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Library Camp East - Saturday 7 September 2013

Library Camp East was organised by a small group of brilliant librarians, and attended by a bigger group of brilliant librarians.

It took place at Harlow College in Essex, the number one college in the country.

It was a chance to meet new people, catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while, and finally meet people I only know from Twitter.

There were lots of really interesting session pitches, but you can't go to everything, so I chose Claire Sewell's session on Creative CPD, discussing different ways of accessing learning and development in a time when budgets are being slashed and professional training courses are hard to come by.

I realised that my library service is really good at this - offering a variety of different training and development opportunities both in-house and further afield. We discussed work shadowing, library visits, online courses, lectures, unconferences, networking events and skills sharing between colleagues. One library service asks experts to train non-experts - a peer learning service, rather like cascade training, but the experts aren't necessarily the managers.

The outcome was that we all need to be more proactive in finding out what development we want and finding ways to access it - and we also need to be brave enough to ask our managers for training and support - after all, the chances are they will say yes. And it is important to record your learning, either through a reflective blog, learning log or Personal Development Plan, so that you can refer back to it when you need to.

The next session was a discussion regarding the Purpose of Libraries - what are they for? are they always good? There were lots of good ideas here, as the session participants were not just from academic and public libraries, but also from professional sectors too. There was a discussion about whether libraries have to prove their value too much as they are often running at a loss - should libraries be neutral and runs as not-for-profit organisations, or should they use a more standard business model with profit built in? Although a lot of the early comments related to public library services, there were several crossover points, such as adding value to users' lives; encouraging education and literacy, including digital literacy; creating a safe, welcoming space for all users to feel comfortable in; providing a non-judgemental information service.

Then, there was lunch, which involved lots of cake of varying types, but also my very popular jewelled couscous!

The post-lunch session can be a difficult nut to crack, but I attended Liz Osman's discussion on library refurbishments and RFID, where we discussed our experiences of using the new technology. Having installed RFID technology very recently at my library, I was interested to learn how others have fared. The general consensus was that the benefits of RFID (better stock control mostly) greatly outweight the disadvantages (tags are quite visible and may be removed by users). There was some concern that the trend towards RFID and self-service was designed to remove staff from libraries; however, self-service has been in use for many years so I don't think RFID cannot be blamed for falling staff numbers.

After another foray to the cake table I joined the 20 Questions discussion run by Anna Martin. After a slow start, a lively discussion took place offering words of wisdom regarding "what I wish I had done/known then" and answering questions based on lived experiences. There were a lot of points made about good and bad career decisions - when to go with your gut; whether to quit a job if it's unfulfilling; how long you should stay in a post if it's a safe job. Of course, all of these questions have very subjective answers, and each person's experience was different. However, it is clear that taking charge of your life and career and actually making a decision, whether it turns out to be good or bad at the time, is much better than sticking your head in the sand and hoping that it will all work out in the end. It was universally agreed by the group that you should take every opportunity that is offered and that you shouldn't be afraid of change.

The final session was Disasters in Libraries, created by Sonja Kujansuu, who is investigating this topic for her Masters' dissertation. There followed a discussion which started off with Ian Stringer's experiences at Barnsley library service, where library disasters seem to be part and parcel of daily life: major fire followed by lengthy rebuild; theft of brickwork; roof blowing off in a storm - you couldn't make it up (Ian is writing a book about his experiences, which is sure to be fascinating)! Nobody could top Ian's stories, but discussions about protecting and saving collections soon developed into talking about business continuity management - how to keep services running in a disaster situation. I realised that although I had never experienced a "disaster" to our collections, I have had to deal with heating and power failures and wasps' nest, all of which have closed my library for short periods of time. The important thing here is to communicate with users at all times - letting them know which services are inaccessible, which services they can access and when normal service may be resumed.

All in all, a very interesting day, and worth travelling down the M11 on a Saturday for!

Roll on the next Library Camp!

Stereotypes - time for a new Librarian?

An old post discovered in the drafts folder (from January 2012) - still relevant now?

My fellow tweeters in the information management profession have been amusing themselves recently with a list of qualities commonly held to represent the Librarian stereotype (compiled by Wordshore).

The list was compiled by a group of Birmingham librarians, in a pub, in December 2011.  Over 150 librarians have so far scored themselves on the checklist.  The highest scorer, and therefore, the most stereotypical so far, has 16 points.  Out of 24.  Most librarians got fewer than 10 points on the scale.  I got 14.5, which means that I am 60% Librarian stereotype.

