Library Advocacy and Our Library Backgrounds

I’ve written two new pieces, but similar to before, they won’t feature on here. Instead, if you are interested in issues surrounding library advocacy in the academic environment, or intrigued by when and why people write about their library career background then I encourage you to head on over to read the June 2011 edition of The Regent Librarian.

Whilst you are there, why not also have a look at articles discussing copyright, an explanation of the Sheffield iSchool’s change in name, reviews of conferences and an interview with an academic librarian. It is packed with great stuff!

Learning From Librarianship

I’d like to highlight a few differences between the core skills needed to complete my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Hopefully this will demonstrate the skills needed to keep up to date in the profession, and how a professional qualification can help. Keep in mind I’m new to the profession, I’d be keen to know what those with more experience think!

Prior to starting my MA, I studied history. The skills I learnt – essay writing, structuring and planning – have all been put to good use this year, as has my ability to chomp through journal articles and books. The primary difference has been the way in which I select resources.

Whilst studying for my BA, I rarely strayed away from JStor and the university library catalogue. The currency of articles and books that I referenced was only taken into consideration when trying to determine the historiography of the topic. A stark contrast to my MA; secondary literature is ‘old’ after several years as opposed to several decades. I now think very seriously about using an item from more than a few years ago, unless it is to illustrate how much things have changed. The difference between currency of information in the two professions came as a shock to me. It had always been important to ensure that you found the most up to date interpretation on a historical event, but if you didn’t agree with it, it was reasonable to backtrack to a previous argument, providing you sufficiently backed it up with relevant facts. In my experience, this is not the case with librarianship. For the most part, arguing against changes can be seen as regressive (with a few exceptions- libraries and politics mix A LOT and cause a lot of debate, making the use of alternative arguments more acceptable).

Despite this, there are still similarities between how librarianship and history are both practiced. Ranganathan’s principles still hold true, but have been evolved and incorporated with new disciplines and technology. Similarly, historical practice has evolved from the times of Von Ranke, but acknowledges where today’s practices stem from.

I’d like to highlight a few points arising from this comparison:

1)      Librarianship is exciting and fast paced. Keeping on top of emerging trends and technology can be difficult. It won’t do to simply follow advice from the 2000s. Make use of those current awareness skills, not just to help users, but also yourself.

2)      Librarianship is practical. The master’s course serves as a way to prepare you for a role as a professional librarian (keep an eye out for a presentation from myself and Laura at the NPC11 on what “professional” is). To be ready for this, you need to be as up to date as possible.

3)      A good librarian looks forward as well as at what is going on around them. By doing so it is possible to prepare yourself and the service provided to meet the constantly changing expectations of users.

4)      Don’t get lost among all the new ways of working – it is important to keep a handle on what makes a good librarian. Understanding the ethics surrounding the profession is still essential, whether you are dealing with users face to face or virtually.

Benefits of Blogging

My latest post is all about the benefits of writing a blog and incentives required to get going. The twist to it is that it will not be placed here, instead I will kindly ask that you head on over to the Regent Librarian newsletter. The newsletter has been set up by students including Jen and Ian, so a massive thanks to them for coming up with the idea and doing a great job in getting it going.

My article can be found as part of the May 2011 edition, along with other excellent entries covering a wide range of issues including conference reviews, library roles abroad, a day in the life of a library school student and a snapshot of Britain on the 29th April 2011.

The stable link should you wish to pass it on is as follows: www.issuu.com/theregentlibrarian.

Happy reading!

Librarians? More interesting than campanology!

Why would someone study librarianship?

Recently I was thinking about the many things that we have been told regarding library advocacy and defending the profession in the public sphere (see my recent post on Defending Librarianship). I was trying to think of a clear and succinct response to the commonly phrased question that a good 99% of library school students have been asked, “isn’t that just about books?”. I couldn’t really come up with one, however…

I’ve decided recently to enhance my usual response of “No” (captial N necessary) by also explaining why I enjoy the course and detailing the things that I study in the hope of enlightening whoever asked the question. Whilst thinking about all the aspects of my modules that I like, as well as those that I’m less keen on but still appreciate the relevance of, I got thinking about Information in a very broad sense. I’ve realised that some of the bits that I enjoy the most in my course are not the ins and outs and minutae of the course that we learn, but rather the big picture stuff that these details allow you to fit together.

