The Framework Five - Critical Assessment

Summary
Critical assessment takes into account the origin, context and suitability of the information being studied, how it is influenced by not only the creator, but everyone involved in handling and disseminating it. These factors determine the authority and therefore credibility of the source of information, the most important assessment.

Personal
There are some very timely examples of critically assessing information I could use as my example: politics such as "he who I don't like to name" (could be one of two people in power to be honest) and Brexit; healthcare with the coronavirus; science with climate change. However all those are depressing and can be downright scary, especially now it seems the whole world has changed. I prefer not to dwell on them too long and the world of misinformation is massive and complex when it comes to these subjects, so this post would be very long otherwise.

I could be very British and talk about the weather, specifically weather apps as they seem to vary wildly, particularly about whether it will rain. But I'm going to get personal, hopefully not too personal. I have three chronic health conditions, meaning I have to live with them as they are not going to go away: anxiety, a vestibular problem and endometriosis. For two of which, I've had to fight the system for treatment and if I hadn't done my own research, I may not have been diagnosed in the first place. So it's something I feel I can talk about with some passion and authority, something I've proved myself in being adept at critically assessing information, but it wasn't always the way. Doctors can easily dismiss things you've looked up on the internet and don't like self-diagnosis, at least in my experience. When it comes to your health, you know when something is wrong; you know yourself, your body and your symptoms best. So you have to become an expert very quickly and advocate for yourself.

Without going into too much detail, my endometriosis has an "unusual presentation of symptoms" and vestibular conditions are hard to diagnose; you tend to get given the easiest answer and told there's nothing they can do. I have explained my vestibular journey in more detail on my blog before: Bittersweet Victory. Just click on the anxiety tag to see my numerous posts about anxiety, but this one is a good place to start: My Past, Present and Future. The endometriosis is a new thing, even though I've probably been living with it for many years, so I haven't written much about it yet.

Trust me, I'm a doctor

In the beginning, I thought healthcare professionals knew best and deferred to them. I didn't ask enough questions, or the right questions, assuming what they were telling me was correct. I always have a problem with figures of authority, quailing in front of them. I should have critically assessed the situation, their situation. I should have taken into account the little time they had, the fact they weren't a specialist in the field and whether they were doing the right tests to critically assess my symptoms to prove their assertions.

When I spoke to a specialist, they said what the previous doctor had told me was wrong. I was sent back and forth, given different diagnoses. When they gave me another diagnosis and told me there was nothing they could do, I researched it and discovered it didn't fit as there was one essential symptom I was missing, cross-checked it on numerous websites, some very academic full of sciencey terms I didn't understand. I looked them up and learned the lingo so I could speak their language when I saw them next to show them I'm serious: I am a mix of stubbornness and curiosity at the best of times and it stood me in good stead. I got a test done off my own back, returned with the results and with irrefutable evidence, they couldn't ignore me. I had to push for treatment and when I found the right person, the person who was willing to listen and didn't just dismiss me, I asked all the questions. I asked what tests they were doing and why, got them to explain the results.

When it came to the second diagnosis of endometriosis, I visited practically every department of the hospital so they could rule everything else out first. I didn't accept what they told me each time, knowing everyone is fallible, even doctors, and pushed for more, knowing what they were saying wasn't right. I critically assessed every person I spoke to, ensuring they had the authority to back up what they were telling me. I quietly defied them and did my research afterwards. They didn't listen to me, so I let them go through the motions, doubting myself. I held my ground, more in desperation than anything else. When they ultimately came up with nothing, that's when they listened to me, they were finally in the right place to listen. I came with a carefully rehearsed speech and proof from an authoritative website. I was proved right and it goes to show, sometimes the authority comes from you and not external sources.

My critical assessment during these medical journeys each took years, comprising the critical assessment of the doctors and specialists themselves, their job titles, specialisms and whether this was just their opinion or they had information to back it up from tests and other sources. I then did my own research, using books, websites and yes, blogs. Blog posts were especially useful for other people's experiences and other avenues to research, some even had links to read and advice. Finally, which leads me to my professional example, I joined a Facebook group for support and shared experience for better understanding of what living with the condition is like.

Capt. Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks)
from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Professional
In comparison, my professional example will seem downright boring and far less dramatic. It can be fun though as it's about social media. Social media is all about people and individual accounts, on Facebook, Twitter or whichever platform you're using. You can use hashtags and lists all you like, but it still comes down to the individual account. Twitter in particular becomes unwieldy very quickly the more accounts you follow. So now I use Hootsuite (other social media managers are available) to manage it better, and I've created Twitter lists on topics. I can separate social media accounts into three categories: macro, micro and mono.

First there is the macro, an account that covers a lot of people, or sites, such as the UL Twitter account; it may be one library, but it is vast and covers a wide range of collections, not to mention people. Then there is the micro account, one library such as the MMLL Instagram account or Classics library Twitter account. Finally, there is the mono account, one single channel, for one single person, such as my own Twitter account. So you have to take into account who they are representing, the context they are based in and who may be behind the account.

I have curated these streams and lists myself, populating them with people and places I know in real life, so I have critically assessed them in person and know what they are an authority on. Others I know by reputation, such as Orkney Library and know they have built up authority through other's opinions. Lastly, there are the recommended accounts, those accounts I have been referred to by people I trust.

