I gave a talk at a Careers Development Day for Library Assistants at the University of Leicester on the 8th December.
Back in the summer in the weeks leading up to starting my first qualified role there was an email on the LIS list asking for thoughts on topics to be covered at a careers development day for library assistants looking to make the transition to professional roles. In a moment of bravery/madness I responded and offered to be a case study whilst pointing out that I can't necessarily claim to have successfully made the transition successfully as I wasn't yet in post! When I was asked if I would speak I was surprised, but pleased.
My talk started with mentioning my background (briefly) and pointing out that I had only recently made the transition. I then spoke about the MSc process: the importance of building a network particularly with those in other sectors, pursuing scholarship money, and what a great opportunity the dissertation is to gain other skills (interviewing etc) and to research something related to your future career.
I went on to speak about how to research roles that would interest you, and to identify gaps in your own experience, skill set or education that are preventing you from being in that role already. I suggested: cataloguing, budget management, staff management and teaching/presentation skills. Once these gaps have been identified, one can look for creative ways to gain these types of skills and experience - I described how I was given the opportunity to develop a Student Volunteer programme which gave me staff management experience and suggested looking for similar projects that benefit your organisation and service users as well as give you the opportunity to develop. I also suggested asking to join committees, steering groups etc and take extra responsibilites such as health and safety or first aid.
I then spoke about the importance of professional networking; being involved with CILIP, UC&R, blogging, tweeting, going to lectures, training courses, conferences, doing professional reading and looking at chartering. All the fun things that you don't have time to do once you get a professional role!
I went on to speak about being ambitious in applying for jobs, and giving it a go even if you don't have all the criteria on the Person Spec. I spoke about the importance of being sure you actually want the job before you apply or interview to save wasting everyone's time, and to think of your USP and reiterate it to yourself. I then spoke briefly about interviews: being honest and saying 'I would..' when asked a question where you can't speak from experience, thinking of good examples from managers that you have had and always being positive. I spoke about the types of experience that you may have at interview: tasks with groups, being with the other candidates all day and doing presentations.
Finally, I gave a few thoughts on when you do find yourself in your first professional role: working on your networks, asking for support both internally and externally, asking questions and showing interest and understanding in other departments, being the manager that got the best out of you and inspiring others.
I think the talk went fairly well. The feedback forms for the whole day were positive. I stayed for the rest of the day to join in with some of the workshop sessions which I feel was productive in terms of getting people talking rather than giving my own opinions/experiences.
On the whole it was a really good experience and I'm glad I did it. I think that having done induction sessions at the start of term I wasn't so phased by speaking to a roomful of people as I would have been a year ago.
Showing posts with label U C and R group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U C and R group. Show all posts
Friday, 17 December 2010
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Changing standards and the future of cataloguing in UK HE libraries
This week I went to this event put on jointly by the University College & Research group (UC&R) and the Cataloguing & Indexing group (C&I) at CILIP Headquarters.
Firstly, the food was fantastic. CILIP have really stepped things up: parma ham, mozzerella and tomato salad, lovely. Sadly this was the only tweet I sent from the event because my mobile's IE was being lame.
The first talk was 'DDC23 Standard on the horizon' by Caroline Kent from the British Library and Chair of the DDC Editorial Policy Committee. The CILIP DDC committee is a group of volunteers who reread the editors' new DDC schedules which are published every 7 years to reflect the significant changes in the world of knowledge. With the increasing use of WebDewey this work cycle may change, as it allows for more regular updates. There is debate as to how often WebDewey should be updated, to ensure that users get regular updates without disrupting their work (for example if you half catalogued an item and returned to it the following day to find the schedule changed!) Caroline suggested that beyond DDC23 the print edition may be viewed as being in support of WebDewey, although the printed schedule will always be important as WebDewey is expensive and not all libraries who use Dewey have consistent access to computers.
