Tag Archives: college libraries

There’s No Place Like Home(rton): Addenbrookes Medical Library and Homerton College Library

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Near the end of April the trainees set off on yet another adventure – this time to Addenbrooke’s Medical Library and Homerton College Library. Firstly, we met up at Addenbrooke’s, with our various commutes ranging from cycling, to buses from town and, rather excitingly for me, riding the entire length of the U bus from Eddington. Having spent a bit too much time in the Addenbrooke’s A&E department myself over the past few years, it made a nice change to instead head for the Clinical School where the library is situated!

When we arrived we were met by the librarian, who introduced us to the library and gave us a tour. The Medical Library is unique compared to others we have visited before, as it caters for NHS staff as well as medical students doing clinical placements and postgraduate researchers. Therefore, although one might think that the collection in such a library would be fairly narrow in range, it actually is very broad in scope in order to provide for the varying needs of the users. The collection is classified according to the National Library of Medicine classification scheme, which is adapted from the Library of Congress classification scheme. We were given some useful advice by the librarian for when we’re classifying these books – never look at the pictures in books on skin diseases! In addition to textbooks and journals, the library also stocks an impressive wellbeing collection which, as the librarian pointed out to us, is extremely important for NHS workers!

As well as physical resources, the library is especially keen to provide other forms of support. Teaching is seen as extremely important, with the librarians offering support in general skills such as searching for resources as well as more specific tasks such as how to effectively conduct a systematic review – a concept that I was actually familiar with due to some science-based papers I took during my music degree, but was fairly alien to most of our humanities-skewed cohort! The physical space of the library is also designed to provide for its variety of users; there are desks with computers, beanbags, pods for online meetings, and a newly-painted meeting room.

Following our tour it was time for the obligatory tea/coffee and biscuits (though I have to say we were especially treated with the biscuit selection this time around)! We chatted to the librarians about how they had ended up in medical libraries and, as we seem to find everywhere we go, there was no one, obvious career path. I suppose that, as so much of library work is ‘learnt on the job’ – in my case, everything I know about libraries has been learnt over the course of this year! – it’s never too late to make the switch over to librarianship. This got us talking about the wide range of jobs available within librarianship. I think we were all tempted by the idea of becoming a librarian on a cruise ship…

After our trip to Addenbrooke’s, we set off for our next stop – Homerton College. Luckily for us, the library is situated right near the main entrance (actually in the same building as the Porters’ Lodge) and so we were able to find our meeting point much more easily than the last time we were at Homerton for our Applying to Library School session! We were met by the librarian and first taken into the library office, where we were all very pleased by the amount of cuddly toys that lived there. We were especially honoured to meet Homer the Hedgehog, the library’s mascot, whose adorable adventures are well-documented on the Homerton College Library Instagram account! Next, we were given a tour of the library. The Homerton Library can feel very big when you walk in, due to its open-plan design, and it is open 24/7 for college members. However, despite a potentially intimidating design, the librarians are keen to make the library as welcoming and accessible as possible. The librarian showed us a large poster to help students navigate the space and various beanbags and jigsaws are located on the ground floor. It was also explained to us that they stock their wellbeing books alongside books about life-skills such as cooking or bike maintenance, so students didn’t have to uncomfortable about going to a special ‘self-help’ section. We then had a quick look around the rest of the library, including Homerton’s well-stocked children’s literature collection of which I was very jealous!

By now we were all flagging a bit and so we went to get a substantial (and, even better, free!) lunch in the hall, which we followed with another obligatory round of tea and coffee. Again, we chatted with the librarian about different career progressions – one of the Homerton librarians comes from a STEM background! – as well as how Homerton is unique compared to most other college libraries due to its need to provide for the college’s vast amount of PGCE students.

Overall it was a very busy but highly interesting day seeing the two very different libraries and we would like to extend our thanks to the librarians at Addenbrooke’s and Homerton College for accommodating us!

A trip down memory lane at Clare College Libraries

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Outside of the (jam packed!) timetable of events, workshops and visits planned for the trainee librarians over the year of our traineeships, we are also encouraged to organise our own trips relating to our librarianship interests and our library training.

As an alumna of Clare College, I was very excited to hear that the Fellows’ Library at Clare was finally re-opening, after being out of operation for 5 years, with the collection being in specialist storage since 2018 as a part of building and refurbishment in Old Court. This closure spanned over my own three years as an undergraduate at Clare, so I never got to see or use the Fellow’s Library. So, I set about organising a trip for the trainees to visit Clare College and to have a tour of both the Fellows’ library and the student library across the way in Memorial Court. I also wanted to organise this trip in part because I owe the Forbes Mellon Library for my pursuit of librarianship; it was working there part-time in the summer of 2022 where I fell in love with librarianship (I was particularly a big fan of book covering and labelling – I love a cut and stick activity) and working there is also how I learnt about the Graduate Traineeships.

Forbes Mellon Library

We began our trip congregating in Memorial Court on Queens’ Road, which hit me with a wave of nostalgia as I lived here for all three years of my degree. The Forbes Mellon Library (FML) was our first stop; located in the heart of Memorial Court, the FML was constructed in 1986, to accommodate the growing number of undergraduates studying at the college. On entering the building, the librarian pointed out a series of portraits of women Fellows hanging on the balcony, which houses the closed-access shelves of the library. A particular favourite of the group was a portrait featuring a plush frog. She explained that these were part of a series of celebrations in the college commemorating the 50th anniversary of the changing of statutes to include women among the students and Fellowship, making Clare the first Cambridge college to have co-education in 1972. Another artistic feature of the college, a statue entitled HOMMAGE, which stands between the Forbes Mellon Library and the University Library, was also acquired as part of the 50th anniversary.

