What I Did On My Holidays… Or Edinburgh’s Libraries

Much like the first task undertaken when returning to school after the summer holidays, I thought I would let you know what I got up to in my recent trip north of the border to Scotland, or more specifically, Edinburgh.

Whilst there I ate a great deal of haggis, drank Irn Bru, met Jackie Stewart (by chance, and it was more me staring at him than an actual meeting) and had a great time. I also touched Hume’s toe (a statue, Hume is long gone), for no reason other than it was shiny, so clearly many others had touched it in the past, giving the illusion that it might be lucky to do so. I’m not sure if it was. I’ll let you know if the next month or so goes well.

Jackie Stewart looking Scottish in a tartan flat cap. Flickr cc by Nick J Webb

A recurring theme across my long weekend was visiting libraries. I’m not really sure how it happened. Apparently I am drawn to them, and despite spending all week working in one, I still feel compelled to go into others and have a nose around. I managed to visit three different libraries whilst in the City of Literature, and all were very different despite being open to the public, proving the diverse set of needs that can be met by these venerable institutions.

The Scottish Poetry Library (@byleaveswelive) was first up; I was partly intrigued by its building (award winning don’t you know?) but also by its contents. I know little of Scottish Poetry, (or poetry more generally for that matter) beyond Robbie (Rabbie?) Burns and wanted to see what I could find. What was there was a fantastic collection of poetry, short stories, periodicals, and a children’s area. I headed up for the periodicals as I hoped that these would provide me with a range of authors whom I could skim through to find something to my taste. Having settled down in a comfy chair, I enjoyed the Edinburgh Review and the The Interpreter’s House Journal - a highlight was a poem by Michael Newman about biscuits. Cracking stuff, and proved that poetry is not all high and mighty Lady of Shallot stuff, but fun, accessible and most definitely can make you smile. If ever you are nearby, definitely pop in.

Scottish Poetry Library Building

Scottish Poetry Library Entrance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The National Library of Scotland  (@natlibscot) sits opposite Edinburgh Central Library - numbers two and three on my visit. Whilst I did not venture into the reading room of the NLS, I went around its galleries, providing me with an alternative library visit . At the moment, the NLS has a series of Bibles and Bible frontispieces on display – many of which I had studied during my degree as ideas of Tudor political thought. I therefore found this fantastic, however I am pleased to let you know that there were others in the exhibition who looked equally excited to see the Great Bible of 1539. In a second exhibition space was a more interactive exhibit providing an insight into authors’ lives, as well as a chance to see how well you would fare as an author attempting to publish – sadly my chances were not rated highly, but the space certainly proved that libraries can, and do, exhibitions fantastically well. A great combination of atmospheric lighting and localised sound really topped the exhibition off fantastically.

National Library of Scotland (Flickr cc by Bertio Garcia)

I was determined to visit Edinburgh Central Library (@Talesofonescity), having signed up to their service remotely roughly one year ago, I simply did not want to miss visiting! The building was a traditional fare, but impressive and welcoming with it, and I happily nestled myself in a corner for a while to read about bee keeping (someone in our street now has bees – I wanted to swot up on my bee knowledge for some well informed small talk).

Edinburgh Central Library (Flickr cc by CharNewcomb)

 

Not my neighbour, but what he might look like soon (Flickr cc by jordanfischer)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing that struck me about all three libraries was how different they were, despite the similarities. All had superb members of staff who were polite, helpful and well informed about their collections. All used social media splendiferously, I complemented them on their services later on, and received responses from all. The collections and people in each library were diverse, individual and proved how effectively libraries serve a wide range of functions. All in all, well done libraries and well done Edinburgh. 

The Effect of the Modern Education Structure on Professional Development

The Background

Last week I attended the SLA Panel session at Internet Librarian International (ILI) and even after a busy day, several thoughts managed to occur to me throughout the evening.

A momentary flash of (potential) insight that I would like to reflect on relates to moving forward in ones career and future-proofing yourself for future job roles. This stemmed from a comment that Dave Pattern made with reference to a blog post by Ed Chamberlain – Ed talks about getting ready for future roles and developing new skills.

I was thereby pondering how people think about preparing to advance to the next stage of their career and how people are encouraged to adopt a mind set for forward thinking. I thought I would have a go at relating this to a change in educational techniques and their impact on new professionals and the next wave of information-professionals-to-be.

What this related to in my head

As anyone who reads the broadsheets supposedly knows, exams are getting easier year on year (at least so they say). Any contention put aside, a far more concrete statement would be that exams are becoming modular, more frequent, and with greater regularity. Less time is spread between them, creating a series of relatively short term goals. Each exam seems to act as a gentle stepping stone to the next level; GCSE to AS, AS to A2 etc. Students are therefore becoming used to constantly looking to the next challenge, and to a higher level. They are forced to plan ahead; the grades and subjects chosen, to a certain extent, shaping their options further down the line.