Caroline spoke about the international use of Dewey (Dewey is used in 130 countries, there are 20 official translations). Translations give the opportunity to enrich areas of the schedule, for example expanding areas of local history and geography although we would be unlikely to need them in the UK (unless we were working in a very specialised collection on, say, Swedish History). An area of discussion within the translations has been archaeology and ancient history (930 and 940), as it reflects the world known to the Romans, so it doesn't include for example Poland as the Romans never went to Poland. The translations aren't identical but they do match which allows a user to find their relevant section in an unfamilar collection or a foreign land. I experienced this myself when I was visiting libraries in Australia.
I have used Dewey for years in various workplaces and really enjoy the discussions around its use and how the schedule changes. Caroline spoke about how old knowledge is removed, for example how within Home and Family Management they have recently removed children's games that no longer exist. They are always careful to use generic terms rather than trademarks which can be difficult for example around computing. A hot debate in the production of DDC23 was around changes to Table 1 from 'Kinds Of Persons' to 'Groups of People', as sociologically speaking a group is seen as self selecting.
The second talk was by Alan Danskin, the British Library's Metadata and Bibliographic Standards Coordinator and the chair of the C&I group. His talk was on 'Changing standards: from AACR2 to RDA'. RDA (Resource Description and Access) is the successor to AACR2 as of June 2010. RDA was designed for the digital world, and as such handles a variety of media and offers a less cluttered display. It handles granularity well and maps to other schemes (Dublin Core, MARC21 etc).
It was a great evening and reminded me of one of my favourite library quotes: "Librarianship offers a better field for mental gymnastics than any other profession." (Kephart 1890).
As always, it was great to meet with other professionals and network, although I had to verbally tender my resignation from the UC&R London chapter committee as I am relocating for my new job. When I am settled I hope to get involved with special interest groups, although CoFHE might be more appropriate than UC&R, we'll see who'll have me! In the meanwhile I will continue to follow UC&R's work and to keep in touch with the colleagues I have met through it.
Firstly, the food was fantastic. CILIP have really stepped things up: parma ham, mozzerella and tomato salad, lovely. Sadly this was the only tweet I sent from the event because my mobile's IE was being lame.
The first talk was 'DDC23 Standard on the horizon' by Caroline Kent from the British Library and Chair of the DDC Editorial Policy Committee. The CILIP DDC committee is a group of volunteers who reread the editors' new DDC schedules which are published every 7 years to reflect the significant changes in the world of knowledge. With the increasing use of WebDewey this work cycle may change, as it allows for more regular updates. There is debate as to how often WebDewey should be updated, to ensure that users get regular updates without disrupting their work (for example if you half catalogued an item and returned to it the following day to find the schedule changed!) Caroline suggested that beyond DDC23 the print edition may be viewed as being in support of WebDewey, although the printed schedule will always be important as WebDewey is expensive and not all libraries who use Dewey have consistent access to computers.
Caroline spoke about the international use of Dewey (Dewey is used in 130 countries, there are 20 official translations). Translations give the opportunity to enrich areas of the schedule, for example expanding areas of local history and geography although we would be unlikely to need them in the UK (unless we were working in a very specialised collection on, say, Swedish History). An area of discussion within the translations has been archaeology and ancient history (930 and 940), as it reflects the world known to the Romans, so it doesn't include for example Poland as the Romans never went to Poland. The translations aren't identical but they do match which allows a user to find their relevant section in an unfamilar collection or a foreign land. I experienced this myself when I was visiting libraries in Australia.
I have used Dewey for years in various workplaces and really enjoy the discussions around its use and how the schedule changes. Caroline spoke about how old knowledge is removed, for example how within Home and Family Management they have recently removed children's games that no longer exist. They are always careful to use generic terms rather than trademarks which can be difficult for example around computing. A hot debate in the production of DDC23 was around changes to Table 1 from 'Kinds Of Persons' to 'Groups of People', as sociologically speaking a group is seen as self selecting.
