PRINCE2

My course textbook

For the past few years I have been interested in gaining a qualification in project management. In my previous job, there were a few times I felt a knowledge of project management principles would have benefitted me and prevented several moments of panic! In 2011 the library moved into a new build and although we were only a small part of the overall project, I was intrigued with how it was managed. A few years later in 2013, I was the library lead on a year-long project involving our online authentication provider and whilst it went fairly smoothly, at times I felt I wasn’t quite sure of my next step. Whilst not crucial to these projects, an understanding of project management concepts may have given me a little more confidence that I was moving in the right direction.

Two months ago, I finally attended a PRINCE2 course. There were about 20 of us in the class and I was the only one from a background completely unrelated to project management. From the offset I felt like the class dunce! The Foundation course is pretty intense and the handbook is quite hefty for a 2 day course. At the end of the first day I studied the materials and the concepts started to make sense. I did two hours of practice exams and was pleasantly surprised at my marks. This gave me confidence for the second day of the course. I no longer felt intimidated by the other delegates, especially when we compared marks for the practice exams and our scores were evenly matched.

I was worried about the exam as it had been 15 years since I last sat a formal one. I’ve done practical assessments for first aid and an observed micro-teach for PTLLS, but that’s as near as I’ve been to an exam since 2000. During my degree back in the late 90s, I used to enjoy the challenge of an exam and knew I could trust myself not to panic. As soon as I entered the examination room I was relieved to find that old fighting spirit returned! My score was 86% and apparently this is good enough to progress to the next level – the Practitioner course. I have decided not to do this as I only wanted a general grounding in the concept of project management, not anything too in-depth.

I enjoyed being in a classroom again and had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed learning. The course was interesting and the PRINCE2 concepts are based on common sense, so the course is quite achievable for people without a project management background. I know of a few librarians who have attended the course but I’m not sure how valuable it is in their daily roles. The course content isn’t particularly relevant to me in my current role, but I am glad to have consolidated my knowledge on this topic. It would have been useful when working on previous projects and will give me confidence should I ever lead such a project again in future. Also, this course was a reminder not to allow myself to be intimidated and that I should trust my own abilities more than I do.    

Evolving CPD needs

Attendees at #hugsm15. Image by @HeritageUsers

Back in June I attended the Heritage User Group (HUG) meeting. These meetings are twice-yearly - this year’s Winter Meeting was held in March and the Summer Meeting held in June. I started attending meetings in 2011 and haven’t missed one until this year. (Previous HUG blog posts are here.) Due to changing jobs, I was unable to attend the March meeting. I was really disappointed by this and was glad to attend the next meeting in June.

Looking back, I can see that over the years the meetings have been of benefit to me in various ways. When I first started using Heritage the meetings were an incredibly useful source of information on how to use the software. I was thirsty for knowledge and the HUG meetings satisfied this need. Over the years, my knowledge of the software increased considerably and as a result my development needs changed also. Last year, I presented at a number of external events for the first time, one of which was a HUG meeting. I felt confident enough to deliver presentations exploring Heritage usage. By accepting the opportunity to present at HUG, the meeting met my development needs but in a slightly different way to how it usually did. I really enjoyed presenting and would like to continue doing this on occasions.

Lecture time!

I recently enjoyed the opportunity to attend a university lecture for the first time since 2006. This was the last time I was a university student and things have certain moved on since! I remember endless sessions where the lecturer would deliver a presentation and students would spend the lecture hurriedly scribbling notes on a writing pad. Interrupting the lecture to ask a question was a rare occurrence and as a result it was easy to ‘drift off’ and allow your thoughts to wander.

Attending a lecture as an observer rather than a student was an interesting experience. I wasn’t distracted by the need to absorb content and was therefore able to focus on elements such as structure, delivery, interaction etc. There were approximately 40 people in the room, excluding myself and the lecturer. It was far more informal than I remembered lectures to be, with more of a seminar vibe in the air. Questions and interruptions were frequent and encouraged, and as a result, students proactively engaged with the content of the session. I am new to working within the HE sector and I don’t know if this way of delivering lecturers is now the norm in all institutions, but it seems to certainly work well for our students.