Social media is a great source of information, but you have to know where it's coming from. So even the accounts I have critically assessed and deemed good, I still assess the information they provide. I don't take much notice of retweets unless they have made a comment. Tweets with links and images I can be easily swayed by, especially those with a suitable gif or meme; it makes their tweet or post seem more credible.

The Credible Hulk

Critical assessment is key in social media as there is a lot of misinformation out there, but also it can be a great big echo chamber where you only see the information that follows your cognitive biases, that agrees with you, in more ways than one. So don't surround yourself with people like you, curate your sources wisely.

Themes
Again, my information sources are centred around people: information from doctors and healthcare professionals, and information from individual social media accounts. I assess them by their job, professional knowledge of them and whether I have met them in real life. I feel more confident critically assessing information professionally as there are processes and policies to follow, known authoritative sources and places to use, as well as people to ask. You feel on surer ground.

How to and how not to do your librarianship degree

I have recently finished my MSc in librarianship, distance learning from Aberystwyth while working full-time. I tried to do it as quickly as possible, completing it in just more than two years. I did it the hard way, I always do things the hard way. I wouldn't recommend it as it damn near caused a nervous breakdown!

It occurred to me that I have a few other bits of advice to impart, some serious and some not so serious. For those of you contemplating doing a librarianship degree, distance learning whether from Aberystwyth or otherwise, this blog post may prove useful. For those of you currently doing your degree, I have broken it down into general MSc advice, as well as specific dissertation advice. And for those of you who have like me finished, you may chuckle in recognition. For everyone else, there's some pretty pictures of Aberystwyth.

My dissertation was on ebooks, looking at the attitudes of publishers, suppliers, faculty and librarians (the main influencers of the success of ebooks in academic libraries) rather than users; the University of Cambridge became a sort of case study. For those of you interested, here is my dissertation. It got a decent enough grade, but maybe reached too far and tried to encompass too much:
https://www.academia.edu/6393946/_Books_are_no_more_threatened_by_Kindle_than_stairs_by_elevators._The_impact_of_ebooks_on_printed_book_collections_in_University_of_Cambridge_libraries_Attitudes_of_librarians_faculty_and_suppliers

The statue on the hill

How not to do your MSc in librarianship

Here are my recommendations on what to do and what not to do while studying for your MSc/MA in librarianship. I did mine at Aberystwyth distance learning while working full-time. But I believe the lessons I learned are attributable to at least all distance learning courses, let alone beyond. These are hard-earned lessons through bitter experience.

DO NOT:

...spend time off. Work steadily and regularly.

...forget the people you met at study school. Regardless of how quickly they or you get through the course, they will be your benchmark, virtual friends and the people who understand what you are going through the most. If you don't meet these people at study school, or go to study school, find them in your local librarian community who have done/are doing the course. Cambridge is great for that. I won't list those that helped me, but they know who they are. I occasionally met up with another Cambridge librarian to talk about where we were at, rant about annoyances and generally catch up. Just knowing someone else is going through the same things as you is comforting and encouraging. It also helps with the distance side, not having lessons or lectures, no socialising with classmates and not having someone to talk to on a daily basis.

Me with the friends I made at the first study school

...on that note, avoid contacting the course leaders if you have any questions, no matter how small, via email or on the forums. Do use the forums and keep in touch virtually (social media is particularly useful. Facebook or Twitter via the #aberils hashtag) with classmates and other librarians, they are your most useful resource, not the electronic articles, textbooks and course packs.

...be scared of the blank page. It is a genuine phobia by the way: vacansopapurosophobia. Write something, anything. Once you start, you'll find it gets easier and better the more you write. You can always edit afterwards. There is no such thing as the perfect assignment, the perfect essay.

...stay at Pantycelyn, if you go to Aber. You will not get any sleep. The food is worse. The sleeping quarters are atrocious. The ablution facilities are bad bordering on dangerous. Trefloyne was the best place I stayed. But I also booked a lovely little hotel on the seafront for the last study school. However you'll need a car or try and catch the bus as the route to the library studies campus is up a steep hill.

...try to do it in 2 years unless you don't plan on having a life, enjoy hard work and have unshakeable determination.

...take on too much such as trying to solve long-standing mental problems, learning to drive and passing your test (5th time), while also trying to have a family life, going on holidays and holding down a full-time job.

...expect too much of yourself. You will run yourself ragged with the combined stress of family, work and study.

Castle hill

...make a mountain out of a molehill. Tackle the molehills, not the mountain.


DO:

...choose the right course for you. I don't know about Robert Gordon in Scotland, but with Northumbria you have to do it in 2 years and Aber you can do it in 2-5 years, which allows for much more flexibility. There are also part-time and full-time courses, of course.

...set yourself deadlines. Yes, there are marking deadlines, but they are almost impossible to stick to, particularly if you're a perfectionist like me. The only one that matters is the dissertation deadline, otherwise with all the hoops it has to jump through, you have to wait months for your mark to come back. You will set off with the best of intentions, especially after the study schools: to be the best you can be. But I can guarantee by the end of it, you will be saying "that will do."

