Top Tips for Presenting: Storify

As part of my new role I'm working on putting together a presentation skills course for library staff. This is a very wide-ranging topic and fitting in everything I want to say is a challenge! I decided one way to get round this was to crowd source top tips from librarians on Twitter. 

There were several themes coming out of the discussion which will feed my plans going forward. For those interested or wanting to pick up some tips themselves I've produced a quick Storify which can be found below:

LibCAMp: A Cambridge Unconference

People who follow me on Twitter may have recently seen me frantically tweeting about something called #camlibcamp. This was the first Cambridge library staff unconference and was held this week at the Alison Richard Building in central Cambridge.

We are lucky in Cambridge as every year part of the University Library team organise a conference for staff in January. As well as being something to perk you up just after Christmas it provides a great way to meet new people and share new ideas. Circumstances and busy work schedules for the organisers meant that there was no official conference held this year so a group of us decided to do something about it. LibCAMp was born!

I've been to an unconference before but never organised one so it's been a bit of a learning curve. There were nearly sixty attendees in all which exceeded our expectations and showed that there is a real appetite for this kind of discussion. Below are a few of the lessons learnt during the planning process:

• plan for more people than you think will come. We thought we would only get about thirty attendees at best but we were overwhelmed by the response. The event sold out in two days but luckily we had some wait-list spaces available which we could release
• be flexible and listen to other people's ideas when planning. You might have a vision of how you think everything should go but you need to be open to the experiences of others. Some of our best ideas came from someone saying, "how about doing it this way?" so it's important not to discount anything during the planning stage
• collect feedback soon after the event whilst it's still fresh in the minds of participants. We are not sure at the moment if there will be a rerun of LibCAMp but if there is we have some ideas to encorporate. We asked participants to rate the event but also asked them what was they one thing we could do better. This has given us some valuable ideas for any future events we might run
• try not to be too hard on yourself when things go wrong. I have a tendency to do this personally so I'm really trying hard to focus on everything that went right as opposed to the fact that I forgot to mention a few things

Overall I think LibCAMp was a success. There were things we could have done better but if we had done everything perfectly it wouldn't have been much of a learning experience! People are still tweeting and blogging about the event so we must have made some sort of impression. The main lesson I've taken away from this is that if you see a gap for an event, rather than complaining about it why not try doing something about it? You might surprise yourself at what you can achieve. 

Making an Impact with Metadata on Social Media

At the beginning of September 2014 I worked up the courage to present at my first national conference - CILIP CIG 2014. The theme of Metadata - Making an Impact really appealed to me (and not just because I was on the conference organising committee!). I decided to talk about a successful work project involving a Pinterest board which I created for the Cambridge Library Science Collection. The slides for my talk are included below together with the write up I produced for the Catalogue and Index journal. The latter is reproduced here with the kind permission of CILIP CIG.

Making an Impact with your Metadata on Social Media from Claire Sewell

We all know that cataloguers produce great quality metadata but we also know that our users seldom turn to the library catalogue as their first, or even second, source of information. However many users are active on social media on a regular basis, keeping in touch with their peers and their institutions. Libraries are taking advantage of this by promoting themselves and their collections on various social sites. This article will discuss the use of the website Pinterest to promote the Library Science Collection at Cambridge University Library. Pinterest is an online pinboard where users can share images of interest with their followers and at Cambridge we use this to share our metadata in visual form.

The Library Science Collection at Cambridge is a result of the library’s legal deposit status. This dedicated professional collection is made up of approximately 2000 items, mainly monographs and journals but also a growing ebook collection. After taking over the management of the collection one of my key goals was to advertise this valuable professional resource to both Cambridge librarians and the wider information world. The collection now has an established social media presence including a blog, Twitter account and Pinterest site.

Rise of the visual web

Pinterest has become increasingly popular in the last few years as part of the phenomenon of the visual web. Visual websites are overtaking text based sites as the main method of communication on social media. In recent years sites such as Instagram and Snapchat have launched to huge acclaim and almost instant popularity. Analysts claim that we are moving away from a text based web towards something more visual and people are designing image based websites as a way to tap into this trend. You need look no further than some of the newer templates on popular sites such as Wordpress to see where this trend is taking hold. Couple this with the general decrease in people's attention spans and it becomes clear that websites now need something different to draw users in and engage them with the content. In addition to this, image based sites offer a better display on mobile devices. Studies show that people are accessing increasingly large amounts of information on devices such as smartphones and tablets which may have problems with text based sites. As information providers we need to be aware of this when designing our web presence.

