Work Experience Student

Rachel Pallister a pupil at Royds Language College spent a week in the Brotherton Library on work experience. Below are her thoughts about her time with us:

With ornate marble stone pillars and an azure lit dome roof, the Brotherton Library looks magnificent; the sort of place that you imagine when you think of a library. Having spent a week here as my work experience placement, I have discovered, that after working as a librarian at my school library, working at a university library is on a much larger and more complex scale. However, if, after you have re-stacked and re-organised books on to their appropriate shelves and have checked that everything is labelled correctly, a student is then helped by using the book – even when they put the book back in another place afterwards – it gives you a sense of satisfaction to know that a stranger has been helped by your work. The staff I worked with were all very pleasant and understanding explaining about aspects of their job. With most students gone, except the graduates coming in at various points during the week for their ceremony, the library was a quiet and relaxing place to be, although the staff working there repeatedly told me that in September it is mayhem, with new and old students running about the campus in search of books for their course. Conclusively, my week stay at the library was an altogether enjoyable experience, observing the pace of work and what is needed to ensure that the entire library runs smoothly.