west midlands member network autumn 2017...autumn 2017 west midlands member network welcome from the...
TRANSCRIPT
Autumn 2017
West Midlands Member Network
WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR
As we prepare for the festive season and
the new year, we bring you the final news-
letter of 2017. It’s quite a short issue, but
you’ll find reports on a number of events,
including a second report on the CILIP con-
ference that we couldn’t fit into the last
newsletter.
In the new year we have our Members’
Day/AGM on February 9th. A number of fantastic speakers have been
lined up to talk to you about selling yourself and your service, so put
the date in your diaries now!
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a wonderful new year.
Sarah
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Big Impact Low Budget Market-ing Conference Report ............... 2
Mentoring …………………………….3
Dates for your Diary .................. 4
CILIP Conference Report .......... 4
NETWORK NEWS
CONTACT US
• Email: [email protected]
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cilipwm
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/cilipwm
• Flickr: www.flickr.com/cilipwm
REPORT BY VICTORIA EDWARDS: BIG IMPACT, LOW BUDGET MARKETING FOR LIBRARIES IN UN-CERTAIN TIMES, 12TH OCTOBER, 2017
The speaker for the event was Terry Kendrick, the Director of Executive Educa-
tion at Leeds University Business School. He has been training library staff in
marketing for over 20 years and for those of you who are Ned Potter fans, he
calls Terry a guru.
A key element of working in libraries is getting the message out about the ser-
vices on offer. My current role as a Learning Facilitator in the Libraries Team at
WCG, involves working with FE and HE students, as well as academic staff. I am
always keen on exploring ways of promoting what we do to the diverse base of
customers that we have.
The morning session focused on the key concepts of marketing and we worked
in groups on various tasks. A significant theme was highlighting the immediate
benefits to the
user rather than
the service them-
selves. For in-
stance, a campaign
saying, “the library
has a variety of
performing arts
journals”, may be
targeted better if
it said, “get the
latest job news
and theatre reviews from performing arts journals”.
There were library staff from a variety of sectors at the session, including public,
academic, health and law. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on cus-
tomer needs. It was particularly useful discussing the promotion of YA fiction
with library staff from Warwickshire County Council, because this is an area
both of our organisations are eager to boost.
For the second half of the event, we worked with people from our own sectors
to come up with a plan for a campaign. The group I worked with decided to con-
centrate on new academics and getting them to advocate the library to their stu-
dents. As learning outcomes are a major concern for faculty staff, the selling
point was that library support improves results. Throughout the session, Terry
emphasised the importance of marketing being an ongoing dialogue and that a
one-shot promotion does not work. We therefore explored a combination of
approaches including building relationships through other stakeholders, such as
Faculty Heads, establishing contact through HR as part of the staff inductions,
promoting contact through twitter and arranging face-to-face meetings with new
staff.
The training has inspired me to look at ways of improving reading list engage-
ment with both students and academics in my own workplace and exploring dif-
ferent avenues of communication to facilitate this.
If there is one thing I will take away from the event, it is that time is valuable, and
people are rushing around getting on with their everyday lives, so the key is to
get them to stop and listen.
If you would like to
know more about our
Committee Members
you can view individual
profiles of members on
our webpages at:
cilip.org.uk
If you would like to get
involved in the com-
mittee, in any capacity,
please get in touch:
2
FOR MORE
INFORMATION:
Image credit: Victoria Edwards
3
Hello I am the Mentor Support Officer for CILIP West Midlands Members Net-
work and I thought I would write a short article about what a Mentor Support
Officer (MSO) can do for you.
If you are wishing to do Profes-
sional Registration such as Certifi-
cation or Chartership or even Fel-
lowship you will need a mentor, so
if you are having trouble finding a
mentor from the list do contact
me for help or advice.
If you have completed your Pro-
fessional Registration and are con-
sidering becoming a mentor please
contact me. I can tell you when
the next mentoring course (face
to face course) is happening and
also when the dates are for the
new online mentor’s course. It is
useful for me to know how many
people are interested in a mentoring course before I organise the next one.
I also provide support for mentors in the West Midlands area from organising
Mentor Exchange of Experience sessions to being on the end of the email if any-
one needs advice. Some mentors wish to refresh their knowledge of the VLE
and what the candidates learn about in the Professional Registration training and
I can organise a joint afternoon session with the Candidate Support Officer.
Revalidation is another area of support and anyone wishing for any advice can
contact me or join in a revalidation evening. This event is just a few hours and
people come with all their information ready e.g. spreadsheet (log) with CPD
completed in last twelve months and ideas to complete the supporting evalua-
tive statement. The statement is only 250 words and when it is complete we
run through how to use the VLE and upload both items. Revalidation accom-
plished!
Being a mentor for me has personal and professional benefits. It is part of my
continuous professional development as I learn about other kinds of librarian-
ship and it opens my mind up to different ideas. Personally for me, helping my
mentees to successfully complete their professional registration is satisfying,
especially if it has not been straight forward.
