I’m back from Berlin, where I spent Wednesday to Saturday first being introduced to the course, the lecturers, and my fellow students, and then being taught intensely. It was a good time and overall, a very good start to the course. There were, of course, the usual admin type things (some of which I felt could have well been done in advance), then there was socialising and going out for a meal with the lecturers. We pretty much took over the restaurant since there were about 70 of us!
We also had a tour of the new Jacob- und Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum (link goes to a flickr set of photos taken by one of my fellow students), the brand new university library of the Humboldt-Universität. Apparently, before this was built, they had no proper university library. There was the Staatsbibliothek, which was purely a “Magazinbibliothek” – a library with stacks but no social areas or reading rooms. Basically, you’d order your books in advance, go get them there, and then go find a place to work with them somewhere else. The university library collections were housed in the same building, but eventually they ran out of space and decided to separate the two and build a new library while they were at it. So now, the LIS institute is between two large and very important libraries, which I think is an extremely fitting position!
After all this fun part, there were two days of intense teaching and learning.
I have been appointed as a Library Assistant at my current place of work, following my traineeship, which has exteneded over 16 months as well. I consider myself very lucky to have this opportunity to continue working in a familiar environment while doing my Master’s qualification. read more…
Life has been busy, and I’ve been trying to sort out a lot of things – mainly, how and where I am going to do my MA in Librarianship, and how I’m going to fund it.
The long and short of it is: I will be doing a distance learning course via the Humboldt University of Berlin. Since I did not get an AHRC grant, full-time study was out of the question, and after a bit af deliberation, I finally settled on doing a degree with a German university because I do like the idea of being able to go “back home” after I qualify. I’ve noticed that the English seem to be less focused on specific formal qualifications and place slightly more emphasis on experience – meaning that, in England, you can theoretically make up for a missing or yet-to-be-attained qualification with relevant experience. They also seem to be more open to qualifications from foreign parts.
The Germans do not seem to look so kindly on this, and since they can be very funny when it comes to foreign qualifications, I chose to be on the safe side. My first residential period in Berlin is October 23-24, and I’m sure I shall report back on my studies once they really kick in – watch this space.
Apart from this, I have joined the CILIP East of England Career Development Group Committee (which meets tonight at Cambridge) and am still jobhunting. I hope something comes up soon.
I’ve been accepted into UCL’s Masters programme!
To make a stand against proposed changes to New Zealand copyright, which would make anyone a criminal who is accused of copyright infringement three times, I am supporting the Internet Blackout. For more information please click the banner.
I’ve been quite slow in applying for my Master’s degree, but one of the universities had an extremely early deadline. So, mid-January, I boarded a train out of Colchester North and, having arrived in London, wandered around Bloomsbury a bit.
The campus was alright – it’s in the heart of London, right opposite the British Museum, quite compact, yet with enough space and several cafés and relaxed areas and the like.
Hey people! I know I haven’t updated in forever. What with one thing and another, I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve adopted a goal of one post per week – we shall see how this pans out.
My graduate traineeship includes visits to other libraries. The first of those was to Colchester Institute Library and took place in December. I did a short write-up with photos which also appeared in our internal newsletter. I’ve adapted it a bit for the net. Enjoy!
An aisle in Colchester Institute Library
Since the graduate traineeship is intended to be preparation for a Master’s degree, this is the time of year where people start thinking about their applications and applying to various universities. My experience of this so far is that it is about five times harder to do this for an international applicant, as I am, than it is for a person who did their previous degree(s) in the UK.
My colleagues and I will be going to the Graduate Open Day in London on Monday!
And I’m planning the next event already – the Leadership talk, and an event in the East of England in November. The library is a bit mental these days, but hopefully, I will get around to writing some more at the weekend.
