Tools for Reflective Practice

Whether I'm working in my everyday role teaching and training library staff at Cambridge or working with CILIP Professional Registration Candidates as part of my Candidate Support Officer duties, one topic keeps coming up again and again - reflective practice. What is it? How do I do it? Should I even be bothering at all?!

For me the answer to that last question is a resounding yes. I know that it can be hard to make time for yet another thing in a busy day and it's not for everyone but I think it's worth persevering with. I'm a worrier by nature and I can't begin to count the amount of time I've wasted going over and over tiny, insignificant interactions in my head. Working on my reflective skills has really helped me to focus and spend less time worrying about the small things. Obviously for me, channeling my reflections into blog posts is helpful.

I think reflection is important for other reasons as well:

• It helps to silence that little voice in my head that reminds me of everything I could have done differently. This 'self-talk' can be really damaging if it gets out of hand and having a structure to think back and reflect on experience has really helped my mental balance.
• Reflection shows you what went right or wrong. I spend a lot of my time developing and delivering courses so it's always good to think through how these can be improved. Not only does reflection help to find areas for improvement but it can highlight the things you're doing right and should keep doing.
• It stops us from doing the same thing for reasons that made sense twenty years ago. Sometimes there are perfectly valid reasons for doing something a certain way but reflection helps us to be more creative and really look at things in a new light.
• Reflection also helps to overcome assumptions. It's natural and human to make assumptions about people and their situations but I think it often pays to take a step back and think things through. Personal story: my father was in a wheelchair for the last few years of his life. I had a small car which didn't fit his chair but I still liked to take him out and about. Luckily many places offer wheelchairs which you can borrow and this is what I used to do. With my father in the car I would park in the disabled bay (as he was entitled to do) and then get out to fetch the chair for him. More often than not I would get challenged about my need to park there, sometimes in a very abusive way, as people assumed I was parking illegally. Thinking about this experience makes me give those parking in such spaces today the benefit of the doubt - I don't assume they're abusing the system just because I can't see a disability. Overcoming assumptions is useful when working with lots of different users in the information profession.

However reflection isn't always easy. It takes time and commitment as well as a certain level of self insight which can be uncomfortable. I've made some discoveries about myself and my behavior as a result of reflection that have made me face some harsh truths. However I've learnt from it and now moved on. 

As part of my role at Cambridge I recently delivered a workshop session on reflective practice. The slides and materials from the workshop can be found below (links to other training I've given can be found here). The slides and workbook are both licenced under a Creative Commons CC-BY licence meaning that they are free to reuse, remix and adapt as needed. I hope they're helpful whichever type of reflection you're struggling with!

Reflective Practice Workshop from Claire Sewell

Download slides here [PDF]
Download workbook here [PDF]

Reflections on the Publication Process

Working in scholarly communication for the last eighteen months has been a steep learning curve in a lot of ways. I have responsibility for training others in an area that is still relatively new to me and constantly evolving which means that I spend as much time in training as they do! 

One way in which I've been learning about the process of scholarly communication is by taking part in it and publishing my first peer reviewed article. Doing this allowed me to better understand how the traditional publication life cycle works at the same time as developing my writing skills. Although I have published shorter articles in the professional press before these have usually been as the result of a specific request or winning a bursary. This was the first time that I actually responded to a call for contributions and been through the process of having my work critiqued and changed.

I always aim to encourage others to get more involved in the profession through research and sharing their knowledge so I wanted to document the experience of getting published here. Although it wasn't always a smooth ride hopefully it will encourage more people than it will put off!

Full disclosure: I sit on the Editorial Board of the New Review of Academic Librarianship where my article was published (although I hope that didn't sway the decision!). It did mean that I got to see the process from both sides which was an interesting experience - but that's for another blog post.

