LIS New Professionals Network

Yesterday I travelled to a very hot and sunny Horsforth for Library Camp Leeds. Library Camps use an un-conference format which is very informal and encourages participants to propose and choose session topics on the day. Its based on Open Space Technology. This was my first Library Camp and at first I was a little unsure as to the setup; it all seemed a bit chaotic for someone who thrives on structure and routine but I ended up liking the relaxed atmosphere (including setting up Camp in the local park!)

Of the many proposed sessions I attended four: Twitter behaviour; fun and games in libraries; accessibility for library users with hidden disabilities and new professionals in Latvia and the UK.

Carly proposed the session on how our behaviour on Twitter (and other social networks) can impact the way we are perceived and our professional lives. Three themes emerged from the discussions:

• One, what you say online can and probably will be read by your current employers, your potential employers, your colleagues, your peers, and your friends so choose what you say wisely. Its easy to get a sense of someone (both good and bad) from their Tweets. 
• Two, there is the possibility of a divide forming between young people who appreciate how to use social media and those who don't. It was suggested that parents who don't use social media in their jobs won't be able to inform their children about the pitfalls of misusing social media and being too open online. These young people could well be disadvantaged in the job market because of their online activities. 
• Three, there are many positives to Twitter such as the advertisement of jobs that you may not see elsewhere; problem solving and trouble shooting; feeling more included in your profession; knowing people online first makes conferences and events less intimidating and it can validate similar issues professionals are facing.

I was intrigued by Andrew's session on Fun and Games in Libraries as I'm currently tasked with improving our information skills training sessions at work and thought I could harness some of his ideas. The idea around gamification is to make commonplace activities (such as information skills training in this case) more engaging by introducing fun and play elements to them. This in turn enhances deep learning and reflection. I was a bit dubious as to how this could work with my library's users (professional healthcare staff) but Andrew offered the idea of leadership boards to encourage competitive use of the library. I could see how this could work and will definitely see if I can start something like this at my library.

After lunch Camp was moved outside into the simmering heat (my sunburnt shoulders are testament to the fact that I never remember suncream even though I am a pale freckly being!)

Penny led a session on Accessibility issues for people with hidden disabilities such as autism, dyspraxia and epilepsy. Penny argued that those who are high-functioning will often not have any specialist help offered to them as its perceived that they don't need it. Inclusivity and accessibility is helpful to all library users as everyone needs clear unambiguous signage, dedicated quiet areas and good lighting. Being proactive is always better than reacting to a problem once its been pointed out to you. The general consensus was that if something is irritating or affecting you (flickering lights, noisy 'quiet' areas, heavy doors, badly signposted sections, nowhere for users to sit for e.g.) just think how it might then be ten times worse for someone with a disability of any kind. The best kind of supportive resources for people with disabilities tend to be the ones that everyone either wants or can use (such as iPads). Creating specialist tools or resources isn't truly inclusive. Penny also suggested that charity websites tend to be the best places to research how libraries can make their service inclusive for all people.

And lastly Dace proposed a discussion about New Professionals. Dace is chair of the New Professional section of the Library Association of Latvia which was founded by six students (of which she was one) and now has fifteen members. In Latvia a tiny minority of all library professionals are new professionals; there is only one institution that teaches academic librarianship qualifications and of the 25 graduates in 2008 only 8 went on to work in libraries. (Ned Potter recently visited Latvia to speak about the profession to Information Science students and to see how well the Latvian public library system works.) It seems that Latvian libraries are hugely respected by the people and the media yet very few undergraduates and even fewer postgraduates go on to work in them which is the opposite of what has happened in the UK. The government, media and general public has a rather apathetic view of libraries yet library qualifications (especially postgraduate) are very popular. This is likely to change with the rising fees of postgraduate study and the lack of post-qualification professional jobs; something that CILIP, universities and library employers need to be addressing. Since 2008/9 new professionalism has snowballed but there are still issues that people feel need addressing to support people entering the profession such as:

• Awards aimed at new professionals should be more widely promoted
• Conferences, events and workshops should be cheaper (or free) for students and recent graduates without jobs
• CILIP membership fees seem unfair. The jump between the student price and the employed price is huge.
• Practical 'real world' library management/professional skills are often not included in postgraduate courses
• Many people see CILIP as a passive organisation not supporting a sometimes demoralised section of its profession
• Links between European and UK new professional organisations should be encouraged and good ideas should be replicated. For e.g. Latvia has a 'library marathon' and many countries are involved with Cycling for Libraries

All in all an intriguing day meeting very enthusiastic library people. I've got my eye on the main Library Camp on the 13th October!

