A supplement to Update/Gazette from the CILIP NW Branch North West News, No. 39, January 2012
Registered Charity no. 313014
nw news Members Day and Committee Meeting
National Libraries Day
This years theme is Advocacy; looking at our professional future and reflecting upon what our users want from Libraries today
As I write this Libraries of all kinds up and down the country are gearing up the for National Libraries Day on Saturday 4th February. This national campaign aims to highlight what people can do in their local library but all the different kinds of Libraries are welcome to join in the day.
Thursday 15th March 9.30am University of Chester, Riverside Campus
How was it for you?
There are three main areas which Libraries are being encouraged to pursue Use Libraries © John Kirriemuir Speaking will be Annie Mauger “It’s All About You: our profession and its future” Also speaking will be Jim Grisenthwaite Assistant Director of Local Services, Cumbria County Council, Anne Caldwell, Literature Development Specialist and Nikki Heath, School Librarian of the Year Tickets for this all-day event are available priced £7 for CILIP members, £20 for non-members and include refreshments and lunch More information can be found here. http://snipurl.com/2200tpx If you would like to book online, you can do so at http://www.snipurl.com/21ujyjd If you have any further questions about the Members Day please contact d.harrop@shu.ac.uk
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Libraries Open Late
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Membership Campaign
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Special Events
In Bury Libraries staff are focussing on the Special Events aspect of the campaign by hosting an afternoon of ‘booktalk and readings’. The writers appearing have a special involvement with Libraries; Jenn Ashworth was formerly a prison Librarian and Emma Jane Unsworth wrote a searing defense of public libraries in the Big Issue. There should be a lively conversation about writing, reading and how public libraries support both activities and will share how it went in the next issue. The Newsletter would like to hear how you experienced National Libraries Day, whether you did something special in your workplace or attended an event as a reader. You can email the editor at a.e.bond@bury.gov.uk
Library Camp North West Librarians, Information Professionals, Knowledge Managers and even some people who just really like libraries gathered at MadLab for conversation and cake On a beautifully sunny but very very cold Saturday afternoon in January, I tentatively poked my nose into MadLab searching for ‘Library Camp North-West’ With not a tent in sight, MadLab is an ‘open learning and experimentation environment for adults’ and as such was the perfect venue for an afternoon that would prove to be both stimulating and challenging. Library Camp was billed as an ‘Un-conference’. There was no agenda, no paid speakers or headliners. Anyone who was there was invited to raise a topic that they wanted to talk about and they all had equal billing. Sessions proposed included ‘Pop up Libraries’, ‘Stories or Statistics’ and ‘Sweating the Small Stuff (from spoons, to toilets, to what do we call our users).
difficult to transfer funds once they are ear-marked for projects before discussing the implications that this may have for people within the local area. The role of a branch library is very different to that of a central library. It forms more of a community and social area; whereas central libraries are more research based and serve as a flagship area for the city. A librarian from Manchester library said that Manchester was aiming to change this with their renovation and aimed to have the central library in St Peter’s Square as ‘the living room of the city’. Another busy session was running concurrently, themed around the eternal questions of Marketing. What do we do and how do we do it better. Many in the room felt frustrated by a lack of autonomy, flexibility and cash. We have a great thing and we don’t get to tell anyone about it. The group considered how to operate in this world of Web2.0 and shared ideas of good practice. Each session was followed by a 20 minute rest, acknowledging that all the best work at any conference takes place in the tea break. This gave us time to meet each other, network, swap cards/post-its and devour as much abundant cake as was physically possible.
