Thing 4 - Current Awareness

So it is only a few weeks in and already I am behind with my Things and looking anxiously for when there is a catch up week, hopefully Thing 4 will be mainly straightforward and ties in with something I want to Storify anyway.  So current awareness - over the past year or so I have really tried to up my game as far as this is concerned and I have definitely seen a difference in my day to day work. 

Twitter

I started using Twitter about 18 months ago, purely to enhance my professional understanding, both of the library world and the education sector (working in a secondary school with additional responsibilities - Assistant Head of Sixth Form and Careers Coordinator) means that it is just as important to keep up with the education world as it is libraries, although my chartership doesn't quite agree on this.  I took advice from a few other school librarians who were already using Twitter a lot (@thelibrain in particular) and who generally recommended starting by following about 10 people initially as it can be a bit overwhelming at first.  Gradually you can build up the number of people you follow, either through Twitter's recommendations or the ff (follow Friday) hashtag when users can recommend other users to follow.  I have recently developed my use of hashtags, joining in online chartership chats and last week tweeted my way through a workshop on online resources which I plan to storify. I follow (last count) about 175 with about 116 followers (I am always so chuffed when anybody requests to follow me), but I am always refining who I follow so as to simplify my Twitter stream.  Life is already busy without my Twitter feed complicating things further.  I protect my Tweets because of my job in a school;  I don't want to jeopardise my position of loco parentis and I want to maintain my online privacy.  My husband accuses me of being addicted to Twitter; I don't think I am, but I wouldn't be without it and its incredibly valuable information.

RSS

About a year ago I compiled all my blogs etc into Google Reader.  I chose Google Reader simply because it was the feed I had heard the most about and it looked the simplest to use.  Before then I simply had my blogs bookmarked in my Favourites and checking each one just to see if they had been updated was becoming too laborious especially as the amount of blogs I follow just kept on increasing.  I follow about 30 blogs or so, mainly school librarians, but others from alternative library sectors including law, careers, HE, public libraries and CILIP personages e.g. Phil Bradley himself.  Again, I find the information incredibly useful for my everyday work and professional development and try to catch up with Google Reader three or four times a week.

Storify

Not liking it at all.  Have signed up via my Twitter account and wanted to create a story of my tweets from last week's Credo workshop on marketing of online resources, but search is only finding 2 of my Tweets.  Looking at the online tour is not helping much either.  Very frustrated.

Thing 3 - My Personal Brand

Considering my personal brand online seemed a bit strange at first until I started to google myself.  No results for my actual name until the second page when there was a link to the citation written by the School Library Association when I attained the honour list for School Librarian of the Year in 2008.  Similarly with Google Images, far down the page there are a few photos taken of me at that year's ceremony.  When I googled my online name however, I did get a bit unnerved to be honest as there was result after result of my tweets to various people, followed by results taking me to individual blog posts I have written and even a link to a pearltree? by a fellow Twitter user who has included my blog.  While I sort of knew the Internet was a big place and not always private, this has certainly given me food for thought and although not put me off social media, may well make me think even more carefully than I do now, about what I say online.  

Using the suggested headings given to me by CPD23 then:

Name Used is a nickname (from my husband).  I chose it because I didn't want to be known online by my real name.  As a I work in a school, being Assistant Head of Sixth Form, as well as  having strategic responsibility for the LRC, it is vitally important that I retain my professional status at all times and I didn't want to be easily 'found' online by students and so begin to blur professional boundaries.

Photograph used is the same one on my name badge at school, or was, until I got it updated this year.  As a result I have tried to change it on my Twitter and blog today at school, but I think the network filters don't like it very much so I am going to try at home later.  I used a real picture of me as I have always tried to keep my Twitter account and blog professional.  My blog, which I set up to demonstrate the progress of my chartership, has remained so.  My tweets occasionally are about life outside school and the library world, about 1 in 20, so Twitter is still very much a professional PLN.  As I don't use my real name online, I feel ok about using a real photo and if I do meet people from the online world in the real world, then I'd like them to recognise me.

I really covered professional/personal identity in the last paragraph, except to say that I don't do Facebook either personally or professionally.  Having a Facebook account for the LRC scares me as the idea of being 'friends' with people that I am in' loco parentis of' when they are in school goes against everything I believe in about what is 'right' and 'not right' and I can't see that opinion changing. I have yet to see the need for Facebook in real life.  I still like talking to my friends.

Visual Brand is a difficult one.  It was only last week that I considered changing the background on my blog to something more appropriate than just a blue sky and green grass.  I've now got books, however I am still stuck with the default Twitter page as my design.  It honestly didn't occur to me to think about how I should 'stand out' online, but thinking about it, I suppose it is only the same as in real life when I worry about what clothes I should wear on a particular day, e.g. only wearing a suit on parents evenings etc.  Something to think about in the future perhaps.  I'll get an up to date photo on my blog and Twitter page first.

