That survey to do it!

You have more than likely read a blog that has flagged up Meredith Farkas’ survey of librarians who blog. But in case you didn’t, here’s a link to the survey.

Never mind the joy, feel my brain; or Harry Potter

Huzzah for some sense in this matter. If I read one more snarky ‘look at how clever I am’ post about Harry Potter I shall have to write that ‘you are all idiots’ post that bubbles up at such moments.

For a lot of people, enjoying a book is not enough. You must also validate lit crit with your choices.

For the record I have not read HP nor am I a fan. Edit– no she’ s not a great writer; yes they are quite derivative stories (find one which isn’t;) yes, some people may get ‘stuck’ at Harry Potter. So what? Most people will read them as part of a ‘balanced diet.’

I am tired of the pretentious, tedious and frankly dim attacks on it. It’s like everyone is channeling some weird mix of Bloom and Pullman, which is no good thing.

The Open Library

Can you help?

For one, can you effect major changes in copyright law, reader habits and data structures 😉 I’m guessing they will aim at public domain works first, and function more as a one stop search for library holdings rather than as a full-on full-text digital library.

Seriously, good luck to them. Anything which honestly just wants to make books more accessible is a good thing. (note: not a Good Thing, which is an entirely different concept.)

The end of public libraries?

Freepint reports one person’s poor experience of London PLs. They go on to ask why we can’t just dissolve the PLs and ‘get our taxes back,’ though no use for the freed up money is specified. Perhaps it could be part put with some PFI money to half-build a hospital or school which then turns out to be dreadful and a burden on taxpayers for years to come 😉

Seriously, why have a tax funded PL system? The respondent seems to suggest that private libraries will naturally and necessarily be better. Now I have never used a private library. I am sure they are great. But we should never assume that private = good. Look at the ‘private’ railways- still heavily subsidised with public money. And we have all had poor customer service experiences in private businesses. I once left a bookshop without what I wanted because the assistant misspelled the author’s name- this was pointed out to me after I had left the shop.

PLs should certainly offer good customer service, but we should not assume that the examples of poor service reported are typical- any more than my experience in the book shop is.

What is needed is a basic look at what PLs are for. They are not (pace the Freepint post) there to enable people to run a small business, although they can contribute to it. With respect to the issues of bookstock, change and what libraries are for (as discussed by Tim Coates with respect to Hampshire,) libraries still are about books and access to them. They need to change over time, this is true, to make the investment worth while- not simply to keep librarians in jobs as Mr Coates says, but to make sure that the service is seen as worthwhile. But any change needs to be rooted in what people want from the library service, not in what services councils think libraries should have stuffed into them.

Where are the public librarians in all this? Not the officers, not the councillors, but the staff? Where is their voice?

More Umbrella reports

Kudos to Michael for getting his Umbrella report published in the Gazette. The current edition features reports and comments on the conference. Good to see a range of views.

New Unshelved book out!

The fifth collection, Read Responsibly, is available to order.

I’ve already placed my order 🙂

Please note: I’m just a huge fan of theirs. I get no money from plugging their work.

MCLIP…e pluribus unum

From many piles of evidence to one…

Still a few more things to add and the statement to tidy up. But the end is in sight 🙂

Edit It took me 5 months after this to actually get it in shape and sent! /Edit

The new cabinet and education

The recent cabinet reshuffle also saw restructuring in the departments which govern education.

We now have two departments- Children Schools and Families (CSF) headed by ED Balls and Innovation Universities and Skills (IUS) headed by John Denham.

Both have responsibilities outside of education. For example CSF will also deal with family policy issues and IUS will cover science and technology development.

For those of us in FE there is the potential confusion that both departments have something to say to us. With the introduction of 14-19 diplomas, we will deal with the CSF; with the development of HE-in-FE we will deal with the IUS. The IUS will also govern Train to Gain, a key part of the government’s skills agenda.

Will this help or hinder? My feeling- and I hope that I am wrong- is that there is too much going on in each department. Joined up government is a failed promise of this government, and such sprawling departments are not going to help there, although better communication seems to be the aim.

Ministers have been given ‘liaison’ responsibilities, but it remains to be seen how effective this will be when they have so many other areas to work on.

Portfolio building

So, the final stage. I’ve been scanning certificates, letters and the like to add to my evidence. Now I need to print it all out and try to organise it. All the while bearing in mind the need to be reflective and evaluative.

Frankly I’d rather sit some exams and turn in an essay reflecting on practice rather than go through this sifting and trying to compress everything into a very small space. It is still confusing in parts, despite excellent mentoring and the help of LIS-CILIP-REG.

Still, that’s the way it is. I support CPD and Chartership, so will face the pile of papers with pride 😉

Just do it, the remix

Over on the comments to Brian’s post, he says that we should not now be asking whether we do it but how.

Absolutely. I am not questioning that these things be done, rather that we do think about how they can be done, and that takes in an understanding of contextual factors. Any slogan, ‘just do it’ included,  isn’t going to capture that.

That’s not the job of slogans I know. But I don’t think we need a slogan, if we are not at war over this 😉 We need practical advice and support and understanding. More power to Brian and Phil Bradley and their ilk, who are doing just that.