View from the Hill

Books or no Books?

The Changing Landscape of the Information Profession was the topic of an SLA Europe panel discussion session I was asked to facilitate last week.  It has been ably reviewed in different blogs and discussion lists.

One question asked the panel whether they thought there will be any future for print books.  I chose to split this into two questions and ask for a show of hands from the audience.  The first was to ask if there was a future for business books.   The majority in the audience felt not.  Then we explored thoughts on the future for leisure reading.  This time over 50% of the audience felt there was a future.  The panel was split 50/50 and to quote Sara Batts 'I suspect that at some point in the future I will own an e-book reader; but unless one is invented that survives being dropped in the bath, I will be hanging on to my paper books too.'  I concurred with her which meant the majority panel view was positive for the future of books, at least for leisure.

Today I spotted an excellent animated film for the New Zealand Book Council - of Going West by Maurice Gee - a Film for NZ Book Council, Produced by Colenso BBDO, Animated by Andersen M Studio.  I had to watch it two or three times, each time seeing more depth and something new and it just reminded me of why I love to read.  I challenge you not to be drawn in.

Off now to borrow the book at our wonderfully refurbished John Harvard Library in Borough High Street, and probably one or two more to boot. 

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
      What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet;
      So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
      Retain that dear perfection which he owes
      Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
      And for that name which is no part of thee
      Take all myself.

The passion that a name commands lies dormant until such time as someone acts.  SLA (Special Libraries Association) have spent a considerable amount of time, effort and money to carefully research a potential new name to reflect the values of their vast collective store of talent and skill.  This comes under the classification (there I've used a library word) of Alignment.  Kate Arnold, SLA Board Europe member is one of the Alignment Ambassadors for SLA Europe.  She is keen to encourage debate on the suggested name.

The name put forward for a deciding vote is Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals (ASKPro).  The blogs are overheating, (SLA blog), the SLA Europe discussion list has woken from a slumber.  It is good to see debate and feel that passion of others.  We pray a happy ending for all who care and have put such effort in.  A thankless task.  Or Not?  Go have your say.

For never was there a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo. 

- Sue Hill (and our Will!)

 

Commonality in Diversity - The Big Issues

We all face the same challenges. Who is “we” and what are the challenges? The latest, and very delicious, SHR Breakfast today brought together public and private sectors, knowledge, information and libraries. Despite the external challenges of financial constraints and ever increasing regulation, one of the biggest challenges facing our profession might be summed up in the word “perception”. Does your CEO know what you do? Shouldn’t it be your responsibility to change that? Looking at our guest list today you would perceive that the issues faced by each organisation and company would be wildly different but to our surprise, and pleasantly so, there was a lot of commonality and a lot to be learnt from each other.

In discussion, we learnt that one of the major impacting factors on knowledge and information services is the expectation to do more and do better with less – less funding, less time and less resources. Looking at your existing resources, the most valuable of all, your staff, there is a need to employ the very best. Would it surprise you to hear from employers that job applications have doubled, but the quality hasn’t? Sadly, I suspect not. We not only have to justify our services, but we have to justify ourselves in jobhunting. Simply sending a CV will not work!  

What struck me most about our fascinating round-table discussion was the passion to break down the silos, to share, to learn from each other and to cross-fertilise. How do we do this? By networking, joining together to find our voice. Without exception there were nodding heads when Sue Edgar raised the notion of the need for good leadership in business and that it is vital to get a mentor or a coach, it being critical to keep you moving. By getting a role model or mentor outside knowledge & information, you are already well on your way to encourage the move away from silos.  

And whilst we didn’t have time to answer the question “where is the future of the profession”, we did agree that we need people who have worked across all silos and that we urgently need to connect our "different" professions.   The thought of an Umbrella organisation providing services and a central voice for the many and diverse information groups to rally around was mooted and generally liked.

- Suzanne Wheatley, Recruitment Manager

SCL says libraries are for everyone

Weren't they already? The Society of Chief Librarians has today announced that we, the library card-carrying public, can now use any of 4,000 libraries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This initiative aims to make local facilities available to everyone, to encourage visitors and to make the library the community centre. There are calls by government ministers for coffee shops to be opened in our libraries and even for a postal delivery service to be in operation. Already there are lively debates opening on this topic, one comment is about book-drops being installed similar to those at your local video store. I'd like to add that my favourite library, the brilliant Barbican library (particularly excellent for music) has a great drop off facility which saved me some late fees the other day!

What are your thoughts?

Uniform for the info pro?

I won't bore you with the details but I've been on holiday. You'll no doubt be delighted to know there was plenty of sunshine, good food and time to watch the world go by! Shall I stop there? Righto.

So, there were a couple of things that made me laugh whilst I was away:

1. A t-shirt for sale in Corfu Town which said "F*** Google, ask me instead"

The clothing manufacturer didn't employ the *** - I'm just safe-guarding my job by not swearing on our blog! If ever there was an item of clothing for info pros...

 

2. The obituary for Keith Waterhouse, author, journalist and playwright, in The Times (although I read it in the much more reading-by-the-pool-friendly and digestible magazine The Week). One of his famous quotes: "Should not the Society of Indexers be know as Indexers, Society of, The?”

 

I did laugh more than twice but these stuck in my mind as being bloggable once I got back to the office. Clearly I'm a geek and should get out more, but just wanted to share!

- Suzanne Wheatley

 

Who should represent the full spectrum of information professionals?