Inside the FML

It was also explained that this library has a rather rare feature; it shares a building with several music practice rooms! This is an interesting combination, given the unique silence of library spaces… but surprisingly one that works in nice harmony, with very few disturbances occurring. There is also a Library Common room located in the building, which is highly frequented by students, which serves as a relaxed area to study or take a break. This space is harmoniously run by the Union of Clare Students and the library team, with calming colouring books, a casual reading selection (borrowable on trust), and free hot drinks and biscuits available. One of the projects I worked on while working there was to weed this collection, to keep it updated and relevant for the students.

Entering the main library itself, we first saw the display table which is located directly in front of you as you enter the building, where a brand-new display was set up, featuring books, DVD’s and other items from the collection relating to women’s history month. On our way to a side room that contains the printer and monitors, as well as housing the welfare and academic collections, we walked past a station full of equipment free for students to use, from staplers to whiteboards. There was some interest amongst the group as to how the items were picked, and whether the Clare students seemed to find them useful. We were then led up to the first floor, where we could fully appreciate the beautiful shelving that runs along the walls of the hexagonal building, with their huge bay windows filling the library with light (many an essay of mine was written on one of these window seats, so apologise if I am a little biased about their loveliness). The librarian also explained how they had been working on a reclassification project recently on their history collection; you can read more about reclassification and its role in library decolonisation projects in Liz’s blog here.

Law Reading Rooms

One of Clare’s Law Reading Rooms

We then filed out of the Forbes Mellon, and turned into one of the staircases, where the college archives were pointed out to us. Here we visited the two Law Reading Rooms, (the Lipstein and Turpin rooms) which both law and land economy students in the college have access to, with the Turpin room also having a computer room. These rooms have their own library collection, for reference only. As with most of the windows in the library, and in Memorial Court generally, the University Library is ever-present. A particular selling-point of Clare is just how close the libraries are, with Sidgwick site also being just a couple minutes away. The librarian explained how this close proximity also helps them to facilitate access to the books their students need.

Fellows’ Library

Clare Old Court over Clare Bridge

Making our way across the road and through Clare Old Court, with spring flowers blooming beautifully along the walkway, we briefly stopped on Clare Bridge where I pointed out one of my personal favourite features of the college – The Wedge – which, like many old-Cambridge things, has several combating mythologise surrounding it, all more absurd than the last. On the way to the Old Library we passed the newly refurbished Old Hall, and also a Medieval Chest. Several colleges with Old Libraries have chests such as this, which at one point would have functioned much like a library in that they stored key documents of the college, in fact this chest specifically is referred to anecdotally as the “earliest library of the College” and is roughly dated to the fifteenth century. We were then led through the senior common room to reach the Library; this placement of the library, between the Masters’ Lodge and SCR, and accessible from either side, is indicative of the central role the library has historically had in Clare.

This photograph of the Fellows’ Library is reproduced by kind permission of the Master, Fellows and Scholars of Clare College.

On entering the Fellows’ Library, we met with the Assistant Librarian who had kindly laid out a selection of the collection for us to look at. This included highlights such as Cassius Dio of Bythynia (1592), edited by Henri Estienne, which came to the library from Master Charles Morgan (1678-1736, Master 1726-1736), and which is still in its original late-16th century binding, with fragments of a Hebrew manuscript. Both the Clare librarians and many of the graduate trainees had been to the 2023 Sandars Lectures, which were on Cambridge University bindings, so we had particular interest in three Cambridge bindings from the collection, two of which are believed to be from the workshops of early Cambridge binders John Siberch and Nicholas Spierineck, and one which showcased a pink covering!

Alongside this, we also had the opportunity to meander around the exhibition in the Fellows’ Library which was curated by the Fellows’ Librarian, Prof. Tim Chesters, which featured selections from the collection on the theme of “America”. We also heard about the (somewhat tumultuous) history of libraries in the college, including a presumed fire which sadly caused the loss of much of the earliest part of the collection, as well as learning about the process of moving the books to specialised storage, working with the collection while it was in storage, and the process of having it all returned to college. It was fascinating to hear about movement of rare books on this scale.

River Café

We finished the trip in the new extension of the college – the River Room Café – which still had views of the University Library through its windows. We were kindly treated to a hot drink while we chatted to the Clare library team about their own experiences as trainees and their careers as well as our own plans and goals. The Clare librarians were very kind, receptive and welcoming to us visiting, for which we are very grateful, and I want to personally thank them, for teaching me the foundations from which I am developing my librarianship practice in my traineeship, for nurturing my love of libraries, and for running a wonderful library for Clare students.

View across the river in the River Room Café, with the University Library in the distance

Chu-Can do anything! Our visit to the Churchill Archives Centre and Churchill College Libraries

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On 11th March, the trainees got together once again for an exciting visit to the Churchill Archives Centre, as well as Churchill College Library. We were met by the lovely group of Archive staff who led us to the conservation studio. The conservator was hard at work doing some paper repairs using a very fine Japanese paper. Despite its fineness and fragile appearance, the long kozo fibres in this kind of paper make it both strong and pliable, perfect for repairing holes and tears in all kinds of paper. He also showed us a binding repair he was working on. Instead of repairing the spine of a large book with leather to match the leather binding, he was using a much thicker version of the Japanese paper, carefully painted to resemble the blue leather used to bind the rest of the book. This was a technique none of us had seen before and we loved hearing about how these kinds of repairs take place. Most of the work the conservators deal with is preventative work – especially when it comes to storage. When items are accessioned, they are carefully stored inside acid-free folders and boxes to prevent further damage, which hopefully saves conservators from doing more intensive reparative work in the future.

