Roving for Service Excellence workshop, Robinson Library, 5th July

I attended this Roving workshop which was arranged by my employer and delivered by Michelle McArthur-Morgan of Jigsaw@work.  With the current refurbishment of the Robinson Library this summer, particularly the rearrangement of the subject floors and the changes in the Information Desk service, the way we provide assistance to students is changing.  Instead of having static Information Desks, there will be more emphasis on roving and staff will have to be more proactive. I think a lot of people, myself included, are daunted by this idea so I hoped that this workshop would help me get over the fear and offer some hints and tips on how to be a better rover.

The aims of the workshop were to:

• Understand why roving is an important part of delivering a modern university library service
• Increase awareness of the role of rovers
• Be aware of the benefits of roving
• Overcome the fear of roving and other common barriers
• Develop techniques to ease obstacles

Throughout the day we participated in exercises and activities which really made us think about ourselves and our potential customers. I would usually be quite apprehensive about this kind of workshop but the day was relaxed and informal and all the activities were a lot of fun.

To begin with we discussed the role of rovers; why they were needed, the duties and task involved and our perception of roving.  Some of the things we considered were:

• Can’t assume students know anything about the library, especially first years
• Roving is good for library marketing
• Staff represent the library, therefore need to be visible, approachable and friendly (but not too friendly)
• Makes librarians seem less intimidating
• Do it to provide a good service and engage with users
• Can promote other library services, e.g. Libguides
• Need to have a good standard of knowledge (but always have support from colleagues)
• Be proactive – remove barriers

We also talked the benefits of roving in the Robinson Library for both staff and students:

Staff benefits

• Chance to use skills and keep them up to date
• Good learning experience
• Makes a difference to students
• Good for staff morale – get a buzz from helping students
• Good customer service
• More personal and sociable

Student benefits

• Find resources they’re looking for
• Feel valued
• Saves time
• Staff more accessible when they’re not sat behind a desk
• Increases user education and IL skills

My favourite part of the day was the activities which were designed to determine more about our personality types. I could go into great detail about this but that would be a very long blog post.  Essentially there are four types which can be summed up as Creative, Caring, Organised and Action.  Suffice it to say I think the outcome was quite accurate: I was a Carer which means I’m considerate and a good listener, but dislike confrontation, need to feel appreciated and reassured to maintain confidence and like a supportive environment.  I think this was a good exercise to undertake as I embark on the Chartership process as I find it difficult to be reflective, especially when it comes to putting myself under the spotlight. This part of the day also enabled us to determine the possible different character types of students so we had clues on how and when to approach them. 

Following this we discussed confidence, which is something I’ve struggled with. However, when Michelle confessed that 15 years ago she would never have had the confidence to do the job she does, this struck a chord with me; before I completed my MA and began my secondment I would never have had the confidence to do some of the things I’ve done in the last couple of years. So this was quite inspiring and reassuring. This element of the course reinforced for me the need to focus more on my strengths and shout about them more, though I do still find it hard. A good confidence building tip we were given was to record situations and tasks we do well. So I am trying to do this more as it will be good evidence for my Chartership portfolio.

We also looked at body language. As 93% of our communication is non-verbal this is very important. I’m sure a lot of people are familiar with some of the more common gestures and signs in body language, so I won’t go into detail here, but again having some clues can be very important to how we deal with our customers.

I found the day very valuable and I’m sure I will find myself referring back to the accompanying booklet a lot in the future. Initially I was worried that students would see roving staff a bit like pushy, over-friendly sales assistants. When I walk into a shop I don’t want to be harassed unless I really need help. But by the end of the day I realised that you just need some clues on how to read students or staff so that you can spot when it is appropriate to approach them.  After this workshop I’m more prepared to embrace this new part of my role. Essentially it’s not always appropriate for staff to be sitting behind desks and waiting for students to approach them: we need to anticipate their needs and be more pre-emptive.  As well as being a good way to increase user education, it’s also a way to demonstrate that library staff are friendly and approachable and not stuffy old librarians!

