I don’t normally pass on the email joke but…

I recieved this in an email at work today and it did make me chuckle a little…

EU Directive No. 456179

In order to meet the conditions for joining the Single European currency, all citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland must be made aware that the phrase ‘Spending a Penny’ is not to be used after 31st December 2009.

From this date, the correct terminology will be: ‘Euronating’.

Thank you for your attention.

I’ve been jotting down a few blogging ideas so a proper update on the exciting life of theatregrad and libraries coming very soon!

4 more sleeps till Christmas!

Well not really but it feels like it.  I actually have 4 more sleeps until I finish work for the year and go home for Christmas which is just as exciting!

The academic term here finished over a week ago now so it’s been a lot less hectic, giving me a chance to catch up with the growing piles of shelving that needed doing.  I’ve had plenty of time to make some progress with my project.  The planning is going well and the library has just aquired a shiny new laptop in the shape of a Lenovo Thinkpad, which I will be able to use to make the ‘podlets’.  Just trying to get as much storyboarding etc done now so I can start getting creative on my return in January.  In fact playing with a new laptop and making pretty multimedia things might make January that little bit less depressing.  I never look forward to those first few weeks of January!

Had my end of year/halfway point review meeting earlier with a HR manager, was only brief and just the usual you’d expect from a personell type meeting.  We spoke a bit about what I’ve been doing here and how I’m finding the work and the people as well as about my plans for next year.  I think she could probably tell how stressed I am about the plans for next year.  Just mentioning the subject is like opening a giant can of xxx stress flavoured worms…

I think I will save the joys of ‘library school’ and the future until next time!

Project, Project & more Project

My project seems to be taking over my life at work this week.  It’s very quiet at the moment, probably because everyone is either winding down to Christmas or just getting on with things in a very self-sufficient way. so I’ve been filling my days with project work. A few weeks back I wrote a post about the trouble I was having getting started so now I’m pleased to report that things are underway…

As part of my graduate trainee scheme we are all supposed to work on a project of our own chosing, that we think will benefit our library and its readers in some way.  Initally this sounded very scary but I managed to find myself something to do with less stress than anticipated.  I’m working on creating an FAQ for our website, as we currently don’t have one and being a kind of student myself I know that many students like the convience of an all the info in one place FAQ page approach.

Being a blogging fan I have decided to document my project with a blog.

Not a soul to wave to on the wave

Google sent me an invite to the googlewave a couple of weeks ago (a bit behind the times I know, but hey ho!) so I activiated my account and have not used it since. Why, well until yesterday I had no googlewave friends to wave to.   Nobody. Not a soul.  Yesterday a good friend was moaning on facebook about not having many wave contacts so we exchanged details.  Still haven’t had a chance to play as she hasn’t been online yet.  Anyway I doubt how much I will use it,  I’m always logged into msn at home and barely chat to anyone except the boyfriend and a couple of others now and then.  After all we now have facebook chat for that! Google tell me there are many wonderful things that I can achieve with the wave.  But I probably won’t.  Not for now anyway.  I have no school project to work on and I don’t really attend buisness meetings or need it for work.  I can see how it might be useful for group work at university or school, but everyone would need to be on it for it to work.  At the moment it seems nobody is on it.  Either that or nobody wants to admit to having it.  Or we are all just stuck in our old ways and don’t feel the need to use anything different right now.

The Smallest Library Title Goes To…

This morning I came across the wonderful story of possibly the smallest library in the country on the When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Librarian blog, a Somerset village community have adopted the old village phone box and transformed it into a lending library.  It’s extremely simple too, people donate unwanted books, DVDs and CDs to the phone box and then borrow anything that takes their fancy.

Sounds like a fantastic way for the community to maintain some sort of library service within the village (the mobile library service was cancelled a few months ago)  and also preserve a classic symbol of Britishness in the process.  Small rural village communities are often cut off from many public services and for those without transport visiting a library can be difficult.  In the wake of the recession, have come increased budget cuts and financial pressure for local authorities and the needs of certain communities can be neglected.   I wonder if the public phone box library might spark a trend amongst similar rural communities across the country where library services are being cut and people are left without?

The Shush Issue

The shush debate is rife in the world of libraries once more, the Quiet, please article from Times Higher Education by Kevnin Sharpe has been blogged about everywhere (including by the Oxford Trainees, Woodsiegirl and thewikiman)so I’m probably quite late and behind the times but anyone who knows me will know that noise in libraries is a massive bug bear of mine.