It really can take a long time to get published
Obviously this depends on where you publish but I hadn't fully appreciated how long the writing and peer review process can take. I first saw the call for papers in May 2016 which means that it was a year from responding to the final article being published. Obviously this is different from discipline to discipline and I don't mean it as a slight on the process used by this particular journal (if anything sitting on the Board and undertaking some peer review myself has given me a new insight into this). Understanding how complex the process can be has helped me to better understand what researchers go through to get to publication.

Aim to write for a particular journal
It's a good idea to aim for a certain journal when thinking about publishing your work, either by answering a specific call for papers or by checking their submission guidelines. The call that I responded to was for a special issue with a particular focus. Although the general idea of what I wanted to write fit within the scope they were looking for I was still able to tailor my approach to the article to meet the needs of the journal. Focusing your article in this way can increase the likelihood of acceptance to the journal you want to publish in.

Conform to the standards of the journal
We all know that it's easier to take care of references and citation styles as we go along but in practice when trying to write these things can slip. However it really is a big time (and stress) saver further down the line so try to make an effort to format the article as you go along. Most journals will offer some guidance on how best to approach this on their webpages.

Allow yourself plenty of time to write and edit your work
No matter how much you want to write your article real life will get in the way so allow yourself more time than you will need. I was always a good student who had her assignments in before the deadline but I don't mind admitting that there were a few times during this writing process that I was up into the early hours of the morning to complete a draft! Unless you're lucky enough to have writing time as part of your job you'll probably be juggling writing with your job. Things come up that need to be dealt with and writing is not always the top of the priority list. Planning more time into the schedule can help to take the pressure off slightly.

Keeping the momentum going
This is a problem all writers have - whether it's an academic assignment or a report due at work. It's easy to lose sight of your goal when there is so much else going on so try and reward yourself where you can. For every draft you complete give yourself a little reward. Alternatively set small, achievable goals to divide up your workload. If you have a period of time to write then try to finish just one section rather than the whole article. Everyone has different ways of getting through the process so find yours and make use of it.

Develop a thick skin
I was lucky in that my article was accepted fairly easily after peer review but this isn't always the case. The comments I received after the first round of review were very constructive and really helped to improve my final article. However I won't deny that it hurts a little to have something you have worked so hard on criticized in any way. Hopefully now that I've been through the process I've developed a little bit of immunity to critical comments. As I said, the comments I received were helpful so it's really just a personal thing that I need to get over!

Think about how you will promote your work
Publication used to be the end of a project. You had been through drafting, peer review and changes and your work was now out in the world which means it's time to start the next project. Today it's important to make sure you share your work so that people actually get to see it. In the Office of Scholarly Communication we practice what we preach and we were lucky that we were able to make the final version of our article available Open Access. Even if you can't do this it is often possible to share a version of it in an institutional or subject repository so that those outside academia can access it. You will have put a lot of effort into producing your work so feel free to brag about it! Share a link on social media, blog about it, put a link in your email signature - whatever works. More tips on how to share your work can be found here.

Use the knowledge you gain from writing
I work with librarians and researchers so the experiences I've gained have some direct applications to my role. When talking to researchers I have a slightly better understanding of some of the common experiences they go through. I can commiserate on the length of the process or how disheartening it can be to get negative comments during peer review. It's also helped me to explain the publication process to library staff which is a crucial step in preparing them to support the research community. How you use your experience might be different but please try and share it in some way if you can. I think it's really important to encourage others to get involved in sharing their knowledge in this way but this can only happen if they are supported and encouraged through the process.

These are just a few of the things that I've learnt over the last year. As academic libraries change and move more towards research support developing a deeper understanding of the publication process will become more important. Whichever sector you work in I think it's important to share what you are doing with the wider profession so that we can learn about what works and what doesn't work.