For any more information on mentors or mentoring please contact me via email at [email protected]
GET INVOLVED:
CONTRIBUTE TO
THE NEWSLETTER
If you have any comments re-
garding the content of this
newsletter, or if you would like
to contribute to the next issue
we’d love to hear from you.
We’re looking for articles on
topics that would be of interest
to library/information profes-
sionals in the West Midlands.
If you have any news/events
that you’d like to share with
other libraries in the network,
please get in touch and we’ll
include the in the newsletter.
Newsletters are circulated
quarterly and exact dates vary,
so please get in touch to find
out when to submit anything
you’d like to include.
For more information, e-mail
Sarah Dar
Newsletter Editor
MENTORING: WOULD YOU LIKE A MENTOR OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ONE? GILL COLBOURNE, MENTOR SUPPORT OFFICER
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
1st February ‘18
CILIP Training: Moving
into Research Support:
what librarians really need
to know.
Ridgmount St, London.
14.00-17.00.
Contact:
9th February ‘18
CILIPWM MN Members’
Day & AGM.
Priory Rooms, Birming-
ham.
10.00-16.00.
Contact: cilip-
CONFERENCE REPORT BY CARA CLARKE: CILIP CONFERENCE, 2017
4
After attending the local Members’ Day in February 2017 I felt encouraged to apply
for a bursary to attend the CILIP Conference. I was thrilled to be offered a fully
funded, full delegate place for my first time attending this conference.
Before arriving at the venue I used the conference programme to decide which
breakout sessions to attend, but the item I most looked forward to was the key-
note by Carla Hayden, America’s Librarian of Congress. This was my personal
highlight of the conference. She gave us an insight into her career path and how it
led to being interviewed by Barack Obama during his presidency. She answered
questions on fake news, library evacuation policies in an end-of-the-world scenario
and shared impressions of her behind-the-scenes tour of the British Library. Her
relaxed delivery and approachable manner had the audience eating from the palm
of her hand and the applause continued for so long it had to be broken up by
CILIP’s CEO Nick Poole. It is no exaggeration to say I could feel the (library) love
in the air! I was particularly chuffed to discover she had retweeted me!
All the keynotes speeches were excellent and gave pause for thought. I felt spoilt
by the programme
of parallel sessions
as there were so
many I wanted to
attend. Choosing
which ones was a
real dilemma – but
oh what a lucky
dilemma to have! I
tried to attend ses-
sions on as many
different confer-
ence themes as
possible. Some ses-
sions were more
interactive than
others, some were
panel discussions,
others were straight forward presentations; regardless of format they were all in-
teresting and carried valid messages. I was enthralled by the career story of Caro-
line Brazier, the Chief Librarian at the British Library. I was amazed at the possibili-
ties of The Internet of Things in an academic institutional setting. I enjoyed the
mindfulness exercises as part of a communication workshop. I fell in love with the
architecture of Manchester Central Library during a behind-the-scenes tour. I
loved the fun element of delegates receiving attendance stickers at a session about
portraying impact. What surprised me about all the sessions I attended was the
sheer volume of delegates there. Some sessions had over 100 people in the room.
Even the very final session I attended (in the conference graveyard slot) had over
40 attendees.
The conference was simply an amazing experience from start to end. It is impossi-
ble to outline the whole experience within the confines of a short article and will
soon be posting a longer reflection on my library-related blog, Behind the Book-
shelves (caraclarke.blogspot.com). I tried to share the experience as much as possi-
ble by tweeting throughout the conference using the hashtag #CILIPConf17.
Image credit: Cara Clarke
I feel so lucky and am in-
credibly grateful to CILIP
WM Member Network for
enabling my attendance. I
learned about new topics
and my eyes were opened
to possibilities I had never
previously conceived. As a
solo librarian I felt re-
energised and gained so
much from meeting other
library staff. I even met li-
brarians who had travelled
from other countries specif-
ically to attend this confer-
ence – wow! I left feeling
full of enthusiasm for engag-
ing with the wider profession and have since decided to become a chartership
mentor. My love of libraries was renewed and on the train home I found myself
purchasing a traditional library card catalogue cabinet via eBay. Owning one has
been a long-held dream of mine and the conference gave me the push I needed to
bite the bullet and finally splash out on one. My boyfriend wasn’t very pleased
when I presented him with such a hardcore renovation project – but it’s all in the
name of libraries!
CILIP WMMN MEMBERS’ DAY/AGM 2018
Our next Members’ Day and AGM will be taking place on 9th Feb 2018.
The theme of the day is: "Selling yourself and your service".
There will be a chance to hear from Jo Alcock and Terry Kendrick among oth-
ers about ways of convincing employers and institutions of your value.
Venue: The Priory Rooms,
Bull Street, Birmingham.
Coffee 10.00, day starts
10.30.
£5 for CILIP members, £15
for non-members.
Attendance at the AGM
(3.00 pm) will be free.
For more information or to
book a place please e-mail
5
Image credit: Cara Clarke