Ponteland High School Library visit

This week I visited Ponteland High School Library. The visit was arranged by Jackie Dunn, Assistant Librarian, Robinson Library and Anne-Marie Laws, Librarian/Learning Resources Centre Manager, Ponteland High School. The aim of the visit was to give us an awareness of the kind of facilities school libraries have. I thought this would be useful as I’ve just registered for Chartership and having worked in an academic library for over ten years I think I need to increase my awareness of the wider library profession.

When we arrived at the school we were met by sixth form students who gave us a tour of the school. They were very enthusiastic and obviously very proud of their school. As I was last in a school more years ago than I care to remember I could see that things have changed a lot since then! There seem to be a wider range of subjects on offer to cater for all types of students and opportunities to go on a variety of educational trips. Despite this I still would not want to be back at school!

After the tour we were met by the Anne-Marie who had even gone to the trouble of baking a cake for our visit! (It was delicious). Then we had the opportunity to talk to her about her role. As with most school libraries, she is the sole librarian, supported only by student library assistants.  I was surprised to find that she works with a very limited budget which would only buy a handful of books in the Robinson Library. Because of this she can only buy books for a couple of subjects each year.  Also, it seems that a school librarian has to be to be a jack of all trades: some of Anne-Marie’s additional duties included selling school uniforms and invigilating exams. However like a lot of libraries I don’t think the library or librarian get the recognition they deserve.  

We also talked about Chartership. As I have just registered I was keen to talk to somebody who had gone through it and come out the other side.  Both Annie-Marie and Jackie were happy to answer my questions and I felt less daunted and more reassured about the task ahead.

Following our chat we had a chance to look around the library. As you might expect, the library was small but I think Anne-Marie is creative and has done a very good job with the limited space and resources she has. Most of the books are available for loan and she provides a wide range of information resources ranging from books (popular fiction and classics, non-fiction and reference) to magazines and videos. I could see similarities and differences between the school library and academic library; for instance both use the Dewey Decimal classification system and the library is seen by students as a place to use the computer facilities.  

I found the visit very interesting and informative. Having no knowledge or experience of working in a school library I think it gave me an insight into an area I knew little about. However, while I can see the positive side of being your own boss as she is, I think I prefer working in a team and being able to confer with colleagues if I need to.  The visit has made me appreciate the facilities and staff we have at the Robinson Library much more.  Anne-Marie has kindly offered to show us ‘A day in the life of a School Librarian’ which I may consider at some point.  Thanks again to Jackie and Anne-Marie for organising the visit.

Chartership: the beginning

Although  my job doesn’t require me to be chartered, it’s something I’d always assumed I’d do at some point after completing my MA. Now though my current job is only a secondment, I think it’s focussed my mind a bit more on what I’d like to do in the future. So after some procrastination, I’ve finally decide to go for it!  I’ve filled in and posted my registration form and emailed a potential mentor: there’s no changing my mind now! I’m going to try and use this blog as way to chart my progress (or otherwise) through the chartership process

Visit to the Literary and Philosophical Society Library

Literary and Philosophical Society c. Blenky64 via Flickr

This week I visited the Literary and Philosophical Society's Library. The visit was arranged by my friend and colleague Jackie Dunn, Assistant Librarian at the Robinson Library. In a past life she worked at the Lit & Phil and has always been very enthusiastic about her former work place, so I was very interested to take the opportunity to see it for myself. Much to my shame I have never visited before, despite having lived in Newcastle all my life.

I thought it would be useful to visit another library from a professional point of view; I’ve worked in an academic library for the majority of my library career and never really seen inside a more ‘traditional’ library. It’s the largest independent library outside London, housing more than 150,000 books, including fiction and non-fiction as well as historical collections. Although the Society was founded in 1793 the library was not opened until 1825. Anyone interested in the history of the Lit & Phil can read more here. 

It’s another world compared to that of the modern Robinson Library which I’m used to. I was fascinated by the differences: our users are certainly not allowed (or supposed) to chat while working!  I was also intrigued to hear of the paranormal activity in the library, including tales of the ghosts of a witch finder and a former librarian. I certainly would not want to be left alone in the library on a dark night!