Event Justification Toolkit

It's conference season again! Around this time of year lots of bursary application adverts start to land in my inbox. Having won probably more than my fair share of awards to attend conferences I also get emails asking for advice on what to include in applications. I also get queries as part of my role supporting the professional development of library staff. Most of these questions revolve around how to get your boss to pay for you to go to a certain event! Again this is something I've been reasonably lucky with in the past so I pass on what tips I can. Hopefully I'll be able to put them to use myself this year.

About a year ago I put together a short toolkit on preparing a business case for event attendance to help colleagues with their applications. Although it's phrased as if talking to a line manager it can be used as an aid if you're struggling to put together a bursary application. Please do always read the guidelines for the individual bursary as they will always tell you exactly what the judges are expecting.

The toolkit can be found below and downloaded as a PDF here. I hope it proves helpful and best of luck in your applications!

Attendance Justification Toolkit from Claire Sewell

2016 In Review

The end of year blog post is becoming something of a tradition for me. I like to use it as a chance to reflect on the previous twelve months and make some plans for the future - if I share them there is more chance that I will actually stick to them!

 

This time last year I was only a few weeks into a new role and still figuring out how everything in my new office worked. After just over twelve months in the job I hopefully have everything figured out by now! This role marks my first permanent full time role and aside from the relief of not having to constantly apply for new jobs it's been a relief to actually put work plans into place and know that I'll be there to see them through. Short term contracts are great for getting experience but you sometimes feel like a placeholder and it can be frustrating not to see projects that you start through to the end. One of the largest elements of my current role in the Office of Scholarly Communication is supervising the Research Support Ambassador Programme which aims to educate library staff in order to provide a higher standard of support to the research community. The second cohort of participants has recently completed the programme and there are plans for another run in 2017.

 

One of the highlights of 2016 was the chance to attend IFLA WLIC in Columbus, Ohio. This came about thanks to a grant from CILIP and I learnt so much from the process. A series of blog posts about my experiences can be found here so I won't go into too much detail. The only thing I will say is that if you ever get the chance to apply for similar bursaries then go for it. It took me a while but I was eventually successful and it was a great experience. I've also attended other conferences this year, both large and small. Two that stick in my mind are Internet Librarian International and the CILIP Conference and each provided a different experience. CILIP have recently announced that Dr Carla Hayden, the new Librarian of Congress, will be a keynote speaker at the CILIP 2017 conference so I'll definitely be looking to attend.

 

I also attended the LISDIS Conference in November. This conference is aimed at allowing recent library graduates to showcase the research they have undertaken and I was really impressed with the quality of their presentations. I attended the conference to give one of the keynote presentations on carrying out Research in the Workplace which was really interesting to research and deliver. I'm currently in the middle of conducting some research into the educational background of people who work in scholarly communications - another project for 2017. I've also submitted abstracts for a couple of other presentations and I'm currently waiting to hear if they have been successful. One I do know about is our local Cambridge Libraries Conference which will happen in January. I'm presenting a poster on the Research Support Ambassador Programme and talking about my professional failures as part of a panel discussion (another blog post to follow on that in the new year).

 

Although I've been busy at work I've tried to keep up my extra-curricular professional activities. I completed the CILIP Leadership Programme in the summer which was a great experience that gave me a lot of practical tips to put into practice. I feel much more confident in my leadership abilities as a result of the programme and would recommend a repeat run to anyone. As part of this I wrote articles about my experiences for CILIP Update, including an article on attending IFLA WLIC. I've also been busy developing my writing skills in other ways including submitting my first peer reviewed article. I'm currently waiting for the feedback but hopefully there will be some good news to report in new year. Finally I've been working on conducting and writing about my own research both on this blog and others, including this literature review posted on Brain-Work - the blog for the Centre for Evidence Based Library and Information Practice.

 

I've been active on the committee front as well, continuing to work as Candidate Support Officer for CILIP East and Social Media Manager for CILIP Cataloguing an Indexing Group. As my work interests have changed I've expanded my committee positions in 2016 by working on the Editorial Board of the New Review of Academic Librarianship. I've learnt a lot from this role and it's interesting to see the publication process from another perspective.