Babe "That'll do, pig"

...heed the universe. If you keep coming up against barriers, frequently get writer's block or everything seems against you, the universe is trying to tell you something. Put it this way, if traffic lights keep changing to red just before you get to them, the universe is telling you to SLOW DOWN.

...expect to put on weight. I haven't ever weighed so much without medical intervention. This will happen specifically when you are writing the dissertation. It's from comfort eating, convenience foods and lack of sleep/stress.

...have a good work-life-studies balance. Get into a routine if possible. If you can't, do little and often. It's about regular work. Go with the flow. Whatever works.

Aberystwyth sunset

...remember life will always get in the way. Distance learning is tough as it encroaches on all areas of your life at all times, if you let it. It's not like a job which you can usually leave at your workplace; it comes home with you.

...realise procrastination is the enemy. Self-motivation is key and the hardest part about distance-learning especially. You will find any excuse not to work. There will always be one more chapter to read, one more episode to watch, one more chore to do. Do not give in.

The bluebell walk trip during the April study school

...take advantage of the opportunities offered at study school, such as the National Library visit and the bluebell wood walk in Aberystwyth.

...use Dropbox. It's invaluable. You can work wherever you are. All you need is an internet connection. You will always have an up-to-date version of your work. It will allow you to take advantage of any moment you have, any inspiration and any motivation. That said, make sure you keep a back-up as well.

Backup from Veronica Mars

 ...use Zotero. You can keep all your references and bibliography in one place. You can create folders to separate them according to each assignment or module. One click is all it takes in your internet browser (Firefox and Chrome at least) to save something. There is also a Word add-in so you can instantly add citations to your assignment and create a bibliography, using your chosen citation style. I always used APA. You will never lose a reference and you will never have to manually create a bibliography again.

...have good, supportive people around you, be they workmates, friends or family. They will act as cheerleaders, there to crack the whip and preferably to do the cooking, cleaning, washing etc. I didn't until my dissertation as me and my brother who I live with share all the chores, but you might be luckier. It means if you're on a roll, you can stay on a roll. Even in the depths of my dissertation I had to take time out to cook, clean and grocery shop as it was my turn.

...allow for downtime. Do something away from work, family and studies. I took refuge in books (paradoxically studying will reignite your love of reading, at least reading literature) and TV, as well as the aforementioned learning to drive and trying to solve my mental problems. For me it was particularly Glee, Once Upon a Time and How I Met Your Mother for the TV programmes, Anne of Green Gables, Jasper Fforde and Cornelia Funke for the books. Without downtime, you'll go mad. A special mention to Gilmore Girls who saved me after I finished.

The balloon I purloined from the 25th anniversary dinner

...have fun with it! Do things your own way. Do the modules that interest you as well as the ones that will further your career.

...lastly and simply, get enough sleep!

How not to do your dissertation

Here are my recommendations on what to do and what not to do while writing your dissertation for the librarianship MSc/MA.

DO NOT:

...do every kind of research under the sun: interviews, surveys, the literature review, statistical analysis. It takes a long time to create, arrange, do, analyse and write up everything.

Beautiful Aberystwyth

...try to finish it under a strict deadline. More so than any other of your assignments, you will find dissertation time frames are unreliable, intangible and ephemeral.

...take a week off to try and write the bulk of the dissertation, in a heat wave, in England, in the summer. As you know, that almost never happens. So your dedication to your work will flutter away into the sunshine.

...ignore a wrist problem. All that writing, typing and mouse work will have their toll on your poor old wrist. It will only get worse, so let it have a break. If you must continue, get appropriate wrist support.

From the funicular railway

...accidentally ignore your supervisor's advice, creating a hybrid structure of the social science and thematic model. They are there to advise you. They know what the markers are looking for, so you must do as they say, or argue your point with them and in your dissertation.

...get sick at the wrong time, just as you are on the final stint of your dissertation. Not only is it extremely inconvenient, it saps your strength, energy and motivation.

...falter at the last hurdle, thinking "yes! It's almost over". It ain't over until it's over.

...write down all the things you want to do afterwards, so you will have a list when you've finished. It only adds pressure and makes things harder, looking at all the much more fun and entertaining and useful things you could be doing. Your librarianship MA/MSc is useful and sometimes fun too.

DO:

...think about your dissertation right from the very beginning of your course. You can be gathering research as you go, thinking about the topic and how you will go about it. And yes, you do need to have at least a shortlist of topics before the dissertation study school and ideas about the research methods you could use.

...get as few people involved in your dissertation as possible, only who you need. It just adds unnecessary pressure.

...print off and proofread your dissertation in paper format. My dissertation went through 3 people before I printed it off. By reading it in print rather than on screen, I found a few typos, incidences of repetition and mistakes and then my proofreaders found far more. One of the markers still found a minor mistake, despite it having gone through 7 people other than me!

Camera obscura image of Aberystwyth

...ask someone who is not a librarian and knows nothing about your subject to do the proofreading. My parents were brilliant at finding grammar and punctuation errors, parts that needed more explaining and consistency mistakes.

...choose a topic you're interested in, know something about already and won't send you doolally after months of work. You want to be sane by the end!

...plan something for when you finish, don't just go on holiday. You will go from being really ridiculously active to nothing otherwise. There will be a crash, I guarantee it, so if you have a project to do, TV series to watch or anything really, it will mitigate the effects.

