Recently I registered for the online conference Library 2.016: Privacy in the Digital Age, the first of three scheduled this year run by Library 2.0. Recordings from the conference are viewable online.
The conference looked at issues surrounding privacy and security online. It had a US focus but there was plenty that was relevant to the UK. For me, the most interesting presentations were, firstly, Jessamyn West's The Digital Divide and Privacy Concerns, which discussed the privacy needs and wants of "ordinary" people. She pointed out that while having lots of passwords to protect your online privacy is the ideal, in practice it's unlikely that people will be willing to do this and it's important to balance privacy with realism. I also found M. Ryan Hess's Make Your Library a Privacy and Security Resource interesting, with discussions of various privacy and security tools including Firefox, Ghostery, Disconnect and DuckDuckGo. On a more theoretical level, Martyn Wade's presentation on The 'Right to be Forgotten' and Its Impact on Libraries and Librarians was also interesting.
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conference. Show all posts
16th Annual Durham Blackboard Users' Conference
The theme of this year’s Blackboard Users’
Conference, held on 7th & 8th January at Durham University Business School, was “Learning From Failure”, which was suggested by delegates from
last year’s conference. The keynote was delivered by Eric Stoller, who
addressed the issues of digital identity and failure on social media.
Blackboard themselves also addressed the
conference, although they called their talk “Reflections on a shared journey”
rather than examining the concept of learning from failure. They examined the
changes that the system has undergone over the years and the needs of
Blackboard today, including a resilient server, trained staff, backups and
appropriate network access. These days the system is “mission critical” and
users have higher expectations.
A Sessions: Is There A Place for Blackboard Collaborate in Blended Learning Design – Matt Cornock, University of York
This session looked at whether Blackboard
Collaborate could be useful in blended learning – learning that mixes face to
face and distance learning. It covered the issues that can be experienced with
Blackboard Collaborate including loss of sound quality, connection reliability,
issues with the launcher and whiteboard interaction. MC discussed a case study
in which students on a creative writing programme used Collaborate to try and
replicate the face to face environment. It was found that this didn’t work as
the online environment could not facilitate the spontaneity and natural
atmosphere of a face to face environment. Also, remote students by this time
had already formed their own social groups for mutual support so they did not
need to approach these sessions in the same way.
However, Collaborate has been proved to be
useful for such functions as library tutorials and support, as well as group
work, some individual tuition, teleconferencing and careers workshops.
B Sessions: Designing A Pre-Induction Course: Mistakes, Issues and Success – Steve Dawes, Regent’s University London
This session examined the issues faced by
staff at Regent’s University London when designing a pre-induction course for
students. The course was designed to streamline the induction process for
students which can often be daunting.
The course was designed to be a simple
student-centric platform with a single login so that all students could access
it even if they did not yet have their own personal login details. It focused
on the key information that students would need when arriving at university,
including information about accommodation, visas and study skills. The students
were not taught how to use Blackboard – it was hoped that they would be able to
pick it up through completing this simple course.
The homepage was designed to resemble the
University website so that students grew familiar with the structure of the
website. There was only one course link to click on to get to the information
they needed. There was an element of interactivity: e.g. a checklist entitled
“Are You Ready?” consisting of a series of yes or no questions checking if
students had everything they would need. There was also an interactive map of
the campus.
987 of the trial students completed the
final survey. The most popular elements were the introduction and the “Are You
Ready?” questionnaire. In general there was a good student uptake with positive
feedback, and a reduction in emails to student support. This was done for the
Jan rollout and will be improved for the September cohort.
Future potential improvements include polls,
Collaborate sessions, media content and group inductions.
C Sessions: Growing Pains: Preparing For A Teenage VLE – Andy White, University of Cumbria
This session charted the University of Cumbria’s
use of Blackboard as their VLE platform since 2003. At the time, study was
mostly campus based but videos would be filmed and posted out to distance
learners. Students also had to send paper-based submissions through the post.
Over time there was a move to integrate Bb
usernames and passwords with University ones, and they got the licensed mobile
site in 2012. In 2014, Bb was listed by the University as “mission critical”
for disaster recovery.
This year it was decided that every
programme should have a presence on Blackboard. A benchmarking exercise was
introduced in order to check whether courses were active, if they contained any
broken links, or had any hidden content. An annual review is now planned to
ensure that high standards are maintained.
D Sessions: Working With Students as Partners to Help You Identify and Learn from Your Mistakes: Developing a Pre-Arrival Study Skills Course for all Undergraduates – Sam Nolan, Eleanor Loughlin, Malcolm Murray, Elaine Tan and Jacquie Scollen, Durham University
After it was suggested that students wanted
more contact before arriving at university, it was decided at Durham that a
pre-arrival study skills course should be developed. A short 2-week course was
trialled last summer, covering topics such as preparing for academic study,
independent learning and digital literacy. A videographer was employed to film
staff and current students talking about relevant topics. Other areas such as
library services were also explored. The course will be rolled out to all
students in the next academic year.
The course contains information about
coming to Durham, preparing for arrival and transitioning to independent
learning. It also contains information
about classes and reading materials, as well as support services such as
library services. To date, the course has received 103, 576 views. Student
feedback suggests that those using the course feel more prepared for their
arrival at Durham.
The presentation explored mistakes the
staff felt they had made and the steps they plan to take to rectify these. For
instance, they felt that they should have involved students as consultants from
the start of the project, and made risk management a priority earlier on.
E Sessions: The SPECTRE of Blackboard Design – James Leahy, Regent’s University London
This session looked at the syndrome of “Persistent
Empty Courses” at Regent’s University – the problem of lecturers not making
good use of Blackboard courses to enhance learning even though the offline
course was excellent. In this example, the presenter added banners, logos and
videos to the course to demonstrate the potential of online materials.
F Sessions: Establishing High Stakes Computer-Based Testing through Blackboard As A Supported Service: An Institutional Perspective On Key Challenges and Lessons Learned – Richard Walker and Andy Parkinson, University of York
This session looked at the growing use of
VLEs for formal assessment and explored the ways in which staff at the University
of York have coped with the challenges of implementing this. Exams on the VLE
must be intuitive, flawless and fit for purpose, with a dedicated
infrastructure and automated marking.
Staff were aware of possible issues that
could arise, including loss of student data and multiple workstation failure.
They took steps to minimize this, including creating separate exam accounts for
students.
Some of the issues encountered included
students being sent to the wrong rooms, and ongoing challenges with
timetabling. One issue involved the randomization of questions – some students
were shown the harder, essay-style questions first while others were given
multiple-choice questions – this could be seen as unfair, so the issue was
later rectified.
