Friday 30 May 2008

Teaching and Training Tips for Librarians

I am happy to respond to a request from the CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside Branch and Career Development Group Yorkshire & Humberside to promote one of their forthcoming events. If you are interested in this please contact Andrew Walsh and not the SINTO office.

Teaching and Training Tips for Librarians

Wednesday 23 July 2008, University of Huddersfield. 9:15-16:30

CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside Branch and Career Development Group Yorkshire & Humberside invite you to attend this one day workshop, aimed at those involved in teaching within a library setting in all sectors. An excellent opportunity to learn new skills and share ideas and experiences.

Programme Overview
9:15-9:30 Registration/Tea,Coffee.
9:30-9:40 Welcome and Introduction
9:40-10:40 Crosswords, library bingo and quizzes: getting more active learning into our teaching.
10:40-11:00 Refreshments
11:00-12:00 Creativity in Teaching
12:00-13:00 Enquiry Based Learning
13:00-13:45 Lunch
13:45-14:15 Lesson Planning
14:15-15:30 Group Activity (includes refreshments)
15:30-16:15 Poster Promenade
16:15-16:30 Question & Answer session/close

£50 +VAT (£58.75) per delegate for CILIP Members
£70 +VAT (£82.25) per delegate for Non-CILIP Members
Places are limited to 25, advanced booking is essential. A booking form must be completed to ensure a place.

For a booking form contact Andrew Walsh a.p.walsh@hud.ac.uk University of Huddersfield, Computing & Library Services, CSB, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH. Tel. 01484 472052

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Flamboyant librarians

The screening of the Hollywood Librarian on the 19th June has attracted bookings from over 100 librarians and friends of librarians. There is no official collective noun for information professionals but a stack of librarians seems to fit the bill.

Most of the audience appears to be library staff who are interested in seeing how the profession is represented on the big screen. I had hoped that some heads of service would take the opportunity of inviting their senior management or elected members along to the film as a way of promoting the service but I have no indication that this is happening. We don't often get the opportunity to promote the value of libraries and it would be a pity if this was not grasped with both hands.

On the tickets for this screening I have said that the dress code is "flamboyant librarian". This is not to be take too seriously - I know that most people will be coming directly from work and will not have an opportunity to dress up - but it would be nice if people could use the Hollywood theme to chalenge the usual image of librarians, even if it just among ourselves. There will be a small prize for the most flamboyant librarian on the night.

Friday 16 May 2008

Skills - new and old.

At the Library and Information Show, Roy Clare and John Dolan of MLA both made the point that public libraries needed to be fully engaged with the digital environment and Web 2.0.

Some forthcoming events from SINTO will help library and information services in our region to respond to this challenge.

The SINTO Members' Day on the 12th June asks "Why do we do what we do?" Do we have the evidence that proves that what we do is meeting the needs of our users or is the most effective use of our resources? This day will look at how research can inform professional practice. Keynote speakers are Dr Ian Rowlands, author of Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future and Juliet Eve of the University of Brighton with a presentation Academics are from Mars, practitioners are from Venus.

Advanced Internet searching led by Stephanie Taylor on the 17th June will cover what is a core skill for all information professionals. This course will examine techniques that will enable staff to find relevant and authoritative information efficiently. Stephanie Taylor will take delegates through the latest search tools and techniques. Each person will have their own PC for hands-on practice. This is the Google Generation but information professionals need to be ahead of the field.. We must be better at finding information tham our users.

And just because we have to embrace the new does not mean we abandon the old. A Brief Introduction to Cataloguing and Classification on the 3rd June covers another core skill in information handling.

Contact the SINTO office for more information.

Thursday 1 May 2008

Hollywood Librarian comes to Sheffield


SINTO has organised a screening of The Hollywood Librarian for Thursday 19th June at 6.15pm


The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film is the first full-length documentary film to focus on the work and lives of librarians. Using the entertaining and appealing context of American movies, the film contains hundreds of examples of librarians and libraries on screen -- some positive, some negative, some laughable and some dead wrong. Films such as Sophie's Choice, Philadelphia and It's a Wonderful Life show librarians as negative stereotypes. The librarians in Lorenzo's Oil, Desk Set and The Shawshank Redemption, on the other hand, are competent and professional. Dozens of interviews of real librarians are interwoven with movie clips of cinematic librarians and serve as transitions between the themes of censorship, intellectual freedom, children and librarians, pay equity and funding issues, and the value of reading.

The Hollywood Librarian is a unique and charming blend of film clips, humour and critical analysis of the popular image of librarians. It creates a new-found empathy for the profession by revealing the diversity of individual librarians and the importance of what they do.


The screening will take place in the Pennine lecture theatre at Sheffield Hallam University. Doors open at 6pm. Admission will be by ticket only. There is no charge but we are asking for a donation of about £5. Some of the proceeds will go to the film's director Ann Seidl, who has not charged for screenings but is collecting money to fund a DVD release. The remainder will go to SINTO to cover our costs and to the Library Campaign charity.


This should be an entertaining and inspiring event for library staff but I also hope that libraries will take the opportunity of inviting "friends of libraries" - and those who should be a bit more friendly towards libraries.