Saturday, March 31, 2012

New blog to link all the Glasgow Tweet-Up / Meet-Up Activities

Anabel Marsh (@AnabelMarsh) has been busy (as always / all hail co-ordinator) this week and set up a specific blog to record the joint exploits of the #GLTU2 folk.   She also has a combined list of all the Twitter tweeps who participate.
So if you want one place to go to view all the related content we now have it in the blog!
So this post is mostly(!) just a very quick aide memoire to myself to remember to link my related posts here into it, and to proclaim its existence.
[I shall now away to a cool dark room to recover from the shock of posting a short blog for once!]

Friday, March 30, 2012

A Saunter Round the Glasgow Womens Library

Following on from a very convivial day wandering around public libraries as part of National Libraries Day a visit to Glasgow Women’s Library was arranged by some of the participants earlier this month with the help of CILIPS and the Glasgow Women’s Library.


Communal area full of visiting librarians!, temp. exhibition and some stock

Re-Visiting The Glasgow Women’s Library
I signed up for this because I went on a visit there well over a decade ago, long before it was in its current building or had any paid staff whatsoever, back in the days when it was solely volunteer-run on grant funding. So I was interested to see what had changed in the intervening period and how it had developed.

The Women’s Library in London
Many libraries and organisations have significant pressures on them these days. Since the visit to the Glasgow Women’s Library I note it has been announced that the London Women’s Library, currently within London Metropolitan University, is seeking a new home due to funding cuts which will otherwise much reduce the service London Met is able to support.

The Glasgow Women’s Library
This opened around 1990 as part of Glasgow City of Culture activity, is a charity, and has so far been housed in three different buildings, currently being around the side of The Mitchell Library in Glasgow, and approaching its 20th anniversary.
 It is the only Women’s Library in Scotland and is part of a loose movement of other Women’s Libraries around the world (in UK terms there also being the Women’s Library in London).
The remit is around providing a safe, supportive, friendly environment for women, many of whom have been affected by various adverse social issues. It has a diverse membership. Services are mostly focused on women.

Resource issues
It has no core permament funding but receives funding from a variety of grants from sources from Scottish Government to Heritage Lottery to Glasgow City Council.  It also does a lot of work on Friends scheme and other sources of raising income from auctions, book sponsorship etc.
There are various paid staff (e.g. Volunteers Co-ordinator) who work out of the Glasgow Women’s Library with responsibility for various issues of welfare. There is a Librarian re the Library itself. In addition there are a lot of volunteers who help with various aspects of activities and services.


Stock and objects

Library stock
The library has no book budget. It has a large bookstock, mostly sourced from donations, but this means that the stock does reflect the lives and interests of the women who use the library.  There is a focus on stock that reflects women’s lives, achievements and history. So sections on things like feminism, rights, women’s history, violence.
Only about a third of the total stock can be housed in the current building, the rest is elsewhere due to space limitations. Ideally a bigger library space is needed. There are satellite libraries in various other locations from prison to public library to charity and they do pop-up libraries as well.
Material is arranged by subject-matter and then alphabetically within that. There is now a new Library Management System which enables an online catalogue through the website and will  allow the stock to be catalogued and added onto the new system, but there is a great deal of stock and donated items to be gone through.
Stock includes objects as well as printed material, so the library does temporary exhibitions, is also a registered museum.  The library has various archives from organisations and so there is also an archivist and various special collections (e.g. women’s fanzines, knitting patterns). 

Library services (e.g. joining and borrowing) are free, no fines, though it is possible to make a donation towards costs.

Additional Activities
The library has an extensive learning (adult literacy to history) and social programme (e.g. historical walks / tours) associated with it.

Conclusion
It was interesting to re-visit somewhere I had been so long ago, and even more amusing to realise that I knew the Librarian there (librarianship being a small world, we all get around and turn up in unexpected places and contexts!). Having a paid professional member of library staff makes a huge difference on what is achievable and I much enjoyed getting to look round and the talk that Wendy gave on the Library.
And then I do believe most of us went to the pub!
The pub!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Links between happiness, workforce and business performance

As usual I am about two issues behind with Harvard Business Review. I have however been perusing the Jan/Feb 2012 issue recently which has a Happiness Focus. This consists of myriad articles looking at the links between happiness, workforce and business performance.

