VOLUME 53 ISSUE 1
CILIP WEST MIDLANDS
OPEN ACCESS JUNE 2010
ISSN 0048-1904
WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH AGM & MEMBERS' DAY: 'POINTERS TO OUR PROFESSIONAL FUTURE' BIDDY FISHER MLIB FCLIP.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Members afternoon: Phil Jones
2
West Mids committee changes
2
Love your 3 library? We do!! : Sharon Tuersley Reader development conference: Nikki Bi
4
West Mids 5 graduate trainees Middlemash: Damyanti Patel
6
What‟s going on 6 in . . . Worcester?
GOT SOMETHING TO SAY?
If you would like to suggest an article for Open Access please email the editor, Katharine Widdows at: kwiddows@rocketmail.com
CILIP PRESIDENT 2010.
Invitations to speak at the AGMs of CILIP
illustrate the former[1]. The second can be
Branches are particularly welcome by this President. The West Midlands offered the
answered by drawing up an analysis of the conceptual 'Body of Professional
first opportunity in December 2009 with an invitation to their AGM and Members'
Knowledge' and applying illustrations drawn from our major impact areas,
Day in March 2010. Addressing a group of members about the 'Defining our Profes-
Information Information,
sional
Information
future'
programme needed
an
Literacy, Public Health Information Management, Rights,
User
entitlements
approach that would not pre-empt in anyway the contributions they might make
and the Preservation of the nation's cultural heritage. If some of this sounds
once the conversation project was off the starting block. I presented a combination
familiar to you then it is because these elements provided the basis for the
of research I had done for a forthcoming book chapter with a review of how I
CILIP Manifesto for the next Westminster Government.
believe CILIP measures up to the current
The project is well on the way to its
requirements for a professional body in the UK in 2010. The members that were
conclusion with the consultant's report expected by the July 15th CILIP Council
present took hold of the content and made informed and informative comments.
meeting. I am pleased with the way things
In subsequent blogs and posts there has
are turning out, and it is due to the effort that members have made to
been some confusion about two particular elements of this ‗professionalism'. What is
contribute. CILIP Branches have played a significant role in enabling this work, with
a professional body? leading to the
time
question ―what is a professional‖?
constraints on all that we do.
and
money
forcing
their
usual
Secondly what are the unique areas of knowledge and skills that a Librarian/
Thank you West Midlands, your early
Information Professional/Knowledge Professional offers? I apply the House of
initiative to invite me meant that you offered your membership an early
Lords Committee on Science and Technology's 'nine tests of public obligation' to
opportunity to engage.
[1] House of Lords Science and Technology committee. 6th Report. Session 1999-2000. Report published 21 November 2000.
OPEN ACCESS: NEW EDITOR—NEW LOOK
David Viner has moved on to be Chair of the West Midlands Branch committee and so the role of Editor of Open Access has passed to me. I hope I can continue to deliver Open Access to readers as well as David did. Due to budget constraints we have sadly had to say goodbye to Melissa Cassily who has been our graphic designer for the last 2 years. We would like to offer Melissa our warmest thanks. As editor I will now be putting together the layout and I hope the new look will be well received.
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OPEN ACCESS
MEMBERS AFTERNOON: PHIL JONES As a relatively new member of CILIP it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I hopped on the train to Birmingham to see what exactly a CILIP West Midlands AGM looked like (and possibly put a tick in the ―professional engagement‖ box of my chartership portfolio). I needn‘t have been concerned; everyone I met was very friendly and there were a few familiar faces who I had bumped into previously. Once the sounds of people chatting and renewing old acquaintances had died down, the branch Chair, David Viner. welcomed everyone and set out the programme for the afternoon. The first part, Biddy Fisher‘s speech, was somewhat of a revelation for me having made a number of somewhat foolish assumptions about her based solely on her name. She was a remarkably engaging speaker, thoroughly convincing in her enthusiasm for the profession and for libraries but with a very strong emphasis on the need for modernisation. The major topic was of course the Big Conversation and Biddy was keen to reassure those present that despite adverse speculation about the conversation not being truly open, contributions from around the profession
would be welcomed as soon as the groundwork had been done. She was particularly keen that those present who were at the start of their careers get involved and make their voices heard as their relative inexperience might lend a fresh perspective on issues within the profession and future developments. Biddy was clear that CILIP needed to modernise to ensure that it would be able to face the challenges posed by future developments – one suggestion put to the audience was that we should reconsider the current structure of branches and groups which might be seen as fractured and tending to encourage isolation rather than collective communication. After some questions from the floor and the obligatory tea and coffee, the formal AGM began, and I have to confess to a bit of amused incomprehension at the procedures with ―motions seconded‖ and ―carried‖ etc. It was a salutary reminder following Biddy‘s speech that whilst the pace of change within the profession has perhaps never been greater, some things remain reassuringly the same no matter how strange they may seem to the newcomer.
