Fellowship

Having completed my chartership and then 12 months later revalidation,  I was unable to find a masters (final project only) course that inspired me. So I have decided to work on my fellowship. One of the reasons for doing this is that I really wanted to say that I am a member of the fellowship- LOTR reference.

So far I have been working on it since March this year (2015),  I have found a mentor, not actually had much of a conversation with them. But as we work together, we have had several informal chats. Nothing formal yet, even when we do formal ones I am thinking of doing them over lunch so we are eat and chat. Reducing the stress and anxiety.

Anyway, as I have been working with ARLIS and SWRLS for over 12 months, this goes towards working in a wider remit of libraries. Within the organisation, I am a member of CMT and a Head of a department. Therefore I hold a position of authority within the organisation, another point that is relevant for the fellowship.

In the last 2 years, I have faced some hard management decisions/ experiences, which have been resolved and I have gained a reputation as a decent manager and leader of a team. Though I won't discuss what happened here, the experiences have certainly changed me as a manager.

Having recently introduced a series of information literary events for art students, these have made an impact on student. Some have become more willing to speak to library staff, requesting help etc. Plus I have gained confidence in my delivery.

Overall I think I should have enough evidence to complete my fellowship.

ARLIS meeting

After the train problems of my last trip, due to the Dawlish line breaking, I have finally managed to make it to the ARLIS publications committee meeting. From Plymouth to Reading, I have been proof reading the next art city guide. So 30 minutes to rest before a tube to the V and A. The rest I feel is particularly needed as I currently have laryngitis and tonsillitis, with a very weak voice. Having not spoken for the best part of 4 days, I should be able to do a 2 hour meeting.

Also whilst I am in London, the BA photography students from PCA are having there annual exhibition held at the Old Truman Brewery, which I shall be attending. Which after working with these students for 4 years in some cases, this will be a pleasant surprise when they see me. Plus having been absent from PCA summer show, I feel I have missed out on the celebrations this year. 

Apart from seeing the students work, I intend to spend the next four days in galleries as much as possible, I would like to visit the Tower of London and the Cutty Sark. Plus the wedding dress exhibition at the V and A, having spoken to a collegue yesterday about a dress, I would now like to see it for real. 

By the end of my first day in London, I have realised from the meeting, I need to work I my proof reading skills, starting on my own article about information literacy and that I loved the V and A's wedding dress exhibition. There were several wonderful examples of dresses from decades ago, as well as Gwen Stefani and Kate Moss's wedding dresses. Not to sound like I don't like the royal family, but I did wonder why the busiest part was William and Katherine's wedding highlights on a loop. Which seemed such a shame, you can get that on youtube, but the delicate work of the dresses which told some of England's social history were being almost ignored. 

Joining ARLIS committee

This year has been a great year, professionally speaking. I have now been asked to join one of the ARLIS committee's- ARLIS is the art libraries society and I have become a member of the publication committee. I have to say I am really happy about this, I have wanted to branch out in to new areas of work and this is a great opportunity to be right at the middle of my subject specialism. Also it is starting to be expected of people where I work to have a large network of people you can ask for help etc. So this will be great for that too.

Not sure what I am more excited about- trips to London, living in Plymouth it is a bit of a trek to get over to London on a regular basis. Or the challenge of working on a publishing committee. Visiting the V and A!

Not 100 % sure what is expected of me at the moment, but I also think that in itself is exciting. I would be happy to work in any area of publication.  I have started thinking about projects I would like to work on, but I know I must not get carried away, as I haven't even been to a meeting yet and I have to be realist about what I can achieve in a short space of time.

I think it would be good for me to blog about what is happening during my ARLIS days. 

ARLIS conference

So I have been back to reality after the ARLIS conference for a week now. You may ask why I say back to reality, I have a young son, and after spending three great days in picture perfect surroundings, returning home to a little man who wakes me up twice a night, is a bit of a shock to the system.

As for the conference it was great, ARLIS Rising to the challenge, and it really did cover a lot of the challenges facing art librarians today. This is the first time I have attended an ARLIS event and would do again, it was well organized and not as rushed or as busy a CILIP umbrella, though I do understand they are pitching at difference audiences.

Each day was had great speakers, plus there were relevant workshops, that I struggled to choose which one to attend. I opted for the negotiation workshop, which was really interesting practical session, based on the side of personality types and when negotiating you need to think about the types of people you are dealing with to get the best result. I'll definitely use this next time I have to, not only negotiate with others but also delegating, to team members. The other workshop was increasing your online personality. Another very interesting topic, it might have taken a week to even start putting it in to practice, but at least I am trying.

On the first day there were also a series of visits, I choose the theater collection, I was expecting to see just a load of costumes, but it was so much more, the amount of content they had was outstanding. Books and play script with images drawing in them from the head costume designer and other really special objects with a fabulous history and social story to tell. 

Overall the conference was excellent, there was a really interesting session on augmented reality and  the use of QR codes, plus a session from The Hive in Worcestershire, which is a one stop shop for all library and council needs combined with the cities university library. The idea is complex but excellent, every decision needs to be taken for the good of everyone, not an easy task, when the public and the university students have very different needs. Or as it was explained, very similar needs, just said in different words. Plus a session on open source resources, such as ItunesU.

Great conference, now I need to write up one of the session for ARLIS newsletter. 

One of the other things that really impressed me was that at the moment there are loads of Gromits (from Wallace and Gromit) around the city of Bristol, painted and decorated to look amazing, I manged to see quite a few, we at least I thought it was quite until I found out there was 85 in the city, my rather lame 6 weren't really worth mentioning.

Art and design librarian

Having been asked to research in to the role, and changing role of art and design librarians, I found the handbook of art and design librarianship. Which, after only one chapter is a very good read. My research is looking at how academic art libraries will be changing in the future to ensure they stay relevant and how we have changed to get here.

Reading the handbook, I have come across some ideas, such as the non- traditional library jobs, referred to in the book as emerging tasks. When I think of my own role, emerging tasks seem to become more frequent, such as IT help, social networking and of course blogging.

Must read the rest of the book ASAP.