Since August I have been trying to contact previous Library Graduate Trainees who worked at Aberystwyth University. I used a variety of methods to contact people. I got names of various employees here at the Library (indeed some employees were Graduate trainees). Also I posted messages on CILIP, JISC MAIL (various lists), Twitter, LIS new professionals website and facebook. I also did some Google searching using key words and advanced search and that resulted in finding a few people. Once I had found some former trainees I set up a Facebook page and I drew up a questionnaire for people to complete. It is now December and I have had quite a good response to my questionnaire. Currently the total number of trainee questionnaires stands at 11. Although that is less than I have in my Facebook group it is still a good response rate which has allowed me to analyse the answers provided.
Below is a list of the questions I asked.
1. Between which years were at Aberystwyth University as a Graduate Trainee?
2. In which departments of the library did you work during your time here?
3. What made you want to apply to be a Graduate Trainee?
4. What is your favourite memory of the Graduate Trainee year?
5. What is your least favourite memory of the Graduate Trainee year?
6. What do you feel you learnt from your experiences as a Graduate Trainee at Aberystwyth?
7. Where are you working now? What does your day-to-day work involve?
8. How does it compare to the idea of librarianship you gathered whilst being a Graduate Trainee?
9. What advice would you give future Graduate Trainees?
10. Would you agree to being mentioned by name, or to having your current workplace named, on the Graduate Trainee website once it is up and running, or would you prefer your answers to be anonymous?
The following people have responded to my questionnaire as of December 14th 2011
Elizabeth Kensler 1992-1993
Jackie Knowles 1995-96
Janet Davies 1999-00
Helen Thomas 2000-01
Pip Divall 2000-01
Catherine Pritchard 2004-05
John Shimmin 2006-07
Hannah Payne 2007-08
Fiona Eaton 2008-09
Tom Francis 2009-10
Jane Woolf 2010-11
Analysis of Results and response’s
Structure of the programme
It seems the Graduate Trainee programme has always been one which has provided trainees with a great variety of work. Department’s names seem to have changed over time but generally people seem to have spent a lot of time doing different tasks, which I think makes for a great training programme. The earlier trainees seemed to be split between Thomas Parry and Hugh Owen. The Library at Thomas Parry seemed from the answers to have processes like Acquisition based there as well as having a busy issue desk. Hugh Owen on the other hand seemed to look after Inter library loans, worked with academic librarians and did plenty of issue desk work. Now the programme seems the same as last years, except there are only two of us now as opposed to three. I myself find it a great programme and like the structured but varied aspects which each area of work gives you. There is certainly going to be plenty for me to put on my C.V by the time this year is over.
Why people applied for the job
The overwhelming theme obviously is that people wanted experience within libraries to further their career. Some had already completed Masters Degree’s and needed experience,
“The traineeship appealed to me because it looked like it would be a proper job, rather than just an extended period of work experience” (Tom Francis)
“I decided to apply as I needed more experience within libraries as I only had a few months volunteer experience in a local studies library.” (Jane Woolf)
Others saw it as a gateway to doing a masters course and also a way of testing the library water so to speak.
“I wanted to get Arts and Humanities Research Board funding for my planned MSc and thought I’d be more likely to obtain the funds if I had experience. I also wanted to see whether working in libraries would suit me.” (Helen Thomas)
Favourite Memories
Reading through peoples favourite memories you get the impression, (which I would back up) that it is the people you work with and their friendly and welcoming attitude during the years traineeship is what sticks in people’s minds.
“Outside of work I have a lot of fond memories of nights out with the other Graduate Trainees and the Industrial Years. They became very good friends. “ (Jane Woolf)
“The people I worked with (must have had fun as regularly got into trouble for giggling)” (Elizabeth Kensler)
Trainees also enjoyed working with the students and took great satisfaction in assisting them at the enquiries desk.
“By far and away I really enjoyed any student inter-action, both under and post-grad” (Fiona Eaton)
It seems collection management and materials acquisition deserved special mention from some trainees, also some trainees liked being involved in planning and delivering events such as Open Days and World Book Day.