All of which makes me wonder whether the stereotype (a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group) of the librarian is being kept alive by librarians themselves through these kinds of exercises.

Analysing the list, many of the qualities can be classified in the following distinct categories:

Librarian as alcohol/drug user
Drinks wine
Drinks gin
Member of CAMRA
Uses illicit substances

Librarian as animal lover
Owns one or more cats
Listens to the Archers 
Owns one or more dogs

Librarian as obsessive compulsive nerd/geek
Pedantic about definitions of what a librarian stereotype is
Owns a collection of cardigans, sweaters or jumpers
Set up a library as a child, or at school
Arranges their CD collection in a particularly exact or OCD manner
Wears glasses or contact lenses
Plays digital games
Watches Doctor Who
Likes and/or watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Listens to Radio Four
Owns or collects bookplates
Owns or collects bookmarks

Librarian as social misfit
Dating, or partner of, an IT professional
Has dated several other librarians
Has or had a parent who was a librarian

You forgot the twinset and pearls!

There are two items on the list which are purely discriminatory, in terms of age or in terms of sex: Has grey or greying hair / Wears their hair in a bun on a regular or frequent basis.

There are many librarians without a touch of grey, and I am the only librarian I know who puts their hair in a bun (because I have long hair and it keeps it neat and tidy).  I have never known a man with long hair put it in a bun...

So, the stereotype above is a female Librarian who uses alcohol and drugs, loves animals, is obsessive compulsive, over 50 and doesn't get out much. 

Let's rewrite the stereotype based on real information professionals:

1.Cat lover
2.Enjoys home crafts (knitting, cross-stitching etc)
3.Prefers sensible shoes
4.Has short, cropped hair or a bob
5.Wears glasses or contact lenses
6.Dresses informally or individually
7.Member of CILIP
8.Tech-savvy (Tweets, blogs, Googles)
9.Loves information research
10.Drinks coffee regularly
11.Enjoys going to meetings and conferences
12.Overqualified

Which means I score 2/12 - 16% stereotypical.

What is the point of the stereotype?  (It's shorthand, a part representing the whole)

Is the stereotype real? (Perhaps in the 1950s it was, very unlikley to still be now)

Who created the stereotype?  (Perhaps we'll never know)

Who is perpetuating it?  (Now I think it's librarians themselves, in a bid to prove they are more interesting than they actually are: "Look at me, I'm a cool librarian, I'm different from the recognised image, I'm not a stereotype at all!")

Librarian Action Figure
from http://www.mcphee.com

Remember the Librarian Action Figure from ten years ago?  Regrettably, the Nancy Pearl figure is no longer available, though it was a snip at a mere $8.95.  It fulfilled all the stereotypes of the librarian: "Each 5" tall, hard plastic Librarian Action Figure is modeled after Nancy Pearl, a real-life librarian in the Seattle area. Press the button on her back and her arm will move with amazing "shushing action!" Comes with a tiny plastic book and a stack of random literature. The card features a brief history of libraries on the back as well as a realistic check-out card in a classic library sleeve along with two bookmarks and a Nancy Pearl trading card!" 

 

The figure of an elderly lady with her greying hair in a bun, wearing glasses, an ill fitting skirt suit and sensible shoes, is perpetuating the classic stereotype of the Librarian.

Surely the best way to refute a stereotype is to create a new image based more accurately on the people being stereotyped.  But where's the fun in that?  So let's change it to: Librarian as Indiana Jones-style action hero and go for some mindless escapism instead.

Well hello again!

It has been a very long time since I blogged about anything isn't it?
Well I did draft some posts earlier in the year, then I lost my Blogger dashboard and I gave up blogging as it was getting so frustrating.

As it seems that Google have fixed the problem, maybe I'll resurrect those earlier musings.

Since November 2011 (the last blog post) there have been quite a few library-related changes.
The library I work in is scheduled to close in January 2014 and merge with one of the main campus libraries, so a programme of stock review and reclassification has formed the majority of the last twelve months.

A major review of unique items (not held anywhere else in the university) has culled quite a few items which were, quite frankly, over-the-hill, and the reclassification project is in the home straight.

Changing circa 14000 items from Library of Congress or National Library of Medicine classification to Dewey Decimal Classification is no mean feat.  Luckily, we didn't have to reclassify by hand - only a small fraction of our stock was so unique we had to send it to our catalaoguing department.

