Library Routes

I first became aware of the Library Routes Project when I started blogging  18 months ago as a graduate trainee. At that point I was a baby in the library world being at the beginning of my traineeship. I could have written a post about how I ended up working as a trainee but I didn’t feel the time was right to document my journey. Now as I am nearing the final stage of my library school I still don’t feel the time is right to share my journey into the LIS profession. I feel as though I just still just beginning…

However a few of my fellow library school bloggers have written up their library routes so I feel I should jump on the bandwagon. Read their posts too, its amazing how different everyone is; Ian. Lucy, Carly and Jenny have all shared their stories.

This is mine.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/chriswildhq/

Unlike a lot of library routes stories I have read I don’t have fond memories of the local library as a child nor did my ‘first’ library job involve helping out at the school library. I don’t have an obsession with arranging my bookshelves or cataloguing my dvd collection either. Apart from my willingness to tell people to stop talking in the library at university I don’t think I have any of the hallmarks that might suggest I was destined to become a librarian.

In true library routes style I will give a short account of the significance libraries have had to my life (more on this in a previous post).  According to my mum we did visit the library when I was a child, apparently I loved going to the craft sessions and I enjoyed borrowing books. I don’t have much memory of any of this though. It wasn’t until later on that I became a regular library user.  As a young teenager we didn’t have the internet at home so I would go to Birkenhead library (it’s a lovely library and site of historic interest!) to use the internet. After experiencing the shame of racking up many fines with Wirral libraries I joined Liverpool libraries.  I spent a lot of time as a teenager at Liverpool Central library. When I was 16 I discovered I had a serious neurological condition. I missed a lot of school, lost a lot of friends and all my confidence so reading at the library became a very therapeutic activity for me. I spent Saturday’s at the library discovering new playwrights and losing myself in the world of drama. My local library also served as the place to do all my Alevel revision and some of my university revision too. So even though I claim libraries haven’t been important to me, I realise having written this that they have played a significant role in my life.

So how did I go from theatre student to librarianship student?

I was desperate for a job when I finished university. I wanted to do a masters  but didn’t think it would be worth the money. Essentially I had no realistic ideas for what I wanted to do with my life. I applied to all the graduate schemes but my inability to cope with numerical reasoning let me down. Whilst waiting for a date for an assessment centre for the Support Office branch of the Tesco graduate scheme I stumbled across an advert for the Oxford University graduate traineeships. I decided to apply on the basis that I had friends living in Oxford and that it was only a short train journey from Warwick University where I was studying theatre and performance studies. I figured a job in a library would be something I’d enjoy given it combined office work and customer service. I’ll admit that I didn’t have much awareness of librarianship as a profession but I think my passion for customer service and knowledge of the higher education sector must have helped me through the interview. I accepted the job but I didn’t truly think I’d end up doing it forever.

Then I realised all the possibilities the information sector had to offer. I won’t go as far as to say I fell in love with the profession but it excited me in a way a job never had before. So I decided to apply for the masters. I applied to Sheffield and Liverpool John Moores University plus a couple of others. My original plan was to go to LJMU so I could live at home and work part-time. This way I’d be getting a useful qualification without getting into lots of debt. This was important to me as I still wasn’t sure about the career so spending lots of money on it seemed silly. Sheffield offered me an AHRC scholarship so that’s how I ended up where I am.

I’m glad I came here because the course is fantastic however I’m still slightly uncomfortable about the title of the degree. MA Librarianship doesn’t say what I want it to say. I don’t desperately want to be a librarian. I do however want to work in an information related career.  Initially I was going to apply for Information Management.  I’m sure the semantics aren’t important to anyone but me though. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision.  I’m glad I chose this course because of the opportunities it has led to and the fantastic people.  I wish some of the course had been different though.

So what next?

I’m coming to the end of the course and the must get a job panic is building.  I don’t have a fixed idea of what I want to do.  When I look at job adverts I don’t feel qualified or experienced enough for much (to do with libraries anyway).  My plan is to go with whatever opportunities that arise and just roll with it.

Advertisement