Full version of my Masters thesis online!

A year ago when I was writing up my MSc Information and Library Management dissertation, covering the situation in academic library blogging in the UK, I relied heavily on a PhD thesis by the American library studies professor, Michael Stephens. I remember being very grateful and somewhat impressed that he had made the full document available online. It saved me a lot of hassle finding it, quoting it and referring to it later!

In the spirit of the thesis, which dealt with the role of the modern librarian and his/her relationship with new technologies, I decided to share my findings as Stephens had done, using the blog I wrote as a research journal, and once it was done, the thesis itself (as long as it turned out to be a success).

Well, now I have the Masters certificate safely filed away, and another little certificate showing that my thesis won the Harry Galloway award for the highest mark in the UWE Library and Information Management course – effectively the highest mark in the South West of England! – I feel confident in posting the thing on my new blog and “closing that chapter”, as it were.

So here it is, click here to open the documents page. Enjoy!

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Other news? I’m ready to take a well-earned break with my friends. We’re off to Caernarfon for a week. I can’t wait!

I’ve learned a lot over the last six months about librarianship in action.

I’ve catalogue a lot of books, done a few hundred hours of enquiry desk work, dealt with a lot of routine enquiries and some more interesting and memorable ones, and overseen some sections of a complex collection management project. Plus I’ve worked on reviewing instructional and policy documentation for metadata, and started building some wiki pages!

I’ve taken part in a “Twitter conference”, I’ve started working on my Chartership, and more-or-less begun to produce reflective writing on my work and personal/professional development. I’ve attended 3 or 4 training courses (apart from the excellent ones provided at work) and a conference.

No wonder I need a break! It’s been an action-packed six months. I shall return to blogging in August and I wish you all a happy summer

Blogging for CILIP

I would like to extend my thanks to CILIP for selecting me as an official blogger. I hope this gives my writing a bigger audience; at the same time, I hope it spurs me to write more and better bloggage, and I welcome comments and criticism!

Now I can attempt to produce some Chartership-worthy professional reflection alongside my meandering commentary on my experience of Chartering.

Firstly, about work – I am quite happily cataloguing away now. There are a few bits and pieces that I need to pick up again; I haven’t done so much cataloguing for about 2 years now and there are DETAILS! I’ve borrowed the office copies of Essential Dewey by the great John Bowman (his dry wit and jaunty writing style make this readable) and the first volume of the Dewey Decimal Classification itself (well, I beleive in ad fontes, getting back to the source).

The occasional German language stuff I’ve been cataloguing is fun too, and often it’s almost totally original cataloguing. Wherever I’ve worked, one bonus has been to use my fluent German skills; cataloguing, making a precis, or doing ad-hoc translation duty! Perhaps my logical next step is a study tour or something in Germany? Or involvement in IFLA?

I wonder what will happen if we go further towards shelf-ready; with the current upheavals in the pulishing industry and electronic information world, I wonder a lot about the future of metadata and cataloguing work in general. As a keen advocate of information literacy and Web 2.0 in library work, I hope we as a profession will go down that route in some shape or form, but I think it will take quite a lot of work and time to get that far.

I was glad to spot a recent Facet publication picking up on Semantic Web and its links to information science - I think a concerted effort to build solid, public links with the “softer” side of IT is long overdue!

In my view, we seriously need to build our staff’s basic and core IT skills at all levels, and probably learn from U.S. practitioners about how to integrate new technologies while remaining true to our professional values – maybe also, from them, how to clearly and unashamedly express those values too!

I’d be interested to read comments and questions related to any of the issues I’ve raised in this post – and also feedback on my style and content. Thanks!

3 Weeks in

I am now 3 weeks into my new post as cataloguer at Royal Holloway. No, not the prison.

It’s been a struggle, mainly because for 4 weeks I’ve had a nasty chest infection that made me feel constantly under the weather. A few antibiotics later, I am feeling OK.

The actual work has been good; it’s similar to what I did in my previous role, just with more cataloguing.

New post about my new post!

Well, I now have a permanent post at Royal Holloway, University of London (always good to work for an institution with a comma in the name!).

I’m a Senior Information Assistant (SIA) which means I do a lot of the day-to-day work (in my case, cataloguing and enquiries) but also have some supervisory/project management responsibilities.

It’s just the kind of thing I was looking for, as it combines a lot of technical skills with library user contact, and it’s in the academic sector, which became a kind of pet interest of mine during the MSc course last year.

Speaking of which, I was told my dissertation passed muster recently so I am officially an MSc as well as an MSci ARCS now!

Although my main focus at the moment is on looking for accomodation in Egham, I have also been thinking ahead to CILIP Chartership. I’ve started reading the recommended text, “Building Your Portfolio: the CILIP Guide” by Margaret Watson, and I’ve been encouraged by its clear, simple directions and the heartening examples of people who have already passed – it makes it seem a manageable task rather than something that has to be drawn out and endlessly postponed.

I’ve already done some reflective writing on my previous roles, and I put together a sort of development plan (mainly a map of what I’ve already done), so I feel I know what I’m aiming for here.

Watson’s Chartership book reccomends Andrew Gibbons’ website and I think I will start using his learning log outline to structure my reflections in future – and even perhaps my blog postings. It follows a simple format reflected by many authors on the subject:

• What happened?
• What is its significance (what did you learn)?
• What next (how and when will you put this new knowledge into action)?

I did a lot of reflective writing as part of my dissertation for the MSc ILM last year, both by simply getting my ideas down on paper, and trying to review them and structure them. This is a chance to develop those skills further and receive recognition for them – plus, hopefully to make me a better professional.