A lot of students had their mobile devices to hand – tablets as well as phones. I have recently left he FE sector, and in the college the use of personal devices during sessions was discouraged unless it was part of a BYOD initiative. It differed from group to group, but some FE lecturers preferred students to not be distracted by such devices during the main part of the session. I can understand this in compulsory education and FE. Is it the same in HE? Perhaps. I don’t know yet. At first, I presumed the devices were being used to browse social media or send text messages, but when I sneaked peaks at a few screens, I could see students were mirroring the actions on the big screen at the front of the auditorium. Instead of watching the lecturer demonstrate a website, they were following along on their devices and learning kinaesthetically too. One student even used his phone to photograph the printed resources the lecturer used, and later visited the library referring to these photos as the starting point for his research.

A few students used laptops to make notes, but in general, handwritten was the most common form of note taking. Incorporating modern technology into lectures is interesting and can be advantageous, but it is comforting to know scribbled notes are still the order of the day! I will soon be delivering lectures myself, assisting students with research techniques and assignment preparation, so it is important for me to know the format of lectures in my institution.

Brighton, baby! ARLG 2014 conference

Earlier this year I was successful in applying for the 2014 AlisonNorthover Bursary, awarded by ARLG. I used the award to fund my attendance at the 2014 ARLG conference, entitled ‘The final frontier: to boldly go where youhave never gone before’. This was the second CILIP ARLG study conference and was held at the University of Sussex, near Brighton, between 23^rd-25^th June.

I have pondered long and hard how to best record and reflect upon my attendance at the conference, and even now – several months later – I’m still not sure of the best way to approach it. The conference offered a very full schedule of talks and workshops, and I came away with a wealth of knowledge. I met new people, learned new things about myself and had an amazing time. Attempting to put the entire experience into words is a tall order! It may not be the most innovative method, but I shall tackle it in the form of a daily diary, leading to a final post summarising my overall thoughts. I make no promises, but shall attempt to keep the entries relatively short, to prevent them from becoming overly descriptive, tedious reads.

And so, dear reader, settle down on the sofa with a warm drink as I take you back to the summer of 2014…

Tour: Library of Birmingham

The queue to enter the library during its
opening weekend

At the end of each academic year, the college in which I work holds a staff development day for all staff. This year, the library team visited the new Library of Birmingham for a tour. 

The Library of Birmingham is fairly local to where I live so I had visited it before as a user and also for the 2013 CILIP AGM. However, the majority of people in the library team had not visited before as they live outside of the West Midlands area. It was nice being able to share their enthusiasm of experiencing it for the first time. All eleven of us were present, which is an achievement in itself! Due to part time hours, term-time only working and being multi-site, we are often ships that pass in the night. One of us pointed out that the new library had brought us all together and it takes a rare thing to do that!

Tickets for the tour were £5 for non-members and a reduced rate for members. I must say it was well worth the money! The tour lasted almost two hours and we learned so much more than if we had simply been browsing the library as users. Our guide was knowledgeable and answered all our questions about the service provided and the building itself. We visited each terrace and balcony, the archive room and the Shakespeare Memorial Room. I particularly liked the BFI programme booths and spent quite some time here on a previous visit. I also noted that it has a licenced bar! A unique selling point of the library is the beautiful view – a wonderful source of inspiration for those with creative minds. I love seeing the building in the Birmingham skyline. As a member of the local community I feel proud of it. I first visited it the weekend it opened and queued for 15 minutes to get it. A queue for a library – who would have believed it in this day and age?!

NVQ reflections

Do you ever say to yourself ‘that’s it, I’m never studying another course’? I’ve noticed I say that to myself every time I finish a course, but I always seem to start another reasonably soon afterwards. I enjoy learning and the act of absorbing knowledge. Does that make me a philomath? Or a glutten for punishment?!

Anyway, I digress. In 2012 I completed a line management course (which I blogged about here) and the following year I pursued this interest with another management course. I found the first course valuable and realised this was a development need of mine. I have a masters’ degree in library and information management, but I don’t feel such courses adequately address the logistics of leading a team - which, of course, is something many librarians do.  I enrolled on a level 5 NVQ and finished it this summer after almost 18 months. I decided on the level 5 NVQ rather than the level 5 taught course because of the evening times the classes were held. The traditional course would probably have been my preferred option, but I couldn’t make the time of the class so opted for the NVQ instead. I've studied an NVQ before (level 2 IT back in 2002), but I’d forgotten how differently structured they are compared to classroom-based courses.

