Thing 23. This is the end -beautiful friend.

So- thing 23 is finally here! What have I learned and will I actually use any of it or just stick it to the back of my mind as I watch another repeat of The Big Bang Theory?

To me the course has been an interesting way of looking at what is going on the world of librarianship- the resources, the networking and the priorities of up and coming librarians. It has been fascinating to read the blogs and see what a disparate group we are. We are international, different ages, have done these Things for wildly different reasons and at different stages of our career. Admittedly we're mostly women and there is unhealthy obsession with knitting (something I am genuinely incapable of,)  but there are still enough interests to allow (hopefully!) librarianship to grow and develop over the next few years. Networking online is the best way of being able to share ideas, resources and band together against the cuts that are affecting libraries in all fields.

As for the personal development plan - I hope I am some way through completing this already. I was a qualified librarian at 22, chartered at 27, volunteering at 29 (slightly cheating- it was 3 days before my 30th birthday!) interning at 30 and employed outside public libraries from 31 years. If I am able to learn all I hope from my new job then I should hopefully have all the qualifications and experience needed to apply for any job I want. 

The scary thing of course is that the career of librarianship is so fragile. A few years ago I thought that I would be able to progress through the ranks as the managers around me retired. Instead, public libraries faced one of their worse crises and the fact that there is (faint) hope on the horizon is, worryingly, thanks to people banding together online rather than the people who were being paid to protect our profession.

And so, I need to continue some of what I have learned from 23Things. To me, the main thing has been raising my awareness of the number of resources that are out there to help librarians. In an ideal world I would like to continue this blog reporting on these (despite the fact that all my posts in this area have focussed on the fact that I am completely unable to work out how to use new technology!) Using Phil Bradley's blog (that I'm following on Google Reader thanks to Thing Four) as a benchmark it would be great to discover these new resources and how practically they can be used in my life (after all, if I can use them, anyone can!)

Of course, I have to ignore the fact that I am writing this blog because it is 2 days before the closing date and I am in competition with one of my friends to actually finish this Thing! 

Time will tell whether this blog continues. Until then, there can be only one message for whoever reads this. Taken from National Libraries Day this year (and as talked about in Thing 16)

Thing 22: Volunteering

I'm afraid much of this will be familiar to those of you rabidly following my posts, filled as they are with random facts about myself.

From 2010(ish) it was becoming more and more obvious that the fate of public libraries was becoming precarious. This was of concern to me (apart from the devastation that this would cause communities) because I only had experience of working in this particular environment and so knew I could have difficulty looking for a new job. From 2005, I had worked as a children's librarian and, despite the fact that I worked in an open plan library and spent as much time working with adults, knew that I was being pigeon-holed. As I worked alternate Saturdays this meant that I had alternate Tuesdays off that could possibly be spent productively volunteering. 

I'm afraid to say that my research was Googling 'volunteer library london.' This would be much more depressing now as it would link to loads of Big Society libraries but luckily then the second option was for the Women's Library. As someone who has always been interested in politics and history this seemed like an amazing opportunity. I was given the ephemera project to work on. This basically meant going through huge files of random ephemera that had been donated over the past few years, sorting it, weeding out duplicates and filing it. I did this every week (I was moved from my original work branch shortly after starting volunteering and so could go to the Women's Library every week) for 13 months. I only left when I got my new job which entailed working Monday-Friday..

What did I gain from working in the Women's Library?
~ experience of working in another environment
~ the chance to learn much more about social history affecting women 
~ the experience of handling archive material and the joy of rediscovering ephemera from Millicent Fawcett, Virginia Woolf and fascinating anonymous suffragettes. 
~ the chance to work with truly lovely people in a building that looks like it will soon be lost to the penny pushers
~ the chance to practically demonstrate my interest in these topics on application forms
~the chance to put all of this on my c.v. when I applying for new jobs.
                                      
                                 and these are just a few things quickly jotted down off the top of my head!

I was able to gain all this without distracting from the paid work of the librarians who were working at the Women's Library. I admit I asked for extra cataloguing experience but this was (kindly) turned down because there were people who were already hired to do this.

