A lot done, more to do...
This was a huge lesson with a vast amount of information
(maybe too much) so in response I’ve a huge blog about it. I managed to do 8
out of 9 of the exercises.
Exercise 1:
Name three detrimental effects to a local community when a public library is
closed.
Many areas of our community suffer
if a library is closed or even when the library hours are shortened. These
include:
1a. Literacy and reading ability
in children. When children are deprived of free access to books there
reading levels drop. This is why there is such an emphasis on the summer
reading challenge, keeping children reading during the summer. The “Summer
Slide” affects those children from disadvantaged areas, who can least afford a
reduction in their reading ability and studies in America (Cooper, Nye,
Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996) show that a child can lose a
staggeringly one and a half years worth of reading ability during 6 years of
primary education during the summer holidays. This would be made worse if
libraries closed and the problem would be compounded in disadvantaged areas.
1b. The library is a
social hub of the community. During the best of times and the worst of
times the library is the hub of any community. With the very mundane (we are 2
days away from landfall of Storm Emma) the library is a place for people to
congregate, get warm and charge their mobile phones. Then we have essential
links the library provide for those people who are lonely, unemployed, in education
(both first timers and those returning) and every other aspect of everyday
life, the library is one of the only places left for the community to get
together and share time and ideas with each other.
(image courtesy of Carnegie Trust)
1c. IT facilities and skills. The
library is an essential link to the vast & growing world of technologies.
We provide free access to the internet (essential in many areas in Ireland
outside of the “The Pale”) especially in areas without a decent broadband
connection. But take a step back, one objective of the library in Wexford to
have a base level of physical equipment in all our branches and to continually
provide basic IT skills (classes and workshops) to those in need. Ensuring an
IT literate population and workforce, is, in my opinion one of the most
important things the library can do to help the community, particularly for the
vast numbers of unemployed. (Wexford has the 3rd lowest number of
people going to third level education and one of the highest levels of
unemployment in Ireland). Closing the libraries in Wexford would be devastating
for the future prospects of Wexford’s workforce. Through the Work Matters
program the Library is also playing a key role in tackling the unemployment
problems in Wexford.
Exercise 2:
Find a Library Strategic Plan in Ireland or beyond for a library of any
size. Identify three ways in which the strategic plan also advocates for
the Library Service.
This is a silly exercise, if the
strategic plan has been done properly; taking into consideration all National
and Local plans & initiatives coupled with the needs of each community the
Library supports, well then the whole plan should advocate for the Library
Service. Surely, they should be one in the same.
Anyway, I looked at the Hamilton
Library and the Strategic Plan because New Zealand is comparable to Ireland in
lots of ways plus they have a current up-to-date plan, i.e. 2015-2025. In
Ireland lots of counties are waiting for the new National Plan before
publishing their own. It can be found HERE
Three projects they hope to work on
that helps advocate for the library are:
2a. CONTINUE TO BUILD THE DIGITAL
AND PRINT COLLECTIONS AND SUPPORT LIBRARY USERS TO ACCESS THEM. This helps meet
the current needs of the community, increases peoples IT skills and builds the
digital collection which is of course a direct link to the manner in which we
access information (i.e. digitally rather than on paper)
2b. DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A
MARKETING PLAN FOR THE LIBRARIES. This speaks for itself, a comprehensive
communications plan constantly (and consistently across all mediums) promotes
what the library does.
2c. IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS TO
ENSURE THE FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND REPUTATION OF OUR LIBRARIES. If done
properly, this guarantees the future of the service but also keeps the library
to the forefront of people’s minds (especially elected representatives). Rather
than being reactive to a threat in the service, constantly seeking for and
gaining recognition for the work the library does should stop any threats from
even being mooted..
Exercise 3:
Name three ways in which you can demonstrate the impact and value of the
library service that you work in or use.
