Where? St Edmund Hall Library
When? Wednesday, 11 November 2026, 5-6pm
What? Careers talk with Dr Natascha Domeisen, Illuminated Manuscripts Specialist at Sotheby’s; Jake Banyard, Early Career Graduate Trainee Library Assistant at St Edmund Hall; Dr Marlene Schilling, Heritage Trainee (UK), Heritage Network.
See the link list below for further resources.
Report on the GLAMorous talk 2023 by Heather Barr and Alison Ray
The Oxford Medieval Studies Trinity Term lecture on Thursday, 4 May 2023 was a careers talk with a twist, featuring an exhibition in the St Edmund Hall Old Library as well as coffee and cake! Dr Alison Ray (Archivist, St Peter’s College) and Heather Barr (Graduate Trainee Library Assistant, St Edmund Hall) were delighted to share their experiences of working in archives and libraries to attendees and how they make use of their skills as medievalists in their present roles.
You can watch back the careers talk in the video below and check out the handy list of resources for further information on working in archives, libraries and the wider heritage sector:
GLAMorous Work: Resources
- Archives Listserv: Jobs, training, current events and issues, professional discussion
- Archives and Records Association (ARA): New Professionals Peer Pals Scheme, training and qualification information
- Bodleian Libraries: Our Work: Descriptions of department areas, including conservation, collections management and public engagement
- Blog of the library traineeship in Oxford. Blog posts about the library traineeship in Oxford. Day in the life style posts + resources about careers etc. Cambridge equivalent
- Careers Service: Library and Archives: Information and careers advice
- CILIP: The Library and Information Professional Association: Communities, training opportunities, information, qualification information, news
- Civil Service: Working in Knowledge and Information Management: Jobs list and career path descriptions
- College Library Vacancies at Oxford Colleges and at Cambridge Colleges
- ECLAIR: Community of Library and Information Studies students and new professionals
- Guardian Jobs: Heritage sector jobs list via the Guardian (seems to be extinct as of 2026)
- ICON: The Institute of Conservation: Jobs, training, current projects, role descriptions
- Information Professional Jobs: Jobs list
- JISC LIS Professional Mail List: Jobs, training, current events and issues, professional discussion
- JISC LIS Rare Books Mail List: Jobs, training, current events, professional discussion for rare books
- Library Services Data and Information Management: catches a lot more job adverts for academic libraries than the CILIP run Information Professional Jobs (which charges a big fee for adverts!)
- Museum Studies Jobs Desk: Jobs list
- Museums Association: Current campaigns, jobs, career paths
- Hashtags: Explore #LISJobs #LibraryJobs #Library #Archive
Further resources: Careers in the Rare Book Trade
For medievalists interested in careers in antiquarian bookselling, rare books and manuscripts, or auction houses, the following organisations and programmes offer useful starting points.
- Professional organisations: Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (ABA) – careers, training, bursaries and networking; International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) – international mentoring and scholarships; Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) – regional book fairs and opportunities to meet dealers.
- Specialist training: York Antiquarian Book Seminar – introduction to bookselling, cataloguing and pricing; London Rare Books School – courses in manuscripts, book history and bibliography; Rare Book School, University of Virginia – specialist courses in rare books and manuscripts.
- Funding and traineeships: ABA Educational Trust – bursaries for professional development and rare-book traineeships.
- Book fairs: ABA – Firsts London and other antiquarian book fairs; Chelsea Rare Book Fair; PBFA – book fairs throughout Britain.
- Antiquarian booksellers: Bernard Quaritch, Maggs Bros., Peter Harrington and Shapero Rare Books – useful sources of catalogues and potential career opportunities.
- Auction-house internships and graduate programmes: Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams – opportunities in specialist departments, including books and manuscripts, cataloguing, provenance research and collections-related work.
- Recommended reading: John Carter, ABC for Book Collectors; Philip Gaskell, A New Introduction to Bibliography; David Pearson, Provenance Research in Book History and Books as History.