The visual web has several advantages over its text-based counterpart. Think back to a time when you have done a web search only to be confronted with one page full of densely packed text and another page full of images. There you can start to see how difficult text is to absorb quickly whereas carefully chosen images can make an almost instant impact.

Using Pinterest at Cambridge

So how can we use this knowledge of the visual web to make our metadata more discoverable?

As mentioned, Pinterest is a collection of online pinboards where users can upload, link to and share images which then link back to content. An example of a Pinterest board can be seen below:

Follow Cambridge University Library - the UL's board Library Science Collection on Pinterest.

Visitors to the site can browse the images and then click through to visit the original content such as a blog post or news item. Libraries can use the same mechanism to share their metadata with users in a visual form.

Currently at Cambridge we are using Pinterest to create an online new books display. Cover images of the books are displayed on our pin board and used can access the catalogue record by clicking on the image. This has obvious benefits over the traditional new books display still used by traditional libraries. With an online display the physical books are still accessible for use so users are not restricted from accessing the actual material. Users no longer need to be in the library building to see what has been added to the collection, opening it to a wider professional audience. Another advantage is the sites simplicity for both librarian and user. It is easy to navigate, even for those new to the format and does not require registration to browse. The images posted display in online image searches, further aiding is discoverability.

Fig. 1

Constructing a Pinterest board is a simple process. Obviously the first thing you need to do to set up a page is register for an account. Before you do this it is worth finding out if your institution already has an existing account which you can join as this can help to grow an audience for your site. Accounts can have multiple boards on a variety of subjects. Each individual image on these boards is known as a 'pin'. Pins can be uploaded from a computer or taken directly from a website. The easiest way to do this is to install Pinterest's Pin It browser extension (Fig 1). This extension is available for most browsers trombone from the Pinterest homepage and selects images with one click.

The crucial component of a Pinterest site is to link the image back to the content you wish to share, in the case of Cambridge this would be the metadata of the book represented by its cover image. When you pin an image from the Internet Pinterest automatically links back to the original content. As we use Library Search at Cambridge, Pinterest links to the main catalogue interface as a default. A small amount of editing is required to make sure that cover images link back to the stable URL of the item rather than the main homepage of the catalogue. This is achieved by using the Pinterest edit interface. If you select the small pen symbol (Fig. 2) on the pin this takes you to an edit screen where you can make the necessary changes to the source URL.

Fig. 2

As the image is uploaded Pinterest will provide a short description in the description box (Fig. 3). In order to increase metadata exposure, at Cambridge we expand on this to include the basic bibliographic details of the book - full title, author and classmark. This provides a quick reference to users without having to click through to the catalogue, although this is still the main aim of the project. When the pin in complete it functions as a visual link to the catalogue.

Fig. 3

The Library Science Pinterest board has been extremely popular, gaining nearly four hundred followers in the first few hours after its launch. Since then follower numbers have continued to climb and engagement via likes and shares has been positive. Individual pins and whole boards can be also be promoted easily. For a site which requires minimal work to produce this is an excellent outcome which has helped to promote the visibility of both the collection and its metadata.

Copyright

Like many other image sharing sites, Pinterest has been the subject of some copyright discussion. It goes without saying that libraries using Pinterest need to be mindful of copyright, particularly when using cover art as these are of course copyrighted works in their own right.

Prior to starting the Pinterest project at Cambridge we consulted the University Copyright Department who cleared us to use images that were available through our catalogue interface as long as they linked back to the source of the image - the catalogue record. Not all titles in Library Search have cover images so unfortunately we cannot include images for these unless we seek individual permission from the copyright holders. We decided early on in the project that this was not practical and so do not include these books on our board.

If you cannot obtain clearance from your institution’s copyright department or are in any way unsure if you can use the images then the safest policy is to avoid using them.

Other uses for Pinterest

Even if pinning cover images is not an option for your library there are alternative ways of using Pinterest to make your metadata more discoverable online.