 

All in all it's been a busy year but that doesn't mean I don't have plans for 2017. I started a teaching course in 2015 but was unable to complete it due to work commitments. I hate leaving things unfinished so I'll be starting that again in the new year. I do a lot of teaching in my role so this seems like a sensible qualification to pursue. I'm also looking at Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy for similar reasons. I also have another goal in 2017 - to address my work/life balance. The images in this post were taken when I visited Chicago in the summer on my way back from IFLA (for those that don't know it's the Cloud Gate sculpture which I felt fit the reflection theme well!). I had a great time and it was nice to have a few days break from work. People often ask me why I do so much outside work and the short answer is that I have been trying to secure a permanent job and add to the CV. For now at least this goal has been accomplished so I can devote a bit more time to relaxation. I think this is something people often forget to do for various reasons but I'm aiming to make it a priority next year - and maybe even have another holiday!

 

I hope you all have a great 2017!

 



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.

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. 

CILIP Leadership Programme - Liverpool, July 2015

Recently I was lucky enough to be accepted to the CILIP Leadership Programme. This is a new programme which CILIP are piloting in 2015-16 in order to increase the leadership capacity within the profession and is based on similar models offered by other associations. The programme will involve face to face meetings, online learning and group project work. The launch of the programme was held last week just before the CILIP Conference in Liverpool.

There are twenty-one participants in all and I was pleased to see a large range of sectors represented. Meeting face to face in this way helped to break the ice and it was really interesting to hear about what people did and what they were hoping to get out of the programme. Quite a few of the participants were there for the same reason as me - to develop confidence in their leadership skills - but it was also reassuring to hear other people's reasons for taking part. It reinforced the idea that leaders can come from anywhere and there is no one special skill that people are born with.

This was something that we discussed at length. After a noisy getting to know you exercise where we shattered the illusion that librarians are quiet we discussed what makes an effective leader. There were a lot of common themes suggested such as someone who is inspiring, approachable and consistent. This very much fits with my idea of a leader but it was interesting to hear what others thought. For example some thought that leaders were those that were good at succession planning to ensure the future of their organisation, something which had not really occurred to me before. We also had a group discussion on how leaders are made. Out of all the options presented I was drawn to the social script option which claims that leaders arise when the situation requires them. This is very much how I have seen my own leadership journey as I never considered myself a leader but like to think I can step up when needed.

We also looked at different leadership styles and their associated advantages and disadvantages. This is something I was quite familiar with through my work on the ILM Leadership Course but it was useful to have the discussion in a library context. I think that all leaders have a tendency towards a particular style but most people are able to adapt it to different situations (known as situational leadership). Having all the styles outlined for me highlighted the importance of this type of training to all leaders as you may not fully realise the disadvantages of your natural approach or indeed the advantages of other approaches. For example I think the term autocratic conjure up certain negative images but in a crisis situation this type of leadership can be very useful.

The next session was a chance for several key members of CILIP to share their own leadership stories. CILIP CEO Nick Poole never set out to become a leader. At the start of his career he made use of every opportunity to talk to leaders about what they did and why they did it. He built his skill set both through work and by taking CPD opportunities such as committee work. Nick also stressed the importance of work/life balance, something I think even the best of us forget at times. CILIP President Jan Parry spoke of how drama lessons helped her to overcome a childhood stammer. To me this was an important lesson in thinking outside the box to solve problems and gain valuable experiences. As an adult Jan was involved in local politics and learnt a lot from observing those around her, something which seemed to be a key theme from all of the talks. Finally Simon Edwards (Director of Professional Services at CILIP) spoke about imposter syndrome, something I know I’ve struggled with. I was also really pleased to hear his shout out to cataloguers! Simon spoke of an everyday kind of leadership. We cope with change and difficult circumstances every day and we shouldn’t underestimate how these feed into leadership potential. He advised creating a career map to show what you have done and what you want to do. This is something I plan to do as I think it will help to consolidate my past (and hopefully future) achievements. At lunch there was another opportunity to observe leadership in action as we were joined by the CILIP Board.