Thick Japanese paper painted to blend with the leather binding it is being used to repair.
Conservators’ tools.

Next, we were led to the strongroom where many of the Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher items are kept. The archivists had kindly taken out some collection highlights to show us, including Thatcher’s own toy cat, Stanley, and her handbag, along with pictures as ample evidence that these were in fact the Real Deal.

Stanley the cat, who lived at 10 Downing Street with Margaret Thatcher.
(Below) The actual handbag of Margaret Thatcher (and the actual thumb of the Pembroke Trainee).

I asked whether the archives centre has a formal acquisitions policy, and we were told that the collection was initially centred on Churchill and his friends/associates, as well as other UK Prime Ministers. Now, it focuses more generally on modern political and scientific papers; as the Archives Centre website outlines, ‘Our collections encompass the personal papers of individuals who made and remade British domestic politics and international relations, advanced scientific knowledge, and who observed or transformed society, economics and culture.’

One of the archive assistants also pointed out that the centre has an unusually large naval collection relating to Stephen Roskill, who was a Senior Research Fellow at Churchill College, as well as a senior career officer of the Royal Navy, and who served during the Second World War.

One of the strongrooms in Churchill Archives Centre.

We spoke briefly about how digital archiving works, as this seems to be a growing concern among archivists with the rapidly evolving world of digital media. The archivists mentioned that there are various floppy disks and other kinds of data-storing hardware at the archives centre, which are proving difficult to draw information from. The concern with digital media is that technology will change at such a rate and in such a way that material stored in a certain form might eventually become inaccessible – which also makes investing money in certain technology or data storage an inherently risky process. For now, the team at Churchill store digital archives like emails in three copies, all hosted in separate locations, to ensure they are not lost to data breaches or corruption. It’s an aspect of archive work I had not considered before as most of the archives at Trinity predate digital media, and only exist in hard copy. I don’t doubt, though, that digital archives will present some new and compelling challenges to the archivists that work with them as time goes on!

Churchill Archives Centre Reading Room.

As we wandered up to the Archives Centre Reading Room, the team noted that, upon his death, Winston Churchill’s official papers were taken to be stored in the National Archive, while only his personal papers are kept at Churchill Archives Centre. I think we all agreed that the personal papers are far more interesting anyway!

For example, we were shown a copy of Churchill’s rather concerning school report from April 1884, which stated that his general conduct was ‘very bad’, that he ‘is a constant trouble to everybody, and is always in some scrape or other’, along with the comment that ‘he cannot be trusted to behave himself anywhere’. Not the most encouraging review of a future Prime Minister!

I wonder how he would have fared in comparison to the ‘Leadership Qualities’ drawn up to compare Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock, which lists ‘Ruthless’ as one of Thatcher’s principal qualities, with the caveat ‘don’t desire, but suspect necessary’.

Another highlight from the reading room was “Bomb-proof Bella”, a photograph of an adorable and quite nervous looking dachshund who survived three trips to Dunkirk aboard the HMS Sandown!

“Bomb-proof Bella”.

The trainees also enjoyed this survey of young people’s ‘perceptions of the future’, some of which were bang on (like the prediction that ‘people will go abroad much more than at present’ and that ‘most roads will be choked with cars at nearly all times of the day’). Only 59% of people thought that ‘every family will have a telephone’ and fewer still believed that ‘men and women will take equal shares in housework and looking after children’ (45%)! Looking at some of these surprising and often disquieting predictions was a harsh reminder that we have come so far in many ways, and not so far in others…

These were predictions from 1970 about the year 2000. Here are some library-related predictions from the trainees about what life will be like 30 years from now, all the way in 2054:

Harriet predicts that ‘in 30 years’ time, they will still be publishing Rainbow Magic Fairy books.’ (what a blast from the past!)

Anna predicts that ‘there will be a new system to rival Dewey.’ (Let’s hope so!)

And I (Liz) predict that faculty and department libraries will slowly evolve into “hub” spaces, and focus on health and wellbeing, as well as study!

After we had enjoyed some more archive highlights, the Churchill College Librarian kindly offered us a tour around the student libraries. We began in the Bracken Library, the entrance hall of which was home to a glorious display commemorating Neurodiversity Celebration Week, as well as a seed library! Here the students can help themselves to the range of flower and vegetable seeds which they can sow into small beds on their windowsills. (Very jealous that we don’t have this at Trinity!)

Dominating the Bracken Library was a vast and beautiful tapestry called ‘Etoile de Paris’ by Jean Lurçat, who donated it to the college in 1961. Under the watchful eye of the tapestry’s woven cockerel, the librarian explained that the Bracken is where the sciences and social sciences collections are kept, and that everything in Churchill is catalogued according to the Dewey Decimal system.

Bracken Library.
Etoile de Paris tapestry in the Bracken Library.

The arts and humanities collections are housed in Churchill’s other library, the Bevin Library. The entrance to this part of the building was host to yet more delightful displays, this time for Women’s History Month. The trainees were especially fond of the whiteboard asking for song recommendations by female artists for the Library playlist. (We even contributed a few tunes! If you’re curious, the final playlist can be found on Spotify here!)

In the Bevin, students were enjoying some more relaxed seating in the company of Churchill’s library mascot, Chu-Can the Toucan. And if that wasn’t enough, there was even a box of Pet Rocks leftover from a wellbeing event, which now live in the library for everyone to enjoy! Needless to say, the trainees were thoroughly obsessed, with rocks, with Toucan and with the library as a whole.