But, we did have to check each item for correct classification numbers and print off new class labels (because there's no guarantee that everything is right - several human errors have been found and corrected).

And currently, I have 22 shelves of books to relabel. I reckon that's about 750-800 books still to go.

Mind you, I've got arm muscles to rival an Olympic gymnast, so can't be all bad...

Marketing Yourself

I recently attended a course entitled "Marketing Yourself" run by Erica Sosna from The Life Project. It was designed to enable library staff to identify their skills and talents and explore different career opportunities in the light of these skills and talents.


Hmm, I thought, I'm looking for ways to make myself stand out in job applications and interviews.  Maybe this course will give me some tips!

So I got the train to London and found room G15 at Birkbeck College (not easy when you're not familiar with Bloomsbury and there are numerous workmen digging holes in the road).  Unsurprisingly, as the event was organised by the M25 consortium of academic libraries, all the other participants were from London.  And what a mixed bunch they were!  Half a dozen from the LSE, who are all leaving at the end of the year due to voluntary severance; a couple from Imperial College and University of Westminster; the rest from West London, University of the Arts and King's College.

So little old me, from Cambridge, out on a limb, wondering what to make of it all.  Will the event be London-centric, due to the participants themselves and the location?  Will they be brash, confident, go-getting librarians?  Will they be quiet, unassuming and sheep-like?  Will the focus be on library jobs in the academic sector, or just jobs of any kind?  Will there be a nice lunch?

Well, the participants seemed nice enough, though on the whole they were a bit on the quiet side.  On reflection, this may be because they didn't know what to make of it all either! 

The course comprised several practical discussions about which skills each participant had, and how the skills could be used in different scenarios.  We discussed how personality types affect these skills and how you use them, taking inspiration from the Jungian archetypes test and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment.

From this discussion, it was discovered that the majority of the people in the room were Idealists closely followed by the Rationalists. These types were predominant in libraries due to Rationalists being good with systems and Idealists being good with people. Some participants were Artisans, those who create, others were Guardians, the managers who like to organise and get stuff done. It turns out that I'm one of the latter (not a great surprise really), with a bit of the Artisan (which explains my creative side). 

Some people claimed an affinity with aspects of all personality types, and couldn't fix on a definite archetype.  Perhaps there was an element of selectivity in their responses.  After all, some of the attributes are less than positive, and we none of us like to admit that an unappealing trait is part of our character.
The purpose of this discussion was to highlight that different personalities are suited to different jobs and working environments, and understanding your type helps you to understand your personal skills.  It also helps you to understand why you react in certain ways to different situations.  It certainly made me have greater awareness of how I am perceived by other people.

Creative Combining helped us to see our skills in a new light, and to think about using these skills outside the world of academic libraries. We had to define different skills we felt we had, then our interests or passions, then decide what the world really needs. The resulting concepts could then be combined to create a brief job description, for example:

Listening + social history + collaboration = Social Historian / Museum Curator / Archivist

Attention to detail + music + compassion = Music Therapist / Composer / Radio Presenter

A discussion about applying for jobs followed, in which it was highlighted that each job you apply for should contain at least 50% of the things you’re really good at, and 80% of the things you really want. We were also encouraged to think of different examples where we have used our skills (not always in a work scenario) that we could use at interview to support our application form or CV. We were also encouraged to think about our own essential criteria when looking for new careers, as it is important to apply for a job you really want to do!

Even though I had recently updated my CV, so theoretically I knew what my skills were, I still found it hard to separate generic skills from library-specific skills.  Erica had said earlier in the session that we had all become institutionalised, and found it difficult to comprehend the differences between Universities and other sectors, both in terms of applying for jobs, the kind of jobs available, and the different working environments in other sectors.  I tend to agree that those of us who have worked in the academic sector for a while become so unfamiliar with the wider world that we only look at jobs with similar employers - I know I do!

The end of the session involved considering career goals, action plans and vision statements as tools for focusing the mind on what you want and when you want it.  Overall it was a useful day, and although I don’t think I learned anything new, it has encouraged me to look at my skills in a different way, and update my CV to better reflect the experiences I have gained both at work and in my studies.  I have now updated my LinkedIn profile to include absolutely everything I am good at, not just my library-related skills.

I have also started considering how I can use my talents in other sectors and business areas.  Do I have to continue working in libraries?  Can I sidestep into IT?  Are there opportunities in the media?  We'll have to wait and see.