Jonathan - 1st year of apprenticeship

My place of work is the university library (UB). My work there largely consists of organizing and managing various media - whether physical or digital. For example, I check new acquisitions for completeness or add them to a database. My tasks also include guiding school classes or students through the library, registering users and being available to answer any questions they may have.

My working day starts in the morning with routine tasks that I am responsible for independently. These consist, for example, of delivering and collecting post, putting returned books in their places or replenishing the printer paper. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the so-called core time in the respective department. During the course of my training, I rotate through the different departments. There, for example, I order media, process invoices, catalog incoming media in various library systems, keep statistics or help our users with their various requests at the service desk. In the afternoons, I work on projects, support colleagues and have time for my reports and homework.

Keyword homework: I go to school at the Multimedia Berufsbildende Schule (MMBbS) in Hanover. The profession of FaMI is relatively rare and there is only this one school location in Lower Saxony. I don't go to school every week, but in fixed blocks that last two to four weeks. The focus is on the vocational subjects, the so-called learning fields. There are a total of five FaMI subjects that are taught to the trainees: Library, Archive, Information and Documentation, Picture Agency and Medical Documentation.

The initial worries disappeared after a short time. The content of the training is very manageable and a routine develops very quickly. Tasks that I previously had great reservations about, I now handle with ease.

In conclusion, I can say that I really enjoy my job as a specialist in media and information services because there is always something to do, you are not underchallenged and you really grow with your tasks. What's more, there are lots of career opportunities in the various specialist areas after the apprenticeship.