How To ... Succeed at Failure

Last week I took part in the Cambridge Libraries Conference 2017 where I sat on a panel discussing failure. This is something we don't discuss enough as a profession, probably because it's always a little embarrassing to admit that you've failed at something, but I think it's an important topic to cover.

It's inevitable that you will fail at something at some point in your career, whether this be a job application, project or an interview. If you don't then I would seriously begin to question what has been going on behind the scenes! With this in mind it's only sensible to prepare for it so you can deal with it when it comes. This is particularly true if you are dealing with professional failure. People have long memories and if you handle things badly it could reflect poorly on you for some time and damage future chances.

I was tasked with talking about failure in job interviews. Given my struggles to get a full time job I thought I was quite qualified to take part! I've applied for multiple jobs across Cambridge libraries over the last few years (including jobs that I was already doing on a temporary or part time basis). For one role I applied seven times before I was finally successful! I learnt a lot about applications, interviews and rejections over the course of this process. Below are some of the points I raised and I hope the tips will be helpful.

• It's normal and completely acceptable to feel rubbish if you don't get the job you apply for. If you're not a bit upset then this tells you something about how much you really wanted the job. It's important to acknowledge these feelings and self-medicate with chocolate/wine/Netflix as appropriate. What you mustn't do is allow this part to drag on too long and take over.
• Think about it this way - failure is a by-product of innovation and trying new things. This is something that I heard at IFLA and it's stuck with me. New professionals and those who are really active in the profession are likely to fail more as they get involved in more things and there is nothing wrong with this - it's just about experimenting and finding things out. What your mother told you was true - how do you know you don't like something until you've tried it?
• When you get rejected for a job it's a good idea to ask for feedback. It takes guts as no one really likes having their failures discussed face to face but it's worth doing as you can find out how to improve for the next time. You might even find out that you were the second choice for the role. Whether that makes you feel better or worse is open to interpretation...
• Turn failure into a learning opportunity. If you get the feedback that you lack a particular skill then you know what to work on for next time. Was your interview or application bad? Then try to develop these skills. A lot of this is just trial and error and you will get to grips with it over time. Try getting hold of the job specification for your dream role and develop the skills they are looking for. That way when it comes along you will be prepared.
• Learn to move on. Sometimes no matter what you do there is someone more qualified who will get the job. Does this hurt - yes. Can you do much about it - no. So move on. One of my biggest professional regrets is not moving on from that role I applied for seven times sooner. I got so fixated on trying to prove to myself and others that I could get the job that I ignored other opportunities trying to get a job that I was almost done with it as soon as I got it. It all worked out well in the end but sometimes I think I could have saved myself a lot of heartache. 

This is just one experience and point of view of failure. If anyone has any other experiences they would like to share then please let me know in the comments section. If nothing else we can all have a group hug and commiserate together! 

The Future of Academic Librarianship?

It's been a busy few months at work as I've spent the summer organizing and delivering a programme of training for library staff. As I'm based in the Office of Scholarly Communication naturally this training revolves around developing skills to help support the research community. Cambridge library staff are in the fortunate situation of having this training available to them but it has got me thinking about how people in other institutions develop their knowledge of this area. Together with my manager Danny Kingsley we have decided to conduct some research into the suitability of traditional training routes for academic librarians. Our survey has just closed and my blog post from the Office of Scholarly Communication blog - Unlocking Research - is reposted below and I'll be sharing outcomes and developments as we move forward with the research. As always, comments and feedback are welcomed!

Are academic librarians getting the training they need?

The problem

Few people would deny that the world of the academic library is changing. Users are becoming more and more sophisticated in their information gathering techniques and the role of the academic librarian needs to adapt accordingly or risk being left behind. Librarians are changing from the traditional gatekeeper role to one which helps their research community to disseminate the outputs of their work.

This shift offers academic library staff new opportunities to move into research support roles. An increasing number of libraries are establishing scholarly communication departments and advertising for associated roles such as Repository Managers and Data Specialists.  It’s also becoming common to see more traditional academic library roles advertised asking for at least a working knowledge of areas such as Open Access and Research Data Management.

This is an issue that we have been considering in the Office of Scholarly Communication for a while. My role as Research Skills Coordinator involves up-skilling Cambridge library staff in these areas so I’m more aware than most that it is a full time job. But what happens to those who don’t have this type of opportunity through their work? How do they find out about these areas which will be so relevant to their future careers?