G Sessions: How I Have So Far Failed To Create A Fully Accessible VLE – Al Holloway, University of Northampton
Al Holloway’s presentation explored how he
has tried to create a fully accessible VLE, but this has been difficult without
the wholehearted support of all staff. Accessibility issues include Blackboard
themes and layouts, video content, recorded lectures, documents and content
authoring, and different browsers. Some
staff responded to his requests to look at making their material more
accessible, but others made less of an effort. He emphasized the importance of
gaining support from key stakeholders, and suggests implementing a method to
audit accessibility.
H Sessions: Electronic Submission on Large and Complex Courses – Chris Boon, City College Norwich
This course looked at ways to manage the
Grade Centre in Blackboard given the widespread use of electronic submission.
These methods including splitting the class into groups, creating categories,
and using Smart Views.
I found the conference really useful, and it was good to meet other people who work with VLEs. I picked up some useful pointers and learned a good deal.
London Blackboard User Group Meeting 24/04/2015
I attended my third Blackboard User Group (#LondonBUG) meeting at Bucks New University in Uxbridge on Friday. The theme was “Mobile and Multimedia” and the afternoon contained several interesting talks.
iPads to Staff Initiative (Steve Hoole, Bucks New University)
Steve spoke about the “Take a Tablet” project at the University, which trained staff to use iPads and provided an iPad to each member of FT academic staff (other staff are able to borrow an iPad from the pools at the Uxbridge and High Wycombe campuses).
Why was this done? Staff wanted to improve the quality and turnaround time of staff-student feedback, as well as increasing digital literacy – changing the disparity between staff and student abilities and knowledge. They also wanted to explore new ways of teaching, and increase the wellbeing of staff and their ability to manage their time: staff were also able to use their tablets for personal reasons.
Staff faced battles with IT over which tablets to have. IT wanted them to have Microsoft Surface tablets but Turnitin does not work on these – in addition iPad is a cooler brand and staff thought more people would be encouraged to come to the sessions if iPads were used. To be as inclusive as possible, all full-time staff were included in the scheme. Equipment issued included the 16GB WiFi enabled iPad Air and a connector for the light projector.
The aims of the training were to inspire, transform and encourage creativity. It was aimed at the lowest common denominator. The training was divided into two three-hour sessions. The first looked at how to use the iPad, connect WiFi, use email and use the calendar. It also explored the Turnitin app. The second session covered the Bb Collaborate & Learn app, as well as other apps which could be useful for teaching, such as Twitter. Staff found that as the sessions went on, the content expanded as users developed more knowledge and understanding of the iPads. The equipment was not given out until the second session, to ensure that participants returned to the training.
All tutors were added to a Bb module containing information about new and existing apps. Tutors were encouraged to “show and tell” to disseminate good practice. The Issues – There were initial problems with MAC IDs and Apple IDs, as well as issues with staff not following instructions. In addition there are ongoing costs and issues with getting the iPad back when a staff member leaves the university. However, over time most of the problems have been or will be ironed out.
Future plans include building on the iPad technology and establishing WiFi zones in IT. There are also plans to explore Swivls and lecture capture technology as well as develop a “Bucks Store” – an app store containing potentially useful apps.
Large scale multi-media based assessments (Manuel Frutos-Perez, University of the West of England)
Manuel talked about the issues arising with getting 900 students to produce video assets as assessment tasks, along with a reflective piece, in only one week. Students spend most of their time out of class and are only taught intensively, conference-style, for a week or two; most have no technical background. Any assessment has to focus on skills development.
The project involved creating videos, and the students would be assessed not on their performance, but on their reflection. It was hoped that the students would actively participate and learn about different perspectives. The project has proven to be manageable, sustainable and academically challenging.
Video assignments via Blackboard and Helix (James Leahy, Regent's University London)
James spoke about a scheme allowing students to submit video assignments via Blackboard. This has proven largely successful, so long as the students follow the steps correctly, and the scheme has allowed files to be shared with external examiners. However, there have been a few technical issues with some students not understanding the process, and the file size of some assignments, which can take a while to upload.
Top 3 updates from the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference (Anne Cross, Blackboard)
The key themes from the conference were: embedding libraries, anon assignments, the flipped classroom, Digital Olympics, tabs and accessibility. There was lots of interest in core features that not everyone has implemented.
Blackboard Collaborate Latest Updates (Alex Ball, Blackboard)
Alex demonstrated the latest version of Collaborate, which appears fairly intuitive.
Blackboard Enhancement Requests (Workshop session facilitated by Chris Boon, City College Norwich and Danny Ball, Canterbury Christ Church University)
The top-voted choices for enhancement requests were looked at and discussed. It was decided that many “enhancement requests” were actually bug fixes:
• Issue with uploading assignments – special character in filename means that tutors cannot download
• Tighter control of grade centre
• Retention centre does not register/log mobile users
These items were set aside to be submitted separately. The following Enhancement Requests were submitted: the ability to extend or amend assignment due dates for individual students or groups; the ability to drag and drop items into folders; the possibility of using sign-ups to allow students to choose time slots for tutorials.
Overall, I found the meeting to be useful and informative.
iPads to Staff Initiative (Steve Hoole, Bucks New University)
Steve spoke about the “Take a Tablet” project at the University, which trained staff to use iPads and provided an iPad to each member of FT academic staff (other staff are able to borrow an iPad from the pools at the Uxbridge and High Wycombe campuses).
Why was this done? Staff wanted to improve the quality and turnaround time of staff-student feedback, as well as increasing digital literacy – changing the disparity between staff and student abilities and knowledge. They also wanted to explore new ways of teaching, and increase the wellbeing of staff and their ability to manage their time: staff were also able to use their tablets for personal reasons.
Staff faced battles with IT over which tablets to have. IT wanted them to have Microsoft Surface tablets but Turnitin does not work on these – in addition iPad is a cooler brand and staff thought more people would be encouraged to come to the sessions if iPads were used. To be as inclusive as possible, all full-time staff were included in the scheme. Equipment issued included the 16GB WiFi enabled iPad Air and a connector for the light projector.
The aims of the training were to inspire, transform and encourage creativity. It was aimed at the lowest common denominator. The training was divided into two three-hour sessions. The first looked at how to use the iPad, connect WiFi, use email and use the calendar. It also explored the Turnitin app. The second session covered the Bb Collaborate & Learn app, as well as other apps which could be useful for teaching, such as Twitter. Staff found that as the sessions went on, the content expanded as users developed more knowledge and understanding of the iPads. The equipment was not given out until the second session, to ensure that participants returned to the training.
All tutors were added to a Bb module containing information about new and existing apps. Tutors were encouraged to “show and tell” to disseminate good practice. The Issues – There were initial problems with MAC IDs and Apple IDs, as well as issues with staff not following instructions. In addition there are ongoing costs and issues with getting the iPad back when a staff member leaves the university. However, over time most of the problems have been or will be ironed out.