Flexibility was a great strength of the NVQ and it fitted quite nicely into my life. Regular sessions were arranged with my tutor at a day and time to suit me, whereas with the taught course I would have to fit in with the class timetable. My job is quite busy and I am a long distance commuter, so this flexibility made a huge difference to my daily life. I was also able to personally select modules and study those that were most applicable to my current role and working environment.

Alison Northover Bursary 2014

I'm all smiles!
Image by Ben Smith

This time next week, I will have arrived at the University of Sussex in Brighton, ready to attend my very first conference. Conferences are something I’ve always had an interest in attending, but due to the cost of tickets it is has never been plausible. Until now…

Towards the end of last year I decided to apply for bursaries with the hope of securing a sponsored place to a conference. Whenever a bursary was advertised I considered applying for it, and in the end I applied for three. All three were to attend CILIP’s Academic and Research Libraries Group (ARLG) conference, entitled ‘Academic libraries: the final frontier’. One of my applications was rejected as I fell outside the geographical boarder for applications, but my other two applications were both successful. Both bodies contacted me to say I’d been successful within a week of each other, and I accepted the bursary with the more substantial financial package. I was incredibly flattered and humbled to win both. I won’t name the bursary I turned down out of respect for the person it was then offered to, but I am both surprised and pleased to be the 2014 recipient of ARLG’s Alison Northover Bursary.

CILIP AGM 2013

A quick look back to September 2013…

It was several months ago now and my recollections are now a little hazy, but back in September I attended the 2013 CILIP AGM. I've had this post written for a long time but wasn't really sure it was worth publishing. It's just a brief personal reflection, but as that's the main purpose of my blog, I've recently decided to publish it. So here it is!

The AGM was held in the new Library of Birmingham and as I live within the region it was too good an opportunity to miss. I had never before attended a CILIP AGM and was keen to experience such an event. This year’s AGM is in Bristol – quite far – so I’m glad I went to the last one.

One of my main recollections of the day was how many people attended. There was a sizeable queue for the venue and it was a good chance to meet new people – I queued with a retired librarian from Leicester and sat next to a clinical librarian from Cardiff. Having never attended a library conference, this was the largest number of librarians in one room I’ve ever seen! (Is there a specific noun for a collection of librarians?!) There were lots of people live-tweeting from the event which made for interesting an online discussion. I love the way library folk utilise Twitter!

Staff Development Week

Just a relatively brief post to record this year’s staff development week...

In February 2013 the college in which I work formed a ‘Federation’ with another college. Senior management are very clear that this move is the strongest way of securing a thriving fiture for the college considering the £260 million cut from FE by the government. The senior team is also very vocal that this is not a merger but a partnership which will save both colleges money due to shared services, procurements, vacancy management, financial bids and strategies etc (each college has since save £750,000). There is only one other FE Federation within the UK so the future is unknown for such a venture. As expected, this has generated a certain amount of uncertainty for staff and activities within the staff development week tackled this.

Two year anniversary

Image taken by Leo Reynolds

My boyfriend believes that blogging is mostly self-indulgent waffle-tosh of little value to anyone else. Usually I disagree with him on this topic, but I’m afraid this post may well prove him right…

 Last week marked the second anniversary in my current job. It gave me cause to ponder the last two years and all that has happened since I left my last post. I found redundancy to be a very traumatic experience and hope I never have to go through it again. It affected me in all manner of ways I didn’t think possible; the majority of these are too personal to share in a public blog, but I admit I found it distressing and fundamentally sad. I refused to take redundancy lying down and treated finding a new job like going to war – I was determined to succeed and go out fighting. I managed to secure a new post within 10 weeks but will long remember the feelings of sheer relief and utter elation. When I received the call telling me I was the successful candidate, I’m embarrassed to say I actually jumped with joy!