The second talk was by Alan Danskin, the British Library's Metadata and Bibliographic Standards Coordinator and the chair of the C&I group. His talk was on 'Changing standards: from AACR2 to RDA'. RDA (Resource Description and Access) is the successor to AACR2 as of June 2010. RDA was designed for the digital world, and as such handles a variety of media and offers a less cluttered display. It handles granularity well and maps to other schemes (Dublin Core, MARC21 etc).
It was a great evening and reminded me of one of my favourite library quotes: "Librarianship offers a better field for mental gymnastics than any other profession." (Kephart 1890).
As always, it was great to meet with other professionals and network, although I had to verbally tender my resignation from the UC&R London chapter committee as I am relocating for my new job. When I am settled I hope to get involved with special interest groups, although CoFHE might be more appropriate than UC&R, we'll see who'll have me! In the meanwhile I will continue to follow UC&R's work and to keep in touch with the colleagues I have met through it.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Umbrella 2009 remembered
I was lucky to have been to July's Umbrella on a sponsored place from the London chapter of the U, C and R group. The enthusiasm I came back with was phenomenal, I thought I'd reflect over the impact it has had on me.
#1 Networking
Library folk are often thought of as wallflowers, geeks, the shy (and possibly weird) bookish kid at school. No smoke without fire and all that.
Ian Snowley’s asked those who had been before to look out for the 100 first timers (it was marked on our badges) and to ask us questions and make us feel welcome, which people really did. I met some really great people that I'm enjoying keeping in touch with on the Facebook and the Twitter. My only conference regret is that I wasn't more into the Twitter at the time.
For the final session of the conference I attended a Career Development Group session ‘Top Ten New Librarians two years on’ presented by Helen Dahlke and Cheney Gardner. Their talks were very positive particularly for a nearly qualified librarian: discussing the importance of asking people for opportunities, making your own luck, getting involved with CILIP and applying for conferences and bursaries. These are messages that I have really taken away with me, and led to me going along to the CDG group summer social and getting more into the Twitter.
#2 Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm has become a dirty word for me lately. The key positive feedback I've had from my two failed job interviews this summer has been how great my enthusiasm is which makes me feel like a labrador. And paraprofessional soon-to-be ex-colleagues have told me how strange they find me due to my interest in wider library issues.
Charles Brown’s (Library Director, Charlotte and Mecklenburg county public libraries) keynote speech was all about enthusiasm and being willing to ruffle a few feathers in order to create about not just award winning services but the absolute best services. Brown described himself as someone who doesn’t just sit around and complain but rather gets off his “duff” and does something. I'm going to remember Brown's talk every time I find myself moaning not manifesting.
#3 Information Literacy
I've been really interested in the Google Generation research for some time having written an essay on it during my MSc. UCL’s Maggie Fieldhouse’s catchily titled presentation: Digital Natives: can information literacy save them from information anarchy?’ was really interesting. Particularly the debate about whether Information Literacy in universities is too late, and the barriers to getting to school age children. I'm not sure what the answer is, or if librarians alone can tackle this. But having spent the last year witnessing the frightening lack of information literacy at university level it is something I'd really love to engage with.
Another session on Information Literacy gave great practical ideas and tips for various groups. Carol Webb from Forest Hill School began the session by discussing team teaching with a subject teacher at secondary and sixth form level, the importance of ensuring that students are emotionally comfortable in order to be able to learn and considering remarketing ourselves as educators. Andy Priestner from the Judge Business School in Oxford continued on these themes describing how he gained access to classrooms, formed relationships with academic staff and built a reputation as a librarian who teaches. Priestner engaged the group with the Inspector Morse stereotype of redbrick academics, which he then dispelled. Chris Powis from the University of Northampton concluded the session. He put us in groups and asked us to make lists of how students see us, how we see students, how academics see us and how we see academics. This showed us how the biggest barrier to integration of Information skills into the curriculum is not the bureaucracy of the organisation we work in but rather it is us, and specifically the prejudices carried by us and our service users. This was one of the most stimulating sessions of the conference.