Maybe it's time for CILIP to decide - is it still the Library Association under the skin, or does it want to represent the full spectrum of information professionals?  Doubtless other organisations will be be casting an eye.

Alison Raisin and Peter Griffiths in The Government Libraries Journal (June 09) highlight some interesting points and comment on qualification and competencies. Not just for librarians but also for Knowledge and Information management (KIM) professionals within government. It seems that Library posts within government still need a CILIP recognised qualification whereas roles that encompass Records, Knowledge and other aspects of Information Management don’t.

One interesting outcome of this is the resultant one way traffic in terns of job moves. Librarians can move on out - but KIM people can't move into library jobs. The Knowledge Council is looking to rectify this in part by encouraging KIM practitioners to recognise themselves as part of a professional community and then identify and develop skills and learn how to apply them. The departments need to develop a skills pipeline for the future in conjunction with this.

This opens out many opportunities for those of us in this field. Now is an exciting time to widen our skills and the arena in which we can apply them, when our known world appears to be shrinking as a result of efficiencies through outsourcing, increased use of Web 2.0 technologies and the credit crunch.

It is vital that someone takes up the challenge to harness these new energies and create new larger networks by interweaving the strands of the information profession. Who will do it? Who wants to? Who is farsighted enough to see the benefits for our future information generation?

It is particularly interesting that comments have continued to flow to our blog after the SHR breakfast at the beginning of July at which Professional Associations were the hot topic.  Everyone knows something needs to be done - but who is going to proactively step up and do it? - Sue Hill 

Librarian on the Fringe

In an interesting mailing I received from UKEIG today was an article about one of the shows being taken up to the Edinburgh festival.  Tracy Crisp, a librarian herself, has written a "witty, comic mystery" about a vegetarian librarian who has been framed for murder, and she hasn't even had time to feed the kids yet.

"She's not just quiet... she's dead" runs through August at The Space on the Mile @ Jury's Inn, Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

 - Katharine Liu

Alphabetical, colour or Dewey - how do you sort yours?

My friend Louise is always good for a news story about our profession and she's come up trumps again today. The Guardian has an interesting article which offers some advice on how to fill your time in a redundancy-style situation. Ok ok, not quite - it's about James Purnell, the ex-Work & Pensions Secretary, and how he has arranged his bookshelves. The article in itself is interesting but what amused me so much more are all the comments. I can't see a comment from Louise (yet!) but I know that she has immaculately arranged bookshelves by author and DVDs/CDs by genre then artist. She also utilises the "pile" theory for new books. Oh dear. Have I revealed too much? Let me share my thoughts. I go for genre then alphabetical with my books. Well. If you've been round to my place you'll know all that means is my Dave Gormans sit together, likewise Bill Bryson, Tony Hawks and Harry Potters. And there's always a massive pile of Louise's books next to my bed, waiting to be read!

Rise up librarians and offer your suggestions! If there are any psychologists reading this...

- Suzanne Wheatley

Umbrella brings the sun and an honour

Up at sparrows' and off to Hatfield on what a previous colleague famously called 'a big train' to exhibit the Sue Hill Recruitment services offering and to speak for my wonderful friends CDG.  A good turnout of 721 delegates - not all of whom made it to our stand, but judging by the disappearing quantities of our famous jellybeans, many did.

Conversations at the stand covered the spectrum of recruitment issues, job hunting and much about professionalism - the latter generated in no small measure by reports of the Borough Market Twelve breakfast meeting. John Feather coincidentally spoke on The Information Society: Does it need the information professions?  John is always controversial and fun so it was good to catch up with him. Lizzie Russell, one of our newest team members, was kept busy talking to prospective and existing candidates and clients as indeed was I, and I am sure Cameron Best will be busy today. 

Despite the numbers of people concerned about their jobs or lack of them the overall atmostphere was positive, showing to me the benefits of professional networking and keeping up to date with current issues.

At 2.15pm precisley I headed off to compete against Paul Sturges speaking on Why is Poo Brown?  Luckily a good number of those eager to change sectors came along to listen to me.  As each person arrived they were challenged to sit next to someone they did not know and who was not from the same sector. Within five minutes the noise was deafening. The power of networking is not to be dismissed! 

I was moved to tears at the end of my session when the lively and vibrant Maria Cotera, current President of CDG awarded me with an Honorary Fellowship of CDG and read the citation in full.  Thank you CDG.  This is an honour I am very proud to accept.  Within this very special group I feel are our future leaders which is why I support them.  We MUST invest in our future.

 - Sue Hill

Get It Loud in Libraries

Is it me? Don't get me wrong, I love reading about creative uses of libraries, encouraging and enticing new folk through the doors. But I do wish journalists could move away from the tired old stereotype of librarians telling everyone to be quiet. Yes, I remember being told to be quiet - but I was 14, at school, sniggering over a slightly naughty passage my friends and I had found in a book. It was right and proper that we were disciplined!

In this article on the BBC website about Morecambe Library hosting a rock gig featuring Juliette Lewis, the journo writes:

"Morecambe librarian Wendy Pollard describes the show as "wonderful" and was not tempted to tell anyone to "shhhh""

Really? Did she actually say that? I suspect not. But I bet the writer got a giggle out of it. Let's be proud of the innovative ways our libraries are being used. Surely the journos should match that innovation? Maybe it's something The Borough Market Twelve could add to their agenda?

- Suzanne Wheatley (aka Disgruntled of SE1)