IN DEPTH
An odd duck’s tale shows the value of being part of a connected sector
Arved Kirschbaum arrived in the UK from Austria in 2015 to study. When, in 2019 he took up a post with Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, he found a welcoming and supportive community through CILIP London. Here he tells his professional journey and the importance of being connected.
‘AN odd duck’ are the words I used to described myself to the editor of Infor- mation Professional when they first approached me for this piece. I used these words because there are many contradicting strands to my experi- ences and career so far that hardly fit the pattern of the ideal library career so many job adverts seem to have in their heads (undergraduate degree –> traineeship –> LIS postgraduate degree –> permanent post, all in the UK, if you please).
A bit about me: my full name is Arved Werner Kirschbaum, I am an Austrian citizen, and since September 2019 I have been the Library Graduate Trainee at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Kew doing my part to help plant scientists fulfil RBG Kew’s scientific mission to stop biodiversity loss. So far so good and on paper, I fit the profile of a new professional quite well: I have been in my current post less than three years and am still learning a lot every single day.
Humanities to hard science But now we come to the unusual: for a little over a year now I have also been the Treasurer for CILIP London managing a budget that has more money in it than I have ever had in personal savings. And the feathers in my coat keep getting odder for I have come to Kew after earning both a
July-August 2021
Arved Kirschbaum (@0ptimistBiscuit,
aw_kirschbaum@outlook.com) Library Graduate Trainee at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. He is also treasurer at CILIP London
Bachelor and a Master of Arts in Classics (of all things) from Durham University. I could not fault you if you would now ask yourself how a humanities graduate ends up a thousand kilometres away from his closest family working in as hard a hard science library as one can possibly imagine whilst finding time for CILIP. Reader, the answer will become clear once I give you more information about my development and the experience that inspired me to take the path I am currently on. Let me start at the beginning.
“When in doubt go to the library” has always been true for me. From some of my earliest childhood memories to my time studying at Durham University. They are islands of calm and productivity for me, a place to consciously escape the worry of
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