So that's my advice. Do with it what you will. If you want more advice, the excellent Library Wanderer has written more articulately on the same subject. N.B We both came up with the Babe reference separately. Good luck!

#cpd23 Thing 3 or why can't you just let me be me?

Right, please dismiss the words that follow as completely naive, but I've been moved to write about library branding after being inspired by all the fabulous blog posts I've read on the subject, such as those from Library Wanderer, Blog On and rampersandk. The same as the first two, when I google myself and check my online identity, there are millions of people with the same name as me as I also have a very common name, but it was mostly taken up with a certain wedding dress designer. Despite being intimidated; some of the posts made me feel like I was facing a 150mph serve from Andy Roddick, some were more subtle like a sliced Nadal backhand; I feel I have something to say on the matter. I am coming from an entirely different angle, I won't use another tennis reference, I promise. Wimbledon has finished now and I must let it go.

I work in a business school where branding is obviously very important and not only for our students, we even have a department trying to maintain a consistent image. This has its own problems. How can you have one brand for everyone, for an entire organisation with all its departments? So my trick is don't try and just be yourself. Here's Will Young, unashamedly being just that:

It has nothing to do with branding, it's just called Who Am I, is one of my favourite songs and a fantastic video. It's a song about being honest, unashamedly, unequivocally and uncompromisingly yourself. As I was a late developer in this sense, not developing my own identity until I was sixteen; before that I was just a sheep, a clueless sheep; I am now adamant that I won't be anything less than myself. Plus I am very impressionable and my sense of self is very shaky. For example, my boss was trying to convince me last week that my second favourite film of all time, The Princess Bride, doesn't even exist and I almost started to doubt my own mind!


A lot of people have been concentrating on themselves rather than their job or their organisation's brand and this is where it gets tricky. I find it very confusing if I think of myself in terms of my job when putting things out there in the public sphere; the lines can be so easily blurred. I have my own Twitter @judgesarah account and maintain our @JudgeInfo account too, we have our own site and I have a blog and I email as myself and as part of my job, that last one from the same address. The way I see it, as long as you aren't representing your organisation, you can be yourself. Whether it means I have different names for my Twitter, my blog, my facebook, is all for the better as you are catering your "brand" to the specific audiences. If you haven't seen it yet, here is a video of Phil Bradley's brilliant CILIP Wales speech comparing web 2.0 applications to the various incarnations of Doctor Who.



Twitter for me is predominantly my work image, though I can't help a few more personal things coming through, my blog is simply for anyone who cares to happen upon my random musings and facebook is now unfortunately all old school and uni friends. So it makes sense that they will all be different. You can't admit that your favourite TV series is Alias in a place where your colleagues or students will see it, actually... I would, but most wouldn't. That's why having students friend you on facebook, like one did to me very recently, is a contentious issue. Even I, who claims to be open and honest in all things, in writing this post, have realised that I unconsciously "brand" myself.

So I guess, you need to tread carefully when it comes to branding, consider your audience and the people that will see what you're writing or creating. The idea for this post came to me when I thought of Merlin; like the eponymous wizard, you need to think about what you reveal to whom. And yes, as all the people who've read my blog posts before will know, I did mean the title to rhyme so much. That's just me. I reference popular culture as much as I can, namedrop my favourite actors, films and music, litter posts about LibraryThing with Shakespeare quotes, use Travis songs for the titles of my posts and I rhyme whenever I can. And I have no plans to change, if only on here...

The British Library tease

Kim Anderson

There are some things in life that once they happen, there’s no going back, your life is changed forever. There’s the nice as in your first kiss and there’s the not so nice, as in your actual first kiss that you’ve conveniently chosen to forget. Seeing the new British Library document delivery interlibrary loan system (BLDSS) was like that, encompassing both the nice and the not so nice. It’s nice as it is absolutely brilliant and yet we have to wait for it for a few months, which is not so nice. In experiencing this life-changing event, we have to forget about it, for now. However I will relive the painful moment for you; it’s going to get personal. In the tradition of the British Library tease though, I will describe the whole day first, leading up to when we were shown the new system just as I lived it; unfortunately we had our tour first and the demonstration last, the other group got to see the demonstration first and the tour last. If you want to see the description of the new service, read paragraph nine.

Right from the off, my luck was in and the day stayed like that. It was going to be the longest trip I had ever made on my own and it went completely smoothly, who could ask for more? Well, I could, and the sun had duly come out for the trip home. After discovering that the British Library were going to be coming to Cambridge to demonstrate the new system and I needn’t have gone in the first place, I was searching for a reason to be going. I found one when I decided to treat it as a test, to see how well I could cope on my own, particularly when feeling bad after having to wake up at 5:30am... I am naturally a follower, not a leader. I have a poor sense of direction and I get flustered easily. I don’t like travelling, but love seeing new places, meeting new people and experiencing new things. But most and worst of all, I don’t do being alone. Where else is more lonely than when surrounded by people you don’t know? Little did I know that each of those negatives was going to be blown out of the water; I can lead when forced, I didn’t get lost once, even when I didn’t know where I was going which was impressive, though tense I kept in control, trains are the best mode of travel and I managed to make acquaintances out of strangers. I did almost get lost trying to find the British Library representatives at York Station, but I followed a likely looking librarian and lo and behold, she was a librarian and she was going to Boston Spa too! I told her that I thought she looked like a librarian and she didn’t even take offence, she just accepted it. Having made a new acquaintance before even getting to Boston Spa, I was doing fine. The bus journey took me right back to school trips, but we were all pretty well behaved. When you’re tense, your senses are on full alert and mine seemed to be working on hyperdrive as I spent most of the journey marvelling at the clouds, the daffodils, the cherry blossom, the buildings and the lambs gambolling in the fields. To have my mind open like that was perfect preparation for the tour of Boston Spa and the demonstration of the new system.

