I’m Laura, a Goldsmiths graduate who completed a two-month internship in the Library Systems team this summer. Having been at Goldsmiths for three years and spending countless days and nights in the library studying for my degree, I had no idea how much work happens behind the scenes. I knew I wanted to work in the library because for me it’s a fundamental part of university life, and that this internship would give me a wide range of experience and transferable skills. I deliberated for ages over my application although it was much shorter than I was expecting, and then had an informal interview with my line manager and someone from the careers service who asked me about why I was suitable for the role. Despite the fact that I couldn’t open the bottle of water I was given as I sat down, I was given the job.

The systems team are currently working on implementing a new Library Management System after twenty years of using the same one, and are planning to go live with it in December. The system holds the details of every item in the library and every user who has an account, as well as lists of vendors and much more that I didn’t get to see, so as you can imagine transferring all this information and ensuring that the new system works for every need is a huge project. Some of the tasks I did were:

• I sat in on weekly meetings where the implementation team discussed updates on the configuring, testing and training of the new system. In the first meeting I didn’t understand much of what was being said, but over the coming weeks I gradually understood more after getting acquainted with both the old and new systems.
• I helped to train some of the staff in the new system, taking them through the interface step by step as it was the first time many of them had seen it.
• I created a questionnaire for the staff to complete in the usability of the new system, asking their opinion on how it looks and ease of use. Luckily the response was overwhelmingly positive.
• I tested the old system against the new to ensure that data had transferred correctly: this means looking at the log of random users and checking all the dates and personal information is correct. This is necessary work to make sure that any issues with migration is picked up.

I have great respect for the systems team as well as every other person that works in the library. They ensure that students have the resources they need and are able to access them, which I am eternally grateful for as I begin my MA at Goldsmiths in September. The women-led team whose roles are somewhere inbetween librarians and technicians are ensuring that the university functions and academics can do their research, and it was fantastic to see first-hand.