(lib)Teachmeet 2

On Tuesday 29th March, the big day arrived and lots of lovely library and info pro people met for (lib)Teach Meet 2. Having attended the first (lib)TeachMeet, I was really looking forward to this event and I think I can safely say it was a success and everyone enjoyed themselves. I was fortunate enough to be included on the organising committee this time around and learnt a lot, so thanks for the encouragement and letting me get involved (in the small way that I did), lib(TeachMeet) committee!

So what happens at a TeachMeet?

TeachMeet is an informal, fun event.  There’s the chance to meet new people and to hear about and discuss new ideas in a relaxed setting, all over a drink and a bite to eat.  Everyone is welcome: whether you’re a librarian, an information ninja, a shambrarian, or something else; whether you’re the head of your organisation or a junior assistant; whether you work in a university, a school, a business, or elsewhere.



This is what I really liked about the first TeachMeet and this one to, it really is an event for anyone and everyone to get involved in. There also seemed to be more of a mix of those working in different library and information environments this time which was great as I'm always curious to hear about how other libraries (and librarians) work.

Speakers included Liz Osman, with some fantastic ideas about how to engage students with striking library posters (I love keep calm-o-matic), Suzanne Paul talking about the time saving Teux Deux (mentioned in my previous post), and Sarah Pavey, Nicky Adkins and John Iona all provided interesting insights into the inner workings of school librarianship. I could go on! You can find links to all of the presentations here and look at the photos from the night here. 

All of the presenters were fantastic (and I got lots of ideas from all of them) and the timing of the presentations themselves (nice and short) kept the pace of the night fresh and lively. There was also a chance to network in the breaktime. Oh, and did I mention there were mini eggs? I know I'm harping on about it, but I did enjoy myself (there wasn't any inevitable snoozesome moments you can sometimes get at events). It was a fun evening where I got to meet others in the profession and gather some useful tips at the same time. 

Customer Service Excellence workshop

On the 31^st of March I attended an internal, compulsory one day workshop on Customer Service Excellence.

Throughout the day we discussed issues surrounding why people may behave as they do (the need for mutual respect/esteem, cross cultural/cross generational issues), how people interact (non-verbal skills, territory, body language, tone of voice) and best practice tips in handling different customer service scenarios.

I found the day useful as a whole and it was definitely a good opportunity to reflect on why sometimes our students behave in the way that they do. On reflection, the day also made me more consider more deeply the type of university I’m now working for and the students who come here. As an ex polytechnic, we have lots of part time students and those who make the commute from home. Another large majority of our students are international. Whilst freshers and induction weeks/timetabling may initially give them some structure to set them off, how disorientating must it be for them when they first arrive? Quite often, these students may find it more difficult to settle into university and form a support network. They can also form territorial groups - something you see in this library on a day to day basis. Cultural differences can be easily misinterpreted when dealing with student issues and we had a thought provoking conversation  about the ‘double life’ culture that some students might lead. It was helpful to recognise some of these differences in the knowledge that often students look to services such as the library for that extra bit of support.

I noted that a lot of the tips discussed we are already implementing here. Simple things like making sure there is appropriate seating at the enquiry desks, so students can sit down and be on 'level' when speaking to us. I'll be interested to take part in the mystery shopping exercise we also conduct staff side every year (going out into shops in the town centre to look at best practice Mary Queen of Shops style. Hmm, MP seems to be cropping up in my blog a lot..) Just recently, mystery shopping has also been carried out on us, which will provide another valuable perspective when we get those results.

I was interested that the rise of students use of secretly recording conversations on mobile phones was flagged. Reputation can certainly be ruined within seconds by comments/videos made my disgruntled students and obviously putting potential students off from attending the university is not something those up above want to make a habit of. So all in all, the workshop provided me with some good tips (especially concerning body language and setting up rooms to get the most out a meeting). We were encouraged to talk about our experiences and this was also valuable, it was good to hear perspectives of those working in different parts of the university.