I found the visit interesting; having no previous knowledge of the Literary and Philosophical Society I think it gave me a good insight into its history. Thanks again to Jackie for organising the visit.

Library Day in the Life

Civic library, Newcastle, 18/9/1957, Hood collection on Flickr

I haven’t quite decided if Twitter is good or evil. Thanks to Twitter I signed up for #codeyear…and look how well that’s going! However, it also drew my attention The Library day in the Life project, a twice-yearly event where librarians, library staff and library students around the world share a week in their life via blogs, Twitter, or Flickr updates. At first I wasn’t sure sure if I’m really at the level where I have much to tweet about. Some days might be like today, helping a colleague with an Endnote session or manning the Information Desk, but on other days I might be in the workroom all day checking reading lists or working on Library Guides.  But I thought I'd join in anyway.  Even if my week isn’t that exciting, it’s interesting to see what other librarians are doing.

Code year

Saw the #codeyear hashtag on Twitter (thanks Twitter!). It's a new interactive programming lesson sent by email each week: http://codeyear.com/. It claims that we'll be building apps and web sites before we know it. As my only previous knowledge of any sort of coding is the HTML I did for my MA, I doubt it, but thought I'd give it a go. Hopefully I'll manage it. Or not. So depending on how I do, I may or may not post further...

Becoming your own Career Coach

Since finishing the cpd23 programme I’ve been on the lookout for other training opportunities,  so I was pleased when the chance came up to attend this workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to provide frameworks and models to enable participants to take control of their future career choices. Our trainer, Sue O’Boyle began by talking to us about changing organisations and the impact this can have on career paths. We discussed how there are external triggers such as technology,  customers, the economy and competition which can affect us, as well as organisational ones such as leadership changes and reorganisation.

Next we explored psychological contracts; individual expectations of work and careers. The exercise asked us to consider what our expectations were about our job, role and employer when we first began working for the university, and how true those expectations were today. I’ve worked in the Robinson Library for over 10 years, so I found it difficult to recall what my original expectations were. However, I think at the time I was hoping I’d have the opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge that I wasn’t able to in my previous job. This is still one of the things I value today and I’ve had the opportunity to do this a lot more since I began my secondment. This exercise helped us to reflect on want we originally wanted from our job and perhaps how the things we value about out work might have changed.

The workshop continued with a self-assessment questionnaire (Schein, 2006) which was designed to help us consider our career choices. We were given a list of 40 statements and asked to rate them according to how true we felt them to be. We then had to add up the scores to find our ‘Career Anchor’, a combination of perceived areas of competence, motives and values that we would not give up if faced with a career decision that might not allow us to fulfil it.  My career anchor was Technical/Functional Competence; apparently I derive my sense of identity from the exercise of my skills and am most happy when work permits me to be challenged in those areas.  Anyone in this category is not interested in management. I have to say I think this summed me up pretty well!

We then had the option to do a couple of different exercises: one was to imagine our 6 dream jobs and what attracted us to them. Alternatively we were asked to imagine our retirement party. As that is a long way off for me, I chose the former exercise. Interestingly none of my dream jobs had anything to do with library work; I’m not sure what that means!

We were then asked to consider our career as a journey; we had to imagine our current position as a roundabout with different options or routes available. This helped us reflect on possible opportunities and how we would rate them in terms of attraction or difficulty. It was interesting to discuss this with other staff and see how similar or different our situations were. It also helped some people to look at options they perhaps hadn’t considered before or realise that there were options open to them that they hadn’t thought about. For me the exercise reinforced my feeling that my current position is something I enjoy and would like to continue, although I realise this might not be possible.

Finally we were asked to look at our future: where we were going and what we wanted to achieve in our career. I think the most important thing I learned from the workshop was the need to reflect on our options and to be responsible for our own career choices. I think I have already started going in the right direction and the workshop reinforced this and helped me to focus more.

As this was only a half day course we weren’t able to cover everything, but it was a good starting point and Sue left us with other exercises to explore and a lot to think about

References

Schein, E. H. (2006) Career anchors : self-assessment.3rd ed San Francisco: Pfeiffer.