Least Favourite Memories
It seems many people found it hard to think of their least favourite memories. Most of the least favourite memories seemed to be about certain and specific tasks such as “taking out the pink cards from the old card catalogues” or “the Friday afternoon shift at Thomas Parry” or “inputting data from Library questionnaires.” There doesn’t seem to be anyone with a real axe to grind in this question. Staff development opportunities were questioned by one person, whilst another person cited the initial homesickness when arriving in Aberystwyth. Overall it seems like most people were struggling to think of least favourite memories which is always a great sign.
What people learnt
Reviewing all the answers it seems what people took most from the role was practical experience of a variety of Library roles. For most people this seemed the most valuable aspect of the traineeship, the fact that people got to learn about all areas of an academic library.
“One of the best things was the holistic nature of the traineeship; I was shown how the library service as a whole worked, how the different departments and tasks were related, and what kinds of things were done (and why). This is a major advantage, as in most jobs you only have a narrow view as to what is going on, and many things can end up seeming arbitrary or nonsensical.” (John Shimmin)
“No other job gives you the wide knowledge of all areas that contribute to delivering a library service” (Elizabeth Kensler)
Other people pointed out that fact that the knowledge you obtain from visits to other libraries and professionals was also a great learning experience. Also noted by some people, who were experiencing their first taste of 9 to 5 work was the fact they learnt about dealing with conflicts and work place politics.
“It was my first taste of handling conflict with having to interact with some more prickly members of staff, but also the first time I had an opportunity to get stuck in and make a difference.” (Jackie Knowles)
Also IT skills which were learnt by trainees were highlighted as very important.
Where are they now
The Graduate trainees are in a variety of roles since finishing the traineeship. In their own words this is what they are up to now.
Elizabeth Kensler 1992-1993
Customer Services Manager in Information Services at Aberystwyth University. Manage the Enquiry Desks and computing, library and media support to users.
Jackie Knowles 1995-96
I’m now Customer Services Manager for York University. I run three teams of approximately 60 individuals and have responsibility for our library circulation and enquiry services, the shelving team and the IT support team. My day-to-day work mostly involves lots of meetings! But more specifically I do a lot of HR/staff management stuff, take a lead on procedural issues and operational service delivery for my teams as well as get heavily involved in strategic project work including involvement in a multi- million pound library refurbishment.
Janet Davies 1999-00
Betty & Gordon Moore Library (Cambridge University Library)
I’m a subject specialist librarian for maths, physics and astronomy, and so responsible for all monographic acquisitions, cataloguing, classification, collection development, enquiries, user education, and academic liaison in these subjects.
Other things specifically allocated to me are the library website and intranet; local IT support/troubleshooting; overall management of the journals collection; maintenance of our short-loan collection; and extraction of statistics from our LMS.
As we’re a branch library, ‘senior’ staff here have to do a bit of everything, so (with others) I also do staff training and supervision, and deal with the finance system, for example.
Perhaps the most interesting thing (in a way) about this job, is that the library was brand new when I started my employment. So I’ve been able to set up many processes/procedures/policies, and then refine them over time, as usage/expectations change, and as we’ve become more aware of what works, etc.
Helen Thomas 2000-01
I work at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. I’m the Central Services Librarian and run the Central Services Unit. This involves looking after a team of six who run various services including acquisitions, cataloguing, document delivery, e-services, the library management system (including catalogue and federated search engine) and the repository.
Pip Divall 2000-01
I’m now the Clinical Librarian Service Manager at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. I support Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Management; Cardiorespiratory Services; Gastroenterology; Musculoskeletal Services; Stroke and Surgical Services in a busy teaching Trust. This involves attending ward rounds, clinical meetings and getting out and about into the hospital to pick up the questions that arise in the clinical setting and then doing detailed literature searches with summaries that feed into patient care decisions. No two days are the same. I also manage a team of two other Clinical Librarians, one who is a pure clinical librarian, and the other supports corporate and management areas,and two Clinical Information Search Service (CISS) Officers, who produce current awareness bulletins and support the team
We run the biennial International Clinical Librarian Conference, and have recently set up the Association of Clinical Librarians and Informationists (www.aclionline.org).