Pet rocks!
Chu-Can the Toucan!

After some tea with our wonderful hosts, the archives team, we wandered on to our next trip of the afternoon at West Hub! We want to thank the incredible staff at Churchill Archives Centre and Churchill College Library for kindly hosting us.

Knitting, Wood Engravers and Sylvia Plath – Our Visit to Newnham College Library

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At the beginning of March, the trainees made our way to Newnham College for a tour around their college library. Newnham was founded in 1871 as a residence for women attending lectures at the university (long before they could become full members in 1948) and to this day, remains a women-only college.

After arriving at the library we were met by last year’s trainee, who has stayed on at Newnham in the role of Special Collections Project Library Assistant. It’s always nice to hear about which jobs ex-trainees have gone on to do! First we were taken into the library lobby, where the library assistant explained to us that the library is open from 6.30am-1.45am in order to encourage students to get some sleep. This seems to be a common reoccurrence in many college libraries – whilst some are open 24/7, others believe that this can promote an unhealthy work-sleep balance and that students would regularly pull all-nighters unless they are physically locked out of the library! The library assistant also showed us the hand-bound library guides and her new book display which we were all very impressed to hear is updated every day! It certainly beats my mass-printed guides and once-a-month display changes at my own college library…

We were next shown a board which was covered in bookmarks that are given to each student in their first year, which they can then write book recommendations on and stick up. This contributed to the sense of community which was felt throughout the library, possibly due to the college’s history of being a safe space for those excluded from the university and its current status as a women-only college. The library has a book exchange, a women’s and LGBT+ collection curated by the JCR, and features displays put together by current students. Our favourite example of the Newnham community spirit, however, had to be the Library Knitting Box – I think we’re all tempted to return to Newnham at some point to take part in their regular knitting nights!

As well as the academic books kept for students, the library has a ‘shelf-help’ section which works on the basis of anonymous borrowing and contains books on welfare and study guides. There is also a section with graphic novels, modern fiction, modern poetry and periodicals. As is becoming a common concern in libraries, the library assistant explained to us that they had been unsure whether the periodicals were actually being used. She showed us her ingenious yet simple solution – a quick survey put up in the periodicals area where patrons put a tick next to the name of the periodicals they used. Surprisingly this demonstrated that they were far more popular than she had thought! Less surprising though was the fact that she mentioned they had lots of old journals to get rid of. I know in my own library we’re having discussions about whether years’ worth of journals are a practical use of space, given feedback suggests that the vast majority of students only access these online. A slightly random addition to the library is Blaise Pascal’s death mask (which apparently has its own BeReal account?) – the library assistant revealed that some students prefer to work with it watching over them. I suppose whatever encourages you to finish that essay!

We were next taken into the old half of the library – a Grade II* listed building which we were all very pleased to hear houses the humanities books as well as various collections. These include the Bloomsbury collection, which contains first edition works and related items by Virginia Woolf, and the Rogers collection, which contains children’s literature. Originally donated to Newnham as a joke in the early 20th century – the implication being that, as women, this was all the students were capable of reading – this collection includes folktales and fairy tales from around the world. The main collection is classified with an in-house scheme that is loosely based on the Library of Congress classification scheme. The advantage of this is that the classmarks can be adapted as the collection evolves, such as by adding a 21st century section. The ceiling of the old library is especially impressive, with panels displaying different printers’ marks. We were equally delighted to see a replica of a banner that was taken by Newnham and Girton students to suffragette marches – one of many reminders found in the library of Newnham’s history of supporting women’s rights and education.

The library assistant then showed us something very special – an exhibition which had just been installed, making us the first people to see it! She explained that during her trainee year, she had spent a lot of time with the Jaffé collection (Patricia Jaffé being a Research Fellow from 1962 who was also an accomplished wood engraver). This collection was donated by Jaffé’s family in 2022 and has around 450 books, featuring illustrations by 20th and 21st century women wood engravers. The exhibition features a selection from this collection and the library assistant gave us an extremely informative talk about her choices, as well as the art of wood engraving itself. I can now safely say I know the difference between a woodcut and a wood engraving! My personal favourite item in the exhibition was a small toy horse belonging to a current fellow at Newnham. Nora Unwin, a wood engraver, had lived with her family during the war and, during this time, had written and illustrated a book about the horse, which is also featured in the exhibition.

Following our visit to the exhibition, it was time for some hard-earned tea and biscuits in the library kitchen. Discussions ranged from tips from the library assistant on planning exhibitions (I will definitely be taking her advice on making a to-scale diagram!), to the history of Braille, to some interesting items found by one of the trainees in some manuscripts they had been going through (as well as speculation on how said items may have got there). To finish the afternoon we went for a walk through Newnham’s beautiful gardens in order to find the house where Sylvia Plath had lived in as a student – we are mainly ex-English students after all!

We would like to thank the Special Collections Project Library Assistant for such an engaging and informative tour, as well as the whole library team at Newnham for allowing us to spend our afternoon in their gorgeous library.

Homerton College Library Visit

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The trainees recently had the pleasure of visiting Homerton College Library, situated slightly further away from the city centre on Hills Road. On first appearance it has been noted that the interior of the library resembles something like a cruise ship, with an open-plan structure that contributes to a light and spacious atmosphere ideal for studying.