Pacific Institute

In December 2012 I attended a 3 day course entitled Investors in Excellence, run by Pacific Institute (PI). I had never heard of PI before, but it is compulsory training for all employees where I work. I’d heard lots about it from colleagues – positive and negative accounts – so I was a little apprehensive about what to expect, but I must say I needn’t have been…

My PI models

Investors in Excellence is a self-awareness psychology course, with the aim of promoting positive thinking. The belief is that if you think positively, you are a happier individual who is likely to achieve much more than if you don’t think positively. The course takes you through various steps to help you learn positive thought patterns, such as making affirmations and the power of self-talk. There were a number of practical activities to help you realise there are different ways of viewing a particular situation, and if you ‘think outside the box’ you may be able to increase your effectiveness. These ranged from simple paper-based puzzles to more physical group-based tasks. Several of them were quite fun and raised a smile. My favourite was being paired up with a partner and standing quite close, face to face for a minute. We then had to turn away and change something about our appearance before turning back and seeing if we could recognise the change. This was repeated 4 or 5 times (there was almost nothing left to change!). I took my earrings off and felt quite exposed; it’s a silly thing, but I am never ever without my earrings. The thinking behind this activity was to show how we are influenced by outward appearances, but do we actually see the whole picture? Another activity I enjoyed was making small figures from modelling clay. It was fun to be creative in a non-pressured environment. One model had to represent something important to us. (I created a heart to represent my boyfriend.) We then had to tell our partner why we had made this particular model and why it was important to us. We were then asked to crush our partners’ models – and even though it was just silly modelling clay, nobody in the group wanted to do it. I remember having strong feelings of guilt that I was about to crush my partner’s ‘son’. It was quite surprising, to be honest. I’ve kept my PI models on my desk at work, as a reminder of what I learnt.

I wanted to wait a while to gather my thoughts before blogging about this course. To start with, I was a little worried that I was being brainwashed, but then I realised that what the facilitators were describing was simply common sense: if you focus on negative aspects, your outlook on a situation will be different to if you focused on positive aspects. It’s something we all know, but sometimes we get so caught up in life we can easily forget, and it was nice to be reminded of this. On a personal note, I was intrigued to see how PI could help me as I sometimes do have pessimistic thoughts, and I’m pleased to say I think it did. I follow the PI Twitter feed, which shares positive comments, and I occasionally listen to the PI CDs in the car on the way home. Almost everyone in the library department has undergone PI training, and I do think it’s making a difference. Whenever a team member does the training we discuss it in our weekly team meeting, and it’s interesting to hear the different opinions and impressions. We remind ourselves of the importance of positive thinking, and overall I'd like to think we’re gradually moving towards that as the team’s natural state.

Since completing the PI programme, I've learnt that it's also rolled out for staff in a secondary school near where I live. I wonder which other establishments make use of it? It'd be interesting to know...

CILIP WM AGM day

On Thursday 7^th February I attended a day event held by CILIP West Midlands branch. It was entitled ‘Promoting your service and the profession’ and was held at the Mary Seacole Library, Birmingham City University.

 

The event filled up within two days of the booking opening and there were approximately 50 delegates present. The agenda included the various activities:

• Staff from Mary Seacole gave an introduction to the university library service
• Gill Colbourne from Warwickshire library services spoke about how to promote a service which is part of a larger entity.
• Barbara Band gave her first official presentation as CILIP Vice President. It focussed on how she uses her role as a school librarian to promote the profession to a wider audience.  
• There was an overview of the changes being discussed relating to CILIP professional qualifications, given by Simon Edwards (Director of Professional Services at CILIP).
• CILIP West Midlands Chair Roger Fairman gave a brief overview of what’s next for the branch.
• There were also AGMs from CILIP West Midlands branch and two SIGs – CDG West Midlands and ARLG West Midlands.
• A tour of the Mary Seacole library.

There was a lively Twitter conversation surrounding the day’s hashtag #cwmagm13. In the absence of a marketing officer, I tweeted on behalf of the branch and an archive of related tweets can be found here. I found this to be quite fun and hope to soon post about the experience of live tweeting from events.

I found the day really interesting, and - as always – it was nice to hear people speak who are passionate about the profession. In my current role, I find it frustrating that we are bound by ‘one-size-fits-all’ guidelines established by the college’s marketing department. In my previous role in a school I had much more freedom to whatever was best for the library, without having to get it ‘okay-ed’ by a separate department. However, despite this I understand the college must protect it's brand. It was interesting to realise that although we all work in different library sectors, we still face many similar issues regarding promotion of the service.

Revalidation on target

Image by viZZZual.com

Having pondered it long and hard, I finally decided to plump for a mentor to help through my chartership revalidation. Unlike with first-time chartership, it isn’t a necessary part of the process, and I blogged my musings about it here.