This is more difficult and
problematic. Rather like Ray Bradbury’s intrinsic quote of “finding oneself”
it’s hard to quantify. We know that education and literacy skills are the
golden key. We know that having access to books, historical documents and
computers/internet are really important but how to demonstrate it is a
different matter. For example, I cannot unequivocally state that of the 100’s
of people who attend IT skills workshops, and of those that get a new job, this
is purely because of the course we provided.
But, on further investigation, I
have found some good ways to measure the value of reading & literacy (see
slideshare ,
Presentation by Carol Tenopir)
3a. Implied Value. By providing
statistics to library use we can infer a knowledge gain by the community. From
children’s literacy to a local business developing their long term plans, thus
growing their business and employing more staff to the knowledge gained when
new academic work is published, these are all things facilitated by the
library. In fact some of these gains may never occur without both the
facilities and staff in the library.
3b. Explicit Value. How much would
it cost a private company or someone to provide the books, facilities and
building of a library? Wexford library has about 388,000 items in stock. This
would cost millions to replace and that’s not even considering the buildings,
equipment and staff.
3c. Derived Value. This is more
difficult to show as it touches more on long-term gain and intrinsic value,
these impacts can be shown with the results from surveys and the open-ended
questions library users are asked. Having regular and well publicised surveys
and questionnaires, are, in themselves a great way to get people to realise how
good a service we provide. Examples in Wexford (survey December 2016 of 1,195
responses) are;
·
Fantastic staff in library, always available and
offering help to everyone.
·
Our library is a very valuable asset and serves
the community very well
·
Your services have improved so much over the
years and you have some wonderful passionate staff working in the libraries.
Younger members need to see this passion! Continue the good work and strive to
be better
·
Don't introduce a librarian free library. Good
Librarians are the heart of the library service. Machines can't take the place
of a person.
·
Staff excellent, very good customer service
particularly with computer assistance and local knowledge and advice.
·
I think the service is excellent. I studied as a
mature student and was so impressed by your academic books.
·
The library has been a wonderful resource for me
since I arrived in Wexford 2 years ago. I have participated in many of your
courses. I was living in London before I retired here and saw the library
service being decimated so I really hope you can continue to carry on this
excellent service.
Exercise 4:
Identify three key people (name their role) outside of the library in the wider
organisation/community that you need to network with in order to advance the
development of the Library Service.
4a. Kevin Lewis, chief executive of
Waterford & Waterford Education and Training Board. Link up with the WWETB
to provide and promote a wide variety of courses to meet the educational and
training needs of Wexford people.
4b. Enda Kavanagh, chief executive Wexford
Chamber of Commerce – co-ordinate and provide a wide variety of services with
existing local business & potential start-ups.
4c. Minister Brendan Howlin, (only
Wexford TD to ever do anything good for Wexford).
Exercise 5:
Write down in 200 words or less an idea for Library Ireland Week for a library
you work in or use.
I skipped this question. When you
look at the LAI’s website the most up-to-date information is for the 2016 week.
There is no information on dates, topics or themes. The only thing there is
information on is who is on the board. (HERE).
I have no previous knowledge or experience of Library Ireland Week to guide me.
Exercise 6:
In your opinion what are the three best features of the My Library, My Right
Campaign and why?
6a. I think having a co-ordinated
plan and the possible result of hundreds of people tweeting, emailing and
letter writing with the same message has the potential to really impact the
decision makers. A similar example to this is during the Marriage Equality
referendum in Ireland in 2015, there was a clear message plan provided for all
the YES Equality teams around the country to combat propaganda and have a
cohesive message at the same time. Remember the videos everyone started posting
like “Ask you Granny” and the #HometoVote campaign?
6b. There is great information put
together under “The Value of Public Libraries” to help people understand and
advocate for the service especially the infographic on “What makes a great
library service for the 21st century” HERE
6c. I also liked the poster with
the call for action (i.e. #MyLibraryByRight ) HERE
Exercise 7:
In 200 words or less, describe a new area of librarianship that you are passionate
about. How would you go about promoting it within the library that you work in
and/or the wider library profession?
