View from the Hill

What would you do with £100m? LIKE25 at the Crown Tavern

Stimulating discussions at LIKE25, at the Crown Tavern in Clerkenwell last night with our guest, Caroline Brazier, the newly appointed Director of Scholarship & Collections at the British Library.  Caroline joined us to discuss how the British Library is balancing the current challenges of budget cuts with increasing expectations on the Library's leading role in supporting Britain in the digital information age.

With the background knowledge that the Library faces cuts of £25m over the next three years, Caroline outlined the strategies and evidence that are being presented to face this challenge.  She posed two questions to the audience. What is the one essential thing that the British Library does?  And if you were given £100m (the Library’s operating budget) what you spend it on to give maximum impact for public benefit?

A variety of answers came back on the second question, including a greater emphasis on digital infrastructure and digital licensing, and investment in outreach activities, particularly to the Higher Education community.  It was also suggested that in the current climate the BL should reconsider its core strategy and mission statement – is it sustainable now to be all things to all people?  A number of people also commented that £100m comparatively is not a large sum. "Ridiculously good value" has been a much repeated Twitter comment since last night. Should the BL be more ambitious and lobby actively for increased funding and increased private investment, rather than making do with what they are currently being given?

Caroline also drew our attention to three key documents as part of our discussion: 

The Value of Knowledge - the annual report for 2009/10

2020 Vision – the Library’s strategic vision statement for the next 10 years

and Return on Investment – a paper from last autumn which presents an economic model suggesting that for every £1 of public funding, the BL generates at least £4.40 for the UK economy.

Much food for thought. 

And talking of food, I was amused to see that our name badges for the evening displayed our first names, and not our employers, but the main course that we had ordered from the menu. Presumably networking conversations could then be started on the basis that you really are what you eat. Mine was more or less (fish)cakes and ale.  I leave you to draw your own conclusions there.

- Donald

Making the right investment

Yesterday evening Sue Edgar & Suzanne Wheatley presented a workshop on Making the Right Investment - Recruitment & Selection for BIALL in a great venue, the London Canal Museum.   

 

The group had mixed experiences of recruitment, however one theme was that the group were looking to pick up tips, best practices and prepare for when they will be in a position to hire. To start off the workshop we all threw two words affecting us in the work place which revealed an underlying current of worry.  Whilst no one feels they are directly threatened by redundancy there was some unease in the room with an expectation that most professionals are doing more with less.  However the positive aspects of integrating new members in a team, managing new resources and great customer service were great to hear.   

 

In talking about how to prepare, as managers, for the recruitment process the group discussed best practices in terms of how to work effectively with their HR team, how to develop relevant job descriptions- was it the hiring manager's responsibility or is it HR that have a prescriptive formula for job descriptions which do not allow tailoring. Understanding who is controlling the recruitment process is key to success.  Developing strong relationships with key protagonists in the organisation helps pave the way for recruitment business case development, better HR collaboration and strengthens cross functional understanding. Take control of the process, actively participate rather that be a spectator.  

 

In talking about selection criteria we discussed various scenarios from technical skills or softer skills emphasis.  The group also confirmed that poor CV layout, poor spelling and 'stretching' of actual experiences were key deciding factors on who to meet. It is imperative that if you say you are 'an excellent communicator' as a candidate that you have to be able to give examples and talk with authority. If you are the interviewer be prepared to ask those questions until you get a good answer. Also knowing what you can and cannot ask is essential to ensure that you do not discriminate in any way, this is also true when reviewing CVs for selection.  We talked of some interesting 'horror' stories on selection and I will not elaborate on those here! Interviewing for a new colleague to join your team can be daunting, exciting, time consuming and successful. You must prepare and not just see it as a chat. You represent your team and organisation and as an ambassador the candidate will judge you as the representative of the company. Brand image be it personal or corporate must maintain its integrity to attract and retain staff.  

 

Lastly we discussed managing expectations - but whose? HR, your team, line manager, agency, successful and unsuccessful candidates. Get engaged in the full process end to end and make that offer. If you are the hiring manager then offering to your 'new' team member will mean a lot. The relationship started at interview and needs to be managed and maintained through to that first day.  

 

It was a good group and the breakout sessions harvested some great cases. It was really encouraging to hear that increased recruitment activity is in the pipeline.  And today's good news is that a law firm is now looking to bring on board some graduate trainee roles!

The art of networking: SLA(m)2

Q.  Where can you discuss career development strategies, the latest developments in EDRMS and the fate of Phineas Gage’s skull, all in the space of two hours?