For many new professionals studying is their main chance to get a solid grounding in the information world but with the profession undergoing such rapid change is the education received via these degrees suitable for working in 21^st century academic libraries? This is a question that has been raised many times in the profession in recent years so it’s time to dig a bit deeper.

Hypothesis

Our hypothesis is simple: there is a systematic lack of education on scholarly communication issues available to those entering the library profession. This is creating a time bomb skills gap in the academic library profession and unless action is taken we may well end up with a workforce not suited to work in the 21^st century research library.

In order to test this hypothesis we have designed a survey aimed at those currently working in scholarly communication and associated areas. We hope that asking questions about the educational background of these workers we can work to determine the suitability of the library and information science qualification for these types of role into the future and how problems might be best addressed.

After a process of testing and reworking, our survey was launched to the scholarly communication community on October 11^th 2016. In less than 24 hours there were over 300 responses, clearly indicating that the subject had touched a nerve for people working in the sector. (And thank you to those who have taken the time to respond).

Preliminary findings

We were pleased to see that even without prompting from the survey, respondents were picking up on many of the issues we wanted to address. For example, the original focus of the survey was the library and information science qualification and its impact on those working in scholarly communication.

When we piloted the survey with members of our own team we realised how diverse their backgrounds were and so widened the survey to target those who didn’t hold an LIS qualification but worked in this area. This has already given us valuable information about the impact that different educational backgrounds have on scholarly communication departments and has gained positive feedback from survey respondents.

Many of the respondents talk of developing the skills they use daily ‘on the job’. Whilst library and information professionals are heavily involved in lifelong learning and it’s natural for skills to develop as new areas emerge, the formal education new professionals receive also needs to keep pace. If even recent graduates have to develop the majority of skills needed for these roles whilst they work this paints a worrying picture of the education they are undertaking.

The survey responses have also raised the issue of which skills employers are really looking for in library course graduates and how these are provided. Respondents highlighted a range of skills that they needed in their roles – far more than were included in the original survey questions. This opens up discussions about the vastly differing nature of jobs within scholarly communication and how best to develop the skill set needed.

A final issue highlighted in the responses received so far is that a significant number of people working in scholarly communication roles come from outside the library sector. Of course this has benefits as they bring with them very valuable skills but importing knowledge in this way may also be contributing to a widening skills gap for information professionals that needs to be addressed.

Next steps

The first task at the end of the collection period (you have until 5pm BST Monday 31 October) will be to analyse the results and share them with the wider scholarly communication community. There are plans for a blog post, journal article and conference presentations. We will also be sharing the anonymised data via the Cambridge repository.

Following that our next steps depend largely on the responses we receive from the survey. We have begun the process of reaching out to other groups who may be interested in similar issues around professional education to see if we can work together to address some of the problems. None of this will happen overnight but we hope that by taking these initial steps we can work to create academic libraries geared towards serving the researchers of the 21^st century.

One thing that the survey has done already is raise a lot of interesting questions which could form the basis of further research. It shows that there is scope to keep exploring this topic and help to make sure that library and information science graduates are well equipped to work in the 21^st century academic library.

Originally posted on Unlocking Research on October 27th 2016.

So, What Do You Do?

Just before Christmas I started my new role in the Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) here at Cambridge. I'm still based in the University Library which is nice as it provides some continuity but my role now is very different to any that I have had before. One of the most common questions I've been asked is what my new job title is. The answer: Research Skills Coordinator. This is usually followed by the question "so, what does that mean?". This blog post is my attempt at an answer.

The basic answer is that I am working on developing and delivering training to library staff from across Cambridge in the area of scholarly communication. Since I've spent a good share of my in and out of work time over the past few years working on training others this is a good fit for me! In addition to this I am helping the OSC deliver training to the Cambridge academic community and assisting in outreach to the wider world. 

I've written before about job titles and their meanings so I understand the confusion around names in general. I think a lot of job titles now are more on the generic than the specific side to allow for adapting the role as needed. This is something that applies outside the library and information sector too! My job is actually a brand new role, not just for me but for the Library as well. This is an added bonus for me as I will be able to shape it. Having previously worked only on temporary or part-time contracts I was unsure of how much of myself to invest in a job that I would hand back in a few months. I always felt like a place holder for the 'real thing' so being able to mould my role is a challenge I'm looking forward to.

