Thing 23

What next?!

I think this programme has helped me in several ways:

1. Getting me to actually write something
Writing isn't one of my strongest points, but I hope that getting me to actually put my thoughts into words has been very useful. As I progress through my masters I know that putting pen to paper is a huge aspect of it, and starting by just by writing a few paragraphs on here has to have been beneficial, even if not one of the aims of the programme!

2. Getting me to think
Mostly about what I am doing in my career, and where I hope to go, but also about the wealth of free online resources available to me. From Prezi to Mendeley, I feel I have learnt a huge amount about how many clever things there are on the internet, and how I can use them to make my life easier!

3. Getting me to consider my future
And how reflecting on what I am doing is vital to keeping a track of what skills I attain at work and outside, and how that can help me in my career. This is where I hope to do more work and actually try to keep a folder of what I have done and what it means - something they try to get you to do at school when it feels irrelevant and time consuming. I will start by making a list of all the day to day activities I carry out, and see what skills I gain from then, and then move on to 'extra curricular activities'. Already at work we have 6 month PDRs which help me reflect, and I complete evaluation forms for every training event I have been on, to help me remember exactly what I gained from the session.

I think working in a college library has given me vital experience but I appreciate that elsewhere I need to have different skills, such as maybe moving into the 'information society' a bit more! From looking at job specifications I know that getting my masters will be incredibly useful (in a couple of years when I've finished).I think it could be useful to me to gain experience in different types of libraries, and maybe the option of volunteering in a public library should be one to consider. But at the moment my masters and a full time job are pretty time consuming, and something for me to focus all my efforts on for the time being.

Thing 22

Volunteering to gain experience

I don't think I could be where I am today with having worked voluntarily. Having no idea what to do with my life after university, and not wanting to spend my spare time doing a job that would get me nowhere in the end, I was eager to be able to get work experience at my university library. It was definitely a positive experience, and encouraged me that it was something I really could do. It gave me confidence, and helped we learn just what the job of librarian could mean, something you never really know until you experience it. Today I sometimes feel amazed that I now get paid for the job I do - having spent so long volunteering and never having had a (proper) paid job before it still seems surreal.

I spent my summer between third and fourth year doing this, plus volunteering at a local hospice and Durham's Botanic Gardens. Even though less relevant to becoming a librarian, I still think you can get a great deal out of doing something where you are meeting new people and trying something you haven't done before. Without all this experience I have no doubt that I would not be doing what I do now - having a decent degree is great but you need to have more! Since I've been in Cambridge I haven't done anything like I did that summer, and sometimes I think it would be a great idea. I can definitely see how it can fill gaps in your experience - the mention of teaching is something I have only observed, and I think some experience of that could only be a good thing. But now I am studying such a large amount of my time has disappeared, and what I have left I just want to do nothing and recuperate a bit! So maybe in a couple of years... I would love to do something involving children or maybe even just with a slightly different target group to most university libraries.