abiThis post has kindly been written for us by Abigail Lane, who interned for IHR Digital in July 2015.

During July 2015 I interned for the month at the Institute of Historical Research. Walking up to the grand building that is Senate House I felt full of nerves, but those nerves soon faded when I met the friendly people I was to work with. Once I found my feet I really enjoyed my first day and found that the day had flown by- before I knew it I was back on a packed tube train on my way home.

Every task I have been given has been carefully explained to me (sometimes more than once!) and I had the freedom to plan my own day and decide which order I would complete my tasks in. This truly taught me the importance of time management and allowed me to practise this skill. Gradually I was introduced to tasks that were more complex and soon I was working independently on a variety of different things. During my month the IHR, I have worked on British History Online to add component pages for volumes that will soon be digitised, checked the footnotes of a Historical Research article (which has been invaluable as footnotes have been something I haven’t always got right), as well as working on the Bibliography of British and Irish history checking reviews, and searching for reviews on Reviews in History.

During my month here I have gained important experience in the world of publishing, which, I have learned, is a dynamic and ever-changing place to be. It has been both interesting and useful to see how items are indexed, and searching for things myself in the future will be easier because I now understand the process publishers use when indexing items. I have also gained priceless knowledge in applying for jobs and the interview process by employers themselves, which I really hope will help me in the future. I have also learned that there is a lot of truth behind the stereotype of the English as lovers of tea!

As someone who has a passion for history the IHR library was particularly special. The collections contain hundreds of books, varying from second-edition copies of House of Lords Journals (which were very interesting to read) to essays on the Elizabethan era. Their numerous collections contained documents on practically any period of history from every continent in the world. I was given tasks which involved going down to the collections and finding certain books to be digitised or used in special collections, which was always an enjoyable experience as it meant I could read these books personally and contribute to the important process of digitising them for the use of everyone.