the teams from both libraries being joined together. This larger team is then being split into reader services and collections groups. I’ve been placed in the latter group, so I’ve been learning about how the HFL develops its collections to best suit the needs of students. It’s been really interesting to gain a greater insight into how reading lists inform purchases, the process of actually acquiring books, and also the classification of new books. Preparing new books for placing on the open shelves once they’ve been classified has been my favourite task so far.

 

 

Lindsey Evans – Taylor Institution Library

The Main Reading Room of the Taylor Institution Library

Hi, I’m Lindsey and I’m based at the Taylor Institution Library, whose collections cover Western and Eastern European Languages, as well as Linguistics, Film Studies and Women’s Studies. The historic, slightly maze-like, Taylor building is located at one end of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum (perk of the job: free entry to exhibitions!). It also houses lecture rooms for the university’s language courses. Once a week I walk to the other end of the Ashmolean to work at the lovely Art, Archaeology and Ancient World library as well. I feel lucky to be working in these unique places in the heart of the city and I’m really enjoying the opportunity to get to know more than one library team and library environment during my trainee year.

I applied for the Bodleian Library Graduate Training Scheme because I was keen to explore a second career in the library and information field. Prior to this, I was working in educational publishing as an editor of language-learning resources, so a move into libraries represents ‘switching sides’ from producing books and online materials to helping people access them. I have been curious about library work because I enjoy being able to combine the management of complex information with delivering a service. I’m also interested in doing work that involves handling physical items, as well as desk-based tasks, in a physical space with its own community. My experience of libraries up to now has been from the student/reader side and I hadn’t worked in a conventional library before. However, interestingly, I have volunteered in a ‘Library of Things’, lending out diverse useful items to the public – from hedge trimmers to camping equipment to disco balls!

So far, I’m finding my new job and the library field in general very varied and interesting, and I am really looking forward to deepening my understanding as the year goes on.

 

Trainee Introductions- Law and Social Sciences

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Hannah Richmond – Law Library (Academic Services)

Hi everyone! I’m Hannah, one of the two Law Library trainees this year. Although there is definitely some overlap between our roles, we are split into two different teams. I am sitting on the Academic Services side of things this year. This involves helping with the compulsory Legal Research and Mooting Skills module for undergraduate students, which is actually taught and delivered by the library rather than the faculty.

My background is (rather fittingly) in Law, which I studied at undergraduate level. Post-graduation, I then headed back home to Northern Ireland to work in a firm for a year. Perhaps surprisingly, that is not the case for most of the former Law Library trainees. In fact, most have come from a range of different subject backgrounds from History to Maths so any prior understanding of Law is most definitely not required, but admittedly can sometimes prove helpful.

I ended up here after finding out about the trainee programme two days before the application cut-off date. After going back and forward in my head, I decided to apply an hour before the closing time, successfully submitting with one minute to spare(!) Despite having never worked in a library in any capacity, I had toyed with the idea of working with books for a while. The traineeship seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to gain the experience I needed to know whether librarianship was something for me. As for the answer to that, I will keep you updated…

Charlotte Edwards – Sainsbury Library

Autumn sun making an appearance
Autumn sun making an appearance

Hello! I’m Charlotte, the new Graduate Trainee at the Sainsbury Library in Saïd Business School. Unlike a lot of the Bodleian libraries, the Sainsbury library is relatively new, but it doesn’t take away from the cosy facilities it has to offer; I’ve noticed students like the soft seating we have, and the indoor plants make it a calming place to study (it’s also where I am currently writing this post!).

Before this, I had just completed my BA in English Language and Literature at LMH, focussing a lot on Old Norse literature – so something that couldn’t be further from business! Since starting, I have been learning an abundance of new things about business and market research (with much more still to learn), and I currently have the mysterious Market Research Challenge to look forward to tackling.

Other than studying in libraries, I had no experience working in them before this position. I instead volunteered on a Saturday during my final year of undergrad at the Oxfam bookshop on Turl Street to gain some experience, so I have handled books in varying degrees of disrepair…we even encountered a book from the 17th century. I highly recommend going, and it’s a bonus that a Missing Bean café is right next door!

Since beginning the traineeship last month, I have enjoyed creating book displays and blog posts on the Sainsbury Library Blog for Green Libraries Week and World Mental Health Day 2024. Alongside book and journal processing and sitting at the enquiry desk, I also tested my own knowledge of the library at the MBA (Master of Business Administration) Information Fair welcoming new students.

