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?!

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 Four: Current Awareness.

Twitter.

As mentioned in my last fascinating posting, I already had a twitter account (@hipporebecca ) before starting cpd23.

I never used to understand the idea behind Twitter, I thought it was basically lots of Facebook statuses without any of the other information you get from that site. Then about three years ago my colleague alerted me to the fact that I could discover the inner workings of Z List celebrities’ minds and I became more interested! As the protests against library closures began in earnest last year I began to see the power and usefulness of those 140 characters.

I use Twitter in a really inconsistent way- from looking inquisitively through notices about CILIP’s stance on volunteers to congratulating welsh rugby players on the birth of their children. I wouldn’t say that I use Twitter in a very professional way but cpd has encouraged me to make contact with others doing the course.  I’m sure as I continue to browse blogs and see more postings in participant’s side bars then I will be able to continue my online networking skills accordingly. I have only recently started owning a smart phone and have not been able to take part in live tweeting at conferences and events yet but I can see the advantages. My friend did it through Boring 2011 and received a tweet from Simon from Going Live’s Trevor and Simon. And so the circle back round to my obsession with Z List celebrities closes!

Will it be useful for work?

The RCN already has a twitter account which is run by our communications team but the library has been talking about getting one for itself. We are going to be refurbished next year and I thought this account from the perspective of a  US school library was a brilliant way of explaining what is happening and why. I have suggested us having a similar account here so watch this space!  

(I found out about the Mary Idema Pew Library from one of the many blogs and websites I was directed to through cpd23. If anyone can let me know which one I would really appreciate the information so I can cite it like a true librarian!)

RSS Feeds.

My interest in Google Reader had been piqued by the number of blogs mentioning it when I was doing Thing Two. I set myself up with an account and initially added cpd blogs that I enjoyed. However, I realised that there wasn’t really a point to this as the cpd website already has its blog feed. So I stopped doing this and instead added my favoured websites from cpd’s recommended reading (Phil Bradley and Wikiman (which in turn led me to The Library Marketing Toolkit.) As cpd continues, I’m hoping my use of Google Reader will ensure that the sites that I’m finding most informative won’t be forgotten about as I move onto the next thing.

Will it be useful for work?

The Library, Archive and information Services have a wiki where staff can add information that they have found out relating to our jobs. Hopefully, the information discovered after the web has been filtered through Google Reader, will make me a regular contributor to this.

Storify.

I was interested in this resource but unfortunately it can not be supported on Internet Explorer. This means that I can’t access it at work (and presumably neither can any school or public librarians doing this?) I could have used it to show how the recent RCN Congress was reported across different medias. At the RCN we already have a communications team who are doing this.  I think Storify could be a useful tool for libraries in smaller organisations to illustrate the information they can access and integrate themselves further into their company. I also liked the look of Scoop It for this potential purpose.

This week’s photo has been inspired by the sunny weather here in London. Here is a photo of me outside Margate Library last year. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.....!

Thing 3 Proper: Considering my personal brand.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together

I have chosen to link cpd23 to my work account and have included it in my objectives for 2012-13. This was because I thought it would be beneficial to focus on the new area of librarianship that I am currently exploring. Having seen the number of blogs of people who had to drop out of last year’s course then I think it is probably a good idea to have the impetus of my end of year review to finish this myself! However, this does mean that I could be slightly limited by what I can say.

In the last blog post I mentioned that I would try to have my twitter account rolling alongside this blog but I have decided that that would not be a good idea. As an evangelical librarian many of my tweets are about libraries, but they also include random conversations with friends as well as retweets of remarkably mundane things that celebrities have said. I also have a fondness for retweeting @librarianclock who enjoys exclaiming statements such as “by jove, it’s gin o’clock’ at 5.30pm everyday. This is sadly something which jars with the RCN’s policy on alcohol (they are correct- it is very bad for your liver!)

I am quite lucky in a way when it comes to having an online presence because I have such a boring name. I keep my facebook account strictly personal (although seeing as my personality is as a librarian I am a member of certain related groups on there) and the improbability of tracking me down (linked with high privacy settings) means that prospective employers should never be able to find too many photographs of me enjoying gin o’clock!

When I Google “’Rebecca Jones’ library’ my linked in account  is the fourth option but there are more hits for a Dr Rebecca Jones who is an award winning school librarian and (understandably) far more important to search engines than me!

My usual name online is hipporebecca (you’ll never guess what I collect!) Searching for this online takes you straight to my twitter account but you also see much more of my personality- from my ebay. Google Plus and Amnesty accounts through to my obsession with music. Although I have done this before, I was surprised to see just how often random jokes between friends on twitter are popping up as a search result.  Worryingly, the result at the bottom of page one links to a page where I’m rated on ‘Hot Tweeters.’ I guess another advantage of using my work account to do CPD23 is that I don’t dare click through and see how I’m rated!

I decided to call this blog ‘Bex Without Spex’ rather than hipporebecca because I wanted it to be more professional (although I don’t know if I’ll be continuing this blog once I finish CPD) and, more importantly, my work colleagues thought that it was a better name. I suppose it shows my continuing interest in the image and stereotypes of the profession. It also makes me feel like a bad rapper when I ever I say my blog name in my head, but that’s by the by!

So should I be worried about not having a personal brand online? I’ve been very impressed, reading the cpd23 reading list and other blogs, how seriously some librarians are being- from having consistency in logos across all online platforms to printing business cards for conferences. I don’t think that approach would suit my real life personality or work ethic. I left my previous job because I didn’t want to be pigeonholed- either as someone who only worked in public libraries or only worked with children- and am using this course and the online resources to explore my transferable skills. I am happy to cross reference the different aspects of myself. Feel free to follow me on twitter- I’ve started to follow people on this course (although mostly I just copy what my friend @nicololosaurus does)  and I might refer people on twitter over here if there’s anything (perish the thought!) that can’t be expressed in 140 characters. I think I would like to use these platforms to gain skills and knowledge and then just force my personality on people who are [un]lucky enough to meet me in real life.

My one constant- here is another photo of myself outside a library – this time in Cozumel, Mexico.