Topic and resource boards are easy to assemble and can make a great visual impact. Using images you have either created yourself or found an appropriate Creative Commons license for  you can create eye-catching pins which you can then link back to your metadata. Topic boards focus on a theme and can take advantage of popular news stories such as the anniversary of the First World War. Resource boards use a similar approach but centre around popular academic topics such as How to write an essay. Using Pinterest in this way you can create a graphic reading list of items and ensure that your metadata is noticed.

Top pinning tips

If you do decide to pursue Pinterest there are some important points to bear in mind.  As with other social sites Pinterest allows account holders to write short biographies of themselves or their institution. In addition there is a chance to compose a short description for each board. Write these carefully and try to include relevant keywords to increase discoverability. Choose or create your images with care to create the maximum impact on both Pinterest and the Internet in general. The aim is to make people stop and look in an environment which is increasingly becoming image dependent.

Conclusion

Pinning images with links to our metadata has proved hugely popular at Cambridge. It provides us with a way to tap into the trend for the visual web using metadata - something not traditionally thought of as picturesque. Hopefully this helps us to make more of an impact with our metadata on social media.

Edited to add: Since this article was first published Pinterest have become more forceful in trying to get you to sign in/up to view pins. I think this is a real shame as allowing non-members easy access was one of the biggest selling points of Pinterest for me.

Originally published: Catalogue and Index, November 2014.

Recent Presentations

I've done quite a bit of public speaking in the last couple of weeks so I've been able to add some more presentations to my resume.

A couple of weeks ago I delivered my first official conference presentation at CILIP's Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference. The theme was the Impact of Metadata and I chose to speak about Making an Impact with your Metadata on Social Media. This presentation looked at how I use Pinterest to promote metadata of the Library Science Collection at Cambridge.

Making an Impact with your Metadata on Social Media from Claire Sewell

A full write-up of this presentation will be written for the next issue of the CIG journal and I hope to post it here in due course.

Having completed my Chartership earlier in the year I was asked to talk about my experiences at a Chartership and Certification Event for CILIP East members. I had a really engaged audience who seemed keen to start the professional registration process. I've included the presentation below but if anyone wants further information then they can either read this post (on which the presentation was based) or contact me directly.

Journey to Chartership from Claire Sewell

An Early New Year Reflection

Before you go any further with this blog post there is a small disclaimer: yes, this is one of those annoying reflective posts that people tend to write at this time of year! I don't know if it's the emphasis on reflective practice inherent in the Chartership process or something else, but I've come to really value the importance of looking back on your achievements and thinking about how you could improve yourself.

I do a lot of extra-curricular activities that are library related but not specific to my job. I see things like attending conferences and webinars as important professional development tools and I don't mind doing them in my own time. Having said that, one important lesson that I've learnt this year is that it's important to really plan your CPD rather than just attending events because you think you should. If you attend everything you will burn out and grow to resent something you should be enjoying. When you see an event/course advertised ask yourself does it fit with your goals?, why do you want to attend? If you can't think of three solid reasons then it's probably best not to. Remember that not all attendance has to be physical. You can follow conferences on Twitter using hashtags or watch a recorded webinar at a time when you don't have as much going on.

One activity that I made a decision to pursue this year was joining the CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group Committee, which I did in January. I've wanted to be involved in this group for a long time and I'm so glad I am as it has been a great experience. As the blog manager I was able to build a blog from scratch and have built up a lot of transferable skills. I hope to continue long into the future.

Public speaking is never going to be my favorite activity but I've learnt this year that I'm not as bad as I think I am. I spoke at the Libraries@Cambridge conference in January as well as presenting a poster, I gave a nano-presentation at ARLG Teachmeet and ran a session at LibCampEast. As the year has gone on I've been less terrified of trying something new and the thought of talking in public no longer brings me out in a cold sweat. I think diving in at the deep end with something you don't like can sometimes work out for the best. The first presentation I gave this year was in front of almost all the librarians in Cambridge which was absolutely panic-inducing. If something went wrong then everyone would know, not just at my own library but all over town. Luckily it didn't and I found subsequent presentations much easier. Librarians at these events are very supportive, especially of first-timers. Maybe it's not a bad thing to start off with the most terrifying thing, everything after it seems less awful in comparison!