Future plans include building on the iPad technology and establishing WiFi zones in IT. There are also plans to explore Swivls and lecture capture technology as well as develop a “Bucks Store” – an app store containing potentially useful apps.
Large scale multi-media based assessments (Manuel Frutos-Perez, University of the West of England)
Manuel talked about the issues arising with getting 900 students to produce video assets as assessment tasks, along with a reflective piece, in only one week. Students spend most of their time out of class and are only taught intensively, conference-style, for a week or two; most have no technical background. Any assessment has to focus on skills development.
The project involved creating videos, and the students would be assessed not on their performance, but on their reflection. It was hoped that the students would actively participate and learn about different perspectives. The project has proven to be manageable, sustainable and academically challenging.
Video assignments via Blackboard and Helix (James Leahy, Regent's University London)
James spoke about a scheme allowing students to submit video assignments via Blackboard. This has proven largely successful, so long as the students follow the steps correctly, and the scheme has allowed files to be shared with external examiners. However, there have been a few technical issues with some students not understanding the process, and the file size of some assignments, which can take a while to upload.
Top 3 updates from the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference (Anne Cross, Blackboard)
The key themes from the conference were: embedding libraries, anon assignments, the flipped classroom, Digital Olympics, tabs and accessibility. There was lots of interest in core features that not everyone has implemented.
Blackboard Collaborate Latest Updates (Alex Ball, Blackboard)
Alex demonstrated the latest version of Collaborate, which appears fairly intuitive.
Blackboard Enhancement Requests (Workshop session facilitated by Chris Boon, City College Norwich and Danny Ball, Canterbury Christ Church University)
The top-voted choices for enhancement requests were looked at and discussed. It was decided that many “enhancement requests” were actually bug fixes:
• Issue with uploading assignments – special character in filename means that tutors cannot download
• Tighter control of grade centre
• Retention centre does not register/log mobile users
These items were set aside to be submitted separately. The following Enhancement Requests were submitted: the ability to extend or amend assignment due dates for individual students or groups; the ability to drag and drop items into folders; the possibility of using sign-ups to allow students to choose time slots for tutorials.
Overall, I found the meeting to be useful and informative.
House of Commons Open Day for Librarians and Information Professionals
In February I was lucky enough to be able to attend the House of Commons Open Day for Librarians and Information Professionals. It was held in Portcullis House, across the road from the Houses of Parliament, and was well attended by librarians from all over the UK - I spoke to one who had come down from Manchester, and another who had flown from Belfast!
The day began with registration in the Macmillan Room, where most of the talks of the day were held. We were given an Introduction to the House of Commons Library by Patsy Richards, the Head of Customer Services. She explained that the Library was the Members' Library for the House of Commons - there is another for the House of Lords. The Library supports the work of MPs, helping them to hold the government to account by providing information on all manner of issues. The Library does not habitually help cabinet ministers, who have resources and researchers of their own, but helps to redress the balance by assisting backbench MPs and members of the opposition.
There are 60 specialists and information professionals working in research, providing information such as debate packs, Standard Notes (information about much-requested topics), research papers and personal briefings for individuals. Enquiries are kept confidential, so an MP is not able to ask directly what another has requested. The service can be very busy: on this particular day, which was a Wednesday, there were 89 queries due for a response on Friday.
Maintaining a level of impartiality in responses, particularly those involving controversial issues such as climate change, fox hunting and abortion, is very important, as is speed and clarity - information is often needed at short notice. Research papers and Standard Notes are made available online for ease of access.
The next talk was on Customer Services and it was given by Chris Sear, the Head of Front of House. The Customer Service team is a recent development in the Library, and the Front of House team has been reorganised, dealing directly with members. For instance, floorwalking, greetings and service promotion are all new innovations, while enquiry services, online services, information literacy training and loans are also dealt with. Chris also spoke about feedback: in the past surveys were used to gather feedback from users, but this was changed in 2012, and now feedback can be given via interview, Members' Committees or complaints (which tend to be IT-related).
The role of library and information professionals in the House of Commons Library was delivered by Susannah Foulis, Head of Library Resources; Liz Marley, Thesaurus Editor, Indexing and Data Management Section; and Julia Keddie, Senior Library Executive, International Affairs and Defence Research Section. They talked about the variety of roles and responsibilities they had: library resources including both hard copy and online; the LMS and the catalogue; binding and conservation; and disaster planning. The Library holds nearly 260,000 bound volumes and 10,000 reference books, as well as 70 hard copy journals, over 1700 ejournals and 50 online subscription series including LexisNexis and Westlaw. The current main areas of development are ebooks, mobile resources and RDA. In particular, Susannah talked about her work with the varying resources, Liz spoke about her role managing, compiling and enhancing the development of vocabularies for Parliamentary search, while Julia discussed her role in research.
During the break there was a chance to look around the exhibition Aspects of Parliamentary History, introduced by John Prince, Head of the Reference Room. The exhibition, which was made up of many rare documents and interesting texts, contained journals and magazines, records of debates, examination of the role of many MPs (such as Chaucer, Sir Philip Sidney and Disraeli) as writers, documents such as constituency maps and electoral histories, cartoons and Parliamentary Committee records.
The exhibition led on nicely to the next session, which was on Parliamentary Archives and delivered by the Director, Adrian Brown. He talked about the management, preservation, access and research that went into ensuring the archives remain available for anyone who wants to use Parliament's records now or in the future. Funded by both Houses, the records are based in Victoria Tower and the holdings seem fascinating. Dating back to 1497, they include such things as the draft Declaration of Rights, Charles I's death warrant, the Articles of Union with Scotland and the House of Commons journal of 5th November 1605. The archives also hold collections relating to Parliament, such as information about the architecture of the buildings, some local and family history-related records (e.g. records of Papists), and personal papers from such figures as Lloyd George.
The archives also encompass the online world, which brings its own challenges: it needs to be ensured that relevant information is managed, captured and preserved. The Parliamentary web archive offers access to many kinds of electronic records, such as archived websites and Parliamentary papers. There is also an online catalogue, Portcullis, and a public services searchroom: an appointment is needed, but anyone can make enquiries via letter, fax, telephone or email.
Efforts are being made to connect Parliamentary archives with communities. Online exhibitions such as 'The Gunpowder Plot' and engagement via social media are helping to do this, as is the Living Heritage website which holds lots of archive materials. Publications such as Victoria Tower Treasures are also bringing the archives to a wider audience.
