LGBT History Source Guide

Sheffield Libraries, Archives & Local Studies have been nominated for an award for "support and positive contribution to Sheffield's Lesbian and Gay Community'. This is to reflect their work with a number of partners on an LGBT History Source Guide (one of the largest such guides from a local authority archive and library service in the country), for giving talks to the Spring Out conference, the SCC LGBT Officer Group and the Sheffield PCT Officer Group and for their work in actively acquiring material to add to collections to help ensure that they reflect the diverse makeup of the city.
The award will be made at the annual 'Spring Out' LGB community event in June, which is organised by the Centre for HIV and Sexual Health and SHOUT! with the aim of providing people with the opportunity to take part in discussions and workshops which promote the health and well being of LGB communities across the Sheffield area. For more information contact Pete Evans, Archives and Local Studies Manager 203 9397.

Library services for Deaf people

I recently had a meeting with Richard Stacey and Nick Havard about how libraries are meeting the needs of the Deaf community. This discussion arose from the Deaf awareness workshops that SINTO ran. We were interested not just in making libraries accessible to d/Deaf people but also in exploring how far libraries provide for the information and cultural needs of this community. The point here is that deafness is not just a disability. Many Deaf people (especially British Sign Language users) see themselves as s linguistic and cultural minority whose needs are not recognised by mainstream society.

This is illustrated by some recent issues. There has been controversy about Deaf parents who want to have deaf children (here). Genetic screening means that deafness could be screened out, but should Deaf parents be able to screen for deafness? And what about cures for deafness such as cochlear implants or recent developments in stem cell treatment for deafness at the University of Sheffield. Is this any different to attempting to to "cure" homosexuality or Barak Obama's story about skin bleaching in "Dreams of my father"?

This is not a rhetorical question. Perhaps it is different. The point I am making is that some Deaf people do see themselves as a cultural and linguistic group and libraries should provide for them on that basis.

One issue we discussed is whether there is a category of BSL "literature" that libraries should stock or provide access to? The Sign Bytes project makes the point that:

Deaf people who use BSL as a first or preferred language however are able to
access very little information in their own language. The reason for this has
not been any sort of malice on the part of hearing society, rather it has simply
been because there is no written form of BSL (or indeed of any other sign
language).

Sign Bytes is providing access to information in BSL but these is a limited amount of BSL literature. One example is the series of videos produced by Deaf Educate .

I have a personal interest in this. My aunt Dorothy Miles was a sign language poet and playwrite. I am very aware that libraries have many competing demands on their resources especially in the area of social inclusion but I would like to see the Deaf community and their needs given a little more attention. I am hoping to organise a seminar to discuss this with the SINTO Social Inclusion group later this summer. If you are interested please contact me.

I have also produced a list of Deaf organisations and websites.

Assistive Technology for Libraries

Affinity Supreme electronic magnifier

This week SINTO ran a half-day seminar on Assistive Technology for libraries. In this event we looked at technical fixes - hardware and software - that could be used in libraries to help deaf people and people with visual impairments to access library materials.

Emma Arnold from JISC TechDis gave a presentation on the TechDis Accessibility Essentials series of publications. The first of these - making Electronic Documents More Readable - gives practical information about how the appearance of a document on the screen can be changed to suit the needs of the person reading it. It covered Microsoft Word documents, PDF documents in Adobe Acrobat Reader and webpages in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. We picked up many useful hints - for example I did not realise that the Adobe Acrobat Reader can convert text into spoken words.

Next Tony Shrubb of Force Ten Co demonstrated software that can be installed on PCs to improve accessibility and displayed the latest in text magnifiers and text readers.

During the seminar there was a discussion about how well libraries are meeting the needs of people who have problems in accessing standard text. Most libraries do make provision e.g. providing large text and audiobooks and in providing specialist equipment. However it was conceded that awareness and training of front line staff could be a problem and that a user with special needs might not always get access to the services that would help them. Examples were given of library staff who were not aware of what assistive technology was available or how to make best use of it. It was pointed out that training of all staff was expensive in money and time and, as use of these services was often low, it was difficult to maintain staff skills at a high level. On the other hand, the low level of use might be a result of the poor service offered.

I drew attention to a survey of the experiences of blind and visually impaired people using electronic information services in public libraries which supports this view; saying that these access technologies may attract very little use in libraries without significant investment in staff training.