I've also worked on my writing skills, producing two articles which have been published with another still to come. I don't claim that these articles are anything earth shattering in terms of content but it was nice to get some experience of formal writing that wasn't for my degree course. It also helps to make the CV look good! My advice to anyone concerned about writing for any sort of library publication, or even a blog, is to just go for it. If you have something to say then someone will be listening. The library community is a very engaged bunch and is always grateful to have a new point of view.

'Mentoring' is a word I've never been comfortable with, especially in relation to myself. I've never had the professional confidence to think that people would want to take my advice but this has changed over the course of 2013. I've helped out some people, both within my workplace and outside, with career advice and they seem to be doing well. I think the fact that I have the faith in myself to do this is one of the things that I am most proud of for this year. The other thing is the fact that in the summer I graduated with an MSc in Library and Information Studies from Aberystwyth University. It was a hard journey but worth it. To anyone currently working towards a degree I would say that there is light at the end of the tunnel and being able to call yourself a librarian officially at the end of it is a great feeling.

I promise that my self indulgence is over for another year! I'd like to thank everyone for reading this blog, it really does mean a lot to me and the comments and interactions I get through the blog and Twitter are probably the main reasons that my confidence has improved so much. I wish everyone a happy 2014 both personally and professionally, and encourage you to keep developing and reflecting in any way you can. It really is worth it, I promise!

photo credit: Denis Collette...!!! via photopin cc

Creative CPD at LibCampEast

Last weekend I attended my first library camp at LibCampEast. Library camps are something I've heard a lot about but not had a chance to attend until now. Once I signed up I started thinking that it would be good practice for me to pitch a session. Since my blog post on CPD seemed to strike a chord with people and fit with the theme of the conference, I decided to pitch a session on creative methods of CPD. The format was a brain storming session in small groups after which participants fed their ideas back. The post below covers the results of this feedback and also serves as a follow up to my first CPD post.

Get Creative With Your CPD from Claire Sewell

Conferences provide lots of CPD but you don't always have to spend a lot of money to get the best out of them. You can follow along on Twitter using a hashtag or use the conference website to access the presentations. If you're lucky enough to attend it's worth following up on ideas or projects that presenters mention, as this is a great way to contextualise the experience. Volunteering to speak at or organise a conference was another method of CPD highlighted. Experience of public speaking and event organisation is always a great addition to a CV. TeachMeets were cited as a great example of this, especially for first time speakers or organisers.

The Internet provides lots of opportunity for CPD. ITunes U and other podcasts can often be downloaded for free and can be listened to/watched on the commute. There are a wide variety of podcasts available so you don't have to limit yourself to the library ones. You can even skip to the good bits! Other online suggestions included:

• Webinars
• SlideShare
• 23Things programs
• MOOCs
• Librarian blogs
• RSS feeds of relevant sites
• Skype
• Email lists
• Email alerts for journals

There are also several low cost CPD methods in the real world. Exhibitions like the London  Book Fair are a way of speaking to vendors and some will even provide free training in using their products. Vendor events are also a great place to network with other librarians. Visiting other libraries is a way to get an insight into workplaces outside your sector. CILIP special interest groups often run tours to various libraries so it's worth keeping an eye out. 

Setting up or taking part in professional networks was another popular suggestion. The International Librarians Network provides a way to connect professionals across the globe but less formal local networks were also mentioned. If the idea of formal networking intimidates you then why not attend a library social event to get to know others in the sector? Some participants had organised coffee mornings in order to meet other staff in their organisation. Taking online relationships into the real world such as Twitter meet ups can work well. Participants will already have a common interest and it's a lot easier to talk to people you already 'know' online. Other suggestions for online groups included reading groups, journal club and organised chat such as #uklibchat.

Getting involved in a professional organisation like CILIP or SLA can be a great way to develop professionally. Committee work can give you experience of teamwork or budgeting and shows a commitment to the profession. These organisations also offer grants and bursaries to their members which can be used to fund CPD. 