The last session before lunch was 'So You Think You Know About Parliament', delivered by Chris Weeds, Visitor Services Information Manager. This took the form of a quiz and was highly entertaining and informative - I clearly didn't know much about Parliament at all as I only got 6 out of 20! I learned some interesting snippets of information, including the year the first House of Commons Librarian was appointed (1818), and the only person who is allowed an alcoholic drink in the House of Commons - the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then only during the budget speech.
After lunch it was time for the tours. We divided into groups to visit the Palace of Westminster; my group toured the Members' Library first.
After a fascinating tour of the Library, we were able to tour the rest of the Houses of Parliament, including Westminster Hall, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This was great - our guide really knew what he was talking about, and it was really interesting.
Owing to a mix up at the start of the tour, we arrived back to Portcullis House too late to see the Online Resources Demonstration. However, we were in time for the Q&A and Feedback session at the end.
Thanks to everyone involved for a really good day, and if you haven't been, I really recommend signing up next year.
The day began with registration in the Macmillan Room, where most of the talks of the day were held. We were given an Introduction to the House of Commons Library by Patsy Richards, the Head of Customer Services. She explained that the Library was the Members' Library for the House of Commons - there is another for the House of Lords. The Library supports the work of MPs, helping them to hold the government to account by providing information on all manner of issues. The Library does not habitually help cabinet ministers, who have resources and researchers of their own, but helps to redress the balance by assisting backbench MPs and members of the opposition.
 |
| Some of the leaflets promoting what the Library offers |
There are 60 specialists and information professionals working in research, providing information such as debate packs, Standard Notes (information about much-requested topics), research papers and personal briefings for individuals. Enquiries are kept confidential, so an MP is not able to ask directly what another has requested. The service can be very busy: on this particular day, which was a Wednesday, there were 89 queries due for a response on Friday.
Maintaining a level of impartiality in responses, particularly those involving controversial issues such as climate change, fox hunting and abortion, is very important, as is speed and clarity - information is often needed at short notice. Research papers and Standard Notes are made available online for ease of access.
The next talk was on Customer Services and it was given by Chris Sear, the Head of Front of House. The Customer Service team is a recent development in the Library, and the Front of House team has been reorganised, dealing directly with members. For instance, floorwalking, greetings and service promotion are all new innovations, while enquiry services, online services, information literacy training and loans are also dealt with. Chris also spoke about feedback: in the past surveys were used to gather feedback from users, but this was changed in 2012, and now feedback can be given via interview, Members' Committees or complaints (which tend to be IT-related).
 |
| Leaflets about the House of Commons Information Office |
The role of library and information professionals in the House of Commons Library was delivered by Susannah Foulis, Head of Library Resources; Liz Marley, Thesaurus Editor, Indexing and Data Management Section; and Julia Keddie, Senior Library Executive, International Affairs and Defence Research Section. They talked about the variety of roles and responsibilities they had: library resources including both hard copy and online; the LMS and the catalogue; binding and conservation; and disaster planning. The Library holds nearly 260,000 bound volumes and 10,000 reference books, as well as 70 hard copy journals, over 1700 ejournals and 50 online subscription series including LexisNexis and Westlaw. The current main areas of development are ebooks, mobile resources and RDA. In particular, Susannah talked about her work with the varying resources, Liz spoke about her role managing, compiling and enhancing the development of vocabularies for Parliamentary search, while Julia discussed her role in research.
During the break there was a chance to look around the exhibition Aspects of Parliamentary History, introduced by John Prince, Head of the Reference Room. The exhibition, which was made up of many rare documents and interesting texts, contained journals and magazines, records of debates, examination of the role of many MPs (such as Chaucer, Sir Philip Sidney and Disraeli) as writers, documents such as constituency maps and electoral histories, cartoons and Parliamentary Committee records.
The exhibition led on nicely to the next session, which was on Parliamentary Archives and delivered by the Director, Adrian Brown. He talked about the management, preservation, access and research that went into ensuring the archives remain available for anyone who wants to use Parliament's records now or in the future. Funded by both Houses, the records are based in Victoria Tower and the holdings seem fascinating. Dating back to 1497, they include such things as the draft Declaration of Rights, Charles I's death warrant, the Articles of Union with Scotland and the House of Commons journal of 5th November 1605. The archives also hold collections relating to Parliament, such as information about the architecture of the buildings, some local and family history-related records (e.g. records of Papists), and personal papers from such figures as Lloyd George.
The archives also encompass the online world, which brings its own challenges: it needs to be ensured that relevant information is managed, captured and preserved. The Parliamentary web archive offers access to many kinds of electronic records, such as archived websites and Parliamentary papers. There is also an online catalogue, Portcullis, and a public services searchroom: an appointment is needed, but anyone can make enquiries via letter, fax, telephone or email.
Efforts are being made to connect Parliamentary archives with communities. Online exhibitions such as 'The Gunpowder Plot' and engagement via social media are helping to do this, as is the Living Heritage website which holds lots of archive materials. Publications such as Victoria Tower Treasures are also bringing the archives to a wider audience.
The last session before lunch was 'So You Think You Know About Parliament', delivered by Chris Weeds, Visitor Services Information Manager. This took the form of a quiz and was highly entertaining and informative - I clearly didn't know much about Parliament at all as I only got 6 out of 20! I learned some interesting snippets of information, including the year the first House of Commons Librarian was appointed (1818), and the only person who is allowed an alcoholic drink in the House of Commons - the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then only during the budget speech.
After lunch it was time for the tours. We divided into groups to visit the Palace of Westminster; my group toured the Members' Library first.
After a fascinating tour of the Library, we were able to tour the rest of the Houses of Parliament, including Westminster Hall, the House of Lords and the House of Commons. This was great - our guide really knew what he was talking about, and it was really interesting.
Owing to a mix up at the start of the tour, we arrived back to Portcullis House too late to see the Online Resources Demonstration. However, we were in time for the Q&A and Feedback session at the end.
Thanks to everyone involved for a really good day, and if you haven't been, I really recommend signing up next year.
London Blackboard User Group Meeting 26/07/2013
On the afternoon of Friday 26th July I attended the London Blackboard User Group meeting (with the brilliant hashtag #LondonBUG) at Regent’s University London. Though I’ve been in my current role, which is primarily concerned with the use of Blackboard, for over two years, this was the first User Group meeting I had attended, and I was looking forward to it.
The theme of the meeting was Using Video in Blackboard. I wasn’t sure if it would be directly relevant to me or my job, as where I work there is a multimedia department responsible for creating and hosting videos. However, I hoped that I would pick up some tips and get to know other Blackboard users in London and around. After an introduction and welcome by Bryony Bramer of Regent’s University, the course proper began. The lectures covered different topics, including the integration of a streaming video server with Blackboard, the rollout of lecture capture, and flipped classrooms. The most interesting to me was the presentation on training videos, which looked at the use of Twitter’s new Vine app for creating short videos telling users how to do particular things on Blackboard. This looks like a brilliant use of the service and it’s definitely something I’d like to take a closer look at.