When we first arrived, the cynicism in the room was tangible; I expect everyone had come more in hope than expectation. The BL staff were teasing us from the off saying that it’s not a new interface; it’s a totally revolutionised system. It’s taken 2 years and £6 million, half funded by the HEFCE. It improves the efficiency of their service and thus our services. They took great pains to explain it all and it soon turned into hype. I reckon we all thought that the new system could never live up to everything they were saying. I’m glad to say we were wrong.

As I mentioned before, we had a tour first and it was pretty extensive. They started with the wow factor. The new high-tech “stacks” for want of a better and more official word, is storage building better? were suitably impressive and very vertiginous. My sense of measurement is probably worse than my sense of direction, but I’d say from the viewing platform I was on, there was a 20ft drop and 50ft to the ceiling. However despite all the talk of the technological advancements, I couldn’t Tweet as there was not only no Wi-Fi coverage, but also not even phone coverage in the whole of the Boston Spa. Luckily there was sporadic 3G access, but the signals were willow-the-wisps in the ether. So I just wrote the Tweets there and then and sent them when I could. The reason for my Twitter obsession was because I had been entrusted with the work iPhone and had adopted Tweeting enthusiastically on the train journey.

Then we were taken round the different departments. One of the best parts of the day was seeing the other end of the document delivery service. We spoke to a lady who was retiring in 3 weeks so will miss out on the new revolutionary service; she was typically sanguine about it. She scans 25 items an hour and 165 a day! That’s not just her, that’s the daily target. Due to the copyright and licensing restrictions, she has to scan the article or book chapter each time it’s been requested, therefore adding to her workload as she can’t just sent it from the previous time she scanned it. We saw the a lot of scanners that day: standard scanners, a scanner that turns the pages for you and one for old and delicate books that looks like alien technology and wouldn’t seem out of place in the background of Doctor Who. All this was at the least interesting and at the most fascinating, but was only a precursor to the main event.

As we were going round, I could sense a common thread: budget constraints, job cuts and asbestos closures. One person said everyone was “battle weary” which was clear for all to see, but the sense of hope in the new system was just as palpable as the cynicism from us. It did wonders to alleviate our scepticism. If I was in a more imaginative mood I’d describe a battle between hope and cynicism with hope victorious. These thoughts were echoed all around the building and highlighted in the presentation before the demonstration: due to the public sector cuts, the BL has to save £24 million in 4 years. When you bear in mind that they spend £10 million on acquisitions, that’s not inconsiderable. They have also worked out because of the services they provide, they can save the government £200 million. If that isn’t an advert for the #savelibraries campaign, I don’t know what is. The one thing I wanted to know about is the asbestos problem. They jokingly refused to say the “a” word, but it means the same thing for them, because they can’t get hold of it, they have to find it from elsewhere too. There was no new information apart from 55% of the books that were unavailable due to the asbestos closures will now be back online by the end of May.

The reason for the new system is simple; they have been using the same technology as when the service was conceived. With the advent of the online retail industry, it was due for an upgrade. Whereas the current system is based on a library catalogue, the new system is more like shopping on the internet. This has also changed the way our patrons think. The way they put it is “just in case vs. just in time.” The former is the old system and the latter the new system. From what I’ve seen, apart from books for reading lists, the supply on demand model is the way things are going. In another tease before the demonstration, they showed us some of their statistics: they have a 75% fulfilment rate as 4 out of 5 requests are satisfied; it’s 65% after the asbestos problem. Using partnerships they’re hoping to get that to 100%. There’s also only been a £1.75 price increase since 2004.

Finally they got to the new system. It’s a full replacement for the current system, but they will run concurrently as it’s not compulsory to transfer to the new system. However there will be changes nonetheless; you’ll be pleased to hear there will be less reply codes: 25 out of the 100+ there are now. The new system is close to the end of testing and the roll-out will start in July; there’s a “phased deployment” and those libraries that helped develop the system will get first dibs. Everyone will have it by the end of September. However there will be limited functionality at first. The functionality is impressive; online tracking and despatch dates; colour rather than black and white PDFs; availability in real time with prices; non-reply code emails; multiple users so you can allow others, even students and faculty, to use it (you can let them place orders if you like, with your approval of course); baskets like most retail websites; searchable order history and oh joy of joys, you can change an order after you’ve placed it, rather than in effect ordering it again. The list is incessant.

I was tired by the end of it, but happy. I had also come away with ideas for a paperless system after networking at lunchtime. Not knowing anyone does wonders for your mingling skills! I’ll leave you with my penultimate tweet: “#bldss summary: new system is fantastic. Closer to generic retail set-ups with order tracking and the like. A much more transparent system.”