In short, I think volunteering in a library is an excellent way of gaining new experiences, helping institutions, networking and learning new knowledge. While working in public libraries, we often had volunteers (including prisoners being reintegrated into society) working there- helping in computer classes, events and doing displays etc.

However- it should be remembered throughout that this should not be done at the expense of existing staff. Although I was learning all the time about feminist history, there was no way that I could have answered an enquiry with the same knowledge and skill as the trained librarians who worked at the Women's Library. My ultimate aim was to get a new job from the experience of volunteering, something that would be impossible all the professional posts were taken by unpaid staff.  I have also commented on Walk Astray's blog about other dangers from allowing volunteers to do the work of paid staff. And don't even get me started on the failings of the Big Society ideal!

Today's photo has been posted in support of the staff in Newcastle Libraries where it was announced that 10 out of the 18 libraries in the city will be closed. There are more opinions and links here I've just had a quick look and can't find an online petition. However, considering Newcastle Council have decided to cut their entire arts budget, there are other opportunities to sign in support of cultural activities  including here

Thing 21: New jobs

Writing this as someone who is only five weeks into a new job, I hope that this is something I won't have to worry about for a while! However, it is useful to have some idea of why I'm doing this and what the eventual outcome will be....

Part 1: Identifying your strengths; capitalising on your interests
My main interest has always been music- I chose my universities based on which ones had the most number of gigs in that week's NME and may possibly have done the same degree as two of the Manic Street Preachers (ah, to be 17 again!) Linked to this (especially what is quoted in music magazines and (once again) by the Manics) I read widely and like art and film. I've always loved history.
One of my strengths for this career is that I can be pretty bolshy (I have loud friends and have to make myself heard!) and so can stand out from some other librarians (massive generalisation klaxon!) If I'm interested in a topic or idea, I throw myself completely into a project and so can often bring a project to fruition in quite a short time period.
Working in public libraries was brilliant as I could widen my reading depending on what the public recommended to me, organise events based around my interests and stand up to boisterous teenagers ensuring that the library space remained open to all.  Working for the RCN was different as I was part of a large organisation so didn't have as much freedom, but could continue my interest in history, introduce some ideas from public libraries (Black History Month and Super Library Challenge (based around the Summer Reading Scheme) In my new place I'm brilliantly the subject librarian for all the creative industries (music, performing arts, photography, fine art etc) studied in the College so I've been enjoying getting to know my new stock.

Part 2: Applying for a job
I hopefully won't need to do this for a while!
My most basic piece of advice would be to use the same vocabulary that is used in the advert. The people who are shortlisting have specific criteria that they are looking for, it's much easier for them to find and tick off. Also, I don't think librarians are really being headhunted at the moment, so make the most of your LinkedIn profile to put everything on there. You can then choose the most relevant for each particular job if you need to put together a CV for it.

Part 3: Interviews
It seems a silly thing to write- be confident- but it is (I think!) the most important lesson. Most libraries are no longer quiet places where people can hide in some dusty shelves and never have to speak to anyone. Employers are looking for people with excellent customer service, who can deal with arguments ( a lot of people REALLY don't want to pay their fines!) and cultivate partnerships with other organisations/ departments to raise the profile of the library/ get funding for a larger project etc. You need to show that you can speak up, smile in awkward situations and express your opinions. 
My only other tip would be to find out as much information as possible about the organisation and library from the website. I also feel no shame in occasionally saying something along the lines of "as it says on your website..." a number of times in the interview.

The advice given on the 23 things website was great- don't feel awkward about boasting. This Thing never asked me to list my weaknesses, failings etc and so I can finish this thing pretending that a long and successful career is in front of me!

Here's a more realistic photo to finish with- me desperately clinging on to the railings outside Victoria library in London!

Thing 20 - Library Routes

Most of the information wanted for this thing has been listed for thing 10 although I am now in a qualified role working as a subject librarian for a college. This is an interesting post for a number of reasons - but librarians may well be interested to learn that there are now more qualified librarian posts than library assistants at the college. This is the result of a recent restructure and it remains to be seen how practical this is (should we be shelving, if we don't who will?!)

