Library Camp SW: An Organiser’s Perspective

Library Camps have been popping up all over the UK over the last 3-5 years and in my opinion represent all that is good in networking and collaboration within the library and information profession. Unlike conferences such as Umbrella, library camps are un-conferences which are based on “Open Space Technology” (Harrison Owen) which has four main principles and one law:-

1. Whoever comes is the right people

2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have

3. Whenever it starts is the right time

4. When it’s over, it’s over

Law of two feet: If, during the course of the gathering, any person finds him or herself in any situation where they are neither learning nor contributing, they must use their two feet and go to some more productive place.

Open Space Technology works best when the conditions are present:

1. A real issue of concern, that it is something worth talking about.

2. a high level of complexity, such that no single person or small group fully understands or can solve the issue

3. a high level of diversity, in terms of the skills and people required for a successful resolution

4. real or potential conflict[5], which implies that people genuinely care about the issue

5. a high level urgency, meaning the time for decisions and action was "yesterday"

This is the first time that I had both helped organise something on this scale and attended an un-conference although the basic concept is quite easy to grasp. I first found out about library camp SW through colleagues on Twitter (@deadlylibrarian and @idhunter22) who I had met at previous conferences and expressed an interest in helping out... it was literally as simple as that (bless the wonders of social media!). Organising the day took 4 months on and off but once a venue and day had been chosen the hardest part was over. The beauty of an un-conference is that so much rests on what happens on the day that there isn’t actually that much to plan. With this in mind we only met 3-4 times before the actually camp took place in July. There was a heavy use of Twitter, email, Google docs and other technologies to keep everyone updated as the months went on and I feel this was the easiest and most efficient way of managing the day. Funding was secured from CILIP SW and Library Camp UK for the venue, porter services and essential tea and coffee rations – we also had sponsors like Bowker give us canvas bags, pens etc for free giveaways.

From organisation to running the day Library Camp SW was a total group effort with a committee of approx twelve librarians from across the region. This team covered all sectors and brought a plethora of skills to the table from IT expertise, local information and a brilliance of understanding risk assessments! We all publicised the event through different channels, a percentage of tickets were held for school librarians and emails were sent out to all local authorities and university libraries ensuring a wide mix of delegates on the day.

Like most things these days, technology played a large part in organising the day from publicising on Twitter, to booking tickets via eventbrite and adding information and updates to the wiki – a totally collaborative space with sections for session proposals, lunch (an essential part of all library camps) and information on travelling to and from the camp. 

Feeling quite bad at this point that I had not contributed much I volunteered along with @jenfosterlib to take charge of pitching sessions on the day and finalising the timetable of sessions. We met up separately to discuss the itinerary for the day and how people would move between sessions. This included making sure all the housekeeping was in order, directing people between sessions and giving organisers and session leaders enough time to set up and pack away where necessary. A bonus in my opinion (although some may see it as a flaw) was that neither @jenfosterlib or myself had attended a library camp before (I was thwarted by rain and a dying car when trying to get to Exeter last year). This meant we had a blank canvas to work with and could put our own spin on the pitching sessions which worked differently in the morning and afternoon. 

Fast forward to the day and I think we were all quite anxious and excited to get going, with over 60% delegates accounted for on a sunny Saturday morning Library Camp SW was underway. There was a strong number of delegates from both the schools sector and academic libraries as tends to be at conferences but I was happy to see a few public library people too. Far too often I have been the only public sector employee at a conference and due to budget restrictions and time constraints I don’t see this changing anytime soon, although plans for a public library camp in the SW are afoot so keep your ears to the ground!