So, what do I actually do all day?

• A large portion of my day is spent looking at/organising/running/attending training events as part of the Supporting Researchers in the 21st Century initiative. These can be aimed at either librarians or the wider academic community and we try to tailor the sessions as much as possible. As anyone who knows me will know I love doing some CPD so this is right up my street! 
• As part of this I'm getting out of the Library and visiting various departments. Researchers are very busy people so it makes sense to take the training to them rather than making them come to us. Despite having been born in Cambridge and working at the University for more years than I would like to admit there are many departments I have never visited. One of the things I like most about working in a library is the chance to interact with people and I was starting to miss it.
• I'm managing the Research Ambassador Programme which aims to educate library staff in the area of scholarly communication and prepare them for going out and delivering the content to others. The aim is to release a cohort of Ambassadors into the wild at the end of this term before we start all over again! Further information on the Programme can be found here.
• A lot of learning! Although I've had an interest in this area for a while and attended a lot of training events this is all still pretty new to me. I'm learning about various areas which make up scholarly communication as I go along and although it's a steep learning curve I love it. I've always liked learning about new areas and for once I get a chance to put what I've learnt into practice.
• Finally I'm getting used to a new way of working. This is something that happens whenever you move jobs but it is still an adjustment after so many years working in the same department (albeit on and off). Luckily I had some practice of this when I moved to a temporary secondment in the Reader Services Department last year and my new colleagues are all lovely. Although they may only be like that as I keep baking them cakes.....

So in a nutshell this is what I do. It has only really been a few weeks so I have every expectation that this the above will change and develop. Hopefully this will give me more reasons to blog as I realise I have been neglecting it recently. I'm very much looking forward to 2016!

photo credit: DSC02603 via photopin (license)

A New Chapter

It's been a roller-coaster few weeks for me. My secondment to Reader Services ended and I returned to the English Cataloguing Department in a lower grade to the one I left which was, needless to say, demoralising. I then successfully interviewed for a new job in a different Library department.

On Monday I move to the Office of Scholarly Communication here at Cambridge to work as Research Skills Coordinator, a new role that I will be able to really make my own and which fulfils a lot of my professional goals. I'm beyond excited to start my new role (not least as this is the first full time permanent job I will ever have held!) but it's also a time tinged with a little bit of sadness. I am leaving behind cataloguing as a day job which will be a big change for me. I have spent most of my career working in a cataloguing role and it will be different to think that I won't be going back to it at some point. Of course you can never say never but I think the time has come for me to move on.

A few years ago I was as set as I could be on making cataloguing my niche in the profession and couldn't imagine doing anything else. To some this may seem like a boring ambition but I think it's a truly exciting time for the profession with the advent of initiatives such as Linked Data and BIBFRAME. I will still be involved with the CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group for as long as they will have me so I will be able to keep my hand in that way and I think many of the new developments will tie into my own work. A good thing about all this change is that it will hopefully mean more blogging, something I haven't had much time to do recently! This will be a new area for me professionally as well as an exciting direction for the profession and I'm keen to find out all I can about it.

What I have basically realised is that change doesn't have to be scary. People change and adapt over time and what you really want today might not be what you want in a year. My advice to all new (and maybe even not so new) professionals is to keep your options open and don't pin yourself down to only one part of the information industry. There are a lot of facets to the profession so go out and explore them - you never know what you might find!

photo credit: Light Reading via photopin (license)

Moving Into Management

I've written before about my desire to go into management and the difficulties I've had getting there. In the last couple of months I've been lucky enough to get a (temporary) promotion to a management role and complete some long awaited training with the ILM. My current role is Deputy Team Leader at the Reader Services Desk at Cambridge University Library and I have daily management responsibility for ten staff who work on the main issue desk at the library. We manage the circulation of materials, the admissions process and assist the roughly one thousand people that come into the library everyday. It's been a steep learning curve but I'm really enjoying the challenge. Management is not something I've always aspired to and if you has asked me a few years ago where I saw myself in the future the answer would definitely not have been managing people! However this has changed over the past couple of years and now seems like a natural next step in my career.

When I saw that CILIP ARLG Eastern was hosting an event called Moving Into Management I signed up as it was exactly the sort of day where I could pick up a few tips. Unfortunately one of the scheduled speakers became ill a couple of days before the event and I was asked to fill in with a short presentation (which can be found below).

