Interview Qs

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Within the past six months I have attended two job interviews, one to work in FE, the other HE. After each interview, I reflect on my performance and how I approached the questions. I find this helps identify my strengths and weaknesses, as well as anticipate possible topics for discussion in future interviews. 

Apprentice success story

*Not* the library apprentice!
Image by Loren Javier

In 2012, the library in which I work appointed an apprentice. I'll admit that, back then, I was hugely sceptical. I felt the government was trading on the well-respected reputation of apprenticeships from decades gone by; my father, for instance, completed a 6 year apprenticeship to become a master craftsman. I wondered if a modern-day apprenticeship could offer a valid comparison. I was also concerned about the salary offered as it was much lower than that of a standard library assistant. I didn't want the apprentice to be short-change financially. However, I had no valid knowledge of apprenticeships and I am pleased to say my preconceptions were wrong.

During 2014, the apprentice completed her two year contract and was offered a permanent position within the library team. We were not obliged to offer a permanent post after the end of the contract, but we submitted a bid to do so which was accepted by HR. She had become a fully-contributory team member and of great value to the library.

CILIP Update article

*Be warned – this is quite a self-indulgent blog post, sorry folks*

CILIP Update, July 2014

I first joined CILIP as a student while I was doing an MSc in information and library management. I can’t quite remember the exact year I joined, but it must be about 10 years ago.  Since then, the magazine would routinely drop on my doormat and make its way to my reading pile. Some months I’d devour it, some months I’d quickly scan it, other months I’d hardly open it at all. Despite my ever-changing reading habit, I’ve always had the same secret ambition, and this year I achieved it; to have an article published in the CILIP Update magazine.

I’d been leading a project at work which saw us migrate to a new authentication provider for our off-site resources. My line manager asked if I’d consider writing a brief piece for publication in a newsletter, and I did so during my Easter annual leave. By the time I’d finished, the piece contained 2,000 words and was far too long for inclusion in a short newsletter. I was surprised by how much I’d written, but the project couldn’t be outlined in any less. Pondering what to do with it, I sent it to CILIP Update on the off-chance and they replied in the positive!

A day in the life of a Systems Librarian

Hello! Here I am at the library helpdesk

In recent years I enjoyed taking part in the Library day in the life project. This ran from 2008-2012 and saw library staff from all disciplines across the world record and upload their daily diaries for a week. I found it invaluable and really interesting, and was quite sad when the person who organised it announced there would be no more. You can read my participating blog posts here.

The library in which I work has a very active blog and this year I decided to introduce a series of posts based on the idea of a daily diary. There are 11 of us in the team and we each blogged about our day at work; these posts were uploaded once a week over a period of 11 weeks.  We publicised it within college as the chance to see what goes on behind-the-scenes in a library. Whenever a new post was published we would highlight it on the staff intranet and the library's social media profiles. They were by far the most viewed posts on our blog! It was mentioned at regional JISC events and we even had another FE library say they enjoyed reading the series so much they were planning a similar one for their blog. A huge compliment!

As a rule, I tend not to link this blog to my workplace blog, but on this occasion I'll make an exception. If anyone fancies reading about a day in the life of an FE systems librarian, here's the link to my post. Enjoy!

Revalidation: random wonderings

Image by Xurble

Well, folks, I’ve registered as a revalidation candidate. Have been meaning to do it for ages and have finally gotten round to it. Can’t believe it’s coming up to three years since I first chartered. The time has flown by.

I’m quite unsure as to what a revalidation portfolio actually looks like. I’ve booked a place on a day course run by the Career Development Group (West Midlands division) entitled ‘Certification, chartership, revalidation and beyond’ and I’m hoping there will be some examples on display. I’m also hoping the day won’t only focus on certification/chartership. I may have gone through that process already, but I’m a first time revalidation candidate and - just as I did with chartership – feel uncertain of the whole thing.

