INSIGHT
‘‘ Apprentice
Calmer times after whirlwind of activity
T
HE few months since my last column have been quite a whirlwind with a lot happening in the library, with my
apprenticeship and in my personal life, having just got married. This has all been quite a struggle to manage but I feel like I am fi nally getting on top of things.
A professional highlight has certainly been my nomination for the Rising Star Award for the Lancashire County Council Staff Excellence Awards. Unfortunately, I was not shortlisted however I was proud to be nominated for my achievements. I’m progressing well with my apprenticeship work having just completed an assignment looking at copyright and data protection within the library. Not the easiest subject to work on however it is a vital topic, and the assignment has helped to deepen my understanding. The current assignment that I’m working on is focusing on diff erent types of borrowers and their information needs. Over the past few days, I have been creating a log of customers that I have assisted. I recently attended a workshop put on for apprentices by the Information Development team of Cultural Services. The workshop got us to focus on how we search for information and aimed to develop our reference interview skills. It also gave us an opportunity to train on the Lancashire Libraries ‘Ask a Librarian’ service where the team posed as customers for us to answer their queries. Although this was a simulation, it did get the heart pumping trying to fi nd the answers to some tricky
32 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
questions! This was a good opportunity to practice as there is the potential that the apprentices will get added to the Ask a Librarian rota to answer real customer queries.
In the Autumn 2022 term, Skelmersdale Library partnered with the local West Lancs College for groups of SEN adults to come to the library for shared reading sessions. The aim was to try to encourage an interest in reading. There have been three sessions a week, with a diff erent group for each session. It was decided that two staff members should lead each session and keep to the same group as this allowed for getting to know the students better and helping them to feel more comfortable as the sessions progressed.
Each week there’s been a theme such as music, winter, superheroes and of course Christmas! The sessions have included a mixture of poems and short stories asking the students to read small sections. As some of the students had very low literacy we used audiobooks, which are a good option for them to be able to enjoy books. It has been so rewarding the response and the improvement we’ve seen in the students. One student wouldn’t read for the fi rst session and could only read with assistance, by the last session he was volunteering to read lines independently. The tutors have given feedback saying the change in confi dence and ability is incredible.
This was a very daunting challenge for me as I had very little experience so felt like I was under-qualifi ed for the task, and I struggled with confi dence in leading a group. Yet, I feel like this is
Helen Mitchell is an Apprentice Library Assistant at Skelmersdale Library, Cultural Services, Lancashire County Council.
I’m progressing well with my apprenticeship work having just completed an assignment looking at copyright and data protection within the library.
the essence of the apprenticeship to take tasks that you don’t have the skills for and with the support of my colleagues learning as I go, gaining the confi dence and skills. I’m proud of myself for taking the responsibility of leading one of the groups and found that I really enjoyed the sessions and found them greatly rewarding.
The next steps for my apprenticeship are to complete my remaining two assignments and start thinking about ideas for my end point assessment project. I only have a couple of ideas at the minute, but I am hoping to do something related to reading development as this is an area that I’m greatly interested in. I look forward to updating you next time! IP
January-February 2023
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