tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30547230145198110172024-03-14T16:56:27.596+10:00Sam Searle Libraries | Digital strategy | Higher educationSam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-20393555884004208092023-10-27T18:28:00.000+10:002023-10-27T18:28:09.030+10:00Values-based procurement and university librariesThis post captures some thoughts on values-based procurement in university libraries, based on two 2023 events. Values-based procurement is something that I am really passionate about and it was great to get the chance this year to hear from others working in this space and to share my own thoughts.<h4 style="text-align: left;"><b> THETA (The Higher Education and Technology Agenda) Conference - May 2023</b></h4><p>This conference had a lot of highlights for me, but one that really stood out was Nick Baker from the University of Windsor in Canada. </p><p>Nick's presentation was titled "Practical resources supporting ethical, equitable, accessible and sustainable procurement practices in educational technology". You can view Nick's slides <a href="https://uwin365-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/nbaker_uwindsor_ca/EXU879lF2ZpNuJ5Aba4_fyQBv30TeWAxcMNNMQJ4r6ueBQ?rtime=WAupWfu-20g">here</a>, which I highly recommend. </p><p>While not focused specifially on libraries, Nick's definition of education technology as "any technology that supports or enhances student learning" would clearly encompass many library products including our catalogues, reading lists, and library guides. </p><p>Nick discussed the decolonisation of edtech, with specific examples including handling of Indigenous languages, removal of Eurocentric terminology, and customisable pronouns. He also discussed the rapid increase in use of surveillance technologies and the way in which online pedagogies can embed control, compliance, and power imbalance and can erode trust, engagement and reputation. </p><p>Nick referred to existing regional Ontario and federal Canadian procurement frameworks which which include guidelines for accessibility, and will be extended to environmental sustainability and rerpesentation of under-represented groups. Social procurement in Canadian Universities has included a collaborative project in British Columbian universities to increase supply-chain diversity and ensure community and social value is delivered. </p><p>Nick noted that while equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) was becoming broadly embedded in Canadian university activities, few institutions had specific procurement guidelines that addressed this directly. This is particularly needed for edtech as these systems "are deeply embedded in the technological fabric of institutions" and "directly and intimately interact with students, staff and academics in multiple, potentially risky ways". </p><p>Nick discussed a collaboration between a number of universities in Ontario to build awareness and capability in edtech procurement. The team working on this project are developing resources and a microcredential framework that will be published via the Ontario Open Library platform when completed. Practical strategies included ensuring diversity on procurement committees, providing vendors with strong signals of the important of EDI, and consdidering weighting for price vs social impact factors. </p><div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (QULOC) University Librarians Forum - February 2023</b></h4><div>I was asked to provide a lightning talk for this event on the topic "One thing I'd like to see in University Libraries is...". The following is a lightly edited version of my speaking notes for the day. </div><div><br /></div><div>You can also watch the video of this presentation <a href="https://youtu.be/thABKRble0c?si=n8IqLAcXDG7EL2WS&t=4211">on the QULOC YouTube channel</a>. </div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>We don’t have time to run polls today but I would guess that many of you attending today practice ethical consumption at least some of the time. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Maybe you buy recycled toilet paper from a company that builds toilets in developing countries. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Maybe you’ve given up fast fashion in favour of supporting local makers. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Maybe you check the sustainability of your seafood or only buy free-range eggs. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>As individuals we make these kinds of choices because we believe it’s the right thing to do and that we can contribute to positive change through mindful purchasing. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Yet, when I mention procurement, which is basically just institutional purchasing on a bigger scale, most of the reactions I get range from boredom to fear. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>For a lot of people in libraries, procurement has been and is maybe still is experienced as a rigid set of rules, a painful process to endure so that something more interesting will happen. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>It’s safe to say that excitement is NOT the emotion that is generated by this word. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Like most work practices, procurement does evolve and change. Procurement professionals, just like us, care about getting the best outcomes for the institution and there can be more common ground and flexibility than you might think. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Did you know that the <a href="Queensland Government, Queensland Procurement Policy 2021">Queensland Government's 2021 Procurement Policy</a> actually says that procurement should improve the long-term wellbeing of our communities and that agencies should actively try to achieve better economic, environmental and social outcomes through how they spend money? </div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div> </div></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div> Does this sound like a match made in heaven with library values? I think so!</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Understanding what is possible is really important. I do not believe that many library professionals understand our options and how to influence procurement in our organisations. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>The list below shows some procurement considerations and approaches. You will notice in the that the arrow in the middle goes both ways. These aren't binary choices, with one better than the other. These simply represent choices we can make. In any given situation we can consider where on a continuum things might best sit to bring about the best possible outcomes. </div></div></blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">supplier ↔ partner </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">transactional ↔ strategic </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">focus on cost ↔ focus on value </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">meet functional needs ↔ meet needs and align with values </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">accept what’s on offer ↔ improve the offer </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">focus on process ↔ focus on outcomes</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">scan market at time of need ↔ engage with market continuously</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"> </blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">procurement as a hurdle ↔ procurement as a opportunity</div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><div>If you only take one thing out of today, I want it to be this phrase: focus on value. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>When the Queensland government says value for money is not the same as the lowest cost, what does that mean? Here are some library examples to get you thinking. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>If you are doing a big library building project, might you ask potential suppliers to offer work-integrated learning opportunities or graduate internships for your architecture or engineering or interior design students? </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>If you are buying equipment, might you ask potential suppliers to tell you how many local jobs they support, and how many of these jobs are in manufacturing, not just sales? Might you ask them if they employ staff off-shore and if so, to confirm what they do to prevent workers from being exposed to safety risks that would be unacceptable in Australia? </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>If you are buying a library system, might you ask suppliers what they are doing to make their systems less US-centric and more multi-lingual, to enable the use of preferred names, to contribute to global efforts to decolonise cataloguing, and to enhance open access to the scholarly record? </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Whatever you are buying, you can ask your suppliers to describe their track record on things like environmental sustainability, gender equity, their reconcilitation action plan, and preventing modern slavery in their supply chain.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>By weighting these things appropriately in your evaluation, you might choose differently. Or you might get the same procurement outcome, but you will still have sent a strong signal to your suppliers about the kinds of things you want to see improved in their delivery of products or services. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>In closing, there are three things I’d encourage you to do, especially if you have purchasing duties.</div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Firstly, have a read of the procurement strategy documents for your organisation and the relevant local, regional or federal jurisdiction. These can sometimes be really dry but there are nuggets of gold in there if you take the time to look. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Secondly, actively seek opportunities to build your University’s and Library’s values into your decision-making processes. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Thirdly, really get to know your procurement folk. Respect and value their time and expertise. Be curious about their world and the trends that are impacting on their work. Don’t let IT project managers or finance business partners mediate these conversations for you. In trying with the best of intentions to simplify and speed things up, they can sometimes reduce our options and take away our ability to positively influence our vendors. </div></div><div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Thanks for listening, and I hope that at least some of you will be a little bit more excited by procurement in future! </div></div></blockquote><p><br /></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-72707447041210648862022-12-23T14:54:00.002+10:002022-12-23T14:54:52.815+10:00Vulnerability, leadership & a mixtape<p><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;">I had a great 2022. At work, that is. </p><p>We successfully migrated to a new library services platform, completing this project on time and on budget, and winning a VC's Award for Professional Staff Excellence in the Innovation category along the way. We also completed a long project to provide our creative arts researchers with a second repository for showcasing their work. We were part of the university-wide effort to implement a new learning management system. We sought funding to digitise our legacy print theses and to implement a new archives platform next year, in order to support the University's upcoming 50th anniversary, and were successful on both counts. Some team members resigned to take up great new career opportunities and in turn we recruited some lovely new colleagues. It was busy, I said when asked, but <i>good busy</i>, like things were finally moving forward after two years of feeling like we were running all the time but not really getting anywhere.</p><p>Outside of work, things weren't so great. </p><p>My year started with a cancelled 50th birthday party, due to the first Omicron wave. I hadn't had a big party since I was 21 and had been <i>really </i>looking forward to this. As it turned out, cancelling was definitely the right decision, as I tested positive two days after my birthday. My Covid experience was not too bad, until about Day 11 when I ended up in emergency with a low heartbeat and even lower than usual blood pressure. They monitored me for six hours, said I was fine and sent me home. Six months later, I still had 10% less lung function than pre-Covid and an increasing amount of rage an disappointments at the lack of care our governments and many community members seemed to have about it all. </p><p>The second half of the year brought more lowlights. A family's member death from pancreatic cancer (and the aftermath). A painful shoulder injury. A week after finishing physio for the shoulder injury, an ankle injury - caused by, as I classified it in the health and safety report, "psychosocial factors", subcategory "distraction, lack of attention". Six weeks of skin cancer treatment for the latest of many BCCs. Another death from breast cancer of another extended family member. Another terminal diagnosis for another extended family member... It's just been one thing after another. </p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><blockquote><p><b>Rumbling with Vulnerability: 4.6/10</b></p><p><b>Rumbling with vulnerability is a growth area for you. Vulnerability is the foundation for the other skill areas, so we suggest focusing your growth efforts here first.</b></p><p>Vulnerability is the emotion that we experience during times of uncertainty, risk,and emotional exposure. It’s having the courage to show up, fully engage, and beseen when you can’t control the outcome.</p></blockquote><p></p><p><i>[Excerpt of my results from the Daring Leadership Assessment, completed this year as part of an internal series of workshops with our library leadership team. Not a great surprise.]</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p>Our recent end-of-year Library celebration had the theme of Music. It included an album cover competition (hiliarious - librarians should really not be allowed anywhere near photo editing software when there's a theme), music trivia, team presentations and optional dress-ups. I went 90s with a Breeders' Cannonball T-shirt, cut-off jeans shorts, tights and Doc Martens. Others came in all their New Romantic, rock 'n' roll, roadie, band T-shirt, and disco glory. There was a Freddie Mercury and a spectacular spangly flared jumpsuit. There were giant scones (and other food, but the giant scones were most memorable). It was a really fun morning, the first time since 2019 that so many of us had gotten together in person from across our five campuses. </p><p>Each member of our management team got three minutes to do whatever we wanted by way of a wrap-up of the year. My photoshop skills were not up the high standard of the album cover competition, so I went with an old school mix-tape (in the more modern form of <a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyzNlP47S-0OrB8U_CYF4yGiA55yvR9yn">a playlist</a>) that captured the vibe of the year. </p><p>My single Powerpoint slide contained this image: </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1_nJn1rtoG_nvmr1engDwWPwCPzr44Ji9LXxaBMfzTffcJCwLP1tf3YIezVAtHp0b6IH4fm9nJPzct9iNkUCeJ77z8ElfvZF1F57rrdzLiYHGVDa0Fp9Fa2Z-a6MvPp5GtK5QREMfMaVYossTGYt94lvtnXxtcR4FqGuTRXkDkmuaw2xYl_TMeCpd" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1262" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1_nJn1rtoG_nvmr1engDwWPwCPzr44Ji9LXxaBMfzTffcJCwLP1tf3YIezVAtHp0b6IH4fm9nJPzct9iNkUCeJ77z8ElfvZF1F57rrdzLiYHGVDa0Fp9Fa2Z-a6MvPp5GtK5QREMfMaVYossTGYt94lvtnXxtcR4FqGuTRXkDkmuaw2xYl_TMeCpd=w391-h330" width="391" /></a></div><br />The night before I jotted down a few notes in an email to myself: <p></p><p></p><blockquote><p>back in the 80s, when some of you weren't born yet but i was a teenager, the most up to date music technology was the audio cassette</p><p>making a mix tape for someone was a project that could take you days or weeks. you couldn't just click the instant "add to playlist button" and then move tracks around later. you had to carefully select songs, work out what order you wanted them in, use your double cassette ghetto blaster to dub from one cassette to the other. sometimes you stayed up all night waiting for a song to come on the radio so that you could record it. and then when your tape was finished you'd carefully hand-write out a tracklist and if you were arty (which I'm not) you might even do your own cover art. </p><p>it was a real labour of love and you only did it for people that you cared about. </p><p>i've made a mixed tape for today, but of course since it's 2022 and my last cassette player was a Sony Walkman that would have died 30 years ago, I've had to create this as a YouTube playlist! </p><p>like all good mix tapes, it's got some dancefloor fillers and some head bangers and some more introspective moments. i'm not going to go through each track individually but I've picked them all because for me they captured something of the 2022 vibe that I wanted to share. </p><p>it's been a year with a lot of achievements and we are here today to celebrate that</p><p>but it has also been a difficult year for me and i know it has been for many others too. there are songs on my mix tape for you that are about staring change down and meeting the challenges that we are faced with.</p><p>there are also songs about not having to face things on your own - we can't all be as awesome as pat benatar! </p><p>my big takeaway from this year is that it is OK, in fact it's essential, to ask for help</p><p>i am usually a pretty resilient and optimistic person but this year really broke me a few times. i've had to ask for help this year to deal with personal and professional challenges and it's always been forthcoming. many times i didn't even have to ask for it - it was offered before i even knew i needed it. </p><p>it really means a lot to me to work in a place where people genuinely look out for each other, and i hope that you'll all agree that is as worth celebrating as all our other activities and achievements.</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Well, that is what I would have said, had I not burst into tears in front of dozens of my colleagues in a lecture theatre about a third of the way through what I was trying to say. </p><p>I took a few moments, tried to keep going, couldn't, stopped again. My boss who was at the side of the stage came over and gave me a pat on the back and eventually I managed to bumble through to the end. Another colleague took my place on the podium and that, I thought, was that. </p><p>Except that it wasn't. In the following days a few colleagues messaged me to see if I was OK and to say they'd had a hard year too. Others that knew me well said they were proud to see me present such an honest view of how I was really feeling instead of bottling things up. Someone from another team came up to me a couple of days later and said they'd really wanted to give me a hug when they saw me crying. I said hugs were always welcome, and accepted one gratefully. </p><p>The more I have thought about this, the more I have realised that moment was really important and I shouldn't just forget about it. It shows me how much I have changed as a person and as a leader. Three years ago I would have been mortified and beating myself up thinking I'd embarrassed myself in front of all my colleagues. But now, after the past three years? I'm not too bothered that people I work with have seen that side of me. If they didn't know it before, they now know that managers are human beings too, with all our own feelings and issues. I knew that I was in a safe space with all my amazing and supportive colleagues, and that overwhelmed me. In a good way. </p><p>Happy 2023, everyone. I hope it's a better year for all of us. And as for you, 2022 - get in the bin. I'm so done with you. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-47141228357350641122021-03-08T16:29:00.004+10:002021-03-08T17:42:10.244+10:00Non-use of preferred names - addressing a diversity, equity & inclusion issue in library systems<p>In this post I share some recent experiences at my place of work, where we've been addressing both technical and procedural issues relating to the use of preferred names, particularly in the context of trans and gender diverse library users. </p><p>I was prompted to share this after responding to a tweet from a library sector colleague on Twitter.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Hey fellow library people! Out of curiosity, do your libraries have any policies/procedures to protect young trans & nonbinary people from being deadnamed in your library systems?</p>— Taryn 📚💛 (@taryninlibland) <a href="https://twitter.com/taryninlibland/status/1359323259821453312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<p>I hope this post will encourage other library professionals to evaluate whether our systems are addressing our diverse communities appropriately. I would also encourage you to collaborate and step up to escalate any issues as a broader IT concern within your parent organisation. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;">What prompted this? </h4><p>Late in 2020 members of our university's Ally Network were informed some students had experienced deadnaming (being called by their name prior to their gender affirmation/transition) in their interactions with the university. </p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Why is this important?</b></h4><p>According to <a href="https://www.qhrc.qld.gov.au/your-responsibilities/for-schools-and-universities/trans-@-school/names-and-pronouns#:~:text=Deadnaming%20is%20where%20a%20person,as%20denying%20their%20gender%20identity.">Queensland Human Rights Commission guidance for schools and universities</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote>While accidental slip ups may happen when the change is new, continually and deliberately referring to a student by the wrong pronoun or a former name is discriminatory</blockquote><p></p><p> and </p><p></p><blockquote>Hearing others use the correct name and pronouns is strongly associated with positive wellbeing and can reduce mental health risks for students who are trans and gender diverse.</blockquote><p></p><p>Most libraries in Australia will have responsibilities under discrimination legislation, but this should not just be seen as a compliance issue. Failing to provide safe and inclusive experiences both on-campus and online for staff and students is a failure to live up to the core values of our profession. </p><p><b>What did we do? </b></p><p>My team conducted an audit of 20+ library and corporate systems that make use of personal names. </p><p>We identified that several important systems and services were not making use of preferred names. This included reading lists, interlibrary loans, and our primary webform for seeking help from the library. </p><p>We then either made changes ourselves or requested the assistance of our identity and access management team in the IT area to enable use of preferred names. </p><p>This then raised some broader issues. While the identity team could make changes in the systems that the Library owned, they couldn't make hanges in other systems without the approval of the owners of those systems. This meant, for example, that our library help form was not something we could immediately get fixed, as this had been built using the enterprise content management system owned by our marking and communications division.</p><p>At this point, we shifted the conversation beyond the Library to trusted colleagues in our HR and Information Management areas to work out next best steps. We all agreed that the university needed to address this issue in a consistent and comprehensive way. As this is a requirement under human rights legislation, we did not think changes should be subject to the conscious or unconscious bias of the owners of individual systems. </p><p>After this discusison, we helped our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leads in our HR area to escalate this to our Chief Digital Officer (CDO) as something requiring an all-of-university approach. It was helpful for them to have someone from the Library in the conversation who could "translate" the diversity, equity and inclusion issue involved in deadnaming into a set of requirements that IT providers could understand and take action on. </p><p>Our CDO responded immediately and very positively to this initial request and within a few weeks a comprehensive systems audit was underway. Action is already being taken across the board to ensure the use of preferred names. </p><p><b>What can you do in your library? </b></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b>Reach out to the HR diversity, equity and inclusion specialists, Pride committees, and/or ally networks in your organisation to ensure you understand any legal, regulatory, or policy requirements.</b> This will help you make the case for change with other staff who may not have a detailed understanding of how serious these shortcomings are in terms of the wellbeing of trans and gender diverse staff and students. In my case, this was the Queensland Human Rights legislation and guidance mentioned above. </li><li><b>Find out if your organisation has any internal diversity strategies or best practice guidelines for supporting gender diverse staff and students. </b>Again, this will help if you need to request action beyond your own sphere of influence. At my organisation guidelines were already available covering <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/1224388/Guidelines-for-supporting-Trans-students-at-Griffith_Dec-2020.pdf">support for trans and gender diverse students</a>, and <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/546073/152_17_Words_Matter_A5_FA3_WEB.pdf">an associated guide to inclusive language and presentation for both staff and students</a>. A further guide to <a href="https://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/741916/Gender-Affirmation-Transitioning-Guidelines_Staff_Dec2020.pdf">gender affirmation/transition for employees</a> was released around the same time that discussions about preferred names were taking place. </li><li><b>Conduct an audit of library systems to find out what names are being used and how</b> (e.g. displayed online, within system notifications, email or SMS notices). This can be quite tricky depending on how names are stored and what other systems your library systems are integrated with. It will be much easier if you can find an existing library staff member or user with a preferred name (usually stored in the HR system) to help you out with this. At my place of work we were fortunate to have a staff member in our digital library team with a preferred name, who was happy to undertake this testing. If I had needed to ask a trans or gender diverse user for assistance, I would definitely have discussed with them the possibility that they could be deadnamed during this process and confirmed that this would not cause them undue harm. Alternatively I may have sought to establish a dummy test user instead, although this can be very difficult depending on your IT set-up.