I’m in different employment compared to three years ago, and I often feel as though I’m still learning. Is that okay for a revalidation candidate? Or am I supposed to feel completely confident and knowledgeable in everything I do? Is my portfolio meant to show that I’ve achieved lots and operate on a genius level basis? Is it normal to have these worries and concerns, or am I merely questioning everything unnecessarily?

I’m umming and ahhing about whether to find a mentor. If I remember correctly, it was a compulsory part of chartership, but it is only an optional part of revalidation. Having a mentor and working to agreed deadlines really helped me when chartering. Personally, I have a tendency to procrastinate and having a mentor might reduce the likelihood of this happening during revalidation. I’ve had a very quick glance at the mentor list on the CILIP website and not many of them mention revalidation specifically. Is having a mentor through revalidation the done thing? Will they think I’m incompetent if I request one? Would it strengthen or weaken my portfolio? It’s times like this I wish I knew someone who had gone through revalidation so I could bombard them with my random questions!

Questions, questions, questions! Fingers crossed, everything should become clearer after the day course…

Induction ponderings

Life is full of different paths to take.
Image taken by Andrea_44

It’s that time of year where the library gives inductions to new and returning learners. These subject specific sessions last between 30-45 minutes and cover topics such as searching the online catalogue, accessing e-books, e-resources and Boolean searching techniques. We also draw learners’ attention to the library website/blog, Moodle, ClickView and MyPC computer booking system. In addition to this, learners receive a tour of the library with useful resource areas pointed out.

The original idea was to facilitate inductions in September and then offer group referencing sessions in October. However, some learners are keen to get to grips with referencing and we are already delivering one-to-one referencing sessions as requested. I remember being an undergraduate student and stressing over referencing at university and would never have believed that one day I would advise and teach it!

There are 3 members of the library team who share the user education workload. Group sizes range from 5 to 25 and inductions have been delivered to foundation learners through to foundation degree courses, covering the majority of subjects taught at the college. Lessons are quite diverse in scope and in the 3 weeks since term began, I have so far delivered 32 sessions. Some have been more successful than others, and I’ve received some lovely feedback from observing teaching staff.

Event Organisation

This month, I dipped my toe in the water of event organisation. This is the first time I’ve been involved in any events since I moved jobs last year. In the school library (where I worked previously), I often organised events in the library such as books fairs, author visits, quizzes for visiting primary schools, or I’d take a bus load of students out to events. In my current job of Systems Librarian, events aren’t particularly part of my daily remit, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to do something I’m not generally involved with anymore.

The first event was a CILIP West Midlands branch visit to Sandwell Community History and Archives Service (CHAS). I did not conduct the tour, but helped with the logistics of the day. I represented the committee by greeting attendees and thanking our hosts afterwards. It was a relatively small scale visit with 8 attendees and 2 hosts, but the venue was fairly intimate in size so the group worked quite nicely. It’s been a while since I’d done anything like this so I was a little nervous, and was relieved when I found an attendee willing to write a piece about the visit for the branch newsletter (initially when I’d asked nobody volunteered). From the point of view of being a local resident, I found the behind the scenes tour very interesting, especially when we were able to see areas and artefacts which members of the public are not allowed access to.

The second event was a copyright workshop held in the college in which I work. The head librarian invited a member of the CLA education team to give a workshop on copyright for colleges, and I assisted with the logistics of it by organising refreshments and the room layout. I also made sure attendees knew where to go at the end of the workshop and filled in feedback forms. There were 19 people in attendance at the event with a lively question and answer session drawing it to a close.

Do I miss being in a position to fully organise events? If I’m being completely honest, I guess I do miss the buzz a little, but my daily job is so busy I haven’t given it any thought until now. There’s a definite sense of achievement after a successful event in knowing you had a small hand in it behind the scenes. I wonder if all event organisers get nervous beforehand, as I always have done? If I decide that event organisation is something I’d like to do more of, I know the opportunity is there to help out with CILIP WM committee.

My First Anniversary

Image taken by nubobo

Last week was the one year anniversary of my starting work in my current job and the time seems right for a mini-reflection. Initially, I didn’t plan to stay very long in my current job - the commute is long and the petrol bill high - but I find myself liking the library, the college and the people.

