Libraries Data Discovery Day 19th March 2017

30 people from libraries, councils, university, tech companies, etc came to Exeter Library for the first Libraries Unlimited Data Discovery Day. The day was run by ODI (Open Data Institute) Devon and was part of an Arts Council England funded two-year research project being carried out by Libraries Unlimited and the University of Exeter Business School to understand the impact of libraries on local communities in Devon.

Luke Burton from Newcastle Libraries shared their journey to releasing their data for anyone to use but explained that they aren’t yet at the stage of looking at outcomes and return on investment. This was followed by group discussions about the data we have, data we want, people and organisations we want to link with, equipment and what are the major questions we want the data to answer. The discussions really widened the scope of what we could do with so many possibilities of positive collaboration to discover health, economic, etc impact.

Beverley Hawkins of the University of Exeter Business School gave a presentation on organisational data and ethical enquiry. She gave an overview of the issues but also gave the advantages of consistent ethical practice. Lots of further discussion will need to follow and an open data policy to be devised. Gemma John, Architecture Anthropologist then talked about her project ‘Designing libraries in 21^st century – lessons for the UK’. She explained about the types of data she collected from libraries across 2 continents and the data she collected from the surrounding areas. She used the data to show how people interact with library services and spaces. She gave me a copy of her report which I am looking forward to looking into in more depth.

This was followed by more group discussions and trying to amalgamate information into areas to try to discover the most important themes from the day. In discussion with Luke it appears that he and his colleague Aude Charillon are the staff involved in Newcastle’s Libraries open data project so to have 15 library staff from across Devon involved in Libraries Unlimited open data project is a very positive development. He felt that staff buying into the value of data is key. Other key themes that stood out were

• Use the resources to achieve the best value so choose 3 or 4 things from the complexity of library data
• Start small, experiment, put it out there, see what feedback you get and develop the culture of open data
• Important to work out how to capture anecdotal evidence and use it.

It was a very interactive and collaborative day which I left feeling excited about the early visualisation of the data sets and further involvement in the project.

Effective Networking MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)

I am studying the Open University MOOC Effective Networking. I joined the MOOC because networking is an important part of my work but I feel awkward networking at events. The course is not just about lots of useful networking tips and how to prepare your elevator pitch, the course encourages you to evaluate yourself. Self-awareness – knowing your own emotions and Self-regulation – managing your own emotions have made me step back and think. I already know that I am going to be anxious and feel awkward therefore I just need to manage those emotions. Making the encounter about the other person, who are they and how can I help them, instead of about me is going to improve my networking.

The course continues on from face-to-face networking to look at online networking, particularly LinkedIn and blogging. All the preparation on the elevator pitch I found useful to improve my LinkedIn profile. Looking at my blog I see that I wrote 23 blogs in the 1^st 2 years, around 1 blog a month. However this then rapidly dwindled, partly due to taking the time to complete 8 MOOCs. I am learning so much of use to me for my work but I need also to spend more time on reflecting on my learning. I chose the photo of Spring flowers as the course has energized me to look afresh at face-to-face networking, LinkedIn and blogging. I unequivocally recommend this course.

Exeter Start Up Weekend 20th – 22nd November 2015

Exeter Start Up Weekend is an exciting, informative and daunting challenge to set up a business in 54 hours. It is very well organised with links to information and videos about pitching, business planning, weekend schedule, etc sent beforehand. I with Sophie, another Business Champion at Exeter Library, wrote and practiced our pitch. We took advantage of a 1:1 pitch practice session with Matt Morley of Tickbox. Lots of helpful tips and a recording of our pitch sent to us!

The Book Chooser start up idea one minute pitch

7 teams were chosen from the 30 pitches. Our pitch got lots of votes but unfortunately there weren’t enough tech attendees and as our idea was more technically difficult than others the Exeter Start Up Team could not pick us to go through. Still we came to learn so joined different teams where our interests and expertise could be of best use. I chose an accessible events platform as I have many years experience of teaching children with additional needs and supporting people to access library resources.

