Thanks to my involvement in the Career Development Group I am gaining confidence in event planning. This started when I volunteered to help plan a childrens book themed fundraising party, there was a team of us so no pressure on an individual and most importantly it was fun, this has inspired me to take on more serious events. I recently hosted CDG National Council meeting and am planning this years sponsored walk.
National Council
What I found was that this was far easier than I had anticipated. The only things I had to do was find somewhere to have the meal on the night before the meeting, find a room to have the actual meeting in, the chair takes care of booking hotel rooms, and be available for any travel questions.
I identified 2 mid price range and 1 cheap restaurant, one Italian, one Chinese and a Wetherspoons, this offered variation and most people will find something they like at an Italian restaurant, Chinese can be a bit tricky and Wetherspoons is fairly varied so will suit most tastes. The group decided on the Italian and off we went, I counted the number of people attending the meal and booked a table for that number, couldn't have been easier. After the meal people went their own way and I went home to make sure I had a copy of everything I needed for the meeting.
The library I work in has a number of rooms of various sizes, I found a small sized one (only needed for 16 attendees) which had a window (very important if you're sitting in the same room all day) and booked it months in advance to make sure we got it. To make the day more comfortable I bought a small selection of refreshments - a box of biscuits and 2 cartons of juice (apple and orange) and had a pitcher of water available. Again, so simple, why had I not offered sooner? Mostly because I didn't have the confidence, I didn't know what it involved and that put me off. The day went well and I would be happy to volunteer to host National Council again, assuming it still exists after the CILIP rejig of SIGs.
Sponsored Walk
So far this is going really well - the walk has been decided, the travel arrangements investigated and the mid-walk refreshment point plotted into the walk. I have started designing a poster to display in staffrooms so that we can start fundraising and get volunteers to take part and will add a piece on the CDG divisional website promoting the walk. Once that's finished all that's left to do is the walk itself, oh and collect the sponsorship money!
One of the best parts of being a member of the CDG is that you can volunteer to do new things, I would never get the chance to plan meetings or events through my job, CDG lets you do as much or as little as you are comfortable with. I also get the support of more experienced members who offer advice and suggestions to make the learning process as quick and as easy as possible, but with CDG it is support rather than having someone force their way of doing things on you.
Tuesday 2 April 2013
Thursday 25 October 2012
The highs and lows of planning a fundraising party
Wednesday night was the night, people dressed up as their favourite
children’s book character (see below for some pictures), prizes were won and
fun and merriment was had by all. It was also one of the most rewarding nights
of my life. I had helped plan this; I had helped raise over £300 for charity,
not bad for one night!
The party planners
'Cruella' winner of the fancy dress competition receiving her prize
Here is a selection of generous sponsors:
Things learnt for future fundraising parties-
- Be aware that while the cause is important to you it’s not necessarily important to potential sponsors
- There are highs and lows, prepare for some stress outs
- Get a good team of people to plan the event
- Have a good theme, children’s book characters is a good one as you can create a good costume with minimal effort, or for the more creative types you can go all out
- Start planning well in advance and have regular meetings to discuss progress
- Get a good venue, the function room we used was long and thin(ish) with it’s own bar so drinks were handy and the shape of the room meant people could cluster in groups without the room looking empty, and most importantly it was free!
- Have a flexible timetable with events planned, for example, we had a guess the number of sweets in the jar which was a good icebreaker as someone went round all the tables asking people, a quiz and a raffle
The 'Wallies'
Tuesday 11 September 2012
Library or hospitality business???
Today I attended yet another training seesion which was originally designed for the hospitality/tourism sector. This is just one of a series, first it was Welcome Host which is customer service training aimed at the tourism sector. Described as mandatory training as part of my libraries bid for Customer Service Excellence I was a bit apprehensive about sitting through yet another training session telling me how to be good at my job which I had been doing for 5 years at that time. However, this was a bit different, it covered things such as body language and emphasised the importance of this rather than just what you say, it was more holistic than other training sessions I have been on.