The library’s maritime architecture


Due to its origins as a Teacher Training College, and its ongoing affiliation with the Faculty of Education, Homerton’s library is perhaps most well-known for its impressive collection of children’s literature, comprising around 10,000 children’s books, 3,000 rare books and 6,000 children’s annuals. On the trainees’ visit we were shown a few highlights from the library’s Special Collections, including a nineteenth-century ‘Speaking Book’, early editions of Alice in Wonderland, and a picture book featuring flying plane-babies. The library also holds a Multimedia Collection, which includes borrowable CDs, DVDs, and printed music.

The library’s dragonesque display


The library currently houses a display focusing on depictions of dragons in children’s literature, in part to accompany the recent Philippa Pearce lecture given by Cressida Cowell, author of the How to Train Your Dragon series. The exhibition is interactive, with students invited to contribute a paper scale to a model dragon, although it should be noted that no live flames are involved in the display. Undoubtedly it is this culture of literary playfulness, along with especially friendly staff, which makes Homerton College Library such a welcoming and enriching study environment.

Queens’ College War Memorial Library and Old Library visit

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Recently, we had the pleasure of a visit to Queens’ College, where we got to visit both the War Memorial Library (the student library) and the Old Library. The Rare Books Curator met us at the Porter’s Lodge and after a walk over the Mathematical Bridge, we were shown some of the historic and notable parts of the College including the Old Court, the Old Hall, and Cloister Court. She told us some history of the College and Library, including important benefactors of the early Library such as Thomas Smith, whose portrait hung in the Old Hall.

The Long Gallery in Cloister Court

The Reader Services Librarian then showed us around the War Memorial Library, which holds their teaching collections and student study space. The stacked walkways and twisty spiral staircases help maximise the amount of room available for books and students, and it felt like a cosy place to study. The main room was complimented by a huge glass window with beautiful stained glass details at the top, helping the space feel more open and provide a great amount of natural light. We also got to view a display on the ‘Golden Age of Science Fiction’, put together by the Queens’ trainee, and based on a sizeable collection of mid-twentieth century novels donated by an alumnus of the College.

A bay of shelves in the Old Library. The lower portions of the shelves are original, with the higher shelves built on top at a later date.

We were then taken into the Old Library, a beautiful room built specially for its purpose as a library in the mid-fifteenth century! It has been in continuous use since then, and remains very close to its original state. The lower sections of the current bookshelves were part of the original medieval lectern shelves, and many books remain in their original bindings. As well as the home of many of their rare books and manuscripts, the Old Library is also an exhibition space, and we were given some time to explore the current exhibition, ‘Legacies of Enslavement at Queens’ College.’ This exhibition follows an investigation by the College into their students’ and fellows’ connections to empire and enslavement from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The exhibition featured documents and books from this period in the Library collections that revealed some of Queens’ connections to the slave trade as well as the abolition movement.

Finally, the Rare Books Curator gave us a ‘hands-on’ workshop introduction to early printed books. After a brief history of paper production and the printing process, we got to try our hand at folding a printed sheet into a gathering, making sure the folds were all in the right place so the text was the correct orientation and in the right order. We were then shown various types of early printed books, using examples from the Queens’ collections. In pairs, we were given a book to look at, and challenged to examine it and talk about any interesting features we could spot. It is surprising how much you can learn about a book and its history by understanding its materiality!

Our thanks to the library team at Queens’ College for a wonderful look into this historic library and a fun and educational introduction to rare books!

A Day in the Life at Pembroke College Library

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At Pembroke, I work as part of a small team: just three full time Library staff, plus our Rare Books Cataloguer, and Archivist. Because of this, my days are hugely varied, and I end up getting to do a little bit of everything. Outside of the daily jobs, I have the freedom to choose what I work on and when, so most days I do not do everything I’ve mentioned, but I usually get to it all throughout a week.

9:00-9:30 – Morning routine & daily jobs

The morning routine is the most regular part of my day. The building is opened at 8:00 before Library staff arrive, but there are sometimes lights to turn on, doors to open, and we do a check to make sure the catalogue PC and the borrowing machine are running. After checking if we have any recalls to collect and separate for the hold shelf, I organise the returns. We divide up the shelving by floor, and use the walk around to tidy the reading rooms, take a headcount during term time, and open the windows when it’s not winter. There are often already a few people working away diligently by the time we arrive in the morning. We also take note of any furniture or building repairs that need reporting to maintenance.

Our noticeboard, borrowing machine, and the returns area looking tidy after a round of shelving!

I follow up the shelving with a few other maintenance tasks – emptying the water cooler drip bucket, checking there is enough printer paper, and taking out the office recycling. Either before or after this morning routine, we’ll usually have a team catch-up in the main office to check in on the day’s schedule and any meetings, events, or external visitors that will occupy part of our day.

From my desk in the Library office near the entrance, I am the first point of contact for student enquiries, so throughout the day I have to be ready to pause whatever I’m doing and aid any students or Members asking for help. Often these questions are about finding books, borrowing, or printing, but we also receive a variety of other enquiries about donations, use of library spaces for non-library activities, and much more. I also answer phone enquiries, help monitor the shared email inbox, and keep an eye on general activity to ensure people are following Library rules, such as not bringing in food or hot drinks. Sometimes the Librarian will ask me for help with other, miscellaneous tasks, like moving rare books off high shelves or delivering a donation to another library.

9:30-10:30 – Processing & cataloguing acquisitions

I like to continue my morning with processing new books (which involves putting labels, barcodes, tags, and covers on books; all the cutting and sticking is like an arts and crafts session and can be very therapeutic!), repairing any damaged books that we’ve picked up, or creating and updating signs. Before adding shelf labels, I classify the books according to our in-house system, which can sometimes require a team discussion for books that cover various or interdisciplinary topics. After processing, the books are ready for cataloguing, which I can now work on independently after an introductory course from Cambridge University Libraries (CUL) and one-to-one training and supervision from my own team.

