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Happy 2009! It's an odd time of year for our course, as there are no lectures until the start of February - it's undergraduate examination time. There's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime though, a large assignment, thinking about dissertation topics, and other bits and pieces (preparation for the next semester, conference applications for student places and so on). To fill in blog space, and because I haven't so far, I thought I'd write up some thoughts on my visit to Sheffield Public Libraries. This took place all the way back in October, but this semester's been a little packed!

This visit was a little bit different from the Derbyshire Public Libraries visit, as instead of going to the flagship library as we did in Chesterfield, we visited a couple of branch libraries, in this case Parson Cross and Upperthorpe Libraries. These were an interesting mix. Parson Cross is quite far out of Sheffield, and a fairly old library, but due to be replaced by an exciting new library within a community centre soon. Upperthorpe is a relatively new library, based in a community centre including a swimming pool - in fact, I remember the renovation works on the old swimming baths where it's housed taking place when I lived in Sheffield before! To illustrate this post you've got a picture of the children's library in each, Parson Cross to the right, and Upperthorpe below. I've picked the children's area as they're always nice and cheerful, but I also think the pictures nicely illustrate the slight differences between the two - with Parson Cross being cheery but slightly dingy (or well-loved, perhaps), and the Upperthorpe slightly brighter and airier.

After the tours around the two libraries (we were bused between the two) we had the opportunity to talk to some senior staff from Sheffield Libraries. As with the Chesterfield Public Libraries visit I came away feeling a little bit of guilt about public libraries not being my sector of choice. However, I think the visits did confirm for me that I really wouldn't like to work in a branch of a public library. Don't get me wrong - they both looked like fantastic places, and I'd happily be a library user in either. The community aspect of libraries, while valuable to me, however, is not what I'm interested in libraries for: my passion lies in the information side of library work, and helping people locate and use resources. On the other hand, it made me think about the possibility of working in a public library in a more central, administrative area. Some of the profit making and project based arms of Sheffield Libraries sounded really intriguing, and I'd definitely be happy working in a more information-focused role in a public library. Never say never!

Labels: library visits, MA, public libraries

The first library visit of the MA course today, and we went to Chesterfield Public Library, with the slightly broader remit of hearing about Derbyshire Public Libraries in general. If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll have picked up that my career plan isn't really focused on public libraries. I'm not one to turn down a library visit though: I do believe that the different library sectors can learn a lot from each other, and it's also generally interesting to go and see the services other sectors offer. I also have to say that if I was less certain of my career goals I would have been swayed completely!

Derbyshire sounds like a fantastic library service to work for: they seem up to speed with the political agenda, open to new ideas about how to make the library service work for the public, and full of initiatives for drawing new users in. My personal favourite aspect of the library was how much natural light came in: I find so many libraries in every sector lack this. Of course, part of their agenda was to sell their service to us - in a year we'll be potential job applicants - it'll be interesting to see whether that's a theme in future visits too!

One of the things I enjoyed thinking about during the visit was how academic and research libraries could learn from the way things are done in public libraries. The picture in the top right shows the front-facing books displays which seem to be becoming pretty common in public libraries. I was wondering if academic libraries could benefit from similar displays. Universities often concentrate on core texts for undergraduates, but as a postgraduate I certainly would have been tempted by a display of intellectual classics. For example, when I was an undergraduate my lecturer claimed that every educated adult should have read 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins, and I know I'm always telling people to pick up 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat' by Oliver Sacks. Promoting books as tangible and desirable artefacts isn't really done in academia, but it could lead to wider reading, expand minds and encourage interdisciplinary thought. In fact, reading without a specific learning outcome in mind is something the academic sector could borrow from public libraries in general!

Labels: academic libraries, library visits, public libraries

One final thread to tie up from the Essex job before I leave at the end of the week and that's the public library display we were trying to set up as a part of the National Year of Reading - see this previous post. Our materials finally arrived and we put them up in the foyer of the library. As you can see on the left, it was a fairly basic display, just covering the services that the public libraries in the area offer that we felt didn't overlap too much with our own: a wider range of fiction, CD / DVD rental, and bookable computers. It was important to us that we neither gave the impression that we wanted our patrons to leave us and use the public libraries instead, nor confused them by describing services that were too similar to ours. In fact a major consideration while making the display was to make sure that our circulation desk weren't going to be inundated with queries about DVD lending services we didn't offer. I just hope we made the PUBLIC LIBRARY bit prominent enough, or the staff will be cursing our names for months!

