Speaking up for libraries

I have been listening to the Radio Sheffield interview with Mayor Peter Davies (Items at 0:59:24, 1:05:20 and 1:25:46.) I don't intend to comment on his plans for volunteers to run several branch libraries. What was clear was that Mayor Davies has little appreciation of the value of libraries - he regards them as a cost rather than as a benefit. He also has a very low opinion of the value of professional librarians. He says he can't understand why you need professional staff to stamp out books. His view is that running a library is a simple task that can be performed by volunteers with no training and that "things are made mysterious" by librarians.

Now I think we should all stand still and take a few deep breaths....  is that better?

So, why would the leader of a local authority take this view (and let's face it, he is not unique in his views although the style in which he expresses them is quite special). Most librarians would say that he does not understand - that he has not got the message. So why is this?

If you have studied communication theory you will know that for communication to happen you need a sender who develops and encodes the message, a channel of communication and a receiver who decodes the message. A failure of communication can result from a fault by the sender, a fault by the receiver or problems with the channel (noise). In this case one suspects that the receiver is unable or unwilling to decode and understand the message. Several reasons can be suggested for this - many of which will involve criticism of the receivers intelligence, personality or politics. Listening to the interview it is clear that Mayor Davies feels that he must find savings, has identified the library budget as a source of saving (albeit a very small percentage of the whole) and is not interested in discussing the details.

However, just because we can blame the failure of communication on the receiver does not mean that the sender has no responsibilities. The case for the library service and the role of professional staff has not been made successfully and as professionals we have to ask ourselves why this has happened. Do we have any responsibility ourselves, as the senders of the message, for this failure? Could we have done any better?

This is where advocacy skills come into the picture. Librarians are, I think, generally good at doing what they do but are not good at blowing their own trumpet - at convincing people of the value and impact of what they do. As Mayor Davies pointed out - we tend to 'make things mysterious' instead. All library services need people with advocacy skills to sell the service to their 'power people'.

In a commercial organisation, if you are good at doing what you do then you please your customers and they pay for your service. In a public service like libraries you still have to please your customers but they do not pay directly. The people who do pay are not receiving your service directly. That is why we need advocacy.

SINTO is running two workshops on advocacy. Gaining support and influence: an introduction to advocacy shows how a planned approach to advocacy can put your library in a strong position. This course is for librarians with responsibility for speaking out about the value of their service.
Measuring and communication impact: advanced advocacy takes advocacy a step further. It looks at ways of raising the profile of your organisation by making sure you demonstrate how it already plays a part in the delivery of key policy agendas.

Having advocacy skills does not guarantee success but not having these skills will probably contribute to failure.

Training budgets are so 2010

There has been a great deal of speculation about what effect cuts to library services will have on training budgets. Many people think that it will range from bad to catastrophic - but I see no point in being so optimistic.

The point is that training budgets are so last year darling! The idea that there is a certain sum of money set aside by libraries to provide for the training needs of staff is not only outmoded it is positively dangerous.

For too many librarians, training is seen as part of something called Continuing Professional Development. The idea is that each year you have an appraisal interview with your staff so see how they are doing. As part of this you ask them to identify their training needs - hat they would like to do to develop their skills and knowledge. You then make a list of these needs and see how much can be covered from the training budget. You then go shopping to see which of these needs can be met from the programmes offered by training providers.

The trouble now is that library budgets are being slashed and anything left in a "training budget" is likely to be minute. However, this misses the point. Training budgets are a waste of time. They should be abolished and the money moved to a central library budget. CPD is dead.

What libraries need to do is to ask themselves what their core role is. They need to decide what it is they should be doing and how they can deliver this. In many cases this will involve doing different things, doing them in different ways and doing them with different people.

To achieve this libraries must ensure that they have in place staff with the skills that are needed to deliver these new things. Replacing old staff who don't have the required skills with new staff who do have these skills is one option - but not a very cost effective one. A better approach is workforce development - ensuring that your staff are given the skills and knowledge that you as a library service need. This is not about providing training from a separate training budget it is about providing core skills from the core library budget. After all there is no point in spending any money at all on books, buildings or equipment if your workforce does not have the skills to deliver the service.