After team introductions it was all about the website to match accessible performances with people who have additional needs.  What was the value proposition? What did the website need to be able to do so that the amazing Tycho from Koncept could do the tech work on the website (while also doing the tech work for another team at the same time)? We booked mentor slots for the next morning so what questions did we want to ask them? 11pm and the Exeter University Innovation Centre closes.

Team Canvas, Value Proposition & Business Model Canvas templates

8.30am back at the innovation centre. Mentor support great so we now have a name and tag line: Cushion – making events more comfortable. Michael and Louise out and about doing face to face customer validation while Toby and myself on our laptops. I make my first Survey Monkey survey and reach out to my contacts in support organisations to disseminate it to their users. I use the local theatre and cinema websites to find out what accessible performances they are putting on for the website. I collect data from Exeter City and Devon County Councils about the number of people with additional needs to get statistics to back up our customer validation. We pull everything together and its 10pm and the innovation centre closes.

My Social Media photo: Cushion – making events more comfortable

8.30am Sunday and it’s all about the pitch. The 5 minute pitch must be structured: MVP, validation, execution, business model and growth. The slide presentation will now have to show screen shots, not a working model of the website, as Tycho has flown off to Spain early this morning (he does have company offices there). Matt Pocock, the voice coach who won the previous Exeter Start Up Weekend, gave us some really helpful advice about our pitch. We alter the wording of the pitch and reduce the words on the slides for more impact.

Toby, Louise, Me and Michael = the Cushion Team

It’s time to go up in front of the 5 judges. The pitch goes smoothly and we answer all the judges’ questions expanding on the information we had left out of the pitch. We are the people’s choice winners of the attendees and we achieve 2^nd place from the judges.

I learnt so much and had so much fun. Different caterers set up outside for meals and snacks. The table tennis competition was hotly contested. The weekend was exciting and exhausting at the same time. Thank goodness I had booked Monday off!

 

 

Goodreads

I am trying out Goodreads.  I have rated 20 books and written a review of the latest book I have read.  There is a section that says copy and paste your review into your blog.  Therefore below is my review of 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.  I now need to explore Goodreads further.

“https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/368916.84_Charing_Cross_Road”

My rating: “https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1203435506” 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this delightful book and read it in one go. The difference in the styles of the American and British letters at the start of the book is intriguing. The reserved British would not have added a postscript of “I hope “madam” doesn’t mean over there what it does over here’ on a second book order letter” or “Well, the hell with it” after her rant in the third letter. I found the developing relationship between the Helene and the shop workers over 20 years fascinating. Her kindness in sending food parcels to the shop during the austerity of rationing, while being a writer with only fluctuating income herself, was a turning point in the relationship. I also liked the imagery she conjures up in her letters of these old precious “soft vellum and heavy cream-colored pages” books in her “orange-crate bookshelves”. I think the book I was reading made the story more special as my copy I borrowed from Exeter Library Stack of older books and had yellowed pages. A book I will definitely re-read.

“https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/37503892-soo” View all my reviews

Library Camp SW 2014 at Exeter Library 5th July 2014

Library Camp SW is a day of discussion, inspiration and networking with others interested in libraries and information. Each year a new team hosts the event at a different venue. I enjoyed the first 2 Library Camps at the University of Exeter and the University of Bristol so I suggested that this year it would be a good idea to hold it at the new Exeter Library. Luckily networking really does work and others came on board to make up a brilliant and diverse team from Exeter Library, Tiverton Library, Tiverton High School Library, Westexe Technology College Library and University of Exeter Libraries. Having never put on a conference before or organised a team from different workplaces I researched project management. This research was very useful as I found out about different types of action plans, Social Media marketing, etc and also how to set up and use a Wiki for information sharing and Eventbrite for tickets. The previous team were also very helpful sending on the links to what they had done and answering any questions. I acquired a better understanding of project management from my learning and planning, enjoyed working with people from different library sectors, enjoyed the challenge of organising the event and gained a sense of achievement. The Wiki statistics show over 2400 visits to the Library Camp SW 2014 Wiki.