Helen Sheridan from Halton Libraries and I were both there and I feel that it is a testament to the success of the Un-conference format that we both had entirely different but entirely satisfactory experiences of the event. One of the first sessions was proposed by Laura Williams, media librarian at ITV in Leeds, discussing ‘Central Libraries vs. Branch Libraries. This came about via a discussion on Twitter after Liverpool council had announced the proposed closures and changes to opening hours of its branch libraries. Meanwhile, it is still investing £50m in the renovation of Central library. Manchester libraries are also undergoing a similar transformation. The group acknowledged that it’s important both councils had secured funding for these projects before the coalition government funding cuts and it is
The afternoon carried on in much the same way with sessions proposed by Steph Thorpe, information advisor for the Birmingham University careers service. This session was about ‘pop-up libraries’ and how they can take services to the places where users need them. In Birmingham, Steph had taken the careers service into the academic library to reach students. They now try to hold careers appointments at various locations around campus, in order to be more accessible. Other libraries also reported that they had tried getting the library services out of the library, e.g. MMU library went to the student services to hold enquiry sessions and to IT suites. NHS health libraries had also experience success with their ‘library in a box’ approach. It was also pointed out that when librarians reach out to their users through training activities, it is not just training but rather marketing. This can be applied to all library sectors: health librarians training doctors, public librarians doing class visits & teaching
students how to understand Dewey, academic subject librarians holding infoskills sessions, etc. The group concluded that these pop-up libraries are not just a way to help library users by taking our services to where they are, but also a marketing exercise to make them more aware of what is offered inside the library building or through our online resources.
I was far too shy to propose a session, but Helen proposed a session on information literacy across the library sectors and how far Libraries should go to help users. She writes; “This was inspired by Simon Barron’s blog post on spoon-feeding in higher-education and whether this was a barrier to independent learning. Obviously higher-education libraries have different aims to public libraries, but I thought about the way in which public libraries help users learn basic IT skills but also how far we should go to help them. Should we be typing up CVs for people and setting them up with email addresses or should we be showing them how to and thus helping them to develop skills that are necessary to succeed in the 21st century? I am in the latter mindset, but it can put us in a difficult situation for those learners who are not ready to learn yet. The session involved attendees from a myriad of sectors so it created some lively discussion about how all libraries can work together to enable people to become more independent and confident learners. A lot of us agreed that reaching schools & teachers was very important but also difficult to do. It would also be good for librarians from school, public & higher education to talk to PGCE students about what libraries can do to enable their students. This is something I was definitely interested in and perhaps is something that CILIP NW Branch can look into in the future.” The final session was a bit more light-hearted but still extremely important to the running of a
library – ‘the little things’. We discussed toilets, what we call our users (patrons, readers, borrowers & community were all names we used), what do we call ourselves (librarians, front line customer services clerk, information officer, etc) and a variety of other small issues that can be build up to become big issues. Some librarians felt awkward calling users ‘customers’ because this made the users have higher expectations and especially in HE, some may feel that they are ‘buying a degree’ as a customer. However, others also felt that ‘customers’ meant that we delivered a higher quality of service by making the user feel like they were entitled to a certain level of service. Advertising was also discussed briefly – how libraries need to stop advertising themselves within the library but more externally. I felt the best thing about the day was the opportunity to chat with so many other Librarypeople, all from different sectors, all of whom care deeply about being the best Librarian they can be (whether they call themselves Librarian or not). I loved the atmosphere of supportive debate and creativity and would invoke anyone keen to feel invigorated about our profession to attend a future Library Camp or even to organise their own. Helen said “The Un-Conference format worked well for a new professional like me – it gave me the chance to voice my opinions amongst a wide variety of professionals and not feel intimidated. Afterwards we went to a pub for drinks which gave us yet more networking/ gossiping opportunities. It was great to see people from all over the country visiting Manchester and I think the fact that it was just a 1-5pm session on a Saturday also made it more appealing; we could have a lie in!” which I couldn’t agree with more! Library Camp was organised by @bumsonseats, @shedsue & @richardreeves Sessions were proposed by @theatregrad, @spoontragedy, @el39, @stephthorpeUK @lindsaywallace @bethanar, @lizjolly @danpgrace, @afeitar @manilymazza. Apologies to anyone I have missed The Library Camp wiki can be found at www.librarycampmadlab.wikispaces.com Photos © Carolin Shneider
Cilip NW Members inspire the Library and Information Professionals of the future LIS Student Catherine McManamon explains what the day meant to her As students of MMU’s Library and Information Management course, we were recently treated to an interesting visit from CILIP’s NW branch. ‘Research and Practice’ is one of our compulsory units which aims to heighten our awareness of current key professional issues. Presentations delivered by Helen Sheridan, Mark Burgess and David Jenkins gave my fellow students and I a really useful insight into the reality of professional librarianship in different sectors and dispelled the myth that seemed to be pervading our lectures that there are no longer any jobs for newly qualified professionals! It was particularly useful to hear about the different routes each speaker had taken to secure their professional roles, and the importance CPD initiatives played in supplementing their day to day duties. As I am keen to pursue a role in Academic libraries, it was particularly useful to listen to Mark’s advice about the tangible importance of networking and marketing both inside and outside the organisation to make everyone aware of the variety of services the library offers. David really stressed the importance of being flexible and open minded about any role you are lucky enough to acquire, while Helen reiterated the advantages of being IT savvy to reap the rewards of new technology in any library service. All in all their presentations were very inspiring and demonstrated the impact of strategic library advocacy. The presentations have encouraged many of us undertaking the professional qualification to get involved with CILIP and take an active role in shaping the future of our profession.