Of course, the skills you want to provide your workforce with might be exactly the skills that they want to gain as part of their own CPD - but that is beside the point.

A final point is that you can no longer afford to go shopping for courses that are being offered by training providers. You have to work with providers to deliver exactly the skills that you need. Its a buyer's market by the way. Squeeze them on price as much as you like but remember if they starve to death then you won't have a provider at all.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year?

Photo. Sheffield Botanic Gardens in the snow by Jean Morton. I would like to wish all SINTO members and other friends of SINTO a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. The first part of this objective is achievable. It's the holiday season and I hope that most of you have a good time. The second part is more problematic and I suspect that few librarians are anticipating a prosperous or particularly happy time in 2011 especially in the public library sector.

As it is Xmas, let's open some presents. This Dickensian pastiche A Library Christmas Carol from the Wikiman is amusing with an optimistic message - "The only way to predict the future is to make it happen, Scrooge".

A less welcome present is the Public Library News blog - a survey of public libraries under threat in the UK compiled by Ian Anstice. It may not be what you want to find in your stocking but we have to have the big picture and stay connected.

My third present is newly elected CILIP Vice President Phil Bradley. Again, he may not be what you want to find under the tree on Christmas morning but read his blog Librarians: a thought experiment. This gives a vision of a professional body that fights for libraries and librarians but (like the Wikimans's story) warns against adopting a "victim mentality". It is all about librarians doing something positive for themselves.

And my final gift is SINTO itself. Let's make it clear, I am not suggesting that SINTO can solve your problems. The only person who can do that is you, together with your colleagues. What SINTO can do is to bring you all together and give you the skills and knowledge to deal with the challenges we will all face.

To welcome you into the New Year the SINTO gift pack contains the following events:

• Sources of health information. Key information skills to enable your library service meet the information needs of your community
• Display techniques for libraries. Selling your services with eye-catching displays
• Delivering a proactive library service. Get staff out from behind the desk to interact with users.
• Library Campaigns. An executive briefing taking a realistic look at our relationship with campaigners.
• Next Generation 12. A year long management development course for only £500.

I don't know if 2011 will be a happy year for SINTO. We will have to share the pain experienced by our membership but while we survive we will fight.

With warmest regards

Carl Clayton
Director SINTO

Leadership development

Leadership development into practice - the Apprentice for librarians!

Do you have staff who have the potential to be the senior managers and leaders of tomorrow?
Do you want to develop their skills and confidence to prepare them for this role in the future?
Would you like to develop a framework to improve customer service?

Elenore Fisher (Rotherham Library Museums & Arts) and I have developed an innovative proposal to help library services achieve these goals. Using elements of "The Apprentice" (but without Sir Allen), this project will develop planning, team working and leadership skills through participation in a practical project.

Libraries would be invited to nominate staff members to take part in a cross-SINTO project group. The group would be set the task of producing a workable "mystery shopper" programme for libraries. This could incorporate a number of elements, from setting the remit/outcomes of the project, to working on specifications for mystery shopping templates, training of staff to take part, organising and evaluating the "visits" and coming up with proposals for actions.

Project members would attend a series of meetings and set up on-line facilities for communication and project development. They would be given a deadline to produce a final report.
This is a development exercise and project members would be encouraged to use self-evaluation and reflective learning techniques. At the same time their work would be monitored by an external observer. Feedback and mentoring would be provided during and after the exercise.

This project is currently in development but I am inviting expressions of interest from SINTO member organisations. Let me know if:
a) You are interested in the project as described
b) You are not interested in mystery shopping but would like to use this format for another project.

Depending on the feedback we will work this proposal up into a project that could be run early next year.

Legal information

"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."

Librarians tend to be aware of the importance of these lines by Pope. We may not know a lot about the subjects we deal with but we do know that there is a lot to know. That's one reason why we tend to be cynical about about tools such as Wikipedia. It's not that it is wrong, it's just that it is a very shallow draught.

This applies especially to subjects such as medicine and law. It could be dangerous (or at least expensive) to become intoxicated by a shallow understanding of these subjects. As a result librarians tend to be wary about providing this information. On the other hand there is clearly an obligation on public libraries to provide users with access to good quality sources of information. Citizens have a right to the information they need to make informed decisions.

