What I’ve done with the rest of my CILIPBD12 posts is just try and scribble down the main content of what was said by all the main speakers, and what happened in the other segments, without making any comments on it.
So, for this one post, some comments just picking up on small pieces of the day and some general reflection on.
#CILIPBD12
I was amused to note, as often happens, while part of it before and after, I opted out of the twitterstream on the event as soon as I physically arrived and didn’t go back to reading everything I missed till I was on the train home. I could have tweeted throughout, but I’m a lot faster just doing human recorder into my notebook and then typing everything into one place coherently after. I love following conferences and events on Twitter, but it can be a bit bit-y and frustrating and involve huge amounts of folk saying the same sentence at times. If I’m there physically I just concentrate on that and blog it later. Lot kinder to folks twitterfeeds that aren’t interested, less invasive for me too. I find writing and listening or talking easy, listening and participating and tweeting simultaneously hurts my brain more over long periods(!).
Newcastle
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| Folk from near and far! |
It really was lovely to bring a big CILIP event to the North East, got to catch up with a lot of old friends, it opened it up to lots of different folk as being able to attend, and the enthusiasm for having it there was great. There was a huge diversity of folk from different parts of the UK, I was most amused to be sitting beside Scots, Yorkshire, and London folk in the middle of the North East (plenty of them about too!!). It also felt oddly ‘local’ to me, I’m Glasgow and fairly insane, so Newcastle to me is a bit like popping round to the local shop.
Bravery and Standing Up for what you believe in
Some of the speakers in particular were giving no-holds-barred performances. Ged Bell was saying a lot of things that he would have been totally aware were not likely to be popular in places, but he said them because he believed them and was willing to debate it. Phil Bradley, again, went for the barnstorming ‘this is what I fundamentally believe’ approach. They were saying very different things to the same audience on the same subject (volunteers). But I thought Ged Bell was brave in particular saying it to that audience, regardless of what you thought or didn’t about the content of what he said.
Fascination
My favourite slot of the day was Penny Wilkinson. Basically because she was talking about lots of things that always fascinate me, I love all the career development stuff and the reasons why people choose different directions, make certain choices. So the things she said that particularly interested me was that she wanted a strategic role with a bigger impact, that a key thing was to do things that you were proud of (mental note to self, this could work well with selecting Chartership evidence etc – what are you proud of, can you evidence and use that). I really liked her discussion of leadership attributes in the charity sector and how it had changed too.
Vibrancy
The sessions on digital access were mostly about bringing together and discussing themes in a range of current initiatives and new developments that have capacity to be game-changing or triggers for the sector to improved service levels and new ways of delivering. I heard about things I knew about, and things I didn’t at all. Some of it was fairly sector-specific in major impacts, some of it was a lot more widespread. But mostly I was thinking just bringing together and giving short introductions to lots of these things demonstrated vibrancy and enthusiasm, a hunger for new frontiers as well as the existing.
Places You Can Go
What caught my attention most in Lord Shipley’s speech was about public libraries as free places you can (within reason obviously!) do as you like in and places you can go. I totally believe in that, in my student days I had a flat with no heating one year, in the Aberdonian winter I used to stay in Aberdeen Central Library till closing time an awful lot in the evenings, reading or studying, for free, not involving spending money. It was a major blessing. When I had a few months unemployed after university I also lived in my local library a lot, a day where the most exciting thing is Neighbours is on at lunchtime and then repeated is not a great day, if that’s every day then the library is a wonderful place. Somewhere to go, that is free, where you can do things.
The End Results Matter
I liked what Phil said about the need to get people to look at the end result of what libraries contribute to individuals and communities. Sometimes an awful lot of the conversation seems to be about running costs, the inputs not the outputs. The inputs can be extremely simple to calculate in monetary terms, calculating the results and what they are worth (and what would be the cost of not doing it) has always been a problem area. That’s the same actually no matter what sector you’re in, in my corporate sector it’s exactly the same. Yet as various speakers alluded to, there is certainly a move towards trying to measure intangibles (e.g. well-being) a lot more in a statistical manner.
Encouragement and Risk
I really liked the title of the CILIP Qualifications video, CILIP Qualifications: Celebrating Success. Because that is incredibly important in giving people support and encouragement to do things that they want to do but are hard, take time. It’s good to support each other and celebrate. I liked what Emma said about taking opportunities that come up, to be brave and challenge yourself. I liked what was coming across from a number of participants in this part of the programme about personal journeys and developing networks that support you and give access to new chances and challenges. I liked that for the first year we brought so many people together who had done the range of qualifications, and that Qualifications Board were out in force to see how much their qualifications meant to people and how pleased they were to have gained them.
Professional Knowledge and Skills Base
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| One Glossy Brochure! |
Proper post on this soon by itself I suspect. But as one of the Future Skills Project Board that developed it I would just say that it was lovely to have it launched, it has gone beyond us now and that’s a nice thing. There was a glossy brochure in CILIP September Update talking about it, but go look at it in full on the website if you’re a member (and you can even buy it for £25 if you’re not for individual use). The best thing that can possibly happen with it is that people and organisations adopt it and use it and tailor it to help them plot their own development wants and needs, to plug gaps, to assess ability level, to see area’s to develop towards moving into specific jobs or sectors. It’s a tool, it’s the content of the Library, Information and Knowledge domain today.
Any Library New To Me Is Fun
I go and visit all different types of libraries when the opportunity arises. There were tours of Newcastle City Library (venue for the event) on offer at the end of the day and a lot of folk went on them. There’s always things to learn and appreciate just walking round and comparing and contrasting to what you’re used and listening to someone telling you what they’ve chosen to do and precisely why they went down that path and what the result has been. I know from various folk I was talking to that they really enjoyed the tours. The feel I most got from the tour was of the utter visibility and access in the library, sightlines from wall to wall and floor to floor, hugely visible from outside, staff performing a guiding function getting people where they wanted to go and situated on the floor not behind desks.
A Smooth Operation
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| CILIP NE Branch helping out as guides |
I’m well used to the efficiency with which CILIP can run big events, but bearing the occasional glitch, which can happens in any kind of event, it was a really well run event of a lot of speakers, a lot of presentations, the AGM and tours to all fit into the one day.
That it worked so well is made up of a lot of individuals and a lot of planning and it went very well.
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