40 years – and it has just flown by!

This week our colleague Rebecca celebrated working at Westminster Libraries for 40 years. She started in her teens at Marylebone Library as a library assistant and is now the Duty Supervisor at Charing Cross Library. She has had some strange job titles along the way, including ‘Senior non paraprofessional’ many years ago (no one can quite remember it correctly and it didn’t last long).

Rebecca has worked through many changes in libraries from the card catalogue filing system to computers, from lending records to lending ebooks.

When asked to recall incidents from over the years Rebecca reflected on being trapped in the library during a bomb alert; a customer in underpants who refused to understand why he was not suitably dressed to remain and a customer who set up and ran a business in the corner, unbeknown to staff (not so easy in the days before online working).

Colleagues who celebrated with her enjoyed a fabulous ‘mini me’ cake of the lady herself, and customers said of Rebecca:

“She is the nicest person you could ever meet”
“Calm and unflappable”
“Infinitely patient”
“An island of calm in the madness”
“Simply the best”
“Knowledgeable and experienced”

Tributes to a very valued colleague and member of staff.

 [Katrina]