Whilst I loved my previous job, it was no longer challenging. I wonder how long it will be before I start to see this role in the same way? At the moment I can’t ever imagine feeling that, even after a year I still feel as though I am learning how to do things. I can genuinely say that almost every day is a learning curve for me in one way or another and whilst that can be tiring, it’s also stimulating and enjoyable. Trying to narrow it down is quite tricky, but here are the main activities which I think have helped me develop the most over the past few months:*

025.431 DEW

Classification is like Marmite: you either hate it or love it. I am in the latter camp. I feel as though I’m working my way through a mystery by trying to deduce the classmark hidden in Dewey’s four weighty tomes.

This week I upgraded the library’s classification system from DDC22 to DDC23. Moving to DDC23 was something I’d both looked forward to and dreaded, but in the end it was painless. In our manuals there are hand-written annotations relating to various subjects and it took an entire day to transfer these over to the new manuals, checking that each note was still relevant on the catalogue. Doing this brought back memories of when I assisted with an upgrade from Dewey 17 to DDC 20. There were various problematic differences between these editions, but by upgrading to the next published edition we should avoid any such mishaps this time. I’ve worked in three different libraries and my journey down Memory Lane led me to think of the various editions I’ve used so far:

When I worked in a secondary school we used Abridged 12. I hadn't heard of the Abridged editions before but they are aimed specifically at libraries with less than 20,000 texts. Using this meant that classification was a far simplier process but I was worried I would forget how to use Dewey in any great depth. When I started my current role last year, masses and masses of classification awaited me (I think they'd been stock-piling it for my arrival!) but I needn't have worried and was soon in the swing of it. (I really ought to have more belief in my own abilities sometimes.)

Dewey is sometimes like wading through mud, so in order to improve the usability of the system I follow it only as much as it meets my needs. There is no Dewey Police Force to throw me in prison if I use an incorrect number so - as a classifier - I am free to adjust classmarks to suit our library. I allocate classmarks where the books are most likely to be found by the learners who need them, irrespective of the book’s ‘true’ classmark. I’ve often created my own classmarks too, if there hasn’t been one I’ve felt suited my needs, and I avoid creating overly long classmarks. What good would this do? Yes, it would demonstrate my superhuman ability to implement hardcore classification, but it would also confuse and complicate matters for the learners.

Am I alone in my thinking here? Does anybody rigorously keep to the manuals in order to implement a pure DDC system? Or does anyone do as I do and assign classmarks you feel suit your particular book stock? The key to a successful classification system is ease of use for learners, and that is the mantra I stick to, regardless of what Dewey tells me.

*Added this column to the table because I like to visualise the different manuals when writing about them.

Cilip WM Branch Meeting

Yesterday I went to a Cilip West Midlands branch meeting and thought I’d briefly share the experience. It was held in the library at Aston University (a place I hadn’t visited in over 10 years) and lasted a little over 2 hours long.

It was my first ‘official’ meeting as branch secretary. After a little uncertainty, it was decided that committee roles change with the calendar year, so I didn’t have to wait until the AGM to be voted in. This also saw the forthcoming Chairperson take charge, and Jo did a marvellous job of chairing a meeting without any advance notice. We had a brief agenda and discussed mainly committee roles and the arrangements for the forthcoming AGM.

There were nine of us present in total, including two other newbies. The committee is always looking for fresh blood and I’m glad I took the plunge. It all came about as a result of the online course CPD 23 Things, where I mentioned one day I hoped to join a committee. People commented and encouraged me to give it a try so in November I went along to observe one of the meetings. I often think committees are faceless cliques, but it isn’t so with Cilip WM branch. They were a jolly, welcoming bunch, and we even managed a few giggles. Over the past 18 months or so I’ve felt barriers were removed between the branch and the membership by its use of social media, and this played a large part in my feeling able to approach the committee. This also contributes to my feeling that as a member I get more from my local branch than I do from the larger organisation. There’s still some way to go, but I feel the committee is most definitely on the right track. Hopefully, Cilip WM branch will soon be enjoying a two-way love-in with all its members!

