Things 10 & 11: My route into Librarianship & Mentoring

Well, it seems I might be a little unusual as I didn't do a degree and then a Masters in Librarianship, I went straight for the undergraduate course at 18 and studied for a BA in Library and Information Studies at Loughborough University.

Why? Well, I had decided on a career in Librarianship quite early on. My aunt is a librarian, and maybe there was some subconscious influence there, or maybe it was my love of books. Whatever it was, I remember telling the schools career advisor at 15 that I planned to be a librarian - and like all careers advisers at the time - she tried to discourage me!

Undeterred, at 16 I got a job as a Saturday assistant at the old Norwich Central Library - I loved it, and ended up working there all through school holidays too. I had a discussion with my aunt about the best route to take (BA or Masters) and concluded that as I knew what I wanted to do, doing an degree in something else would be a waste of time!

I enrolled on the BA(Hons) in Library and Information Studies, at Loughborough University in 1990. At the end of the first year, we had to do a four week (I think!) library placement. I went back to Norfolk libraries and was fortunate in that a programme of work experience was created for me. I spent time back at Norwich Central Library, but moved around a bit into different areas, like the reference section.  I also spent a week at county hall, looking at services such as cataloguing and the school library service, plus I had a week in a small branch library.

I was originally set to do the 3 year degree, but at the end of my first term met my future husband - an engineer on a 4-year sandwich degree, and so swapped onto the four year sandwich course myself.  This meant I would spend year 3 on a work placement. As I wanted a placement near to his in Chelmsford, Essex, the placement advisor at university couldn't help me, so it was down to me to find myself a  placement. I wrote to practically every library in Essex and East London, including the Warner Library at Broomfield Hospital and I was offered the position of Trainee Librarian there.  I suppose this was much like a pre-MSc trainee year, though as it was part of the degree there were certain criteria I had to meet, and I also had to write a development report. I spent just over a year there, went back during holidays, and was even offered a temporary position when I graduated.

That placement year in the NHS shaped my career as I have always been in health libraries to some degree. I was Subject Librarian for Health in an FE/HE college, then Librarian at the British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT) in London, before returning to NHS and the Warner Library in 2000 to my current post.

For me, the undergraduate route suited me best, and taking the year out certainly helped me career prospects and gave me valuable experience. I'd be interested to know if anyone else following 23 Things took the undergraduate route as most of the blog posts I've read so far took the Masters route. 

As far as mentoring goes, I have never had a formal mentor, though of course during my career I have met people I could turn to for help and advice. Looking back, I think it would have been beneficial to me in first professional post and I would certainly have made use of a New Professionals Network back then had one existed! I chartered in 1996, and though it seems chartering now requires a formal mentor, it wasn't a requirement back then. When I chartered I was working as librarian at the BAOT. My manager was an occupational therapist, the Head of Research & Development, and was a fantastic support not only in the chartership process, but also in my day-to-day role and overall professional development. Having a mentor now is not something I have considered - I feel I get support from my own manager and also support from the EEHIST network of trainers.