This is the library I'm currently working in:
St Hilda's has quite a big library, considering that it's not one of the older, grander colleges. This is because it used to be a women's college, and women weren't allowed to borrow from the Bodleian, so the college had to build up a strong collection for their students to use.
The library is lovely. It isn't terribly modernised though, so some of my duties as Graduate Trainee are less computerised than those undertaken by trainees in other libraries around Oxford. It doesn't have any electronic security, so I act as the main security system, checking that readers are St Hilda's students and that they don't have any un-issued books in their bags. Spine labels are still printed using a typewriter (way more fun), and individual periodicals are indexed on cards. All other items are catalogued on an OPAC, but it's not the system nearly every other library in Oxford uses, which is called SOLO. We use a system called Heritage instead.
What else do I do? I've been working there for less than two weeks so far, and we don't have many readers around because it's the vacation, so I haven't performed the full range of duties yet, but I'm getting the hang of some of my main jobs. I open up the library in the morning, as I'm usually the first one there, and switch everything on. I process new books that have been bought or donated, which involves sticking various labels in books, and stamping various surfaces, as well as jacketing the paperbacks (which takes surprising precision). I answer reader enquiries (or, more correctly, at the moment I mostly redirect enquiries to the Assistant Librarian, because I don't know the answers). I accession (add to the catalogue) new periodicals. I've also had the glamorous job of overhauling the stationery, as the store rooms of St Hilda's were a little disorganised (I found sealing wax, ink wells, a box of animal skulls and newspaper articles from 1893). Additionally, I shelve returned items. These are all quite basic jobs, but vital for the running of the library, and also vital to learn how to perform properly in the course of training to be a librarian.
After this year, I would really like to get a job as a Library Assistant at another library in Oxford or Cambridge, because I like the environment and the massive network of libraries in both universities. I also want to begin my Masters in Library and Information Management at some point, as I need this qualification to become a full librarian. I'd love to be in charge of a faculty library one day, particularly an arts or humanities faculty, but that's a long way from here...
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