As I finished this, I have just watched Ned Potter's, @therealwikiman, Prezi on creating your own brand as mentioned on the CPD23 blog.  More food for thought and a great presentation.

CPD23

I signed up this week for CPD23 following a little prompting from my chartership mentor who said it would be really good for someone who was struggling with criteria 4 of her chartership portfolio, that of demonstrating "a breadth of professional knowledge and understanding of the wider professional context" See my previous posts for why I feel I am struggling with this and my recent foray into the world of public libraries.  As a result I viewed the prospect of CPD23 with some joy as in 'oh good!  Something to help me with criteria 4" and "Oh no!  Something else to do as well as my job!"

The plus side of CPD23 is that it can be done from the relative comfort of my own job.  I am already focussing on developing the use and impact of social media on teaching and learning from the LRC's point of view so this will definitely support that. And of course, it will help me broaden my professional understanding of the information world and extend my PLN both in terms of the blogs I follow and on Twitter.

Having already got a blog which I set up last year to support my chartership, I decided to use this one for CPD23 as well.  In addition I already follow about 30 blogs using Google Reader.  Some are school library blogs, or those of school librarians and library & information consultants.  I also follow blogs of other information professionals outside school librarianship including law librarians, public librarians and even booksellers. Since signing up to CPD23 I have already discovered one new blog, It Came From the Careers Library, which I hope is going to be very useful in supporting the CEIAG (Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance) aspect of my role and linking this to my portfolio. I then took a look at A School Librarian's blog (for obvious reasons) which in turn mentioned a presentation on careers information delivered by BradfordLibrarian. I also found 'old friends' from Twitter such as Dewey027 and definitely found my own feelings about chartering resonating with the Savvy School Librarian and left a message of support.

So, Thing 1 & 2 done!  I have also submitted an article to this week's school bulletin outlining CPD23 and am encouraging my library colleague to do so as well.

Public Libraries

Following on from my last blog post, I visited my local Central Library, meeting up with some ex work colleagues from my distant days when I worked for the public library service.  While it was just great to talk about libraries for a few hours (I do feel very alone sometimes being a solo professional librarian in my workplace), I also gained a great insight into how public libraries are transforming their services so as to cater for the technological age, whilst still maintaining their core function, that of lending books which I am so pleased about.  I am writing this blog post during the first week of the Easter holidays; a week in which I have read picture books to my daughter on our Ipad, downloaded e-books onto my Kindle, searched the Internet countless times every day, read the Times every day on the Times app AND visited my local library, borrowing eight books for the family which is a sure sign that libraries and technology can co-exist quite happily.  However, I digress.....

Once we had discussed the current national situation re public libraries, we moved onto to e-resources, looking at the Cyberlibrary (access to hundreds of websites  chosen by librarians and libraries across the south west) and then specifically the online reference tools, available with your library card.  Having agreed to disagree on my personal bugbear, that of schools not being able to have an institution library account to access the online reference information; I acknowledge why footfall is important, especially in the current climate for public libraries, whilst she concedes that she can see how hard it is to encourage students to individually use their public library, we move onto to discussing the migration of many printed sources into e-format.  We mention Encyclopedia Britannica and how it stands up against Wikipedia; both of us are continuing with Britannica for another year to ascertain use before making a decision to continue subscribing.  I am shown unique sources such as the Oxford Digital Reference Shelf including the OE of British Literature, Children's Literature, Maritime History and Theatre and Performance which can be accessed alongside Theory Test Pro, Find My Past and Ancestry Library Edition; the last two being very well used indeed.  My understanding on Ask a Librarian is updated to learn about the Enquire Service; a national service with central libraries across the country each having 4 shifts of 4 hours each every fortnight with online access through the Enquire Qwidget.

Our discussion moved onto ebooks with the public library service here yet to take the final leap re ebooks.  We looked at a neighbouring service's e-book provision with Overdrive and discussed such difficulties as Overdrive not being compatible with Kindle in the UK, and vagaries of publishers such as Harper Collins (26 loans per e-book)and Penguin not allowing any of their e-titles to be purchased by libraries.  My colleague also mentioned a particular missapprehension amongst library users in that they do not realise that a e-book cannot be loaned to two people at once, just like the printed version.  I am going to focus on e-books in more depth in a later blog post, reflecting on the work of librarians such as Nicola McNee (trialling Overdrive in her school library) and Buffy Hamilton's work with Kindles and Nooks in the US and tying into my own initial trials and experiences with e-books. 

