It’s been a busy year for the Library’s outreach work with sixth formers and schools across the region. We have welcomed over 1,500 young people as part of a 2 year project funded by The Science Park Trust…
Students have taken part in Research Detective workshops, learning skills such as how to begin a research project, the pitfalls of plagiarism, and the importance of proper academic referencing. Young people also had the opportunity to register as reference members of the Library, this means they can return and use Library to browse and photocopy materials.
One student who took part in the project, Christopher Cryer-Poole, enjoyed the experience so much he requested to return for work experience. Chris is interested in studying a degree in Chemistry and shared his time between the Library and the Science departments. This is what he had to say about his work experience…
Q: What have you done on your work experience with the Library?
A: I assisted Carol (Widening Participation Officer) with Research Detective projects and attended meetings regarding outreach, to try and get more people and a wider range of people interested in University. I also dropped into multiple science lectures, conventions and open days because I have a particular career interest in Science.
Q: What’s been the highlight?
A: I assisted in a Chemistry Laboratory visit from a year 5 class, it was to try and get the children interested in Science by inviting them along to the Warwick Chemistry Laboratory. My role was to give any young children struggling a little bit of extra help, and it was an extremely rewarding experience to work with young children and see them inspired. The whole experience has been very rewarding though and I could name many other things I enjoyed about the placement.
Q: Have you enjoyed it?
A: I have enjoyed it and if I could come back here again I would because the experiences I’ve gained here are very valuable to me.
Q: Would you advise other young people to do work experience here?
A: I would definitely advise other people to do work experience here, particularly if they are planning to go to University or take some sort of academic pathway. I’ve had a lot of rewarding experiences here and by doing work experience here I’ve been able to get an insight into the next academic step at a very early stage. So when I go to University I will be able to prepare myself with what I’ve experienced here in mind.
Q: Was the library what you expected?
A: I had actually been to the Library before I got my work experience placement here. However, the first time I came here and explored the Library it was definitely not what I expected. It is a lot more technologically advanced than your average Library and it has a huge amount of books available. Even still, there are things I found out about the Library I did not know before, for example on the 4th floor there are very old law books which I did not know about, the Library also has a lot of old texts in its store which are very interesting to look at.
Q: What were the people like?
A: The people are Warwick University are fantastic, everywhere I have visited everyone has been extremely friendly, welcoming and helpful. The University initially seems like an intimidating place but once you actually come here and get involved you’ll find that it’s a very nice place to be with very nice people.
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