</li><li><b>For systems owned by the Library, work as quickly as you can with vendors and your local identity and access management team to ensure use of preferred names. </b>You may need to be patient in explaining the context for your query, as policies, practices and general awareness in some parts of your organisation and in other organisations could be lagging behind where you are at. Pointing your vendors and colleagues to some of the resources that you have gathered earlier in this process might be useful; don't assume that everyone even in your own organisation will be across the latest changes in policy or have a detailed understanding of the guidelines and how these should be interpreted in their own work area. </li><li><b>For systems not owned by the Library, work with HR <b>diversity, equity and inclusion specialists, Pride committees, and/or ally networks</b> to escalate a call for action. </b>This could be<b> </b>via an appropriate committee or to the leadership level within your central IT division. Ask your colleagues how best they can take advantage of your networks and your expertise (e.g. in being a bridge-builder between technical and non-technical colleagues).</li></ol>Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-69266490717688073102020-09-21T15:41:00.000+10:002020-09-21T15:41:06.800+10:00Notes from a CAUDIT webinar: Career Design in Uncertain Times<div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s4fAm5ULNEk/X2gvawR5pJI/AAAAAAAAQ9c/xF5AxAnNdCAJzhMhYcP4lOtMZXSjLlAXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/burst-aoN3HWLbhdI-unsplash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="woman in a field looking at two different paths" border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s4fAm5ULNEk/X2gvawR5pJI/AAAAAAAAQ9c/xF5AxAnNdCAJzhMhYcP4lOtMZXSjLlAXgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h213/burst-aoN3HWLbhdI-unsplash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;">Photo by </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/@burst?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #767676; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Burst</a><span style="background-color: whitesmoke; color: #111111; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;"> on </span><a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/choices?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" style="background-color: whitesmoke; box-sizing: border-box; color: #767676; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "San Francisco", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; text-align: start; text-decoration-skip-ink: auto; transition: color 0.1s ease-in-out 0s, opacity 0.1s ease-in-out 0s; white-space: nowrap;">Unsplash</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Last week I attended a Council of Australasian University Directors of IT (CAUDIT) Leadership Series webinar focused on career planning. </div><div><br />This topic would normally be covered in depth as part of the annual <a href="https://www.caudit.edu.au/caudit-leadership-institute-cli">CAUDIT Leadership Institute</a>. The CLI is on hold for 2020 and has been replaced with a series of free bite-size sessions like this one. This particular session had also changed in focus due to COVID-19 impacts on universities that mean that many university library and IT workers are now faced with unexpected career decision making. <br /><br />The session was led by <a href="https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/jill-benn">Jill Benn</a>, the University Librarian, University of Western Australia and current Chair of the Council of Australian University Librarians, and <a href="https://members.educause.edu/michael-cato">Michael Cato</a>, the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Bowdoin College in the US. <br /><br />Jill and Michael introduced us to the work of the <a href="http://lifedesignlab.stanford.edu/">Stanford Life Design Lab</a>, which “applies design thinking to tackling the wicked problems of life and vocational wayfinding”. Through various <i>Designing Your Life</i> courses and books (available via many public libraries), co-founders Bill Burnett and Dave Evans argue that we can all apply the processes and principles of design thinking to career planning in the same way we might apply them to the development of products and services. <br /> <br />The first step of this process is acceptance of the current state; you can only start from where you are! The CAUDIT session started with a reflective exercise in which we were asked to think about three things that have drained us in the past six months and three things that have energised us. <br /><br />Some of the things that attendees had found difficult included missing social contact with workmates, lack of meaningful holiday time, unhelpful blurring between work/life with WFH, online meeting fatigue, worries about interstate and overseas family (especially elderly parents), and the personal emotional strain involved in supporting their teams during such difficult times.<br /><br />But people also noted finding better work/life balance, including having more time for exercise, family, pets, home and garden, and fulfilling interests outside of work. Some had forged more meaningful connections with workmates and enjoyed having more insights into others’ personal lives. Jill and Michael spoke about some of the silver linings that have emerged for them in their leadership roles; Jill spoke about how gratifying it was to be able to act more quickly and decisively than usual, and Michael talked about the way his team became “almost addicted” to rolling out quick fixes and having very grateful staff and students as a result. <br /> <br />One of the tools from <i>Designing Your Life</i> is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/no-such-thing-as-one-perfect-life-2017-1#:~:text=Ideas-%2cAn%20exercise%20Stanford%20professors%20developed%20to%20map%20out%20how%20your%2cthe%20agony%20from%20major%20decisions&text=One%20tool%20they%20use%20with%2c1.">the Odyssey Plan</a>. This is a reframe of the usual five-year-plan that focuses on brainstorming three different options and seeing your career more as a journey or adventure than a single pathway. In the CAUDIT workshop this timeline was reduced; we were asked to spend some time reflecting on our current idea of what the next 6-12 months may hold (baseline), what we might do if our Plan A fell through (backup), and what we would do if money was not a concern (dreaming). <br /><br />This last part of the session was quite a confronting exercise, particularly as many participants were facing upcoming job losses at their organisations. However, some people commented that being asked to visualise what their Plan B might look like had reduced their fear. Michael had earlier noted <a href="https://dailystoic.com/oliver-burkeman-interview/">the positive power of negative thinking</a>, including an exercise from the Stoic school of philosophy that encourages people to deliberately consider the worst case scenario; by facing our worries head-on we might be more able to brainstorm other alternatives. Another interesting thing that emerged from this exercise was that people’s dreams often have very little to do with work! <br /><br />Overall this was a really useful and thought-provoking session. I have always struggled with the idea of a five-year-plan and this approach seemed a lot more intuitive to me. Especially at the moment with so much personal and sector-wide change on the horizon, it seems logical to continue to have some broad ideas and plans, but also to recognise that there will be bumps and swerves and new signposts always appearing along the way. I am planning to follow up with reading the <i>Designing Your Life</i> book and completing some of the other exercises in it.</div><br />Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-42406647017130712312020-07-25T19:17:00.001+10:002020-08-04T22:32:34.116+10:00Notes from AI4LAM webinar: ethics, data, and artificial intelligence in libraries, archives and museums Recently I was one of 100+ people who registered for the webinar “In Conversation with Thomas Padilla”. A <a href="https://youtu.be/p9m5XzbemLE">video</a> from the webinar is now available from University of Adelaide Library YouTube channel. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9m5XzbemLE" width="320" youtube-src-id="p9m5XzbemLE"></iframe></div><div><br /><div><br />Thomas Padilla is the Interim Head, Knowledge Production at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is the author of the OCLC Research report <a href="https://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2019/oclcresearch-responsible-operations-data-science-machine-learning-ai.html">Responsible Operations: Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI in Libraries</a> and the lead for significant Mellon Foundation supported work in the US on “collections as data”. <br /><br />Joining Thomas as organisers and facilitators of the session were: <br /><ul><li>Ingrid Mason, independent consultant on research infrastructure and heritage data collections</li><li>Alexis Tindall, Manager Digital Innovation, University of Adelaide Library, and</li><li>Adam Moriarty, Head of Collection Information and Access, Auckland War Memorial Museum</li><li>Gene Melzack, Data Curator, Student and Scholarly Services, University of Melbourne.</li></ul>Some recent projects mentioned during the webinar included: <br /><ul><li><a href="https://projectaida.org/">Project Aida</a>: applying image analysis and machine learning in digital libraries of historic materials </li><li><a href="https://unc-libraries-data.github.io/OnTheBooks/">On the Books: Jim Crow and Algorithms of Resistance</a>: a text mining project investigating racially-based legislation in North Carolina (1865-1968).</li></ul>The webinar was full of interesting ideas and it’s very hard to summarise it down to a few key takeaways! But overall the two themes that emerged for me were the need to push for library values and ethics in AI initiatives, and the challenges associated with building the multidisciplinary teams needed for successful AI projects. <br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Theme 1: Library values and ethics</h2>We need to be aware that data is not just data; data is about lives and can reflect histories of oppression. Increasingly there are concerns about responsible use, particularly of indigenous collections, and these issues are amplified when machine learning is applied. Common frameworks such as FAIR and organisations such as the Research Data Alliance are not adequately addressing these concerns. </div><div>According to the Global Indigenous Data Alliance: </div><div><blockquote>The current movement toward open data and open science does not fully engage with Indigenous Peoples rights and interests. Existing principles within the open data movement (e.g. FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) primarily focus on characteristics of data that will facilitate increased data sharing among entities while ignoring power differentials and historical contexts. The emphasis on greater data sharing alone creates a tension for Indigenous Peoples who are also asserting greater control over the application and use of Indigenous data and Indigenous Knowledge for collective benefit. </blockquote>Commercial AI tools also need to be approached with caution, and Thomas warned against being “lured by scale” in ways that compromise our values. An example of this could be re-purposing a tool for cultural heritage use that was originally developed by governments for facial recognition of protestors. Adam also highlighted issues around the hidden labour involved in services like Amazon's Mechanical Turk and noted that just because something seems a cheap and easy option does not meant that it is something that cultural heritage organisations should jump on board with. <br /><br />Further reading: <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.oclc.org/research/publications/2019/oclcresearch-responsible-operations-data-science-machine-learning-ai.html">Responsible Operations: Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI in Libraries</a> </li><li><a href="https://collectionsasdata.github.io/part2whole/">Collections as Data: Part to Whole</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/the-data-scientist-putting-ethics-into-ai/81044/">Rumman Chowdury - The Data Scientist Putting Ethics into AI</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.gida-global.org/care">CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance</a></li></ul><h2 style="text-align: left;">Theme 2: Building multidisciplinary teams</h2>Thomas referred to the work being done by Nancy McGovern on radical collaboration in research libraries. According to McGovern: <br /><blockquote>The concept of radical collaboration means coming together across disparate, but engaged, domains in ways that are often unfamiliar or possibly uncomfortable to member organizations and individuals in order to identify and solve problems together, to achieve more together than we could separately.</blockquote>Thomas suggested that projects need to be intentional about providing opportunities to draw on the expertise of everyone on a project team. He observed that tech folk often "consult" non-tech contributors at the start of a project but then go off and do their own thing. Participants instead need to design the project to deliberately bring conversations between people to the fore, and to build trust and mutual respect. <br /><br />Thomas also talked about being "separated by a common language". This occurs when different professional groups use the same words to mean different things (e.g. a humanist will have a different idea of scale from a machine learning specialist). How do we bridge those gaps in language and culture between different professional groups? We need to be explicit about assumptions and agree on terminology as part of setting projects up. <br /><br />In terms of roles and competencies, Thomas noted that organisations need someone who can be a translator between different groups. But it can't just be that translational person's responsibility, as this is not sustainable. Organisations need to shift more broadly, and this requires leadership and managerial efforts to build a culture of collaboration and innovation. There are also questions around how to retain people who are confident and competent in this emerging area; what can we do to ensure people want to come and work with GLAM institutions rather than applying these skills elsewhere? <br /><br />There was some discussion about building career paths and skills within institutions, and the pros/cons of outsourcing vs building internal capabilities vs a combination of these. In terms of building internal capabilities, Thomas mentioned at least three strategies: <br /><ul><li><a href="https://carpentries.org/">The Carpentries</a>. There is now a strong body of evidence that those pedagogies work and they are also reasonably affordable. </li><li><a href="https://collectionsasdata.github.io/50things/50_things.pdf">Collections as Data: 50 Things You Can Do</a>. A list compiled by the Always Already Computational project, of 50 things staff in cultural organisations can do to “open eyes, stimulate conversation, encourage stepping back, generate ideas, and surface new possibilities” in relation to collections as data. </li><li>Workplace learning. Thomas gave the example of a staff professional development approach at Michigan State University Library. In consultation with supervisors, any staff member could devote 25% of their time could to shadowing or cross-team projects. This was re-evaluated as part of the annual performance review process but could be ongoing. This led to cross-fertilisation, up-skilling, and was a great way for people new to the profession to try different things. </li></ul><br />Further reading: <br /><br /><a href="https://doi.org/10.29242/rli.296">Radical Collaboration and Research Data Management</a> [special issue]. Research Library Issues, no. 296 (2018). <br /><h2>About AI4LAM</h2>The webinar was the first public event held to gauge the level of interest in establishing an ANZ chapter of AI for Libraries, Archives, and Museums (AI4LAM), “an international, participatory community focused on advancing the use of artificial intelligence in, for and by libraries, archives and museums.” Further information about AI4LAM is available via <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/ai4lam">their website</a>. <br /><br />The organisers of the local webinar are a small group of professionals interested in the role of computational and curatorial techniques that advance artificial intelligence in cultural heritage practice and allied areas in research (e.g. digital humanities). <div><br /></div><div>You can register interest in participating in future events and efforts to establish the local chapter via <a href="https://forms.gle/mDW2mRsV2dEyre6V8">an online form</a>. </div></div></div>Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-27596123560722696922019-08-09T17:10:00.001+10:002019-08-09T17:10:02.180+10:00Boundary Spanning Leadership – reflections from a training courseAlong with a number of staff members at my library, I attended a half-day workshop last week on the topic of boundary spanning. <br /><br />This was the first time the course had been offered at my workplace. It was run by our university HR Staff Development team, who delivered training materials licensed from the <a href="https://www.ccl.org/">Center for Creative Leadership</a> at no cost for staff. <br /><br />CCL have been exploring boundary spanning as a management topic for a few years now, arguing that these skills are urgently required because most complex organisations and issues now require working across teams or organisations or disciplines to get to successful outcomes. This is the definitely the case in an Australian university!<br /><br />The course covered three ways in which leaders, groups and organisation can span boundaries: managing boundaries, forging common ground, and discovering new frontiers. Six practical tactics were associated with these: <br /><h4>
Managing boundaries</h4>
<ul>
<li>Buffering - defining boundaries to create a space of safety</li>
</ul>
<i>Examples: Defining shared values, clarifying roles and responsibilities, establishing explicit ‘rules of engagement’ with other teams, developing team charters, away-days / retreats, rewards and recognition, internal communications, team social events</i><br /><div>
<ul>
<li>Reflecting – looking across boundaries to foster respect and build an understanding of the similarities and differences between groups</li>
</ul>
<i>Examples: Extend invitations to other groups to attend meetings and socialise, secondments, sabbaticals, job rotation, ‘decoding’ group jargon for others</i> <br /><h4>
Forging common ground </h4>
<ul>
<li>Connecting – stepping outside boundaries into a ‘third space’ to link and connect as individuals, forming new networks and deeper relationships </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<i>Examples: Identify ’establish ‘third spaces’, cross-group mentoring and buddy schemes, create diary space for cross-team relationship building, ‘town-hall meetings’ in support of larger scale initiatives </i> </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Mobilising - developing a shared space, common purpose, and shared identity across group boundaries (moving from “us” and “them” to “we) </li>
</ul>
<i>Examples: Cross-functional project teams, working on building a sense of community after mergers/restructures, diversity initiatives, establishing a brand or identity for a cross-group service </i><br /><h4>
Discovering new frontiers </h4>
<ul>
<li>Weaving – establishing a creative space (e.g. to develop innovative ideas or new solutions) in which group identifies remain distinct but are interwoven to add up to a larger whole </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<i>Examples: secondments in different sectors, participating in cross-university consortia (e.g. CAUL, CAUDIT) or external engagement activities (e.g. with a focus on local/regional development), using fresh combinations of staff </i></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Transforming – bringing multiple groups together to reimagine and reinvent, moving beyond the known context and cutting across established norms, practices and identities</li>
</ul>
<i>Examples: use cross-functional teams to establish ‘alternative futures’, cross-functional work as the norm, continually question legacy boundaries, explore collaboration with those usually thought of of as competitors, knowledge-exchange and partnerships outside your own sector / profession / industry</i> <br /><br />I found a lot of the course highly relevant to my job and my library's context. My key takeaway was that the tactics above should be addressed in a sequential order. In my own library's context, I understood this to mean that building a strong team identity and understanding of our shared purpose is essential if we are to then go on to successfully work across boundaries with other teams in the universities, other libraries, and other kinds of partners in the community.<br /><br />Overall, I would highly recommend this training course and the associated material from the CCL website (see below). It provides a lot of practical guidance and options to consider in complex environments where collaboration is essential, but not always easy.<br /><br />Further reading: <br /><br /><a href="https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/BoundarySpanningAction.pdf">White Paper: Boundary Spanning in Action: Tactics for Transforming Today's Borders into Tomorrow's Frontiers</a>. </div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-65236202655946719402019-04-25T19:00:00.000+10:002019-04-25T19:00:34.929+10:00Libraries, leadership, and overvaluing expertiseI am not usually a big reader of the business self-help books that pop up in airport bookshops. However, I took notice when a colleague recommended <i>How Women Rise</i>, because I respect her and trust her judgement and because her career path is one that represents a possible direction for my own. I've now borrowed this from my public library service twice and recommended it myself to some co-workers, so I thought it would be good to blog some reflections. <div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1847942245.01._SX450_SY635_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Cover of How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1847942245.01._SX450_SY635_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" title="" width="209" /></a></div>
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I'm not going to review the book as a whole or go through the whole list of self-limiting behaviours that the authors observe through their executive coaching practices as being more prevalent amongst women. It's useful to point out up front that Helgeson and Goldsmith are aware of the many structural barriers to women achieving their full potential in the mostly-corporate environments from which they draw the book's case studies. However, they see themselves addressing a different set of challenges, which they argue are more within women's immediate control. If you can take this approach at face value you will probably find yourself able to get something useful out of this book. For a more #critlib view you will probably want to bypass their sidestepping of these structural issues and read something else entirely!</div>
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<div>
The one habit (#3) that jumped out at me from my own career and observing others in libraries is <i>overvaluing expertise</i>:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Trying to master every detail of your job in order to become an expert is a great strategy for keeping the job you have.... you put enormous effort into learning every aspect of your job and assuring your work is letter-perfect. This feels proactive, but it can set you up to remain on an endless treadmill, constantly setting a higher bar for yourself as you seek to always go the extra mile.... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Of course, we're not advocating sloppy performance. And we know that skill and knowledge are required for success. But if you want to rise in your field or your organization, expertise will only take you so far. That's because the top jobs always require managing and leading people who have expertise, not providing expertise yourself. (86)</blockquote>
<div>
The authors discuss the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and the way that mastery of a work area provides both the satisfaction of knowing you are doing something really well (intrinsic) and a pathway to having your contributions recognised by others (extrinsic). This is good up to a point, but can become a problem for women who want to move into leadership positions for three reasons:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Learning every aspect of your job to the highest level uses up mental bandwidth that could be shared across other equally important areas</li>
<li>Doing your current job to perfection only demonstrates that you're great at the job you're in now, not the jobs that you may want to move to in future</li>
<li>Your expertise makes you indispensable to your boss, who may then have an interest in keeping you where you are. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Meanwhile, the authors argue, male colleagues are likely to be focused on doing their jobs <i>well enough, </i>while still leaving<i> </i>time to build the relationships and organisational / industry visibility that will help them progress their careers. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The authors also describe four types of power that we can have within organisations. Expertise is only one of these, the others being connections/relationships, personal authority, and positional power (i.e. where we stand in the organisational hierarchy). These are complementary and ideally would be in balance because "cultivating expertise at the expense of other kinds of power will not position you as a leader" (93). </div>
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<br /></div>
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(I might digress slightly to say that the word <i>power </i>is a bit fraught for me. I think it has some poor connotations for lots of people, probably because we have all at some point in our careers been on the receiving end of someone else wielding power - probably positional power - over us in a negative way. The authors' definition of power in this book is a bit different. They describe it as "influence potential" and argue that "if you want to influence the world in a positive way... you have to have power" (95). It is hard to summarise this, but I think they see power as the ability to articulate your goals - both for your organisation and yourself - and work purposefully towards them, which is definitely a bit more palatable a concept.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
So, how does the overvaluing of expertise play out in libraries? I have seen this in my own career and in various positions and workplaces in a range of ways, including:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Reinforcement of rigid distinctions between 'professional' and 'para-professional' roles, and between different types of professional roles (e.g. front-of-house vs back-of-house)</li>
<li>Suspicion of team leaders and managers who have not 'risen through the ranks' by developing a deeper and deeper technical understanding of the area they are responsible for</li>
<li>Locating specialist expertise in one role that is essential for the organisation strategically but a dead-end in terms of career progression for the person in it - this is particularly obvious in emerging areas (research data management, I am looking at you) but also seems to apply to other types of roles (e.g. see this blog post about <a href="https://familymanlibrarian.blog/2014/08/23/the-coordinator-syndrome-and-e-resources-management/">e-resources management</a>)</li>
