West Midlands Member Network
August 2015 Volume 2, Issue 3
Network News
WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR We’ve got an issue packed full of event reports! Between a report from our CILIP Conference bursary winner, a report from the Librarians as Teacher’s Conference we co-organised with the ARLG Group back in June, and a report from our Professional Registration event, it’s the longest Network News we’ve published so far—and that’s leaving out a report form our recent Revalidation Evening which I decided to delay until the next issue! Having recently had a good nosey around the CILIP VLE (I’m currently working towards my CILIP Chartership), I was wondering if there was any interest from our Members in setting up a VLE Group for the West Midlands Member Network? It would be a great place to network with other West Midlands Library and Information Professionals. Let me know via any of the channels below right if you’re interested. If you have any comments about the newsletter, or would like to contribute to future issues, please let me know: cilipwmmn@gmail.com
Lisa
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: CILIP Conference....................... 2 Call for Help ............................... 3 Dates for your Diary .................. 4 Librarians as Teachers ............... 4
Vacancy Bulletin ....................... 5 Professional Registration......... 6 FLIP Network ............................ 7
CONTACT US • Email: cilipwmmn@gmail.com • Facebook: www.facebook.com/cilipwm • Twitter: www.twitter.com/cilipwm • Flickr: www.flickr.com/cilipwm • SlidesShare: www.slideshare.net/cilipwm
CILIP CONFERENCE 2015: REPORT FROM OUR BURSARY WINNER
By Debbie Marais, Oswestry Library.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
If you would like to know more about our Committee Members you can view individual profiles of members on our webpages: www.cilip.org.uk/westmidlands-branch/ committee
If you would like to get involved in the committee, in any capacity, please get in touch: cilipwmmn@gmail.com
R. David Lankes was one of the main reasons that I wanted to attend the CILIP Conference in Liverpool and he didn’t disappoint. What a great start to an informative and inspiring two days. I have been following this American advocate for libraries with interest over the past few months. I am particularly interested in his encouraging messages about following in American librarians’ footsteps and ‘controlling the narrative’ around the future of libraries in UK. His outline of an ‘action plan for world domination through librarianship’ challenged us as professionals to fully embrace our skills and shout shamelessly about what we bring to our communities. ‘Librarians make libraries’ - not the buildings or the collections/books within them. He believes that our collective mission should be to ‘improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in our communities’. We are urged to get out into our communities and work to unleash the expertise that exists within our communities, ‘weaving and knitting the community together’. Our services need to ‘look like our communities not each other’. He reminded us that ‘crisis narrative’ is useful but ‘fleeting and demoralising’. People respond to aspirations more than deficits. We need to change the narrative about our services and swap the tired adage that ‘libraries are more than books’ for messages about the impact our services can have. For me this rousing beginning fed neatly into the other sessions I attended which were predominantly within the ‘Demonstrating value: what’s your impact?’ stream of talks. The first session by Carolynn Rankin (Leeds Beckett University) and Dr Sue Reynolds (RMIT University, Melbourne) focussed on ISO 16439.2014 which provides ‘methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries’- a very structured and methodical approach to follow. From there I visited the CILIP stand for an informative chat about the ‘Impact toolkit’ which was launched at the conference by CILIP staff. My next step in the process was to learn how to communicate value/impact in a way that works, covered by Mary Dunne (Information Officer, Health Research Board). She urged us to understand what our stakeholders value and communicate the impact of our services in ways that mirror those values. Wigan Library service provided a fantastic example of this in the DVD they had created which linked library services to each of the key elements in the Council’s promise. The DVD was shown to key decision makers within their authority. A further highlight for me included Barbara Schack from Bibliotheques Sans Frontieres. Both her keynote speech and fringe session enabled us to explore and experience the amazing ‘Ideas box’, a portable media centre. The contents of the box are customised to each area and contain a combination of books, games, internet access etc. They are used in refugee camps and with other vulnerable populations. The boxes
2
main impact is helping people in crisis by providing a space where ‘human beings can be human beings again’ through access to information and culture. The team behind the boxes were also interested in how and where they could be used with vulnerable people in the UK. Image Credit: Twitter via @CILIPWM
I was also captivated by the innovative and creative book promotion ideas employed by the Cityread campaign in London each year. Andy Ryan (Director of Stellar Libraries Community Interest Company enthusiastically illustrated a great example of how library services can achieve impact and add value through joined up working.
CILIP WEST MIDLANDS MEMBERS NETWORK
Stewart Hamilton from IFLA then helped to place what librarians can do in a global context, illustrating how the role of libraries is integral to supporting access to information for all, a crucial factor in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030.