Other methods discussed included:

• Learning boxes - these started out as actual boxes but can also be used online. The basic idea is that you describe a situation, what you learnt and what you would do differently. You then come together to go through the box and learn from others experiences
• CPD happy hours - taking an hour a week to work on your development. From reading blogs to learning how to use software these can be adapted to the individual. The important thing is to keep a log of your activities
• Writing articles or book reviews 
• Using outside interests such as working with youth groups to illustrate team work or organisational skills

Participants rounded up the session by sharing their general CPD tips. It's important to keep track of any training or other activities, whether for a formal program or just for your own use. Methods suggested included:

• IFTTT
• Keeping a diary
• Reflective learning journals
• Reporting back to your team on any activities such as conferences which might be useful for them to know about

Many people highlighted the crucial role that support has to play in CPD activities. This support can come from managers and other less formal sources, either online or in person. It's important to remember to ask for support, especially if you're undertaking a formal process like Chartership. Get together with a group of like-minded people or online friends and you will soon find yourself motivated.

A final point from the session was that it's OK to say something doesn't work for you. Not every method works for everyone and there's nothing wrong with that. The important thing is finding the method that works for you and I hope that the session gave people some ideas to take forward.

Bibliography:
No-Nonsense Guide to Training in Libraries / Barbara Allan

Teaching myself some new tricks!

I've heard a lot of good things about TeachMeets but never managed to get to one. However I made an extra effort with the inaugural event of ARLG East and managed to attend my first TeachMeet. For anyone who hasn't heard, TeachMeets are a way of getting practitioners together to talk about what they do and exchange tips or tricks. They started off, as the name would suggest, in the teaching sector but library and information professionals have been quick to take on the idea. People sign up to give short talks of either three or seven minutes, which is just enough time to share a recent project or discovery. What appealed to me most about the TeachMeet was that it was less formal than a conference which really helped the creativity to flow. I even signed up to present, something which I usually dread! I'm happy to report though that my talk went well (at least no one threw anything so I took that as positive feedback!)

Apologies to Emma Coonan who gave the first presentation, immediately before my slot. I probably didn't listen as attentively as I should! Emma spoke about her job teaching digital literacy skills to students and how creating a visual guide has had much more of an impact. More information can be found on Emma's blog. Teaching of a different sort was the subject of Kathryn Wallis's presentation. Kathryn has recently completed a PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) course which has helped her to consolidate her teaching knowledge. She also spoke of how it had helped to strengthen her relationship with staff outside the library who were also taking the course. Libby Tilly followed this by talking about becoming a fellow of the Academy of Higher Education which is another way of consolidating teaching knowledge. Libby said that one of the major benefits for her as an academic librarian was that the fellowship helped to put her on a similar standing to academics in her institution, a least in their eyes.

Aidan Baker gave us an outline of Gliffy which is an online diagram tool. Aidan talked about the importance of designing a library space that people will want to use and showed how Gliffy can be used to plan this. He also showed us a plan of the library he had created which mapped the classification scheme to the floor plan - very useful for all those lost students! Anna Martin talked about the important but often neglected topic of first aid awareness, reminding us that everyone should have at least a basic knowledge in a job where we a constantly dealing with people.

Catherine Reid talked about hosting drop-in sessions for users. These were informal one to one sessions which usually focused on a specific topic such as ebooks. Hosting sessions like this helped to bring staff out from behind the library desk and aided interaction with users. This was a theme echoed by Jane Helgeson who talked about her 'Librarians Let Loose' project. This initiative saw roving librarians moving into student spaces to engage with them directly. One point that really stuck with me from Jane's presentation was the idea of taking the library out to spaces not owned by the library, something which can effectively target non-users. The project was a success and will be repeated in the future.

Charlotte Byrne and Ellen Dutton both gave great examples of how technology can be used in the library. Charlotte talked about using ISSU to digitise books and letters. ISSU is an online tool which puts together PDF files into the form of an online brochure that users can flick through. This is a simple to use and cost effective method of digitisation and sharing information on the library. Ellen uses videos to teach users about various aspects of the library, such as the classification system. Today's technology has made producing videos easy and cheap and there is lots of help available online. These videos are fun and make an excellent way to get the message across - having a huge impact on users.

Libby Tilly spoke about using LibCal to take bookings in her library. This has been a fairly recent development and covers both sessions that academics book for students and those that students book themselves. The system has several advantages over other options such as being able to show how many places are left on a course. Users find the system easy to use which lowers another barrier to library use. Sarah Elsegood talked about the challenges of teaching users about next generation library catalogues. The main problem is providing an interface which meets the high expectations of users. Users are no longer passively using the catalogue but interacting with it, using facilities such as user based tagging. The next generation catalogues offer flexibility and helps different types of user to do different types of searches.