I want to help develop the LGBT
resources we have. I say resources rather than books. Young LGBT people need to
be able to locate the books they need themselves, they should have access to information on support groups and social groups. The staff also needs
awareness training and if there are any LGBT staff in libraries it would be
great if they were out and able to provide support. Following Thing 17, I have
identified a deficit in both our collection and the manner in which we
catalogue same. I plan on reading as many LGBT titles as possible, reviewing
them and providing that list to every library in Ireland. I have also contacted
the Irish Queer Archive and offered my extensive knowledge and expertise in
digitising the collection. I am going to identify the LGBT titles that could be
better catalogued and provide a buying list for libraries. Once I develop my
ideas better I will approach my line manager to discuss them. I am also
fascinated by the recent launch by UCD of their new Gender Identity and Expression Policy and am going
to investigate how we can approach the issue. This is a huge area for staff
awareness training.
Exercise 8:
Choose an area of library practice that you feels requires debate.
Developing LGBT resources and
better cataloguing the available stock. Have a display in their branches during
Pride Month.
Exercise 9:
Open up the ALA Frontline Advocacy Plan. Complete the plan for a real/fictional
advocacy campaign.
What is your goal?
Improve the LGBT resources
the library provides
What are your objectives?
·
Most importantly – PROVIDE A SAFE SPACE FOR LGBT
YOUNG PEOPLE.
·
Have more resources that are easier to find.
·
Help LGBT people feel more part of their
community.
·
Visibility of LGBT resources with awareness
& normalise the idea of LGBT people in the community.
·
Increasing awareness and education.
·
Have a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and
harassment, make LGBT staff and users of the service feel more welcome and
protected.
What are your strategies?
·
Identify existing stock and how it is
catalogued.
·
Suggest updates to catalogue.
·
Identify stock that needs replacing.
·
Review new LGBT books and create a recommended
list (used for purchasing material and also libraries can publish the list).
·
Provide a comprehensive list of resources for
LGBT people.
·
During Pride month (June) have displays and
exhibitions details the history of LGBT people in Ireland and around the World
and available resources in the library and community
·
Particular attention needs to be paid to the
older LGBT population, particularly in rural areas where isolation is a huge
problem.
What is your message?
Improving the lives of LGBT people
in Wexford and provide them with a safe space.
What data (or stories) support
this message?
The fact that if you google; LGBT
& Library & Ireland you get very few results is an indication in
itself that much work needs to be done. At a minimum, there should be at list
of titles for people to read, services, facilities and events of interest to
the LGBT community. The internet is the first port of call for any young people
these days, therefore this lack of information sends a really bad message.
We need to understand the history
of the LGBT rights movement and the irish perspective - http://www.dailyedge.ie/politicize-pride-3451448-Jun2017/
We should have a day to celebrate
LGBT history - HERE
Whilst by law, we have equality and
protection in Ireland, this is not the case around the World and we need a
forum to remind people about this - HERE
Similar to how Ray Bradbury found
himself in the library, we have a similar quote by Jerry Kosinski - “Here was
one place where I could find out who I was and what I was going to become. And
that was the public library.” - HERE
Here is an interesting article from
the ALA - HERE
Who is your target
audience?
·
LGBT Population, their families & friends
Why should they care?
They need reliable, up-to-date
information, books and resources that is provided in a non-judgemental way in a
safe environment.
How are you going to reach them?
What will be your best tools?
·
Use all forms of social media & websites.
·
Provide information to schools, youth groups
& community centres of the resources we have. (email, newsletter and
posters)
·
Displays and exhibitns during Pride month
·
Better catalogued stock
Wow, that’s it. I read through this
Thing 3 times before I even attempted doing it. It could have been broken up a
little. Anyway, that was fun. A lot done, more to do.
Toodles for now.
John The Captain Ryan
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