The trouble is that this is only one of many areas where more investment is needed in equipment and staff training. Training events like this one organised by SINTO help to improve the skills and understanding of library staff at the operational level. They also raise awareness of the demand for these services and the technologies that are available to meet this demand. This awareness needs to be disseminated to the users of our services on one side and the decision makers and funders of our services on the other. The expectations of users should be increased and the funders should be challenged to provide for this need.

SINTO is very happy to provide training for library staff but I often wish that SINTO member organisations would work with SINTO to promote this awareness to those people who can make a difference.

More information about access can be found on the SINTO wiki.

Bibliotherapy

Elizabeth Brewster

Last year SINTO set up the SINTO Bob Usherwood Prize to be awarded to a student of the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield. The prize will be awarded to the postgraduate dissertation that makes a significant contribution to improving professional practice or understanding related to co-operation and partnership working across sectors in the SINTO area. The aim of the prize is twofold. First it will to encourage students to explore research topics that would be of value to local professional practice. Second it will encourage practitioners to take more interest in library research in general and the work produced by students from our local "library school" in particular. We wanted to avoid being parochial with this prize so although it will be given to a dissertation that is relevant to practitioners in our area that does not mean that it has to be about our area. This is demonstrated in our first award to Elizabeth Brewster for her dissertation Medicine for the Soul: bibliotherapy and the public library.

Bibliotherapy is using either fiction or non-fiction advisory texts to help people understand and deal with mental and physical health problems, primarily mild mental health difficulties including mild to moderate depression. The research revealed that the scheme Books on Prescription has been widely utilised by libraries as a form of bibliotherapy using self-help books. Librarians often feel that they provide informal bibliotherapy via reader development and readers’ groups. Research was carried out in a number of library authorities including several in our area. The study investigates the experience of bibliotherapy in the public library from the staff perspective. The impact of creative and self-help bibliotherapy are examined, and significant conclusions about the views of public librarians on partnership working, mental health, social inclusion and reader development are presented. The importance of partnership working is highlighted. The health service does not always recognise that the library service has assistance to offer within the sphere of treatment, and so wider publicity and advocacy may be necessary to improve perceptions and relationships. Careful consideration needs to be given to the suitability of potential partners and the timing of projects to ensure that relationships are successful, and are not undermined by external forces, such as the reorganisation of Primary Care Trusts.

Many public library staff felt that bibliotherapy schemes were of great benefit both to patrons of the library, and to the library itself. It was thought that bibliotherapy helps to reduce the stigma connected with mental health problems, as well as contributing to the social inclusion and healthy communities agendas.

Elizabeth concludes that: "Whether it is the pragmatic approach of self-help bibliotherapy, teaching people to cope with emotions and problems, or the journey of self-discovery that can be found within a fiction book recommended by a creative bibliotherapist, libraries have a role in providing the staff, services and structure that can benefit the population. Public library work has always reflected the desire to address the social responsibility inherent in their function, and bibliotherapy schemes have the potential to make a real difference in this respect, providing ‘medicine for the soul’ in diverse and accessible ways to the whole community". The dissertation will be of interest both to those authorities which run a Books on Prescription service and those which don't but are thinking of introducing one.It will also be of interest to anyone involved in partnership working with external agencies on any project. SINTO congratulates Elizabeth on winning the first SINTO Bob Usherwood prize.

For information about other dissertations from the Department of Information Studies go to their Publications database.
The Centre for the Public Library and Information in Society web page has a list of PhD Theses and Students' masters Dissertations relevant to the theme of public libraries and information in society. Many of these are available in full text on-line.

Customer feedback and social inclusion

Anecdotal evidence of what people think about libraries has to be treated with care. As a performance indicator it would be much better to have a figure for the percentage of users who rate the library as "satisfactory" or whatever and then compare the trend for this over several years and with other libraries. Figures could be compared for different age groups or ethnic backgrounds and from this hard management data can be obtained to inform the planning of services.

Anecdotal evidence on the other hand is "soft". It can provide instant feedback and produce a "feel-good" or "feel-bad" response but it is more difficult to extract data that can be used by managers. However its impact should not be underestimated. Good feedback can inspire and motivate staff and it can be a powerful tool to alter the perception of a service among decision makers. Bad feedback can cause alarm bells to ring much more effectively than a slight drop in a percentage figure.

Sheffield Libraries has published more customer feedback from a recent 'Post-it notes' exercise "What does your library mean to you? Comments include:

• Centre of the community


• My children and I have made friends


• Fulfils my curiosity and desire to learn. Without libraries life would be pointless and dull.


• I wouldn't have achieved these results in my studies without the valuable assistance of librarians.


• Helped me rebuild my confidence after a nervous breakdown.