Essentially the article deals with the recent and ever increasing trend to transform university libraries from places of silent scholarly learning to centres of group work (aka rowdy socialising) With more computer terminals has come the end of silence as for apparently writing an essay at a computer terminal does not require the same respect for decent noise levels as sitting at a desk with a pen. The function of a university library is changing.  This change is something I witnessed during my undergraduate degree; over my time at university the library was physically reburbished and I believe the ethos of the library service underwent a bit of refurbishment too. In came web 2.0 in all its twittering facebooking blogging glory.  The library transformed from a place where you could find a book to read to a place where you could meet to discuss and debate, buy coffee and cake whilst rehersing a presentation or attending a seminar.  Out went half of the traditional quiet study desks and in came the bright sofas and chairs with wheels.

Beacause it is a wonderful library but hard to describe here is some much needed photographic representation, thanks to a photographer friend Nathan for the photographs:

The old section of the library, complete with books and a quiet policy. Original Image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanbarrow/3525807734/in/set-72157618038854556/

The new look ground floor, a flexible workspace designed for group study. Original image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanbarrow/3525000243/in/set-72157618038854556/

A reading room for the 21st century student. Original image:http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanbarrow/3525000577/in/set-72157618038854556/

As you can see from the photographs, it is a fantastic bright modern attractive learning enviroment.  The newly refurbished sections look like a lot more fun than the older areas like that in the first image. But does should libraries look like fun?  The library service did have most of these typess of facilities avaliable when I first started but seperate from the central library, in a wonderful place called the Learning Grid. Open 24/7 and staffed by student helpers rather than librarians it was the home of electronic whiteboards, sofas, computers and hardly any books.  I suppose it must have proved such a successful model that the library couldn’t resist implementing the same style in the central building, so one summer we returned to find the library different. I can’t deny it was rather exciting and novel at first. Having somewhere to go eat lunch and read a library book without leaving the building was fantastic but of course there were drawbacks….

Noise. Noise was the drawback. Noise in a university library is sadly hard to police these days. The library staff have no power other than to remind people of the rules right?  You are allowed to eat and talk and work in whatever informal manner you desire on floors 1 & 2. Great, but it creeps up the building.  People start eating thier lunch on floor 3 which is supposed to be quiet and food free. They start chatting to friends and taking little social breaks in the middle of working. The noise escalates and becomes a problem.  But having group work spaces is essential for students and it is probably appropriate for so much library space to be given over to it, especially at Warwick where many of the courses are increasingly focused on group projects and presentations to prepare students for the working world.   As a commentator on the Organising Chaos blog suggested, perhaps university libraries are preparing students for working in an open plan noisy office enviroment by establishing open plan noisy library enviroments. Students at Warwick seem to love working in the open plan noisy spaces. For most what’s not to love?  You can chat, take phone calls, eat, drink and all from the comfort of a lovely sofa. It’s a home from home. In fact I suspect many love it because they feel they have had a productive day if they’ve been in the library all day when in fact it hasn’t been much different to lounging around at home. Of course that is the cynic within me, such spaces also mean practising for a presentation or working on a group project is much easier. You no longer need to squash into a bedroom or attempt to book a study room. The new improved library makes life better for all. Or does it?

Personally I like a quiet space. Come exam time if you so much as breathe too loudly near me in a library you should fear for you life.  During the revision period for finals I became so obsessed with seeking silence that I started policing the library myself. Nobody else was doing it.  A poor unfortunate guy chose to sit near me the day he wanted to eat crisps. I’m going to put up with crisp munching spoling the peace of the quiet zone so as the first McCoy entered his mouth my mouth opened.  I’ve been known to move seats a million times. I’ve even given up and gone home because the library was just too frustrating. Don’t even get me started on couples who should have just stayed in bed, they are the worst offenders.

So is there a solution to the noise problem? Libraries can’t go back to being silent places, like those described by Sharpe in his article, except for maybe in the few places where silence still rules the library . It just wouldn’t work for this generation of students and the way university is geared up as a stepping stone into the corporate world.  Anyway it’s not what students want, evident by the empty state of silent reading rooms (well the ones at Warwick weren’t exactly packed anyway) But perhaps Sharpe is right when he says that “we need to restore the library to its vital role as a “learning environment” – a quiet haven of independent study removed from the cacophony of everyday life.”  Sometimes I wonder if Warwick went a step too far when they decided to bring all the wonderful facilities of its Learning Grid into the central library…perhaps physical seperation is key to a library service that suits everybody.

the trouble with starting…

I always have trouble with starting things. Many years ago it was trouble starting to tidy my room or do my homework, then as I grew a bit older it was trouble getting up in the mornings and then university it was trouble starting reading and coursework.  I am a champion procrastinator! All week at work I’ve attempted to get started with planning my project.  Having ideas and thinking about it hasn’t been a problem, it’s the write things down in a proper plan and start doing it part that never seems to happen. I have made a few small steps though, I started a blog to document my project and I’ve many bits of paper with ideas scribbled all over them.  Procrastination in the work sense is rife, I’ve been happy to get on with every other job in the office, all to put off  having to make a proper start.  I never realised there was a work equivalent of making endless cups of tea, tidying your room and stalking people on Facebook!