<li>Length of service as a proxy measure for ability - a sense of entitlement to higher positions by virtue of having the most years of experience</li>
<li>Pressure on students and early career librarians to specialise in a sub-discipline (cataloguing & acquisitions, liaison, public programming) and/or commit to a sector (schools, public, academic, special)</li>
<li>Negative attitudes towards those who 'jump around' (including envy of the career progression that can result for those prepared to take the very real risks associated with these leaps)</li>
<li>In recruitment and development, weighting library experience over generic transferable skills such as customer service, communication, teamwork, advocacy, IT skills, and problem solving, even when the generic skills are more important to being successful in the position</li>
<li>Lack of awareness that many skills needed for management positions cannot be easily gained alongside mastery of a work area or function, unless specific attention is paid to them as development goals (e.g. recruitment, health and safety, financial management, vendor management)</li>
<li>Consolidation and validation of expertise-based silos / team structures at the expense of cross-disciplinary groupings. </li>
</ul>
<div>
I don't have any firm thoughts right now on what this means for us at a sector or organisational level, but it's definitely made me think about my own views on expertise (my own, as well as that of others). By highlighting this as a potential issue to be aware of, this book has definitely helped me make sense of some challenges I have had transitioning into a more senior role and given me some food for thought about how I can ensure I don't close down opportunities for myself and others in future. </div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Further reading</b></div>
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<div>
Helgesen, Sally, and Marshall Goldsmith. 2018. <i>How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back</i>. Penguin Random House.</div>
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-43700309404021053222019-03-10T16:55:00.003+10:002019-03-10T16:55:54.686+10:00Reflections on ALIA QLD Springfield Library tour (public and academic)Yesterday I went on a library tour jointly organised by the ALIA QLD and ALIA QLD Library Technicians groups. The tour took in two libraries, the Ipswich Libraries Springfield Central branch (public) and the University of Southern Queensland Springfield campus library.<br />
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It was a great day out, and I learned a lot by observing what was happening at these two very different libraries. Thanks to the ALIA organisers for pulling this event together and arranging car-pooling and to the two libraries for hosting our group.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gVqNgjuMbAs/XISQ1c_I_VI/AAAAAAAALjU/zefVD7u_d3cCLuU0XoykaOF795fsED0hgCKgBGAs/s1600/20190310_123933-COLLAGE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gVqNgjuMbAs/XISQ1c_I_VI/AAAAAAAALjU/zefVD7u_d3cCLuU0XoykaOF795fsED0hgCKgBGAs/s320/20190310_123933-COLLAGE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tour attendees at Springfield Central Library (top - with our host Tonille second from left) and at the USQ Springfield Library (bottom, with our host Clare second from left).</td></tr>
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<h4>
About Springfield</h4>
I had never been to Springfield before going on the tour. The suburb has an interesting history, being a newer development that is part of Greater Springfield, Australia's largest privately-owned master-planned city.<br />
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The <a href="http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/310041303">demographics of Springfield</a> are quite different compared to Queensland and Australia. Springfield has a much lower median age, a lower tertiary participation rate, a much higher proportion of residents with two parents born overseas, a higher proportion of full-time employees and stay-at-home parents, a much higher household income, higher levels of home ownership, and a much lower proportion of families without children. (Interestingly, I saw billboards for at least two retirement communities being developed in the area, so things could change quite dramatically in the future with an influx of retirees.)<br />
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You can read more about Springfield on <a href="https://queenslandplaces.com.au/springfield-and-springfield-lakes">Wikipedia </a>and on the <a href="https://queenslandplaces.com.au/springfield-and-springfield-lakes">Queensland Places</a> website.<br />
<h4>
Ipswich Libraries Springfield Central branch</h4>
<div>
The <a href="https://www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/visit/springfield-central-library/">Springfield Central Library</a> is located in a brand new building at the Orion Springfield Central shopping centre. Our tour guide was Tonille, one of Ipswich Libraries Customer Service Officers. </div>
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As a new build, Springfield Central provided a testbed for a lot of innovative technology, collection management, spaces and services. The library has been hugely successful and within just a few months of opening had <a href="http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/plconnect/2018/12/13/springfield-central-library-a-huge-success-for-ipswich-community/">contributed to increases in membership, visits and loans for Ipswich Libraries</a>. </div>
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One of the most interesting parts of the tour for me was to see what RFID tagging of the collection was enabling. In the picture below (moving clockwise from bottom-left), you can see:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>A pretty standard RFID-based self-checkout machine.</li>
<li>Tonille demonstrating the use of the 24-hour pickup lockers. These are similar to Australia Post's parcel lockers and are located in the shopping centre carpark, enabling people to pick up their library holds out-of-hours.</li>
<li>Returns shelves. Users simply pop the books back on the shelves and voila!, they are automatically checked in. (Brisbane City Libraries also have these at my local branch - they are great).</li>
<li>AMy - the Automated Materials Handling machine. As books are dropped in the returns chute, they go up a conveyor belt, are automatically checked back in, are sorted automatically into a range of bins, depending on where they need to go next (back on the shelves or off to another library if a library user has placed a hold). </li>
</ol>
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Springfield Central has also done some interesting things with organisation and display of their collection. Matt Pascoe presented on Springfield's use of retail techniques in their "market place" at the Asia-Pacific Library and Information Conference (APLIC) last year, and I highly recommend looking at <a href="https://aplic.alia.org.au/content/market-place-how-retail-therapy-can-boost-collection-performance">Matt's presentation</a> to get a sense of just how successful this has been. </div>
<div>
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<div>
In the picture below (moving clockwise from top-left, and then to the centre), you can see:</div>
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<ol>
<li>bookshop-style display in the market place of a genre (science-fiction)</li>
<li>more organisation by genre in the classics section</li>
<li>subject-based signage (with matching spine labels) for children's non-fiction</li>
<li>general non-fiction divided into large subject areas, then Dewey-fied within that</li>
<li>current magazine and newspaper display</li>
<li>broader view of part of the market place</li>
<li>bookshop-style display of staff member's selections (these and other sections in the market place have a backup list of titles so that these sections can be quickly restocked to always look full and inviting)</li>
<li>picture book storage - no organisation at all in this particular unit</li>
<li>signage (with matching spine labels) for the general fiction collection, which is broken into genres, then alphabetised by author name within genres. </li>
</ol>
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In terms of spaces, my overall impression was that the library was bright and cheery, and that a lot of effort had gone into zoning the library for its multiple uses. There were group and individual booths suitable for both collaboration and quiet study, bookable meeting rooms (with integrated large screens), and larger event spaces that were made more flexible through the use of sliding doors. In the picture below (clockwise from top), you can see:</div>
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<ol>
<li>Group study spaces. Eating and drinking is allowed but users (particularly teenagers!) are strongly encouraged to do the right thing and ensure that rubbish is placed in bins. During our visit we saw two security guards interacting with teenagers in the library's spaces in a firm but non-intimidating way. (In one case two teens were being supervised by a security guard as they cleaned up the lift after a glitter confetti explosion!) </li>
<li>Entry with service desks. Things to note include that these desks are height-adjustable and also the neat cable management solutions (cables are grouped together within flexible snake-like pipes that go up into the ceiling rather than into walls or floors). </li>
<li>Individual study booth in a quieter area of the library. </li>
</ol>
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Two things that I could not get photos of were the children's space (which was packed out for an informal storytime) and the excellent facility for changing nappies, breastfeeding (bar fridge and microwave included), and providing a time-out space for kids who may be having a meltdown.<br />
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In the picture below (clockwise from top), you can see:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Our host Tonille, inserted into an augmented reality (AR) video where she was shooting alien spacecraft. The real Tonille was actually standing in front of a green wall on the other side of the room!</li>
<li>Signage setting expectations about noise associated with a public event. </li>
<li>One of the two 3D printers located in the makerspace. These are free to use for library members over 13 years old and you can book a 45-minute slot with a "makerspace champion". </li>
<li>Staff member's desk with all the 3D printed objects awaiting collection. </li>
<li>Promotional poster for a ukelele workshop run by a local musician. This event was on while we were in the library and by the end of 2 hours the group was performing a rendition of "Stand by Me"!</li>
<li>The Library is one of several sites for community immunisations - I don't recall ever having seen this in a library before and thought what a great idea it was to join up libraries and health providers to offer this essential service for kids in a familiar and less clinical environment. </li>
</ol>
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I was super-impressed with this public library! Although not everything I saw would translate into an academic library environment, I took away lots of ideas to discuss with colleagues.<br />
<h4>
University of Southern Queensland Springfield Library</h4>
At USQ, we were kindly shown around by Clare Thorpe, the Associate Director (Library Experience).<br />
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Clare explained that there has been a library at Springfield since the campus was established in 2006 and that the current library space had been refurbished under a year ago.<br />
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Interestingly, although three quarters of USQ's enrolments are for online study, many students live within 100 km of one of the campuses so there is still demand for study space. Clare noted that the majority of USQ Springfield students are not school-leavers, but tend to be more mature people balancing a range of work, family, and study commitments.<br />
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In the picture below (clockwise from top), you can see:<br />
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<ol>
<li>A large multi-purpose area. The refurbishment focused on making spaces as flexible as possible, with furniture able to be moved as needed and removed easily for events. Note also the full-height windows. These replaced much narrower windows, letting in more light and integrating the indoor and outdoor spaces in keeping with the Queensland lifestyle and USQ Library's overall ethos of openness and transparency. </li>
<li>The Library now includes spaces for the secure display of objects from the USQ Art Collection. </li>
<li>Clare let us in on this excellent library refurbishment hack! By simply placing new wooden end-panels at the end of their existing stacks, they were able to completely refresh the look of the collection spaces without replacing the shelving.</li>
<li>The Library is open 24/7 (with the exception of the collection area, which is locked when the library is unstaffed). The space includes this full kitchen area with sink, microwaves, and waste disposal. Clare noted there had been no issues with students having food in the space. </li>
<li>The refurbishment included a new entrance with pod-style service desks. USQ does not operate a combined library-IT service model but the library and IT desks are located next to each other in the same space. Opposite these desks there are a number of small consultation rooms. These can be used by students consulting with staff on the Springfield campus but are also equipped with videoconferencing facilities for times when staff are only available at other USQ campuses. </li>
<li>Quiet study area. The library space has two main zones, one more suited for lab and groupwork and the other concentrated on the collection and spaces for quiet study. Note the use of the same colour (green) but in a more muted tone. Lighting is also more subdued in this area. The student carrels are extra wide and padded in a soft felt-like fabric that not only added visual appeal but I imagine would also help with soundproofing. As with the other spaces there were plenty of power and USB points. </li>
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I was not able to get photos of the main student space as this was full of people. This was a mixed-use space with a computer lab at one end, and study space for those with laptops at the other end. The library also has an Assistive Technology Room that is part of USQ's <a href="https://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/support/disability">services in support of students with a disability</a>.<br />
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Behind the scenes, Clare showed us processing areas for postage to off-campus students. One thing that emerged in the discussion that I was not familiar with was USQ's engagement with a specific disadvantaged cohort of library users: students who are in incarcerated. As students in correctional facilities do not have access to the internet, they are excluded from most higher education. Through its <a href="https://www.usq.edu.au/making-the-connection">Making the Connection</a> program, USQ has developed secure offline learning platforms. The library also contributes to this program by ensuring students have access to the resources that they need. If you are interested in finding out more about digital equity issues as they relate to prisoners' access to education, you may like to read this <a href="http:">2017 ASCILITE conference paper</a> by academics from USQ and RMIT.<br />
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<br />Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-72879204808595173032019-02-22T22:15:00.000+10:002019-02-22T22:15:58.464+10:00Conference report: International Digital Curation Conference 2019On 5-7 February I attended the International Digital Curation Conference in Melbourne. <br /><br />The conference consisted of two days of presentations, panels, lightning talks, and posters. This was followed by an unconference day designed to promote informal discussion and networking on topics suggested by the participants on the day. <div>
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More details if you'd like to follow up:<br /><ul>
<li><a href="http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/idcc19/programme">Conference program</a> (includes links to slides and also collaborative notes taken by attendees)</li>
<li><a href="https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/IDCC19-unconference">Unconference ideas pad</a> (also includes links to collaborative notes) </li>
<li>Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/idcc19">#idcc19</a> </li>
</ul>
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This was the first time this conference had been held in the Global South and it attracted an audience of over 250 participants from a wide range of countries. I have reviewed abstracts for this conference for quite a few years so I was really chuffed to finally get to experience it! The conference was very friendly and it was a chance to reconnect with many former colleagues as well as to meet some people face-to-face that I only know from Twitter. <div>
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One of the things that I enjoyed the most about the conference was the large number of archivists attending and the many archives-related presentations. I started my career as an information professional in archives and have <a href="https://www.samsearle.net/2014/06/international-archives-day-value-of.html">written previously about the value for librarians of developing a deeper understanding of archival theories and practices</a>, particularly when working in areas such as research data management. The conference brought home to me my own need to refresh and update my professional knowledge of what is happening in the broader world of digital preservation and cultural collections in organisations other than universities and libraries (i.e. I need to get out more!)<br /><div>
<br />My top three papers (though it is really hard to choose just three – I encourage you to explore the full program) were:<br /><br /><b>Developing Culturally Competent Data Publication Resources</b><div>
Ryan Stoker and Jen McLean, University of Sydney <br /><br />This paper received the top paper award from the program committee based on reviewer feedback. <br /><br />Ryan and Jen talked about the process they are going through to revise their library guide on data publication in light of frameworks emerging from the National Centre for Cultural Competence at USyd. This has involved so far self-assessment by library staff of their own perspectives and biases, addition of indigenous cultural & intellectual property rights (including links to <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/research/ethical-research">AIATSIS ethics guidelines</a>), and inclusion of indigenous community considerations in sections on sensitive data. <br /><br />The lessons learned are feeding into other projects including the institutional repository redevelopment and a university digital asset management system (DAMS). They are reviewing digital collections priorities, exploring new kinds of metadata (such as <a href="http://localcontexts.org/tk-labels/">traditional knowledge labels</a>) and ensuring licensing / access information is captured appropriately. <br /><br /><b>Progress in Research Data Service development: An international survey of university libraries </b>| <a href="http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/IDCC19/Slides/ProgressinResDataServices_MaryAnneKennan.pdf">Slides</a> </div>
<div>
Mary Anne Kennan, Charles Sturt University<br /><br />Mary Anne presented on the results of the latest round of international surveys conducted from 2014 onwards across a range of countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. The results will be published in a journal article soon. <br /><br />This presentation helped me to see where my place of work is currently sitting compared to peers in terms of our service provision, organisational structures, drivers, skills gaps and other challenges. Mary Anne and her co-investigators have also come up with a really interesting maturity model for research data management services. <br /><br /><b>Human Security Informatics, Global Grand Challenges and Digital Curation</b></div>
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Anne Gilliland, University of North Carolina <br /><br />This was a very thought-provoking paper on emerging work in Human Security Informatics (HSI). HSI is focused on how current digital infrastructures fail to meet the needs of many vulnerable communities due to systemic inequities and inaccessibilities, and lack of institutional will, coordination and capacity. <br /><br />There are many cases when records and archives are used as mechanisms of oppression and appropriation, and where vulnerable communities (e.g. refugees, abuse survivors, those affected by natural disasters) must interact with records but may have no “bureaucratic literacy” or the relevant language skills to do this. <br /><br />The case study presented related to the needs of displaced populations that are being explored through the <a href="https://informationasevidence.org/refugee-rights-in-records">Refugee Rights in Records Project</a>. Given the current tone of political discussions in Australia right now this was very timely (but also really depressing). <br /><br />Three practical things I plan to do as a result of attending this conference are: <br /><ol>
<li>Develop a digital preservation strategy for my institution's repository by end of 2020 </li>
<li>Explore connections between our repository and the <a href="https://apo.org.au/">Analysis and Policy Observatory</a> to enable our research to be more accessible to public policy audiences outside of academia </li>
<li>Explore the role that data packaging transfer tools (such as the <a href="https://support.aarnet.edu.au/hc/en-us/articles/115006687887-What-are-the-Cloudstor-Collections-features-">Cloudstor Collections service</a> from AARNet) might have in new data repository workflows. </li>
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-66944276063036025372018-10-08T16:50:00.000+10:002018-10-08T16:50:48.477+10:00Reflections on the 2018 Software Licensing and Asset Management conference (SLAM)Recently I was funded through a Queensland University Libraries Office of Cooperation (QULOC) <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/qulocqld/pd-scholarships">Professional Development Scholarship</a> to attend the <a href="https://www.uslc.edu.au/slam2018">Software Licensing and Asset Management conference (SLAM)</a>. I am very grateful to QULOC for this opportunity.<br />
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This annual event is organised by the <a href="https://www.uslc.edu.au/slam2018">University Software Licensing Community</a>, a community of practice under the banner of the Council of Australasian Directors of IT (CAUDIT).The 2018 event in Brisbane attracted around 50 attendees, including procurement specialists from CAUDIT, delegates from universities (from areas including IT, finance/procurement, risk and audit) and vendor representatives.<br />
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The <a href="https://www.uslc.edu.au/agenda-slam2018">varied program</a> included
keynotes relating to strategic trends such as artificial intelligence and
cybersecurity; case studies from CAUDIT member organisations of innovative
approaches to software asset management and licensing; and vendor/sponsor negotiation
updates and product showcase.<br />
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<b>Why I attended</b><br />
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I’m responsible for managing my library’s portfolio of software applications, and there are significant licensing costs associated with this. Over the past three years, my team has conducted a rolling series of service reviews to ensure we are making the most of our systems, and I have more actively negotiated with vendors to try to achieve containment of costs in this area.<br />
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I wanted to further explore the methods and practices used by other professionals in the higher education sector. In applying to QULOC for funding, I said in my application:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
University libraries benefit significantly from collaborative approaches to procurement of library resources, but we do not commonly apply similar approaches to software licensing. While the CEIRC (CAUL Electronic Information Resources Consortium) Terms of Reference do not preclude discussion of technical infrastructure, in practice the focus is strongly on information resources. As CAUL Statistics bundle technology costs with other operational costs, there is a lack of even basic information about software spend in libraries across the sector, however this should be estimated at a minimum of $10M and may be much higher. Consortial models for library resource purchasing may not transfer directly to software, but there is little professional discourse about what other collaborative approaches could be taken. Becoming more aware of best practice in this area would enable me to better take advantage of the expertise located elsewhere in my own organisation and also to promote different ways of doing things through my professional networks, including the new CAUDIT Library IT Community of Practice that I recently established. </blockquote>
I will be reporting back to QULOC with a written report and in a webinar to be held in about a month (stay tuned for details). In the meantime here are a few key takeaways.<br />
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<b>Takeaway 1: There are many similarities in the roles, organisational contexts, and issues faced by library staff and our counterparts managing software assets. </b><br />
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Both groups:<br />
<ul>
<li>provide resources/tools to staff and students that are essential to support the core business of universities in education, research and administration</li>
<li>are perceived as being cost centres and must increasingly communicate the value they provide to senior stakeholders and demonstrate alignment with strategic agendas</li>
<li>must ensure compliance with law and contractual obligations, in environments where users have ready access to “shadow” channels that provide quicker and easier solutions than official channels</li>
<li>manage portfolios of information assets with complex access management requirements for different cohorts (e.g. alumni, adjunct academic staff, industry affiliates), and </li>
<li>deal with similar market conditions and vendor practices, including sole- and limited-supplier procurement, unsustainable pricing, and deliberately opaque licensing terms and conditions.</li>
</ul>
Given these similarities it would make sense for library staff who procure and manage software and resources to expand their informal networks to include software licensing colleagues, and to be aware of and contribute to best practice across their organisation as a whole.<br />
<br />