The last part of the day involved the initial planning of our group projects. These will be a key component of the programme and a chance to put theory into action. I am involved in looking at the Member Network CPD offer. As I’m very interested in CPD this project really appeals to me but I think it will also be a chance to test myself. As well as challenging myself with aspects of the project it will force me to think beyond what I consider CPD and look at the point of view of others. I’m really looking forward to getting started!

The next time all the participants will meet face to face is at CILIP HQ in November. In between there are lots of opportunities to interact online as well as additional training scheduled in the form of webinars and online chats. I’m really excited to be involved in the inaugural year of this programme and I hope that my input can help shape it for many years to come. So far it has really rejuvenated me professionally so I’m looking forward to seeing how much further it can take me.

Photo credits: 

David Spinks - Follow the leader

Wesley Fryer - Caution: Future world and local leaders at work and play

 

Teach the Teacher - Part One

This is part one in a short series of blog posts about the Level 3 Award in Education and Training I am currently working on.
 

It's been an ambition of mine for a couple of years now to do some sort of teaching course. I do a lot of formal and informal teaching in my role and I wanted to support this with a recognised qualification - something concrete to include on the CV so potential employers know that I have a grounding in theory as well as practical teaching skills. I looked at various levels of course before I decided that my needs would be best met with a Level 3 Award in Education and Training.

The L3 Award was brought in in 2013 to replace the old PTTLS course. It provides an introduction to teaching including how to plan, deliver and assess courses. The Award can be used as the foundation for further learning or as a qualification in its own right. It consists of three units which have short, written assignments and a micro-teach (15 minutes) which needs to be completed in front of an audience. The course ticked a lot of the boxes for what I wanted to get out of a teaching qualification so I decided to explore further.

Finding a provider for the course proved tricky. Because of my current role and various other commitments I decided that face-to-face classes were not really an option so looked into distance learning providers. This proved easier said than done as not many offer the new course online yet and the ones who do had decidedly unprofessional looking websites that did little to encourage me to part with my money! Prices also seemed to vary widely but I did some research and found out what the rough recommended price of the course was which helped me to judge. I did eventually find a provider and have just started taking the course with TrainAid. Under their model I complete the lecture and written assignment part of the course online and then attend a face-to-face session to deliver my micro-teach. A short introduction to the course can be found in the video below:

So far I'm finding the material really interesting and I think it will help me as I do more teaching in the future. If you are interested in getting a flavour of the course then check out the TrainAid Youtube channel which hosts their lecture content and is available to all.

I'll be posting further updates as I work through each of the three modules and as well as some final reflections. If anyone has any tips that they have learnt from taking similar courses I would love to hear them so feel free to add them in the comments section below.

photo credit: Apple and water via photopin (license)

CILIP Leadership Programme

As readers of this blog will know I am always keen to develop my skills and learn new things. A few months ago I applied for a place on the CILIP Leadership Programme and I was recently told that I was successful. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the CILIP Infomation Literacy Group I will be attending the launch of the programme at the CILIP Conference in  July.

I have been working on my leadership skills for a number of years now and taking part in this programme will help me to consolidate what I have learnt as well as develop some new skills. There are 21 people taking part in the programme from a range of backgrounds so it will be interesting to compare knowledge and experiences with them. 

Currently I am on temporary secondment to our Reader Services Department which is a wonderful experience but in a few months I will be back to cataloguing full time. This specialism perhaps more than most is undergoing a period of substantial change and solid leadership will be important to make sure that valuable skills are not lost. Hopefully I can help with this in some small way by completing this programme and sharing the knowledge I gain with the wider community. 