This needs to be combined with a new professionals’ view of the job market (or anyone’s view of the job market for that matter) – it is tough and unforgiving. Many jobs that become available for those with little pre or post qualification experience early in their careers are short fixed term contracts. This creates a mobile, fluid culture, reinforcing notions learned during their education of short, fixed term goals and achievements. To a recent school or university leaver, it would appear that the days of building loyalty to a firm are no more – instead entrants to a profession are encouraged, and to a certain extent, forced to move around frequently. This may come as a shock to some library positions in which traditionally a post was held and developed by an individual for a long period of time.

How does this become of relevance to me (and you)?

It means that there is a shift in thinking with regard to how people get ready for future job roles. Over the coming years there will be gradually less talk of ensuring that you prepare yourself for the next role or position – this kind of thinking will already be ingrained in the heads of those entering the profession as they think about moving up the career ladder.

Instead, as Bethan Ruddock explained during the panel session, there will be an emphasis on ensuring that people look two, or three, steps above and beyond where they want to be, ensuring that they can develop the skills necessary to get there, and to ensure that you don’t box yourself into a corner.

Employers too will need to ensure that they increase their talent development programmes if they wish to retain staff and develop individuals. Time needs to be invested to explain that one can mature and develop skills in a single place across a period of time, it is not always necessary to move on; rather job roles can be adapted and to a certain extent redefined to keep their employees keen and to help them develop themselves, and therefore the organisation.

 Employees will need to perfect a fine balance of loyalty against progression. Not easy terms to remedy against one another.

This shift in mentality also means that a greater emphasis on obtaining the skills needed to advance will slowly develop over time, as opposed to dedicating resources to general awareness. Cases of staff becoming complacent within roles may gradually diminish due to the continuation of the unstable financial situation worldwide. This may also be linked to the rise in professional networks – it is becoming easier to interact with others in the profession than it ever was before, helping employees remember why it is that they enjoy the profession they entered.

The other change I think will occur as a result of this change in thought patterns is a greater emphasis on evidence based seminars, presentations and papers. Students have been reassured by figures and obtaining the “right answer” throughout their educational careers, using an evidence base will therefore be reassuring to them. The theoretical side will still remain, but it will be here with numbers, facts and figures. An attempt to quantify advances will be desired. Evidence based practice will start to arrive in the world of the practitioner to a greater extent than it currently has, and it will expand to career development, not remaining solely within the workplace.

Sneaky Sneaky in the London Library

This week I went on a tour of the London Library, kindly organised by CLSIG (I’m not on commission, honest). It was a cracking tour, and the library was really fascinating. This post will be less wordy and thought-stricken than usual, instead I’m going to relay a few key facts that I have managed to remember and include a few photos that I took (rather sneakily, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to… I ensured that there was no flash or sound though I hasten to add!).

The London Library is a subscription library, costing roughly £36 a month to become a member – making it potentially more inviting than the gym! It currently has about 70 members of staff, and roughly 7000 members (*Disclaimer* numbers are from memory and not necessarily correct!)

Please note - section on 'Human Sacrifice'

The library does not use a classification system as such – instead it is alphabetical within areas of interest – the above photo was from the Science and Miscellaneous section. Many of the subject headings were fascinating within themselves, serving as a real insight into the Victorian minds who initially compiled them. Additional time to peruse them would have been great, and within the short time I had to look on the shelves I came across some cracking looking titles.

More Floor Grills

Floor Grills - with a four level view!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The backstacks appeared to contain many of the books. Over 97% of the Library’s million book collection is available on open access shelving. The remaining 3% are still available for users to access, however they are kept in a safe location – the library has rare items such as a copy of Darwin’s Origin of the Species that are better preserved away from open shelves. The floor in the backstacks which housed much of the collection was made of metal grills to allow the circulation of air to prevent damp and therefore minimise foxing etc. The grills meant that you could see down through four floors in this particular section of the library.

The shelving structure in the backstacks was also of intrigue. The shelving itself  formed part of the structural integrity of the building. We were informed that were the books to be removed, the building would rise by 4 inches as a result of the change in weight.

Stacks with (structural) integrity!

The shelving runs for many miles, I cannot remember how far, but rest assured it was long. More than a marathon’s worth if my memory serves me correctly. The library prides itself on not weeding its collection, to avoid removing items that are not ‘in fashion’ in a particular period. When combined with the 7-8 thousand new tomes that are purchased each year, that makes for some potential storage issues. At present the London Library has enough space for the next 25 years, if the collection continues to grow at its current rate. Beyond that, further expansion would be necessary and might possibly be undertaken by adding two floors onto the top levels of the backstacks.

The Library also had wonderful reading rooms, and art room, entrance hall, “reading light well”, and newspaper archive. I did not take any sneaky pictures of these, but they can be perused via the London Library’s website.

An interesting article was also published a couple of years ago in Building magazine detailing the extension work that took place in the library circa 2010. The article was entitled “The London Library: Speaking Volumes” by Andy Pearson, published 19 March 2010. You need a subscription to access it via Building’s website, but if you can find a copy, it is an interesting read if you like library design and architecture.