We finished the visit with a tour around the Central Library which was of immense interest to me who had worked there for five years before.  I loved the redesign of the Reference Library (still a PATLIB) to include the PCs and quiet reading room adjacent to the Map room, but it was the Lending Library with its reading room, new Children's library, self issue facilities and Enquire pods which made me quite wistful.  I also loved the brand new meeting room (which was once the Local Studies Stack).  As we looked around, I was also interested to hear about the staffing restructure of the previous year which saw all Library Customer Service Assistants (?) having to reapply for their posts and a new initiative in that front line staff in the Central Library moved around the building, gaining valuable experience in both lending and reference services; a move which I applaud as I well remember my difficulties in gaining experience outside of the lending library.  An even more recent restructure has seen the public library service move under the auspices of Leisure and Tourism within the council.

I already follow the Library Service on Twitter and Flickr and look forward to hearing how it continues to develop and enhance its provision in the 21st century.  It will also be interesting to see how the public library service can complement and enhance the service offered by the school LRC.

Getting out of the LRC

Over the past few weeks I have had two opportunities to get out of the LRC and as there may be some people in my college who will say 'but you are never in there', perhaps I should have entitled it 'Getting out of school'.  However as this blog was set up primarily to follow my chartership which after all is about my professional development as a librarian...well...you see the link I hope. Having said that, it is hard to get out of school full stop and because of your daily commitments to students, it should be hard as they are the reason we have a job.  However I have found it harder to get out for reasons relating to my chartership.  Despite having a supportive Vice Principal as my line manager who has positively encouraged my chartership, being a solo professional librarian in the college has its drawbacks as I have found it quite difficult in particular to justify visits to other library organisations.  Perhaps I should explain where this has come from.

A few weeks ago, I met up with my mentor (my mentor now lives in London on a full time basis, so meetings between us only take place when she is down here on a visit home, with most of the mentor/mentee relationship taking place via e-mail and Twitter).  When I met with my mentor back at Christmas, I was tasked with the next step of pulling together 4/5 bits of evidence to support each of the four criteria (see a previous blog post).  Criteria 1-3 proved relatively straightforward - I had plenty of evidence to show (1) organisational and service evaluation, (2) training and professional development and (3) project management.  I knew before I met up with my mentor that it would be critera number 4 where my issues would lie, hence the title of my blog.

My mentor acknowledged my growing (albeit at a very slow pace) participation with the new CILIP SW group (see previous post) and the evidence demonstrating my understanding of national issues relating to libraries (see a previous post for an email sent to my MP on Library Lobby Day) and suggested that I also reflect on some of the ideas and information gained as a result of following particular blogs, using the example of Bethanar's blog which recently encouraged me to write to my MP and some of the CILIP Communities Blogs (I am now a CILIP blogger as well).  However, she was not so sure about whether the work I do with Careers SW (formerly Connexions) on delivering information, advice and guidance would come under this critera (I argued it on the basis that there are many librarians employed in Career Libraries etc).  As a result, she was quick to encourage me to begin to make further links with libraries in other sectors, suggesting the corporate or legal sector as something completely different and introducing me to a librarian in this area, @tinamreynolds, with whom I am hoping to make some links with soon and when I tentatively broached the subject of it being difficult to get out of school, my mentor suggested that a transcript of a telephone conversation would work just as well as evidence.  

All in all a productive meeting (yet again) with my mentor, although I do find it hard to maintain the momentum and enthusiam I always feel after meeting with her.  Michael  Martin of Michael's Quals Blog recently said ( on 26th March) that there were no excuses when it came to chartering.  My response was that it is so hard when you are a solo librarian, to which Michael replied that we have to remember that "as well as benefiting our employers, reflecting well on our profession, we're doing this for ourselves"  I think I need to remember this more, especially as my mentor has set a deadline date of the 31st August for submission.

Lobby for Libraries - My MP's response

Having sent my email to my MP (see previous post), I was initially pleased to find a response in my inbox only a few hours later, however upon reading it I realised that it hadn't been sent from my MP, but someone else who I can only assume works for her, and the response was not exactly what I had hoped.

Thank you for writing to (name of MP) regarding the provision of libraries in the country. Libraries are a matter for local Councils and here in Cornwall - Cornwall Council.

Cornwall Council have been very innovative in their work with libraries including integrating libraries and one stop shops and strong use of volunteers. Cornwall Library service is committed to ensuring that provision is sustainable and meets the needs of customers in the County.

Cornwall Council did give a presentation to the Committee in Parliament of the work they have carried out. The report is available on the Parliament website:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmcumeds/writev/library/lib017.htm

With regard to the EDM Sheryll is keen to at least see some reform to the current EDM system which is currently incredibly costly to the taxpayer and very ineffectual. Like many MPs Sheryll does not sign any EDMs.