My own thing

I’m glad I’ve finally got round to writing this post as I was greeted by this literary quote when I loaded iGoogle:

"Siempre imaginé que el Paraíso sería algún tipo de biblioteca." "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentinian writer)

It was quite apt as this was on MSN:

Most beautiful library

Paul Bernhardt/Lonely Planet
Looking down at the interior of the Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Built in 1837, it's home to more than 350,000 works, many dating back to the 16th century.

I’ve had a quite a few flattering remarks from Cam23 bloggers saying how much they like my writing and that I should carry on, so here I am! Thank you Emma, Jenni, Celine, Helen and Libgeek, this is because of you. I expect it will be more sporadic than before, but I’ll definitely be blogging about our library video when it’s ready and I will embed the YouTube version into the blog post. We filmed the last scene the other day. I’m afraid I can’t reveal any more than I already have done on my @judgesarah Twitter feed, but if you click here, courtesy of Kirsty, you’ll find a rather amusing taster. Warning, it contains Andy’s knees.

Before I get started on the thing that inspired this post, a few updates. I’ve finally realised I can change the settings of my JournoTwit page. Of course it’s now purple! JournoTwit was recommended to me as it’s a brilliant website which consolidates all my Twitter information, making it a lot easier to see new tweets, including when someone mentions me. I’ve got columns for my favourite people, BBC news and the Cam23 chatter.

Okay, onto the reason why I’m here writing this. There may not be any more things to analyse, but here is an analysis of my own thing, hence the title. I was one of the librarians who went to the Central Library tour and I was sufficiently struck by what I saw to give me enough material to write about. It was over a week ago now, but a little distance only helps you to gain perspective. Something I wish people would understand sometimes.

I love the quote over the entrance; unfortunately it wasn’t there when we visited. It’s probably incredibly uncool to admit it, but I was a library kid and I'm proud of it. I have very fond memories of the old library. I was in there every Saturday and I thank my parents for encouraging my love of reading, learning and particularly books. I used to have to use my parents’ cards as well as my own because I wanted to take out so many books. I used to browse the shelves and then when I found a book, I sat on the floor and read it there and then. I used to watch the people walk by in Lion Yard below and spend hours there just loving the whole essence of the place; you’d have to drag me away.

What changed? Well the library shut, for four years. In the time it took to renovate the place, with the Grand Arcade growing around it, the technological advances and the endless problems (such as not factoring the weight of the books in so the building sank, that may just be a fabulous rumour though), I learned to live without it. Plus I still had the little library in the village where I live. Since it reopened, I’d only been in once before the tour and that was to while away half an hour or so. I just stayed in the foyer looking at the ‘quick picks’. So a tour was most welcome and I hoped that it would bring back some of the enthusiasm I used to have for the place. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be the case, but it may not have been the library’s fault, or our guide’s who was very knowledgeable, experienced and a long-running employee. I reckon it was mine as I have grown up and moved on.

It was a very grown-up tour as the first thing that became clear was money and natural light issues; strip lighting never makes for a good atmosphere. Right beside the cafe is an exhibition section which people can hire out. The much celebrated Cambridge Collection which is all about the history of Cambridge and its surroundings and includes old maps, communal archives and local documents, is independently looked after. There aren’t many librarians left; I think it was 25 throughout the entire county. They also seem to be keen to promote the library such as the scheme they have running in order to get children reading. If you have children, they will enjoy the bright yellow book train, the games and the toys. The quick picks section is also a good idea, if a nightmare for the librarians as it isn’t organised in the slightest. There are some nice snugs there and the window seat allows you to watch the world go by underneath. I can’t believe they didn’t organise their fiction books into categories at first. I really like their stickers; a gun for war, a magnifying glass for mystery, a heart for romance and so on.

However the way they organise the staff is exceptional. No one spends too much time in one place; they have a very colourful timetable; the floors are all colour-coded which makes finding things a lot easier, as well as locating where you are. There is a back office, but most of the employees work out at the desks on each floor. There is also a brilliant book sorting machine, complete with conveyor belt, which is attached to the book return slot next to the entrance. It uses RFID which I hate; those stickers are impossible to remove. The self-issue machines (in English and Polish) and information points (computers) are scattered throughout the library, and there is Wi-Fi access anywhere in the entire building. Unsurprisingly the VHS and CD sections are empty of people. This is not only due to the advent of DVDs, but also because there is the BFI film room where you can access local history films as well as watch movies.
Even though the new Central Library is superb, I still miss the old one, in the same way I miss the old Parkside pool and the old MGM cinema. To me however, the new library is not so enticing a place. The only comfortable areas are the quick picks, the children’s area and the BFI film room. I still remember the stuffy, velvety, worn, deep blue carpets of the old library, the dark wood shelving, the children’s play room with the round window, the ground floor entrance and the soothingly intimate lighting that only just gave you enough to see by. I could've easily spent the whole day there. But that’s just my nostalgia talking, as usual.