I'm The Boss? from Claire Sewell

One of the things I was asked to talk about was the change involved with moving from being managed to being a manager. This is something I've struggled to get my head around since starting my new position so I was glad of the opportunity to reflect on my experiences. I wanted to expand a little bit on this area in this post.

In my previous role I actively managed people but not in a way that was formally recognized. Working as a Senior Library Assistant meant that I was the first port of call for questions from junior staff in the department. I also provided a lot of mentoring advice - something which I really enjoyed. When my manager(s) were away I often stepped in if there were any problems, such as something that needed to be done urgently for another department. Of course there were some things that were beyond my grade but I pitched in where I could. I really enjoyed doing this as I saw it as good training for future roles (although it was beyond frustrating not to be recognized for it!). 

This was what I would call the 'fun' part of management - the bit that lets you practice management skills but means that you don't have any actual responsibility. If something went wrong then I didn't have to step in and solve it and if there was a tough question I could just pass it off to someone higher up. When I moved into a management role this all became my actual responsibility and that was a big change for me. I'm responsible for ensuring that things get done, that my staff are happy in their work and that any problems get sorted out quickly with the minimum of fuss. Having experienced some bad management from other people in the past has made getting this balance right very important to me.

One thing I've not given new managers enough credit for in the past is the fact that they are essentially learning two jobs at the same time. This is especially true if they have moved into a new workplace or department. I've moved from a back office role to a front facing role and am having to learn how to operate our circulation system, the admissions categories for the library and about a million other tiny procedures which make up my new job. At the same time I'm learning how to be a manager and building on the skills I developed in my previous role. I came to the realization fairly quickly that I just had to get on with it and learn what I could. If you have a new boss in this situation then cut them some slack, they're trying their best. And if you are the boss then give yourself some credit because this is a lot of pressure and you're coping!

On a related note I just wanted to say that if you are feeling overwhelmed there are places you can turn to for help. Even managers have managers so make use of them. Good managers will sit down with you and see how you're getting on so use this opportunity to ask questions and get some advice. There will also be others out there in the same situation so make use of social media and professional associations to get in contact with them. Finally there may be management training available, either generic or specific to your organisation. I've just completed the ILM Level Three Award and this has given me some great tips to build on. There is also plenty of information available in books and online so get reading. Even if it only confirms that what you're doing is right it will increase your confidence.

Even if you think that management isn't for you it wouldn't hurt to brush up on your knowledge of it. You may change your mind in future or the future may change it for you. At the very least it may give you some insight into why you boss is the way they are!

Image credit: Peter Miller via Flickr

Pinterest Resource Boards

As anyone who reads this blog will know I'm quite a big fan of Pinterest (although slightly less so now that they have started making people sign up to read the content. For me, not having to do this was one of the sites biggest selling points...)

I've used the site for resource boards, professional development tips and plain old library silliness! Below is a selection of the new boards I've been working on over the last few months. I hope some of the resources are helpful to you!

I do a lot of professional reading and I find a visual bookshelf a great way to keep track of what I've read:

Follow Claire Sewell's board Professional Reading on Pinterest.

I've been thinking about management and leadership for a while now. As I look towards the next stage of my career, management skills are going to become increasingly important. I'm finally in a (temporary) role where I can develop my skills in a practical way but I'm always on the lookout for ways to learn more. This board looks at resources on both leadership and management:

Follow Claire Sewell's board Check It Out: Leadership on Pinterest.

Like many others I'm still on the lookout for my next career move. Below is a resource board on job applications and interviews:

Follow Claire Sewell's board Check It Out: Resources for Job Applications and Interviews on Pinterest.

Confidence in Conference Posters

A few weeks ago I tweeted asking for tips and advice on designing conference posters. My request got lots of retweets but not many answers which tells me that people are eager to find out about poster design. 

I've presented a conference poster before and it can be quite tricky to know where to start. For the past couple of weeks I've been collecting links from around the web and I've created a Pinterest board for easy reference:

Follow Claire Sewell's board Creating and Presenting Conference Posters on Pinterest.

Some of the sites refer to creating posters for specific disciplines such as science but I think there is something to take away from all of them. The board is still a work in progress at the moment so if anyone has any more links or some tips then please feel free to share them in the comments section below and I'll try to add them.