Time to reflect

Image by Irargerich

It’s December now, which means I’ve hit the six month mark in my new job. Thought I’d have a little ponder and reflect on my time here so far.

Initially, I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay in this role as it entails a 65 mile round trip to one campus and an 80 mile round trip to the other campus. I find the drive draining, and although I try to use it as ‘down time’ I’m not really succeeding with that just yet. I live in hope that one day I’ll find the commute relaxing.

Looking back, I can see I’ve developed skills I didn’t make much use of in my previous role as a School Librarian. I spend a fair amount of my working week classifying new stock, although it is constantly a bottle neck in the book-processing procedure. It’s nice to get my teeth into Dewey again, I didn’t realise how much I missed it while I was at the school. There are some books for which I simply I can’t decide upon class numbers, and these tend to have extended stays on our classification shelf in the office; I know this is a weakness of mine, I shouldn’t pick and choose the books I classify, I’ll try to be more inclusive in the new year.

Study Visit Confirmation

It’s been a few weeks since my last post, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to share some good news.

Back in August, my line manager suggested I apply to attend an EU-funded study visit. I’ll admit to being quite dubious at the time – I thought only the best of the best were ever awarded places on these kinds of things. I was even more dubious when I saw the application form itself - it was solid! I brushed it under the carpet and ignored it for a while, and when the week of the deadline arrived I still hadn’t done anything about it. I was really in two minds – it’d be great to do but surely my chances were low, so why even bother. In a moment of madness, I posted my dilemma on Facebook. Usually, the majority of people just ignore my status updates but this one generated a huge response and everyone said I should go for it. So I did. I burned the midnight oil and with the help of my long-suffering boyfriend, put together the best damn application I could manage. Popped it in the post the day before the deadline and never expected to hear anything more of it.

CPD23 Thing 21

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Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications / interviews

As any regular readers of BtB will know, I was made redundant earlier this year so have recently been ‘out there’ in the job market. I found it very scary and very stressful, but I jumped in with both feet straight away and tried to tackle the issue head on.

I wanted to beef up my CV, so I became an assistant leader at WeightWatchers. I really felt it important to have some voluntary work on there that was not library-related, to show that I can be committed and dedicated in all aspects of my life. I did this for 7 months and really enjoyed it – I felt part of a community. The commute to/from my new job meant I had to resign from this, and I was surprised how sad that made me. I was proud of it and miss it.

CPD23 Thing 11

Image taken by Nivermind

Thing 11: Mentoring
I am a b-i-g fan of the mentoring process, having experienced it from both sides. I find it extremely useful and a great way of learning new things (whether I’m the mentor or mentee).

My first experience of being a mentor was in the final year of my undergrad degree. I signed up to the university’s Peer Guide scheme where I was assigned 5 first year students to act as a mentor to. I was quite shy at the time, so I didn’t make as much of it as I should have, but I enjoyed what I did. However, retrospectively I do feel a tad guilty that I didn’t do a better job for those kids.

'My Job' Column

This month, I feature in the ‘My Job’ column in Cilip Update with Gazette magazine. For 300 words I prattle on about the differences between my new job (FE) and my old job (school). If you’re a Cilip member you can view the magazine online with your username and password; however, if you aren’t a member and are curious to read my ramblings, the text is given below. 

(Click on the image and it should open in a larger window, making it easier to read.)

CPD23 Thing 10

Image taken by Yoppy

Thing 10: Routes into Librarianship
So, Thing #10 is to blog about how and why we are where we are career-wise...

My story is pretty straight forward, and probably similar to a lot of other people's accounts. However, so that I don’t merely repeat my Library Roots / Routes record, here's a brief outline below:
 
The left-hand box represents my employment roles and the right-hand box shows the additional activities I’ve done parallel to this. Over the years I’ve learnt that, for my own satisfaction and development, I like to have ‘something else’ on the go at the same time (such as an evening course, writing an article or maintaining BtB). I know it's cheesy, but the more you put in the more you get out.