I had a go at trying to list my outdated blog post on the Library Routes page but readers of this blog (all 2!) won't be surprised to learn that I failed miserably! I did SOMETHING but nothing like what I was supposed to do. So, alas, only readers of this blog will be able to have me as their specialist round in Mastermind. The world weeps!

Last week I went to the opening of Wakefield Library- a beautiful building with completely new books and a lovely atmosphere (although I'm really not sure about the uniforms the staff have to wear!) It was opened by Jarvis Cocker. He said that reading a book which like getting inside the head of the author and so a place full of books is really like being at a party filled with interesting people. Here's hoping that's what the rest of my career will be like!

Thing 19: Catch Up

Another massive gap in my blogging- but at least I now have a deadline to work to!

This gap was partly due to the fact that I was without the internet for a few weeks when I first moved up north to my new job, but since then has been because I was annoyed that I'd written thing 19 and thing 20 already in my own job but not actually posted them (delaying them because of the need to attach a photo- I have truly suffered for my art!)

Catch up week is a difficult thing to write about when looking from a completely different perspective from when CPD23 started. I now spend my working days frantically having to remember new names, new resources to advertise and new excuses for not spending my budget. Before I was able to complete my blog posts whenever it was quiet at work, now I have to motivate myself in my cold flat (I'm too much of a hippy to heat a flat with such high ceilings!) Previously I understood my job and could consider how certain ideas and software could impact on it whereas now I'm still learning what we already offer before I can start suggesting new ideas.

When I wrote the first draft of this blog in London I remember saying how my favourite part of CPD23 so far had been learning the productivity tools to help me be a better librarian. As previously stated, I really don't enjoy the critical reflection (although I seem to be merrily wittering away in this post!) This has proven to be the case in my new job. The induction for new students is on a Prezzi, and while other colleagues are moaning about how dated they think it seems, I'm glad that CPD23 means that I've only just discovered it! Likewise, yesterday I dropped the names Mendeley and Cite-U-Like into a student session (although this means I've now got to properly learn them because I couldn't access them through my old work!) I've got to go back and look again at many of the tools but my favourite so far have been Screencast-o-matic, Prezi and  Google Reader.

And so to finally add a photo to Thing 19! I previously said that the rest of my photos would be of me in London. However, that pledge was SO September. Here I am outside Berlin Library

Thing 18: Screen Capture and Podcasts.

When I first read the synopsis for Thing 18, I was unsure about how successful this week’s post would be. However, Screencast-o-matic required no downloading, was able to work on the work’s PCs, was really relevant to work and was even easy to use. Crikey!

One of our most common telephone enquiries is from people who are unable to access our e-books. I was able to easily create a video that demonstrates where they are having problems, how to resolve these issues and how they can read the e-books once they can access them. It only took me two rehearsals (the first time I wasn’t as great at accessing the books as I should have been and kept clicking in the wrong place and the second time the website didn’t demonstrate the problems that is usually does.) My video is available here http://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/clQTXH8la I sent it to other people in my team and they can see real potential for this software being used for a number of information literacy reasons. Thank you cpd23!

Podcasting isn’t really for me. My only skill is that I’m quick at reading and so it is much more convenient to me to receive my information this way- especially when I’m unsure of the quality of the material that I might have to sit through. (I’ve had to sit through far too much awful training in various jobs to want to have to do that voluntarily!)

Here’s a photo of something I did enjoy doing. You can get free tours around the London Library- more details available at http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/index.php?/tours.html

Thing 17: Prezi and Slideshare

Prezi is one of those tools that I’ve been hearing about for a while, but until I got to this ‘thing’ I haven’t had the reason to try.

 At work at the moment we are getting ready to celebrate Black History Month by commemorating the role B/EM nurses have played in nursing in the UK. I thought I would use some of the information that we’re about to put on our website in a Prezi. I didn’t initially find it very user friendly and am still not sure where exactly I need to click to bring up the text box or bubble. However, I’m sure that’s something that will come with practice. To link in with the theme, I chose the ‘around the world’ (my name for it) framework which meant that each of my points could be easily ordered anticlockwise so I didn’t need to worry about that part of organising my presentation.  I only used one image and had difficulty getting it the right size. Once I’d achieved this, I couldn’t straighten it but hopefully the jaunty angle adds to the atmosphere! However, I was eventually able to put the bits of text onto the presentation and even started to add subpoints like a show-off! I can see how this could easily become a really useful library tool (as soon as I start to need to give presentations!)

