Day in the Life of an Apprentice - Bodleian Library Apprentice Library Assistant
12:01
Name: Frances Murray
Age: 19
Job Role: Apprentice Library Assistant
Department: Bodleian Library Collections and
Resource Description
How long you have been
an apprentice: Since
early December 2015.
What is the first thing
you do when you get into work in the morning? We pack up books from our backlog into
boxes to be sent off to the Book Storage Facility in Swindon twice a day, so
the first thing I do each day is take the boxes from the previous day to the
drop off point, wheel back some empty ones and pack them so they’re ready for
the afternoon pick up.
Where do you spend most
of your day? As I’m
learning more about cataloguing my day is becoming more desk-based, but I still
get to spend a lot of time in the book stacks which is my favourite place in
the world.
What keeps you motivated
at work? As a legal
deposit library, we have a claim on every item published in the UK and Ireland.
This means that when I’m working through something particularly boring, I can
look forward to whatever weird and wonderful book is likely to show up next (my
favourite was one about mind controlling wasps).
Tea? or Coffee? I would be disowned by my home county
of Yorkshire if I didn’t say tea.
Favourite job? Least
favourite job? My
favourite job is anything that takes me into the book stacks, so manual tasks
like packing boxes and locating books on the shelves are great. My least
favourite would be working through a report we receive every week to find
errors in a book’s records, which involves going through records and changing
the same thing in each one. It’s incredibly dull and repetitive, and as soon as
you think you’ve finished them all another one appears.
What qualification are
you working towards and when do you hope to achieve it? I’m working towards a BIIAB Level 3
Diploma in Library, Archives and Information Services, which I’m due to finish
in December.
How has studying with
your college provider helped you at work? My qualification focuses my individual role in the
library as a whole unit, so it means I’m much more aware of the importance of
the tasks I do, and I’m constantly asking questions and learning more.
What has been the
biggest surprise of your apprenticeship? Contrary to popular belief, not all librarians are scary
old ladies with grey hair and ugly cardigans. They do all have an unhealthy
obsession with cats, however.
Sum up your job in 3
words. So. Many.
Books.
Where do you see
yourself in 5 years? I’d
love to continue working in a library in some way, whether it’s the Bodleian
or elsewhere. Working with books every day is a dream come true, and, as
frustrating as readers can be sometimes(!), knowing that you’ve helped someone
find what they need is a wonderful feeling.
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