Meet Anya Somerville

After studying English Literature and Media Studies, my first job was as a production assistant for a radio show hosted by a priest in Ireland. Bookselling in Limerick, then Belfast, and then managing a bookshop in London followed. I loved bookselling, but I didn’t love sales targets so a career change beckoned. After completing a year as a graduate trainee at the LSE Library, and then a course in Information and Library Studies at UCL, I joined the House of Commons Library as an indexer.

In my role I get to think about how Parliament works, the information it works with, and how to put all of that inside a computer. Well managed information helps to provide services that people inside and outside the organisation can find, understand and use to answer the questions they have about Parliament.

Information services are agnostic to organisational boundaries – it’s all information, no matter which House, department or office produces it. And as Parliament is as complex as its proceedings, success depends on collaboration with colleagues – to understand the business of the two Houses and the shape of the organisation. This is both challenging and rewarding. I’m surrounded by people with expertise, in a place which rewards curiosity.