In an article in Legal Information Management in 2007 (1) I pointed out that that although there is no shortage of on-line legal information resources it can still be difficult for many people to get access to the information they need through public libraries. This is the topic that will be addressed by the SINTO training day Sources of legal information and advice for a general reference library. Librarians from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University will be providing a guide to sources of information with a focus on free and on-line resources. The day will begin with an introduction to the English legal system so that delegates can understand the context and will finish with a presentation from the Sheffield Law Centre about legal advice services. The day will also be useful to librarians in academic and other specialist libraries who want a general introduction to the subject. More information can be fond here.

Reference librarians in public libraries have always needed to be generalists but they do need to have specialist knowlege as well. This SINTO course will enable them to drink deep from the Pierian spring.


1. Clayton, C. Too much information... nor any drop to drink. Legal Information Management 7(2007) pp101-103 Link

Training in Leeds

A few years ago there existed a group called the Consortium which was organised by Sally Gibbs, then of Leeds Metropolitan University. It organised training events for library staff. Sally left Leeds Met and the Consortium ceased to operate.
I am keen to resurect the Consortium under the aegis of SINTO. The idea is that librarians in Leeds should get together and plan training events which would then be administered by SINTO. What I need from Leeds librarians is:

1. Ideas for events to meet the needs of librarians in Leeds
2. Help with providing venues
3. Help in identifying speakers, especially local experts

SINTO would book the rooms and speakers, circulate publicity and take the bookings.

I have written to my contacts at Leeds University, Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds Public Libraries and am looking forward to their response. If there is anyone else in the Leeds area who would like to get involved, get in touch.

Change is the law of life.

The Managing Change seminar that we were planning to run last year and then had to postpone has now been rescheduled. It will be held on Wednesday 24th March 2010. This is a repeat of the blog posted last year.

Change is the law of life". This quote by JF Kennedy was used by Camila Alire, President of ALA, to introduce her talk to SINTO last year. Whether it is taking advantage of new opportunities or responding to cuts, all organisations have to deal with change, and deal with it in a positive manner.I don't suppose that one could find many information managers today who are not expecting some sort of change, for better or for worse, in their organisation. To help them SINTO is putting on a seminar on the topic of change management.Managing Change is a seminar presented by Peter Lumley, Personnel and Training Consultant, who has led several workshops on the Next Generation management development programme. Change Management is a structured and systematic approach to achieving a sustainable change in human behaviour within an organisation. (Copyright © 2007 Realising Change)There are three different aspects to change management: adapting to change, controlling change and effecting change. This seminar covers all three aspects. It is aimed at staff who are being affected by change, are having to manage change and who are, or will be, leading change. It will look at how we plan, initiate, realize, control and finally stabilize change within our organisations.The objective of the course is to provide an introduction to the principles and processes of managing change and to apply them to some of the changes faced by delegates.This course is offered at the special low price of £70 to SINTO members (£100 non-members). This is an opportunity to provide yourself and your organisation with the skills needed in a changing world.For a booking fom go to the SINTO website or email Sintoenquiry@shu.ac.uk

Change is the law of life.

"Change is the law of life". This quote by JF Kennedy was used by Camila Alire, President of ALA, to introduce her talk to SINTO last month. Whether it is taking advantage of new opportunities or responding to cuts, all organisations have to deal with change, and deal with it in a positive manner.

I don't suppose that one could find many information managers today who are not expecting some sort of change, for better or for worse, in their organisation. To help them SINTO is putting on a seminar on the topic of change management.

Managing Change is a seminar presented by Peter Lumley, Personnel and Training Consultant, who has led several workshops on the Next Generation management development programme. Change Management is a structured and systematic approach to achieving a sustainable change in human behaviour within an organisation. (Copyright © 2007 Realising Change)

There are three different aspects to change management: adapting to change, controlling change and effecting change. This seminar covers all three aspects. It is aimed at staff who are being affected by change, are having to manage change and who are, or will be, leading change. It will look at how we plan, initiate, realize, control and finally stabilize change within our organisations.The objective of the course is to provide an introduction to the principles and processes of managing change and to apply them to some of the changes faced by delegates.

