Thing 15: Advocacy
Looking at the many advocacy campaigns that exist in the UK and Ireland today for libraries I'd say that as a profession we're getting very good at it- but then looking back over the last five or so years I guess we've had to be. For the vast majority of that time I've been working in public libraries and obviously its been during an extremely turbulent period for public services and libraries as regards funding cuts.
As someone who is relatively new to libraries, my impression was that public libraries (in Wales anyway!) had initially been caught off guard at suddenly being asked to justify our very existence. I remember a colleague once saying to me that we're not like a business we can't justify our 'usefulness' in terms of our profit margins! For example, how can you measure the impact a library has on the life of an elderly lady who lives alone and her only human interaction during the day comes from a library assistant when she visits her local library? That's why advocacy campaigns like Speak Up for Libraries are so important because they encourage regular library users to be vocal in expressing their support for libraries. Its very demoralising to read about various library around the country but there have been success stories too. The recent 'sit in' for Cardiff Libraries was successful in that it granted several community libraries a reprieve. We have to focus on these successes and continue to promote advocacy to fight for libraries.
Saturday 12 September 2015
Thing 14: Augmented Reality
The first time I became aware of augmented reality was around 2 years ago at a course specifically designed for librarians and how to make use of multimedia tools. I remember it very clearly because I was just so impressed, it was almost like a magic trick! The course instructor asked me to open my wallet and take out a note and place it on the table. So I took out a ten pound note and placed it on the table with Charles Darwin facing up. the instructor then proceeded to hover a tablet over the note and to my complete amazement Charles Darwin sprung to life and the little bird next to him began to fly around. Prior to this I had not even heard of augmented reality so the look of amazement on my face must have been something very similar to a Victorian being given a demonstration of a telephone for the first time!
I was working in public libraries at the time and I was also given a demonstration of how augmented reality can and is being used to really bring children's books to life. The example I was shown was 'The fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' the instructor would hover his tablet over the page and then you could move the tablet around as though you were inside the illustration. I think this will be such an incredible way to really get children engaged with reading from an early age.
But the possibilities for AR go even further. Much has been made by tech companies in recent months about the benefits that truly mobile applications can bring to health care and the training and development of medical professionals. Anatomy 4D is a great example of this. I am really excited about AR and how it is going to develop in the future.
The first time I became aware of augmented reality was around 2 years ago at a course specifically designed for librarians and how to make use of multimedia tools. I remember it very clearly because I was just so impressed, it was almost like a magic trick! The course instructor asked me to open my wallet and take out a note and place it on the table. So I took out a ten pound note and placed it on the table with Charles Darwin facing up. the instructor then proceeded to hover a tablet over the note and to my complete amazement Charles Darwin sprung to life and the little bird next to him began to fly around. Prior to this I had not even heard of augmented reality so the look of amazement on my face must have been something very similar to a Victorian being given a demonstration of a telephone for the first time!
I was working in public libraries at the time and I was also given a demonstration of how augmented reality can and is being used to really bring children's books to life. The example I was shown was 'The fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore' the instructor would hover his tablet over the page and then you could move the tablet around as though you were inside the illustration. I think this will be such an incredible way to really get children engaged with reading from an early age.
But the possibilities for AR go even further. Much has been made by tech companies in recent months about the benefits that truly mobile applications can bring to health care and the training and development of medical professionals. Anatomy 4D is a great example of this. I am really excited about AR and how it is going to develop in the future.
Wednesday 9 September 2015
Thing 13: Professional Organisations
I've recently began to put together some evidence to eventually submit toward Chartership. I've been a member of CILIP for just over a year now I initially joined as a student member. Its been pretty beneficial for me so far its provided me with opportunities to attend training events and conferences. The newsletter is also pretty informative and helps me to keep up to date with the latest events from across the library and information sector- I think it was this newsletter that first made me aware of the Rudai 23 Things Collaboration.
I think that its important to be part of organisation its always nice to feel a part of something bigger and the library profession can be so wide and diverse, its important to have something that pulls us all together.
I've recently began to put together some evidence to eventually submit toward Chartership. I've been a member of CILIP for just over a year now I initially joined as a student member. Its been pretty beneficial for me so far its provided me with opportunities to attend training events and conferences. The newsletter is also pretty informative and helps me to keep up to date with the latest events from across the library and information sector- I think it was this newsletter that first made me aware of the Rudai 23 Things Collaboration.
I think that its important to be part of organisation its always nice to feel a part of something bigger and the library profession can be so wide and diverse, its important to have something that pulls us all together.
Thing 12: Attending conferences
I attended a conference last year in Cardiff which I thought had a really interesting concept as it was billed specifically as a 'user generated un-conference for people interested in libraries'. Library Camp Wales was held in the Glamorgan Building on Cardiff University campus in on a sunny Saturday afternoon in April 2014.
The really interesting thing about Library Camp was that the participants set the agenda themselves. This was perhaps the part I was most apprehensive about before attending. There was no set agenda as such, we decided it amongst ourselves on the morning of the event. I recall being slightly worried about this, what if none of us had any pressing issues that we wanted to discuss? But I needn't have been concerned as plenty of interesting topics were put forward. Someone would volunteer to 'pitch' a session that they wanted to discuss and then we would vote on the most popular topics which would then set the agenda for the day.
The event was open to anyone from any sector. It was a great opportunity to network and meet people from across a range of sectors within Wales. A few people I met there did not even work in libraries but were perhaps interested in moving into the field and wanted to know a little bit more about it. This was great and really added another dimension to the topics we discussed as we were getting outside perspectives as well. Library camp was an 'open space' event- we could come and go in and out of the different sessions as they pleased. We were also encouraged to tweet and blog photos of the day.
If you want to have a look at some of the issues we discussed throughout the day here's a link to the Storify page https://storify.com/Gemma_DS/libcampwales
I attended a conference last year in Cardiff which I thought had a really interesting concept as it was billed specifically as a 'user generated un-conference for people interested in libraries'. Library Camp Wales was held in the Glamorgan Building on Cardiff University campus in on a sunny Saturday afternoon in April 2014.
The really interesting thing about Library Camp was that the participants set the agenda themselves. This was perhaps the part I was most apprehensive about before attending. There was no set agenda as such, we decided it amongst ourselves on the morning of the event. I recall being slightly worried about this, what if none of us had any pressing issues that we wanted to discuss? But I needn't have been concerned as plenty of interesting topics were put forward. Someone would volunteer to 'pitch' a session that they wanted to discuss and then we would vote on the most popular topics which would then set the agenda for the day.
The event was open to anyone from any sector. It was a great opportunity to network and meet people from across a range of sectors within Wales. A few people I met there did not even work in libraries but were perhaps interested in moving into the field and wanted to know a little bit more about it. This was great and really added another dimension to the topics we discussed as we were getting outside perspectives as well. Library camp was an 'open space' event- we could come and go in and out of the different sessions as they pleased. We were also encouraged to tweet and blog photos of the day.
If you want to have a look at some of the issues we discussed throughout the day here's a link to the Storify page https://storify.com/Gemma_DS/libcampwales
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