<b>Takeaway 2: Usage statistics for software, just as for e-resources, can be used to drive decision-making, inform negotiations with vendors, and contain costs. </b><br />
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SLAM introduced me to the concept of licence optimisation through some interesting case studies.<br />
<br />
On returning to work, I checked with my team on concurrent licence usage data for one of our bigger applications. This identified possible cost savings that could be achieved through licence reduction and configuration changes (e.g. by reducing the length of timeouts).<br />
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Unfortunately the terms of the three-year contract we have entered into for that product favour the vendor and will probably not allow us to achieve these savings. However, I will now be more aware for future renewals and new contracts of the need to negotiate an annual change in licence numbers as our business needs change (“true-up / true-down” in the language of the software licensing specialists – yes, they have their own jargon too!).<br />
<br />
<b>Takeaway 3: In other areas, vendors are being challenged to justify the value of “support and maintenance” costs on top of software licensing. </b><br />
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A number of SLAM participants were critical of the value for money provided by annual agreements for software maintenance and support.<br />
<br />
I am keen to find out from our software licensing support team what alternative models are being explored for non-library software. We already have one supplier who operates under a pay-as-you-go support credits arrangement that provides total transparency about the time and cost for each support ticket. It would be interesting to see how prevalent this model is and whether this could be rolled out with other library vendors.<br />
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I am not optimistic this would be possible in the short term. I imagine our vendors will be reluctant to give up one of their biggest cash cows. It is definitely something to feed into future procurement processes and renewal negotiations though. <br />
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<b>Takeaway 4: There are untapped opportunities for libraries to collaborate on software procurement and licensing, but new structures and skills are needed to progress these. </b><br />
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While strategic procurement was not as much of a focus at SLAM as I had hoped, I nevertheless gained a new appreciation for the level of cooperation amongst universities in purchasing all kinds of software to support education, teaching and university administration.<br />
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As the next two to three years will (hopefully) involve some important shifts in the library systems market, the time is right for university libraries to develop medium-term technology roadmaps and to start collective considering how procurement processes could reduce costs (including the burden of large-scale tender processes), increase transparency, and open up new forms of collaboration (including shared systems, an approach taken in other jurisdictions including <a href="http://whelf.ac.uk/sharedlms/">Wales</a>, <a href="https://www.orbiscascade.org/shared-ils/">the US</a> and <a href="http://www.julac.org/?page_id=5499">Hong Kong</a>).<br />
<br />
As mentioned above there is currently a lack of basic information about how much Australian university libraries are collectively spending on software. One recommendation I will make in my report to QULOC is for the QULOC ICT Working Group annual survey of library systems to incorporate some new questions (carefully worded to ensure commercial-in-confidence agreements are not breached) to provide the community with some baseline data to support further work in this area. </div>
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The event provided an opportunity to reflect on the enduring value of previous training I have been supported to undertake (in particular, the CAUL Negotiation and Influencing Skills workshop, which <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2016/10/caul-negotiation-workshop.html">I have highly recommended before</a>) and to consider building on this with more professional development focused on procurement skills. </div>
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Attending this event also reinforced my commitment to the concept of a <a href="https://www.caudit.edu.au/communities">Library IT Community of Practice</a> operating outside of the vendor-driven user groups for major products. While there are also connections that need to be made with CAUL programs, CAUDIT structures usefully facilitate cross-pollination with other technology-focused communities of practice, not just in software licensing but also in areas such as IT security, enterprise architecture and project management. </div>
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-71893071599184146612018-08-28T18:37:00.000+10:002018-08-28T18:38:03.482+10:00Blogging for library and information professionals - notes from an ALIA panelLast night I was a panellist at an <a href="https://aliaqld.wordpress.com/">ALIA Queensland</a> event on blogging for library and information professionals. My co-panellists were Alisa Howlett (<a href="http://www.acrystelle.com/">www.acrystelle.com</a>) and Amy Walduck (<a href="https://pineappleglam.com/">Pineapple Glam</a>), and the session was chaired by Michelle Hughes.<br />
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The event was streamed on Facebook Live and is available to watch if you missed it last night. My raw notes for the event are below. Not all of these thoughts made it into the panel discussion, which was a lot more free-range!<br />
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<br />
My main takeaway from the event is that there is no one 'right' way to approach blogging. Although the three of us had similar motivations for blogging (sharing with others, contributing to professional discourse, maintaining a credible online presence), the platforms we used, the ways we come up with ideas, our writing styles, and our processes from inspiration through to a final product were all totally different.<br />
<br />
The panel discussion is making me re-think my own blog and plan some improvements to it, including possibly moving to another platform, re-theming, paying more attention to visual communication (thanks, Amy!) and considering ways to highlight popular or curated posts better (thanks, Alisa!)<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Tell us about your blog - is it professional or personal?</b><br />
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Mostly professional, though over time I have probably started to provide a more personal take on professional issues.<br />
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I know from feedback from readers that posts that I felt were verging on the too-personal have actually resonated the most. By nature I am a private person, so sharing thoughts about things like <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2015/06/im-not-technical-person-but.html">impostor syndrome</a>, <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2018/04/perfectionism.html">the negative impacts of being a perfectionist</a>, and <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2018/01/confessions-of-an-ambivalent-manager.html">being ambivalent about stepping into a management role</a> does not come easily. However the thoughts and feelings that I have shared reflect my experience of the complexity of professional life as a librarian in the 21st century, and having people respond with recognition and empathy has helped me to become more comfortable with opening up in that way.<br />
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<b>Reasons for blogging and what you hope to get out of it?</b><br />
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I had actually forgotten this before I started preparing for the panel, but I started <a href="http://data-citation-griffith.blogspot.com/">regular blogging for a work project</a> well before I had my own blog. The funding agency required the project to communicate and it was free and easy to set up a Blogger blog to do that. The project team collectively wrote thirteen posts over about a year.<br />
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Once I had jumped into blogging I realised that it was a great way to write regular shorter pieces on topics that were of interest to me and hopefully others. I liked the immediacy and the non-scholarly nature of it, which made it easier to present more provocative or ambiguous viewpoints.<br />
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<b>Do you set goals for how much time you dedicate?</b><br />
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I don’t have specific goals around writing time but I do include a blog writing goal in my performance plan with my supervisor. For the past two years my goal has been to write six posts a year so it is not a particularly hard one to achieve.<br />
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I participated in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blogjune">#blogjune</a> for a couple of years, where the goal was to write a blog post a day for the month of June. It is intense but fun! I did write a post a day one year and a post a week the following year. Now I just stick to my own not-very-regular schedule.<br />
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I have been along to the <a href="https://aliaqld.wordpress.com/2018/07/26/shut-up-and-write-tuesdays/">ALIA Shut Up and Write</a> sessions and used some of those for blogging. It was great to have some external impetus!<br />
<br />
It’s probably important to note that there is also non-writing work involved in maintaining a blog, such as:<br />
<ul>
<li>Sourcing images (with appropriate licences for re-use, of course!)</li>
<li>Setting up and renewing your domain name</li>
<li>Responding to comments (including dealing with spam, which is mostly filtered but not always)</li>
<li>Keeping static pages up to date and fixing broken links. </li>
</ul>
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<b>Do you have a specific theme/subject you stick to?</b><br />
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Most of my posts are about career or professional development issues of one kind or another.<br />
<br />
I sometimes use the NewCardigan <a href="https://newcardigan.org/category/blogclub/">Glam Blog Club</a> theme as a starter.<br />
<br />
At times I’ve used my blog for a 'behind the scenes' look at other people’s jobs. I find it really fun to do Q&As with colleagues that have jobs that are maybe a bit mysterious to other people. When research data management was still emerging, I did a couple of Q&As on that. Last year I did another series featuring <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">colleagues of mine that include non-coding IT skills</a> as part of their professional practice.<br />
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I’ve also used my blog as a place to publish submissions that I have made on industry issues, such as <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2016/03/a-response-to-alias-consultation-on.html">ALIA’s publishing strategy consultation</a> and a <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2016/03/fundtrove-letter.html">letter to my MP about the de-funding of Trove</a>.<br />
<br />
I also often include references to further reading. Sometimes I wonder if a bibliography is unnecessarily nerdy, but a lot of my ideas for writing come from what I'm reading. Sometimes I like to review or reflect on the literature in a bit more depth, rather than just sharing a link on Twitter. Acknowledging that inspiration and encouraging others to do more professional reading is something I am always happy to do.<br />
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<b>How do you keep motivated to write?</b><br />
<br />
I don’t have to try that hard to stay motivated. I usually enjoy the writing and editing process. Unlike more academic publishing you also get the satisfaction of hitting the ‘publish’ button yourself when you are done and not having to wait months and months to see it appear in a journal.<br />
<br />
I don’t really force myself to write now if I don’t feel I have something to say that people would be interested in. I would rather write fewer more substantive pieces on things that I hope will really resonate with people.<br />
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<b>How do you attract people to read your blog?</b><br />
<br />
I usually include the web address for my blog in my biography for events and publications and in my social media profiles.<br />
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Twitter is the main channel I use to promote specific posts. Three quarters of the traffic to my blog comes directly from Twitter. I also sometime link to my posts on LinkedIn.<br />
<br />
I am pretty sure a significant amount of my Twitter traffic comes from the <a href="https://twitter.com/AusGLAMBlogs">Aus GLAM Blog Bot</a>, which autotweets my new posts several times on the day of publication. One thing that I have noticed is that the time of publication makes a difference to the size of the audience, so having a notification go out a few times at different times of the day really helps.<br />
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I try to provide reasonably descriptive titles. Looking at the stats for my blog, I can definitely see that <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2014/06/hype-vs-reality-how-many-libraries-have.html">a more provocative headline</a> draws people in.<br />
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I’m not much of a visual communicator, but I do try to include at least one image in each post to make it more visually interesting.<br />
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<b>Has blogging improved and made you feel more confident in your writing and is it a completely different style?</b><br />
<br />
I’ve always enjoyed writing and I did a journalism major as part of my first degree. Although I realised quickly that journalism wasn’t going to be a career path for me, news writing training provided me with a good grounding in non-academic writing.<br />
<br />
I’ve also done writing-for-the-web training with different employers, and that’s been helpful too. I would recommend writing-for-the-web training for anyone in the library sector as the principles will make all your writing better.<br />
<br />
Blogging is different from other professional writing that I do. Scholarly writing requires a lot more time and a lot more effort to comply with style guides, referencing systems, and the general requirements such as including a literature review. If I am submitting to a journal or conference proceedings, I would usually run a draft past a writing mentor or peer reader when doing that kind of writing, as the standard is very high.<br />
<br />
I also have to do a lot of business writing at work e.g. reports and project documents. There are a lot of similarities between blogging and that kind of writing, in terms of keeping paragraphs short, using plain English, and making use of headings and bullet points to structure your writing for easy reading by busy people.<br />
<br />
<b>Any interesting connections or opportunities that have come out of a blog post you wrote?</b><br />
<br />
Last year I published a series of posts based on a presentation that I gave at the New Librarians Symposium. One of the things I showcased in that series was the <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/theres-more-to-it-than-coding.html">Skills Framework for the Information Age</a> (SFIA), a widely-used IT competency framework.<br />
<br />
I received an email from one of the senior people at the SFIA Foundation saying that they found my application of SFIA to the library world interesting to read. As a result of that series of posts, I also had a number of students and recent graduates get in touch with me via Twitter, which was really gratifying and expanded my Twitter network quite a bit.<br />
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<b>What tips would you give to someone who is wanting to start a blog?</b><br />
<br />
I would encourage anyone starting out to think more about the audience than about yourself. Rather than thinking about writing as self-expression (<i>what do I want to say?</i>), think about what your audience needs or wants, and what new or interesting perspective you can bring that no-one else is currently providing.<br />
<br />
You could try guest blogging or writing short pieces for newsletters like ALIA's <a href="https://www.alia.org.au/publications-and-news/incite">InCite</a> first to get a feel for the effort that is required. It is also possible to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/47445/publishing-articles-on-linkedin-overview?lang=en">publish pieces via LinkedIn</a> now; this could be a good way to get started on a smaller scale with your existing professional network.<br />
<br />
Always be ethical and professional and make it explicit somewhere on your site that your views do not represent those of your employer. Being aware of any formal social media policies that your organisation may have is really important, as these policies can differ quite a bit depending on where you work.<br />
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-28624219692296871972018-08-24T11:30:00.001+10:002018-08-24T11:30:38.941+10:00Trying on a new hat: acting/interim roles as professional developmentAbout six weeks ago I took on some additional responsibilities as acting manager of two extra teams at my library.<br />
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In this post, I reflect on this experience so far in the context of some insights gleaned from some recent LIS research and practitioner literature on this topic.<br />
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As a result of a restructure at my place of work, recruitment was underway for some new positions, but until those were filled a number of teams did not have managers in place. My supervisor (the Director) was planning to manage these teams on top of her usual duties as well as leading the recruitment process for new position. This didn't seem feasible or fair, so I approached her as part of a regular one-on-one meeting about sharing responsibility for managing these teams.<br />
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As well as taking some of the pressure off her, I argued that this would be a valuable learning experience for me. I would gain some insight into areas of the library's operations that I am less familiar with, and would also get some experience managing a larger team of direct reports. (In my usual job, although I have responsibility for a team of nine overall, only two of those people report to me directly.)<br />
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It took me a few days to get my head around the idea of making this request to my boss. I still feel like I am finding my feet with a lot of aspects of my management role, so taking on more felt daunting to say the least. As the duties were more of a sideways shift into another part of the library, rather than a 'step up' into a more senior position, I knew that I would not receive any extra money for the extra time and energy I would need to put in. I also knew that I would be taking on the new duties on top of my usual job, so I would need to much more seriously put into practice some time management strategies such as delegation. </div>
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I have been in this dual role for a while now, and am finding it challenging, exhausting, stimulating, exciting and many other things all at once. It is a bit of a rollercoaster really! There has not been a lot of time for reflection, with my number of direct reports increasing from two staff to eighteen.<br />
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<h3>
<b>Benefits and challenges: what does the LIS literature tell us? </b></h3>
</div>
<div>
Although taking on acting roles is often spoken about informally as a professional development strategy (alongside other workplace learning through things such as projects, secondments and exchanges), there is surprising little in the library literature about this.<br />
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Partly this is due to terminology; when I was trying to find some relevant professional reading it took me a while to discover that what I've been doing is called "interim leadership". Interim leadership can include both acting temporarily in a role that you intend to apply for, as well as taking on alternative or additional duties. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My experiences so far are consistent with what has come out of the surveys and interviews carried out as part of the research projects and case studies I've added below as further reading.<br />
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Noted benefits include:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>New or improved skills that you may not be able to develop in your current role</li>
<li>The opportunity to showcase your abilities to senior stakeholders who may not be aware of your capabilities or career goals</li>
<li>A chance to try something new without needing to make a long-term commitment - this could help you apply for that role in future, or equally importantly help you to identify that this is not a career path that is a good fit for you</li>
<li>A change to grow professional networks, both inside and outside the library</li>
<li>New perspectives for example, finding out more about how your organisation as a whole works ("joining the dots") or getting more insight into how the library fits into its parent organisation (the "big picture").</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
Interim leadership is not without its concerns though. These can include:<br />
<ul>
<li>Workload and time management - interim leaders report physical/emotional exhaustion and negative impacts on personal life and other commitments</li>
<li>Difficulties balancing responsibility for your usual position while undertaking the new responsibilities (particular where your substantive position is not backfilled)</li>
<li>Having the same accountability and responsibilities, but little guidance</li>
<li>Lack of training in advance, due to the often unplanned nature of the temporary role</li>
<li>Difficulty forgiving yourself for making mistakes</li>
<li>Relationships with others, as new relationships are formed and existing relationships change in terms of their dynamics - this can include feelings of isolation</li>
<li>Ramifications of acting in a temporary role that you intend to apply for, including disappointment if you are unsuccessful in applying for a role that you have already been doing</li>
<li>Transition issues at the end of the interim period, including dissatisfaction on returning to your substantive role after having done something different or more challenging.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
For the teams being led, it can also be challenging to have to adjust to a departing leader, a temporary leader and then to a final more permanent leader. </div>
</div>
<div>
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<h3>
My lessons learned</h3>
<div>
If you are considering an acting role, it is well worth reading the articles mentioned below as they contain some valuable lessons learned.<br />
<br />
The ones that seem most relevant to me as someone currently in this situation are to be clear about scope and expections, take good care of yourself, and don't be afraid to ask for help. </div>
<h4>
<b>Lesson 1: Be clear about scope and expectations</b></h4>
<div>
The readings I mention recommend a discussion and agreement in writing prior to the appointment. Things to cover should include:<br />
<ul>
<li>the timeframe for the interim period - while in some cases this might be open-ended until another position is filled (and you should be prepared for unexpected extensions), knowing a rough timeframe is essential for you to determine an appropriate scope</li>
<li>the goals for the position, so that you have a clear understanding of the priorities that they will need to focus on</li>
<li>the authority that you are being granted, and the reporting lines both to and from the position</li>
<li>any contract and salary changes e.g. a temporary new appointment or a higher duties allowance</li>
<li>any other ways that the additional contribution may be recognised or rewarded beyond financial compensation, such as enhanced access to funding for course or conference attendance.</li>
</ul>
Before I took on acting responsibilities my supervisor and I had a conversation about the goals that I had set myself for the year. It was clear that I would not be able to meet my existing goals and that a number of things would need to go on the backburner for a period of a few months at least. While we did discuss organisational goals and authority for the acting role informally, I would make more of an effort next time around to document a plan in writing. I would also make an effort to update my own performance plan to be more explicit about my own goals for professional development during my interim position. </div>
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<div>
Like many people, I have taken on my acting responsibilities on top of, not instead of, my normal duties. Whether this is reasonable seems to me to depend a bit on how long the time period will be and whether there is a definite end in sight. I have been able to re-shuffle some of my usual duties and delegate in the short term. In future, if I were in an acting position for a longer or indefinite time period, I would probably make an argument to have my usual position back-filled by another staff member under a higher duties arrangement.</div>
<h4>
<b>Lesson 2: Take care of yourself</b></h4>
<div>
It is reasonably common for interim leaders in libraries to feel burnt out by their additional responsibilities. It's important if you are taking on acting responsibilities to think about how you will take care of your physical and mental health. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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I've been trying hard to maintain healthy habits such as eating well and doing my regular exercise. I've also planned a week of leave - I know work will pile up while I am away but I'm also aware of the real risk of burnout!</div>
<h4>
Lesson 3: Ask for help</h4>
<div>
There are a number of aspects to this:<br />
<ul>
<li>asking colleagues to help, including by delegating but also by actively seeking advice and support from trusted peers and seniors</li>
<li>seeking help from family and friends</li>
<li>delegating or outsourcing personal tasks - for example, I recently got a fortnightly cleaner, which has made a big difference to me in terms of my ability to balance my work and other commitments. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<h3>
Further readings</h3>
<div>
Bielavitz, T., Lowe-Wincentsen, D. and Read, K. (2018) ‘In the Interim: Leadership Shorts from Three Interim Library Directors’, PNLA Quarterly, 82(2). Available at: <a href="https://arc.lib.montana.edu/ojs/index.php/pnla/article/view/1268">https://arc.lib.montana.edu/ojs/index.php/pnla/article/view/1268</a>.<br />
<br />
Farrell, M. (2016) ‘Interim Leadership’, Journal of Library Administration, 56(8), pp. 990–1000.<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2016.1231547"> doi:10.1080/01930826.2016.1231547</a>.<br />