Pitching in the morning as in the afternoon was carried out via post it notes which were stuck to tables in the main foyer when delegates arrived. The various pitches were then announced via my dulcet tones and a count of hands was taken to work out how popular sessions were and which rooms to stage them in. This worked to a degree and was heavily dependent on how much detail had been added to the post it notes. We improved this in the afternoon pitching session by inviting delegates up to explain their ideas and then vote on sessions. This worked better as delegates got a far better understanding of what sessions would touch upon. Once sessions were voted on @jenfosterlib and I devised the timetable which was duplicated and displayed for everyone to plan their day. When delegates arrived they were given a bag with pens and a day planner in which they could use to plan their library camp experience.  

Popular sessions such as Information Literacy were repeated so delegates had the chance to attend but I imagine these sessions were completely different dependent on who was in the room. Sessions were pitched on current topics – apps, eBooks, the future of library services (a particularly heated session) and staples of the profession; information literacy and chartership along with quirky sessions that included attending a rhyme time (well attended by the organisers at the end of the day) and planning your “perfect library” if money wasn’t an option. Running around on the day I didn’t sit it on many full sessions but bounced between and heard some heated debates during the day but it is uplifting to be in a room with professionals so passionate about their professions... it fills you with a sense of hope for the future of the profession in all forms. The day ended with a speed networking session which gave delegates the opportunity to make contact with those they had met earlier in the day and establish partnerships that will go beyond the day.

The feedback received from the day has been mostly positive and I believe we can be proud of our achievement. There is talk of a public libraries library camp in the region which would be amazing in my eyes so hopefully this will get off the ground. The mix of organisers both on the run up to and on the day ensured a mix of delegates and a smooth running operation and I hope everyone had a productive day... the pub was definitely a highlight!

Bring on Library Camp SW 2014!

Strengths, Interests and Volunteering (Things 21 and 22)

Strengths and Interests

As part of my chartership I have been looking at my strengths and interests to make sure that my CPD is going in the right direction. I conducted a SWOT analysis whilst writing my PPDP and asked my line manager to contribute as well... very open to constructive criticism.

Since studying at Sheffield and writing my dissertation I have taken a keen interest in reader development but this seems to be the part of librarianship that is slowly dying. If you look at organisational charts of ten years ago you would see a full time post of reader development librarian but these roles have now been watered down and folded in to librarian positions. I spent a day shadowing Wiltshire Council’s library operations manager who as part of his role is responsible for reader development from everything to reading lists to the running of the six book challenge, author events and more. I have written about this before and so will not go into too much detail here (Reflections on Shadowing). I have been very lucky that since this shadowing experience an expressing an interest in reader development, colleagues higher in the library service have given me opportunities to work in this field; creating reading lists, helping with stock selection and working  on the national reading well campaign collection (part of the four core services set out by the SCL).

Interests outside of librarianship have helped to influence displays and events including dramatic readings of favourite poets and read the film displays. Looking at your strength and interests and updating your CV whilst in a positive mood can be very beneficial. In terms of interview tips the best I can say is be yourself, prepare well and don’t act your way through an interview. Remember it’s as much about making sure it’s a good fit for you as much as the company you’re interviewing for.  

Volunteering Experience

In the blog post for thing 22, Bronagh McCrudden spoke about the idea of experience catch22 and she could not be more right. Especially in this job market young people are finding it harder and harder to get breaks into employment and not everyone can afford to volunteer for free.

A lot of the experience I have in the library sector has come from volunteering opportunities. When I went to library school I had no specific library experience and felt that I was going in behind everyone else. I have volunteered in a local studies library and a public library whilst studying and job hunting and it was not until I had these experiences that some of the theory I learnt made sense.

After a talk given by David Smith of the Hull Local Studies Library as part of my degree studies I approached him about work experience at the library. This was at a time when the library was moving into its new facility and so a lot of my time was spent cataloguing stock. At this time the library wasn’t open to customers which was a shame but I learnt a lot about the different stock the library held and anecdotes about research undertaken on behalf of customers. I spent a day a week at the library for six months before having to focus on my dissertation.