Phil Jones attended the CILIPW M members afternoon in March.
“Biddy was clear that CILIP needed to modernise to ensure that it would be able to face the challenges posed by future developments”
WEST MIDS COMMITTEE CHANGES There were several changes to
The branch committee membership is now:
the membership of the committee which were announced at
Officers:
the Members Afternoon.
Chair: David Viner Vice Chair: To Be Announced
For full details of committee
Hon. Secretary: Margaret Fuller
members and their contact details please visit the West
Hon. Treasurer: Margaret Rowley
Midlands pages on the CILIP
Marketing Officer: Jo Alcock
web site:
Newsletter Editor: Katharine Widdows
http://www.cilip.org.uk/wm
Membership Secretary: Christine Hughes
Webmaster: Roger Fairman International Relations Officer: Mike Freeman
David Viner, previous editor of Open Access has now become Chair of the West Mid Branch Committee. You can follow him on Twitter @davidviner
You can get involved and find out more in a number of ways: Follow us on Twitter @CILIPWM
Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any ideas
Affiliate Member Representative: Joanne Collett
Find us on Facebook
Committee members:
about we could be doing for our members in the region, or if you
Hettie M. Jones
would like to get involved and be
Val Scott
Check our web site: http://www.cilip.org.uk/wm Come to an event—see back page for our July event in Worcester.
a CILIP activist.
Sarah Tongue
Richard Parker
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VOLUME 53 ISSUE 1
LOVE YOUR LIBRARY? WE DO! SHARON TUERSLEY It was a cold, dark and dank February Wednesday on the run up to Valentine‘s Day and love was certainly not ‗all around‘ at the University of Warwick Library. The Marketing Group‘s creative juices had slowed to a trickle and the electronic You Say We Say board was under heavy fire with comments from users
The frenzied emailing continued all afternoon and now included our long-suffering designers and printers. All of this activity resulted in several hundred coasters, 1000 bright orange bugs and some A3 posters on order with an estimated delivery of Friday – now that‘s what I call service and it was a great afternoon‘s work from everyone.
“We very quickly realised that although we would be able to launch it for Valentine‟s Day
and staff about how people were treating their library environment, you know the
this campaign
usual stuff…
than that; it had
…why can‘t we drink hot drinks wherever we want?
longevity.”
was bigger
…people keep drinking coffee in the wrong places! …why don‘t people throw rubbish away? ...you need more cleaners! Meanwhile, I was engrossed in Library statistics when a chance email from a friend I‘d met at the 2009 PPRG conference landed in my inbox. He was excited about their new marketing campaign promoting the start of Sunday opening on Valentine‘s Day. After several emails had passed between us, I began to have a germ of an idea. I put the statistics to one side and emailed the Marketing Group to find out their initial thoughts on launching an environmental campaign for Valentine‘s Day, or more to the point getting something together by the end of the week! It was a fast and furious afternoon with emails flying backwards and forwards between all members of the group. With all this activity and speed the idea and campaign began to take shape. We very quickly realised that although we would be able to launch it for Valentine‘s Day this campaign was bigger than that; it had longevity. We could use this to support our newly appointed Environment Officer and her stewarding team as well as providing positive and informative messages to our users. This was an added bonus especially with the spectre of term 3 looming on the distant horizon.
Love the Library fluffy orange bugs have gone down really well with staff and students.
“The campaign The material arrived and was distributed on Valentine‘s Day as originally planned but has been used consistently ever since. We have added plasma presentations, screen savers and web pages to all the other promotional material and there‘s more to come.
has been well
The campaign has been well received by our users and staff and we hope to use it for the start of the next Academic year as a great way of promoting positive behaviour messages and letting our users Love their Library….now back to those statistics.
Academic year
received and we hope to use it for the start of next as a great way of promoting positive behaviour ”
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OPEN AC CESS
WEST MIDLANDS READER DEVELOPMENT CONFERE NCE: NIKKI BI Building on the National Year of Reading, libraries in the West Midlands hosted a regional conference last October to celebrate work that had been done across the region to promote reading.