Sainsbury Library branded M&M’s at the MBA
Sainsbury Library branded M&M’s at the MBA information fair

I’m interested in how libraries, alongside being a source of information, have recently been involved in student welfare (the wellbeing room at the Radcliffe Science Library – the RSL – is particularly good). I especially like that the Sainsbury Library has incorporated student wellbeing into its facilities with a colouring and puzzle station; you’ll also find me doing the puzzle during my breaks. Over the coming months, I am hoping to explore the intersection of libraries and wellbeing, and other facets of librarianship, including improving the accessibility of resources. I’m also looking forward to our conservation and special collections training session at the Weston Library since it is so different to my day-to-day work. Hopefully you’ll hear more from me over the coming year!

James Lawson – Law Library (Information Resources)

Hey everybody! I’m James (they/them), this year’s Information Resources Trainee over at the Bodleian Law Library! I’m originally from Scotland (though despite my best efforts, I unfortunately don’t sound like it) and did my undergraduate degree in Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at Edinburgh! After graduating, I came to do an MSt here at Oxford, also in Classics, before deciding I wanted a break from academia and applying to the Bodleian traineeship programme.

I had a wee bit of experience in libraries but that mostly consisted of me volunteering at one of the Edinburgh Uni libraries. And by volunteering, I mostly just mean sitting at a desk making sure people don’t bring coffee cups into the library. That, and writing really stupid book reviews on their blog (I’m sure one of our two readers liked it!).

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I thought the traineeship was going to look like but, thus far, I really love it. My days mostly involve processing books, updating Oxford reading lists, updating more Oxford reading lists and lurking at the front desk scaring freshers. Otherwise, I spend a lot of time re-shelving books, making scans of books and doing my favourite thing of all time: stamping books. And sometimes I get to update Oxford reading lists as well.

I think the Law Library is a really great place to work. Probably my favourite thing (aside from the people who, obviously, are lovely to work with) is the building itself. The inside of the library is very bright and airy with lots of shelves that have very satisfyingly bound books on them. The outside looks a bit like a giant brick mound grew out of the earth one day and the university turned it into a library hoping we wouldn’t notice and, to be honest, I love it.

Gia Simmons – Social Science Library

Hello! My name is Gia, and I am the Graduate Trainee at the Bodleian Social Science Library. The SSL is based on the ground floor of the Manor Road Building. It is one of the busiest lending libraries in the Bodleian, so I am always kept really busy, which I love! I am originally from Wexford in the south-east of Ireland and recently moved to Oxford to take up this role.

I hold a BA (International) in French and English from University College Dublin (UCD), graduating in 2023. I was recently awarded my MA in Languages and Image Studies, also from UCD. I have a passion for languages, as I studied French, Italian and Spanish during my time at university. So, I am always really excited to see a book in one of those languages come across my desk for processing!

I had a variety of jobs while at university before joining the Bodleian, such as a retail assistant, an administration assistant, as well as working in a peer-to-peer support role in my university residences for two years. I have been interested in working in academic libraries since I started university. However, this is my first experience working in this environment. I am glad to report that I am loving every minute of it!

In the SSL, I get to do a mixture of reader services and technical services tasks such as working on the issue desk, book processing, and reviewing reading lists (just to name a few!) In my first few months here, I have gained a great deal of knowledge about how academic libraries work and my eyes have been opened to the variety of roles that make up a library staff. I am very excited for the rest of my year here at the SSL.

Trainee Introductions – Digitisation and Resource Description

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A Broad Overview of the Next Few Weeks

Hello everyone!

For those of you who are returning readers, welcome back to the Trainee Blog! We’d like to say a huge thank you for sticking with us over the quietness of the last few weeks. Rest assured, we shall be back to a regular posting schedule shortly. For those of you who are new readers, welcome! We hope that our content over the next academic year will keep you entertained and informed about the Bodleian Libraries and life as a Graduate Trainee.

As you may have seen in the previous post, a new year means a new cohort of trainees – and since there are quite a few of us, it might be a little hard to keep track of us all. As such, we’ve dedicated the next four weeks to doing a few small introductions to ourselves and our roles within the Graduate Trainee Programme. We hope you enjoy!