Not quite sure what the future has in store for me, but there are a few things I think I’d like it to include (should the Wish Fairy being listening...)

Revalidation
Line management qualification
Involvement with a Cilip committee
HE library role (one day in the future)
Winning the lottery

And if I could crack all that, I'd be one very happy bunny!

Finding my Feet

Image taken by Aussiegall

I haven’t yet blogged about my new job in a college, but I’ve just completed my third week there. I know all you millions of BtB fans are dying to know how I’ve been getting on, but my reasons for being silent are two-fold. Firstly, I’m not quite sure what to say – I’m still getting to grips with it all. Secondly, I’m hoping to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and produce a short report which I plan to sell to highest bidder (heehee).

An announcement of my having moved roles can be read in the People News section of June's Cilip Update with Gazette. (The magazine is available online but to Cilip members only.)

FE is very different to compulsory education and the respective library services are very different too. I am forever asking questions and some days I feel lost. I’ll be okay once I’ve found my feet, it’s just not an immediate development. However, here are my two main observations thus far:

1. A 65 mile daily round trip is a lot longer than a 4 mile daily round trip. Sounds obvious, I know, but I’ve still not managed to adapt yet. I will though… just as soon as I find the energy to get up off the sofa in the evenings.

2. The gas-lift swivel chair at the enquiry desk gradually sinks lower regardless how heavy the person sitting in it may be. Which, on a personal level, is a huge relief as I feared it was just when I sat in it!

Librarians with Lives

Dear Library Fans,

One of my favourite library-related blogs to read is Librarians with Lives.  It's an informal blog discussing ways of fitting CPD into busy lives, and often features guest posts. I've written a post for it which has been published today, entitled Cilip Update and CPD. As the title suggests, I discuss how to use Cilip's Update with Gazette publication as a CPD opportunity. I hope you enjoy it.

Leaving School

Some of you may already be aware that I have recently been made redundant from the school library. I haven’t blogged about it until now as I wanted to gain distance and perspective first – reading a wholly negative blog post is no fun and benefits nobody. 

I worked at the school for almost 6 years and in September 2010 it merged with a local school to form a ‘new’ dual site school. The original plan was for the school to remain dual site, with some subjects on North Site and others on South Site. However, with the coalition’s controversial removal of the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (BSF) programme in Summer 2010, the school lost £32million. This was a massive political u-turn and, at grass roots levels, it meant the school could no longer afford to operate two sites. So, ultimately, redundancies were made from both support and teaching staff.

Reading List - PTLLS

Below is a short reading list of resources covering a variety of formats. This list is designed to be used by North Warwickshire and Hinckley College (NWHC) students on the 'Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector' (PTLLS) course.

Course outline: An overview of entry requirements and course content.

PTLLS overview: PTLLS information direct from the City and Guilds website.

Moodle: The college Moodle page for teacher training courses. Includes PTLLS resources provided by the course department. Student username and password required.

Study Skills for PTLLS: This up-to-date text book provides PTLLS students with help and assistance whilst studying the course. It is available to loan from the college library (copies held at both Nuneaton and Hinckley campuses).

Tutor Training: This site is a collection of PTLLS resources provided by a PTLLS tutor. Please note that this site/tutor has no connection with NWHC, and that it is the site of a personal individual. This site should be used for guidance only as the quality of the site's content has not yet been verified by NWHC.

Remember, the college library or the teacher training department will be more than happy to assist you with any resources.

............

**This post was prepared during a practical exercise for a job interview. The task was to construct and publish an online reading list within a time frame of 30 minutes. I decided to focus on the PTLLS course, as I had recently completed this and am familiar with the necessary resources. This task not only incorporates the skills needed to compile a reading list, but also demonstrates familiarity with online tools. And yes - thank you for asking! - I did get the job! (More on that in future posts.)**