While working I make sure to keep an eye on my emails for any newsletters, announcements, or notices from the CUL network. As a college library we are independently governed, but still share some systems and resources with the University libraries, such as our library database, so our cataloguing process follows a Cambridge-specific workflow to ensure consistency in the records. Remaining aware of joint ventures or new developments elsewhere in the University also helps us to provide the most up-to-date information for our students.

Shelves in the Library office where books wait for classifying, processing, cataloguing, and repairs. This is a light day’s workload that would be shared between me and the Assistant Librarian, though it can fill up quickly when we get big deliveries.

10:30-11:00 – Tea break

We pop out of the office (to a reachable place for emergencies/enquiries) twice a day for a cup of tea, as we don’t keep anything other than water at our desks – staff also have to follow the Library rules!

11:00-12:30 – Collection management & Library communications

After tea, I’ll pick up any of my on-going library projects, such as checking reading lists. I am responsible for only a few lists out of all the taught subjects at Pembroke, but many of them can be quite long and we spread out checking reading lists through the year, so it’s a constantly on-going process. As I have a background in Medieval Norse Studies, my manager was excited to take advantage of my subject knowledge, so I’m also helping to reorganise the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic section of the Library, to ensure that it is as up-to-date and useful as it can be to ASNC students or any of our Members who are interested in the field. Larger reclassification projects and updates to big sections of the Library are often on-going but are not a routine part of our work; we make small steps towards them when we can during term, and then dedicate more time to them in the vacation period.

At noon one day a week I have a meeting with Communications reps from other departments – this keeps the Library and Archive connected and up-to-date with the wider goings-on of the College, so we can promote them and keep up Pembroke’s community spirit. I ensure the rest of our colleagues know what we’re up to and what we’re sharing on social media or in our various display cases around College. I’m also partly responsible for creating said social media posts, helping design and put together the displays, and creating posters – this is a great chance to flex my creative muscles, and I spend a couple of hours on these sorts of jobs every few weeks.

12:30-13:00/30 Lunch

Because lunch is often a busy period in the Library, we stagger our breaks to ensure one of us is always in the office during term. My usual time is half 12, when one of the wonderful perks of College life is getting a free hot meal to enjoy in Hall. I also have the choice of using my free meal at the Pembroke Café during term time, which I frequently visit as it’s a great spot to cosy up with a book and a hot drink.

13:00/30-15:30 – Special collections project

Between lunch and afternoon tea is a good time to get stuck into my independent project. One of my favourite things about working here has been the opportunity to research an early printed book from Pembroke’s special collections. I chose a 17th century book about the design of heraldic arms, with a wealth of hand-coloured illustrations that still look incredibly bright and vibrant today. It also contains many annotations. I’m learning to catalogue it while also researching its provenance, which involves using online bibliographic databases as well as close physical examination of the book itself. It has been a fantastic way to learn about rare book special collections, which I had no experience with before. Towards the end of the year, I will get to create a display about the book to showcase my research.

Hand-coloured illustrations from my early printed book, with a marginal note: ‘In Lincoln’s Inn Chappel Window East’

15:30-16:00 Tea break

If we have researchers looking at special collections material, we require an invigilator to always be present. We thus stagger our tea breaks in these situations so that the readers remain supervised. Invigilating in the Archive reading room means I’m away from my desk and my usual work, but gives me half an hour or so to help out with smaller, more unusual tasks, such as transcribing some 19th century palaeography from a letter in the Archive collections, or just to keep up my professional knowledge by reading through the latest CILIP publications for the newest developments in the field.

A small collection of reference books I keep on my desk. These are useful for my rare book project and my Archive biographies. I also keep the latest issue of Information Professional handy in my organiser.

16:00-17:00 – Archive biographies project

To finish the day, I often like to work on my project for the Archive. At Pembroke, the Library and Archive are a joint department, and work in the same building. This means I get to learn a lot about the archival side of the information profession and even engage with some Archive work myself. My main contribution has been researching old Pembroke Members for whom we have collections of ephemeral material. This ‘Pembrochiana’ collection has already been catalogued on our online Archive database, but I have been expanding the records by adding biographical information for each person. This has been a fantastic chance to learn about the almost 700-year history of Pembroke, as well as such a variety of people: from early modern religious leaders, to 19th century science pioneers, to the achievements of those still living today and many more in between.

Working at a college library is a wonderfully unique experience, full of lots of Cambridge quirks but also providing a thorough introduction to academic libraries for a trainee. There is never a dull moment and plenty of surprise jobs and opportunities to attend to along the way.

Pembroke College Library Visit and Law Libraries Talk

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On the 9th of January 2023, the Graduate Trainees visited Pembroke College Library to attend a talk on Law Libraries, as part of our professional development. Founded in 1347, Pembroke is one of the oldest Colleges in Cambridge, with architecture and library collections that reflect its development from a medieval house of study to a modern and dynamic academic institution.  

The Waterhouse Library. Alfred Waterhouse designed many buildings in Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the Natural History Museum.

The Library has inhabited several locations within the College over the years. It originally existed in a corner of the medieval Old Court, before migrating to the original chapel building after Christopher Wren’s construction of another chapel in 1665. In 1875, the notable architect Alfred Waterhouse built a new Library as part of his refashioning of the College, and Pembroke’s collections now occupy the gloriously eclectic building, with its distinctive red brick façade, stained glass windows, and ornate Clock tower.