I’ve always enjoyed big picture stuff. It somehow seems kind of dream-like. Kicking back, staring at clouds and trying to fit everything together-esque. With the big picture (or maybe it should be The Big Picture?) there always seems to be a positive spin on things. Where projects seem impossible, zoom out and think about the issue as a whole, and often enthusiasm will return and hurdles are suddenly overcome.

Maybe librarians are the big picture? Image courtesy of ho_hokus on Flickr

I think all this is relevant when looking at Information. Often, especially towards the end of a library school term, too many details can start to grind you down. All the tiny caveats of topics can start to seem pointless, especially when Joe Bloggs fails to appreciate the relevance of it all other than learning the alphabet so that their books can be shelved in a rudamentary fashion. At times like this, looking at The Big Picture can remind oneself that without all these details, chaos would ensue. Finding things, both in a hardcopy and technological sense would be a nightmare. People would question why things are not where they want them and why their librarian/information specialist cannot find them. In addition to this, the details are interesting.  Maybe not to everyone, but then I found Chemistry dull (sorry Mr Jones, stories about your experiences with campanology failed to liven up lessons) and lots of people find that exciting (chemistry, not bell ringing). Information pervades every aspect of our lives, so what could be more relevant than studying how we manage its day to day challenges?! There are so many routes to information, ways to search for it, different forms to find it in. More people engage with library studies on a daily basis than they care to believe. Sorting your shopping when you get home? OK, its a bit of a stretch but its a degree of cataloguing. Can’t find that thing you want to buy on Amazon? That’ll be a problem with your search query, or a metadata issue.

So next time someone questions your choice of study or profession, tell them that A) it is arguably better than both chemistry and campanology combined and B) it is pretty damn interesting.

The Benefits of Branching Out

After reading “Why should special librarians defend public librarians?” by @Woodsiegirl I started thinking about the interplay between special and public libraries and wanted to share my experiences of making module choices for my MA programme. Whilst I can no means claim to be any particular type of librarian or information professional, my interests have been very much focussed towards ‘special’ libraries. This was influenced mainly by my graduate traineeship in a law library and volunteering in an engineering library. So, when I started my MA, I was determined that all my module choices would point in that direction. Despite this, when it came to finalising my options I decided to branch out and take the public libraries module. I’m really glad I did this and as a result I wanted to put down a few points relating to my experiences of choosing modules in the hope that come the next academic year it might help someone!

To illustrate the enjoyment that I have gained from picking a module outside my future career aims, I wanted to mention the visits I have attended. The prison library visit I blogged about the other week was linked to the public libraries module, and today we visited a local branch library and were kindly hosted by the Head of Library Services. Today was a really interesting talk and focussed on the provision of library services for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. If it wasn’t for the public libraries module that I’m currently taking I would have missed out on both of these experiences. Now a few points that will hopefully be useful…

• Do not worry too much about tying everything to your future job hopes: I was very concerned about increasing my employability by choosing modules relevant to my future aspirations. By diversifying I not only feel more knowledgeable about the profession as a whole, but feel more able to talk about areas of librarianship that I knew little about previously- surely that can only be a good thing for networking and interviews?!

• Pick something you think you will enjoy: This one is self explanatory really, and is a staple for pretty much every bit of advice on choosing modules, but it is true. I love my modules, and feel more inclined to sit and work at something I find interesting. It is a great way to give a bit of extra ‘oomph’ towards the end of term as deadlines approach.

• Choose something outside of your normal interests: This kind of contrasts with the previous point, but I think it is still important. Pushing yourself outside your normal interests, and outside your comfort zone is a good thing. It can add an extra challenge to your course, and makes for a good talking point.

• Try not to choose modules just on how they are assessed: I was tempted to look for modules that were only assessed through essay writing, but after a bit of thinking and inspiration inspired by a slide show by thewikiman I realised I should probably do a module with a bit of a technical side to it. Plus it is nice to have a change from writing to something more practical once in a while!

• Modules aren’t the be all and end all of your career direction: Or at least I hope not. See Lex Rigby’s post which discussses the structure of career paths I’m no careers counsellor, but I like to think that what you do in addition to your module choices can count just as much for future employment as what you do on the course. Get involved in other things too!