Today however I started to type up my first project related document, it’s nothing fancy, just a list of potential topics to cover and reasons why they would be good.  It’s small but its a start.   Procrastination I will beat you and my project will win! I’m starting to realise that doing a dissertation last year was actually very good experience when it comes to this kind of thing. Essentially my dissertation was a project that I managed and completed on my own; I had to plan my time, set targets and deadlines, research and create output.  Written down like that it is actually very similar.

So thinking back to my dissertation I had so many similar problems getting started with it, just like I am now with this project.  Why? What exactly is the problem? Well I think I’m afraid of starting because I don’t know where I’m going yet. So I need a plan.  I think I’m also worried that it won’t be right.  Of course it won’t be right straightaway, that never happens.   If I accept the fact that its ok to start with something and end up with something completely different I will make some progress.  The best advice I ever received at university was from my personal tutor; she said to just start writing and not to stop until the page was full because nothing is more inhibiting to the writer than an empty page.  Same goes for creating something like a performance or a piece of art, you just have to go and do something so then you have something to reflect on. You can’t make nothing better!

And that’s what I’m doing now….just writing down ideas as the start of a very rubbish plan. At least when I have something I can mould it into a more professional looking plan.

Reading Habits

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Depends whether I’m hungry or not. Usually I don’t though.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

leisure reading I don’t mark the book because I don’t need to but for study I am guilty of highlighting and note making only on my own copies though.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Usually dog-ears. I’m not fussy on book preservation!

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Fiction though I am partial to a good biography or humourous politics book (think Boris Johnson or Paxman)

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hardcopy, I don’t own an mp3 player so audiobooks are very unpractical!

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

I stop when I need to stop unless the book is particulary gripping.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

Not normally, I just pass over it unless it would be essential to know the word.

What are you currently reading?

Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads is my current staff room read and I also have Nicholas Crane’s Two Degrees West A Walk Along England’s Meridian and London’s Theatres by Mike Kilburn on my desk from the bookstack.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

I’m the type of person who gets bored with a book and starts another before the other is finished.  I have left a trail of unfinished books through the landscape of my life.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

Trains are nice places to read. Not too good at bedtime reading anymore because I just fall asleep whilst the staffroom is too distracting for lunchtime reading these days.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

Most of the time I tend to find an author and read lots of thier books. I am a huge fan of the Jasper Fforde books for example and keep reading them.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Jasper Fforde! Ooh and Making History by Stephen Fry.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I don’t...they just get put on the shelves in any random order.

Podcasting

I attended a presentation plus q&a session earlier this week about podcasting and its place within an educational institution.  I wrote a short blog post about it for our graduate trainee scheme blog so I won’t write another. Instead I will link you to my post like this….http://oxfordtrainees.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/podcasting-at-oxford/

 

No time for blogging!

It’s been an extremely busy week at the library and I’ve had so much to do that there has been no time for blogging but at least I’ve learnt lots.

This week I…

• Took the opportunity to man the main enquiry desk in the reading room.  Normally the more experienced members of staff automatically sit here,  which makes sense because it’s the main point of enquiry.  This means that most of the time I’m on the reserve desk wanding the most in demand books out to readers for use in the library.  The rest of the time I’m sitting at an other desk in the reading room waiting to help out when things get busy.  My time on the main desk was uneventful but it did instill quite the feeling of power!
• Helped a faculty member with a citation enquiry. A great task to get involved with and a lot like playing detective.  A faculty member needed the citations for some 19th century law reports checking, so I used both Westlaw and our own print copies of the texts to verify her information.  In the process I gained so much knowledge about legal citations and got some much needed legal database practice.
• Started thinking about my project for this year. As part of the graduate trainee scheme here we have to pick a project that will enhance our library in some way. My library is quite big on utilising Web2.0 so I’ve been strongly encouraged to follow  this path. I have joined the web team and the outcome of this weeks meeting was a project for me.  I’m going to develop an multimedia FAQ for the library with little videos and sound bites as the answers to questions such as ‘How can I find a book?’ and ‘Where can I search the library catalogue?’.  I think it will be a very enriching project for this library as the website currently has little in the way of easy to access information.  New students really have to search to find answers to their questions and most probably don’t bother.  My library could greatly benefit from a more student focused FAQ, like Warwick University Library, which offers and excellent example of an FAQ page.
• Plus all the other routine tasks such as new book shelving, book labelling, document delivery, assisting with email enquiries, reading room duties, reading list checking and automated stack request book processing.

So that was my week. Now I have 25 minutes left to go before I leave early for an afternoon off and weekend in Leicester with old housemates. Can’t wait…