Stained glass windows inspired by Ted Hughes’ poetry refract light onto the writer’s desk.

The Waterhouse Library is home to 42,000 books, with strong specialisms in Art History and Law. This year’s Pembroke trainee showed us around the peaceful reading rooms, with views over Pembroke grounds, and took us to see Ted Hughes’ impressively ink-stained desk and chair, positioned underneath windows inspired by his poetic fascination with nature. More stained glass windows, designed by German artist Hans von Stockhausen in 2001, shade the vestibule stairwell, featuring woodcut illustrations of animals and botanical specimens taken from the work of Nehemiah Grew and William Turner, early botanists at the College, contributing to the chapel-like ambience of the Library.

We then attended a talk on the world of Law Libraries by the Assistant Librarian at Pembroke, who began her own career at one of the Inns of Courts in London. Law librarians can work with many different aspects of the law, and are employed in law firms, academic institutions with law libraries, some government libraries, and the Advocate’s Library in Edinburgh, all with different remits.

As England exists in a ‘common law’ jurisdiction, our legal system is based in the ‘doctrine of precedence’, through which sitting judges can respond to, uphold, or reject the previous judgements of older courts. Librarians, therefore, serve a vital purpose within the legal profession, ensuring barristers, solicitors, and clerks have the relevant information on these precedents required to win a case in court. Our speaker described the enjoyably fast-paced nature of this environment, as well as the warm and often collegiate atmosphere of the Inns of Court.

A quiet reading room in the Pembroke College Library.

Physical collections remain an integral part of legal information services, due to the mass of written material on historic cases. When referencing cases from many hundreds of years ago, librarians might even consult some of the early printed books still held in collections at the Inns of Court, adding a special collections element to the role. Databases, and database management, form a similarly vital part of the job. The Librarian showed us the highly specific referencing style within the different law books and online databases, which can aid finders in their search for individual cases. We examined the online judgement of the recent (and infamous) Rooney v Vardy case, to observe how these cases are disseminated as precedents after their conclusion.

It was fascinating to hear about the demands and rewards of this strand of librarianship, and revealed another possible path for our careers after the trainee year. It was also wonderful to observe the inner workings of Pembroke Library, with its peaceful demeanour and busy and vital Library service, hidden in the very heart of Cambridge.

Newnham College Library visit

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Last week, we had the first of our visits to one of our own trainees’ libraries – Newnham College. Newnham is a women’s College founded in 1871, with the Library being first constructed in 1897. The Library was a gift from Henry and Elizabeth Yates Thompson who had close connections to the College and its founders, including the architect Basil Champneys. The 2004 modern extension is named the Horner Markwick Library after two previous Librarians of the College, who both generously donated funds towards expanding the Library.

Our tour started in the Archive, where the Archivist had laid out a selection of photographs and other items of note from the College’s history for us to view. Of particular note was a letter written by Rosalind Franklin, whose later work would contribute hugely to our understanding of DNA structure. At the time of the letter, Franklin was a first-year undergraduate student, and wrote to her parents of the exciting news of the first female professor elected in either Oxford or Cambridge (this was Dorothy Garrod), who had been elected from Newnham. Franklin also noted that there was still a question over whether, as a woman, she would be given full membership of the University.

Our visit to the Archive also elicited a fascinating discussion about archiving personal histories of people who have been marginalised throughout history. Collection of personal letters and photographs allows us to now reveal and understand some aspects of women’s lives that would have been ignored, deliberately hidden, or suppressed in previous centuries and decades, for example LGBTQ+ identities and relationships.

The Horner Markwick Library. Its open, multi-storey layout shows off the Library’s large collection.

Our Newnham trainee then took us on a tour of the Library reading rooms, explaining the layout and their classification scheme. The size of the collection was particularly impressive, and is one of the best-stocked undergraduate college libraries in Cambridge. For a College with around 400 undergraduates, a collection of over 100,000 volumes gave a much larger ratio of book-to-student numbers compared to other College libraries such as my own, Pembroke. I was then reminded that for a long time, women were not permitted to enter the University or faculty libraries, and thus the College needed to stock anything its women could potentially need for their studies, explaining the large collection.

The Library building itself was beautiful to see. We first explored the modern extension of the library, where the majority of reader spaces and the main Library office now lie. It is bright and spacious, and though very modern in appearance, its layout and vaulted ceiling bring with it a continuity of style into the old library. The similarly vaulted ceiling in the old Yates Thompson library features beautiful panels displaying printers’ marks from European printers that Henry Yates Thompson, himself a collector of manuscripts and early printed books, highly regarded.

The Victorian Yates Thompson Library with its beautiful vaulted ceiling and wood panelling.

Throughout the library were several displays. Some of these were created by students themselves, while others had been put together by Library staff. Highlights were the ‘Roger’s Collection’ of late 19th century children’s literature and folk stories from around the world, on display in the old library, and the display about women obtaining the right to education in Cambridge, on display in the lift corridor. The latter of these featured shocking photos of riots that ensued when the question of women obtaining degrees was put to the (all-male) University members, and in particular of the vandalism Newnham College was subjected to by opponents of women seeking the right to receive a degree.

Next, we were shown the Katharine Stephens Rare Books Library, named for the Librarian who presided over the creation of the Yates Thompson Library. The Assistant Librarian gave us a tour of one of their current rare book exhibitions they’ve put together for students, about the history of Sociology and Anthropology. She explained that the Library begun to put together collections of rare books related to each Tripos subject studied at Newnham, which they would then invite students to look at during their subject formal halls. This not only enabled the students to become aware of and engage with relevant texts and resources in the Library, but also allowed the Library staff to continue to get to know their large collection of rare books by challenging them to find books relating to particular subjects.