We represent library
It was an exhausting and exhilarating experience in equal measures. I have come back to the day job determined to re-examine some of my practices and ideas in the light of what I have learnt. I feel reinvigorated professionally by having been inspired and challenged and through having taken time to reflect, share frustrations and learn useful lessons from fellow professionals. I would thoroughly recommend anyone to apply for a bursary to attend a training event or conference and would like to thank the West Midlands Member Network for this valuable opportunity.
of
“LOOKING FOR EXPERTISE AND HELP” The West Midlands Member Network Committee were recently approached by someone representing the ‘Shropshire Libraries Campaign’. The group are “in the process of building a campaign to challenge and, hopefully, modify and improve Shropshire Council's current libraries policy” and are looking for a Librarian, or similar, to act as a consultant on their campaign.
and information professionals living and or working in the counties Herefordshire,
Shropshire, shire, and We
Stafford-
Warwickshire Worcestershire. also serve
metropolitan
the
districts
of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton, well
as
the
as non-
metropolitan districts of Stoke-on-Trent and Telford & Wrekin.
We are not currently in a position to offer any formal assistance as CILIP representatives, but felt that we should put forward their request in case any of our readers feel they want to get involved in a personal capacity. If you are interested please let us know by email (cilipwmmn@gmail.com) and we can forward the group’s details to you.
3
LIBRARIANS AS TEACHERS—A STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2nd Sept, 6pm WMMN Committee Meeting, Aston University 24th Sept CILIP AGM 2015 7th Dec, 2pm WMMN Committee Meeting, Aston University
For more details visit: http://www.cilip.org.uk/ west-midlands-branch/ events
By Sharon Wagg, Master’s Student, University of Sheffield.
I was lucky to be awarded a free student place together with a travel bursary to attend the Librarians as Teachers Conference held in June. Co-hosted between the CILIP West Midlands Member Network and the CILIP ARLG West Midlands Committee and sponsored by the CILIP Information Literacy Group, this conference was particularly relevant to me as my dissertation, which I am currently in the process of writing up for my MA in Librarianship, focuses on why higher education institutions engage with schools through information literacy (IL) outreach programmes. I became motivated to research this topic following my work in school libraries and through my studies where I built up an interest in the various teaching styles of IL. But that's enough about me, what about the conference? The whole day was fast-paced and engaging and very timely for my dissertation research and work. Sarah Pavey’s very engaging session, “Do you have a vision of Information Skills?” looked at independent learning and visual literacy and gave me some great ideas for a lesson I taught on Cyberbullying in a primary school. The lesson was well received by the school, so thank you Sarah. Andrew Walsh introduced the pedagogy of play and games to delegates through his session “Teaching through games: the playful teacher librarian”. I thought both Andrew’s and Sarah’s sessions where two great examples of thinking outside the box and using creative, engaging ways to teach elements of IL in a fun way. Jane Secker talked about her approach to teaching IL using the New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) and also Student ambassadors for digital literacy (SADL project and LSE. However the session that stood out for me was Adam Lancaster’s talk about “IL and learning a symbiotic relationship to improve teaching practice”. This really struck a chord with me as I had previously worked in school libraries at primary and Post-16 level. I could truly see the benefits of making IL integral to teaching and learning and the need to embed IL into schools teaching and learning policies, and not as a separate IL policy. Adam talked about moving away from traditional “homework” to instead preparing or “prep” for the next lesson by doing research. In doing so this would encourage students to use IL on a regular basis and be pre-
4
Image Credit: Twitter via @CILIPWM
pared for the next lesson. Simple. The day also proved to be a great networking opportunity for me as not only did I bump into a colleague who had been studying on my MA course at the University of Sheffield last year, I also met someone who I Image Credit: Twitter via @Mercuryowl was planning to contact for my dissertation research, so it was a win, win day all round. I would like to thank the CILIP West Midlands Member Network Committee for helping to support my attendance at the conference and for making it a great day. I would also highly recommend members of CILIP to look out for bursaries to attend future conferences. Editors Note: Presentations from the Librarians as Teachers Conference can be found online at www.slideshare.net/CILIPWM
VACANCY BULLETIN Getting involved in your professional organisation is a very rewarding way to contribute to your profession and can provide you with plenty of opportunities to address skills gaps in your CV or when working toward Professional Registration. We currently have one vacancy on the committee, if you would like to find out more, come along to our next committee meeting (see p. 4, Dates for your Diary) or e-mail us at cilipwmmn@gmail.com. Committee roles are flexible and can be fitted around your work and home commitments. Committee meetings are usually held four times a year, alternating between afternoon and evening, but if you would find these difficult to attend, we would still like to hear from you! We believe that committee involvement is about more than attending committee meetings, and are always happy to receive a written report from those unable to attend in person.