Appraisals, inductions, customer service excellence and dreaming about work...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been one busy girlmeetslibrary the past few weeks. It's just been the way it's worked out that I've had a bit of a whirlwind of courses, events and meetings to attend. 'What's the matter with that?!' I hear you cry. 'Nothing!' I cry back. It's been a really challenging and fun few weeks at work. But what I didn't bargain for was the amount of emails I'd have waiting in my inbox at the end of it all. My new job of course brings new responsibilities and with it lots of emails, lots of work to do from them and lots of important documents to read through and comment back on. I'm not complaining about this at all, but I don't think I've personally encountered 'email overload' on this scale since my graduate trainee days. The opening paragraph of this article  (which I found via @woodsiegirl on twitter) pretty much sums it up:-

Does this happen to you?

You're sitting at your desk, minding your own business/doing research/planning your lunch, when an e-mail notification of some sort pops up. (I prefer the little envelope in the lower corner of my screen and a gentle  tone.) There's a flutter of excitement, a feeling of dread. Who's it from? What are they asking for? Will it evoke a chuckle? (I hope it's not spam.) Can I help this person? Then, you stop what you're doing and open the message.

Oh yes, that happens to me! But does it really make me efficient? In my case, reflecting on the past two weeks, the answer is a big fat no. In my rush to scan through the emails, I found I neglected to read some of them thoroughly, which just resulted in a brain ache and having to read them all over again. On a few occasions it also resulted in me checking my emails when I got home and also dreaming about work, twitter and then work again, especially about tasks that were 'hanging over.' I know that this is going to be inevitable sometimes but it's not a pattern I want to completely make a habit of. I officially love my job but I also want to make sure I'm not constantly thinking about work stuff when I get home (as I do have a tendency to be a bit of a worrier sometimes).

My plan so far? I've been setting aside certain times during the day to check my emails and have been trying not to stray and open them when they pop up on the right hand side of the screen. Most importantly, I've been consciously focusing on the one thing that I'm doing. Simples right? It's more than manageable. Many of you may be thinking 'well, d'uh' but as a newbie to the problem, I haven't really had to solve this obstacle before.

I've also taken to only checking social networking sites once a day. On reflection, I think having an iPhone has only made me worse at consistently checking emails and sites like Twitter. I was on the bus the other day and I noticed that every single person (bar one or two) had their head down and was looking at their phone, for near enough the whole journey. Now I'm so guilty of this. I was one of those people. Heck, I was even one of those reallllly annoying people who would be texting or checking updates whilst walking along the pavement (you know those people that make you just want to shout 'LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING' at). It got me thinking, is this constant check-check-checking really necessary? In terms of things like Twitter, I know this now makes me not exactly on the ball, but I'll still pool what I need professionally and I think it's what's going to keep me sane.

So this is my plan and it seems to be working, alongside the ever favourite 'to do' list.

Speaking of lists, those of you who attended TeachMeet2 in Cambridge last week will already have heard about Teux Deux, the super whizzy 'to do' list app for on the go. Personally, I'm more of a 'write it in capital letters on a post it note so its staring me right in the face when I arrive at work at 8.30am' kinda gal, but I'd really recommend checking Teux Deux out if you haven't already.

Has anyone else got any time management tips they'd like to share with me? All will be gratefully received!

Personalised Library Services in HE

Phew! I can safely say I have just come to the end of the busiest 2 weeks in my new job so far. I have a lot of blog posts to write, but I'll start with one about the ‘Personalised library services in Higher Education’ symposium I attended last week (22/03/11) - at the very very last minute. The symposium explored the ‘boutique library model’.

There were a variety of presentations and lots of workshops throughout the day, looking at how the boutique model could help libraries to deliver highly personalised services and in turn how this could be used to our advantage to defend our service from potential threats (e.g. cuts). As somebody on the day said, a bit like what Mary Portas does to shops, but applied to the library world…

Examples of libraries that already apply a ‘boutique’ service are Library@orchard in Singapore and Parklands Library in Christchurch, NZ. And just for fun, here’s the Dewey Decimal Boutique Library Hotel based in New York.

Below are some of the points I found of interest from the day.