Here is my basic first attempt at a prezi http://prezi.com/l92ush0ufibn/black-history-month/

When I do need to start giving presentations, Slideshare also sounds promising (and an excellent tool for continuing my love of ‘best practice’ (aka not having to reinvent the wheel.) Unfortunately, the version I can access at work can only be viewed in its most basic (links in Times New Roman, no images etc.) So I can see the writing in the presentations about cpd23 (for example) but not the slides themselves. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is linked to work’s deep-rooted suspicion of websites that store personal files on Internet servers for backup or exchange. I’m starting a new job in a couple of weeks in a further education college and it will be interesting to see whether they view such websites with the same suspicion.

In honour of my impending move oop north, I shall use only London based photos for my next few things. Here I am outside the University of London library at Senate House

Thing 16: advocacy

Another rant today I'm afraid.......!

Advocacy is a really important skill to have as a librarian for both personal (you can ‘sell’ yourself and show what a difference you have made to the library and the people you serve) and professional reasons (you can ‘sell’ what your library has achieved and (hopefully) ensure that no-one tries to close it down.)

As the image of librarians change, we are finding ourselves to be much better at doing this rather than being people who run away and hide in rooms of dusty books. However, it is still difficult sometimes to persuade people to put their heads above the parapet- especially if they’re worried that their jobs or professional reputations might suffer as a result. Some of the comments on this blog http://infoism.co.uk/blog/2012/06/what-would-it-take-to-make-you-a-library-activist/ are truly shocking (to me) in how people judge people who are willing to stand up for what they believe in. I think that people shouldn’t feel guilty about not having the time to take on campaigns, but if you can comment on a blog post surely you can also email your local MP to encourage them to support libraries?! You don’t need to be articulate, you don’t need to make yourself unemployable, you don’t need to know every detail about what you are supporting ("you mean you haven’t read the 1997 financial reports for a random library in Croydon? Shame on you!") and you don’t need to feel scared.

Here are some of my ideas of ways you could still advocate on behalf of libraries.

1)    Promote your profession in unexpected ways.

For National Libraries Day 2012, myself and a couple of friends did a pub crawl around library themed pubs and bars in London. We were wearing old school library badges and would ask people to pose for photos with my special library t-shirt (which features a large road sign with the large letters “use your f***ing library.”) While you may not want to wear such sartorially challenged clothing, it was heartening to see how many people came up to us to talk about the importance of books and libraries. By shouting about our love of libraries, we can show new & different people that the profession has moved on and their old fashioned image needs to change. World Book Night is another (and more professional!) example of this working.

2)    Get involved in campaigns that are not linked to your work. Library advocacy is not just about public libraries. There are sadly lots of issues affecting libraries all around the world and adding to the numbers supporting campaigns can have an impact while your name just provides a statistic.  Examples include:

·         Asking the Law Society to reconsider its decision to auction off parts of the Mendham Collection (a unique collection of Catholic and anti-Catholic literature including manuscripts and printed books ranging from the 15th to the 19th centuries”) despite an initial agreement with Canterbury Cathedral and the University of Kent that they could retain the collection until the end of 2013 https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/the-law-society-of-england-and-wales-stop-the-break-up-and-sale-of-the-mendham-collection

·         Signing against the closure of public libraries by councils (e.g. Golcar Library in Kirklees http://epetition.kirklees.public-i.tv/epetition_core/community/petition/1818  or Upper Norwood Library http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/save-upper-norwood-library ) and I’ve already mentioned in previous posts The Women’s Library http://www.thepetitionsite.com/925/128/986/save-the-womens-library-at-london-metropolitan-university/

3)    Support the work of linked charities such as The Literacy Trust http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaigns ,  the British Library http://support.bl.uk/Page/Ways-you-can-help  or The Reading Agency http://readingagency.org.uk/about/support-us/  (I’m ignoring their current volunteering project for libraries- I can do that. If I don’t agree with the stance of a campaign or project that I’ve previously supported then as an advocate I have the right to walk away.)

