Abigail Cheung

My undergraduate and postgraduate degrees fuelled my love of libraries and archives as I relied on these institutions to develop and support my arguments. I greatly enjoyed the process of gathering sources as it led me to exciting new avenues of research. I want to share the merits of libraries and archives with others and show them how they can learn something new or something familiar from a completely different perspective. That ability to expand on existing knowledge and the joy of finding new things to learn is what fuelled my desire to find out more about the inner workings of libraries and archives. Moreover, I thought pursuing a career as an archivist or librarian would be the perfect way to combine my research strengths with my passion for books.  

Prior to WAES, I was a receptionist at the Royal Geographical Society before becoming a library assistant at UCL. I gained key customer service and administrative skills during my time there like answering queries, making bookings and creating signage. I had also recently finished my master’s degree in Cultural Geography at Royal Holloway University which is how I became acquainted with the society. I did some temporary work there doing some cataloguing work for the Research and Higher Education Department.  

I have learnt key skills and knowledge related to archives and libraries while studying for this course. For example, I have learnt about key preservation practices for collections like retaining certain storage conditions (temperature and humidity) and using acid-free storage materials. I have also become familiar with library management systems whilst working at UCL. I now know how to use them to monitor books in the library and process books returned to us.  

Connecting with other apprentices and visiting other libraries and archives are my favourite parts of the course so far. I have been able to visit amazing places such as the National Archives and the London Archives through the apprenticeship. The visits included getting to see how these organisations worked behind the scenes to manage their collections and fulfil user requests.  

The Teaching at WAES is highly enjoyable and informative. We go through each assignment in the teaching sessions that explain how we can fulfil the criteria. I particularly enjoy the group discussions as we can compare our experiences working at different libraries and archives.  

My greatest achievement at WAES was the opportunity to give a short presentation about my apprenticeship experience at the departmental conference earlier this year. I was later featured in the departmental peer review following the event where they highlighted the conference speakers. I have had the opportunity to raise awareness around the apprenticeship to a wider audience. I could connect with more colleagues beyond the library by speaking at the conference and expanding my network.  

I have struggled sometimes when writing assignments when I cannot directly link the questions to my role. For example, I had a cataloguing assignment involving discussing classification systems that my organisation uses. I was unable to find the information I needed from initial research, so I decided to reach out to the cataloguing team.  I then set up a meeting where I learnt about the main classification schemes and the cataloguing process. I got the information I needed through this meeting and had the opportunity to schedule cataloguing training with the team.  

I started my apprenticeship in March 2024 and am now in my ninth month of the course. I have really enjoyed my placement so far and UCL has been incredibly supportive with my apprenticeship. Everyone in the library is lovely and happy to answer any questions I have while working.  

My mentor at my placement is very passionate about the apprenticeship and giving me opportunities for professional development. For example, speaking at the departmental conference and attending training sessions run by UCL to improve my skills. We also have weekly meetings where we discuss assignments that I am working on and if there are any opportunities I am interested in that they can help facilitate. UCL has also set up an apprenticeship network where I can connect and talk with other apprentices in the university.   

I aim to continue working in the libraries and archives sector upon finishing my course. Although I have greatly enjoyed working in the library, I am more interested in pursuing a career in archives, so I have been looking at the Level 7 Archives and Records Manager apprenticeship. Libraries and archives are different entities with several overlaps so the skills I have learnt as a library assistant also apply to archives. For example, the preservation practices I have learnt when managing books coming into the library also apply to archival material. I have also learnt about collection management and development policies in this course. Reviewing UCL’s policies has made me understand their primary purpose and why they are important. Devising these comprehensive policies is key to the management and development of archival and library materials.  

I would stress the importance of seizing every opportunity while studying at WAES as the tutors and course managers are here to help you succeed. WAES has great connections so future LIAS apprentices should look out for opportunities shared by the course staff or fellow learners.