Work experience here at the LSHTM Library, Archive & Open Research Services has been a fantastic opportunity and has given me a very interesting insight into what happens behind the scenes at a library. It was lovely working with and meeting all the different members of staff across the LSHTM Library Department and finding out what they do here.
On Monday I was welcomed by Kin who gave me a safety induction and outlined my schedule for the week. Then, I met with David who gave me an interesting tour of the LSHTM building and talked through the history of LSHTM. Later in the afternoon, I sat in on an interesting social media meeting with Phil which gave me an interesting understanding of what topics the team need to discuss at the moment.
The next day I was welcomed by David and then taken to watch an information skills training session taught by Russell. I find it great that these online sessions have so many students from all across the world. Then, I was joined by Eloise who helped me create a book display around the topic of decolonising global health. She taught me about the organisation system they use here at LSHTM which was created by LSHTM’s first librarian, Cyril Cuthbert Barnard.
On Wednesday, I began the day by completing the Decolonising Global Health book display with Eloise, and then I was introduced to the Archives team. I was fortunate enough to get a tour around the archives store and get too see all of the rare books, photographs and more. Then I helped the archives team with organising some of the photos they have which was an interesting insight into all of the material they store at the archives.
Thursday morning began on the desk with Phil where he taught me all the different services they manage at the desk like the live chat, how to sensitise or desensitise books, the laptop borrowing and how to take out a book. I spent the afternoon with Jane who showed me all the work they do around rare books and how they need to be assessed on their condition and then sent of to be restored. I was able to see and unpack some newly restored books with Jane and then for the rest of the afternoon I looked at some other rare books to assess them of their condition.
My final day here began with David, writing a blog post and speaking to Chris who works around Open Research. Later in the day I had the opportunity to visit the LSHTM labs with Rachel who showed me all the work they do across the different labs. I was also able to use the different microscopes like the light microscope and the confocal microscope which I found really fascinating!
I would just like to say thank you to the LAORS team for being so welcoming and putting in the effort to make my time here really fascinating. This experience has been a fantastic opportunity and I have been able to learn so much.