A.  At last night's SLA(m)2 networking evening organized by SLA Europe at Patch Bar of course!

It was a highly enjoyable event, and a fascinating mix of people.  Perhaps it sounds simple – put a group of interesting professionals together in a room, add alcohol and delicious snacks, then stand back.  But of course it’s not quite that straightforward.  Networking events can be daunting.  Going into a room of strangers and being sociable doesn’t come naturally to all of us.  This got me thinking about what advice might be out there to make the most of an event like this.

Many years ago at Tynemouth Market, I picked up a copy of Milton Wright’s The Art of Conversation on a second-hand book stall. I’ve always thought of it as a pompous 1930s oddity, and have only kept it on the shelf as a private joke.  However I was surprised to find that it is still being cited, and most recently, by strange coincidence it was used as the theme for last October’s Design Event North East in Newcastle.

There are a number of web sources that are of more immediate use for the nervous networker.  Kintish.co.uk gives tips on working a room, with 10 mental warm-up exercises, and 6 conversational groupings to watch out for. Scott Allen, blogger at Business.com gives a 5 point plan on making the most of networking events, with a number of further links for additional reading.  The Internet Business Coach gives more general guidelines on networking strategies.

But how to psych yourself up before throwing yourself into the thick of it? Is it a question of picking the right clothes and remembering not to drink too much?  Or should you, as a friend of mine says, who has conquered lifelong chronic shyness to carve a new career for herself as a DJ and producer on London’s alternative cabaret circuit, simply learn to go up to complete strangers, smile and say hello?

 Do you have any advice or experiences to share on how to work a room?

- Donald.

"Leave the libraries alone. You don’t understand their value."

It's Monday morning so you're bound to be busy. I won't keep you long. Thanks to @mrchrisaddison on Twitter for pointing me to this wonderful and inspirational speech by Philip Pullman. He gave this speech back in January 2011 but it's only just appeared on my radar.

I hope it will give you a little extra lift on this lovely sunny day.

- Suzanne

Synthesising, synergy, scrambled eggs and smoked trout

On a brilliant sunny morning a diverse group of information professionals met this week at Roast Restaurant in London’s Borough Market and talked at length about the two things that are currently having the biggest effect on their working life.

The list, as Val Skelton so aptly summarises in the Information Today blog, was lengthy.  The organisations represented ranged from Central Government, Investment Banking, Charities, NHS, Academia, Digital Content Support and Publishers and yet commonality of interest shone through. 

I am still intrigued at the comment that the Punk generation (now 40-55) are currently running our businesses and that they are generally not inspirational managers.  Is it any wonder given that their 1980-1995 MBAs were written by others who did their MBAs in the 1960s?   One breakfaster deep into his MBA had been asked by his MD what ‘Creativity’ (the title of one his modules) was.  Lateral thinking?  Whatever the name a skill that is either welcomed or stifled depending on management.  Seven years working in Australia was seen as a fast track way to develop skills and push the boundaries as the general attitude is ‘What are you waiting for?  Do it!’

Information workers shouldn’t worry about what they do, where they fit and where they stand on the ‘professionalism’ ladder but more act as consultants, confident they have something unique and special to offer.

Next time I am going to have the pancakes with yoghurt and rhubarb jam.  - Sue

Carve your place on the social web

Yesterday I went to an APSCo marketing forum on Active participation in the social web and, much as I did on my way home from Uncaged Monkeys on Monday, I spent my tortuous journey through the City last night (who ordered rain AND traffic chaos on the same night?) thinking about my blog. Where to start? I could tell you that the average age of Facebook users is 38 and that c10,000 sites a day connect with Facebook. Or I could talk about the very many hints, tips and tools we were given (links aplenty). Perhaps the explanation of the latest LinkedIn toys and functions would be useful for you. But I think what has grabbed me most is the discussion around credibility and visibility. This will be old news to some of you and I found myself thinking "we do this" quite often but we are always learning.

 

Our speaker for the afternoon was Paul Harrison of Carve Consulting - yet another inspirational speaker. (It's my great fortune to have heard several this week!)  What he said about engagement struck a particular chord with me - the real value of the social web is meaningful participation. Anyone can tweet/blog/advertise their jobs/products/services but surely the point of social media is connectivity and communication, about relationships and engagement. How many of us have a blind spot when it comes to the right hand advertisements on Google, Amazon and Facebook? So it follows that we would most likely ignore blatant advertising on other forms of the social web. But how much more effective would it be to engage in conversation with your industry? To hear what's happening and start a dialogue, to get your demonstrable expertise out into the market. Connect with people who matter.