I strongly believe that the six months I volunteered at Catford Public Library helped me to get the job I have today. By experiencing the day to day running of a library I had a database of knowledge at my disposal for interview scenarios. Again this was a day a week in which I got to shadow library staff, take part in baby rhyme times and activities, learnt weeding policy and helped with school assemblies. This was invaluable experience that helped me talk more openly during interviews and gave me the confidence to go after jobs that I thought I was ill qualified for previously.

I am a strong believer in volunteering as work experience and giving people the opportunity to learn more about a profession that they are passionate about. As staffing gets tighter and budgets are cut it gets harder to find the time to devote to younger professionals who are the future of librarianship but it is one of the easiest ways to promote the profession to a younger generation.

Cotham School Library, Bristol

After attending a career’s event at UWE in November I arranged a visit to Cotham School Library in Bristol with their Librarian. I’ve always been interested in school librarianship but the idea of lone working frankly scares the bejesus out of me (self confidence thing - I'm working on it though). Much like public librarianship I think there are hidden depths to the variety and scope of school librarianship that people don’t realise. This was affirmed after spending the morning in the library. The librarian works in a small team with two other library assistants on part time contracts but the running and maintenance of the library and the stock are ultimately her responsibility. Along with this there is also the need to liaise with teaching staff and the chance to teach information literacy sessions and other library sessions in the library and out in the school.

On the Cotham School website it says "The Library aims to be a whole school resource, providing materials for all aspects of school work as well as for the development of personal interest and recreational reading." The collection is very impressive and in my opinion lives up to it's aims. It also includes a staff collection with the latest development textbooks and a small adult fiction selection. The main library is a main floor and a mezzanine. The latter is a quiet sixth form study area which has a mezzanine collection of post 16 fiction along with a bank of computers and tables. This was very well used in the morning that I was there as it was exam time and free lessons can be spent here. The main floor has a bank of twenty computers, a large non-fiction collection and fiction collection including graphic novels. I was impressed by the range of the collection – the fiction collection runs from the predictable Jacqueline Wilson, Robert Muchamore but also has George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones and Philippa Gregory novels. I asked the librarian about the mix of junior, YA and adult fiction and there are age guidelines on the inside cover of the older spectrum. All issues and returns are run through the counter which means that staff can supervise what is issued. It was also interesting to note that the librarian doesn't use just one supplier and actually has reps come in to see her on a regular basis.

At break time the library becomes a hive of activity. Although there is a strict silence rule enforced there is a general hum of productivity with students using online facilities, printing homework or just sitting down to read for 10 minutes in between classes. Teaching staff are also timetabled on to supervise in the library during breaks and at lunch and there is a strong sense of discipline. The library is open both before and after school and student's are given every opportunity to use the facilities in the library during opening hours.

I know that one of the harder issues in school librarianship like academic librarianship is gaining the support and respect of the teaching faculty and making sure that the library’s voice and message is getting through to students. There is no better way of doing this than advocating your worth and value to staff. The librarian admitted she is very lucky in that she has a lot of support from both the head and deputy head of the school and weekly staff briefings are actually held in the library making it a vocal point of the school. There is still an issue though which to those outside the profession may not seem a big deal but to those who do the differentiation between librarians and library assistants is significant. Selling the value to libraries and their staff to teaching staff and parents is almost as important as selling it to the students themselves but it can be an uphill struggle. Workshops have been held with parents of year 7 students to support reading for pleasure and dealing with book recommendations but with mixed results.

Being here for just a few hours dispelled a few myths for me. It also taught me that maybe I could do this some day. It is a role with many different threads, it requires creativity and the lateral thinking and I truly believe school librarians in general must be some of the hardest working in the profession. I am not ignorant to the troubles this sector is having at the moment and the idea that schools, especially secondary schools could lose this invaluable resource is maddening and worrying in equal measure. 

Reflections on Shadowing

As part of my Chartership journey I have been taking the opportunity to shadow various member of the Wiltshire Library Service, to see what skills I will need to develop in order to progress on my professional path.