I’m also the Conference Director for the Health Libraries Group of CILIP, and led on the HLG 2010 Conference in Salford.
Catherine Pritchard 2004-05
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – mediated literature searching service, critical appraisal training, electronic resources training & information literacy skills, managing electronic resources, current awareness bulletins, cataloguing, website maintenance, Athens administration, talks/stalls/inductions, resources guides, weeding, etc.
John Shimmin 2006-07
Philosophy Faculty Library, University of Oxford.
Day-to-day work is very varied, as it’s a small library. During term, a lot of time goes on reader services, which is anything from issuing books and tracking down references to lending out stationery and solving minor computer problems. We have a regular flow of new readers needing inductions, or visitors wanting advice on the library service. I do a fair bit of shelving and tidying, and fetching requests from the basement stacks. I also handle the receiving and processing end of acquisitions, and allocate shel fmarks. There’s also keeping an eye out for damage, missing labels, shelf mark errors and that kind of low-level maintenance. As the university is pretty international, I get to practice my other languages quite often.
For the last year or so, we’ve been gradually reclassifying the library to the Library of Congress system, and we’re now preparing to move to a new site. Those are a major part of my work outside term: finding and allocating shelf marks, re-labelling the books, and some fairly major book moving.
Hannah Payne 2007-08
Aberystwyth University reference and research monitoring officer.
Fiona Eaton 2008-09
I am working in AU CCS Department (Commercialisation and Consultancy Services). I started here in 2009 – straight after my traineeship as an administrator and then applied for an internal post, also in CCS, which was a new post and a promotion. I work for the Director of the Department in a PA and project administrator role. I am responsible for administering all the department HR and Health and Safety related tasks and new staff induction, I am responsible for the departmental budget, maintaining supplies and services, assisting with project related tasks e.g. researching for external bids and assisting in formatting large bid documents, liaising with AU and other universities staff for their input into the various bids which we are involved with and any ad hoc tasks as required.
Tom Francis 2009-10
I’m delighted to say that I am still here! When my traineeship finished in July 2010, I was kept on by Collection Management with a casual, 25 hour-a-week contract. In October, I was appointed to a 15 hour-a-week Shelving Assistant post; I held both these jobs until May 2011, when I was appointed to my current post as Deputy Team Leader in Materials Acquisitions.
My job now involves paying invoices, liaising with subject librarians over journal subscriptions, renewing, cancelling or ordering new periodicals, running reports, liaising with other IS staff to formulate usage statistics, assisting with the formulation of the library cost-centre fund allocations, administrating the periodical binding budget, and attending a number of meetings and working groups.
Jane Woolf 2010-11
I am currently unemployed. I’m looking for library-related jobs but there aren’t many around. I’m also looking at customer service roles, as well as secretaries or receptionists.
How does it compare to the idea of librarianship you gathered whilst being a Graduate Trainee?
Of course as we have seen from the answers above not everyone went on to become a librarian. However, for those who did go on to become a librarian the insight given during the traineeship provided a glimpse of what was to come. Some who answered this question believed it was more of an assistant librarian role they did as a trainee, and it didn’t prepare one for management but of course it would have been very difficult to allow people management responsibilities as a trainee. Other trainees mentioned the technological changes and how things had changed so much in terms of this but a lot of the basic principles remained the same.
“I think it’s quite similar to what I expected, but I hadn’t heard of clinical librarianship before I did my MA at Loughborough. I do think the Aber experience prepared me very well for the MA.” Pippa Duval
“The grad trainee year gave a fairly accurate insight into what you can expect of a future job – and perhaps that’s especially likely to be true for someone like me who has ended up working in the same sector as that in which the traineeship was based.” (Janet Davies)
From the responses of non-Librarians we can also see that the year provided people with excellent skills which were transferable to other sectors such as administration. For others such as John, the idea of Librarianship which he gleamed during his year here put him off from going down the road to qualification.
“My perception of librarianship was (and still is) that it mostly involves meetings, presentations, budgets, management, spreadsheets and reports. This confirmed me in my decision not to train as a librarian. As a library assistant I mostly work with people, get plenty of exercise, and never have to attend meetings. I find it makes up for the colossal salary gap.” (John Shimmin)
Advice
In their own word here is the advice for future trainees!