I will try and blog what I can of the process over the coming year so stay tuned for further updates. I will also be tweeting about my experiences so follow the #cilipleadership hashtag.

photo credit: IMG_8410 via photopin (license)

Having Your CaKE

The CAmbridge Knowledge Exchange project is something I've talked about a lot and one of my biggest professional achievements of the last year. I was recently asked to write an article about it for the CILIP East newsletter. If you're interested in learning more about how we planned CaKE, the lessons learned and where we go from here, the article can be found in the latest edition of Sunrise.

Photo credit: Ayca Wilson via Photopin (license) 

How To ... Write a Conference Proposal

Presenting at a conference can be a great way to gain some professional experience and share your ideas with your colleagues. Aside from the obvious hurdles of a fear of public speaking and actually giving the presentation there is something else to overcome first - writing the conference proposal!

Following on from my post on writing book reviews I thought I would gather some thoughts on how to write a conference proposal. I don't claim to be an expert but this a collection of tips I gathered when I wrote my first (successful) conference proposal last year. I hope you find some of them helpful:

• take the time time to actually read the proposal criteria. This might sound obvious but it can be easy to miss important details in the excitement of crafting a proposal. Make sure the topic/approach you want to use is suitable for the conference in order to save yourself a lot of wasted work. Each conference has slightly different criteria so pay attention to these
• show enthusiasm for your topic in your proposal. If you sound bored then those reading it will think this will come across in your presentation. Zzzzzz...
• link your proposal to the themes of the conference. Look for keywords in the call for papers and use them
• consider your audience when writing your proposal. If they're experts in the subject then assume that they know what you're talking about and don't outline the basics as this will give you less space to pitch your actual idea. Provide a brief introduction to your topic but don't talk down to people
• don't waffle. The person/panel reviewing your proposal are likely to have many to get through so make sure they don't get bored of yours. Hiding behind big words can send up a red flag with reviewers. Focus and be concise
• don't be too ambitious with what you want to include. All presentations have a running time which will be clearly stated in the call for papers. Chances are you could talk about your research or project for hours but you may only have time to focus on one aspect. Pick the one that most closely reflects the theme of the conference. The good news is that this can result in multiple chances to present based on one project!
• come up with an attention grabbing title but don't forget to include a subtitle that tells people what the presentation is about. Many attendees only skim titles so make sure that they know what they're likely to attend
• get someone to give you a second opinion, or even a third or fourth. You may understand what you mean but you also need to know that it is clear to those reading your work. You will have spent time crafting your proposal and it would be a shame to let jargon and mistakes let you down. Proofread!
• get your proposal in on time. Much like job interviews sending a proposal in late indicates that you might not be the best person for the job
• prepare for rejection. Chances are that this will happen more often than acceptance and you need to be realistic. If it's appropriate then ask for feedback about the decision as this can help you prepare in the future
• keep a record of your proposals, especially the ones that don't make the cut. You will have put a lot of work in to them and you may be able to use them (with some tweaking!) in the future. As with job applications remember to tailor your proposal to the conference rather than just recycling it. People will notice and it won't reflect well on you

These are just a few tips to get people started. As always if there is something I've missed then let me know and I can add it in. Happy conferencing!

Photo: Vincent Lock via Photopin

Sources:
Academic Writing Librarian - a great source for calls for papers
Writing a Successful Conference Paper Proposal
How to Write a a Paper or Conference Proposal Abstract
How to Write a Killer Conference Abstract

CakE - The Second Slice!

Last June my colleague Celine Carty and I introduced a new event to the Cambridge CPD calendar. CaKE - which stands for Cambridge Knowledge Exchange - provides a dedicated forum for library staff to feedback to their peers. Sadly not everyone gets a chance to attend all the conferences and courses they would like to and there was a real need for a way to share experiences in the Cambridge library community. CaKE provided a way to meet this need.

