I think advocacy for the profession is very important as more and more organisations are having to cut budgets and libraries seem to be a big part of these cuts. I know that a lot of school libraries are going and seen as not needed so how long will it be before this is filtered up and college libraries start to disappear?
Our college library is split into lots of locations (LRCs, Learning Resource Centres) although we don't always feel as Library staff that these are for the purpose we would choose. Increasingly these seem to be more computer rooms than actual study centres full of different learning resources. We have to speak up to make sure that we have all the resources available to help our students, not just doing something because it seems the easier option or what one department wants rather than the actual student needs. Some days I have sat in LRCs feeling like I am more of a babysitter making sure students behave rather than utilising professional library skills to help students. Increasingly we are there more to support IT skills than help a student to find information on a topic. Advocacy helps promote what we can do so that we are asked for help and do become usful again. If we don't promote ourselves and our service we are taken for granted and not utilised in the ways we can help.
I haven't written anything for any publications to do with Libraries although I have found it particularly useful and enjoyable writing this blog to keep track of my thoughts and share them with others so it might be something I'll pursue in the future. When I worked in customer services at a call centre I was a co-editor of a magazine we had there and I really enjoyed writing articles for it.
Wednesday 7 September 2011
Thing 15 - Attending, presenting & organising events, conferences and seminars
I haven't attended any actual conferences yet, the closest I have been is to the Library show a few years ago when I heard some very interesting talks on Twitter and the new Library of Birmingham. To be honest I have heard of different conferences but have never really made the time to look into what they are about or think of going to them. This is something I think I would like to address and maybe try and get to at least one a year. As we have such a regimented timetable it is sometimes difficult to get time off to attend things and as I don't drive distance can also be an issue.
Apart from presentations I have given at job interviews I have never really spoken to groups outside of the Library. I do get quite nervous as I am sure many people do, although I have been fine talking to groups at Library inductions.
I don't know what topics I would feel confident talking about. The College where I work has an LRC approach so that might be an interesting idea to be able to discuss what works and what doesn't by dividing a library across several rooms rather than a central main library.
Apart from presentations I have given at job interviews I have never really spoken to groups outside of the Library. I do get quite nervous as I am sure many people do, although I have been fine talking to groups at Library inductions.
I don't know what topics I would feel confident talking about. The College where I work has an LRC approach so that might be an interesting idea to be able to discuss what works and what doesn't by dividing a library across several rooms rather than a central main library.
Thing 14 - catch up again
Well after time off on holiday I am trying to catch up with 'things' again so here we go. Thing 14 is referencing systems. I have decided not to look at Zotero at the moment as I tend to use Internet Explorer rather that Firefox, although I may have a quick look at it when I have more time as we do have quite a few students who use Firefox so it could be useful for them.
14b: Mendeley
I have to say that Mendeley does look a useful tool but without actually having anything to reference right at the moment it is a bit difficult to tell until I have actually used it. I could probably use a tool like this when I start my Post Grad diploma to keep everything in one place to save having to go through notes after I have written an essay to get my bibliographic reference completed. It is definitely one tool I am 'saving' to use in the future.
14c: Citeulike
Citeulike also looks useful and as I have used delicious before it seems a pretty straightforward tool. I also like it from the persepective that I can access it from any computer as I tend to use many different PCs throughout the course of a day.
In terms of their use for our students I don't think it would be entirely appropriate. Our students base is mainly 16-19 years olds completing vocational and A-level courses. We find that they tend to want things that are simpler and easier and pretty much done for them. The only support we usually provide with referencing is how to produce Harvard referencing for bibliographies. We have a helpsheet available and we tend to direct students to the site http://www.neilstoolbox.com/ where they can put in all of the details of the books etc and it puts the information into Harvard style referencing for them. This is about as technical as out students like to get! Although saying that this year we will be having more students taking up foundation degrees due to links we have with local universities so these tools could be something I might have the chance to share with these students.
14b: Mendeley
I have to say that Mendeley does look a useful tool but without actually having anything to reference right at the moment it is a bit difficult to tell until I have actually used it. I could probably use a tool like this when I start my Post Grad diploma to keep everything in one place to save having to go through notes after I have written an essay to get my bibliographic reference completed. It is definitely one tool I am 'saving' to use in the future.
14c: Citeulike
Citeulike also looks useful and as I have used delicious before it seems a pretty straightforward tool. I also like it from the persepective that I can access it from any computer as I tend to use many different PCs throughout the course of a day.
In terms of their use for our students I don't think it would be entirely appropriate. Our students base is mainly 16-19 years olds completing vocational and A-level courses. We find that they tend to want things that are simpler and easier and pretty much done for them. The only support we usually provide with referencing is how to produce Harvard referencing for bibliographies. We have a helpsheet available and we tend to direct students to the site http://www.neilstoolbox.com/ where they can put in all of the details of the books etc and it puts the information into Harvard style referencing for them. This is about as technical as out students like to get! Although saying that this year we will be having more students taking up foundation degrees due to links we have with local universities so these tools could be something I might have the chance to share with these students.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)