 

Paul described these tools and technologies as having fundamentally changed the way we connect. Has that fundamentally changed the way we do business? Yes and no. The yes is pretty easy to see by the aforementioned "visibility" of organisations and people but the no... well, perhaps that's just as easy to see in the lack of visibility. Attendees at the event yesterday spoke about letting their colleagues loose on Twitter & LinkedIn or about not being able to do that because of company policy (or lack thereof). Paul's advice was to be grown up about it. If you give your staff the tools to fly, you must let them practice and they will get better. Take using the phone as an example - the first few calls can be shaky but you get better and more competent. This doesn't have to take a lot of time - 1 comment (140 characters?) per day from each member of your team is a whole lot of expertise and engagement.

 

There is so much I could say about the seminar but I should keep this short and sweet. I daresay I'll be tweeting about it in much smaller doses. The best bit about the afternoon was hearing Paul speak. Articulate, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about his subject, I was completely engaged from his first word and would recommend you get to hear him if at all possible. Certainly if you have anyone who has reservations about the validity of social media in business, tell them that active engagement is free.

 

- Suzanne

Farewell Library, Hello Aptitude Centre

Wellington College, the £30,000 per year school in Berkshire, is planning rather exciting changes for its library, as reported in The Sunday Times on 15 May 2011. Out go the books (80% of the stock will wing its way to Africa and other “worthy causes”) and in comes the Aptitude Centre.  Students can step away from the 140 year old book stacks into the glass walled pods, dip their toes into one of the eight pooled water libraries then pick up one of the iPads before heading for the café. 

The College follows an holistic approach to education, developing each pupil’s gift by nurturing 8 aptitudes -  moral, social, physical etc. Anthony Seldon, College Master, wants the new zone to be a place for students to think and debate. 

Well, he did inherit an “arid” library full of 20,000 books which had barely been updated since the college’s inception in the mid 19^th century.  The library webpage remains mundane, its resource list a reminder that private schools are often stuck in a bit of time warp with architecturally beautiful buildings rather than spaces fit for 21st century purpose.  My son’s inner London secondary school, when rebuilt 3 years ago, was designed around the library with all the classes using whiteboard technology and laptops.

But, as Annie Mauger, the Chief Executive of CILIP points out, literacy rather than the medium through which it is pursued is the key to children’s education.   

The Wellington alumni can always pick a book in the Bodleian; meanwhile hope no one drops an iPad into the water.

- Anne Williams

Inspirational Monkeys

How often do you feel inspired?  What or who last inspired you? It was last night for me and the inspiration was the Uncaged Monkeys. Let's start with the audience - 3500 people turned out on a Monday night at the Hammersmith Apollo to hear about science. Impressive. I speak at conferences, running workshops about the mechanics of using your voice effectively - pace, tone, volume, projection - so I was particularly interested in how these (now seasoned) presenters but above all, scientists, communicated to the audience in such a huge venue.

We were treated to a whirlwind look at carbon dating by Chris Addison (who, if I’m honest, could speak a bit slower - it pains me to say this as I'm a BIG fan), geek love songs by Helen Arney (ukulele + science = lots of laughs) and a look at perception with Richard Wiseman (Carmina Burana will never be the same). For me, it was Robin Ince hosting who set the tone and got me hooked. He was as excitable as a small child who had discovered a new insect in the garden and thus found a new toy.

Now, I'm a musician, not a scientist. But I have a fascination for all things medical so the last presenter was of particular interest to me - Dr Ben Goldacre, actual doctor and also writer, broadcaster and author of Bad Science. He bounded on to the stage and whizzed around it like another excitable child. His language was, quite rightly, medical and scientific whilst talking about clinical trials and withheld data. But it was the musical delivery which made him stand out as an inspirational speaker for me. He set off at an allegro pace, sometimes hitting vivace as his passion poured out of him but he slowed to a purposeful andante to give us a chance to properly listen to and digest his key points. As if to highlight how invested he is in pursuing the truth (sorry, I went a bit X Files there), Goldacre’s voice occasionally hit the high notes usually only emitted by choir boys but this only served to show us how much he cares.