CaKE is intended to be very informal with short presentations, plenty of time for questions and of course networking over actual cake. This benefits attendees who are able to learn about the latest developments directly from those who attended and presenters who are able to practice their skills in an informal and supportive environment.

Due to the success of the initial event we decided to run a second event which filled up in less that 48 hours, showing that there is a definite appetite for knowledge sharing (pun intended!). We're now busily preparing the sessions, organising the venue and choosing which cakes to bake - although the famous gin and tonic cake is a must bake.

If you want to find out more about CaKE then you can visit the blog by clicking on the image below. You can also find write-ups of presentations from the first session, with those of the second session following shortly.

CaKE Blog

photo credit: Canucklibrarian via photopin cc

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.

2014 In Review

It's that time of year again when I write a short reflection on the last twelve months. 2014 has certainly been a busy one! 

Events

I've been involved in organizing a number of projects this year, the biggest of which was the CILIP Cataloguing and Indexing Group Conference. It was a very hectic summer finalizing plans for the September conference but I learnt a lot from the experience and it has definitely honed my organisation skills. I was also involved in organizing the 2014 Libraries@Cambridge conference where I was responsible for setting up a workshop session on professional development which got some really positive feedback. Cambridge librarians are a busy bunch and this year I've helped with two major projects - Cambridge Ten Days of Twitter (an online Twitter course for librarians) and Library Help (the Cambridge version of Library DIY). Being involved in these was a great experience and illustrates the good things that can happen when librarians get together as both projects were born out of online discussions. Another online discussion I've had a lot of involvement in this year has been the regular Chartership chats on Twitter.  I found these really helpful when I was chartering so I'm glad that I found a way to pay them back a little. The event I'm most proud of this year has to be CaKE - the Cambridge Knowledge Exchange. My colleague and I created this event in response to a need among library staff to learn about conferences and events attended by their peers. I'm really happy to report that the event was a success and we're planning the second event as we speak! 

Presentations

I'm not sure I'll ever conquer my fear of public speaking but I can at least do it without running from the room now! I gave a presentation on Pinterest at CILIP CIG which was terrifying (especially as a vital slide was missing!!) but gave me the confidence to take on new presentation challenges such as speaking at a Chartership and Certification event. As well as formal presentations I've worked on my public speaking skills in other ways. I now regularly lead tours on my workplace such as orientations and open day tours. Although this involves a predetermined route I do have to think on my feet which is a challenge. No one has run away from a tour yet so I must be doing something right. In October I volunteered to help out at our Freshers' Fair which was certainly an interesting experience. I think we did a good job of promoting libraries - even though we were next to the Cambridge Union Society who were advertising Robert Downey Jnr...  

Articles

2014 has also provided plenty of chances for me to practice my writing skills. As well as this blog I've written articles on the Chartership process and social media for Catalogue and Index and several book reviews. I was also asked to write an article on mobile technology for SLA Information Outlook which was very flattering and allowed me to write for an international audience. This article came about after something I tweeted during a Twitter chat which goes to show the power of Twitter!

Everything else!

One of my major achievements this year was receiving CILIP Chartership in May. I worked hard on my portfolio and was delighted when it passed. Now I have revalidation to look forward to. The other big news from this year is that I got a new job. I've moved from cataloguing to front of house as Deputy Team Leader, Reader Services Desk. I now spend my day dealing with user enquiries, admissions procedures and being the public face of one of the worlds biggest research libraries! Although this promotion is only temporary I plan to take advantage of every minute and hope that it leads to bigger things in 2015 and beyond...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

Photo credit: lorislferrari via PhotoPin

How To ... Write a Book Review

Learning to communicate effectively is very important for those in the information profession. Despite the stereotype it's likely that you will spend much of your day interacting with people, either in person or online. Most library and information professionals I know are very good at talking to people and helping them to find what they need but many seem to panic a little at the thought of written communication. This might be down to the fact that writing things down means that people are actually going to read it! or it might be that it gives them flashbacks to library school essays.

