Amy, a pupil at a local secondary school, recently spent a week doing work experience in Central Library. Here she blogs about what she learned:
Surprisingly, working in a library is not all about reading in books like I first thought. I thought working in a library would just be about scanning books and tidying them away.
However, the Central Library has many different departments like the Scottish/Edinburgh library, Art and Design library, Reference library, Lending library, children’s library, stock management, digital team and reception team.
Amy with Bookbug
I have learnt lots from each department like the various websites the digital team look after, and how they advertise the library through social media. The Stock Management department is also important as they buy books for all the libraries in Edinburgh. The Scottish and Edinburgh department have ancestry resources and historical records which they help people to find out the history of their family.
I really liked organising things like the Edinburgh festival leaflets and putting them in order. I also saw an Edinburgh theatre play book that had all the advertisements about what was playing 200 years ago.
I really enjoyed my work placement as I got to see the behind scenes that the public can’t see, like the stacks of valuable and old books dating back to the 1600s. I also got to go onto the balcony in the Reference like the one in Beauty and the Beast which was amazing. I felt like royalty.
Tales of One City 