This course is offered at the special low price of £70 to SINTO members (£90 non-members). This is an opportunity to provide yourself and your organisation with the skills needed in a changing world.

For a booking fom go to the SINTO website or email Sintoenquiry@shu.ac.uk

Training for librry and information services. Part 2

The message from this survey is simple. Training is important but budgets are limited and are likely to be cut. Organisations therefore need value for money. The "value" comes from events that meet the workforce development needs of the organisation. The "money" element is that events must be low cost and provided locally.


It seems obvious that the best way of achieving this is through local consortia of libraries working together to commission and provide training events. A consortium can decide on what training is needed and by working together and sharing resources can achieve cost savings. It is improbable that the "free market" could deliver the sort of specialist and tailored training that we need. It follows from this that library and information services should not just see themselves as consumers of training; they need to work together in partnership to ensure that appropriate low cost training can be provided in their area. Libraries need to set up and support local consortia both financially and by being involved in planning and organisation. Most libraries will have a training plan or policy of some sort and this should include a commitment to supporting local consortia.


I do of course have a vested interest. SINTO is a local not-for-profit consortium of library services that provides training activities. We provide a very successful training programme for our local area but I am concerned that cuts in training budgets will make it more difficult to provide a full range of events. I am not asking for support for SINTO as an act of charity but I am saying that if local library services want local low cost provision of training events to continue they need to see this as something they have responsibility for and should be prepared to become involved. They need to help SINTO identify what training is needed by their organisation and then send staff on these events.


SINTO has traditionally operated in the South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire area. We are keen to attract staff and organisations from a wider region to our events but we are also keen to provide events across the whole of the Yorkshire and East Midlands region. Again, this can only be done in partnership with libraries in this region. SINTO would very much like to hear from local consortia of libraries that are keen to develop local provision of training. Any individual library service that would like to join SINTO or take part in our events should also contact me.


Finally, I have been talking about training events in a traditional way but on-line provision of training will be of increasing importance. I am already in discussions with a local training organisation about on-line training packages covering for example the use of Twitter for libraries.


The current recession and spending cuts makes things difficult for our sector but it should make us focus on what we want and how we can achieve it. Library managers need to think about what is in the best interest of their organisation and take steps to achieve this. Local training consortia are part of the solution and should be developed

Training for library and information services

Earlier this year I carried out a survey of Continuing Professional Development and Workforce Development for the library and information services sector in Yorkshire. This originated in a round table meeting that SINTO hosted to discuss the implication of the closure of MLA Yorkshire at the end of 2009. This meeting agreed that the regional provision of LIS training was important and that SINTO could have an expanded role in providing training. It was suggested that SINTO should carry out a mapping exercise to provide some background information.
Financial support for the survey was received from the Yorkshire and Humberside Branch of CILIP but unfortunately Yorkshire Libraries & Information (YLI), the only other regional body in a position to support this, declined to make a contribution. This did limit the time that I was able to devote to this survey and as a result I did not get a response from all of the services I would have liked. However I do feel that the survey has produced significant findings.

I deliberately used the terms Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Workforce Development (WD) as well as the more general Training. CPD and WD cover the same activities but while CPD focuses on the development needs of individuals WD focuses on the needs of the organisation. When piloting the survey it appeared that although people were aware of the distinction they did not regard it as significant.
The overall purpose of the survey was:

• To help LIS services and co-operative bodies understand the overall pattern of provision of training in the region and consider if this meets their needs.
• To help LIS services and individual staff identify providers of training in the region
• To aid providers of training to co-ordinate their provision
• To identify any gaps in provision
  