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Irwin, K. M. and deVries, S. (2019) ‘Experiences of Academic Librarians Serving as Interim Library Leaders.’ Preprint available at: <a href="https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/16994">https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/16994</a>.</div>
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-60306016817094391622018-07-06T11:35:00.000+10:002018-07-06T14:16:53.289+10:00LIS student placements - a host institution perspectiveThis post was prompted by several recent Twitter threads relating to LIS student placements.<br />
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These threads raised some serious questions from a student perspective, in particular about the financial hardship placed on students and the impact on diversity in the library workforce that may arise from placements being more accessible for some students than others.<br />
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I agree can't look for work because I have to take four weeks out for placement. There should be a payment a student can get to cover this period. I too am lucky that my wife has a good job but it's still a struggle, what do we pay our fees for?</div>
— Nic Brett 📚🏳️🌈 (@purplegrrl) <a href="https://twitter.com/purplegrrl/status/1008609161053999104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Threads also presented concerns from the enrolling institution perspective, where LIS educators must meet ALIA accreditation requirements, determine how best their program might prepare students from an employability perspective and promote the benefits that a work placement can provide, particularly for students with no or little paid work experience in libraries or other information settings.<br />
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Genuinely am interested in suggestions. Needs to provide hands-on experience enough for student to understand field in way academic work cannot teach, chance for mentorship by profession, no higher overhead on uni to organise (takes hrs & hrs now) or hosts to accomodate.</div>
— Kathryn Greenhill Wk (@Infoventurer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Infoventurer/status/1008497772243214336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The threads also provided insight into a third view: that of a host organisation of student placements.<br />
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Absolutely agree, prac placements take up a lot of staff time for the host org. I have a small team and we've only been able to host 3 students over 10 years. Has to be at the right time and is still difficult to fit in.</div>
— Kristie Jones (@Jones8Kristie) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jones8Kristie/status/1008831719611424768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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It is this third view that I wanted to flesh out in a bit more detail. I took on the role of coordinating student placements at my place of work about six months ago. The activities described below are those that I have personally undertaken as part of this role. I do not know how reflective this is of other organisations, however my goal as the student placement coordinator in my library is to ensure that the placement is a positive experience for both the student and for all the library staff that will be involved.<br />
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I hope that by presenting this view students undertaking placements will gain a greater understanding of the effort put in by host organisations. I am not presenting this information to diminish any of the points raised by others above, and I hope that further debate about the value (or not) of placements might be generated by these discussions. However, I would like to make more visible the labour involved from the host organisation's perspective. Yes, there is a big difference in that I get paid for the time I spend undertaking these tasks, but it could be interesting for students to consider the costs of my labour as an investment that my organisation is making in the library profession and its newest professionals.<br />
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So, with that, here's a list of what is involved in managing a student placements program:
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1. Maintain internal procedures.<br />
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At my place of work we currently have a high level principles document but no written procedures. As I work through the process of organising my first few placements, I am trying to combine these two into one new document, which will then need to be approved by library management.<br />
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2. Ensure website content about placements is up to date.<br />
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3. Maintain an internal spreadsheet of possible student projects, and regularly ask managers and team leaders to contribute to this.<br />
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4. Manage a storage area for documentation relating to student placements and ensuring that this is appropriately shared.<br />
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5. Maintain a web form for receiving placement inquiries.<br />
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6. Monitor inquiries coming in through this form and provide an initial response within a reasonable timeframe.<br />
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7. Set up an initial phone call or meeting with the student to discuss their goals for the placement.<br />
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I ask the student to provide a CV or link to their LinkedIn profile, which I review before this conversation, and check the list of small placement projects to see if there is a match in interests / skills.<br />
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As well as getting a feel for the student’s goals for the placement, we discuss practical details including potential dates, working hours / pattern (if less than full-time), campus location/s, and any special requirements that we should be aware of (e.g. equipment, special needs, flexibility required for caring arrangements etc).<br />
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This session often includes some informal mentoring, for example, providing advice on the CV that I have asked them to provide, discussing how the placement with us fits with other placements and study activities, and providing advice on other avenues for gaining entry level experience. Part of this conversation also involves discussing students' previous work experience / career pathways to help them to make connections between work they have done previously and the library sector.<br />
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8. Complete paperwork with with the enrolling institution once a placement has been mutually agreed.<br />
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This usually needs to be filled in, scanned and sent back. I need to review the enrolling institution's requirements to make sure we can meet them. I also need to check insurance documentation is consistent with our own policies.<br />
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9. Develop a draft program in consultation with other managers and team leaders.<br />
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This involves a range of activities:<br />
<ul>
<li>Multiple emails and phone calls with other managers and team leaders to identify one or more appropriate supervisors and teams for the placement </li>
<li>Check the library's various calendars for induction / overview sessions</li>
<li>Identify upcoming events and workshops that the student can attend or help at </li>
<li>Identify upcoming events and workshops provided at or by other organisations that our staff are attending and that the student can accompany them to </li>
<li>Identify meetings that the student can attend as an observer or participant</li>
<li>Identify staff members who can provide a verbal overview of other areas that the student is interested in, demo tools and services, and possibly even offer a more extended shadowing opportunity</li>
<li>Schedule a workplace project (if possible) in consultation with the supervisor</li>
<li>Use a shared calendar to add slots for all the activities noted above, while ensurig the student has adequate time for documentation / reflection to enable them to complete their placement reporting.</li>
</ul>
I take into the account the following when designing a program:<br />
<ul>
<li>The requirements of the enrolling institution - some require work at a professional level and define this in a particular way</li>
<li>Areas in which the student is being assessed, to ensure that we cover as many of these as possible</li>
<li>Providing an overview of as many aspects of the library’s work as possible, so that students are exposed to areas that may not be so well-covered in their courses (e.g. library systems)</li>
<li>The student's express interests, as well as any gaps that they may be wanting to fill </li>
<li>Previous work/life experience and transferable skills the student has that can be applied usefully during their time with us</li>
<li>The operational requirements within the library's teams, including when their busy periods are, to ensure that our own work will not be overly disrupted.</li>
</ul>
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Overall, I am aiming to give students a range of experiences, and in particular to offer them a chance to complete a mini-project or participate in more substantial activities that will enable them to tell stories in writing and verbally when addressing selection criteria and interview questions. </div>
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10. Request a visitor account to be created by Human Resources.<br />
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11. Request access to required central systems and services (e.g. email, calendar, internet, shared storage. This is an IT process that cannot be done until the visitor identity step mentioned above is completed.<br />
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12. Organise any additional access to any specialist library systems and services that the student needs for their program.<br />
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13. Request security card access from Security and a temporary name badge from the library's Business Support Officer.<br />
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14. Ensure an appropriate workstation is available and set-up at the location/s the student will be working.<br />
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15. Send the student a welcome email.<br />
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A few days before the placement I provide basic information required for Day 1, including confirmation of start date and time; arrival point and contact person (usually me); parking / public transport / campus maps<br />
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16. Write an internal staff blog post providing basic details of who / where / when so that staff are aware that the placement is happening.<br />
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17. Provide an induction / overview session to cover:<br />
<ul>
<li>Organisational Chart</li>
<li>Library strategic and operational plans</li>
<li>Pointers to key documentation such as the University's strategic documents</li>
<li>Privacy and confidentiality requirements</li>
<li>Acceptable use of IT</li>
<li>Getting the most out of your placement (be involved, ask questions, etc.)</li>
<li>Overview of schedule</li>
<li>Handover to supervisor</li>
</ul>
18. Arrange for someone to provide a campus tour for orientation purposes. Also check access cards are working and show food / coffee outlets.<br />
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19. Ensure an appropriate Health and Safety induction.<br />
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An initial tour should include a discussion of evacuation procedures for the workspace the student will spend most time at.<br />
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Depending on the duration of the placement, the student may also need to complete Health and Safety Induction, Fire Safety and Manual Tasks and Office Ergonomics online modules on commencement of the placement and this should be built into the program.<br />
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20. Midway checkin.<br />
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Halfway through a longer placement I have a meeting with the student. This enables the student and I to check in that the goals of the placement are being met and to 're-set' if expectations are not being met.<br />
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There may still be time to re-shuffle later parts of the program to focus on areas that the student wants to explore in more detail.<br />
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21. Coordinate production of the final report<br />
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This is an extensive exercise, as I seek and then collate feedback from all the staff who have interacted with the student during their time with us.<br />
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The most recent placement report I completed required a score and comments against 17 performance criteria. I received feedback from ten staff members other than myself and had to condense and summarise this as part of the report writing process.<br />
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After discussing a draft of the report with students at the debrief (see below), I need to send this the enrolling institution's placements coordinator or to the student as required.<br />
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22. Hold a debrief session.<br />
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On the last day of the placement, I have a debrief session with the student.<br />
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Generally I will have provided them a day earlier with a draft written report so that we can discuss the assessment that I will submit.<br />
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I sometimes provide additional verbal feedback to the student that might help them in their future career (including encouragement to participate in professional events such as those organised by ALIA), and provide them with an opportunity to ask any final questions.<br />
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I also seek feedback about how the placement went from their perspective to find out if there are ways we can improve how we plan and manage these.<br />
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23. Act as a referee.<br />
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As part of supervising a student placement, placement coordinators and supervisors may offer to be listed as a student's referee when they are applying for work.<br />
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This means being available for phone calls of up to half an hour, usually at short notice and sometimes years after the placement has taken place.<br />
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Last week I gave a phone interview for a placement student who was with my team over two years ago. I did this happily, even though the person had not given me a courtesy heads-up that they were still using me as a referee for their applications. (Top tip: your referees will be able to provide you with a better reference if you let them know what jobs you are applying for and who might be calling them.)Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-31720038897036783572018-04-17T12:07:00.000+10:002018-04-17T12:07:03.811+10:00Getting to “good enough”: thoughts on perfectionism<i><a href="https://newcardigan.org/">NewCardigan</a>'s GLAM Blog Club provides helpful monthly writing prompts for for people who work in galleries, libraries, archives and museums. This month's theme is Control.</i><br />
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If you move into a supervisory or management role in libraries, you will probably at some stage participate in a training course requiring you to take a personality test like the <a href="https://assessmentleaders.com/product/profiles-performance-indicator/">Profiles Performance Indicator</a> or the <a href="https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/">DisC profile</a>. The rationale for this is that understanding your strengths and weaknesses will help you to become a more effective manager or leader.<br />
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I’ve done several of these tests and the results have been consistent in revealing (to no-one’s actual surprise, let alone my own) that I have strong perfectionist tendencies.<br />
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So what? you may be thinking. Isn’t everyone that works in libraries a bit of a perfectionist? Isn’t perfectionism one of those fake weaknesses that you wheel out in job interviews when in fact you are quite proud of your 110% attitude to anything and everything? Wouldn’t libraries be better if we were all a bit more perfectionist, not less? If we reduce our focus on quality even by a smidgen, isn’t that the beginning of the end, the start of the slippery slope, the end of the world as we know it…?<br />
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Well, no actually. Unless you are undertaking the proverbial brain surgery or rocket science in your library, perfectionism is probably more likely to affect you (and others around you) negatively not positively. In the long run it will probably stop you fulfilling your leadership potential. Here’s just some of the reasons why:<br />
<ul>
<li>You will get less work done and miss deadlines because you will be overly focused on completing each task to an unnecessarily high standard.</li>
<li>You won’t understand fully what constitutes good performance. You'll forget that you are being judged as much, if not more, on your ability to deliver outcomes and to deliver those in a timely fashion. You'll also forget that your time - all the hours that you are spending on formatting not content, on sourcing that one perfect image for your slidedeck, on consulting <i>just one more person</i> to be totally thorough - is usually someone else’s money.</li>
<li>You will never be able to enjoy finishing things and will rarely stop to celebrate your milestones because you are only focused on how what you have done <i>could have been so much better if we had just been able to [insert unhelpful stuff here]</i></li>
<li>You will annoy more senior staff by failing to deliver what they need and wasting their time as a result. You won't realise that<i> you aren't actually helping </i>when your manager asks you for a 2-page briefing paper and then you deliver a 10-page paper full of background material that makes the issue more complex for her not less, that raises more questions than she had before, and that doesn’t make any recommendations because you still haven’t analysed <i>all the information in the universe</i> that might be relevant.</li>
<li>You will apply the same high standards you apply to yourself to your colleagues and people you supervise. Unsurprisingly when people fail to live up to your unrealistic expectations you will be disappointed and judgmental. Congratulations - you will be well on your way to getting a reputation for being hyper-critical and demanding, and for micro-managing.</li>
<li>You will fail to delegate because deep down you don’t believe anyone else’s work will be up to scratch. Sadly, you probably won’t even be aware of how arrogant this is.</li>
<li>When you finally do delegate, you'll disempower your employees by pointlessly reworking things instead of coaching them to improve, providing clear guidance and then accepting what is produced.</li>
<li>You will get frustrated because <i>things aren’t the way they should be</i>, and you express your frustration inappropriately through anger, emotional outbursts, cynicism, sarcasm, or more passive-aggressive means.</li>
<li>Or you will turn those frustrations inward, burn yourself out and end up physically and or mentally unwell. All because of your inability to say<i> This is good enough now. I’ve done as much as I need to. Now let it go.</i></li>
</ul>
I don’t know why I am the way I am. There is probably some deep reason that would require hundreds of hours of therapy to reveal that! What I do know is that I have found it almost impossible to address this on my own. I’m getting better at aiming for good-enough rather than perfection, but this is after years of support from a manager that knows me really well and has agreed to provide me with firm-but-caring feedback when she observes me falling into my old ways. She doesn’t let me get away with it and so as time goes on some new habits are slowly forming. I also have a colleague who inspires me with his ability to make quick decisions and move things along. I admire his attitude that all we can do is make the best decision with the information we have available, that sometimes we will make mistakes but mostly things will work out OK if trust in our own judgments, and more often than not we are better off taking action rather than going round in circles talking about things and never actually doing anything.<br />
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So if a personality test reveals that you are a perfectionist, don’t see it as a badge of honour. Take a few days (or a few years, in my case) to reflect on the unconstructive behaviours your perfectionism might be leading to in the workplace, and elsewhere too. Talk to your supervisor, your colleagues, a mentor, basically anyone who can help you by gently and repeatedly pointing out when you go beyond what’s really required, when what you’ve done is already good enough.<br />
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-62097543053740305402018-01-26T22:44:00.003+10:002018-01-26T22:44:42.247+10:00What I learned in 2017 (confessions of an ambivalent manager)<i><a href="https://newcardigan.org/">NewCardigan</a>'s GLAM Blog Club is out of the blocks for another year, providing helpful monthly writing prompts for for people who work in galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Recognising that the transition from one year to the next is often a time for reflection, this month's theme is the same as last January's: What I want to learn in the year ahead / What I learned in the past year. </i><br />
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If 2016 was the year that I began to more fully embrace <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/01/glam-blog-club-1-what-i-learned-in-2016.html">my role as a hybrid library/IT professional</a>, 2017 was the year I lost my ambivalence about becoming a manager.<br />
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I transitioned into my first management role in late 2014. This happened after many years of telling myself that this was not the pathway for me. I was so convinced of this that I spent a year in a mentoring program ten years ago identifying career pathways that would help me avoid management roles without completely stalling my career progression or meaning that I couldn't have a leadership role of some kind.<br />
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In 2014 I saw a job ad that changed my mind for three reasons. Firstly, it was working for someone that I admired, who I knew would be a good role model, mentor and source of support. Secondly, I had been in the organisation for long enough to know it had good frameworks in place for developing staff who were moving into supervision and management. Thirdly, I was starting to realise that as lots of library profession leaders were transitioning to retirement, someone would need to take their place. Could that be me at some point in future? I felt scared to step up and take on a lot more responsibility than I had ever had before. But if I asked myself the question <i>If not now, then when?</i> the honest answer was <i>There won't be a better time, you idiot!</i> so I decided (with encouragement from my partner, friends and some colleagues) to go for it.<br />
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2017 was my third year in that management role, which recently expanded to cover both library systems and research repositories. Last year a lot of things finally starting 'gelling' for me. My learning has not just been about management in an objective sense i.e. what tasks are involved, and what is expected of someone at that level. I've also had to consider what management means (or could mean) <i>to me</i>. My ideas of what a management role involved were very limited prior to actually having one; I now know my existing knowledge and skills were more transferable than I thought. I also understand much better how some of my strengths can be expressed in a management role and how I might address some of my weaknesses over time.<br />
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Here are some thoughts on this process that might help you feel better about taking this plunge at some point.<br />
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<h3>
Managers manage lots of things, not just people</h3>
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I though most of my job would be about supervising people but actually a not-exhaustive list of the things that I manage includes staff, business processes, systems, time (my own and that of others), corporate information, risk and compliance, budget, procurement, contracts and vendor relationships, recruitment, projects, policies/procedures, a workspace, and health and safety.<br />
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Yes, managing people is a large and important part of this, but it is definitely not everything that I do.<br />
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<h3>
You can't be good at everything, and that's OK</h3>
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If you are managing lots of things (see above), it makes sense that you will be better at some things than others, right?<br />
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Of the list above, I'd self-assess as really competent at some, including a few things that other people probably find difficult or very very tedious. If you need to run a tender process or to review and negotiate a systems contract, I'm your go-to gal. I can spin up a position description and run a recruitment exercise for a new job, no worries at all. Spotting a copyright / privacy / reputational risk at a thousand paces or working well with pernickety folk responsible for compliance with IT architecture and governance are also things I know I can do. <br />
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But then there are other things I still find difficult and will likely spend the next twenty years trying to incrementally improve. Finance-related tasks that do my head in seem to be a breeze for others. Managing staff remains a work-in-progress; as an introvert with a preference for logic and systems I find it really challenging to lead a group of human beings who all bring their own backgrounds, thought processes, motivations, emotions, interests and relationships to the workplace. On bad days I feel like I will never even really understand other people I work with, let alone be able to motivate or inspire anyone.<br />