Turn

I wouldn't say I've done an about-turn; I still prefer to do things the old fashioned way: pen and paper as opposed to a computer, tangible CD rather than an ethereal mp3 file and face-to-face instead of phone, skype, email, IM or text. I sometimes feel like Alice in Wonderland with all this new technology, stumbling through a completely bizarre world that's like ours, but not quite right. All the advances are starting to make me feel small, but the power they give just blows everything out of proportion. To further the analogy, the Queen of Hearts is undoubtedly Steve Jobs, bringing out new innovations each year and cutting his opposition down to size at every turn. The Mad Hatter is Mark Zuckerberg, mastermind behind facebook, a genius who has lost his sense of self. Bill Gates is the White Rabbit, a minor character now but still doing a lot behind the scenes, and seemingly always rushing around, never having enough time. The Jabberwocky is a synecdoche for all the nefarious characters who exploit everything in their path: the hackers, the viruses and the spammers. Tweedledum and Tweedledee can represent Twitter, voices struggling to be heard in the sheer mass of communication, saying the same thing over and over, finishing people's sentences and trying to outdo each other. And the Cheshire Cat? All of us. Sending out every aspect of our personalities into the internet ether, until all that's left is a grinning facade. Still looking out for a caterpillar smoking a hookah though...However I must admit, some of the applications we've been looking at have turned my head, if not made me do a double-take. I had one of those the other day; a driver honked his horn at me and I wasn't even wearing anything special. I'm not one of those who takes offense at that kind of thing, but I wish the guy who did it was a bit younger, more attractive and not a white van driver. Here is what I was wearing, sorry about the blatant advertising on the bottle:

My friend Chris' little brother

Being of the right generation (and having a boss who is an advocate of web 2.0 helps), I was using quite a number of the applications already, along with others we haven't covered thanks to my technical wizard of a brother. He's recently got a smartphone and is having fun downloading the free apps. I must admit the GPS one is quite cool; I'm a fan of Google Earth and Street View as well, the supposed Big Brother; privacy issues are blown out of all proportion. I'm on Street View, several times, when looking from behind; I can't believe I missed the camera going past, though it looks like me and my Dad are unpacking the car after coming back from holiday:

Google Street View

The applications I already use are Zotero, facebook personally and professionally, Google Calendar for work timetables, wikis, Delicious - my colleague is well up on it, see their blog here: - Youtube and RSS feeds though I barely have anything to do with ours as it's automatic. I've started to use Doodle, but only because others are: the book club, other communities and colleagues for example. I created a Twitter account for Cam23 and have tried to update it daily, that reminds me... I'm not sure I'll carry it on if others abandon it, but a few friends I've made within the library community tweet, so maybe I will. I'll use LibraryThing for my books at home, but when I find the time. The only ones I know I won't use are LinkedIn as I think professional networking is more insalibrious than social networking (I prefer to make friends with someone I've actually met and genuinely like first and have someone want to help me, rather than contacting an avatar and using them for my own advancement), podcasts as I am disinclined to acquiesce to watching them and Slideshare as I prefer to create my own from scratch. I'm using Flickr more as the Google images set up has changed and it's a lot less user-friendly. iGoogle has been the most successful with me as I can see the weather forecast, the latest news and what's happening each day on our Google Calendar all in the same place. Nevertheless the best bits are the daily literary quote and Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. Here's today's for old time's sake:I can't believe that we've come to the end and I'm missing the closing ceremony; it clashes with my summer holiday. I love writing a blog post every week and I may even keep it up. There's our new library induction video for a start; filming began yesterday and carried on today. It's going surprisingly well and has ben a lot of fun, but can't say much more than that as we're sworn to secrecy. Check my Twitter account for more details @judgesarah. There's also the library blog which is going to usurp our written newsletter. I think the last word should go to Wordle, I adore the eclecticness of my tags:

More than us

I used to hate doing bibliographies when I was at university, mostly because I’m totally disorganised and had to hunt out the books I referenced again as I had inadvertently missed out an important piece of information. My university also deducted points if we didn’t use the correct citation style which I feel is a bit pedantic, but there you go. So I reckon students have it too easy now, using software that not only builds the list of references for you, but also converts it into whichever style you want. I have used Zotero before, but not for a while, and I’d forgotten how much easier it is to use than EndNote, thank goodness! Plus it’s free. I attended the Zotero training session that Andy talks about in his blog post and the student who led it was most convincing. It has a lot of good features including the sharing option which would be fantastic for reading lists. Also, every month our library has a journal club, it’s similar to a book club and we take an hour to discuss an article on an element of librarianship one of us has chosen. It ensures we stay involved in the library profession, get together as a team and keep up-to-date with new events, innovations and information. I’m getting better about speaking up as well now. So Zotero will help us build a library of relevant articles we can dip into. However EndNote is still better if a little more complicated; EndNote Web doesn't have all the features of the complete EndNote. I see it as a companion piece along with Zotero, something you can use when you don't have the full software, like having a snack when you don't have time for a meal. Photo by Matt [the esoteric introvert]