I interviewed or received survey forms from eleven librarians with responsibility for training in their organisations.
I began by asking respondents about their training budgets. This is more complicated that it might seem! Libraries often have to bid for training funds from a larger institutional budget so there is no set figure. On average people were working within a budget of about £100 per member of staff but there was wide variation. Given that a typical CILIP course in London can cost around £200 or more this obviously does not go very far! Most respondents agreed that funding placed at least some constraint on training provision. The majority said that their budgets had either increased slightly or remained static over the past few years. They reported that training was important to their organisations and were not anticipating significant cuts in budget in the short term. However the survey took place before the recent widespread debate about public spending cuts and I suspect that people are less optimistic now.
As might be expected, all libraries have a similar model for establishing training needs. This consists of appraisals or professional development reviews which establish what staff want and a service development plan which states what the needs of the service are. Senior managers make the final decision based on a balance of these needs and available resources. There was some evidence that the emphasis is shifting away from the needs of individual staff towards the needs of the organisation, but it was stressed that the two were not necessarily in conflict.

There was widespread agreement on the broad priorities for CPD/WD. The top three topics were leadership & management, customer care and IT developments (particularly Web 2.0).

When it came to sourcing training a great deal of generic training e.g. in management skills, was provided by the parent organisation (university or local authority) of the library. However there was a need for training specifically aimed at library staff. The following organisations were used for this training (ranked in order of importance):

• Regional and local library consortia. SINTO was mentioned by most of the respondents.
• CILIP National Groups. CILIP subject groups run seminars and conferences including the annual Umbrella event. These cover specialist subjects and are very relevant to LIS staff.
• Training companies and individual trainers. Libraries bring in trainers to meet specific WD needs
• National training organisations e.g. Aslib
• Local colleges and universities. Local departments of information studies make some courses open to local library staff. FE colleges support NVQs and other training.
• On-line and print training materials. This includes material such as the Intute Virtual Training Suite.
• CILIP Training & development at CILIP HQ. Most respondents said that these events were highly valued but that take-up was severely limited because of the costs of the seminars and the associated travel costs.
• Local professional groups such as CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside Branch. The CILIP Branch would be used more but did not provide an active programme of events.
  

Respondents were asked to identify gaps in provision. The most common issue was the lack of events in the region compared to London. It was felt that events in London were not only expensive in themselves but that travel costs greatly added to the cost. Other gaps identified were courses for para-professional staff, briefings on new topics or technologies and general professional awareness updating.

I will discuss these results in my next blog.

Libraries vs Recession

The SINTO seminar Libraries vesus Recession looks at how libraries can help their local communities during the economic downturn.

When we were planning this event we were going to call it "Libraries and the credit crunch". The crunch turned into a downturn and then into a recession. We now seem to be coming out of the recession but the effects on individuals, businesses and communities will be long lasting. All politicians are talking about cuts in Government expenditure and that means cuts in services.

Libraries will no doubt suffer their share of cuts, but this seminar looks at what libraries can do to help their local communities. At a simple level libraries can help by providing free or low cost services such as book loans and Internet access, but this seminar will look at the information and advice services that libraries can deliver.

The seminar will start with a presentation by Christene Rooney-Browne author of an article Rising to the challenge: a look at the role of public libraries in times of recession (Library Review 2009 58(5) 341-352).

Robert Matthews of the Financial Services Authority will talk about their financial capability programme which aims to help people to manage their finances. He will discuss how libraries can contribute to this programme.

Speakers from Jobcentre Plus and Business Link Yorkshire will explain the services and information they offer to the unemployed and small businesses.

In a workshop, David Lindley of the Libraries Agency will focus on the role libraries already play, and the need to communicate this more effectively at local level (there's quite a lot of national advocacy going on) to ensure libraries are not overlooked when it comes to fighting for their fair share of dwindling resources.

In another workshop Tim Davies of Rotherham Libraries will lead an exchange of experience session. Bring along examples of what your library service is doing to share with colleagues.

Overall, the seminar will not only show librarians how they can expand their services to their communities but will give us an opportunity to show the speakers how we can work with other agencies.

Delegates will be welcomed to the seminar by Cllr Sylvia Dunkley, cabinet member from Sheffield City Council.

Details of the seminar are available on the SINTO website www.sinto.org.uk

Events from SINTO

I am organising the programme of SINTO training events for the Autumn and I think we have another strong programme. In particular I think that some of our events are not just about developing the skills of library staff - they will help libraries think about and develop their policy in important areas.

