While the graduate trainees at Cambridge libraries work together on this website and attend a coordinated programme of events, we all work for different college or faculty libraries. As these are training positions there is a lot of similarity between our everyday tasks, but there are also individual duties and projects for each trainee. Each library has its own atmosphere and particular advantages.
Christ's ♦ Classics Faculty ♦ Corpus Christi ♦ Emmanuel ♦ New Hall ♦ Newnham ♦ St John's ♦ Trinity
The College Library can be divided into four parts: the Undergraduate Library, the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Law Library, the Annexe, and the Old Library. The Undergraduate Library and the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Law Library contain materials commonly used by students. The Annexe contains older books which may be borrowed but are stored in a closed access area. The Old Library, which is an extension by G.F. Bodley of the original sixteenth-century College Library, contains manuscripts and early printed books, most of which were given by benefactors throughout the College's history. These include books given by Lady Margaret Beaufort, the Foundress of Christ's College.
The Undergraduate Library, combined with the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Law Library, The Old Library and the Annexe, contain some 100,000 volumes and provide seating for approximately 60 readers. The collections include a range of English and foreign language periodicals. Three separate collections of music scores are shelved with the books on music and are available on loan. Christ's Undergraduate Library is open 24 hours with a self-issue system which means the Christ's trainee doesn't spend any time on an issue desk but there is still plenty of contact with the students as they often have enquiries or problems with which they need help.
The graduate trainee is involved in all aspects of the Library, but Christ's also promotes training, courses and visits tailored to the trainee's specific interests. The trainee is encouraged to develop projects according to their individual ideas and the needs of the Library. The trainee's work can include any of the following:
The graduate trainee is given the opportunity to put on an exhibition in the Old Library. Recent trainee's exhibition titles include 'Diderot et d'Alembert's Encyclopédie', 'Hero mythology in Greek and Latin literature' and 'The Advancement of Learning: Five Centuries of Donations to the Old Library.' In addition to this, the trainee takes on specific library projects; recent projects include creating subject guides for user education, starting a new acquisitions display and completing a preservation survey in the Old Library.
Visit Christ's College Library website
The Classical Faculty Library is a collection of books on the Classical world of Ancient Greece and Rome:its literature, history, philosophy, religion, art and archaeology. The library meets the needs of both undergraduates and researchers in the field. The Classics Faculty hosts 300 undergraduates, approximately 40 MPhil students and 50 PhD students at any one time, and also welcomes many students and researchers from other faculties, such as philosophers, historians and archaeologists. The library is an open access working library situated in the faculty building along with the lecture rooms, faculty offices and Classical Museum of Archaeology. The graduate trainee works alongside the librarian, assistant librarian, library assistant and volunteer.
The graduate library trainee's day is varied as they are involved in all aspects of the daily running of the library. Half of the day is spent at the issue desk, where the trainee deals with a wide range of readers and enquiries. The other half of the day is spent in the library office. In collaboration with the library assistant, the trainee is responsible for organising tasks for the graduate invigilators and volunteer assistant. The trainee's work includes any of the following:
The Classics trainee receives training from all the members of the library team.
Midway through the year, the library trainee is given the opportunity to put on an exhibition relating to a Classical theme of his/her choice. Recent exhibitions have covered Alexander the Great, the Villa of Papyri at Herculaneum and Slavery in the Classical World. In addition to this, the trainee takes on a specific library project of their choice with guidance from the librarian. Previous graduate trainees have helped to catalogue special collections and have worked on material for the library website. These projects are an opportunity for the trainee to pursue and develop a specific personal interest, while at the same time experiencing the day-to-day activities of a faculty library team.
Visit the Classical Faculty Library website
Corpus Christi College has two separate libraries: the Parker Library and the Taylor Library. The Parker Library is a treasure house of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and early printed books. The magnificent collection was given to the College by Archbishop Matthew Parker in the sixteenth Century, and includes the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, principal source book for early English history, and the best manuscript of Chaucer's Troilus.
The Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College resides in the newly developed library court, and is where the graduate trainee is primarily based. The Taylor library is a new library, completed in February 2008. It has three floors and houses a state of the art media centre and seminar room, as well as approximately one hundred study areas. The library currently holds 28,000 volumes, but with room for expansion has plans to increase to 45,000 volumes. The library is open 24 hours a day and operates using a self issue system. Users are predominately undergraduates, but include all members of the College, the Fellows, research students, as well as a number of external visiting scholars.
The graduate trainee works alongside the Taylor librarian, so gets significant experience in the running of a college library, as well as ample opportunity to observe the running of the Parker Library. The duties of the graduate trainee vary from day to day, and direction is largely at the discretion of the trainee. The main responsibilities of the trainee are:
Training is provided throughout the year by the Butler Librarian as well as other members of staff. In addition to this, there are a multitude of various courses, talks and visits that occur throughout the year.
Visit the Corpus Christi College Library website
The Graduate Trainee at Emmanuel is part of a small team and therefore is able to gain experience in all aspects of the day-to-day running of a college library. The library is open to students 24 hours a day during term time and it operates a self-service issue system. Books are returned through book bins and if a student wishes to reserve a book or request that the library buys one, then they see a member of staff.
The library has a wide coverage of many subjects including law, medical and natural sciences, modern and medieval languages, music, English, history and computer science. There is also a collection of rare books and manuscripts in the library.