4)    The beauty of the Internet is that it can be relatively anonymous. The downside of this is trolls harassing people online but librarians can use this to their benefit.  No-one needs to know who is behind the twitter account @SaveXXlibrary and you don’t have to show your id to get a new email address. While I’m not advising you to break the law, it is remarkable how much can be achieved by promoting your cause. Authors and other library advocates are more than willing to retweet information about your library, hopefully alerting other members of your community to what is under threat.  If you’ve got a good service, once the ball is rolling then other people will be more than happy to take up the baton. Remember, when Voices for the Library started it was often anonymous librarians who were quoted on their behalf until the organisation and activists became better known.

So basically- be creative, support what you believe in and love libraries!

For today’s photo: how could anyone not want to celebrate a library with as good a name as this?!

Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events

In my years as a librarian, I have had the opportunity to attend a number of professional events. The most recent one was for #RiLIES which I wrote about here. As with so much these days, attendance is linked to the financial situation and I was really lucky that this half day at CILIP was offered for free. JISCmail listings seem to be the best place for advertising conferences and I found out about #RiLIES from a posting at LIS-LINK@JISCMAIL.AC.UK.

As part of the CHILL CPD group, I am currently helping to organise a conference about social media which will be held at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. A major objective of this is to be able to offer it for minimal pricing, so people have been asking friends and colleagues to speak for free. Once we have organised the speakers, I will be involved in advertising the training and organising the attendees. So keep your eyes peeled for more details of that!

So far I have never spoken at an event. However, there is nothing scarier than speaking at school assemblies (how do they get their eyes so big?!) and since I have done so many of these I feel I would be able to stand up and speak professionally, Although I’m not sure how many librarians would want to listen to my witterings!

As a very tenuous link, here I am outside San Diego library. San Diego hosts Comic Con every year which looks amazing- and is surely one of the few conferences that could outgeek a library event (and I mean that in the best way possible!)

Thing 14: Zotero / Mendeley / CiteULike

I’ve been putting off writing this thing because I didn’t know how to relate it to my work. It has been ten years since I had to write my dissertation. Although at work we have a number of students using us, they have never asked (me) for any more information on the topic than confirming they had their citation in the correct order. However, I really liked how The Wandering Librarian was able to reference his library tour around London here http://thewanderinglibrarian.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/a-london-thing.html . It’s an imaginative way of looking at this Thing while also making me not feel quite as geeky for all my sad librarian photos!

Suitably inspired, here goes......

14a) Zotero. An application that needs to be downloaded and only works with Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Therefore can’t be used at work.

14b) Mendeley. Would also need to be downloaded and so can’t be used on staff PCs here- although at least it would work with our Internet Explorer.

14c) CiteULike. Yay! Something I don’t have to download and so can write about! However, after signing up to the website I was thoroughly confused. I looked at different areas but couldn’t see any instructions for what I was supposed to do. I then tried to import a journal article about Mary Seacole but it just came up as loads of gibberish (ok, computer language- see just part of it below) and crashed. Oh dear. Librarian fail.

I'm skipping whatever remains of this entry
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: ½/éêëºޞ­_+‹~dR«ÿÿÎè²yH†P™Œ â( ỵ„\ éz5´l ý?¸0xMÂu ‑ pd¦ÒJÒoJ®•ºu¯ý_߭oÿÈÄR3«:Ÿ¦?ÿ•´Ck›gF™A ¢Œæ``ç„

---

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: áúè¸z 6oK†ÚAź鴛[mjÕ뫭*z~·ªuÿºÿ§ÿó @ƒ 0ƒÉj;žSÿÿ•V][1](vGÌÈÓ0Ëæ àÁ „¸A„ a Ÿ£C ·z.­¢íº>86ÐA´m

---

?ÐAô'ÒéëþµtꞾÕéémoZõºúþ¾ۿúzéý4XíílúÿþLכ3LøÈyFpS1ÊFf[1]¡ zÚ3†

The photo for today was taken outside a library that could easily be misunderstood. Here I am outside the Hemeroteca Library in Lisbon.

Thing 13: Google Docs, Wikis and Dropbox.