The response to the display among our library staff was really interesting - I'd say the instinctive reaction was to be slightly defensive about promoting a different library. However, when they saw that we'd focused on the things that made us different it reduced the element of competition. Lots of staff seemed interested in finding out more, and we even had a member of staff or two suggest they might check out some of the services! I think it's a good idea to some kind of dialogue between different library services in this way: there is the potential for traffic to pass between academic and public services, and perhaps even a small gesture of friendship like this between the two might make us a little bit more likely to think of each other as comrades in arms!

Labels: displays, public libraries, traineeship

Recently I added my blog to the UK Library Bloggers Wiki, or at least it was added by Jennie, its creator. This prompted me to subscribe to a few other library blogs, not least that of Jennie herself, and this recent post caught my eye: http://jennielaw.blogspot.com/2008/05/to-join-or-not-to-join.html. As a wannabe librarian whose interests have always lain in academic libraries, this is an interesting subject for me, and I thought I'd ruminate a little more.

I joined my local library when I decided that maybe I wanted to be a librarian one day. It's actually quite illuminating to see a service entirely as a user, so I guess I see librarians joining libraries as an opportunity for professional development, rather than an ideological imperative. However, I share Jennie's guilt. I haven't joined my local library while I'm on my year-long trainee placement. I barely go into town, and we have a fiction section in our academic library, which provides all the literature I need. I have visited the library out of curiosity, a library is always a good bolt hole in an unfamiliar town, and I've been on a visit to Chelmsford Public Library, part of the same Essex system, so I've got an idea of how it works behind the scenes as well.

My favourite fact I gleaned from Essex Public Libraries is that I'm not really the library's target audience, so that makes me feel a bit better. The active acquisitions head revealed that libraries cater better for some than others, as some are much bigger users of libraries than others. This is partly in response to perceived need. Some of my favourite genres (sci fi, graphic novels) are purposefully stocked in low numbers, as readers of these tend to buy their own materials. And yes, said head pointed out how circular this was. Apparently I need to develop a taste for 'sagas' (read: Mills and Boon) to truly benefit from the local library's stock!

How important is it to know about (let alone use) public libraries in order to be a good librarian? An ex-colleague of mine, working in an academic library, was put out when his chartership was questioned on the grounds of a lack of reference to public libraries. Some assume that public libraries are the 'real' libraries, and that other librarianship is just a pale, commercial shadow. You certainly wouldn't expect a chartering public librarian to be criticised for failing to include references to special libraries in their materials. However, neither would a public librarian be eligible to become a user in the majority of special libraries.

I think that assuming librarians will be public library users is a bit naive. However, as individuals it's well worth taking the time to learn a few lessons from our local public library. It seems to me that one of the major jobs of any librarian is convincing his or her userbase that he or she is not just the keeper of a bunch of book shelves. Looking beyond our book-based needs as users to see what services the library can provide us therefore makes a whole lot of sense. Thinking about our own enthusiasm for such value-added services (or lack thereof) can help us think about how to market our own services to users. Of course, if we truly believe that the only service the public library offers for librarians (and others like them) is obsolete, maybe we should go and give our colleagues a good sharp poke in the ribs.

Labels: professional development, public libraries

I was reading the CILIP magazines this month (the twice-monthly Gazette and once-monthly Update) and was inspired by a section on the National Year of Reading, specifically looking at how non-public librarians can get involved. There was the suggestion that academic librarians could add support by promoting their local library to students. Anyway, to cut a long story short, my fellow trainee and I have come up with a plan to try and put together a display in for our library promoting the National Year of Reading and local library service. It might even lure one or two of our students into reading some books over the summer when their exams are over. I'll keep you updated on our progress!

Labels: displays, public libraries