There is no fixed daily routine as a rare book visitor or a student urgently requesting a book can mean that each day is different. The Librarian and Assistant Librarian give training for daily tasks and there is the opportunity to go on courses on cataloguing, rare book cataloguing, classification and HTML.
At Emmanuel free lunches are available during term time.
Visit the Emmanuel College Library website
The graduate trainee at New Hall is part of a small team (the trainee, the Librarian and Assistant Librarian) and so is allowed to experience all aspects of the day- to-day running of a college Library. The Library is open to New Hall students 24 hours a day and so is a popular place to work and study. A self-issue borrowing system is in operation which means there is no centralised issue desk in the library. If students have forgotten their library cards, or there is a problem with the self-service machine, they can make a written record of what they are taking in one of the borrowing notebooks. However, there is still enquiry work with reservations, the Short Loan Collection and looking up books on the shelves. Books may be borrowed from the Library for a whole term. This means it can be extremely busy at the beginning and end of each term as all the books are returned and shelved in two and a half days.
Many generous donations and bequests have been made to the Library and have given it an unusually wide coverage in many sections including French, Spanish, Classics and Ancient History (The Rawson Collection), all of which are well used by the New Hall students. A special feature of the Library is the Women's Collection, which started with the gift from the National Union of Women Teachers of their library. This area of the library is continuously added to each year by purchases but mostly through donations and contains many interesting and informative works of fiction and non-fiction.
Generally each day starts with tidying the tables of any unreserved books, and shelving those and all the returned books. The graduate trainee also issues any items which have been recorded in the borrowing books. From there every day tends to be different and could include any of the following:
Up to half of the trainee's time may be spent cataloguing new books, which are on a huge range of subjects and in a variety of languages. The trainee is encouraged to attend the cataloguing courses at the University Library at the beginning of the academic year, while training for day to day tasks tends to be completed in house by the Librarian and Assistant Librarian. During term time courses are run by the University Computing Service, allowing you to improve your skills in HTML, Excel and database packages to name just a few. The HTML courses in particular are important for learning how to update this website. The University Library also runs interesting sessions and demonstrations on electronic resources, journals and other services offered by the Library. Time off is given for trips to other libraries and places of interest with the rest of the Cambridge trainees. Have a look at the Events page to see where this year's trainees have been.
At New Hall the staff receive free lunches while on duty (except for 2-3 weeks when the kitchens are closed) and there may also be the option of living in shared accommodation with graduate students.
Visit the New Hall Library website
As part of a small team, the graduate trainee at Newnham is given the opportunity to undertake a range of tasks and be involved in all aspects of library work. The main duties include:
The trainee is given extensive training at the start of the year, both in-house and at courses run by the University Library. Training continues throughout the year, with the opportunity to develop skills through the University Computing Service, and there is the programme of visits organised. A typical day will start with emptying the book drops, reshelving the books, and running overdue and recall notices. The rest of the day will be spent doing any combination of the jobs above.
The trainee is also able to undertake project work in areas of particular interest. Recent projects have included upgrading short catalogue records of English literature books and cataloguing a collection of nineteenth–century children's literature.
Visit Newnham College Library website
St John's College Library is made up of two distinct parts - the Working Library which provides resources for current students, and the Old Library which contains rare books and special collections of the College. It is one of the largest college libraries in Cambridge, with holdings of over 100,000 volumes, and serves approximately 800 students. The graduate trainee is part of a large library staff team of currently 11.
The graduate trainee's working day is very flexible with direction largely provided by the trainee themselves. The graduate trainee is involved in both the day to day running of the library as well as special projects dictated in part by their own interests. Work which trainees cover during their time at St John's and then do varying amounts of depending on their interests includes:
The graduate trainee is usually given the opportunity to put on an exhibition in the Library's exhibition space which generally relates to special collections material. Recent trainees' exhibitions have covered Johnian medics and medicine, the diaries of Cecil Beaton, collections of Hugh Wharton Gatty, and paintings and works of Samuel Butler. Furthermore, if you are interested in rare books you will have the opportunity to pursue a project in the Old Library. Previous graduate trainees have helped to catalogue special collections and index the images within our manuscript collection.
The trainee at St John's College is able to experience most of the aspects of library work found within an academic library and is free to pursue interests which they develop during the year while contributing to the daily running of the Library.
Visit St John's College Library website
Trinity College Library is the largest of the Cambridge college libraries with a total bookstock of some 300,000 volumes with thirteen full-time staff. It comprises the Student Library, where the modern collections are held, and the Wren Library, which was completed in 1695 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren and houses significant manuscript, rare books and other special collections.
The trainee at Trinity is involved in the everyday running of the library and works with many aspects of the library on a daily basis as part of the staff rota as well as having various individual responsibilities to fulfil. These include:
Work on a special project during the trainee year is also encouraged and can vary according to the interests of individual trainees or to ongoing projects within the library. Previous projects, for example, have included an exhibition, the digitisation of manuscript images, large-scale item record creation, and the identification of manuscript and rare book items in the collections for the development of current on-line databases.
Training is provided throughout the year. Usually, the first two weeks are spent with the out-going trainee to enable the newcomer to find their feet. Thereafter training is provided on a number of staff duties, cataloguing and classification, acquisitions, archives, collections management, and so forth by various members of the staff. Additionally, there are relevant courses and talks provided by the University and other organisations in Cambridge and beyond which the trainee is encouraged to attend.
Visit Trinity College Library website