Various aspects of all of this amuse and / or interest me:-


The small things matter...

In The Science behind the smile Gilbert tells us that “people are not very good at predicting what will make them happy and how long that happiness will last.”

The big things don’t make as much impact on us, for good or bad, as we assume we will, but instead “the frequency of your positive experiences is a much better predictor of your happiness than is the intensity of the positive experience.”

What does happen however is that “people are happiest when they’re appropriately challenged”.


Success is a moving goal…

In Positive intelligence Achor tells us that we can build up habits which are positive and which rewire our brain in ways that improve happiness and chances of success.

It is noted that “most people believe that success precedes happiness…” but success is “a moving target”. Individuals will keep on re-defining it, moving the personal goalposts, thus they don’t just achieve it as such, there’s always something more ahead. So it should not be looked upon as a prerequisite.

On stress and feeling overwhelmed it is suggested that people make a list of stresses they are under split into those they can control and those they can’t. Then they do a small positive action on one they can control to reduce it. This helps in then thinking productively and positively about the rest.


Vitality and learning

In Creating sustainable performance Spreitzer and Porath discuss the business benefits of a thriving workforce and discuss the components that make that up.

Thriving is about vitality and learning acting in concert together. Employees being excited about what they’re doing and also applying new knowledge and skills so that they grow personally and deliver business results.


Regular habits, journey’s and rewards

What interests me in all of the above is that it is the small regular behaviours that set up the best conditions. I’m a kind of ‘all or nothing’ person so I tend to do zoom / collapse and have a very hard time trying to condition myself into anything else for all I try. I much prefer journeys to destinations too. The striving for something is more fun and engaging than having got there.


Bibi's Cake!

Trees / Sunshine / Trips

However on the theory of lots of small good things equate to happiness I shall end this post with a picture of a few things that always work for me as rest, enjoyment, incentive or reward! In the happiness stakes, each to one’s own definition mind…!





Ancient History Life / Exhibitions

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mentor Exchange of Experience session

Last Thursday various Scottish Mentors for CILIP qualifications from a variety of sectors and workplaces gathered together for an exchange of experience session organised by the PTEG Mentor Support Network for a couple of hours. The discussion was interesting and engaging and covered many aspects of mentoring, criteria and processes. We certainly didn’t run out of things to discuss!
So we discussed issues such as:

MENTORING RELATIONSHIP SUBJECTS
Mentoring within and outwith your own organisation and sector and differences in that e.g. in a more external relationship don’t start with a joint ‘shorthand’ of the organisation and sector so more explanation required, but a diverse experience too to compare and contrast environments.
How to encourage Candidates to create and / or share work they’ve done and put the portfolio together in a reasonable timeframe for them. ‘Life’ can often get in the way and things don’t go to the timescale initially considered, but that adds more work for a Candidate eventually, more to go through.
Problems encountered by Candidates who have been registered a long time. Mostly re having perhaps a great deal of stuff built up or very long time period to cover so difficulty with selection and word counts.
Candidates who have dropped off the radar and how to guage the status of the relationship re whether they’re continuing e.g. if you have contact details for them and it’s been a long while silent just ask if they’re still intending to submit and wanting to continue the relationship. If not can then fill in Mentor Completion Form and that up-dates the Mentor register and everyone knows where they are with it.
What kind of things people included in the Mentor Completion Form e.g. comment on how the relationship had gone overall as feedback.

PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION
Difficulties in selecting relevant information and deciding what to leave out. Portfolios should be organised and structured in a clear way and should not be ‘everything’ the Candidate has collected, but a selection based on the criteria and being the best evidence available of that.
Difficulties in showing reflection and evaluation. So the need to give specific examples of development and show what difference it made to the Candidate or wider rather than just generic general sentences. Usefullness of linking statements to evidence items to substantiate them.
The  wish to compare and contrast and look at other successful portfolio’s that have passed for guidance. Portfolio’s are each different and unique to the Candidate, so looking at others can reassure but it can also lead Candidates astray in what they assume is being looked for and how it needs to be structured. Examples of particularly good portfolio’s as identified by the Qualifications Board on CILIP website.
Virtual and long-distance Mentor / Candidate relationships and different ways of organising those (from email to DropBox to wikis etc), but it needing to be something that works for that particular Mentor and Candidate.
How Candidates structure and populate PPDPs. So, things to bear in mind re such as that it is a working document which will change and evolve and keeping it achievable and related to the whole professional rather than perhaps just the particular job they are currently in.
Requirements for electronic portfolio submission. Current regulations re on the CILIP website. Plans afoot for a VLE approach for the future but won’t be immediate so affects nothing yet.