13th October. Leadership and Emotional Intelligence for librarians. Dr Camilia Alire, President of the American Library Association is visiting Sheffield and has agreed to give a talk to SINTO. This will be a special opportunity to hear a leading library professional talk about leadership. You can find out more about Dr Alire by visiting her website http://www.camilaalire.com

15th October. Libraries vs Recession: how libraries can help communities during the recession. This is not about how libraries can survive the recession, but rather the contribution that they can make to help people, businesses and communities. The seminar will also look at how libraries can promote the value of their services.

3rd November. Disaster! How to plan and how to cope. As Sheffield Central library discovered recently, disaster can strike from a clear blue sky (or at least a cloudy one). This day will consider how to plan for a major incident and how to cope when something happens.

November (date to be confirmed). Managing change. How to deal with change, how to help other people cope with change, how to introduce change into organisations.

Further details will be circulated soon and I will be blogging some more on these events. If you want more information or want to register an interest, contact the SINTO office.

Training events from SINTO

The Library and Information Show has rebranded itself as the Library Show and moved to June but it is still at the NEC and SINTO will be offering its annual coach trip on Wednesday 10th June.

Places on the Advanced Internet Searching event on 14th May are going fast. If you want to reserve a place while awaiting confirmation contact the office now on 0114 225 5739.

And to look forward to this summer – three very different events but with a common theme – reaching out to our users:
SINTO Members’ Day and AGM: New Ways of Working – creating Library 2.0 - 26th June
Web 2.0: Blogs, Wikis & RSS feeds. -2nd July
Display Techniques with the Alternative Display Company. -6th July.

The SINTO Members' Day is a forum for librarians in our region to consider professional developments. Roy Clare, Director of MLA is the keynote speaker and there will be a number of short presentations looking at how libraries can reach out to their users.

Web 2.0 will look at various Social Computing tools that are being increasingly used by libraries both as a source of information and as a way of interacting with users.

Display Techniques is a pratical workshop looking at putting on displays to promote your service.

Details of all these events are on our website.

New CPD events from SINTO

SINTO is starting the new year with a strong programme of training and CPD events to meet a wide range of needs.

Equity and excellence debate with Bob Usherwood and John Pateman. Thursday 29th January. 6.30pm. Bob's book Equity and excellence in the public libraries: why ignorance is not our heritage argued that librarians should use their professional judgement to select good quality library stock. John suggested that this might conflict with the need to increase social inclusion. This debate will allow both parties to state their views and invite comments from the audience.


Customer service and marketing. Tuesday 10th February. 9.30am. Librarians have been good at meeting the needs of their users but how well do they market those services to users and other stakeholders? If your library service is moving towards a marketing orientation (and can you afford not to?) then this seminar provides essentail development for your workforce.


John Dove, Credo. Thursday 26th February.
John is the President of the on-line reference source Credo. This talk will explore developments in web based information provision and the role of the librarian.


Effective enquiry desk work. Tuesday 3rd March. 1.30pm.
How to provide a successful result every time.

Promoting reading to young people. Friday 24th April. 9.30am.
Ann Harding is back by popular demand with her workshop on encoraging young people to read.

Advanced Internet searching. Tuesday 12th May. 9.30am.
How to find quality information on the Internet.

Web 2.0 and social computing. Thursday 2nd July. 9.30am.
Get up to speed with the latest developments.

For further information see the SINTO website.

Training events from SINTO.

A picture for you to think about while I tell you about some training events.

Today we ran the repeat of the Deaf Awareness course with Richard Stacey and I am pleased to say we had a good number of people on this course. For more information see the SINTO wiki.

We have what I think is a very strong programme of events coming with a wide range of events which show how SINTO can respond quickly to the training needs of local LIS staff.

In April we are running the Effective Enquiry Desk Work event which we have run twice before. Tim Buckley Owen gets to the heart of what it takes to be a success at the enquiry desk.

Later in April we have our annual trip to the Library & Information Show in Birmingham. Now in its 19th year this is a major showcase for products (with over 120 exhibitors) and a places to meet suppliers and colleagues.