Thanks to everyone at the BUG for a great session – not to mention the amazing cake!
The theme of the meeting was Using Video in Blackboard. I wasn’t sure if it would be directly relevant to me or my job, as where I work there is a multimedia department responsible for creating and hosting videos. However, I hoped that I would pick up some tips and get to know other Blackboard users in London and around. After an introduction and welcome by Bryony Bramer of Regent’s University, the course proper began. The lectures covered different topics, including the integration of a streaming video server with Blackboard, the rollout of lecture capture, and flipped classrooms. The most interesting to me was the presentation on training videos, which looked at the use of Twitter’s new Vine app for creating short videos telling users how to do particular things on Blackboard. This looks like a brilliant use of the service and it’s definitely something I’d like to take a closer look at.
Thanks to everyone at the BUG for a great session – not to mention the amazing cake!
CILIP Career Development Group National Conference: Together We Are Stronger
Last month I attended the CILIP Career Development Group National Conference in Birmingham, held on 18th July at Austin Court. It’s taken me this long to get around to blogging about it – one of the reasons being that I was slightly underwhelmed by the experience. On reflection, I enjoyed the day, and feel I did get something out of it – but at the time I felt as though there was something missing.
I’ve attended the last two New Professionals conferences and in both cases came away feeling excited and inspired. This year, there was one conference for both new and established professionals. This was a good idea in theory – bringing together professionals at different stages of their careers – but I’m not sure it was marketed very well. There were comparatively few people there and the event lacked the buzz I experienced at previous events. I wasn’t alone as several people I spoke to felt the same.
Throughout the day a choice of two sessions were offered for most of the time, with a couple of exceptions, including the keynote address. The venue was lovely and the food was amazing (got to get my priorities right!): I loved the pastries for breakfast and there was a great range of vegetarian food at the lunchtime buffet.
The keynote address, Developing our community of practice: learning together for a stronger profession, was delivered by Liz Jolly. Liz was an engaging speaker and talked about developing a community of practice and the importance of learning together. She spoke about how we define what a profession is: via regulation, a code of ethics, a framework of qualifications and the existence of a professional community. Liz emphasised the importance of the professional body and suggested that if you don’t like something, it’s best to get involved and try to change it from the inside. Appropriate to this conference, she also talked about the different qualities that new and experienced professionals bring to the profession and how they can work together to create a ‘bi-directional knowledge flow”.
After the keynote address it was time for the parallel sessions on the theme of Sharing Knowledge and Experience. I chose to attend Karen Davies’ talk on Producing the evidence for effective evidence-based librarianship. She discussed the difficulties of applied research in a LIS context when qualitative research is more common and there is no right or wrong answer. She also gave research tips such as the importance of deciding what you need before you start and choosing your question carefully, as well as the necessity of critically evaluating your evidence and reviewing your outcomes. As a comparatively recent graduate I was familiar with most of the concepts she discussed but it was useful to have them reinforced and it made me wonder whether I’d be interested in undertaking research in the future.
I understand that parallel sessions on the theme of Wider Professional Outlook were planned, but one of the speakers dropped out so everyone attended Patricia Lacey and Emma Gibbs’ presentation on Developing your own skills network. They talked about a collaborative group set up to allow information professionals to learn from their peers and gain new skills. Participants have been able to engage in knowledge sharing, job shadowing and mentoring and gain benefits such as new skills to add to their CVs. Patricia and Emma gave tips such as the importance of planning and using diferent methods, such as email, to communicate in between face-to-face meetings and the importance of using feedback. The next theme of the day was Collaboration & Partnership and I attended Creating collaborative CPD opportunities delivered by Suzanne Tatham and Joseph Norwood. They spoke about their experience in a sub-branch of CILIP in Sussex, organising events such as a Brighton Library TeachMeet.
After lunch, Michael Martin from CILIP spoke on the Future Skills Project and discussed the new inclusive qualification framework. I had heard a bit about this but still found it interesting as it is highly relevant for me and for the profession as a whole. I was pleased to see that CILIP have taken on board feedback and the generic skills section is smaller than it was. Different skill areas are coloured differently on the wheel too which makes it easier to use. The new framework is due to be launched in September at the AGM.
Out of the two workshops on offer, I chose to attend the one on Career paths and networking led by Jeremy Clarke from Sue Hill Recruitment. The key concept I took away was the idea of finding security in your employability, rather than your employer. Jeremy made some useful suggestions including researching emerging skill requirements and recording, reflecting on and evaluating everything. He argued that to maintain enthusiasm and energy it is best to start the process when you are feeling particularly enthused, such as just after a really useful event.
Continuing the theme of Collaboration & Partnership, I attended Cross-sectoral staff development with CLIC by Kristine Chapman and Karen Pierce. CLIC stands for ‘Cardiff Libraries in Cooperation’ and it is run for all staff working in libraries in Cardiff. It runs mostly free, inclusive events including networking and 23 Things meetups. Finally, I attended Rebecca Dorsett’s presentation, Shelving together: collaborative working throughout different library environments, which had probably the best opening picture of the entire conference. Rebecca has worked in several different library sectors and in her talk she illustrated ways in which lessons could be learnt from one sector and applied to another: for example literacy schemes used in prison libraries could work in public libraries too, and work undertaken by many rare books and special collections staff to promote their collections and embark on digitisation projects could also be used in other libraries. Rebecca’s presentation was probably my favourite of the whole day: her enthusiasm really came across and I found what she had to say really interesting.
I do wish I'd written this earlier, as my memory is a bit hazy, and though I made notes, my handwriting is so dreadful that I had some difficulty deciphering them. Having said that, I do recall that generally, although my experience didn't compare to the previous New Professionals conferences I've attended, I did take away some useful points. All in all it was a worthwhile day and I enjoyed meeting up with old friends and people I’d previously only known on Twitter. I also spoke to a few new people, which I was pleased about. One thing at least hadn't changed from previous years: I was one of the last people in the pub at the end.
Thing 15 – Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events
I don’t have a great deal of experience attending professional events, but I did attend the New Professionals Conference, both this year and last year. I enjoyed these conferences, particularly the most recent one, and came away feeling inspired and enthused. I feel intimidated by the idea of most conferences and events, but not the New Professionals Conference for some reason – I think because everyone’s in the same boat.
If you're nervous about attending an event, I recommend wearing something different or taking an unusual accessory in order to spark conversation. I took my teapot bag to the NPC this year and it worked - I got lots of comments!