Jane Secker – Personalised research support

• One size doesn’t fit all – researchers needs all differ greatly.
• A survey sent out to researchers will only go so far. Jane felt that the greatest advantage to her role was that she became a researcher herself. She got to know their mind set. If there is no scope for this, she suggested going to courses that researchers attend (something I've done here in my new role, but will now look for more opportunities to do so).
• Created tailored subject guides so they were specifically aimed at researchers.
• Hosted all resources on one blog (to centralise info).
• Training was embedded into curriculum.

Jane also felt that libraries and research offices need to work together and that library sessions were a great opportunity for researchers to actually get together and network. Quite often they can feel isolated.

Nicola Wright/Cheryl Blake – Case Study

Spoke about creating bespoke PhD postcards which have proved popular and led to many student consultations. Once the student fills out the postcard, the Liaison Lib gets back to them with details about resources that could help them out (giving them enough but not overwhelming them). This led to positive and further conversations with many of the students. 

Tim Wales – Can personalised be upscaled?

Tim spoke about how technology can help every library become a ‘boutique’ service.

• DDA – Fits the boutique model well. Trend setting/highly tailored/unqiue. Downsides include what if students pick useless stuff? What if it ends up too personalised?
• Discovery systems –  Personalistion of VuFind good, Summon not as customisable? Benchmark Amazon as it contains a lot of information but still provides an individual experience (e.g. personal recommendations aspect). Got to admit, this part of the talk went slightly over my head at the time..but definately helped when attending a Digital Services Forum later on in the week at work.

Beatrice Pulliam – Space in USA libraries

This one and the workshop that followed by Chris Powis was really interesting, with Beatrice Pulliam from Providence College, Rhode Island, talking generally about how libraries in the States use space.

• Similarly to Sheffield University’s Information Commons, quite often U.S. libraries are called ‘Library Commons’ - information suites embracing all other services (e.g. multimedia, I.T.).
• ‘Info Station’ – our version of the reception desk. Big difference here – run by students in Beatrice’s library.
• ‘Upper Commons’ with ‘InTeler’ Station – our version of the Enquiry Desk. Stands for Interaction/Teaching/Learning. This one’s staffed by library staff.
• ‘Tech Station’ – I.T.
• Found students can be intimidated to come up to a desk. These ‘stations’ have improved student interaction.
• ‘Living rooms’ – soft seated areas.
• Everything is on wheels! Allowing students to create their own personal study space as furniture is flexible and portable.

This led onto a workshop run by Chris Powis (Northampton University) where we discussed the ‘emotional pull’ of a library and how space can be used to cater for all needs. How can be balance the needs of social learners and those who want complete silence? etc.

Meg Westbury - A voice in the wilderness – personalised library services in a virtual environment

Meg used to work as a virtual librarian at a completely online Library within America – meaning she did all her work at home and she could do it in her pyjamas if she wanted!

• A luxury but a big challenge – could be isolating experience.
• Never once met any of her students in person – students could ‘fall off the radar’ for months and then suddenly appear again.
• Integrated herself into the community (discussion forms etc), blogged, created a wiki and developed online tutorials for the students, delivered webinars and was available at any time – Meg even skyped her students.
• Best practice – take time to know your users and the curriculum.

Emma Thompson – “It’s all about you”:

Another interesting one, Emma (from Liverpool Management School) spoke about how best to market services on a limited budget. Found this talk very relevant and timely.

• Introduced a personal approach, emailing staff first with a “I can save you time” email and then went to see staff in their office.
• Academic staff are the gatekeepers to the students – a recommendation to use the library by them is much more highly regarded – we all need library champions like this!
• Banned the term ‘information literacy’ and cut out all library jargon
• Emphasised time saving element of the library all the time and tried to ‘find a hook’ to interest people.

All in all, a really interesting day with some thought-provoking presentations (thank you organisers!). I also felt I got a lot out of the networking aspect of the day, meeting two OU librarians and comparing experiences of using an online enquiry chat service.

Good blog post on the day can be found here

Tweets from the day here

All the presentations and more info can be viewed here