“There’s a lot to take in, so make lots of notes, and don’t get too upset if you make a mistake – people who’ve worked here thirty years still make the odd one.”
Tom Francis
“Make lots and lots of notes on what you’ve done – it really will come in handy when you get to do the Masters course. Keep a portfolio of documentation if you can.”
Pippa Duvall
“Don’t commit to librarianship qualifications until you’ve finished the traineeship! Make sure you are dead certain you want to do it. For the last five years I’ve had friends preparing for, doing or just having finished the Masters course, and it is not only very hard work, it’s also not for everyone. It’s an awful lot of time, effort and money to devote to something unless you’re certain.
Take all the opportunities you get. Ask everyone what they do. Keep track of developments in the library service, even when they’re boring. Read minutes. If someone says “I could show you,” let them. If someone suggests you spend an afternoon shadowing someone, do it. If there’s a course on that’s remotely interesting, go on it. This is your best chance to learn about library work and discover your interests. Once you have a normal job, opportunities for training and learning are much harder to come by.
Oh, and if you get the chance to pick up database design, GIMP or Photoshop, HTML and basic scripting, it’s well worth the effort. Being able to rustle up a graphic, webpage or useful little file for yourself, rather than trying to find someone who can do it, is really useful.”
John Shimmin
“Enjoy your year! It’s great experience, so take advantage of everything that’s on offer to you, as well as being prepared to work hard at the less interesting tasks that inevitably form part of a job at this level.”
Janet Davies
“Don’t worry too much – one of the things I regret was sometimes checking the answers to something only to have someone else confirm my initial idea – I was right, but I felt the need to check. Being a Graduate Trainee is about learning, about asking questions and not necessarily being right all the time – there are people there to help you, so relax and enjoy it!”
Jane Woolf
“Enjoy! – and start to build up those transferrable skills. My opinion is that they are actually what matter more as your career progresses.”
Jackie Knowles
“Get yourself some good practical technical skills. If you can obtain the skills used to manage a repository or manage the LMS, even if you don’t use hem, a grounding in how systems work is invaluable.”
Helen Thomas
“Don’t be afraid to ask for more experience in the particular areas if wanted.”
Hannah Payne
“To enjoy it – it is a wonderful opportunity and probably to not delay progressing onto the MSc – I would advise starting it immediately on joining part-time. To be willing, pro-active and offer their help and at all times be friendly and helpful! Lastly, ask lots of questions and ask individuals if they are willing to spare some time to explain their roles.”
Fiona Eaton
“Throw yourself into the experience as no other job will be able to give you such a wide variety of tasks. If possible, keep working while doing your PG part time in order to be able to continue to apply theory to practical situations.”
Elizabeth Kensler
“Be proactive in asking for training opportunities. Make the most of living in such a great location.”
Catherine Pritchard
Conclusion
It seems to me from the data I have gathered from these kind people that the traineeship was a very important part of their professional development. It gave people a practical basis from which to grow as people and librarians (if they chose such a route). One of the constant threads that run through these answers is the variety of experience one gets from the traineeship here at Aberystwyth. I am only halfway through my year and it has flown by. I have really enjoyed the variety of jobs I have done and believe it has given me great insight into what being a Librarian is like. Of course until you are a Librarian you will never truly know, but working with Librarians observing them, being managed by them, working with colleagues who are assistant librarians in various fields all helps your development. The advice given by the trainees seems to me to be very useful, you do need to be proactive, willing to try new things, test yourself, make notes and above all allow yourself opportunity to grow. Many people also mention what a special place Aberystwyth is to live and work. Some of these people have stayed on, others have moved away but you do get the impression the place stays in people’s hearts no matter what. It is a place where you get opportunity to learn but also you get listened too, your opinion counts and you feel like you could make a difference. To many staff you are a fresh pair of eyes and ears and can maybe look at things differently and suggest ideas.
By Patrick Glaister, Graduate Trainee Aberystwyth University 2011-2