I was pleased to hear the word 'impact' being mentioned by a number of presenters. This was the subject of my presentation and something that I think libraries need to work on measuring. It's a very powerful tool which can be used to win over even the most reluctant of stakeholders. If you can convince people that something is making a definite impact on users they will find that very hard to argue with.

I've included my presentation below. This was the first time I've used Prezi and I'm afraid that I'm still not a convert. My subject was 'Measuring the Impact of Social Media' and was based on my dissertation research.

I really enjoyed the day and wouldn't hesitate to recommend the TeachMeet format to anyone. Even though I hate public speaking I found it surprisingly easy to speak and even went over my allotted three minutes. Hopefully next time I will have the confidence to take on the seven minute slot so I can actually stick to my time limit!

Public Speaking for the Terrified!

Anyone who knows me in real life will know that I am not what you would call a natural public speaker. The thought of standing up in front of more than two people terrifies me to my very core, never mind having to sound intelligent in front of a room full of every librarian in my organisation! So when I was asked to be part of a panel discussion at yesterday's libraries @ cambridge conference I said yes with more than a little trepidation. However if 2013 is going to be my Chartership year I had better learn how to push my boundaries and there's nothing like jumping in at the deep end!

Having never done anything like this before I did what any good librarian in this situation would do - I started to research tips on how to be part of a conference panel. I found a couple of reassuring resources but most focused on how to chair a panel discussion rather than how to be part of it, so I thought I would use this post to share a couple of tips for other first timers:

• remember that you have been asked to contribute, so someone thinks you know what you're talking about even if you're less than confident. You must have done something to make them think this so try not to stress too much about how little you (think you) know about the topic
• try not to over prepare (also advice I give to people attending job interviews). It's a must to do some preparation but don't over think it. Have a list of bullet points rather than a totally planned speech which can sound a bit robotic 
• on the flip side, don't go in totally unprepared. Meet up with your fellow panelists and talk about areas you think might come up. You could even assign areas to talk about, giving you a chance to feel a bit more prepared on a smaller slice of the overall topic
• remember to talk to the audience not just your fellow panelists, especially if you're responding to an audience question. And don't do that thing where you imagine the audience naked - never a pretty image!
• at least attempt to look like you're enjoying yourself, even if you're not. Remember the conferences that you have attended where the presenter has looked totally bored and you have tuned out as a result? If you don't look interested in what's happening then the audience definitely won't be
• be yourself, in terms of both personality and dressing. Dress smartly but comfortably rather than trying to 'dress to impress'. If you wear something you're not used to then you will feel uncomfortable, which means that you will look uncomfortable
• don't give long-winded and technical answers. People will tune out. Remember a really bad panel session that you have been to where you understood nothing? Don't copy that
• the audience is not out to get you or trip you up with horrible questions, they're probably just glad it's not them on that stage! If you do get asked a question it's because you made enough of an impact with that person that they felt they needed to respond. If you don't know the answer then say so, you can always look into it and follow it up later. No one is expecting you to have all the answers
• if you have a last minute panic and end up rocking in a corner before the session remember that it's only an hour out of your life. Try to think of it as a conversation with other people interested in the topic rather than a scary experience (something else which works for me in job interviews). Audience members wouldn't be there in the first place if they weren't interested in what you have to say!

Being involved in a panel discussion is a way to ease yourself into public speaking. You're not up there on your own giving a paper and you can share the responsibility for questions with others meaning that you're not totally put on the spot. Taking part in a conference is a great opportunity and will look good on your CV in what is an increasingly competitive job market. It might take a lot of convincing (never mind a couple of stiff drinks) to get you up there but I promise that it will be worth it in the end. If all else fails remember that if I can do it, so can you!

photo credit: www.audio-luci-store.it via photopin cc

Umbrella 2011

I'm going to be presenting a poster for cpd23 at Umbrella 2011 this week. Am slightly nervous (but still excited) since I have never been to Umbrella before, let alone presented anything! Please do come and say hello if you're there, it will be nice to meet some participants in the real world.

(Image credit: lakewentworth)