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What I have learned is this: I don't need to be great at everything. Not only that, from three years of observing management-level peers and superiors, I now know that not only am I not good at everything, neither is anyone else! Everyone is just trying to do their best and everyone has their blind spots.<br />
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It's not even possible that any one individual could flawlessly handle everything a management role in a messy, ambiguous, ever-changing 21st century organisation might throw up. Three years in, I know that there are plenty of ways in which I am a good manager. I also know that the best way to deal with the things I'm less good at is to acknowledge them and ask for help. In my experience this will be freely given because our profession is full of lovely people who want to help other people succeed.<br />
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<h3>
<b>A big part of management is managing yourself</b></h3>
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This recent <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/great-work-cultures/leading-by-example-a-guid_b_7270048.html">Huffington Post blog article</a> provides a neat introduction to what this might mean in the workplace. It describes self-management as demonstrating "self-control and an ability to manage time, priorities and decision-making capacity."<br />
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For me this has meant coming to grips with a number of things. Here are just some.<br />
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<b>I'm being watched (and judged) all the time</b><br />
This is an uncomfortable truth for those of us at the introvert end of the spectrum. Being a manager (or a leader of any kind, really) means you are a role model, whether you like it or not. People are taking notice of the way you present yourself (both in person and online), what you say and the actions that you take. You just have to get used to it.<br />
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<b>I can be myself, but I should try to be the best version of myself</b><br />
Does being watched and judged mean that you should pretend to be someone you are not? No. It's definitely important to be authentic and to develop your own management / leadership style that works for you (and your organisation). It's OK to be yourself, but important to think about how you are presenting that self in a professional context. Outside of work you wouldn't go to a wedding in the outfit you do your gardening in, or talk to your nana the way you talk to your friends. That doesn't mean you're being inauthentic or untruthful; it just means you are gloriously mutable, like every other human being ever. In management, as in the rest of life, there's a performative aspect that you can choose to be scared of or choose to control (most of the time I still waver somewhere inbetween).<br />
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<b>My emotions have an impact on others</b><br />
With heightened visibility comes heightened responsibility. If I am sad or angry or frustrated or stressed, if I roll my eyes at someone's idea or burst into tears in a meeting, that will have an impact on other people. This doesn't mean striving to have a poker face on at all times or to be an automaton without any feelings. It does mean acknowledging the feelings that you have (especially those you are trying to hide from others, and even from yourself) and trying to express these in timely and constructive ways that don't hurt other people. I'm not always very good at this and hope it's something I can get better at in future.<br />
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<b>I need to be deliberate about how I spend my time</b><br />
This includes being more careful about commitments I make and learning how to say no to things. It means actively managing time; blocking out chunks in the work calendar so that high-priority work can be done without distractions; restricting email checking to allocated times during the day; and ensuring meetings I make are not just talkfests but actually have outcomes.<br />
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<b>Being in good physical and mental shape helps me do my job better</b><br />
Librarianship is knowledge work, but don't believe for a second that being physically fit won't help you be a better manager. Losing weight and getting more active has given me more energy and concentration. It also reduces the risks associated with sitting at a desk in front of a computer for 40+ hours a week. I walk through native bushland once or twice a day, just taking the time to slow down and observe incremental seasonal changes in my local environment, and this reduces my stress levels and puts a lot of trivial work-related things into perspective. Reading fifty-plus novels a year gives me the same pleasure now that it did when I was a bookworm child; now it also gets me out of my own busy head for a little bit of time each day.<br />
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In 2017 I started to embrace my new role and to reflect more on what a satisfying career path in library management could look like. I don't have any firm ideas yet, but I am looking forward to finding out what comes next! If you have been thinking about a management role, but have been putting off applying for things through lack of confidence or lack of insight into what the role actually involves, why not make 2018 your year to explore this? You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-88108334275031664082017-12-20T17:19:00.000+10:002017-12-20T17:21:50.741+10:00Interview skills for LIS students and new grads: notes from an ALIA panelI was a panellist at an ALIA Students and New Graduates Group workshop on interview skills in September.<br />
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Having had countless job interviews (some more successful than others!) and also having been a chair and member of quite a few interview panels, I can see things from both sides of the table and was happy to share some practical advice along with my other panellists.<br />
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Below are my raw notes prepared in advance for the session - not all of these were used on the day and they do reflect the sector I am most familiar with (academic libraries).<br />
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For other perspectives, you can also read a <a href="https://alianewgrads.wordpress.com/2017/09/09/qld-interview-skills-panel-workshop-wrap-up/">wrap-up of the event</a> on the ALIA SNGG blog and view <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALIANewGraduatesGroup/videos/10159234058680524/">a recording of the panel session</a> on their Facebook page.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FALIANewGraduatesGroup%2Fvideos%2F10159234058680524%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe>
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<h3>
What can I do to prepare myself for an interview?</h3>
<h4>
How do I stop anxiety?</h4>
You can’t really! However, there are a few practical things that can help.<br />
<ul>
<li>Get a good night’s sleep the night before</li>
<li>Don’t over-caffeinate</li>
<li>Remember to take some deep breaths while you are waiting and in between questions. </li>
</ul>
As a panel member I expect you to be feeling a bit nervous and it is absolutely OK for you to acknowledge that you are feeling that way. It’s actually really uncomfortable for the panel too when someone is very nervous - we want interviews to be as positive as possible for everyone.<br />
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It is OK if you are feeling really out of control to ask for a moment to compose yourself. Take a deep breath, have a drink of water, then when you are feeling ready give the panel a smile and let them know you are OK to go on.<br />
<h4>
What do I wear?</h4>
I usually think about what might be standard for the role and go slightly more dressy than that.<br />
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It's important to choose something that you feel comfortable in - there is no need to add to your anxiety / discomfort, and for that reason, I would avoid wearing something that you haven’t worn before.<br />
<h4>
What should I bring?</h4>
Things to consider bringing include:<br />
<ul>
<li>A copy of your CV and application (for your own use - the panel will already have copies of these)</li>
<li>Any notes that you think might help you. But remember, these should be prompts rather than written out answers - you are there to talk to the panel not read to them! </li>
<li>A pen and a piece of paper to jot down any keywords from the question can be useful - writing a few notes can also give you a bit of breathing space if you get asked something tricky and need to gather your thoughts. </li>
</ul>
<h3>
What are the technicalities of a panel interview?</h3>
<h4>
How do you rank candidates during the interview?</h4>
At my place of work, questions would usually be related to the selection criteria. We would also usually have an icebreaker / opener along the lines of “Tell us why you’ve applied for this job and what you think you would bring to it.”<br />
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Panellists will have a list of questions with some pointers from the chair about what to look for when scoring.<br />
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We use a 1-5 scale and also take a lot of notes so that we have information for panel discussions later on.<br />
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<h4>
How do you formulate interview questions?</h4>
Questions would usually be based on the selection criteria and on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_interview#Behavioral_interview_questions">behavioural interview</a> principles.<br />
<br />
Depending on the job and the level we might also include a work task of some kind. We would let people know beforehand what this is if it requires any preparation, or would at least give them a heads-up that a work test of some kind will be part of the interview.<br />
<h4>
What questions should I prepare to ask the panel?</h4>
The specific question doesn't matter so much to me, but what I am looking for would be:<br />
<ul>
<li>Questions that demonstrate that you have done some research about the organisation</li>
<li>Questions that show you are genuinely interested in the position e.g. What would a typical day be like?, What types of activities would I be involved in during my first six months? </li>
</ul>
You should also ask anything that you need to to convince yourself that you would take the job if offered it - it is a two-way street so if you have concerns this is your chance to air them.<br />
<h3>
What happens after the interview?</h3>
<h4>
When do you call referees? What questions do you ask them?</h4>
I call referees as soon as possible after the interview, though it can sometimes take a few days to organise a phone call.<br />
<br />
I ask questions based on the selection criteria and use the same behavioural style as for interviewees - I ask for specific examples of particular skills or experiences that we are after.<br />
<br />
If there are any niggling concerns from the interview I might ask something specific about that.<br />
<br />
I also ask these extra questions:<br />
<ul>
<li>What do you think this person’s strengths are?</li>
<li>What areas do you think this person may need some coaching or professional development in to enable them to succeed in this role?</li>
<li>Would you employ / work with this person again?</li>
</ul>
<h4>
How long does it take to decide on a candidate?</h4>
It usually does not long to make a decision once the referee checks have been done. However HR processes can take a really long time!<br />
<br />
The chair of the panel will usually have to provide some documentations justifying the panel’s decision. Then there are likely to be different levels of approval in HR, Finance and other areas that have to be granted before an offer can be made.<br />
<h3>
On those "soft skills"...</h3>
<h4>
Who should I address when talking to the panel?</h4>
The person who asked the question is a good place to start but it is good if you can make some eye contact and look around a bit if you can remember to do that.<br />
<h4>
What can I do to stop from showing how nervous I am?</h4>
See points made above about not over-caffeinating, getting enough sleep and remembering to breathe.<br />
<br />
I get really shaky hands sometimes in interviews. If that happens, I try to keep them in my lap under the table.<br />
<h4>
What kind of body language should I demonstrate in the interview?</h4>
A nice firm handshake and a friendly smile goes a long way when you first enter the room. Making as much eye contact as you are comfortable with is also good.<br />
<br />
Don't wear anything that is going to encourage you to fidget with clothes, hair and jewellery. It's really distracting for the panel!<br />
<br />
Try to have an open posture. Sit up straight with your shoulders back - this helps with breathing too.<br />
<h3>
How do you select interview candidates?</h3>
<h4>
Masters or diploma qualification, does it matter?</h4>
It will depend on the position but usually having an undergraduate or postgraduate degree is less important to me in my assessment than your responses to the selection criteria.<br />
<h4>
Visas, English as a second language</h4>
The rules around visas are usually dictated by legislation and workplace policies - the supervisor usually does not have much say in this.<br />
<br />
For me, it is not your English language skills per se but the ability to communicate well to a variety of audiences that is really important. I work in a technical back-of-house function but we still have to communicate with other parts of IT, with clients, and with vendors all the time. We also need to be able to produce very clear written documentation for different audiences.<br />
<h4>
Years of experience vs "new graduate" willing to learn</h4>
Experience is really important. In addressing selection criteria, you will do better if you can provide specific examples of how you would be able to do the job or learn how to do the job. This is what you generally get from the workplace, which is why I would encourage people to make the most of their placements, well-chosen volunteer opportunities, and any short-term work that you can get while you are studying.<br />
<h4>
Internal vs external staff </h4>
Panels who are doing their jobs properly should be interviewing candidates on their own merits. It should not be the case that internal candidates get special treatment. I have employed an external candidate over an internal candidate who had been acting in the role.<br />
<br />
However what you must realise is that if you are up against someone who has already got experience in a particular job that will enable them to supply really good stories in their written applications and interviews. So that is why they have an edge.<br />
<h4>
Over-qualification</h4>
Again, panels should be as neutral as possible in assessing candidates against the criteria. However at the final stages then fit with the organisation and longer term planning can definitely come into it. It is very expensive to recruit someone and induct them into the organisation and then have them leave and have to do it all over it again.<br />
<br />
I have personally employed someone over-qualified who I believe could use a job as a stepping stone to something else. I don’t have a problem with that as long as the expectations are clear that I would expect a high performance from that person while they are in the job.<br />
<h3>
What are your top tips for a candidate during an interview?</h3>
I would encourage you to think very clearly about the first impressions that you will make and in particular how you will respond to the first question you will be asked, which is usually about why you have applied for the job and what you will bring to it.<br />
<br />
This is often really badly answered. People waffle on for ages, repeat what’s already in their written application, or focus only on themselves (e.g. I am ready for a challenge, I want to take the next step in my career).<br />
<br />
My advice is, put yourself in the shoes of the panel. We want the best outcome for our organisation and going through recruitment is a time consuming and highly stressful process for us as well. We are not there to solve <i>your </i>problem of not having a job or sufficient career progression. We are there to solve <i>our </i>problem which is that we have a gap in our organisation that we need to fill with the right person for the job.<br />
<br />
If we’re interviewing you then you are likely very close to being that right person. You can make our jobs easier for us by focusing not just on why the job would be a good thing for you, but why having you in the job would be a great thing for us.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-39887979176693735082017-07-02T12:51:00.000+10:002017-07-02T12:51:16.717+10:00IT Skills for Librarians: Q&A with Susan Tegg (Griffith University) about business process improvement<i>This post is Number 8 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation that I will be giving at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
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For this post I asked my colleague Susan Tegg about how she got started building her skills in business process improvement, and how this fits within her current role as the Team Leader, Library Technology Services in Griffith University's Library and Learning Services.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Susan!<br />
<br />
<b>Can you briefly describe your your current role and your career pathway to where you are now?</b><br />
<br />
My current role is Team Leader, Library Technology Services. This involves<br />
<ul>
<li>working with the team to achieve the key performance indicators in the team's operational plan </li>
<li>service management planning to ensure our systems meet the changing requirements of stakeholders and are operating at optimum levels</li>
<li>watching the library environment and system roadmaps for changes and likely impacts</li>
<li>working with stakeholders to improve workflows and student experience</li>
<li>working with staff to prioritise work and dealing with crises</li>
<li>encouraging and listening to staff concerns while also keeping perspective</li>
<li>representing the team and service at meetings and in discussions</li>
<li>creating a team environment of mutual support.</li>
</ul>
Lately my work has been more project-focused as Griffith has changed its approach and needs.<br />
<br />
I started working in libraries over twenty years ago. Positions I have held include serials librarian, cataloguer, system librarian, head of circulation, faculty librarian, and library operations manager. I have supervised staff for most of that time. My career has been uneven due to lifestyle changes which meant career interruptions and a focus on things outside work. <br />
<br />
<b>What were the circumstances that led you to identify business process improvement as something that you wanted or needed to develop further?</b><br />
<br />
The main reason I am attracted to business improvement is that I see the need for libraries to revolutionise their work to take advantage of IT changes.<br />
<br />
I often see teams believing they are adapting to change when what I see is their trying to adapt the change to to their current processes.<br />
<br />
I want to challenge current processes, to identify outdated processes and redundant tasks, and processes that can be streamlined or removed/automated. Many are legacy processes designed to manage print. <br />
<br />
Libraries need to change and stop or reduce doing many of the labour intensive tasks so librarians are adding value in areas that need professional judgement.<br />
<br />
<b>What formal or informal development options were available to you to develop your business process improvement skills and knowledge? How did you initially get going, and do you have plans to continue to develop in this area?</b><br />
<br />
When I was operations manager at a previous library, I was able to design workflows and ensure tasks were streamlined.<br />
<br />
During two library system conversions, business processes were challenged by vendors and I enjoyed being involved in conversations with business areas.<br />
<br />
Coming to Griffith encouraged me to refine my skills after attending a one day course on Business Processes and working with Scholarly Resources [the team that manages acquisitions, cataloguing etc] to map their processes.<br />
<br />
At the moment improving my skills is done by talking to a colleague and examining other business analysts at Griffith to understand their way of working.<br />
<br />
<b>Can you briefly describe what business process improvement involves? What kinds of tasks or activities have you undertaken as a practitioner of this skill? Are there specific methodologies or tools that are commonly used?</b><br />
<br />
Business process improvement has a few stages. <br />
<br />
Initially current work processes are mapped with the business area. The desired outcome is a document which reflects the current business processes, presented in a way which encourages the manager/team leader and staff read and review, and hopefully see areas for improvement. It is challenging because as the person mapping the work, I need to understand why an activity is done without antagonising them. <br />
<br />
Once the process is mapped on Microsoft Visio (although I have also used Google Drawings), a step by step table is created. In this table, there are various fields which explain ownership, systems used, dependencies and issues. The table is quite detailed and to ensure it's manageable the business process is often broken down into parts.<br />
<br />
The diagram and table need to be reviewed several times to ensure it is correct. <br />
<br />
Parts that are hard for me include:<br />
<ul>
<li>not making assumptions</li>
<li>not getting enough detail</li>
<li>trying to move too fast so failing to let the team reflect as the mapping happens.</li>
</ul>
Hand in hand with process mapping is user stories, which explain why activities happen. For example: <i>Why is that copyright statement stored? </i>This ensures each activity has a purpose.<br />
<br />
Once completed the manager or team leader can reflect on the process. They can then decide that a business process should be stopped (because it is no longer required), improved (e.g. by using a different system or combination of systems) or automated.<br />
<br />
<b>How do you feel business process improvement ‘fits’ with the other skills and knowledge that you bring to your professional practice as a librarian?</b><br />
<br />
Business process improvement is an essential skill for librarians. Having an approach that looks for constant improvements and challenges legacy practices is needed because the world and work is changing around us.<br />
<br />
<b>How do you and your organisation benefit from your having business process improvement skills in your toolkit?</b><br />
<br />
In the current environment, I don't have much opportunity to work through process improvements outside projects or in my own team. I can see that managers and team leaders would get benefits from doing business process improvement work especially for transactional work.<br />
<br />
<b>What advice would you give to a new professional starting out who had an interest in business process improvement? Can you suggest any no- or low-cost professional development options that are available?</b><br />
<br />
As a new professional, I would ask for procedures for whatever team I worked in and create a diagram. Ask your supervisor if they have an area that could benefit from business process mapping, for example where no procedures are written. Express your interest developing and practicing but with real life situations.<br />
<br />
Diagrams are powerful for explaining a business process visually and are quickly understood. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation">Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN)</a> is a standard for business process diagrams - to be useful it's important to understand and use the standard shapes in BPMN (e.g. a circle for an event, a rectangle for a task or activity, a diamond for a gateway or decision point). The step by step explanation reveals things not in the diagram, like dependencies, staff/time involved and issues. Both parts are needed.<br />
<ol>
<li>Start with internet resources or books.</li>
<li>See if you can get advice from a business analyst and examples/documents from your organisation.</li>
<li>Talk to your supervisor about what you are doing because it will involve your time and meetings with others. Time is valuable!</li>
<li>Getting information without challenging too assertively gets good results so practice listening skills but identify gaps and question things that don't make sense. </li>
<li>If you have a business process mapping tool like Microsoft Visio available use it or otherwise start with Google Drawings or another free tool.</li>
<li>Be ready to present and talk through anything you do. Documentation needs to be professional and in line with your organisation's templates.</li>
</ol>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That brings us to the endn of this series of blog posts to a conclusion. The purpose of this series, and the associated NLS8 presentation, was to inspire new librarians (and maybe some more established professionals) to think beyond coding to the many other IT skills applicable in library and GLAM workplaces. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
You don’t necessarily have to study user experience, change management or business process improvement at university or attend a formal training course. There are lots of opportunities to learn on the job and in your own time, and it doesn’t have to take years or cost a lot of money. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hopefully what’s also become evident through this series of posts is that many IT jobs don’t actually require in-depth technical knowledge. The best IT projects aren’t just about the technology. 'Soft' skills like communication are essential for success and librarians can often transfer these from their more traditional roles. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At the conference, I closed by encouraging new librarians to find someone to have a chat to about IT skills they are interested in. It’s my experience that most people love talking about what they do, especially if you buy them a coffee or a drink while you fire your questions at them!</div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-59046530608885907642017-07-01T18:26:00.000+10:002017-07-01T18:26:11.652+10:00IT skills for librarians: business process improvement<i>This post is Number 7 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
A couple of months ago <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/03/glam-blog-club-march.html">I wrote a post</a> where I identified this as the number 1 thing I wish I had learned in library school. In that post I said that every librarian - regardless of position, level or sector - carries out work that could be documented and analysed systematically in order to improve the way it's done.<br />
<br />
