Student Profiles

I have wanted to work in libraries for a long time and this degree gave me a recognised professional qualification while giving me opportunities to pick up work experience in the field. This means that I am now qualified and able to build a career in librarianship.

I gained professional skills through the course modules, such as searching databases, which I am now able to use as part of my job. Doing research for my MA dissertation helped me to develop skills like resilience and stamina over a longer term project. Balancing my course with part-time work, volunteering and personal life improved my time management, which is key in a job where I need to balance and prioritise different tasks.

I really enjoyed the E-Learning module, which was an optional choice on my course. It pushed me to learn new IT skills through building an e-learning course using Wordpress. It was also a class of 9 people and learning within a small group gave plenty of opportunities for discussion and delving deeper into the topic.

The opportunity to undertake a placement was one of the main reasons I chose the course at Manchester Met. I spent my placement with the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project at Archives+, which is digitising sound recordings to preserve and increase access to them. It allowed me to get involved with a variety of tasks, from cataloguing details of the sound recordings to making sound clips and writing blog posts. It helped me to get real-world experience of current important issues in archives and enabled me to see how things learnt on the course, such as information governance and intellectual property, work in practice.

I recently attended the 2019 International Clinical Librarians conference where I was able to network with librarians from across the UK, and find out about current innovations in health libraries. Clinical librarianship is an area I am very interested in so this was a great experience to learn more about what the role entails and it gave me ideas which I have put into place in my current role.

Manchester Met stood out because the MA course really prepares you for a career in Librarianship. The topics taught on the course are directly relevant to the workplace so it is easy to transfer your learning and gives you a lot of skills which can be used when applying for jobs. The University has good contacts with libraries in Manchester and beyond so there were lots of opportunities to hear about different types of libraries from people who work in them and to make connections. It also means that you are spoilt for choice when choosing where to do a work placement.

In my experience, it is important to have a positive attitude and to be open-minded about where you want to work. When I started the course, I hadn’t considered working in a health library but this job suits me perfectly. Think outside of the box and if you’re asked to do something that will develop your skills, always say yes.