How quickly time flies...

It feels like such a long time since I arrived here in Cambridge and so much has happened. So far all the graduates have spent many hours getting to grips with Voyager to catalogue and to issue/return/pay fines etc. I feel the courses we all took part in the UL have been incredibly useful, and it has reduced the amount of time it takes me to deal with an item from about half an hour to under ten minutes! The tour of the UL was very enlightening, and made me realise that I was probably very lucky as an undergraduate in Durham! The idea of entering that building as a nervous 18 year old is terrifying, it all seems a lot more complicated here... although it is alot bigger of course. Durham also had more space for study and I think this is something the UL lacks for the younger students, although here the college libraries more than make up for it.

Last week we went to Pembroke College for a talk about applying for Library and Information Sciences postgrad degrees, and a tour of the college library. The talk was incredibly informative, but did little to ease my worries about what next year will bring. I love working but I did enjoy studying and I hope I can combine the two. I think the learning style would be very different to my previous Masters, I work best with numbers not words! However, if it could lead me into an interesting career and help me learn new skills I feel it would definitely be worth it. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes, I still have most of this year left to enjoy.

For the first time in my life I am now wearing glasses (shamefully not at this moment) for the perfect librarian look. The process of choosing them was long and I'm still to get used to them, in some ways only needing them for the computer is making it harder. The number of times I have to jump up to help a student at the desk I am worried as to how long my glasses will last! I am thinking a glasses string is needed however I have been informed that I would then become...

'like an old woman'   Janet

... so for the moment I am resorting to taking them on and off (it's very hard to see the person if I keep them on!).

 This Week: Introduction to HTML

What is a blog?

I'm rather new to the concept of a blog, and the idea of writing anything other than a differential equation so this could be interesting... But I'm keen to give things a go so here I am. Probably not the typical librarian blogger, I come from a rather scientific background but I don't see why this can't be a hugely beneficial thing in a predominantly arts-based environment. I am forever a logical person and could be quite useful when it comes around to handling that wonderful cataloguing client, Voyager (the interface forever emblazed (note to self - is this a word?) in my mind after the many hours in the UL with my fellow graduate trainees in Cambridge).

Anyway after much prodding here is my attempt at a blog... wish me luck. My imagination is not my most defining feature so bare with me, it is possible I will simply list facts! But maybe I'll show what it's like being a Physicist turned Librarian and go some way to explaining what lead to this huge change in career (if indeed I can call it that).

Thank you for reading this far!