FULFILLING QUALIFICATION CRITERIA
Being unsure if a job meets the criteria for a particular qualification.  If so can send the job description to CILIP Qualifications Department before start to ensure it can have enough content for the Candidate to be able to fulfil the criteria. If job description not accurate reflection of actual duties can do modified version.
Candidates who are out of work currently. Various reasons may apply from redundancy through to geographical moves to maternity leave. Need to ensure that timeperiod is also covered in portfolios so there isn’t time gaps in experience and learning. So showing they’re still involved and keeping up-to-date professionally in other ways e.g. reading, blogs, visits.
Candidates who are part of organisational restructures and may thus lose or gain key roles and responsibilities. Affects what they have available as evidence and thus potentially ability to meet the criteria during their Registration period. If lose a particular role or responsibility during Registration period can use evidence of it from before loss if relatively recent.
Back-dated experience in submissions for Candidates and extent to which that can be used while remaining relevant and useful. Usually last 2 / 3 years but further if particularly relevant.
The usefulness of the CPD Log. Not actually used that often but good way of showing reflection on an event rather than say just attendance at or provide the Certificate.

ASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT PROCESS
Usefulness of using the appropriate qualification Assessment Form the Qualifications Board uses on the CILIP Website. Shows exactly what the Board is assessing on and allows a level of doing self-check to ensure that everything is covered before submission.
That Board dates are indicative, they do not mean get it in before that and the Portfolio will be assessed at that meeting. Whole range of factors can come into play that will add time on. Passage of time not a reason to panic a Candidate in itself, could be entirely un-related to the Portfolio content or a problem therein.
Candidates wanting to know how well or otherwise they did. Can be gauged to an extent through the feedback the Board provide to Candidates on each submission, area's they may indicate require more work or say have been particularly good.  The Board request permission from Candidates to put particularly good examples of Portfolio's onto the CILIP website.
The level of transparency re the assessment process and whether more information on where portfolio’s have got to in that process would be useful. Discussion around this. On the whole we felt more information would help, but it was important it had a context and was understandable so that the information conveyed actual meaning to the candidate (i.e. 'gone to Second Pair' of itself probably wouldn't illuminate much without a link somewhere to explanatory text on what that meant).

The Future
Whether to ‘hold off’ on qualifications submissions because of the current Future Skills Project work.  Whatever comes in as a result of this there will be a transitional period, Candidates will be able to finish off what they’re started. But any new structure won’t come in immediately so there’s nothing to be gained by waiting. Nothing is coming in this year.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Delights of Quick Choice sections

Last week I seemed to be in public libraries starting with ‘L’ for some reason – Lanark on Monday evening for a lecture, and Luton (at the other end of the UK entirely) on Saturday for the reason we will gently ascribe to ‘Librarian Curiosity While Passing’. Lots of librarians suffer from it, it’s not just me...!

Luton, looking down from Adult Non-Fiction
Other people’s libraries are often irresistible for a quick wander about…
Lanark I didn’t have time to look about as I skidded in in time for evening lecture which lasted till closing time when a load of very happy local society attendees departed till next month. Which is its own accolade for community usefulness.
Luton I had more time available. Luton is a very large public library over quite a few floors that caters for many different types of stock and service, but what I really liked in Luton was that just inside the entrance, before you enter any of the main rooms,  they have a Quick Choice section of a mixture of recent stock from popular genres represented.

Luton Quick Choice

Taking up residence…

This obviously works well in giving a friendly welcoming look drawing in customers into the wider library. I know this simply because I found myself absentmindedly seated there browsing through a few books from the range on display without consciously deciding to at all.  Fifteen minutes later I remembered that actually I’d gone in for a quick saunter round, not to take up residence in the entrance hall(!), and detached myself from the autobiog I was browsing with a mental list of a few things to track down in my own local library authority. The other thing I liked about the section was I can easily see people in a hurry, or who get intimidated or a bit lost perhaps with a very extensive fiction section, being able to dive in and out in a few minutes with a new reading supply.