“there is very little prospect of EDMs being debated” Source: Parliament website

The costs associated with early day motions in financial year 2009/2010 were approximately £1,000,000. Most of this cost was accounted for by the printing and publication of early day motions, amendments to them, and names added to them, under the House's contract with TSO. This is the direct cost and does not include the cost to the taxpayer of MPs staff time dealing with the lobbying.

Money which I am sure you would agree would be better spent on Libraries, amongst other things.

I hope this explains the position.

To say I am disappointed is a little bit understated really.  I have never in my life written to any MP and naively believed that they were there to listen to their constituents.  The response quite neatly places the issue of libraries at the door of my council (of course I am aware that Cornwall Council is responsible for libraries - my email quite clearly stated that I am a regular user of them as well as being a professional member of CILIP).  My request to support the Early Day Motion was quite neatly sidestepped into a whole other political issue and I disagree about my council being innovative in their use of libraries, especially their use of volunteers; a use which I pointed out in my email meant that the next generation of library users will miss out on people who are 'professional, independent information brokers who can also deputise as therapist, counsellor, play leader, teacher and friend'.

Very disappointed with my MP and her office and I will be looking closely at the report which Cornwall Libraries made to Parliament.

Lobby for Libraries - 13th March 2012

Since I cannot attend the Parliamentary Lobby for Libraries on 13th March, I was inspired by Bethanar's letter to her MP which she added to her blog last week.  Subsequently I have just e-mailed the following to my MP:

You may or may not be aware that on Tuesday 13^th March, the coalition organisation  'Speak Up For Libraries’ has organised a Parliamentary lobby and rally. Following Ed Vaizey’s evidence session to the select committee inquiry into library closures, a rally will then take place from 12.00 noon at Central Hall with the lobby of Parliament beginning at 2.30pm.  As I am unable to participate in this event, I am writing to ask you to sign Early Day motion 2817, Speak Up For Libraries.  The Speak Up for Libraries’ organisation comprises the Women’s Institute, Unison, Campaign for the Book, Chartered Institute of Information Professionals (of which I am a member) and Voices for the Library, all of whom believe wholeheartedly believe that libraries are at the very heart of our communities, including schools.

As a professionally qualified Librarian, living in Liskeard and working in a secondary school in Plymouth, I cannot express enough my anger and disappointment over the proposed plans to close up to 400 libraries across the country.  This will deprive people of an essential resource which offers them free access to the rich world of fiction transporting them to places which some can only dream about, non-fiction to help them solve any problem they may encounter (as Will Smith says in his video ‘The Key to Life is Running and Reading’, there have been millions of people who have lived before us and there is not a single problem that cannot be solved by reading a book) and Internet access to reach dozens of support services including local government, NHS Direct and Citizens Advice Bureau (a third of UK homes do not have access to the Internet).  In addition hundreds of library staff will be made redundant who will then be in no position to act as professional, independent information brokers who can also deputise as therapist, counsellor, play leader, teacher and friend.  As an example, the Mayor of a northern council has only last week refused to accept a majority vote by his councillors to halt the closure of 14 libraries, instead choosing to hand them over to volunteers.  As a mother of a five year old girl, I love our trips to Liskeard Library and I despair of the argument made recently by a councillor in a south east county who suggested that libraries were no longer needed as books are now so cheap.  My initial response to that is that they don’t come any cheaper than free at your local public or school library and even from the point of view of a comfortably financial family (and yes, I know how lucky we are), I still view free books available at my local library as an heaven sent opportunity.

And it is not only public libraries which are under threat.  School libraries are closing across the countries, book stock dispersed to departments and dedicated library staff made redundant, therefore depriving students of a neutral, non-judgmental information service because that is what a librarian is; not a book stamper. During a two week period, the library at the school where I work, issued no less than 825 books!  This is an incredible amount in a secondary school which serves an area in which some of the lowest socio-economic families live.  However the Principal is a firm advocacy of the school library, setting aside appropriate levels of funding each year to ensure students have unfettered access to a wide range of fiction books so as to inculcate a reading for pleasure culture, extensive range of non-fiction books, PCs with Internet access and DVDs with Ipads and Kindles to both educate and entertain as well as professional library staff to advise, guide, share, teach and laugh.  I always allow myself a wry smile when I consider the fact that prison libraries are statutory whereas school libraries are not.

Libraries should be at the heart of our communities, but the government is allowing this heart to be ripped out.  Please sign the Early Day motion 2817, Speak Up For Libraries and pledge your support in Parliament for libraries both in Cornwall and throughout the country.

Please support Lobby for Libraries anyway you can: http://www.speakupforlibraries.org/