CHAIR The Chair is the main coordinator and spokesperson of the committee and is responsible for overseeing the various tasks of the Member Network, as well as liaising with CILIP and other Special Interest Groups or Member Networks across the country. Feel free to contact the current Chair via the email address above if you would like to discuss this, or any other committee role, or if you have any questions about the role of Chair and what is involved. 5
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION EVENT
By Stephen Callow, Weoley Castle Library, Birmingham
I was really looking forward to attending this event. I’m in the early stages of compiling my Chartership portfolio and I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet other candidates and share our experiences. After tea and coffee and some brief introductions, the event began with a presentation on Professional Registration and portfolio building by Anna Brown and Angel Egbuji, West Midlands CSOs (on behalf of Matthew Wheeler, CILIP Development Officer). This was very informative and provided some excellent suggestions for building a successful portfolio, plus an explanation of the Revalidation process, and a demonstration of the VLE that I found very helpful. Following this Pam Martindale, CILIP Assessment Board Member, presented an assessor’s view of Professional Registration. This provided a detailed overview of CILIP’s assessment criteria, tips on reflective writing, as well as pitfalls to avoid. This presentation was very useful, giving me lots of ideas for my portfolio and a much clearer understanding of the assessment criteria.
Image Credit: Lisa Basini
After a short break for more tea and coffee, the next presentation featured recent candidates’ experiences of Professional Registration. Ann-Marie Lee and Cheryl MorrisPowley shared their experiences of achieving Certification and Chartership and were very well received by the audience. Ann-Marie and Cheryl offered some very interesting insights and provided some great hints and tips on gathering evidence and using the VLE. I found it very inspiring to learn of their experiences and to hear of their eventual successes. This was followed by an opportunity to discuss our work so far, ask further questions and to look at some examples of successful portfolios. It was also a great to chat and network with candidates from other local authorities and sectors. Everyone who attended the event was issued a certificate of attendance – great evidence for your portfolio! I came away from the event feeling more focussed, with a much greater understanding of the assessment criteria and lots of ideas for my portfolio. The road to Professional Registration can often feel like a very solitary experience, so it was very positive and reassuring to meet other candidates who are sharing the same journey. If you are working towards achieving Certification, Chartership, or Fellowship, I would thoroughly recommend attending one of these workshops in future.
6
FOUNDING THE FUTURE LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS (FLIP) NETWORK By Sarah Arkle, Graduate Trainee, University of Oxford
I recently helped found the Future Library and Information Professionals Network (FLIP) because I felt like there was a gap in the market for a group that catered specifically toward people looking to start a career in the sector. Being a graduate trainee in Oxford, I have been very lucky to have a large network of other trainees, as well as wider university library staff, to discuss my experiences with. This has helped me feel that I was as informed as I could be when deciding on which steps to take toward becoming a professional. I felt concerned that those pursuing different routes into the career, not even in the career at all yet, or those trainees who were lone in their institutions may feel that there was a lack of comprehensive information about how best to forge a path for themselves in the field. I was also concerned that there was a false sense that the best thing to do is be a graduate trainee, then head straight to library school. I firmly believe that there is no universal way to make your way through this career, and I wanted to forge a sense of community for those all over the UK aspiring toward being librarians and information professionals, to allow them to understand this and share advice and experience in order to make the best decisions for encouraging themselves to succeed. Whether this be through pursuing a traditional pathway or doing something a little bit alternative, I feel like the library and information community is incredibly welcoming and open-minded, and as such I wanted to emphasise that and extend that welcoming feeling to those, like me, who haven’t quite got to a secure place in their career as of yet. I also felt concerned that getting into this career is increasingly difficult, yet the people encouraging us to go to library school and such didn’t necessarily understand this the way we did. With fewer job opportunities appearing, a total lack of funding for LIS courses, it can be incredibly stressful deciding on which steps to take toward establishing your career. Not to mention the overwhelming range of options for those who do decide to undertake postgraduate study – Full time? Part time? Distance learning? Which course? All are questions that future library and information professionals ask themselves over and over. So another key idea driving FLIP network is to ensure that we offer a place for people to ask these questions, and hear responses from people who understand the current climate in the sector because they’re experiencing it too. If this sounds like something you’d like to be involved in (regardless of where you’re at in your career) let us know by emailing flipnetworkuk@gmail.com, and don’t forget to check us out on Twitter @FLIPnetworkUK too!
FEEDBACK
If you have any comments regarding the content of this newsletter, or if you would like to contribute to the next issue, please contact: Lisa Basini, Newsletter Editor cilipwmmn@gmail.com