People who attended the event were from a wide range of public, school, college, university, health etc libraries and from linked occupations which encouraged broad ranging discussions. A Library Camp is an unconference so participants pitched their session ideas on the Library Camp SW Wiki and at the start of the day. While 2 of the team ran a networking session the rest of us quickly matched numbers of interested people and sessions with rooms and tours to make a timetable for the day that allowed the participants to attend the 5 sessions that most interested them.

As Exeter Library had only been open for 6 weeks the new library tour was a popular option so we put on 4 tours. The tour of the Exeter Stack (staff only access library of older stock and collections) with a handling session of some of the beautifully illustrated Devon Collection of Children’s Books was also popular so we timetabled 3 sessions. There was lots of interest in the new Fab Lab and the minicomputer Raspberry Pi Jam being held that morning. I led 2 sessions with everyone asking numerous questions, taking lots of notes and all were very pleased with their 3D printed mementos.

There was loads of information sharing and useful tips in the wide range of discussion sessions: Technology in Libraries, Libraries as Community Hubs, Engaging Teenagers, Author Visits, Partnerships with Business, Library Users’ Expectations, Moving Sectors, Customer Service, CILIP Qualifications and Networking. There were also masses of interesting discussions during the delicious Bring and Share Lunch. The sharing of experiences and enthusiasm of the participants made a really enjoyable day.

For more photos and information see http://libcampsw2014.wikispaces.com/. Thanks again to all the team and all the participants. The 2014 team really enjoyed the experience of putting on the event so if you would like to run Library Camp SW 2015 at your library then please email libcampsw@gmail.com.

Library Camp SW 2014 Blog

With the Official Opening of the new Exeter Library on 15/07/14, the launch of the Summer Reading Challenge on 12/07/14 and holding Library Camp SW 2014 on 05/07/14 it has been a busy month and therefore a good time to relect on the month. However I was greatly surprised to find that my intention of blogging monthly had not been realised and my last post was in February 2014. This coincides with the start of my dual personality of Library Camp SW 2104 and myself: 2 gmail accounts, 2 Twitter accounts, 2 Facebook accounts, 2 Flickr accounts, 2 blogs, etc. The amount of work involved in moving Exeter Library and holding my first conference has been a steep learning curve but a rewarding experience. Therefore this blog is instead a link to the blogs I have posted as Library Camp SW 2014 to cover what has been happening in the last 6 months.

http://libcampsw.blogspot.co.uk/

Library Camp SW 2014 blogs
18/02/14 Library Camp SW
26/02/14 #FabLabDevon at Exeter Library
02/03/14 Business & IP Centre in the new Exeter Library
12/03/14 Visit to the Library of Birmingham
31/03/14 Exeter Library Redevelopment
18/06/14 The New Exeter Library is open
10/07/14 Library Camp SW 2014 event blog

CILIP Qualifications: the new regulations explained

I achieved Certification 3 years ago and having recently registered to Charter wanted to find out more about the new changes to the process.  Therefore I attended the CILIP Qualifications: the new regulations explained training at Plymouth Central Library, November 26^th 2013.  Pam Martindale led the training and as a CILIP Qualifications Board Assessor and Mentor gave us a very good insight from both points of view. 

 

During the morning we learnt about the 3 criteria we have to demonstrate that we meet.  The 3 criteria are similar for both Certification and Chartership: personal performance and skills, your organisation and how you contribute and the wider profession.  For ACLIP the emphasis is on developing your knowledge and MCLIP focuses on what you do with your knowledge.   We also learnt about evaluation and reflective writing and their importance in the CILIP qualifications.  I found the morning very informative, wrote lot of notes, gained ideas I will pursue and promised myself that I will make more time to blog (reflectively of course). 

 

During lunch I enjoyed meeting and making links with other people in the library and information profession.  I work in a public city library and enjoyed finding out about life in school, college, university, etc libraries. As a result I intend to visit the libraries/work shadow some of the people I met.  

 

In the afternoon we learnt about using the Personal Knowledge and Skills Base and building a portfolio.  I was finding wading through the 45 page PKSB daunting, as I seemed to have many areas that needed development, so was reassured to find that we were not expected to be superhuman and know and work on all areas of the PKSB.  Therefore I am narrowing down which 5/6 areas I want to improve my score and planning how to do that.  I also have come away with the less is more message for the portfolio evidence and reflect, reflect, reflect.