Inter Library Loans have always been at the heart of library services and SINTO was set up as an ILL agency between libraries in Sheffield. But what is happening now that many libraries have gone digital? Users still need access to material that you don't have on your (virtual) shelves but how can you locate and obtain e-books and journals? Stephanie Taylor will help us explore this new environment in May.

If e-books are the near future then is cataloguing & classification the distant past? I don't think so and there is still a need for library staff to understand the basic principles. Keith Tricky presents a Brief Introduction to Cat & Class in June.

The SINTO Members' Day and AGM on the 12th June is an opportunity for the SINTO community to get together. This year we are looking at the link between research and practice. How can academic research and research in the workplace help us provide a better library service? The keynote speaker is Ian Rowlands who will be talking about his research on the information behaviour of students and academics.

Then in June Stephanie Taylor returns to give a workshop on Advanced Internet Searching.

And what about that photograph? Well it shows a picture drawn by pavement artist Julian Beever. The bottle and ladder are drawn on the pavement but with a perspective that makes it look like a 3-d object. The artist is kneeling at the end of the picture in the middle distance while the lady with the glass is much closer to the camera. Strange but true! Have a good weekend.

Social Networking for librarians

Librarians have on the whole been slow to adopt social networks as a means of professional development but it seems to be taking off. The CILIP Communities website provides a number of forums where members can have lively discussions on a range of issues. Critical Eye Communications have recently launched The Skills Exchange, described as a place for librarians and information workers to meet and exchange ideas. It also has a number of forums on topics such as the role of the modern library, web 2.0 tools & applications, copyright and repositories. CILIP Yorkshire & Humber Branch has been very innovative in setting up a Facebook page and its own wiki. And of course SINTO has a wiki.

The idea behind all these is similar. Sharing ideas and discussing professional issues with librarians from other organisations is an important tool for professional development. Opportunities to do this have traditionally been limited. We read the professional press and attend the occasional meeting or conference but most of the time we are working on our own. Social networking provides the opportunity to keep in touch with a community of interest from your workplace or home. As with many new developments the critical thing is not mastering the technology but changing our behaviour to take advantage of the new opportunities. Many people would take a half -or full-day, or more, off work to attend a meeting or training event but would find it difficult to spend a few hours a week to sit down in front of a computer and take part in on-line professional discussions. I wonder how many heads of service or training officers encourage their staff to do this during work time as part of their CPD activities.

It is perhaps dissapointing that there are now so many different social networking sites on offer - but there has always been a number of different professional journals available, each with its own remit and coverage. These things grow organically and we can not expect them to conform to a central plan. What is important is that individual professionals and LIS organisations seize the opportunity that is being offered and join in with these networks.

The Next Generation

No, not the Star Trek spinoff. It is not quite "to boldly go where no one has gone before" but many professional librarians feel that they are facing a final frontier when they are faced with managerial responsibilities in their job. "I came into this job to do librarianship, not to manage" is a common complaint but the two are entwined and an effective library service depends on high quality management skills.

For several years Museums Libraries and Archives Yorkshire (MLAY) have been running the Next Generation Management development programme and this year SINTO is taking over the administration. The programme is aimed at staff who are just starting in, or aspiring to, their first management post - or as can happen, are in a management post but have never received training. It consists of a number of workshops on various key topics with the aim of developing skills and confidence.

The programme will be developed in consultation with the course participants but subjects covered will include managing your staff, your manager and yourself; project and financial management; creative thinking; influencing & persuading and presentation skills. Seminars will be held at various locations in Yorkshire. Participants will be encouraged to make use of an on-line community of interest. The programme will start in April and run for one year. The cost will be in the region of £450 for ten workshops.

Next Generation has a high standing in the museums sector and this year we hope to attract more librarians. A feature of the programme will be the sharing of experience with people from different backgrounds.

More information is available on the SINTO website or contact me at c.j.clayton@shu.ac.uk

SINTO and you

This week I have been involved with two events. On Tuesday we ran the first of two Promoting Reading courses with Anne Harding. This attracted children's librarians from public libraries and school librarians. Then on Wednesday the Career Development Group Y&H ran Your Guide to Chartership at Sheffield Hallam.