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| I know I've posted this already, but it's so pretty... |
I’m not really sure what else to write for this. Generally I would like to go to more events but I need to find the time and / or the money. I don’t actually work in a library at the moment so I’d feel a bit guilty asking for time off that wasn’t annual leave for an event that might not be directly related to my work.
As for speaking at an event, I hugely admire anyone with the courage to do this, but I could never get up in front of a massive audience and speak – the presentations I had to do as part of my MA were bad enough. Organising an event sounds more my thing – it would appeal to my personality and I’d prefer to take on a more ‘behind the scenes’ role. So this is something I might look into further.
New Professionals Conference 2011 - Professionalism and Activism in a Time of Downturn
I got back late last night from the New Professionals Conference 2011, after a great day in Manchester.
I attended the 2010 conference while I was still a student at the University of Sheffield. I didn't automatically assume that I would be attending this year's conference, but since beginning my first professional post I've realised that it's so easy to feel isolated in your role, particularly after the collaborative work of library school, and I hoped that NPC 2011 would help to provide the inspiration and enthusiasm that I felt was missing since my graduation.
Final thoughts:
I attended the 2010 conference while I was still a student at the University of Sheffield. I didn't automatically assume that I would be attending this year's conference, but since beginning my first professional post I've realised that it's so easy to feel isolated in your role, particularly after the collaborative work of library school, and I hoped that NPC 2011 would help to provide the inspiration and enthusiasm that I felt was missing since my graduation.
I also wanted to attend the conference for personal reasons. Several of the presenters are or were personal friends of mine, and I really wanted to see them again!
I'm incredibly bad at talking to new people, in fact I even find it difficult to talk to people I already know when there are loads of people around me. So I decided to follow some advice tweeted by Bethan Ruddock, who quoted a suggestion from Stephen Abram that wearing a statement piece was a useful thing to do as it means people will approach you. So I took the teapot handbag that I'd recently managed to win on eBay:
It seems the reputation of my bag preceded me, as several people did actually comment on it!
I'd gone up the day before with friend and fellow London-based librarian Becky Broadley in order to avoid an insanely early start. I really liked Manchester and thought it was a shame that I didn't get more of a chance to look around. I really enjoyed catching up with the people I knew over coffee in the morning - for some reason I hadn't slept much the night before so was running on adrenalin for most of the day!
The conference was opened by Franko Kowalczuk who introduced the first round of presenters. First up was Helen Murphy who in Supercharging Your CPD: 23 Things for Professional Development spoke about cpd23, a programme of professional development run by a bunch of librarians in Cambridge inspired by the success of another Cambridge-based programme last year. Helen asked who was taking part and it was interesting to see that a lot of people had already signed up, and many more seemed as though they were planning to judging by the comments I heard after the session. Helen stated that professional development opportunities are even more important now that they are scarcer and more difficult to establish. She discussed the many benefits of the CPD23 programme including the fact that it is completely free, flexible, informal and a way to connect with loads of different people and share everyone's expertise. Helen also gets bonus points for including a picture of Benedict Cumberbatch! I'd already signed up to the programme and I'm really looking forward to it, but I think I need to get cracking as some incredibly organised people have already completed Thing 1!
Next up was Rachel Bickley who spoke on Establishing a dialogue between new and experienced professionals. She ran a survey of experienced professionals to try and find out what they thought of new LIS professionals in general. Rachel displayed her responses in a word cloud (as did many of the presenters throughout the day) and some of the positive points that stood out were that new professionals are thought of as being enthusiastic, professional, self-motivated, dedicated and knowledgeable particularly in their use of social media. However she also stated that some experienced professionals thought that new professionals were not particularly good at practical skills such as cataloguing, managing their time and were restricted by the limitations of the library school curriculum (mentioning one library school in particular which always seems to postpone their cataloguing classes!). She did point out that several respondents stated that new professionals seemed to be willing to learn, even if they were lacking in skills to begin with.
Rachel also asked her respondents why they would consider employing a new professional. Among the responses were enthusiasm, experience, a willingness to learn and leadership potential. I found this really encouraging. Rachel also discussed ways in which new professionals could get involved and establish a dialogue with older professionals, such as via Twitter, LinkedIn, or even informally via a coffee in the staffroom. I think out of all the presentations, Rachel's was the most directly relevant to me. I felt it gave me a lot to think about and more confidence when applying for jobs in the future, so long as I can demonstrate my enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
It seems the reputation of my bag preceded me, as several people did actually comment on it!
I'd gone up the day before with friend and fellow London-based librarian Becky Broadley in order to avoid an insanely early start. I really liked Manchester and thought it was a shame that I didn't get more of a chance to look around. I really enjoyed catching up with the people I knew over coffee in the morning - for some reason I hadn't slept much the night before so was running on adrenalin for most of the day!
The conference was opened by Franko Kowalczuk who introduced the first round of presenters. First up was Helen Murphy who in Supercharging Your CPD: 23 Things for Professional Development spoke about cpd23, a programme of professional development run by a bunch of librarians in Cambridge inspired by the success of another Cambridge-based programme last year. Helen asked who was taking part and it was interesting to see that a lot of people had already signed up, and many more seemed as though they were planning to judging by the comments I heard after the session. Helen stated that professional development opportunities are even more important now that they are scarcer and more difficult to establish. She discussed the many benefits of the CPD23 programme including the fact that it is completely free, flexible, informal and a way to connect with loads of different people and share everyone's expertise. Helen also gets bonus points for including a picture of Benedict Cumberbatch! I'd already signed up to the programme and I'm really looking forward to it, but I think I need to get cracking as some incredibly organised people have already completed Thing 1!
Next up was Rachel Bickley who spoke on Establishing a dialogue between new and experienced professionals. She ran a survey of experienced professionals to try and find out what they thought of new LIS professionals in general. Rachel displayed her responses in a word cloud (as did many of the presenters throughout the day) and some of the positive points that stood out were that new professionals are thought of as being enthusiastic, professional, self-motivated, dedicated and knowledgeable particularly in their use of social media. However she also stated that some experienced professionals thought that new professionals were not particularly good at practical skills such as cataloguing, managing their time and were restricted by the limitations of the library school curriculum (mentioning one library school in particular which always seems to postpone their cataloguing classes!). She did point out that several respondents stated that new professionals seemed to be willing to learn, even if they were lacking in skills to begin with.