The overall impression of Newnham College Library was one of a welcoming and friendly study space, with a large and diverse collection of books and materials for its students. It is a great example of a library whose space and collections have been truly shaped by its history and users. Having been one of the only spaces for women studying in Cambridge for so many years, it appears to have fostered an incredibly supportive and close-knit environment, leading to its alumnae and members giving generously to maintain and expand the Library and its collections.

Graduate Trainees for 2021-22 Signing Off!

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The 2021-22 Graduate Traineeships are drawing to a close here in Cambridge, and what a year it’s been! From visits and talks to workshops and conferences, the Graduate Trainees have certainly been very busy. We have all learned so much about library work, both in our own academic libraries and countless other kinds of libraries – some of which we never knew existed before.

We feel very lucky to be the first cohort of Cambridge trainees to get the full Graduate Trainee experience since the COVID-19 pandemic began – although the virus did keep some of us from attending visits at various points throughout the year! But overall, we’ve managed to pack a lot in and have a more traditional Graduate Trainee experience with lots of in-person visits and training sessions. Have a look at our thread on Twitter for a round-up of the year’s activities!

Although we’ve done a lot as a group, we’ve also each had a very unique experience of being a Graduate Trainee. As such, we’ve decided to put together some personal highlights from the year, along with some information about what we’re doing next! As well as being a nice way to reflect on the year we’ve had, we hope this will give future Graduate Trainees an idea of what they can expect during their year, and the opportunities available to them after it finishes.

Ellen

“All of the visits and training opportunities have been amazing, but my personal highlight of the Graduate Traineeship has to be the connections I have made. As well as building up a really strong professional network, I have also made some friends for life here. I have a part-time job in an academic library lined up for when the traineeship ends, which offers the perfect opportunity to gain more practical experience while I study for my library Masters starting in September. I am also on the committee of a soon-to-launch network for early-career library and information professionals, which I am really excited about. I’ll be studying part-time over two years, so I should hopefully be able to maintain some level of work-life balance!”

Jess

“One of my (many) highlights has been the time I have spent with special collections, whether that be my chats with experts in the library or while curating my small exhibition on early modern astronomy. There’s nothing like reading about an old book for ages and then getting to actually hold an original copy in your hands!

The biggest highlight of all, though, has been the people. I could not have asked for more of anything – be it support, expertise, or general brilliance – from the people I’ve met this year. They’re absolute stars and are a enormous part of what made my traineeship so wonderful.

Now that my traineeship has finished, I’m going on to work as a library assistant at another college. Alongside, I will also be doing some volunteer book cleaning of some sadly mouldy special collections. So I still get to touch old books – even if it’s through some lovely latex gloves!”

Katherine

“I have had an excellent time on my traineeship! I’ve really enjoyed involving the library in Outreach efforts, and my best achievement was putting together an archive exhibition for my college’s 150th anniversary on its Working Women’s Summer Schools. Weirdest moment was definitely finding lots of tiny plastic babies on the shelves (apparently it’s some kind of TikTok trend?). I’m pleased to say I’ll be continuing in college librarianship (though hopping across to a different library!) – lots of time still to explore interdisciplinary books and chat to students!”

Lucy

“A personal highlight has been working in the historic Wren Library every day, having close contact with the incredible and diverse special collections housed within its walls. Halfway through the year, I was given the opportunity to write an article for Trinity’s Alumni magazine about a ‘Trinity Treasure’. I chose a colourful costume book (‘Trachtenbuch’) from 16th century Nuremburg. It was a wonderful way to explore in more detail a book within the collection, learning about the context and history of its production. You can read the article here on pages 22-23.

‘Trinity Treasures’ article by one of the Graduate Trainees published in ‘The Fountain’ alumni magazine
‘Trinity Treasures’ article published in ‘The Fountain’ alumni magazine

I also feel I should give a shout-out to one particularly weird and wonderful task I undertook – checking back in the skeleton models that are given to medical students at the start of the year. Sitting at my desk surrounded by fibulas, ulnas, clavicles, and sternums was a particularly bizarre experience. I am now far more well acquainted with the medical terms for human body parts – something that I wasn’t necessarily anticipating pre-starting at Trinity! The fact that each skeleton also has a name was a source of amusement – Cressida, Samson, Eve, and Gaspar are now safely back in their boxes waiting for October 2022 to come around.

Surrounded by bones! Checking in the model skeletons at my desk

In terms of next steps, the plan now is to move back to London – I am starting a new job at the Natural History Museum (as a Library and Archives Assistant) and will begin a two-year part-time Masters course in Library and Information Studies at University College London. I am incredibly sad to be leaving Trinity, and will really miss my work here, but am also excited to see what the future holds in store.”

William

“I have really enjoyed my time as a Graduate Trainee Librarian. The opportunity to visit a wide variety of libraries and library-adjacent enterprises has broadened my understanding of what a librarian can do. I particularly enjoyed visiting the British Library and their enormous basements and amazing conveyor belt system for moving books around. (It felt like I was behind the scenes at Monsters, Inc!) However, my favourite aspect has been the camaraderie between the trainees, and I enjoyed meeting up with them both in and out of work.”

We would like to say thank you to all the amazing library staff who have supported us this year, and welcome to the new cohort of Graduate Trainees for 2022-23. We hope you get as much out of it as we did!