I promised Kirsty that I would write about how libraries can use social networking sites; I deliberately didn’t come to a conclusion in my facebook post as I feel that it is an intensely subjective issue and there will never be a universal opinion. We discussed exactly this issue in our most recent journals club, that’s why I’ve held off writing about it until now. We couldn’t come up with a definitive answer on how to use facebook, but we all agreed that students don’t want to be ’friends’ with their library and they certainly don’t want to be sociable with their librarians. Therefore I’ve chosen it as the web 2.0 tool I’m going to use for marketing. The main reason for this is that I don’t think you can use facebook in any other way. There are one or two exceptions though. I helped a student extensively with a project and he found me on facebook. I accepted his request, just to see what he’s about and found that he’d been up to the same tricks with everyone. Needless to say I quickly deleted him again. It felt as wrong for me as it would for most students. I didn’t want to see his holiday photos, or find out what he got up to at the weekend, nor was I interested in who his other ‘friends’ were. So instead of using it as a social platform, it should be another point of contact, just like the portal to our databases, our Twitter account and the main library page. On our facebook profile there are links to our information resources, photos and our library induction video which we’re excitingly refilming for the new influx of students, but most of our friends are other libraries and colleagues. We now combine our status updates with our tweets using Hootsuite. However the problem is maintenance; ‘stale’ profiles where there hasn’t been much activity for a while are quickly forgotten. It is difficult, as well as time-consuming, to sustain the freshness.
(By me) The only lake in Scotland, Lake of Menteith, Trossachs

More than us was the first Travis track to be played on Eastenders, that’s when they knew they’d made it. It also refers to the world of social networking; the tendency when using facebook is to make it all about yourself, despite the fact that you’re supposed to be socialising with people all over the world. However in the case of marketing, it is surely the whole point.

Interesting articles from CILIP

I was just browsing through Impact, the Career Development Group's journal, as well as the CILIP Gazette and discovered some interesting and even useful articles. The Impact journal was all about celebrating achievements and I found myself drawn to some of the career profiles, in particular Carol Barker's. However the most interesting article was titled "Confidence: The Key to Career Success?" by Ray Harper. It really struck a chord with me as, like a lot of people, I do have confidence issues, though I have grown very adept at covering them up, to the point of overcompensating. I have read many pieces about confidence, in professional as well as personal contexts, but the reason why this made such an impression was because it made me realise that despite my lack of self-confidence, I carry on regardless. I did as the article states, in the interview for my current job, have the confidence "to shout about [my] strengths and showcase [my] skills" even though as the article professes it "demands boldness and self-belief." This made me feel really positive, especially as I didn't have any previous library experience when I got the job... I am also good at mastering "new computer applications and adapting to different systems". It goes on to mention how proactive we must be in evolving with new technologies (very apt in relation to the Cam23 programme), in learning from mistakes, and in making the case for our libraries and information services by becoming advocates for our profession. Unfortunately, the latest issue isn't available on the website yet. If you haven't read the article yet, I can wholeheartedly recommend it, so seek it out.

The Gazette also contains some interesting articles such as an excellent report on the conference about 24-hour opening, a MyCareer profile detailing the catch 22: you have graduated but you cannot get a job because you have no experience, and an article about live-tweeting during meetings and conferences...

For those of you worried about Calvin and Hobbes:

To twitter or not to twitter

I've been hoping there's a way round this one, but I can't see how to get out of it seeing as though I can't complete Cam23 without it, so I've created my own personal Twitter account. I've got an addictive personality (I've recently got obsessed with Glee; I spent practically my whole day off yesterday watching it), so that's why I've been actively avoiding Twitter for so long. I'm the same about any new technology: Napster, myspace, facebook... Take mobile phones as an example; I'm still using my first phone, the Nokia 3310 which I got in 2002.

I have been using the Judge Library's Twitter account, but only to post about work information such as new books and things, that's why I haven't felt the need to make my own account. I knew it would happen, that I'd get into it too fast too soon; I started off innocently selecting people to follow, along with the obligatory ones like Stephen Fry, I added John Cusack, DisneyPixar and Peter Serafinowicz. I've just found Miranda Hart too, I adore her TV series and she's always good fun on panel shows, in interviews and as a guest on the likes of the Strictly Come Dancing backstage gossip show It Takes Two. She was awesome by the way. I'm going to stop now before I get in too deep, I've replied to a couple of tweets so I'm being obedient.

I agree with the essay about categorising and tagging as I'm against pigeonholing of any kind. I'm not even sure how useful the subject classifications are in library cataloguing to be honest, I don't use them when searching as they're so subjective, no pun intended. Although I do put them in when cataloguing of course. Therefore I agree with Shirky's comments about how biased it all is. I especially like this quote from the essay: "The essence of a book isn't the ideas it contains. The essence of a book is "book." Thinking that library catalogs exist to organize concepts confuses the container for the thing contained." Jeez, I hate the American way of spelling. To combat the limits of tagging and categorising, I've labelled this post with as many things as possible and deliberately added references to this post to make it as full as possible. I've also dutifully added more tags to my previous posts and I've just found that there is a 200 character limit; it's being pesky about it...

I've been having fun commenting on everyone's blogs. It can take the smallest of things to make me feel the urge to comment, from a picture of a Miyazaki film, to beautiful photos; all it takes is a common interest. I'm loving libgeek's Terry Pratchett titled blog, Ange's Grease-themed blog title and Helen's frequent references to popular culture (told you I'd get my own back).

All this new technology has made me long for the more innocent times when we didn't rely on all our computers and they were just for fun. Anyone remember the Commodore 64?