A big thank you to everyone involved in organising the event LibraryCamp, Carolin, Richard, Carly, Sue and Leeds Library and Information Service who provided Horsforth Library free of charge

You can read others' thoughts on the day here: Carolin, Carly and Penny

This post has also been published on my blog: HerSlantFinely

On Friday 11th May I attended the 2012 New Professionals Day organised by CILIP, a day for anyone new to the profession to learn, network, be inspired, and eat burritos. There was a fantastic mix of people there; I met one other person who, like me, was just entering the profession but hadn't yet begun, along with current graduate trainees, library assistants, librarians, information assistants, students, people returning to the profession or moving from very different sectors.

The key speakers were all fantastic, as were the workshops, and I would highly recommend the day to anyone thinking of attending in the future.  There were so many great ideas to come out of the day that I couldn't possibly list them all so I thought I'd do a brief summary.

Key Speakers

Ned Potter is well known to a lot of people already, but as this is the first library event I've attended this was the first time I've had the opportunity to attend one of his talks.  He really is as good as the rumours would have you believe - engaging, funny, thought-provoking but not in a dominating/preachy way, I found his talk incredibly interesting and could certainly have listened to more. The central theme of Ned's talk was DON'T PANIC!!!  Speaking about your 'brand', Ned let us know that - we already have a brand, and we have no control over it....but remember, DON'T PANIC!!!  For me, the key things I took from his talk were:

• Learning that your brand is essentially "what people say about you when you're not in the room".
• When considering if you need to develop a 'brand' for yourself, consider what you want to achieve.
• Find out what your ideal employer cares about and extract the parts of your experience that match this.
• Match your brand to your path!
• Don't worry about that others are doing - it's unlikely this will be relevant to your goals
• A successful brand is a by-product of your goals being developed (in a networked way)
• You should be an open resource - nothing is gained by keeping this you develop secret - Be part of the community!
• Get online (control what people find, interact - have conversations, be useful and interesting)
• If you're not sure you should put something online - imagine your boss is reading it!
• Link all your social media together
• You can create a brand by publishing something, organising something, sharing something, presenting something.

Over the last couple of months, LISNPN has run an advocacy competition in association with CILIP. The aim has been to promote libraries, and the prizes are attendance at a couple of excellent CILIP conferences. We can now reveal the winners, as judged by CILIP CEO Annie Mauger, Past President Biddy Fisher, former New Professionals Coordinator Chris Rhodes and LISNPN admin (and New Professionals Support Officer) Ned Potter. 

We had several entries but three stood out and went into the final judging section. An honourable mention must go to one of these, which didn’t ultimately win but nevertheless made a big impression: Katie Birkwood’s excellent library knitting pattern. You can read more about it on Katie’s blog. The judges were impressed by the pure off-the-wall originality of the idea, the high quality of its execution, and the potential reach on the Ravelry platform. Ultimately it just lost out on a prize during an extremely close vote. 

Winning 2^nd prize was Annie Johnson with her ‘Putting the pieces together’ project. This brilliant idea consisted of small custom made jigsaw puzzles, beautifully packaged and featuring quotes about libraries – Annie left them in coffee shops, railway station platforms, and even airport departure lounges. (The top of the box is see-through so as to avoid any security alerts – see the pics on Annie's blog linked above...)

The judges loved the innovation and ingenuity of this and felt that is very well presented. They felt that the idea could be taken on and expanded in the future, with information and URLs as well as quotes. Annie wins a pass to the New Professionals Conference taking place in Manchester, in June. She said: "I'm delighted to have won a place at NPC11. The standard of the other entries that I have seen was extremely high, so I'm very pleased and proud that the judges liked my entry. I'm really looking forward to meeting other new professionals at the conference so thanks to LISNPN and CILIP for giving me the opportunity to attend this event."

First prize went to Jacqueline Barlow for ‘That’s Not Online!’. This project currently consists of a blog and twitter account detailing “Library collections, archives and other information that aren't accessible online, and how to find them.” The judges were impressed by a brilliantly simple and valuable idea, and the huge potential it has. You can view That’s Not Online! here, and follow the project on Twitter here. Annie Mauger commented: "The standard of all of the entries was fantastic with some really innovative and creative ideas. I wish we could promote all of them! What stood out about ‘That’s not online!’ was the presentation and also the potential scale of appeal of it. Also because it is such a good tool for advocating how brilliant information professionals are at letting people know what they don’t know. A real information literacy advocacy tool as well as a brilliant idea in itself."

Jacqueline wins a full pass to this year’s Umbrella conference, including accommodation at the event. She commented: "The honour of winning the competition, great as it is, is secondary to the pleasure of finding that my interest in print information is shared by so many others, inside the profession and out of it.  My participation in LISNPN has led to what may be an exciting, long-term project.  For this I am very grateful to LISNPN, my Twitter and Tumblr followers, and any other audience I've gained along the way.  If I could, I would bring you all Umbrella swag."

We’d like to thank everyone who entered! And huge thanks to Annie Mauger and the rest of the judges, to Jason Russell and Mark Taylor at CILIP and Franko  (the current New Professionals Coordinator) for making the prizes happen…

You'll be able to read about the competition on CILIP's website here.