There is always an air of mystery wrapped around managerial positions and being able to shadow these roles gives a human angle which makes it all seem less scary for want of a better word. I have been very lucky to spend time with colleagues and question them about their own professional experiences, their time in the service and how they feel their jobs have changed over the last few years and where they may be in ten or twenty years time.

I have recently spent days shadowing a Community Librarian (the next rung) and our Library Operations Manager who amongst multiple responsibilities holds a managerial role over the stock and budgets for the county and reader development (areas that I am particularly interested in). Both colleagues were happy to give up a day to have me tag along and question them incessantly about present roles and challenges but I also found it very interesting to get their views on where they feel Wiltshire’s library service and public library services in general are heading.

For example, 5 years ago each library service would have a dedicated reader development librarian who would be responsible for reading promotions such as the six book challenge, quick reads, author talks and library reading groups along with regional and national programmes such as the National year of Reading in 2008. In the present climate this very important role for libraries has been intertwined with other responsibilities and does not seem to have a dedicated post anymore, more and more it seem it is folded into stock unit positions, outreach librarian roles and in some cases given as added responsibilities to library assistants and general librarians. When speaking to our operations manager about this he pointed out that not having dedicated roles for reader development meant that implementing national strategy can be very difficult. As reader development roles are spread over different layers of staff being able to attend meetings, conferences and committing to programmes becomes harder. Where some staff have control over budget and capacity to green light projects straight away others have to go back to their authority and sell an idea, this makes regional and national projects harder to get off the ground as you are unlikely to get a unanimous verdict on any given day for multiple authorities.

In my opinion shadowing provides a brilliant opportunity to understand colleagues various roles and the chance to talk about the service; it’s past, present and future. Being able to spend time with colleagues I would not normally interact with is also helpful on a personal level, to put faces to names and understand better how you can work together. Shadowing is an inexpensive and  yet valuable form of CPD and I feel it has helped me understand more about the services core goals and the future that we face. It is a worthwhile and educational experience and above all showed me what skills I need to develop to rise to these positions in the future.

Qualifications and mentors (Things 10 and 11)

I suppose when it comes to my library career (all 2 ½ years of it!), it has been pretty average in terms of the path I took. Maybe it’s time for a little bit of my education history. I have a BA in Comparative Literary Studies and English and American Literature. I then went on to undertake an MA in Librarianship and 6 months later landed my job in Wiltshire. My first ever job was in the children’s department of Ottakar’s book store in Bromley; it’s where I did my work experience and I didn’t look back. I think this job cemented the idea that I wanted to work with books and working in a book shop isn’t a million miles away from working in a public library. This is where I’m going to admit I went into Librarianship thinking it would all be about books... yes I was one of those naive and silly people but I’m glad to say my eyes have been opened and although I still firmly believe book stock is our bread and butter I also enjoy the chances I have to promote information literacy, reader development and community involvement.

I realised I wanted to go to Library School quite late in the academic year and tried first to apply for a traineeship with very little luck. When I turned up in Sheffield for my MA studies I did worry that I would be out of my depth and do still feel that a traineeship would have given me invaluable work experience but I learn quick thankfully and made up for it with some work experience both during my studies and whilst I was looking for employment after. Whilst studying I worked a day a week at Hull Local Studies Library and after Sheffield spent time working in Catford Public Library. This helped me to put my theory into practice and learn a few things you don’t get taught at library school.

I loved my year at Sheffield, it gave me the chance to find out what I wanted both personally and professionally, I built up a great network of social and professional contacts and I came out with a pretty awesome qualification. Whilst saying this it was also probably the hardest, most intense year of my life to date and is not a qualification people should enter into lightly. You need to do your research (like any good librarian!) to understand what you want from the profession and make sure you choose the degree that gives you what you want. There are those programmes which are more traditional than others, for instance I know very little about cat and class and there were no modules on it in the Sheffield MA. But you also need to look at the difference between straight librarianship degrees and information management.