I have only really used Google Docs once. My friend and I were planning a holiday around California and he shared a spreadsheet so that we could figure out which town we were going to be in, when, what we were going to do, what hostel we had booked and transport. Other than that occasion I’ve never really worked on anything that needed to be shared in that way. At work we have a shared drive that we can access documents through. A good job because staff computers aren’t allowed to access sites which are deemed Personal Network Storage and Backup (see also my struggles to look at Storify, Evernote etc.)

I was inspired by one of the cpd blogs I read (I’m such a bad librarian for not noting which one!) where it was mentioned that this site could be used by library members who had forgotten their USB stick. I have just been out into our library and could access Google Docs from their PCs. However, unless said member already has a Google account (or is particularly on the ball!) then I think it could be too complicated to use in this situation.

Dropbox is also banned on work computers. I have been inspired to download the app onto my posh phone to have a go though. Now I just need to remember to turn on my home PC and put it on there and actually start sharing (my inability to do this is just one reason why this thing is so late being posted!)

I really like wikis. At my old job I set one up using WetPaint. The idea behind this was for all the children’s librarians to be able to post their ideas for events so that we weren’t having to think up new things (e.g. for Easter) each year. However, I couldn’t get any of the others interested so it quickly died a death.

In contrast, at my current work we have two wikis. One has all the procedures so that we can quickly double check what to do in a particular situation. However, this hasn’t recently come into some trouble as the wiki was linking to Google Docs until access was denied. The other wiki is a place for library staff to share news/ stories/ ideas that could be of interest to others. Looking at the associated word cloud now I can see that the most popular tags have been web2, Xmas, party and Google. I’m not sure what that says about us!

In honour of Google Docs, here is a photo taken on my tour of California.Here I am at Alamitos Library in Long Beach.

Thing 12: putting the social into social media

Thanks to cpd (and a new smart phone); I have been attempting to use twitter more. However, I find that a major problem is that big news stories often happen during the day while I’m working. Unless something happens while I’m checking my phone on my lunch break, then I’m commenting on a story or tweet hours after the fact.  I’m now signed up to LISPN and have befriended an old colleague but to be honest haven’t really looked at the conversations in the forums yet to offer my two pennies worth. I am trying to comment on blogs though as it seems weird that so many people have looked at mine but then not said anything (although I suppose if you can’t think of anything nice to say then you shouldn’t say it!)

So- are these statements true?

Social networking can lead to better communication. I think social networking can be invaluable in widening the horizons of people in the profession as well as alerting them to up and coming news stories. Coming from a public libraries background, the ongoing work of Voices for the Library is proof of how well social media can be used to unite people in a common cause.  But better communication? I’m sadly too old to use LOL or :) although people older than me (or those more grammatically correct ) would argue about my excessive use of exclamation marks!

It creates a more collaborative working space where people are encouraged to share their ideas. As mentioned before I’m a huge believer in good/ best practice and sharing ideas. There are some networks at the moment (e.g. librarians as teachers) which have massive potential for enabling this although there don’t seem to be enough people collaborating so far.......

It aids in building online communities. I’m a bit confused by this one- surely all online communities are examples of social media?

Social networking can also provide easy access to other areas of the profession. Very true- by following certain people on twitter and reading the cpd blogs I am able to stay aware of what is [depressingly] happening in public libraries as well as getting some sort of idea of what it is like to work in other aspects of librarianship that I have no experience in.

Today’s photograph was chosen for how the name of the library fits with my attitude to social media. Here I am outside the library in the Wellcome Collection

Thing 11- mentoring

I’m running a little behind with these posts again-oops! However, I think I should be able to answer the next few things pretty quickly to catch up (famous last words!)

The only official mentor I’ve had was for my chartership when the Yorkshire and Humberside representative organised a meeting of prospective candidates and later sent us examples of other submissions. However, once I moved down to London I just continued under my own steam (admittedly a lot slower than if I’d had a set programme to follow!)

I’m very lucky because I’ve always had really supportive bosses. The main reason that I finished my chartership at all was because my boss in Wandsworth kept putting it as a target for my annual appraisal. She was also always enthusiastic and interested in my career. Also in Wandsworth, I was really lucky to work alongside Ferelith Horden who is a children’s librarian extraordinaire and a real inspiration (ignore the fact that I’m no longer a children’s librarian!)

