Academic librarianship

Book review on Academic librarianship    by Camila Alire and Edward Evans.


Thoughts  
Having started reading this dense and rather heavy book, a couple of weeks ago. I have found that the majority of evidence though interesting, is all from America. Making some aspects of the book have limited relevance, which at times just leads to frustration.  The author also point out the reason why there needs to be a section on the history of the academic library, I feel it has limited impact or relevance, in particular to a English academic librarian. Especially when this takes up nearly 40 pages of the book. At times the book is too in depth, covering too many subheading, resulting in the initial point is at times lost and the reader needs to refer back several pages to ensure they remember what point is being made. On a more positive note, the chapter on services, under the heading of "the academic library today", which starts 215 pages out of 355, does provide very useful information, which is worth reading and developing certain ideas within any library. It is in this section that the authors show there worth and the relevance of the text.

Overall the coversge of topics is very good, possibly this book would have been more useful when I was  studying for my post grad, to provide a wider insight in to academic libraries. However this book is clearly written for people in academic libraries, more so than people wishing to join 


Cost 
Nearly £60.00
Understandably due to it's specific nature and detailed highly researched text. This book was 
never aiming for the mass market. 

Maternity leave

As I am currently on maternity leave, started a week ago. I've been trying to keep busy, whether it's working on my chartership, getting the house ready for the arrival, reading academic librarianship by Camila A. Alire and C.Edwards Evans and sleeping. However I see to be in this middle ground of, what I am. Yes I know I'm a librarian, qualified and educated. But where does that stop.

The handover- a useful practice to a) make sure I have passed on enough information for someone else to fill my role for 6 months. B) also useful to put my mind to a task which will last during my absence.

I am guessing that most people wouldlovetotake 6 months of work, but I certainly don't feel like that. Yes, I am excited about the baby, but not having the routine and seeing work mates every day is a little odd.

I suppose I will need to look at becoming a parent as my new full time job. Not sure how that would read in a job advert.

Parent-  on call 24 hours a day, no actual pay, but feeling of doing something worthwhile, no holiday entitlement. Duration - 18 years plus.

Duties- cook, cleaner, maid, driver, nurse, storyteller, photographer, bank account.

At least I can laugh about all of this.

Thing 18 part one

Podcasts I know ths is something that the college is keen to embrace and, I would like to dedicate time to using a medium to create a podcast to reinforce the students induction. However as I work at an art college, that teaches media, anything I create might look a little rough around the edges. On one previous occasion I had a media student create a podcast, but after copyright issues and grammar errors, it was deemed unsuitable for usage. Which was a great shame, as the podcast was apart from the two errors well constructed. Jing sounds great, little apprehensive over the recording f my voice, in previous occasions when recording my voice I have always sounded like I have a cold. I think i will have a greater look in more detail next week at work. As I need to download software.

Prezi- thing 17

I've seen Prezi a few times, normally on large screens, and felt sick, due to the motion. I think it provides a more interesting design concept but I the presentations can still be boring. The best presentations are the ones with decent content on an interesting topic, not ones which induce sea sickness in people.

On a more positive note, it can be great to capture people's attention, with high quality resources. I've watched the videos and maybe I'll have a look at it next time I have to do a presentation to senior management.

Thing 16

Promoting service Having recently completed an in depth year long study of item usage in the library, and presented it to senior management team, as well as additiontal important members of staff. I have needed to, explain the importance of information literacy to them. With there being connections to both grades and retention. Both of which are critical topics in education at the moment. In addition to this, I am also promoting a new cost saving service, where digital chapters from books therefore saving paper, as well as the academics time. As the service with be being supported by the IT Support software team. Advocacy As I work in a specialist library, where students have particular issues. Promotion the services in a manner which is acceptable tithe cohort is essential. In terms of advocacy, I am keen to promote the excellence of libraries In general. Interns of my own library, I promote the library during the induction process to students, continues to promote them during the course of the by either attending team meetings, or via our twitter account. We are also have an LCD screen, which we can create content, again this is used to get the message across to students about what the library can offer to them. Such as the lend of headphones, Computer games and DVD, along with more traditional resource. During the course of the following year the library will start to actively promoting itself to members of the general. In the first instance this will be promoted to people leaving from our evening courses. Getting published Having previously had two articles published, one being a letter and another being a book review, I am tempted to try for a third.

Art and Design libraries

As I work in a specialist art library, there is limited resources for myself to read, however the Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship for Higher Education, as proven to be an excellent read, Rachel Clarke’s chapter on cataloguing and classification for art and design school libraries: challenges and considerations. Where the article draws the reader’s attention to the process of cataloguing which must suit the information seeking behaviour of the student cohort. This concept has previously leaded me to have flexibility in aspects of the Dewey system to ensure that the users needs are considered. 

Some excellent points have been covered with in the chapter, for instance Artists in DDC are classified the country of  origin, not at our library, were we use their surname, this aids searching and creates less confusion for the students. Along side this there are other possible ideas for development, were the same process of the end user, a visual learner is taken into consideration.

Job description

Having to look again at my current job description, to alter in, so where I work can recruit a suitable replacement, whilst I am on maternity leave.

Wish list 
A qualified librarian, ideally with Chartership
Copyright and information literacy, so we have someone who is knowledgeable in both fields.
Experience in FE and HE education- you never kow when Ofsted are going to turn up.


Useful points to consider from Laura about the job advert.

http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/writing-a-job-advertisement-that-will-attract-the-candidates-you-want/