Rachel also asked her respondents why they would consider employing a new professional. Among the responses were enthusiasm, experience, a willingness to learn and leadership potential. I found this really encouraging. Rachel also discussed ways in which new professionals could get involved and establish a dialogue with older professionals, such as via Twitter, LinkedIn, or even informally via a coffee in the staffroom. I think out of all the presentations, Rachel's was the most directly relevant to me. I felt it gave me a lot to think about and more confidence when applying for jobs in the future, so long as I can demonstrate my enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
The final presentation of the morning came from Samuel Wiggins and Laura Williams, current students at the University of Sheffield's newly renamed iSchool, who spoke on What makes an information 'professional'?. I must admit I was rather in awe of them, as when I was in their position as an MA student last year there's no way I would have considered presenting at a conference! I thought their presentation was very timely, as in the current climate it's likely that many library school graduates won't be able to find a professional post straight away. Initially they discussed their previous perceptions of what makes an information professional. Laura said that she originally thought that an information professional was anyone who works in a library. Sam by contrast thought that experience and qualifications were important.
Their survey asked respondents whether they considered themselves to be information professionals. 90% said yes. 45% of those surveyed had worked in libraries for ten years or more, while only 4% had worked in libraries for less than a year. Four fifths had a CILIP accredited qualification. Laura and Sam displayed a Wordle cloud indicating the different ways in which respondents defined information professionals: some of the words that stood out included working, qualification, managing and knowledge. A professional level job was variously seen as one involving management, a qualification, responsibility and, interestingly, cataloguing skills. It was notable that no mention of Chartership was mentioned by respondents.
One part of Sam and Laura’s presentation really stood out for me. They discovered that LIS professionals who did not work in libraries and who did not have ‘library’ or ‘information’ in their job title had trouble feeling connected to the profession and tried to make up for this by getting involved outside work. This describes me exactly and is one of the reasons I really enjoyed the conference and am trying to look for opportunities outside work.
Sam and Laura displayed some interesting quotes from respondents. One stated that LIS professionals should be distinguished by their ethos and conduct. Another felt “There is too much emphasis on being a graduate based profession and not enough on practical experience”. A number of themes came out of the survey, suggesting that LIS professionals are defined by their qualifications, skills, experience and attitude. Sam and Laura came up with their own definition of a professional based on their findings: “Possession of qualifications, experience or skills, alongside an underlying professional attitude”. I really like this as I feel the attitude is so important, and is what distinguishes someone who comes home and switches off completely every day from someone who thinks about librarianship beyond their job.
After the morning presentations, I was able to attend my first workshop. I was pleased to have been given my first choice which was Getting involved: activism for new professionals run by Alice Halsey and Simon Barron from Voices for the Library. I think the work Voices for the Library do is fantastic and I’ve considered getting involved in library activism in some way, but I’ve been put off by the fact that a lot of the work involves giving presentations and speaking to the media – public speaking isn’t something I’m particularly good at, and while I understand that activism can be a good way of developing skills, I would probably do more harm than good to the cause if I tried to do something that I’m not particularly strong in. I was reassured there are lots of other opportunities to get involved in activism in some way: research, web design, organising petitions. I was also happy to realise that even small actions, like talking about libraries to your friends and family, count too: so by talking to friends about libraries in the pub and trying to convince my mam to join Newcastle Libraries in order to access ancestry.co.uk I’ve seemingly been doing it all along.
After lunch and more chatting came the second workshop I attended, #marketingyourselfonline run by Suzanne Wheatley from Sue Hill Recruitment. Suzanne talked about various networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and discussed how we present ourselves on these. She discussed the importance of using a relatively normal profile picture on LinkedIn (avoiding the three Cs – children, cleavage and pictures of you catching snowflakes!). A really good tip, I thought, was to change the generic LinkedIn message if you’re trying to connect with someone as it’s more personal and makes it more likely that they will agree to connect.
The workshop participants discussed Twitter and the difficulties of striking the right balance between personal and professional. A few admitted they’d been put off Twitter because of this. This kind of difficulty seems exclusive to Twitter – for many people, including me, Facebook is entirely personal and LinkedIn completely professional, while Twitter serves both functions.
Some participants said that they disliked people who posted personal stuff to excess on Twitter. Personally, I quite like reading personal tweets – partly because I’m nosy, but I do like the informality of Twitter and like to know that the people I follow are human. However I’m now aware that not everyone does like this and I do need to be careful of finding the right balance, although I’m afraid it’s not going to stop me from excessive tweeting during Eurovision! Suzanne stated that you shouldn’t talk about turning up late for work again on Twitter or how much you hate your job or your boss – this sounds like common sense to me, but obviously not to everybody as she said she had seen this behaviour from people she follows!
After a cup of tea we moved on to the afternoon session, starting with a presentation by University of Brighton students Ka-Ming Pang and Joseph Norwood on Can we play? Building opportunities for LIS student activism and why it matters. I found it really interesting to gain a perspective from a different library school. Ka-Ming and Joseph discussed advocacy and engagement among students and the ways in which they do this, including writing to their MPs, tweeting and petitions. They explored the need for an effective communication strategy and used a phrase I really liked – ‘be like an octopus’ and use a variety of different strategies. Ka-Ming and Joseph also discussed the pros and cons of joining CILIP as students and looked at the possibility of establishing a ‘hack library school’ forum or blog similar to the US version.
Next up was Megan Wiley’s presentation entitled For your eyes only? The need to develop professionalism in a careers information team. Megan talked about her role as a Careers Information Specialist, which I found really interesting. She emphasised the importance of making your colleagues aware of the work you do, particularly if they don’t share your job role or qualification. In these difficult times it’s important that everyone realises how valuable you are in case they decide to get rid of you. In other words, your work should not be for your eyes only – it’s important to make others aware of it. I thought Megan's presentation was really useful and it gave me lots to think about.
The final presentation of the day came from Katie Birkwood and Naomi Herbert on Teaching old books new tricks: how special collections outreach can help you, your career, and your library. Katie and Naomi work in University of Cambridge libraries and spoke about projects they were involved in while they were working at St John's College. Naomi spoke about the Hocus Pocus Junior project, based on a book from 1638, and talked about how she worked with local schools to provide learning opportunities for the pupils. It was lovely to see the thank you letters written by some of the children, who obviously thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Katie talked about the Hoyle Project, which involved cataloguing the personal papers of astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, and a particular event which enabled participants to build their own astrolabe. They also spoke more generally about the benefits of outreach for participants, librarians and the organisations involved. Outreach creates learning opportunities for those taking part as well as being great fun. Organising outreach helps to develop skills including project management, handling a budget, staff supervision, teaching and creativity. I loved this presentation and hope to attempt to make an astrolabe myself in the near future!
The day’s closing remarks from Biddy Fisher, CILIP Past President, who seemed really impressed with the day’s presentations and workshops and referenced them in her speech, as well as reiterating how important libraries are to society (not the ‘Big’ Society!). As we did last year, we then had to vote on the best paper which is something I found incredibly difficult. Congratulations to Katie and Naomi who carried off the prize! After the conference a number of us went off to the pub where I got to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for ages, and meet new people too.