 

Evie Morris – Weston Library

My background before I started in the library was mostly in sciences. I have a BSc in Biology and worked as a researcher and ecologist after I graduated. Like so many people, the pandemic completely up-ended my life and for a while I was lost… I worked a range of jobs in the aftermath, but when I got a Saturday job in the local library, it was a real ‘lightbulb moment’- I knew I belonged in the stacks! At heart, I have always been a polymath, and struggled with the ‘one track mind’ one seemed to need to be a successful scientist. But even my eclectic work history hadn’t imbued me with the experience needed for most full-time library jobs. As an undergraduate, whereas history students (and similar) have to use the primary sources contained in the library, everything I wanted as a researcher in genetics came from the internet.

The traineeship was thus my golden ticket and now I work in the Weston Library (or the ‘New Bod’, despite being *checks notes* yep, almost 100 years old) in Archives and Modern Manuscripts, which means working with records created between 1800 to the present day. As libraries and archives begin collecting materials created more recently, a lot is in digital media. Working in digital archives combines my skill set from computing for science research with my passion for expanding the reach of knowledge. It’s exciting to be working in a field where it’s still ‘all to play for’: if and how we decide to preserve these collections now will impact the scholars and combined knowledge of the future.

At the moment my time is split between the Bodleian Web Archive and a project to digitise catalogues, but that’s another blog post.

 

Lilly Wilcox – Weston Library

Hello world! My name is Lilly Wilcox, and I am one of two graduate trainee digital archivists with Archives and Modern Manuscripts in the Weston Library.

My academic background is in literature and communication studies, with a healthy dose of digital humanities. During my undergraduate, I worked on a digital humanities project that used the Text Encoding Initiative guidelines for XML to make pre-Victorian women’s writing digitally available and facilitate research on underrepresented writers. I found text encoding so fascinating, I moved to Oxford to do my MSc in Digital Scholarship. During my master’s, I got to design my own TEI/XML projects with Taylor Editions—the digital editions publishing platform run by the Taylor Institution Library—and learn about the variety of digital projects happening behind-the-scenes at the Bodleian Libraries. Now working at the Weston, I’ve swapped TEI/XML for EAD/XML (Encoded Archival Description) to support the retro conversion of the Africa & Commonwealth collection’s print handlists to digital catalogues. I also work on web archiving, so that online information about the running of the University in 2024 is preserved and can be made available for research in the future.

 

Yasmeen Khan – Osney One

Greetings! I’m Yasmeen, the Graduate Trainee Resource Description Assistant for this academic year. If you’re wondering why you’ve never seen a predecessor of mine on the blog, my position was newly created for 2024-25 – so hopefully there will be many more of us to come!

An image of a desk with two computer screens, a keyboard, and a mouse. On the left of the computer are four small piles of books, and on the right is an open green file
My (very organised and extremely uncluttered) workspace

Perhaps predictably for someone on this scheme I have been circling the idea of working with books for long time. Throughout primary and secondary school I could be found volunteering in various libraries, only taking a break when I went to study books for three years as an English undergraduate. Following my graduation, I worked in a boarding school for a year, where I naturally ended up volunteering in the school library (because I am, at the end of the day, a creature of habit). When my contract at that school came to an end, I finally gave in to the inevitable and applied to be the graduate trainee at Osney One, which houses a lot of the behind-the-bookshelves work that keeps the Bodleian running. Now my days are largely filled with tasks such as sending newly acquired books to their required locations, classifying books, and working to cram as much cataloguing theory into my head as possible. But one of the interesting quirks of my role is that I’ll slowly be shuffling from department to department (and occasionally library to library) over the course of the year, meaning that my workload could look entirely different by the time Hilary hits.

So, if you happen to see a member of staff looking entirely baffled by the mere concept of your favourite library’s shelving system later this year, there’s a good chance it could be me – feel free to come over and say hi!

Welcome to our 2024/25 Trainees!

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Well it is that time of year again when we welcome our new trainees to the Bodleian Libraries and our Colleges! We have 18 trainees this year, 10 are based in our Bodleian Libraries (including a new post in our Collections and Resource Description team!), we have 2 Digital Archivist trainees and 6 in our colleges. We held the welcome session last week and they have a tour of the Bodleian today and welcome drinks tonight.

As ever, they will be saying hello on the blog over the coming weeks, so please do follow their journeys throughout the year. If you work in or frequent our libraries do say hello to them. We wish them a fun and successful year with us!

A picture of the 2024/25 trainees
Welcome to our trainees!