Maybe it is because I have always worked alongside brilliant colleagues but I have never needed a formal mentoring programme. People work in different ways and I think it is good that there is this scheme out there if people need it. I just haven’t!

However, if anyone would like me to check over their chartership or any other library related materials, I’m more than happy to.

I suppose I should be getting excited about the Olympics now. I’m not really but let’s pretend while looking at a picture of Stratford Library!

Things 6 and 7 revisited: #RiLIES

On Tuesday morning I attended Research into Practice: LIS Research Resources Briefing. This was a free course held at CILIP HQ. I chose to attend this training to give me a broader understanding of issues facing nursing researchers while at the same time increasing my knowledge of research in the LIS field. It also gave me an opportunity to practice real life networking (thing 7) and I even tweeted to include online networking (thing 6.)

I thought the morning was a fascinating opportunity to discover more about the resources that are already out there for librarians as well as offering a tantalizing look at the opportunities for building an online community that can have a real impact on the profession (and other researchers.)

Here are some notes I made about the day..........

LIS RiLIES aims to facilitate a co-ordinated and strategic approach to LIS research across the UK by:

a)    Creating a network of LIS researchers

b)    1)  exploring the extent LIS research influences LIS practitioners

b)   2) creating outputs to support the use and execution of research.

Investment in research should deliver a socio-economic impact. Those applying for funding need to be able to provide an evidence base. The new system for assessing the quality of research will be the Research Excellence Framework (2014.) RiLIES have printed a handout with advice for writing applications for funding, including free examples of sentences that could be used. These sentences also cunningly commit the research into making an impact with their results!  One of LIS research’s web pages also lists possible places that researchers can apply for funding. 

Practitioners need to move from ‘heard of it’ to ‘tried it.’ Research should aim to lead to organisational change and progress.

Once you have completed the research you should disseminate it to all audiences- academic peer reviewed journals but also the literature read by practitioners. (If the people on the ground do not know what you have learned they will be unable to put it into practice.)

The best way of disseminating information is face to face because what you’re saying is tailored to your audience and you can explain further if there is confusion.

If publishing the information, this should be in an accessible language. Teaching and community support materials are the most effective [e.g. the RCN’s The Learning Zone]  Put a ‘creative commons’ mark on your materials to make it copyright free so others can also use the research in their work.

Social media is a key tool for informing people about the results of your research. People are also more likely to exploit research if they have been involved in its creation e.g The DREaM project has a large profile because people have attended its events and then blogged/ talked about them.

Prof. Hall said at this juncture that their research had shown that social media works best if people have already met in real life. However, I think that this is already starting to change and so tweeted....

 ‏@hipporebecca 10 Jul

Didn't voices4the library show that now lib profs don't have to meet before building social media networks. ‪#rilies ‪#changingtimes

Medical/ healthcare librarians are “ahead of the game” when it comes to successfully disseminating research information which is lovely information to learn when you work in a healthcare library!

There are a number of different platforms that can be used for sharing information. It should always be remembered that, if the platform belongs to another organisation, the company could make changes in the future e.g. start charging.  The platforms include:

·         wikis

·         RSS tagging e.g. Delicious, DeGo

·         Google Drive (formerly Google Docs)

·         ALISS (it looks like this platform for Scottish people with long term conditions will also be effectively used by RiLIES)

Information is often needed in two ways: Facts – need quality assurance

                                                                       Support- information is that is personal/ local

The most appreciated resources for LIS professionals are:

·         JISC mailing lists

·         LIRG

·         Evidence Based Library and Information Journal

·         Blogs (Jo Alcock’s list of UK library blogs and bloggers)  and twitter

·         DReAM resources.

There are other online resources that are available but people don’t know about  them(e.g. Knowledge Hub for the UK public sector.) These are all listed at www.lisresearch.org/links/

For no linked reason- today’s sad librarian photo was taken on the island of Aegina, Greece.

Thing 10- qualifications

(a bit of an epic post- recommended for anyone who ever chooses “Rebecca Jones” for their Mastermind specialist round but probably no-one else!)