Workshops included: „Tales to be Told‟ project (Birmingham‘s creative reading and writing project engaging fathers in HM Winson Green Prison and their children)
The aims of the conference were to:
„Chapter & Verse‟ (Shropshire‘s week long -emphasise the importance of reading as a programme of talks and readings raising the cultural activity profile of libraries, reading and reading groups) -showcase projects that could be undertaken to achieve key strategic outputs, „Reaching Out‟ (Staffordshire‘s partnership foster collaborations with external partners between Culture and Social Care & Health and reach new and priority audiences for the elderly and vulnerable) -reinforce the principles of regional working
„Shelton Day Service Reading -stimulate discussion in relation to the Group‟ (Stoke on Trent‘s work with an adult reading group with learning difficulties) legacy of the National Year of Reading Feedback from the workshops demon-inspire staff to continue to promote a love strated the benefit and need to continue to of reading share this good practice (and to also Jonathan Douglas, Director of the continue to stimulate discussion on National Literacy Trust started the day with promoting libraries and reading). The workan inspirational presentation on the value of shops also highlighted the increasing reading and how libraries have built on the number of external partnerships libraries success of the National Year of Reading. are making to reach new audiences and to Bringing readers together with writers is one maximise funding opportunities. of the most rewarding and satisfying Novelist Adele Parks was the guest author, elements of reader development. Over she has written 10 books and was the recent years libraries have been working official spokeswoman for World Book Day. with publishers more closely to connect Adele talked about how libraries had readers and published writers. To showcase supported her work as a writer and also this partnership, Alison Barrow (Director of how libraries deliver on national campaigns Media Relations, Transworld) took part in a such as WBD. Adele was a very passionate panel discussion with writer/poet Sophie and enthusiastic speaker, entertaining Hannah and Sue Grainger from Walsall delegates with stories of using libraries as a Libraries. child and now as a mother of a young child. The panel discussion highlighted the impor- Sandy Mahal from the Reading Agency tance of libraries for writers and gave a presentation on the ‗Reaching demonstrated how libraries work with Readers‘ research into BME (Black and publishers and writers. Not only do Minority Ethnic) buying, borrowing and libraries provide a reading audience but reading trends. She shared how publishers they also help promote and showcase and librarians had worked together to find debut writers. Sophie Hannah was a great out more about BME reading. Resulting advocate of libraries and spoke about how research has helped publishers and librarmuch she enjoyed meeting readers and ies to better understand BME readers. wanted to reassure library staff that writers The Conference was very successful and are not always looking for big audiences but building on the success of the last two more for passionate and interested readers regional conferences SCL:WM have agreed (which is a good thing for smaller libraries!). to another regional conference to continue Workshops were an integral part of the to stimulate discussion and to share good conference to showcase regional projects practice. The 2010 conference will take that could be transferred to other libraries place on 9th September at Solihull Central easily and effectively. Library looking at ‗Health and Well Being‘.
“Bringing readers together with writers is one of the most rewarding and satisfying elements of reader development.”
Nikki is the Reader Development Support Officer, Birmingham nikki.bi@birmingham.gov.uk
“The panel discussion highlighted the importance of libraries for writers and demonstrated how libraries work with publishers ”
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VOLUME 53 ISSUE 1
WEST M IDL AND S GR ADU AT E T R AINEES. . . WELL ON THE WAY: STEPHANIE TAYLOR In the month before exams it is fair to say that I will be spending the majority of my time in the library. From September, I will still be spending most of my time in the library, albeit in a somewhat different sense. Since starting study at Warwick University in 2007 I have been involved in a scheme known as the ‗Warwick Undergraduate Aid Programme‘. Under this scheme, I was lucky enough to gain a bursary for contributing five hours of work a week in areas of the University. From the beginning I was eager to work in the library (and not simply to gain an edge on my friends in the scramble for books and journals). I had always been attracted to working in the library because, particularly as an English undergraduate, I love reading. Of course, after starting work, I soon realised that the job had little to do with reading but was actually about something a whole lot more exciting. My experience has taught me a lot about the huge role library staff play in the academic world. I have shelved books, checked reading lists and dealt with enquiries as a
Library Advisor, all of which made me realise that even in my small contributions I was able to open up the possibilities of learning and research to library-users. Furthermore, studying could be fun; everything from fancy-dress quizzes to flash mobs could be used to encourage a sense of community. My next step was to find the CILIP webpage Stephanie in her and I realised that I would need a Library Advisor role postgraduate degree in Librarianship, at Warwick this year preceded by a year‘s approved full traineeship. I was delighted to see that among the approved libraries was the University of “I soon Essex library, situated in my home town of realised that Colchester. After submitting an email applicathe job had tion I was invited to an interview and a few little to do days later received the happy news that I with reading would be accepted to start my traineeship in but was September where, amongst other things, I will be involved in cataloguing, inter-library loans about and enquiry work. something a I feel very lucky that I am well on the way to whole lot starting a career in Librarianship and also more hope to be able to contribute some of what I exciting.” have gained from working at Warwick.