Moving from the musical Dr Goldacre to the poetic Prof Brian Cox, who was the highlight of the evening for me. Whilst I have a fair grasp of medical terminology (thanks to an early stint in St John’s Ambulance and a love of Casualty, ER, City Hospital & a Dr best friend), my understanding of particle physics is, well, lacking. It didn’t matter. Listening to Cox speak was like soaking up Shakespeare – I got the general gist of it, picked up a few key phrases, but mostly enjoyed his lilting delivery. It was quite a geek-fest at the Apollo and I imagine the scientists in the audience appreciated Cox not dumbing down his language – and so did I. But it’s not just about the words. Why was I hooked on hearing more about the Large Hadron Collider and Gravity Probe B? I think it was the combination of being utterly enthralled by someone so passionate and knowledgeable about their subject and also the imagery he used. There was no background music (controversial or otherwise), just images projected onto a big screen (which were easy to view even from the cheap seats at the back) – far away galaxies viewed by the Hubble telescope, the curvature of the Earth as seen from the moon. It was pure poetry.

What makes an inspirational speaker? For me, it’s someone who speaks clearly but with passion and emotion. It’s someone who knows their subject. But ultimately it’s someone who commands my attention and my respect, someone who engages me and makes me listen whether or not I understand every word. Thank you Dr Goldacre and Prof Cox for making me want to be a better speaker.

We were all entertained and educated last night. I wish all CPD was this much fun.

 - Suzanne

Solutions and reputations

My poached eggs and bacon came with a side order of budget and politics this morning at the latest SHR Networking Breakfast at Roast. It wasn't a review of the coalition's first 12 months but discussion across records, information and library services and the level to which our colleagues have budget input. The now standard request from on high seems to be "I'm going to reduce your budget but I want you to provide more service". How does this work when there is no more money for requested products or information? Looking at statistics and usage in depth means being able to explain to users exactly why and how products and services are procured, assigned and used. It can also be a shock to aggressive users to discover how little use they do make of an expensive resource (ROI rules!).  It was also suggested that budgets are often presented to us with a lack of realism about what can be achieved.

 

I like a conversation topic that's as hot as my delicious fresh mint tea - we moved on to social media (particularly, Twitter) and brand management. In communicating and marketing online, the watchword is "reputation". How do you control this when everyone is encouraged to contribute? There was more discussion too around personal accounts which comment on work-related matters. Whilst it's vital to communicate to your work and professional networks, there is a need for commercial awareness and to be astute in what you tell the world.

 

We got on to the topic of the IT "solution" (are they ever ultimately "solutions"?) and I'd like to leave you with my favourite quote of the morning: "I have a dishwasher but I still wash dishes by hand!"

- Suzanne

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a superinjunction.

All this talk (or non talk) of superinjunctions and their being broken (or should that be superbroken?) on Twitter has led me to ponder once again on the vagueries of the social media bandwagon we are all riding.

Leaving aside the question of privacy protection versus freedom of speech (and let’s face it, in this particular instance the eternal question of who has slept with whom is hardly a case for Wikileaks), I think we should take a moment to reflect on the fact that, for us mere mortals who cannot imagine being able to afford/ having a personal life interesting enough to require a superinjunction it is generally advisable to be a little bit careful about what we post to public forums such as Twitter.

I like to think that in this new age of the internet we are now all fairly savvy when it comes to Facebook – everyone’s heard the tales of potential employers scouring the Facebook pages of the candidates they’ve just interviewed for evidence of undesireability.

But people aren’t always as careful online as is advisable so I have come up with a few golden rules for the use of social media. These are especially worth bearing in mind when using tools like Twitter – it may seem by its very nature to present a minimal risk as posts to the site tend to be out of date within a couple of hours, but just because they no longer show up on people’s homepages, doesn’t mean they’re gone.

Firstly – do remember that even if you only use social media for personal (not professional) reasons that at the very least, elements of your profile and comments are readily available to anyone via a variety of search engines (and if you don’t keep a weather eye on your privacy settings a whole lot more).

Let me point you to England cricketer Kevin Pietersen’s ‘slip’ last summer when he announced he’d been dropped from the England side before his employers has issued a statement. Though the problem here wasn’t that he’d announced it before they did, rather it was the manner in which he announced it – angrily and with expletives. Which brings me nicely around to points two and three.

2 – Unless you are actually Charlie Brooker, it is inadvisable to swear. Wit is acceptable, s*** is not.

3 – Never criticise your employers (or potential employers). Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people other than Charlie Sheen get caught doing this.

To his credit Pietersen did remove the offending post and issue an apology, but:

4 - The internet has a long memory: just because you removed a post doesn’t mean it hasn’t been cached.

Enough of the bad ideas though – here’s a good one to finish with. For a fine exapmle of gentle (t)wit take a look a look at Graeme Swann http://twitter.com/#!/Swannyg66

- Gemma