I think we all know that things in our workplaces could be improved; library processes are full of inefficiencies. Many of us make our best efforts to change things, but we often struggle to do this without any methodologies or tools. That is where business process improvement skills can come in.<br />
<br />
I'm passionate about this because as a manager you come to realise that small changes in processes can have big impacts. If a process change saves 10 minutes a day for someone, that’s an extra week in the year. If you save 30 minutes a day then have nearly an extra month. If that change is made to work that a whole bunch of people do, then you start to see how that can all add up. This is really important in work environments where many of us are struggling to find the time for innovation and continuous improvement on top of our regular work just 'keeping the lights on'. Budget is part of that, but so is ensuring that professional staff are freed up as much as possible from tedious process-driven work to apply their judgment to higher-value activities.<br />
<br />
A business process improvement specialist usually starts with mapping current work processes. You might run interviews and focus groups with staff and maybe observe them as they carry out the process.<br />
<br />
Then you would create both a visual representation of this process (such as the 'swimlane' diagram below) as well as a document describing it in detail.<br />
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This will be presented to the manager/team leader and staff for review. They might identify areas for improvement themselves or you might also have recommendations.<br />
<br />
Once a direction is known you might work through a similar process to document the workflow as you would like it be using the same combination of visual and textual communication. This can then be presented to systems support staff or external vendors who might work to make the changes that are needed to improve the process.<br />
<br />
As with the other skills that we’ve looked at, communication is critical. You need to be a really good listener and to be able to put people at their ease – not everyone is happy about having their work put under the microscope in this way! (See Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey as the head librarian and business automation consultation in the wonderful move <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050307/">Desk Set</a> for a fictionalised version of the strife that can ensue...)<br />
<br />
Visual communication skills are also essential – making diagrams that tell the story clearly is a big part of getting your recommendations accepted. There are specialist tools (such as Microsoft Visio, used to create the swimlane diagrams above) and industry standards like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Process_Model_and_Notation">Business Process Model and Notation</a> for creating these diagrams, so if you are getting serious about business process improvement you will probably want to upskill in these. <i> </i><br />
<br />
The next (and final) post in this series is a Q&A with my workmate Susan Tegg, about how she she applies business process improvement skills as part of her job as the Team Leader, Library Technology Services at Griffith University.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Getting started with business process improvement</b><br />
<br />
Read: Marlon Dumas (2013), Fundamentals of Business Process Management (available to <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/177328556?q=fundamentals+of+business+process+management&c=book&borrow=true">borrow</a>)<br />
<br />
Read: Lenore England and Stephen Miller (2015). Maximizing Electronic Resources Management in Libraries: Applying Business Process Management (not widely available, but you could try to get an interlibrary loan from UTS)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Experiment: Drawing tools such as <a href="https://products.office.com/en-au/visio/flowchart-software?tab=tabs-1">Microsoft </a><a href="https://products.office.com/en-au/visio/flowchart-software?tab=tabs-1">Visio</a> (free trial available), LucidChart ( or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Drawings">Google </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Drawings">Drawings</a> or another free tool</div>
<div>
Enrol: QUT online 3-week course: <a href="https://www.class-central.com/mooc/6529/futurelearn-business-process-management-an-introduction-to-process-thinking">Business Process Management: An Introduction to Process Thinking</a> (free, or pay $109 to upgrade with a certificate, freedom to complete in your own timeline and ongoing access to the course materials)</div>
<div>
Source: Documents from your organisation that you can use as templates</div>
<div>
Find: A business analyst to talk to about what they do<br />
<div>
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</div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-18886694608441725642017-06-30T20:38:00.000+10:002017-07-10T14:59:10.686+10:00IT skills for librarians: Q&A with Julie Toohey (Griffith University) about change management<i>This post is Number 6 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation that I will be giving at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
<br />
For this post I asked my colleague Julie Toohey about how she got started building her skills in change management, and how this fits within her current role as a Health Discipline Librarian in Griffith University's Library and Learning Services.<br />
<br />
Thank you, Julie!<br />
<br />
<b>Can you briefly describe your your current role and your career pathway to where you are now? </b><br />
<br />
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I initially started at Griffith twenty-two years ago as a casual library clerk and at the time was studying for a library technician diploma however a Librarian talked me into a degree instead and I've never looked back.<br />
<br />
I've worked in many different types of positions over the years and currently I am the Health Discipline Librarian for the Gold Coast campus. I've also taken on many secondment opportunities which at times seemed scary but I did so to develop a wider, more relevant skill set. Sometimes you just need to jump in with both eyes wide shut!<br />
<br />
Secondment opportunities have included Team Leader for Acquisition Team, Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) Coordinator, Senior Change Manager for the Griffith Experts project; and Library and Learning Services Manager, Sciences. <br />
<br />
Stepping outside the organisation I also had the opportunity to co-facilitate the national Australian National Data Service <a href="http://www.ands.org.au/partners-and-communities/23-research-data-things/10-medical-and-health-things">Health and Medical Data 23 Things Research Data Webinar series</a> with Kate LeMay. The series was held over a 10 month period.<br />
<br />
<b>What were the circumstances that led you to identify change management as something that you wanted or needed to develop further?</b><br />
<br />
Basically I was approached by my Director to take on the Senior Change Manager role for she believed I had the necessary skill set to achieve objective outcomes. She also felt that I:<br />
<br />
a) was good at engaging/communicating with the academic community<br />
b) understood the structure of the university<br />
c) understood the politics of institution<br />
d) wasn’t afraid to keep moving on, and<br />
e) genuinely liked dealing with people.<br />
<br />
I firmly believed in the product [<a href="https://experts.griffith.edu.au/">Griffith Experts</a>] and I was up for the challenge. And I really admire my Director and I didn't want to let her down.<br />
<br />
<b>What formal or informal development options were available to you to develop your change management skills and knowledge? How did you initially get going, and do you have plans to continue to develop in this area?</b><br />
<br />
I completed a Project Management workshop in 2014 and I also minored in Business so even though I’ve never worked as a Change Manager before, I’ve always been aware of the importance of the role. Managing change is not just about communication plans, milestones and tasks, it’s also about managing people, their expectations and their emotions. And pressure. It’s also about managing pressure and being accountable.<br />
<br />
In addition to the new role, I was also required to join a new team in the Project and Planning Office reporting directly to the Project Manager. It was a very steep learning curve for not only was I learning a new role within a new team, I also had to learn project language! Luckily the other Project Change Manager was an extremely gentle and patient young woman who never once showed signs of frustration or hair pulling when endlessly asked to explain project language and processes.<br />
<br />
Once the project was completed, I returned to my Health Librarian role and whilst I don’t have change management in my formal professional development plan, I’d certainly jump at it again if approached.<br />
<br />
<b>Can you briefly describe what change management involves? What kinds of tasks or activities have you undertaken as a practitioner of this skill? Are there specific methodologies or tools that are commonly used?</b><br />
<br />
When I first started the Change Manager role, I was handed the large task of completing the project Communication Plan so I had to absorb all project objectives/deliverables fairly quickly. <br />
<br />
When developing the Communication Plan, we were required to identify project stakeholders, project user group members, discipline area champions (those who would support our product once we were in go-live stage); decide upon a communication methodology; identify project key messages and challenges and develop a communication rollout/schedule. The work done around the Communication Plan was work completed prior to project roll-out. Once completed, we then had to start implementing it.<br />
<br />
Post project go-live date, it was a case of ongoing marketing across all Griffith academic community, delivering workshops and drop in sessions which created an extreme amount of stakeholder and end user management.<br />
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In terms of tools we were required to raise issues/bugs via the Project Team service desk tool requesting developers to resolve/acknowledge/close issues. "Not within scope of project" was a term I heard often and burnt into my memory. Nowadays I I even manage to use it at home, i.e. Question: "What’s for dinner tonight?" Response: "Dinner is not within tonight’s project scope".<br />
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<b>How do you feel change management ‘fits’ with the other skills and knowledge that you bring to your professional practice as a librarian?</b><br />
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Change management skills worked nicely with my Health Discipline Librarian role. The project I worked on was an institutional profile system and the objectives of the project aligned closely to my own in terms of my role i.e. I’m passionate about raising Griffith’s profile as an institution and also raising our individual researchers’ profiles.<br />
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I’m generally task orientated and spend considerable time managing the relationships with researchers and their expectations which lends itself nicely with a change management role. The opportunity to encourage academics to embrace their profile was pretty special.<br />
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<b>How do you and your organisation benefit from your having change management skills in your toolkit?</b><br />
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Personally I learnt a lot about myself and my capabilities whilst working as a change manager and it opened my eyes to the pressures of project work. After spending many years in the same role, people can become complacent and don’t tend to stretch themselves.<br />
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Since returning from the project, I push myself constantly to deliver over and beyond the boundaries of my role. I’m a lot more adaptable and embracing of change. The change management role has allowed me to grow and my toolkit is a lot better off because of the experience for I now feel more adaptable, more relevant and remain competitive.<br />
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<b>What advice would you give to a new professional starting out who had an interest in change management? Can you suggest any no- or low-cost professional development options that are available?</b><br />
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If you have a project team in your organisation try to jump on-board. Also if you have access/ability to attend change management or project management workshops then put up your hand. You could share your interest with your Team Leader/Manager and have it written into your professional development plan as a long term goal.<br />
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There is also quite a large amount of literature on change management to consult.Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-51833285876542126212017-06-29T09:00:00.000+10:002017-06-29T09:00:11.074+10:00IT skills for librarians: change management<i>This post is Number 5 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
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Change management is an IT skill that I wish more librarians were interested in. In 2013 I spent six months seconded to a project that was implementing collaborative research data storage services. It was one of the most rewarding professional experiences I have ever had.<br />
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I got an enormous amount of satisfaction out of being the 'bridge' between a group of highly skilled IT professionals with a fantastic service to offer and the group of researchers who could really make use that service if they only knew it existed. I've blogged before about some of my experiences on this project, in particular around <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2014/09/a-communication-and-marketing-campaign.html">developing a communications and marketing campaign to launch a new product</a>.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://giphy.com/embed/3o6Zt5oIKLh4qZondK" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/southparkgifs-3o6Zt5oIKLh4qZondK">via GIPHY</a><br />
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The name for this skill in SFIA is "Change implementation planning and management" which is a bit of a mouthful! SFIA defines it like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The definition and management of the process for deploying and integrating new digital capabilities into the business in a way that is sensitive to and fully compatible with business operations.</blockquote>
In this context we're not talking about the management of organisational change such as restructures, but rather the set of activities in an IT project that make sure the people who will use a new or upgraded product or service are aware of what’s happening and able to respond to the changes.<br />
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I’m sure you’ve all experienced in your study or work life what happens when an IT product is replaced or upgraded without attention being paid to communicating with the people who need to use it. It's pretty annoying at an individual level, and at a macro level it has serious consequences for organisations. One recent report from the <a href="http://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/the-essential-role-of-communications.pdf">US Project Management Institute</a> had some pretty shocking findings: two in five projects did not meet their original goals, and of those, half the failures were related to ineffective communications. This study found that projects with poor communication were far more likely to run over time and over budget.<br />
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As an information professional, change management offers you the ability to contribute to the successful rollout of new products and services by ensuring everyone is committed and has the information and training they need.<br />
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In the early stages of a project you would be involved in analysing all the parties that will be affected by or interested in the outcome of the project, and coming up with strategies to ensure that their needs will be met throughout the project. This can get get pretty complicated on a larger and more complex project, as the parties could be everyone from senior managers, who may require an monthly email or a briefing paper, through to users of the service who will need frequent and more detailed information if a change is going to affect the way that they do their work.<br />
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Later in the project you might coordinate with communication and marketing specialists to produce different kinds of collateral such as printed materials and online self-help guides and videos, as well as a plan for social media. You could be involved in developing a budget for a launch campaign, and working out how you will measure whether your campaign has been successful (sign-ups for a new service, increased usage, positive feedback etc).<br />
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You might also be involved in developing and implementing training programs, which could range from very light-touch opt-in approaches through to mandatory training programs for large numbers of people. These could be developed face-to-face, online through webinars, or via self-directed learning (e.g. an online module). Again, there will be costs associated with these that may need a budget to be prepared and endorsed. <br />
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In terms of required skills, change managers need to be great communicators - you need to be able to negotiate, persuade and influence. Your ability to tailor messages to different audiences is key. It's also helpful to have an understanding of how projects work (and particularly any methodologies that are used in your organisation). Change management is now a fairly well-established discipline with its own professional bodies, and there are different theoretical models and ideas about best practice that are interesting to learn about.<br />
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Below you will find links to some free or low-cost options for learning more about this area. In the next post I'll be talking to Julie Toohey, a librarian who has worked as a change manager and has lots more great advice.<br />
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<b>Getting started in change management </b><br />
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Watch: Lynda.com (free trial) <a href="https://www.lynda.com/Communication-tutorials/Change-Management/456826-2.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=l1-US-Search-Biz-Communication&cid=mbm-change_management_video&utm_content=181487058127&utm_term=%2Bchange%20%2Bmanagement%20%2Bvideo&src=go-pa&veh=skwd-32445838201_pcrid_181487058127_pkw_%2Bchange%20%2Bmanagement%20%2Bvideo_pmt_b_pdv_c_ext__plc__trg__agid_46968994304_cmid_334287186_adp_1o1_net_g&lpk35=9137">Change Management</a> course, especially the section on change management in projects<br />
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Read: Esther Cameron and Mike Green (2015), Making sense of change management : a complete guide to the models, tools & techniques of organizational change (available to <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9578440?q=making+sense+of+change+management&c=book&borrow=true">borrow</a>)<br />
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Browse: <a href="https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model">ADKAR </a><a href="https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model">Change Management </a><a href="https://www.prosci.com/adkar/adkar-model">Model</a><br />
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Find: A project manager or change manager that you can talk to<br />
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Follow: <a href="https://twitter.com/prosci">@</a><a href="https://twitter.com/prosci">Prosci</a></div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-45842068879904036932017-06-28T09:00:00.000+10:002017-06-28T09:00:18.689+10:00IT skills for librarians: Q&A with Suzy Bailey (Griffith University) about user experience<i>This post is Number 4 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation that I will be giving at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
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For this post I asked my colleague Suzanne Bailey about how she got started building her skills in user experience (UX), and how this fits within her current role as the Resource Discovery Specialist in Griffith University's Library and Learning Services.<br />
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Thank you, Suzy!<br />
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<b>Can you briefly describe your your current role and your career pathway to where you are now?</b><br />
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My current role is Resource Discovery Specialist at Griffith University.<br />
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At parties, this conversation thread usually dwindles into silence as I struggle to explain what I do. My husband usually interjects to joke that I’m a geologist in the mining industry and we laugh and move on…but here goes...<br />
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My role is focused on ensuring a good user experience when researching using our online systems. On a practical level that involves search tool optimisation; exposing content to Google and other indexing tools; and ensuring usability of library websites and applications with a focus on user-centered design techniques. It’s an overarching role that involves liaison with a number of portfolios and external vendors because I’m not directly responsible for the many of the systems and sites I’m advising on. I need to be persistent, logical and provide evidence to justify changes.<br />
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Straight out of school, I studied a Bachelor of International Business with a Japanese major, then I dropped out of a Bachelor of IT to enrol in a Post Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Science. After graduating University, I spent 10 years at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). My permanent position was as a part-time Reference librarian, but I was seconded to various positions including:<br />
<ul>
<li>Liaison librarian</li>
<li>Document delivery supervisor</li>
<li>Library systems officer</li>
<li>Project officer</li>
<li>Information systems tutor</li>
</ul>
While I worked, I completed a Masters of Information Technology. With a newly acquired home loan and the imminent threat of returning to part-time work, I applied for a six-month contract at Griffith as a Web Developer for the Library Management System Project. QUT generously allowed me to take a cross-institutional secondment, and then agreed to extend it, twice! I accepted my ongoing position at Griffith soon after.<br />
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<b>What were the circumstances that led you to identify user experience as something that you wanted or needed to develop further?</b><br />
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At QUT I was very fortunate to work on a number of projects, most notably a 12-month website redevelopment project where I had the opportunity to work with a passionate human-computer interaction expert.<br />
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She was devoted to user research and I learnt many techniques - but more importantly a cure to my indecisiveness! It’s great to be able to make informed decisions based on actual data. I’ve sat in many a meeting with colleagues arguing about button colours and wording. Being a fairly passive person, my nature is to let the more dominant personality make the decision.<br />
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User experience (UX) analysis changed all that. When you hear a user verbalise that they think we close at lunch time (when the website says 12am), you can easily argue to change 12am to midnight.<br />
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<b>What formal or informal development options were available to you to develop your user experience skills and knowledge? How did you initially get going, and do you have plans to continue to develop in this area?</b><br />
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In terms of getting started, it was really informal - watching and learning from other people. I watched recordings of usability studies at my workplace and got involved in the analysis, eventually building up the confidence to run them myself.<br />
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Whenever I attended a conference such as VALA I always went to the UX streams. I followed speakers on Twitter, read their blogs - many of them informally publish their UX investigations including techniques and outcomes. For example <a href="https://matthew.reidsrow.com/">Matthew Reidsma</a> of Grand Valley State University or <a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research/futurelib-innovation-programme">The Futurelib Innovation Programme</a> at the University of Cambridge. Obviously there are also the formal avenues, such as <a href="http://weaveux.org/">Weave: Journal of Library User Experience</a>.<br />
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A very passionate University Librarian once recommended the book <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23726504?q=Paper+prototyping%E2%80%9D+by+Carolyn+Snyder&c=book">Paper Prototyping</a> by Carolyn Snyder. It features some great low tech user centered design activities. Do you like craft? <br />
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Writing for the web training was mandated by my employer, and they funded attendance at various workshops over the years on topics such as design thinking and UX research methods. These workshops have always had a library bent however and in the future I’d really like to get inspiration from some other industries through attendance at UX Australia.<br />
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<b>Can you briefly describe what user experience involves? What kinds of tasks or activities have you undertaken as a practitioner of this skill? Are there specific methodologies or tools that are commonly used?</b><br />
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User experience is how someone feels when using a product or service. Touchpoints include: website, signage, staff, space, emails, databases, furniture, hardware, recorded phone messages, public announcements and so on. Do these touchpoints result in high quality user experience?<br />
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There are many techniques used to analyse this, but the most common is probably task based usability testing. This involves asking users to complete an common task (for example renewing their loans) and watching what they do and what problems they encounter. There is a specific protocol to follow and development of appropriate tasks is important. It can be a time consuming process - but well worth it.<br />