#4 Conference attire
Finally, I've learnt what to wear to a conference. The lesson learnt is that wearing anything with an embellished/statement neckline/necklace is a waste as the lanyard will overshadow it. And everyone's looking at your lanyard to establish if they know/want to know you/your institute
On the whole I was pleased that I had packed the right balance of smart/casual/professional for the days, and a cute but flesh covering dress for the evening, but I regret playing it quite so safe.
My report for the U, C and R group is available here under Past Events (scroll approx half way down): http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/ucr/divisions/london
#1 Networking
Library folk are often thought of as wallflowers, geeks, the shy (and possibly weird) bookish kid at school. No smoke without fire and all that.
Ian Snowley’s asked those who had been before to look out for the 100 first timers (it was marked on our badges) and to ask us questions and make us feel welcome, which people really did. I met some really great people that I'm enjoying keeping in touch with on the Facebook and the Twitter. My only conference regret is that I wasn't more into the Twitter at the time.
For the final session of the conference I attended a Career Development Group session ‘Top Ten New Librarians two years on’ presented by Helen Dahlke and Cheney Gardner. Their talks were very positive particularly for a nearly qualified librarian: discussing the importance of asking people for opportunities, making your own luck, getting involved with CILIP and applying for conferences and bursaries. These are messages that I have really taken away with me, and led to me going along to the CDG group summer social and getting more into the Twitter.
#2 Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm has become a dirty word for me lately. The key positive feedback I've had from my two failed job interviews this summer has been how great my enthusiasm is which makes me feel like a labrador. And paraprofessional soon-to-be ex-colleagues have told me how strange they find me due to my interest in wider library issues.
Charles Brown’s (Library Director, Charlotte and Mecklenburg county public libraries) keynote speech was all about enthusiasm and being willing to ruffle a few feathers in order to create about not just award winning services but the absolute best services. Brown described himself as someone who doesn’t just sit around and complain but rather gets off his “duff” and does something. I'm going to remember Brown's talk every time I find myself moaning not manifesting.
#3 Information Literacy
I've been really interested in the Google Generation research for some time having written an essay on it during my MSc. UCL’s Maggie Fieldhouse’s catchily titled presentation: Digital Natives: can information literacy save them from information anarchy?’ was really interesting. Particularly the debate about whether Information Literacy in universities is too late, and the barriers to getting to school age children. I'm not sure what the answer is, or if librarians alone can tackle this. But having spent the last year witnessing the frightening lack of information literacy at university level it is something I'd really love to engage with.
Another session on Information Literacy gave great practical ideas and tips for various groups. Carol Webb from Forest Hill School began the session by discussing team teaching with a subject teacher at secondary and sixth form level, the importance of ensuring that students are emotionally comfortable in order to be able to learn and considering remarketing ourselves as educators. Andy Priestner from the Judge Business School in Oxford continued on these themes describing how he gained access to classrooms, formed relationships with academic staff and built a reputation as a librarian who teaches. Priestner engaged the group with the Inspector Morse stereotype of redbrick academics, which he then dispelled. Chris Powis from the University of Northampton concluded the session. He put us in groups and asked us to make lists of how students see us, how we see students, how academics see us and how we see academics. This showed us how the biggest barrier to integration of Information skills into the curriculum is not the bureaucracy of the organisation we work in but rather it is us, and specifically the prejudices carried by us and our service users. This was one of the most stimulating sessions of the conference.
#4 Conference attire
Finally, I've learnt what to wear to a conference. The lesson learnt is that wearing anything with an embellished/statement neckline/necklace is a waste as the lanyard will overshadow it. And everyone's looking at your lanyard to establish if they know/want to know you/your institute
On the whole I was pleased that I had packed the right balance of smart/casual/professional for the days, and a cute but flesh covering dress for the evening, but I regret playing it quite so safe.
My report for the U, C and R group is available here under Past Events (scroll approx half way down): http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/ucr/divisions/london
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