These comments show how libraries contribute to wider "quality of life" issues that are important to local authorities but hard to achieve.

On the down side, I mentioned in my previous post comments I had received about libraries and the Deaf Community. My corespondent has provided further information:

"While I am Deaf, I am very highly literate and so able to use the library fully. I saw for myself the difficulties and barriers Deaf people face for themselves while going into libraries, one says to me - "The library is not for me - it is for hearing people - what's there for me?" - this is just one comment being made to me. I could go on but that will do for now!"

Librarians might respond that libraries provide books and that books can be used by deaf people so what's the problem? The key however is the word Deaf with a capital D. The word deaf indicates lack of hearing while Deaf refers to the Deaf Community - a minority group with its own language (British Sign Language) and culture. See the SINTO wiki page for more details. I think that the complaint here is about a lack of material in libraries in this particular minority language or about this culture.

It may be that the complaint is that libraries are not sufficiently socially inclusive of the Deaf Community - but that brings up a subtle point highlighted recently by Kevin Carey in the October issue of Managing Information. Kevin criticises A Blueprint for Excellence by John Dolan for promoting a social inclusion agenda. His argument is that libraries shouldn't promote any government agenda. Instead they should be completely neutral. He suggests that if libraries promote social inclusion, we might in the future be expected to line up with government policy that was not so liberal. He says that the role of libraries is "giving customers the materials to encourage them to be rampant individualists and leaders of the anti government awkward squad".

I think that Kevin's mistake is to see social inclusion as only a government policy. Some librarians have been promoting social inclusion, often using different terminology, for many years. This is because they have recognised that the quality-of-life benefits that libraries provide are often restricted to certain sections of society and exclude other groups. Social inclusion in libraries is not about promoting the interests of certain groups - that is government policy - but about removing barriers so that everyone can become 'rampant individualists'.

(Photo. Tree in grounds of Sheffield Hallam University Collegiate Crescent. Carl Clayton)

Forthcoming events

The Social Computing event on the 22nd May is filling up rapidly so if you are interested please get your booking in.

There are still plenty of places left on the Deaf Awareness course on the 6th June. I think that this will be a very useful course for all types of libraries. Deaf people may have a low profile as library users as generally they can use our services with fewer problems than say Visually Impaired People or people with mobility problems. There are communication problems which need to be addressed but also this course will show that the Deaf community is a group with its own needs. Social exclusion often arises because of a lack of awareness of the needs of a group. I do hope that libraries in our area will recognise this and will encourage staff to attend this event.

Libraries change lives

Following on from my posting about libraries on You Tube here is news of an initiative from CILIP which I picked up from the Facet Publishing blog.

All the videos of the 2007 Libraries Change Lives finalists are now up on their dedicated Myspace page. I hope you enjoy them and they provide a clearer insight into these fantastic projects.For some reason I found that the clips were very slow to download but they are well worth waiting for.

Looked-after children

According to the latest Government figures there are 1650 children looked after by the four South Yorkshire local authorities and 6370 in Yorkshire & Humber as a whole. This is neither a particularly large (about 5.7% of the age group) nor a cohesive group but it is one than libraries should focus on as part of their social inclusion policies. On the 19th April SINTO is running a seminar with John Vincent and Anne Harding on supporting looked-after children.

This practical course for library and other staff will examine the needs of looked- after children and young people and their carers, and explore strategies for supporting their reading. The objectives are:

· to provide a greater understanding of looked-after children and young people
· to extend awareness of their reading and information needs
· to identify barriers to library use, and to begin to find ways of dismantling these
· to examine strategies for promoting reading effectively
· to consider appropriate resources and methods for exploiting them
· to share good policy and practice and identify ways to develop and sustain them

Background information on looked-after children can be found on the website of The Network . Here you will also find links to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Right-to-read project which was designed to get children in care excited about books.

There are still some places left on this course. If you are interested in attending contact Gilly Pearce in the SINTO office on 0114 225 5740.

New features on SINTO Wiki

The SINTO wiki continues to develop. As I mentioned in my previous post I have created a page for library & learning centre buildings which will focus on new builds and refurbishments in our area. I hope that librarians will use this to share information about new developments.

Also, Gilly Pearce has added a page about the SINTO Social Inclusion Group and one on the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. This lists information about events and activities in our area and nationally. We hope it will be a useful source of information for anyone working on similar projects and that people will add information about what they are doing.

I hope that everyone reading this will circulate the information to their colleagues and also that you will register with the site and encourage your colleagues to do the same. The wiki is intended to be a facility for the entire community of library workers in the area