Sep 24, 2024
“Oh cool! It’s gotta be a nice place to work… quiet…”
“Why are you always so tired when you work in a library?”
“If your job is commonly depicted by anthropomorphised animals in kids’ storybooks then you have a top 10 job and that’s that!”
This are all things friends have said to me about my job at the library. Most think its quaint little occupation, a rather cottage-core-ish endeavour. I admit I had these notions when I first got the job, but that all quickly changed my very first day on the job, when I was briefed on my rotating roster that would involve me learning an entirely new suit of skills every 2 months.
So, what does a librarian do apart from wear cardigans, shelve books and read? Why would one want to work in a library? How does one end up working in a library? Let’s answer these questions one by one.
What does a librarian do?
This is a screenshot of the Reader Services Library Assistant/Positive Action Graduate Trainee portion of my CV.
Disclaimer: this is not what every librarian does, but it is what any librarian Might end up doing. The occupation of librarian is quite multifaceted; the library is a huge machine that requires many specific roles to keep it functioning. I won’t get into the details here though, that’s for you to find out on the job 🙂
That’s the great thing about the traineeship programme really. It gives you a taste of everything that goes on in an academic library.
Why would one want to work in a library?
Working in a library was something I had always wanted to do, but I had never thought much about making it my career. All the way through my undergraduate and masters, I had been aiming to work in a museum setting or archive. However, I had always found myself drawn to libraries, as a space to work, as a concept, as an essential third space for the functioning of society.
It was only through applying for the traineeship that I realised how layered library work was. Sure, there was shelving books and helping students with queries, but there was also managing systems that went on behind the scenes. It was processing about 10 memberships a day, configuring reading lists for professors, cataloguing new acquisitions, handling inter-library loans, assisting the special collections with their accessions. It was learning new software systems, various procedures, essentially experiencing for yourself how an intricate structure like a library could function and what your role in that could be.
This may not be the case for every library, but working at the Goldsmiths library was also a wonderfully pleasant experience due to my colleagues. Everyone was patient, kind, willing to help you out with any query you had. This air of graciousness might be something that comes with the job, as those who chose to work in a library were already customer service minded.
It is also worth mentioning how well libraries intersect with museums and archives. Galleries, libraries, archives and museums all fall under the GLAM sector (cool right?). The skills between these institutions are largely transferable, and with how broadly the traineeship trains you, you end up with resume that would be sought after in many positions. Even if you did not wish to work in libraries, this traineeship would have provided a launching pad for you to apply for many other jobs.
How does one end up working in a library?
Typically, one would have to study Library Studies or Information Science to end up working in a library. The role of librarian is more challenging than most people assume, and there are many intricacies within the job that employers would require someone with an undergraduate or even postgraduate degree in the field to handle.
However, jobs within libraries are being opened to people without such qualifications in an effort to make the occupation more inclusive. This very traineeship is part of such efforts, an initiative to increase diversity within libraries and equip fresh graduates with all the skills they will need to work in most libraries. If one does wish to undertake a postgraduate in Library Studies after working within this role, it would be with the knowledge that the library is indeed a place that suits them.
Conclusion
I hope that answers your questions about what working in a library is like and what working in a library could do for you! It truly is a wonderfully accepting place where you get to meet and help people with furthering their education, researching a special interest, or simply finding a good book to read.
Sophie Tan, Reader Services Library Assistant [Positive Action Graduate Traineeship]