At both events I was able to say a few words about how SINTO could be of help to individual librarians. SINTO is of course a co-operative of library services and much of what we do is aimed at organisations - but I do like to remind people that SINTO can help them as individuals with their own Continuing Professional Development. This applies to staff who are on the CILIP Certification or Chartership route and also to anyone who is revalidating or generally wants to develop their professional skills.

There are two main areas where SINTO can help. First there is the programme of training and CPD events. We run events that are related to the training needs of librarians (as identified by our Training Group), are reasonably priced and are local. Information is available on our website.

Some concern has been expressed about SINTO marketing courses directly to individuals rather than through the libraries. There is an understandable concern that SINTO might raise expectations which the library is not able to afford and that individuals might ask to go on courses that do not fit in with the training needs of the organisation. However, all professional staff should have their own Personal Professional Development Plan (PPDP) and be using this to identify their training & development needs. They should be activley looking out for seminars and events (as well as other training opportunities) and discussing this with their training officer or line manager. There is not an open ended commitment for your employer to meet all your needs especially if these relate to your future career progression rather than the immediate needs of your job, but there should be a dialogue. In addition many individuals accept that they should invest in their own CPD and may want to purchase training for themselves.

The second area where SINTO can help is in the use of Web 2.0 tools to develop a community of practice. The value of the SINTO wiki and blog is that they provide a wider view of the profession. In the Chartership seminar several speakers stressed that Chartership candidates needed to show a breadth of professional knowledge and understanding of the wider professional context. A common reason for failure was that candidates appeared to be too parochial and not aware of what was happening beyond their own library. And this applies to more senior professional staff as well. Everyone should be aware of what is happening in other sectors and at a regional or national level. The SINTO wiki provides a forum for librarians to share information and engage with others while in my blog I try to provide a local perspective on general professional issues.

Individuals are very welcome to use these tools. Contributing to these sites can be used as evidence of professional commitment. You don't have to speak on behalf of your library service; although you should always be acting in a professional manner in anything you do say. Make it your New Year's resolution to get involved with your local community.

2008 Training Events from SINTO

The SINTO office together with the SINTO Training Group (and input from the other Groups) has put together a programme for the first part of next year. Here is what we have on offer:

Advanced Copyright with Graham Cornish (19th February). What can your users copy? What can you copy for other libraries? What can you copy from the Internet? How can you protect your own copyright? What has changed since you last went on a course? If anyone can make copyright understandable (and dare one say enjoyable?) then it's Graham Cornish.

Assistive Technology for Libraries (4th March). There are a range of technologies and tools designed to make life easier for people with disabilities and remove barriers to access. This halfday workshop will look at ways of improving access to library materials for your users. It will cover ways of making pages and documents on computers more readable and devices to help people with visual or hearing difficulties.

The Deaf Community; Awareness Raising (25th March). Presented by Richard Stacey, Deaf Awareness Consultant (who is himself deaf) this course will improve effective communication with deaf adults and show the way in which they live in a Deaf world and how this may affect their interaction with others. When this course was run last year it was not very well attended but all the participants found it very useful and were keen that it should be offered again.

Effective Enquiry Desk Work (18th April). The ability to successfully answer reference enquiries from users is one of the key skills for librarians and this cours will provide practical help for improving this skill. Tim Buckley-Owen has delivered two previous SINTO seminars on this subject which were fully booked.

For further details and to book places go to the SINTO website.

Social Computing Two

We ran our Social Computing Two course yesterday with Stephanie Taylor. In my introduction I mentioned a headline in CILIP Update to the effect that anyone who does not engage with Web/Library 2.0 should resign from the profession. I said that was a bit OTT, but any library service that does not get involved with this is in danger of falling by the wayside.

Stephanie introduced the small but keen audience to social networks, social bookmarking and tagging. She presented examples of these and explored how they could be used by libraries and librarians. There was plenty of opportunity to explore these applications at first hand. Staephanie also set four case studies as exercises. These looked at supporting a public library book group, supporting a group of psychiatric nurses, supporting a library enquiry desk and some problems that might arise from use of social computing. A fuller write up of the course will be provided on the SINTO wiki and everyone interested in this topic is welcome to use this page as a community of interest.