 

I recommend both the training and the networking for anyone going for Certification, Chartering or Revalidation. 

Library Camp SW 2014

I attended Library Camp SW at the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education last July and the first ever Library Camp SW at Exeter University the July before.  They were really enjoyable events and the diverse range of library and information professionals and people from related fields led to very interesting and informative discussions.

Last year at the end of the event the Bristol team asked if there was anyone who would like to run it next year.  I put forward the idea of running the conference in the brand new Exeter Library to the steering group for the redevelopment of the library and they unanimously voted their approval for the idea.  I particularly wanted to form the Library Camp SW 2014 team from across a range of libraries to represent the range of people who attend the camp.  Networking really does work and a colleague, 2 Devon, 1 college, 1 school and 3 University of Exeter library staff volunteered for the team.  My intention was that individuals within the team would be able to take on/share the roles that interest them so that it would not be more time consuming than they were happy to do.

It has been a fast learning curve for me.  The first meeting was about introductions, discussions about the team’s Library Camp experience and I gave an overview of Library Camp SW and the Exeter Library redevelopment.  I had gathered literature and photos to show what was involved and we discussed initial ideas and roles.  I realised that working from the agenda was not enough and a detailed action plan was needed.  I investigated project management and found the Project Management chapter from ‘The New Professional’s Toolkit’ by Bethan Ruddock and the Open University Open Learn ‘Planning a Project’ course very informative and thought provoking.  They not only helped with the Library Camp SW project but helped me understand the project management of the new Exeter Library.

For the event to be a success I not only needed to run the project capably but ensure it was marketed well.  In the weekly CILIP news email I found, in the 41 free webinars link, ‘Leveraging Social Media for Non Profit Events’.  Its aim was to increase awareness and attendance while being as efficient and effective as possible.  Perfect!  I learnt how to improve the ticketing life cycle of an event and the need to create a Marketing/Communications calendar.  So bringing all my learning together I developed a project management plan.

One of the publications I needed to advertise Library Camp SW 2014 in is only published irregularly 3 or 4 times a year in and had a copy date of 9^th February. This is early for a July event and would require the eventbrite ticket site and wiki up and running.  From the second team meeting everything needed to be in place within 12 days.   I used my ‘23 Things @ Devon Libraries’ social media training and further research to set up the wiki http://libcampsw2014.wikispaces.com/ .  Everybody has busy working lives and I found that people agreeing to and being listed on the plan as actioning a task wasn’t enough, people need to see where they are in the whole and who is waiting on who.  I communicated by team emails and individually with team members working on different parts of the eventbrite tickets, wiki information, advertising, etc to keep to deadlines.

The result of all the effort so far has been brilliant.  The adverts in the bulletins, websites have been sent in but not yet published so from social media promotion alone: 33 of the 100 free tickets have been bought in the first week for an event in 21 weeks time!  The importance of networking has been proved to me again.  Eventbrite lists the attendees so now anyone who reads the adverts and shows interest in the event will see it is a popular event and the range of people attending.  For example the 33 attendees are from: 9 public, 7 college, 5 university and 3 school libraries and include associated professions such as Arts Council England and Bristol Festival of Literature.

I initially did not realise the amount of work my suggestion to hold the event at my library would create for me but I am enjoying the challenge.  The learning and planning I have put in will not only benefit the event but I will be putting it to immediate good use in my work.  I have until 22^nd May, when Exeter library reopens, to become skilled in business and intellectual property to provide support in the new Business and IP Centre and run workshops!

Visit to the Library of Birmingham 7th February

I visited the Library of Birmingham on 7th February.  I had 2 particular reasons for the visit.  Exeter Central Library has been under £4.5 million redevelopment for 1 1/2 years and reopens on 22nd May.  Therefore I wanted to see what had been achieved at the Library of Birmingham (for 188 million), good practice and what the difficulties had been.  The new Exeter Library will have a Business and Intellectual Property Centre for the first time and I will be part of a team of 4 with responsibility for the centre so I wanted to learn about the Business and IP Centre at the Library of Birmingham and how it worked, the databases they used and which were most useful, any difficulties they had and what they would like to change. 

