EP 66 Meet our new Librarian! (with Emily Holmes) Shelf Life #18

Leila Johnston (0:09)

Welcome to The Library of Mistakes. Changing the world, one mistake at a time.

Fraser Allen (0:14)

Welcome to the latest episode in our Shelf Life thread, in which you can meet our new librarian, and also hear the latest from David Clarke, Chief Executive of Didasko.

Leila Johnston (0:29)

Well, it's been a long, hot, lovely summer here in Scotland, and we're ready, I think, for the autumn and a new term at The Library of Mistakes. And to celebrate our new season, we have a new member of staff, and she's going to be our guest on this episode. And we're very excited, aren't we, Fraser?

Fraser Allen (0:48)

We certainly are. A very warm welcome to Emily Holmes, who is the new librarian at The Library of Mistakes. Hello, Emily.

Emily Holmes (0:55)

Hello. Thank you very much for having me on the podcast.

Leila Johnston (0:58)

And we can immediately tell you're another Irish member of the team. So welcome and hello to Ireland Across the Water as well.

Fraser Allen (1:06)

It's great to have you on board, Emily. And we'd love to get you back, sort of hopefully regularly on the podcast. But this is a chance to find out about you. First of all, what attracted you to being a librarian in the first place?

Emily Holmes (1:20)

Yeah, I think that's a good question, because I sort of, I think, I didn't realize it was a career you could do when I was in school and then when I was in university.

Because I've always loved reading and I've loved history.

And then I went on and I studied English and Classics and I loved that. That was a lot of reading. But after that, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do. So I was working in a school. I was working just in admin and the school introduced me to their archivist and librarian there. And once I met her and saw what her job was, I thought, oh my God, this is amazing. How can I do this job? So then I went back to university and I got my masters in, it's like basically libraries and archives. And I love that. And ever since then, I've kind of never looked back and I'm just love it as a career. I think it combines history and English and education in the best way possible.

Leila Johnston (2:13)

How did you find out about the Library of Mistakes then? Did you know about it when you were aware of it when you were in Edinburgh before?

Emily Holmes (2:20)

Yeah, I think I was aware of it through like working in libraries and sort of being around people who are into libraries. But I'd never been because I think I saw that it was like a finance and business library.

Leila Johnston (2:30)

Yeah.

Emily Holmes (2:31)

And I think that sort of put me off as someone who didn't really see myself as being part of that world.

And then it wasn't until I saw the job come up for the librarian that I sort of looked into the library further and realized, oh, it's not just about finance and business. It's actually quite exciting. And, you know, it's all about education and learning from the mistakes of the past and preserving records, preserving information, which are things that I'm very passionate about. So I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to kind of combine my love of reading and preserving information and making information accessible. So it was sort of by fluke I found it on LinkedIn. And here I am.

Fraser Allen (3:11)

How are you enjoying it so far?

Emily Holmes (3:13)

I'm loving it so far. I've got to meet some really interesting people.

I would say no day is the same because you never know who's going to walk through the door for the open sessions. So I'll just be sitting at my desk. And then, you know, the other day we had some visitors in from Germany and they sat in the library and read for a few hours and they were full of questions and so amazed with the library. So I think it's really great to see firsthand how people love to come into the space and use it. And they love the books and the sections and people are just there to read and learn, which is just fantastic.

Fraser Allen (3:46)

And it's a part time role, isn't it, Emily? I believe you have another interesting complementary form of employment.

Emily Holmes (3:54)

Yes, as well as being a librarian, I also work in the ice cream industry. So part of the week I'm in the library and then part of the week I am making and selling ice cream in Edinburgh. So very unusual combination, but it seems to work, to be honest.