What's In a Name...? Library Job Titles

I’ve been thinking a lot about job titles recently, probably thanks to compiling my Chartership CV and applying for a couple of conference bursaries. I’ve tried to keep my CV up to date over the years but this is the first time I’ve really had to sit down and consider what it looks like to an outsider. One thing that has struck me through this process is that my current job title doesn’t really reflect what I do on a daily basis. Worse than this I’m starting to wonder if it’s putting people off!

Above is the section of my CV which describes my current role. When I was putting together my CV I realised that only the last four bullet points are directly linked to my actual job description. Everything else is something I have done out of need or a desire to develop my skills. At this point I should say that I am very lucky to work in a large library which allows me to develop and take on new things. I wonder though how many people read the heading Senior Cataloguer and look no further as they think that all I do is catalogue? This is probably not helped by the fact that I have worked in a number of cataloguing related posts over the years, many of which have the word cataloguer in the title.

I often get told by people that I’m not a “typical cataloguer” which I take as sort of grudging compliment but it does make me think again about my job title and if it’s giving people a certain impression of me. I’m sure I’m not the only person to wonder about this. In these days of constrained budgets and shrinking jobs is anyone a typical anything anymore? Aren’t we all having to take on jobs and responsibilities that we never thought we would have to, for better or worse? People short listing for interviews have very little time to read all the applications they receive so first impressions are important. I’m just wondering if the first impression that my job title sends out is the right one?

I started to wonder if other people felt the same way about their job titles so I compiled a very short and extremely unscientific survey which somehow managed to get nearly one hundred responses. 67% of respondents felt that their job title accurately reflected what they actually did whilst 33% felt that it didn’t. This was the final result but for a long time it was quite close. I asked those that didn’t think their job title was a good reflection of their work to expand on this. Below are a small sample of answers:

• "when I compare myself to others with the same job title I feel I carry out more varied and complex tasks"
• "job title does not clearly express my actual role, area of expertise or skills"
• "because I do so much more than that!"
• "librarian doesn't sum up the information literacy, training or general information wrangling that I do all day"
• "it's too general and doesn't reflect the degree of professionalism required"
• "for those in the library profession I think it's obvious ... however to the outside world I still use the word 'librarian' and this is what I put on my Twitter account for instance"
• "it doesn't include library or librarian"
• "it's a generic job title shared by several others who do jobs that differ from mine"
• "I have the word coordinator in my job title which means nothing to anyone, but not the word librarian"
• "library assistant implies I do non-professional work, which is not the case"
• "title is 'Faculty Librarian' which doesn't explain anything! No mention of liaison or teaching etc."

There were quite a few themes running through the answers. People felt that it would have been better to have the words library or librarian in their job title to give a better impression of what they do. This is an issue that needs a blog post all its own but it’s worth noting here. I think as the profession seeks to modernise itself and respond to critics who think the ‘L’ word is outdated we are in danger of giving ourselves titles that are too vague to be understood by the outside world but that’s just my opinion ....

Quite a few respondents highlighted this issue of vagueness, claiming that their title was too generic to reflect the variety of things that they do. With roles changing all the time I’m sure it’s not practical to keep updating job titles but what does that mean for their worth?

In contrast to this it’s interesting to note that people didn’t think their job titles would be too much of a problem on applications, as people within the library world would understand what they meant. This could be a positive or a negative and brings me back to my original point. People in the library world understand the term cataloguer but do they think all I do is catalogue books all day? Several cataloguers I know will tell you that we do a lot more than that! What all this adds up to is that there is no such thing as a perfect job title but there are several issues to think about.

Finally I asked people if they would be tempted to tweak their title to better represent what they do. 59% wouldn’t be tempted but 41% would, which was a higher percentage than I was expecting. I’ll admit that I’ve been tempted to change mine to something like Senior Library Assistant in the past to avoid people assuming that all I do is catalogue but I decided against it as I thought it would cause more harm than good!

I think what this very unscientific research has shown me is that I may be a little bit too sensitive when it comes to my job history. Having said that I think it would be a good lesson for us all to leave our perceptions of job titles at the door. Those judging applications need to look further than the title and see what the individual has achieved whilst the applicants (including me!) need to be better at demonstrating what they have done and not rely on their job title to tell the whole story.