I understand the importance of CPD, especially in a profession which is so dynamic and ever evolving but I am not an eat, drink, sleep librarian. Don’t get me wrong I love my job and wouldn’t change it for the world (despite the odd moan) and I know it’s not excuse but life just seems to get in the way! I have begun work for my chartership portfolio... but like most people (I hope!) after a full week at work, or even busy day sometimes, I lack the determination and energy to sit in front of a lap top all night reflecting on my progress... notice how most of my blog post are Sundays!!! The argument here is if it’s important enough (which chartership surely is) it will get done!

As I mentioned, being quite new to this profession I have had ample opportunities to learn new skills and every day brings new lessons. In this way I feel that I daily add to my CPD and this is when mentors come in! I have my chartership mentor obviously and he is an amazing support for me, sounding board and font of knowledge. I also feel that I have many unofficial mentors in my colleagues. People who have been in the profession for 5-10 years more than me, who have already gone through a mountain of change and development and are a great source of not only organisational knowledge but also confidantes and supporters of my career as a whole. In particular my line manager who gives me the chance to explore new opportunities and is always there to help when I get stuck!

I understand the need for CPD and further qualifications but I do sometimes find myself asking when is enough enough. I already sit on quite a mound of student loan debt and I went to university at the time when a degree, if it was good enough, would get you a decent job. Now it would seem you need an undergrad and postgrad degree... what will it be like in fifty years time and do people understand the importance of the librarian profession to fight through and become qualified when they realise the work involved.

This has been quite a babbly post but as you can see I can’t quite make my mind up about qualifications.. yes CPD is essential but when is enough?

The more astute of you will realise that I have missed out 9 and 10 – it’s not that I haven’t looked at them it’s just that I’m not sure how they can be applied to where I am at the moment but it is good to know these items exist and may be used in the future. 

Just goes to show that libraries are much more than books... but of course we already knew that! Swindon Central Library part 2

The more I think about what I wrote over the weekend, the more I realised what I’d missed out about Swindon Central Library; the diversity of services and range of borrowers reached.

The buzz and the layout of the library remind me more of an FE/HE library with computers in easy accessible location. Along with 4 express terminals on the ground floor, computers line the gangways and staircase of each floor, along with a learning zone on the first floor which can be divided off echoing back to a group study zone at an academic library. It feels very much that computers are the forefront.

 Spaces, such as the learning zone and the reading zone on the top floor where periodicals can be found, are used for library events and community outreach in a number of ways. There is not that much free space on the library floor and a majority of free space is used for book displays but the areas set aside for the community are flexible spaces that can be opened up for large audiences whilst still feeling intimate. They also lend themselves to technology, having space in the reading zone for a projector. It is also interesting to note that it is here, in the reading zone, the more traditional part of the central library if you like, that the reference collection can be found. I did question the fact that you have to walk two flights of stairs or go up two floors in a lift for a look at the daily paper but the area set aside is quiet with an interesting view of the Swindon skyline! I wonder if the papers are located there due to the ever present problem of items going “walkies”. This may also reflect the change in use of libraries over the last decade.

The learning zone which I mentioned above is hidden away on the first floor but has a set of ten public network computers along with an interactive whiteboard. This area is used by the community in partnership with the Job Centre and the public are helped with job searching, e-application and email set ups amongst other basic I.T. skills. Just another example of partnership working, bringing those who may not necessarily think the library has anything to offer them, and showing them the library of the modern age.

The library has the benefit of being attached to the old town hall which used to hold the local studies collection but can now be used for large events; anything from local studies meet ups to dance classes. This again helps the library to reach those hard to reach groups who may not necessarily view the library as a place for them but will be brought through the doors to see what the library offers, making the central library a hub of activity and the heart of the community.

Just goes to show that libraries are much more than books... but of course we already knew that!