Last time, my mentor worked in a secondary school (just as I did then) and this time, my mentor works in a further education college (just as I do now). I know there are things to be learnt from working with a mentor from a different library sector, but personally I prefer them to have a direct feel for the role I am in and the challenges it may/may not include. Also, locality is an issue to consider; in my appraisal at the end of last year, my line manager agreed to allow me one afternoon per half term to meet with my mentor. Luckily, my mentor works in a college less than ten miles from the college in which I work. Although this is not a huge distance, the majority of our communications will be conducted via email, which suits us both. I am keen not to infringe too much upon my mentor’s working week, as I know she is based in a very busy library environment.

Musings of 2012

It's the end of a year once more, and I've taken a few minutes to look back over my blog posts, specifically Fingers crossed. When I review my aims for 2012, I see that life hasn't necessarily taken me in those directions, but I've still learnt a lot this year. You can make plans til the cows come home, but despite all your best intentions, sometimes you just end up on a different path. Not knowing what was to happen in life used to be a source of concern for me, but nowadays I find it one of the great joys of life; things happen which are out of your control, you roll with the punches and come out of it better for the experience. You never know what's around the corner and there is always a positive to be found, even in the darkest of times.

Team leadership

This is a retrospective post regarding a course I completed during the Summer. I didn’t blog about it at the time as I felt I needed space to distance myself from it and take time to digest and reflect upon the information I’d learnt.
In September 2011 I enrolled on an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) qualification in first line management. The sessions were delivered 6-9pm on Tuesday evenings for 30 weeks, and this is partly why I wanted to distance myself before blogging about it. I leave the house at 7.15am and after a full day at work followed by the course and a round trip commute of 65 miles, it’d be 10pm before I’d return home. I found it exhausting, and therefore wasn’t always in the best of mindsets where this course was concerned. I must admit this was the main factor in my decision not to enrol on any evening courses this year, despite feeling I would benefit from studying the course at the next level.

Systems integrations – ups and downs

Image by James Cridland

One of the achievements I am most proud of in my current role is the integration between the LMS and the computer booking system. As Systems Librarian, it is my responsibility to manage the systems we use in the library and earlier in the year these two main systems were integrated.

In March, I attended a MyPC user group session. Whilst there, I met Sue Walsgrove who works in the library at City of Wolverhampton College and operates an integrated Heritage and MyPC system. I arranged a visit and spent an afternoon grilling her about the nitty-gritty of integration. During the Easter half term break, I secured the services of an IT Technician and we set about linking these two systems. It took the best part of a week to complete, most of which was trial and error. We followed guidance from ISOxford and ITS; both covered the same steps but were incredibly different! After a necessary remote access session with ITS, all that was left was altering the settings to establish the access management limits we required.

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…

Goodbye Ed Panel

Image taken by Woodleywonderworks

An archived post on BtB outline my application and acceptance on the editorial panel for CILIP update with gazette magazine. This panel consisted of a number of CILIP members who provided feedback on the content of each issue (post-publication) via a closed forum on CILIP Communities.

A short while ago I received an email from CILIP informing me that the editorial panel was to be disbanded. The future includes the possible establishment of a new panel which provides feedback in terms of content ideas (pre-publication). This month, I received the first issue of the magazine without mention of the editorial panel on the contents page. For me, it was a sad day.

Study Visit Participation

A poster detailing the visit

During May, I spent a week in Warsaw, Poland, on a Transversal study visit. The visit was funded by the EU and focused on ‘new media in education and theprofessional development of librarians’. Each year, hundreds of places are offered on study visits through the Ecorys / Transversal programme. To qualify, participants must live within an EU country and work in adult education. On this particular visit, there were 13 participants from Iceland, Spain, Italy, France, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Aruba, Bulgaria, Romania and the UK. The types of libraries represented included college, university, medical, school, public and national.

I was thrilled to discover my application had been successful, but as the time grew nearer I became increasingly nervous; being very under-travelled, I was worried about travelling alone with a language barrier.  A member of the college Estates department is Polish and gave me a basic language lesson which helped put me at ease.
During the visit, each participant gave a 30 minute presentation outlining the educational system in their home countries, as well as the organisation of libraries services. It was interesting and reassuring to realise that, despite living in different countries and working in different types of libraries, librarians throughout Europe face the same issues. We were able to exchange elements of good practice and useful connections were made.

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:*