Yvonne Barker, Business & Learning Manager, gave a very informative 2 1/2 hour tour of the 11 floors of the Library and a good insight into the thinking behind each area.  Having seen many images of the library I had this picture in my mind of a cube covered in metal rings and hadn’t realised this iconic building was actually in 3 tiers.  This had been planned to allow for 2 gardens, the Secret garden on floor 7 and the Discovery Terrace on floor 3.  I thought that the outdoor space to read, relax with friends and enjoy the views was very relevant to the new Exeter Library where a new entrance to the rear of the building has been made to allow access to the park behind.  A lot of thought has gone into the outside areas in Rougemont Gardens but the visit has inspired more creative thinking about the balcony area on floor 2.  The Shakespeare Memorial Room, Skyline Viewpoint, Book Rotunda and Ampitheatre were amazing but for me the most significant impression I have is of half empty or completely empty shelves.  The shelving length was designed to equal the books that had been bought for the new Birmingham Library and of course with over half the stock out there are these huge gaps and no money to buy more stock.  As part of the stock team for Exeter Library I will be discussing extra stock and where to store it with the team.  In addition to the worries over cuts to services in Birmingham Yvonne had a big problem with IT.  There are still rooms not in use as the outside company who has the one million pound annual IT contract for the library hasn’t completed the work yet.  When we moved into the temporary library I put forward that it was essential that IT be done early so that it could be tested and any problems solved and this visit has reinforced this necessity for the move back into the redeveloped library.

On the Business and IP side I learnt that not all planned activities were in place yet.  Yvonne explained that some, such as the Learning Suite not yet up and running, were due to the IT not being completed but others due to time.  The first month after opening on 3rd September staff spent all their time on crowd control and it wasn’t until November they really started to get business and IP activities going.  This demonstrated to me the need to have everything not only in place for the opening of the new Exeter Library but to have organised the next few months after opening.  Yvonne also discussed impact and signage as you walk into the Business, Learning and Health floor and ideas on how to improve what they had at present.  This I found significant and was a timely reminder to step back and look at the Business and IP Centre from the customer’s viewpoint, particularly is it professional and does it give people in business/job hunting confidence in the expertise of the library.   I then had an instructive session with Carol Wallace, the Business Co-ordinator, about the Business & Learning databases the library subscribes to.  This included popularity, uses of the different databases, costs, etc.  This information is very important to Exeter Library as there is a lot of discussion at senior level about which databases to open the new Business and IP centre with.

I took lots of photographs of the interesting and the amazing and the more mundane notices, signs, leaflets etc to feedback to the development team.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/soolibabc/sets/72157640653172654/  Taking the photographs helped me focus on what I was seeing and caused me to think about why I was taking that photograph and what I wanted to achieve in showing it to the development team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Web Science: How the Web is Changing the World

Fantastic! I have finished the 23 @ Devon Libraries Social Media e-learning course. I can blog, Tweet, post on Facebook, upload photos on to Flickr, etc for leisure, work and training.

So what next? This week I have started the Web Science: How the Web is Changing the World MOOC offered by the University of Southampton. The videos of the tutors talking about different aspects of the topic and the activities really make you think about not just how the Web is changing the World but how the people who use it are changing it.

One activity was to make a timeline of the history of shaping the Web. I am 1/4 way through “50 digital ideas you really need to know” by Tom Chatfield so I thought yes I know the answer to this activity. In reaction to the 1957 launch of Sputnik by Russia the US Department of Defence created ARPANET in 1969 will be the start of my timeline. However as I read the 72 cards it did get me thinking do I need to go back further to the start of radio and electricity, but that led me to thinking you could go back as far as the start of human communication and the opposable thumb! Therefore my timeline starts in 1957. Trying to short list all that has shaped the web and trying to decide whether they have been technologically or social driven has really made me have to think!