EXPERIENCES AT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY LIBRARY: ADRIENNE COOPER Working in an Oxford University library is a great honour. However, I wanted more from my graduate traineeship than to be endorsed by an august institution. I chose the post at the Oxford Union Society Library because it offered a breadth of responsibilities in a small, independent library. Prior to my traineeship, I worked as a digitisation assistant in Warwick University Library and volunteered in Kenilworth Public Library. I was keen, therefore, to develop my portfolio of experience. Naïvely, I thought a traineeship in an older academic library would focus solely on traditional library duties. After working in Warwick University‘s cutting-edge library, I had romanticised visions of using book stamps and library ladders! However, I am honing a variety of skills. My work includes: providing reader services, classifying and cataloguing, acting as secretary to the Library Committee and the Library Strategy Committee, preserving antiquarian books, developing our online presence, and
relocating our translated fiction. I particularly enjoy working in a team and with the collection, as well as being involved in the committees. I feel I am making a real contribution to the running of the library, and it gives me a profound sense of achievement. Moreover, my traineeship has been a wonderful opportunity to meet others starting out in the LIS profession. I am one of twenty-two library and archive trainees in the university, and we all meet regularly as part of the Oxford University Library Services Trainee Programme. It gives one a panoramic view of the library services and the diversity of roles within it. It is always fascinating to hear about the other trainees‘ experiences. My traineeship has been invaluable. Not only has it given me a solid grounding in librarianship, but it has also helped me to gain a place on UCL‘s MA in Library and Information Studies. CILIP‘s graduate trainee opportunities are a testament to its ongoing commitment to widening participation and supporting professional development.
Adrienne in her current graduate trainee post at Oxford
“I particularly enjoy working in a team and with the collection, as well as being involved in the committees”
MIDDLEM ASH: DAMYANTI PATEL Middlemash was held at Birmingham City University, City North Perry Barr on 30th November 2009, the 3rd in the 'unconference' series. See the blog at http://middlemash.wordpress.com/ We welcomed 50 delegates to the midlands from across the UK as well as a delegate from Australia. The main sponsor for the event was ExLibris who allowed us to ensure there was plenty of food and drink during the day. The aim of the day was to 'bring together interesting people to do interesting stuff in libraries and technologies' and from my perspective this was achieved. The day began with a number of fascinating talks on issues of collaboration, user testing and enhancement to library services. In the afternoon there were a number of practical workshops on key tools & ideas for 'mash ups'. The day started with a talk from Tamar Sedeh of ExLibris describing the benefits of collaboration between themselves and their customers. ExLibris also provide a platform, El Commons http://www.exlibrisgroup.org/ dis p la y/ E lC om m ons /Hom e al lo wi ng customers to share advice and ideas and thereby helping them make the most of their products. This was followed by a talk from Mark Van Harmelen focusing on the importance of user testing in developing new services & products.
He illustrated the importance of paper prototyping at the first stages of design, using paper as a suitable medium for solving user -centric problems. Both talks highlighted the importance of collaborating with users at all stages from design, development and delivery. The morning finished with 3 case studies from attendees of the previous mashed library events. Their experience of developing ideas, use of various tools and creating mash ups illustrates the benefits of mashed library events. They talked about creating lists of new library acquisitions, next generation discovery tools and a service to search for additional items for reading lists. Slides of their talks are available at http://www.slideshare.net/ tag/middlemash In the afternoon, fortified by lunch and plenty of cake, the delegates had the opportunity to brainstorm new ideas, work on existing ideas or attend some practical workshops. The workshops were: Yahoo Pipes by University)
Tony
Hirst
Damyanti would like to hear from you if you are interested in collaborating on a local mini mash up event. Email: damyanti.patel@bcu.ac.uk
(Open
Adding JUICE extensions to catalogue by Richard Wallis (Talis)
the
“The aim of the day was to 'bring together interesting people to do
Using Google maps to create library floor plans by Owen Stephens (Open University)
interesting
The Mashed Library wiki has details on all the mashed library events blogs, presentations, photos, ideas etc http:// www.mashedlibrary.com/wiki/index.php? title=Main_Page
libraries and
stuff in technologies' ”
WHAT‟S GOING ON IN. . . WORCESTER
CILIP West Midlands is planning to hold informal networking events across the region, with the aim of bringing together members (and non-members) to share information and build connections. The first of these events will be held in Worcester: Date: Wednesday 14 July Time: 6.30pm onwards Venue: The Saracen's Head, The Tything, Worcester (5-10 mins walk from bus station or Foregate St rail station) The purpose of the event is to meet other library and information workers and find out about Worcester's Library and History Centre project, a fully-integrated public and university library: http://www.wlhc.org.uk/. There will also be opportunity to chat to committee members to find out more about what's going on in the region and help shape future events. Find more information on our blog: http://communities.cilip.org.uk/blogs/cilipwestmidlands/