Visit to Chethams Don’t worry if you missed it. The last visit to Chethams School and Library which took place in November was such a success that we thought we would arrange another one for those who were unable to make the previous event. Therefore, the next guided tour of Chetham's Library - hosted by CILIP North West Branch and led by Michael Powell will take place on 23rd February, 16:00-17:00
Marx and Engels Table © Eric Magnuson Founded in 1653, this guided tour will explore the oldest public library in the English-speaking world. Chetham's Library is located opposite Manchester Victoria train station. There is no charge for the visit and you can reserve your place online at: http://goo.gl/nQbTJ Just type the strange sequence of letters into your address bar but if you have any problems, queries or just prefer not to use the online booking option, please do not hesitate to contact Stephen Carlton at Stephen.Carlton@rnib.org.uk
The Cilip Libraries Change Lives Award Entries are now open for the 2012 Awards
And maybe there is a project you are currently working on which just might win. The award highlights and rewards good practice in any innovative library and information projects which: •
Change lives
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Bring people together
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Involve user communities
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Demonstrate innovation and creativity
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Develop staff and services
Entries from any sector of the library and information world. They could be reading projects, learning projects, or projects that promote information. They must be shown to have affected people’s lives for the better, whoever those people might be. In recent years the North of England has been well represented in these awards with winners in Bradford / Caretrust Libraries Partners Project in 2008 being closely followed Leeds LIS the following year with their Autism Support project The overall winner receives a trophy and prize money of £4,000 as well as national recognition The Libraries Change Lives Award is run by CILIP and it's Community Services Group. More information about the Libraries Change Lives Award can be found on the Cilip website.
www.cilip.org.uk/lcla
All Sectors Plea! Come and join the Cilip North West Branch Committee In the April edition of NW news we put out a plea for more Cilip members to come and join us on the NW Branch Committee. Most of the current committee members are from the Health, Local Authorities and Higher Education sectors and we would love to have input from Information Professionals who work in the Commercial, Legal, Schools, Scientific, Media or other Specialist Library sectors. As a result of the visit to MMU we were delighted to welcome a group of students to the December Cilip Committee meeting at Manchester’s City Library Helen Monagle was one of the new students who joined us. She told me; The most important piece of advice from the members of CILIP North West, when visiting MMU, was to be flexible. In a time of economic uncertainty, we must remain positive and be responsive to change. We must take the opportunity to learn and reflect from the changes to enhance our experience. The talks were informative and it was particularly interesting to find out what experience the speakers had before they began their professional posts. Furthermore, they inspired us to be proactive about CILIP, which led to me attending the last meeting.
Your NW News Needs You
A word from the Editor and a Thank you I hope you enjoyed this edition of NW News, my first all on my own as editor and impossible to put together without the input from the rest of the CILIP NW Committee. Oscar Courtney has stepped down from his role as Newsletter Editor and CILIP NW Committee Secretary. We would all like to thank him for his efforts in both these roles and now I am doing just one of them I realise how very hard he worked. Oscar hasn’t escaped us completely however, he has promised to carry on writing the Pub Quizzes which no-one else could ever do quite like he does
Copy dates for next issue of NW News.
Your Library Needs You © Phil Bradley We are always happy to receive feedback and even more delighted to receive contributions for future issues. A published article in NW News can do wonders for a Chartership submission and it’s an excellent way to make sure your area is well represented.
Editorial Copy Deadline: 3rd April 2012 Cover date: No.39, April 2012 Contact the editor: Alison Bond McNally
We are always especially grateful for photos of the interesting things you are getting up to in your Libraries and other informational environments.
Email:
a.e.bond@bury.gov.uk
Tel:
0161 253 7345
Twitter: @BuryLibraries