Final thoughts:
- Last year I believe there was some sort of poll on LISNPN asking if people thought the New Professionals Conference should be over one day or two. I think that keeping it over one day was a really good idea as I imagine a lot of new professionals would really struggle meeting the costs of a two-day conference and also getting the time off work.
- Last year the workshops ran at the same time as the presentations so you had to make a choice about what you were going to attend and what you were going to miss. I was really pleased that this year the workshops ran separately so it was possible to attend two workshops AND all of the presentations.
- I wish the venue had had more than two female toilets - although this did create more opportunities for chatting to people while standing in the queue!
- A number of venues and cities have been suggested for next year's conference. I hope to attend wherever it is, but I'd really like to see it take place in Newcastle or Durham as some people have suggested on Twitter. Well, we're not getting the RSC this year thanks to the cuts - it would be nice to have something to look forward to!
The conference was full of optimistic, original and exciting ideas and I had a brilliant time. To be honest I tend to be a rather pessimistic person and I really need things like this to keep me engaged and enthused. I came away feeling inspired and as though I was part of a community which is something I haven’t felt since I was studying for my MA. Thank you to all the organisers, presenters and attendees for making it so worthwhile!
New Professionals Conference 2010
It looks like everyone's writing about the New Professionals Conference held on Monday, but I'm going to write about it anyway, because it was a really good experience for me, and it was my first proper conference (I did go to the Libraries@Cambridge Open Day when I was a trainee, but that was exclusively for librarians in Cambridge, so I don't know if that counts). Handily, it was held in Sheffield, so to say I didn't have far to travel is an understatement. The event was held in the same building where I attended many of my lectures, and when Sheila Corrall stood up to give the opening presentation I did feel as though I had been transported back in time a few months - albeit surrounded by smart, alert librarians as opposed to sleepy students playing with their phones. The sense of déjà vu did disappear almost immediately, thankfully.
I was really impressed with Eleni Zazani's presentation on bridging the gap between employability and employment, and her bravery in moving from Greece to London to develop her career. I found the three months I spent in St Petersburg teaching English and trying to make my tentative Russian understandable to be difficult enough, so I have the utmost respect for anyone changing countries or tackling any sort of language barrier. I could also relate to Bronagh McCrudden's presentation on unpaid work in the library and information profession, Would You Work For Free? (complete with brilliant pictures). I have my own (rather strong) opinions on volunteer work, but her presentation was really positive and inspiring.
Laura Woods' presentation on Taking Charge of Your Continuing Professional Development was a timely reminder of how important CPD is, especially for us new professionals. So far I've always been encouraged to go on courses and learn new skills - my graduate traineeship was really excellent for this, and the course at Sheffield really encourages it too. Once I get my first professional post, though, there's no guarantee my employer will be so encouraging, so it's important I take responsibility for my own CPD.
I also enjoyed Bethan Ruddock's talk on Proving the Value of Peer Networks. I'm taking steps to extend my own peer network at the moment, by starting this blog and engaging with people on Twitter, and the presentation really made me realise how important this is.
The Broadening Your Skills presentation by Ann Donovan and Rachel Edwards was really interesting for me, as most of my experience has been gained in academic libraries, so it was fascinating to get an impression of the different skills you develop in a public library setting. Laura Cracknell and Lindsay Robinson's presentation on Traditional Skills in a Changing World made me feel very relieved that I did so much cataloguing during my graduate traineeship.
All of the presentations were excellent but I think my favourite was the very last one - Awen Clement's talk on Unleashing Your Professional Edge. The way she spoke about the different skills she gained from even non-library related jobs was something that made a lot of sense to me, as I've had similar thoughts about jobs I've done in the past - jobs as varied as working in a call centre, as an assistant in a stationery store (note stationEry not stationAry), and for my local council, which involved explaining just why we couldn't send somebody out to inspect the unidentified dead animal at the bottom of the caller's garden at 5.45 pm on a Friday afternoon (I was best off out of that one). I didn't realise it at the time but the skills I developed at all of these jobs and more have proved really useful.
The conference ended with a closing address from Biddy Fisher, the outgoing CILIP President, which was really positive and forward looking, and ended the whole thing on a high.
So my first conference was a success, I think, and I hope I can attend more in the future. I'm going to try and make more of an effort to network next time!
I was really impressed with Eleni Zazani's presentation on bridging the gap between employability and employment, and her bravery in moving from Greece to London to develop her career. I found the three months I spent in St Petersburg teaching English and trying to make my tentative Russian understandable to be difficult enough, so I have the utmost respect for anyone changing countries or tackling any sort of language barrier. I could also relate to Bronagh McCrudden's presentation on unpaid work in the library and information profession, Would You Work For Free? (complete with brilliant pictures). I have my own (rather strong) opinions on volunteer work, but her presentation was really positive and inspiring.
Laura Woods' presentation on Taking Charge of Your Continuing Professional Development was a timely reminder of how important CPD is, especially for us new professionals. So far I've always been encouraged to go on courses and learn new skills - my graduate traineeship was really excellent for this, and the course at Sheffield really encourages it too. Once I get my first professional post, though, there's no guarantee my employer will be so encouraging, so it's important I take responsibility for my own CPD.
I also enjoyed Bethan Ruddock's talk on Proving the Value of Peer Networks. I'm taking steps to extend my own peer network at the moment, by starting this blog and engaging with people on Twitter, and the presentation really made me realise how important this is.
The Broadening Your Skills presentation by Ann Donovan and Rachel Edwards was really interesting for me, as most of my experience has been gained in academic libraries, so it was fascinating to get an impression of the different skills you develop in a public library setting. Laura Cracknell and Lindsay Robinson's presentation on Traditional Skills in a Changing World made me feel very relieved that I did so much cataloguing during my graduate traineeship.
All of the presentations were excellent but I think my favourite was the very last one - Awen Clement's talk on Unleashing Your Professional Edge. The way she spoke about the different skills she gained from even non-library related jobs was something that made a lot of sense to me, as I've had similar thoughts about jobs I've done in the past - jobs as varied as working in a call centre, as an assistant in a stationery store (note stationEry not stationAry), and for my local council, which involved explaining just why we couldn't send somebody out to inspect the unidentified dead animal at the bottom of the caller's garden at 5.45 pm on a Friday afternoon (I was best off out of that one). I didn't realise it at the time but the skills I developed at all of these jobs and more have proved really useful.
The conference ended with a closing address from Biddy Fisher, the outgoing CILIP President, which was really positive and forward looking, and ended the whole thing on a high.
So my first conference was a success, I think, and I hope I can attend more in the future. I'm going to try and make more of an effort to network next time!
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