When I was growing up I always wanted to be a historical researcher (for some reason nurse/ firefighter/ astronaut/ pop singer never appealed to me.) I did my first degree in politics and history with the aim of then doing a Historical Research MA. Towards the end of our third year, all students had to go and see a careers advisor. Mine pointed out that it would be better to do a more vocational Masters in librarianship and that this would still give me skills needed to do research afterwards. This seemed a very sensible idea to me and so I changed my lifelong plans instantly (I’m very good at making snap decisions!) and started on a life of librarianship.

It should be mentioned at this point that I later discovered that this careers advisor had said the same thing to everyone who had studied history!

Despite a lifelong love of books, I had very little experience of libraries growing up. My parents were always scared of library fines and so never took us to them (with the result that I was reading their highly inappropriate books from an early age!) They did remind me the other day how I took it upon myself to rearrange the books in my junior classroom into genre so obviously librarianship was in my blood!

I applied for a number of SCONUL trainee posts but also applied to the three universities who were offering the MA without the need for experience. I was accepted on all the courses but didn’t hear back from any of the placements (universities were obviously starting to feel the pinch even then!)

I hated most of my MA (which is why I’m not repeating where it was!) because most of the training was far too simplistic. One lecture included a twenty minute explanation about the differences between written and oral communication (the answer is that one form is written down and the other is spoken!) On another occasion we were reminded to put full stops at the end of sentences. [It should be mentioned here that I have heard similar stories from most of the UK’s library schools!]

It is therefore difficult to advise people when they ask about doing a librarianship MA/MSc. It is usually needed in order to get to a management position (there are people who have worked their way up the payscale but I don’t think many staff will be staying with one organisation their whole work life in the future.)  It is also the only place that I was able to gain experience of AACR2 cataloguing (I volunteered to catalogue some of Wandsworth’s early children’s books in order to get some more MARC experience.) My course did give me some extra skills such as using Dreamweaver as well as (finally!) some library experience when I did my fortnight’s placement.

Ned Potter describes a postgraduate qualification as a ‘qualification of convenience’ (thanks to Siobhan B for the reference.) At the moment I would probably say that that is the case. Library managers are (by their nature?) traditional and continue to ask for the qualification in their job postings. However, I think even they are going to have to change as the older librarians retire* and the ‘new breed’ of excellent information professionals haven’t been able to afford tuition fees and/ or have approached the career in a different way.

* this survey from 2005 talks about the problems of 36% public library staff retiring in the next ten years. At the time I thought this meant that I would have a better chance of a steep career climb, I didn’t think that ‘they’ would just close the libraries!

The flipside to this of course is the increasing ‘threat’ of volunteers in libraries. Not the concept of having volunteers of course (having volunteered at the Women’s Library for over a year I could never say that!) but the idea that volunteers can replace trained professionals. Having letters after my name is a valuable defence against people who think all I do is stamp books every day. The fact that the postgraduate degrees can date quickly is a tribute to the progressive nature of the profession. CILIP’s Chartership and Certification routes show that career development is a vital part of librarianship.

I would say at this point that I think that potential librarians should do a postgraduate qualification rather than initial degree in the topic. I have heard that employers prefer candidates with a different degree subject. Also, my friend who is chartered but with a BA in librarianship, has found that her qualification is not recognised in Canada (or the United States) where she is emigrating to.

I chartered in 2008. After paying £3000 for my MA I wanted to ensure that I was as qualified as I could be. I had first enrolled while working at Leeds and had written half of my work but didn’t touch it for a year when I moved down to London. As a result. I had to completely rewrite everything and was one of the last people to qualify under the old regulations.

Everything is changing at a very fast pace (crikey, I am getting old!) When I first started I was told that I should stay in each job for at least two years so that I could prove that I was a loyal employee. Nowadays it is looked at in a negative way that I have only had three jobs in ten years as a librarian as I have not worked in enough different library environments. It is for this reason that I took a step downwards and sideways last year to work in a position where the highest qualification required is A Levels. Most of the people here in a similar role are also qualified librarians, and the job description ensures I am cultivating new library skills, but it is difficult not to be a little disappointed each month as some of my wages go towards paying off my tuition fees!

The photo for today’s posting was taken in Meknes, Morocco.