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There are online tools such as <a href="https://www.loop11.com/">Loop11 </a>to enable you to test remotely, rather than face-to-face. The usability test is usually combined with an interview which can uncover attitudes and opinions.<br />
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Another commonly used technique is card sorting. It’s traditionally used to create information architectures for websites because it allows you to find out how people think your content should be organised or grouped. I frequently use <a href="https://www.optimalworkshop.com/optimalsort">OptimalSort </a>to collect data and semi-automate the analysis. But coloured post its on a black wall look way more fun.<br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-e96970a4-1ac4-1b46-f609-b87cb1f9da9c"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="DSC_0369_1.JPG" height="339" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/f_awGuvZLiRCnzMFPQkXTHE6SXAfK-fWEVxAOJk8Jf1XJkUQ0fsK7OISuMQZFJiKiDVaYYPK29_QXGjbY4kqAWhCIYFf-YgzlUzhZBvmvRxfoMBFQnMj0n0Y70xvtYbwFba_fDuM" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="602" /></span></span><br />
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Other techniques I use regularly include <a href="https://wiki.dlib.indiana.edu/display/UWGKB/Observational+techniques">observation</a>, <a href="https://ukanthrolib.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/cognitive-mapping-and-collaborating/">cognitive mapping</a> and <a href="http://theuxreview.co.uk/user-journeys-beginners-guide/">user journey mapping</a>. The list of potential techniques is long….<br />
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What’s important in all techniques - and I’ve noticed librarians tend to struggle with this - is that there are no wrong answers and you must resist the urge to correct or show the user the ‘right way’. Almost the opposite of what I did as a reference librarian…<br />
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<b>How do you feel user experience ‘fits’ with the other skills and knowledge that you bring to your professional practice as a librarian?</b><br />
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The <a href="https://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2017-library-edition/">NMC Horizon Report: 2017 Library Edition</a> identifies valuing the user experience as a short-term trend driving technology adoption in academic and research libraries over the next one to two years. So, my skillset is trendy!<br />
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But with no culture of user experience analysis in a workplace, you still need persuasive/influencing skills to affect change. Position descriptions or selection criteria often require you to demonstrate problem solving skills. UX work demonstrates effective problem solving because it requires you to recognise and identify the nature of the problem; structure and look for solutions; make a decision about the best solution and implement it; then review the outcome. These skills are a good fit with IT troubleshooting, business process analysis and a client focus.<br />
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<b>How do you and your organisation benefit from your having user experience skills in your toolkit?</b><br />
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I think it allows us to be proactive rather than reactive. Librarians spend hours supposing why statistic x is going up/down and how we might reverse that trend; hours reviewing feedback from surveys, trying to working out exactly what a cryptic response was referring to and how we could improve.<br />
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The thing is, people are not very good at accurately self-reporting their behaviour. Having user experience analysis skills can help to get to the core of the issue and (hopefully) results in better products and services.<br />
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<b>What advice would you give to a new professional starting out who had an interest in user experience? Can you suggest any no- or low-cost professional development options that are available?</b><br />
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Volunteer to be a participant! If you’re a student, keep an eye out for recruitment campaigns on your institution’s website. Some professional organisations/consultants also recruit paid participants - think Mystery Shopper. Professional UX consultants often use some of the more expensive UX technology - like eye tracking - which you’re unlikely to be able to afford in a library environment, so it’s quite eye opening. Pardon the pun.<br />
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<a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/">Library Juice Academy</a> offer a number of low-cost courses. I’d start with <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/048-writing-web.php">Writing for the Web</a> or <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/001-usability-testing.php">DIY Usability Testing</a>.<br />
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And of course, there are many great free resources like <a href="http://usability.gov/">Usability.gov</a> or <a href="http://designthinkingforlibraries.com/">Design Thinking for Libraries: a toolkit for patron-centered design</a>.<br />
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Oh and play around with free trials to online tools like <a href="https://www.loop11.com/">Loop11</a> or <a href="https://www.optimalworkshop.com/">Optimal Workshop</a> - their documentation is quite comprehensive.<br />
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-37740067773731027522017-06-27T09:00:00.000+10:002017-06-27T09:00:12.535+10:00IT skills for librarians: user experience<i>This post is Number 3 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation that I will be giving at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
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User experience is probably the most well-known of the three skills area that I'm focusing on in this series of blog posts. While most libraries still don't have a dedicated role in this area, awareness is definitely increasing about the importance of online usability and user-centred service design. Skills in this area are slowly creeping into job advertisements and positions descriptions.<br />
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SFIA has three distinct but related skills in this area: <a href="http://user%20experience%20analysis/">User experience analysis</a>, <a href="https://www.sfia-online.org/en/sfia-6/skills/solution-development-and-implementation/human-factors/ergonomic-design">User experience design</a>, and <a href="https://www.sfia-online.org/en/sfia-6/skills/solution-development-and-implementation/human-factors/user-experience-evaluation">User experience evaluation</a>. I've blobbed these three together a bit for my presentation and these posts, since the boundaries between them are not clear-cut in terms of professional practice.<br />
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SFIA defines one of these skills, user experience evaluation, as:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Evaluation of systems, products or services, to assure that the stakeholder and organisational requirements have been met, required practice has been followed, and systems in use continue to meet organisational and user needs. Iterative assessment (from early prototypes to final live implementation) of effectiveness, efficiency, user satisfaction, health and safety, and accessibility to measure or improve the usability of new or existing processes, with the intention of achieving optimum levels of product or service usability.</blockquote>
User experience is a critical IT skills area because research clearly shows the problems that arise when user needs are not taken into account, and the benefits that accrue when they are, e.g.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Website usage doubles when sites are made easier to use</li>
<li>Improved success rates for lower-literacy users completing tasks</li>
<li>Better self-help reduces deskwork and phone calls, and frees up staff time for more complex work. [1]</li>
</ul>
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User experience would be a great area to look into if you want to improve new or existing products and services by assessing how effective, efficient, satisfying and accessible they are for the users of your organisation. Those users will be different depending on where you work, and you would take a different approach to PhD students than you would to the partners in a law firm or to the parents of kids coming to storytime!<br />
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Across all of these environment though here are some fairly generic activities that you could undertake:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Set up Google Analytics to capture and analyse quantitative data about how users find you (entry points, search terms used), how long they stay, where they go (path analysis, click-throughs) and whether they come back (return visitors)</li>
<li>Check how well your services perform on different browsers and different devices like mobile phones</li>
<li>Observe (ethically, of course!) how users behave, either by watching them in person or using online tools that allow you to do this remotely (</li>
<li>Ask users about behaviours and preferences directly through surveys, interviews and focus groups</li>
<li>Or get them to co-design websites with hands-on activities such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_sorting">card sorting</a> (where participants organise topics into meaningful categories using cards or often PostIt notes) or <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/RobinOHanlon/customer-journey-mapping-for-libraries">journey maps</a> </li>
<li>Conduct accessibility tests to identify problem areas for people who are using assistive technologies like screen readers</li>
<li>Audit content to highlight ways in which writing for the web could be improved</li>
<li>Translate the findings from these kinds of activities into reports and recommendations so that action can be taken to improve things. Then you get to do it all over again so you can evaluate whether the changes have been successful or not!</li>
</ul>
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Although some of this work might be solo, you would usually be working with other people, such technical teams, project teams, vendors perhaps, and of course the users of your services. Empathy and curiosity are essential, but you also need really good communication skills, because ultimately you will need to convince others in your organisation to make improvements of some kind. </div>
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Of course, you need to build up a toolkit over time for doing all these different kinds of data capture & analysis. So how to get started? Below you will find some links to low- and no-cost options to get a taster for user experience, and in the next post you can read my Q&A with a real-life librarian with experience in this area, Suzy Bailey. <br />
<div style="text-indent: -36.48px;">
<span style="font-family: "foundry sterling light";">Ex</span></div>
<b>Getting started with user experience</b><br />
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Read: <a href="http://weaveux.org/">Weave: Journal of Library User Experience</a>. <br />
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Enrol: <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/">Library </a><a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/">Juice </a><a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/">Academy</a> courses (start with <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/048-writing-web.php">Writing </a><a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/048-writing-web.php">for the Web</a> or <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/001-usability-testing.php">DIY Usability </a><a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/001-usability-testing.php">Testing</a>, US$175 each) <br />
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Browse: <a href="http://usability.gov/">Usability.gov</a>, <a href="http://designthinkingforlibraries.com/">Design </a><a href="http://designthinkingforlibraries.com/">Thinking for Libraries: a toolkit for patron-centered </a><a href="http://designthinkingforlibraries.com/">design</a> and many more <br />
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Experiment: free trials and documentation for tools like <a href="https://www.loop11.com/">Loop11</a> (online usability testing) or <a href="https://www.optimalworkshop.com/">Optimal </a><a href="https://www.optimalworkshop.com/">Workshop</a> (card sorting) <br />
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Follow: <a href="https://twitter.com/donnalanclos">Donna Lanclos</a>, <a href="https://matthew.reidsrow.com/">Matthew </a><a href="https://matthew.reidsrow.com/">Reidsma</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/andytraining">Andy </a><a href="https://twitter.com/andytraining">Priestner</a>, <a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research/futurelib-innovation-programme">The </a><a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research/futurelib-innovation-programme">Futurelib</a><a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research/futurelib-innovation-programme"> Innovation </a><a href="http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/research/futurelib-innovation-programme">Programme</a> and many more<br />
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<b>References</b></div>
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[1] Nielsen, J. (2007). Do Government Agencies and Non-Profits Get ROI From Usability? Retrieved June 21, 2017, from <a href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/government-non-profits-usability-roi/">https://www.nngroup.com/articles/government-non-profits-usability-roi/</a></div>
Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-63593936851395048572017-06-26T09:00:00.000+10:002017-06-26T09:00:20.859+10:00There's more to IT than coding - an IT skills framework<i>This post is Number 2 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation that I will be giving at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra. You may want to start reading with <a href="http://www.samsearle.net/2017/06/but-i-dont-want-to-code-other-it-skills.html">the first post in the series</a>. </i><br />
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There is a lot of interest in the library profession in coding right now. <a href="https://librarycarpentry.github.io/">Library Carpentry</a> is taking off, and journals, newsletters and blogs are full of debates about whether coding is an essential skill for 21st century librarians.<br />
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It's not my intention to rehash these debates: if you are interested in exploring this topic Domenic Rosati's 2016 article [1] provides a readable overview. What I want to suggest is that coding is just one of many IT skills that could be relevant in a future library (or GLAM) career. I work at a large Australian university as the manager of the library's technology team. Seven of us are responsible for an application portfolio of a dozen different library systems and repositories, but coding is actually quite a small part of our work lives.<br />
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I put a proposal forward to NLS8 because I have been concerned for a while that most librarians are only directly exposed to a very narrow sub-set of the IT profession and may not be aware of the range of other skills that could be usefully combined with library qualifications and experience. Depending on your prior experience, your interests and aptitudes, and your specific work context, IT skills <i>other than coding</i> might be more readily applicable to your work as an information professional. But as a new professional (and maybe even as an established member of the profession), how would you find out more about different skillsets in IT and how to start building them?<br />
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Many librarians would be aware of the professional competency frameworks or models that can guide us as we embark on our professional journeys and continue to learn over the course of our careers. These frameworks are usually associated with national professional associations, such as ALIA's <a href="https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/library-and-information-sector-core-knowledge-skills-and-attributes">Core Knowledge, Skills and Attributes</a> and the LIANZA <a href="https://lianza.org.nz/professional-development/bodies-knowledge/11-boks">Bodies of Knowledge</a>.<br />
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One of my ongoing disappointments as a library technology manager is the way that IT is included in these competency frameworks. At best there is a focus on being a competent user of technologies with enough ability to support library users, but there is little to suggest librarians should be involved in IT strategy and design, in-depth application support, and innovative technical projects. New librarians aspiring to move into library systems roles or hybrid roles that require extensive collaboration with IT professionals (research data management, for example) would be hard-pressed to find guidance in library competency frameworks about the kinds of skills they might need.<br />
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Fortunately other frameworks are available that provide a more granular perspective on IT skills. One of these is the <a href="https://www.sfia-online.org/en">Skills Framework for the Information Age</a> (SFIA). This is a competency model for the IT industry that is used in over 200 countries worldwide. SFIA contains over ninety IT skills. It can be used for self-assessment or as a framework for certification by associations such as the Australian Computer Society, the equivalent organisation to ALIA for our IT colleagues.<br />
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This short video provides an introduction to SFIA and how it is used by different cohorts in the IT industry (staff, employers, professional associations) for different purposes (skills mapping, professional development planning, recruitment, certification).
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Not everything in SFIA is relevant to librarians and, to be honest, the way it is written can be difficult to read and understand. There is a lot of technical jargon and business lingo that can seem a bit impenetrable when you first look at it!<br />
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What a framework like SFIA does offer librarians though is a tantalising glimpse into a world that is bigger and more diverse than most of us can imagine. SFIA demonstrates that just as the library and information profession is more complicated than most non-librarians realise - with multiple sub-sectors and specialisations requiring different knowledge, skills and experiences - so too is the IT profession.<br />
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Coding is just one of the ninety-seven skills in SFIA (<a href="https://www.sfia-online.org/en/sfia-6/skills/solution-development-and-implementation/systems-development/programming-software-development">Programming/software development</a>). In the rest of the posts in this series, I will focus on three other skill areas that I think are highly relevant in libraries and other GLAM contexts. These are:<br />
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<li>user experience</li>
<li>change management </li>
<li>business process improvement</li>
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In the following six posts I'll explore these topics in more detail. For each skill, there will be two posts. The first in each set will provide some detail about the skill, including pointers to professional development (PD) options for new information professionals, with a focus on no- or low-cost options. The second will present a more personal perspective, through a Q&A with a librarian from my own organisation (Griffith University) who has incorporated that skill as part of their professional practice.<br />
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References</h4>
[1] Rosati, D. A. (2016). Librarians and Computer Programming: Understanding the role of programming within the profession of librarianship. Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management, 12(1). Retrieved from <a href="https://ojs.library.dal.ca/djim/article/view/6450">https://ojs.library.dal.ca/djim/article/view/6450</a>Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-43385339003786901682017-06-25T10:00:00.000+10:002017-06-25T11:54:40.477+10:00But I Don't Want to Code! A series of posts on emerging IT skills for librariansThis post is Number 1 of 8 in a series arising from a presentation at the New Librarians Symposium 8 on 25 June 2017 in Canberra.<br />
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The presentation is called "But I don't want to code! Three emerging IT skills for librarians (other than coding) and how to start developing them". My original pitch for this session was:<br />
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There is a lot of interest in coding right now, but coding is just one of many IT skills that could be relevant in your future career. This session is aimed at tech-savvy new professionals who want to increase their employability by combining library and IT skills, but may not be aware of the variety of skillsets within the IT profession and how these can be applied. You will be introduced to the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), an IT industry competency framework used in over 200 countries. The session will then look at three IT skills you could apply in libraries and other GLAM contexts: business process improvement, change management, and user experience analysis. Case studies of librarians practising these skills as part of their roles will be included, along with pointers to professional development pathways (with a focus on no- or low-cost options).</blockquote>
You can view the slides now on Speakerdeck and these will also be available for download via the NLS8 Figshare collection (to be published in July).<br />
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I knew there would be much more content on this topic than could possibly be included in the 20-minute talk at the event. These blog posts provide further reading and links to professional development options, so that attendees can follow up and also so people unable to attend NLS8 have an opportunity to access the content.<br />
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Posts will be coming out daily starting on Sunday 25 June, which is the day I'll be presenting at NLS8. The contents of the full series will be:
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<ol>
<li>Overview (this post)</li>
<li>There's more to IT than coding - an IT skills framework</li>
<li>Introducing user experience</li>
<li>Q&A with a librarian about user experience</li>
<li>Introducing change management</li>
<li>Q&A with a librarian about change management</li>
<li>Introducing business process analysis</li>
<li>Q&A with a librarian about business process improvement</li>
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Thank you to the organisers of NLS8 for proving me with the opportunity to present this work!Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3054723014519811017.post-9556654724457224752017-03-31T13:38:00.000+10:002017-03-31T13:38:16.477+10:00March GLAM Blog Club: What I Wish They Taught Me in GLAM School (business process improvement)<i>The lovely <a href="https://newcardigan.org/">New Cardigan</a> community for gallery / library / archive / museum (GLAM) professionals has launched <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GLAMblogclub">#glamblogclub</a>, suggesting a monthly topic to encourage Australian GLAM folk to write something regularly. March's prompt is What I Wish They Taught Me in GLAM School. </i><div>
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I need to preface my response to this topic by saying that I'm just not into complaining about what I didn't get taught in library school and I dislike it when others do too. I can't imagine how hard it is to design and deliver curricula that try to meet the diverse needs of graduates and employers across so many different sectors in an industry that is subject to such a fast pace of change. I have a lot of respect for academics working in increasingingly casualised and market-driven universities to provide librarians of the future with a solid base from which they can (and must) continue to build the skills and knowledge that they will need to succeed in any one particular job or sector. The Library Loon <a href="https://gavialib.com/category/library-education/">writes often and well about the pressures on LIS educators</a> which include constant (and often ill-informed) criticism of things that "should" be part of library courses. As professional practitioners we need to move beyond our own limited experience of the study that we have done and to be more aware of how difficult it is to get programs of study designed, endorsed internally and externally accredited. Some empathy with the hard-working people that undertake this labour for the greater good of our profession would go a long way, particularly at a time when <a href="https://www.alia.org.au/qut-lis-students">their own futures may be uncertain</a>. </div>
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In any case if there were one skill I think I could have applied in almost every job I've done, one thing that had I learned it early on would have made me a better librarian, it would not be specific to GLAMs but is something far more generic: business process improvement.</div>
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The <a href="https://www.sfia-online.org/en/sfia-6/skills/strategy-architecture/business-strategy-and-planning/business-process-improvement">Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) definition</a> for this is:</div>
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The analysis of business processes, including recognition of the potential for automation of the processes, assessment of the costs and potential benefits of the new approaches considered and, where appropriate, management of change, and assistance with implementation. </blockquote>
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I'll be <a href="http://nls8.com/program/session-outlines/#butid">talking about this at the New Librarians Symposium in June</a> so I don't want to drill into too much detail here. I will just say that <i>every </i>librarian - regardless of position, level or sector - carries out work that could be documented and analysed systematically in order to improve the way it's done. Library processes are full of unnecessary manual handling, duplication, kludges and workarounds (often but not always due to crappy technical systems) that over time morph into "but we've always done it that way". We all intuit that things in our workplaces could be improved and many of us make our best efforts to change things, but we might be more effective in this if we looked outside GLAM school to the other disciplines that provide methods and tools for just this kind of work. </div>
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Sam Searlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12735776354615062003noreply@blogger.com