Aside from being a good skill to learn for your job, written communication skills can really enhance your 'brand' as a professional. Whatever your feelings about the terminology I don't think it gets hurt to get your name out there. Writing a blog is one way to do this but there is also the option of writing for publication. If there is a burning professional topic that you want to write about or a project that you want to share then you already have something great to write about and you can probably stop reading here. If not then read on...

Writing book reviews is a great way to dip your toe into the waters of writing for professional publication. Reviews generally follow a set structure and plenty of advice is given by the publication requesting the review. I've written quite a few book reviews over the last few years, both for actual publications and online programmes and I've encouraged others to do the same. I get asked a lot of questions about exactly how to go about producing a review so I thought I would share my process.

What do I have to do?

Book reviews are basically just short pieces which help the reader to decide if they want to buy (or borrow) the book in question. Basically is it worth their time? If you want to buy a new laptop there is a good chance that you will have a look at some online reviews of the one you want to buy to see what others think of it. Book reviews are exactly the same and therefore nothing to be scared of.

Basic structure of the review

As I said, most publishers provide detailed outlines of exactly what they expect the review to contain and you should always follow these as they may be different for different publications. Below is the basic structure that I tend to follow which might help you get started:

• Introduction: talk a little bit about the book, what is it about?, who is the intended audience? Does the book tell you what it's aim is (this will help you later on)? Most of the answers to these questions are found in the books introduction or somewhere on the cover.
• Content: perhaps the most important part of a book review. Does the content meet the expectations you had from reading the title and description or has the writer gone off topic? Who are the authors, practitioners or researchers? If there are a number of academic contributors but no practitioners would you have preferred more application than theory? Consider the subject content of the book and ask yourself if it covers enough of the subject and in enough depth for the intended audience. If the book is aimed at students and contains a lot of obscure terminology then is this explained somewhere or will they be left scratching their heads? It's also important to consider any potential bias here. If the book is written from one particular perspective (eg. a specific country) is this acknowledged anywhere and what implication could it have for readers? 
• Structure: taking a step back from the content for a moment think of the book as a physical object. How is the text laid out and is it easy to read? Are the chapter headings clear and do they reflect what the chapter is about? Think about navigating the book - a clear contents page and a complete index make it really easy to find what you're looking for and save the reader time.  
• Main takeaways: if anything really stood out it would be good to mention it as it helps to personalize things and make the review more interesting to read (in my opinion). If there was one top tip that you learnt from the book or something that you want to take forward in the future then mention it here.
• Recommended to ...?: I always finish a review by making it clear who I would recommend the book to. Is it good for beginners or is it for a more advanced audience? This is also where finding out the aims of the book is helpful as you can determine if the book has actually fulfilled it's aim.

The above is by no means an exhaustive list and nor will the points apply to every book. They're just points to think through and get you started.

It's important not to just describe the things in your review but reflect as well. Go through the what, so what process and really think about things. The chapters are nice and short. Great, but is that a good thing for those in a hurry or would you have liked more depth? To get some idea I would recommend just having a look at reviews on the Internet or in any publications you can get your hands on. Why not check out Amazon and look at some of the most popular book reviews on there? I'm sure they say more than just "this book was good".

How to get started

Watch out for calls for reviewers - these are frequently sent out via email lists and Twitter from various publications. You could also write directly to the publication and express your interest in reviewing. You might not always get an answer but it's worth a try. Speaking from a CILIP committee member perspective it can sometimes be quite hard to get people willing to review! There are also online review programs which you can take part in such as the O'Reilly Reader Review Program. This is the one I take part in but I'm sure there are many others.

I hope that this short guide helps some of you realize that book reviews are not scary and can actually be quite a fun way to add to your skill set. If all else fails and you hate the experience then at least you have something different to put on your CV!

photo credit: Olivander via photopin cc