From dreaming spires to Rab C. Nesbitt country
As part of the MSc/PGDip at Strathclyde University library students are required to complete a work placement 'to provide practical experience of work in an information or library service' (suggestions that the real purpose is to let the lecturers go skiing have been denied). Placements are allocated to ensure that those with previously experience of library work broaden their horizons by working in a contrasting type of institution.
I had worked for two years in Oxford University History Faculty Library and I had my mind set on a career in the academic library sector so I approached the list of placement allocations with some trepidation. Five weeks under siege in an inner city public library or slaving away for nothing in a law firm was definitely not part of my plans and I had even resorted to dropping hints that a placement in a larger university library would be enough of a contrast. I soon discovered that my pleas had been ignored and my name was down for the Southern General Hospital's Central Library (GG/SG to SHINE members).
Even as Strathclyde University placements go this was a contrast. Having worked in beautiful Oxford, home of Inspector Morse, for the country's oldest and richest university, I was being sent to Govan, home of Rab C. Nesbit, to work for the cash strapped NHS, in a hospital adjacent to a sewage works (and yes, if the wind is the wrong way you can tell by the smell!). Yet I was quite pleased with the placement. I had no interest in a career in medical librarian ship but the Southern General was handy and at least I would be working in a worthwhile organisation with intelligent users who washed!
I was uncomfortably aware that my knowledge of modern health care was largely limited to watching Casualty, but Ron Carrick, a friend on the course who had worked in the NHS, provided reassurance and a brief acquaint visit to the Central Library was a further boost. The library itself (a 1960s single storey building with a sieve-like flat roof) was unprepossessing compared to the History Faculty's listed stone building, but at least I knew that I would not be running the risk of exhaustion whenever a book hoist failed! Charlotte Boulnois, the librarian, her part-time assistants, Mary Robbins and Maureen McGrath and Nadia Rasel the library's Rathbone Trust trainee provided tea, biscuits and a warm welcome and I left looking forward to starting work.
Charlotte explained her aim during my placement was to discourage me from any deranged idea about pursuing a career in the NHS. Work during the placement covered a broad spectrum of library activities from the tedium of counting up six months of journal audit sheets (my belated attempt at 'losing' them failed), through cataloguing and literature searches, to being given an insight into library management issues such as formulating job descriptions and budgeting. I also visited the Victoria Infirmary where I was able to see another hospital library and meet the librarian Anne Clarkson. In addition Charlotte allowed me to accompany her to a SHINE committee meeting in Kirkcaldy and I was impressed by the swift, effective and friendly way this was conducted. The only down side was being 'volunteered' to write this! (Charlotte claims no pressure was brought to bear, but threats about my placement report had their desired effect!)
Popular perceptions about inefficiency in the NHS certainly do not apply at the Central Library. More could be done with increased funding but I was struck by the focused and efficient service provided. Charlotte herself must take much of the credit for this and her approach to the job, a critical approach to each library task which might be dubbed 'evidence based librarian ship' was an eye opener. I thoroughly enjoyed my five-week placement and I am grateful to all the Southern General staff who made it such an enjoyable experience. Even though I only had time to scrape the surface I found the subject material was fascinating. The users, from consultants to porters, were a pleasure to work for while medical librarians and assistants must be one of the friendliest subsets of the profession. If the Southern General is in any way representative then in terms of job satisfaction there can not be many better places to be a librarian than a hospital library. In spite of Charlotte's best efforts to put me off the placement changed my mind about medical librarian ship and after this experience I certainly won't be limiting myself to the academic sector when hunting for a job.
John Rule