This was shortly followed by Welcome All, this is a follow up to Welcome Host but focuses on disabled users. Again this was aimed at the tourism sector but was mandatory training. This didn't really cover anything new, the only newish thing about it was that there was the opportunity to see things how visually impaired people saw things by way of glasses which changed our vision to fit the different types of visual impairment, for example, tunnel vision.
Today it was roving training, my library is following the trend of taking the service out to users rather than forcing them to come to the enquiries desk. This training was aimed at the hospitality sector but tailored to suit library needs. I have never 'roved' before but am looking forwards to starting. The session itself was interesting, but again highlighted the shift away from the traditional library.
I personally love the 'traditional' library with books from floor to ceiling on wooden shelves with moving ladders, the stereotypical librarian perched on a seat behind a tall desk who knows everything about everything and total silence. This is my dream place, however, it is just a dream. As a job I don't think it would be the sort of place I would enjoy working at, I like being approachable, I like talking to people, while I like silence on the silence floors the whole building shouldn't be silent.
Now there is more emphasis on being customer friendly, the students are no longer students who come to find knowledge, they are customers. They must be treated differently, we should approach them rather than wait for them to approach us. The librarians no longer rule the library the students have significant input into how they want their service to be run and what to include. We have a Facebook page and Twitter account to communicate with the customers using media they want to use rather than using notices only in the building itself or an email to their student email accounts. Now with the students paying even more to come to university there will be even more focus on how to help them, hence the roving service, and what they want out of the service rather than the library simply telling them what was available.
Whilst there does need to be a balance between staff and student input it can only be a be a good thing to listen to the students, they have always been vocal about telling us what they want, what they like and what they don't like. At my library the students were vocal about wanting the library shop open whenever the library was open, this happened, along with an increase in catering facilities provided. Perhaps treating the library more like a hospitality business is the way to contact with customers which, in reality, is the only way a business will thrive.
(picture from www.english.heacademy.ac.uk)
This was shortly followed by Welcome All, this is a follow up to Welcome Host but focuses on disabled users. Again this was aimed at the tourism sector but was mandatory training. This didn't really cover anything new, the only newish thing about it was that there was the opportunity to see things how visually impaired people saw things by way of glasses which changed our vision to fit the different types of visual impairment, for example, tunnel vision.
Today it was roving training, my library is following the trend of taking the service out to users rather than forcing them to come to the enquiries desk. This training was aimed at the hospitality sector but tailored to suit library needs. I have never 'roved' before but am looking forwards to starting. The session itself was interesting, but again highlighted the shift away from the traditional library.
I personally love the 'traditional' library with books from floor to ceiling on wooden shelves with moving ladders, the stereotypical librarian perched on a seat behind a tall desk who knows everything about everything and total silence. This is my dream place, however, it is just a dream. As a job I don't think it would be the sort of place I would enjoy working at, I like being approachable, I like talking to people, while I like silence on the silence floors the whole building shouldn't be silent.
Now there is more emphasis on being customer friendly, the students are no longer students who come to find knowledge, they are customers. They must be treated differently, we should approach them rather than wait for them to approach us. The librarians no longer rule the library the students have significant input into how they want their service to be run and what to include. We have a Facebook page and Twitter account to communicate with the customers using media they want to use rather than using notices only in the building itself or an email to their student email accounts. Now with the students paying even more to come to university there will be even more focus on how to help them, hence the roving service, and what they want out of the service rather than the library simply telling them what was available.
Whilst there does need to be a balance between staff and student input it can only be a be a good thing to listen to the students, they have always been vocal about telling us what they want, what they like and what they don't like. At my library the students were vocal about wanting the library shop open whenever the library was open, this happened, along with an increase in catering facilities provided. Perhaps treating the library more like a hospitality business is the way to contact with customers which, in reality, is the only way a business will thrive.
(picture from www.english.heacademy.ac.uk)
Wednesday 5 September 2012
Experience through Volunteering
Months between posts then 2 in the same day!!
I have always preached about the value of volunteering, you can learn so much by simply donating your time. It doesn't cost you anything and you gain so much, plus, you don't have to go through the dreaded interview, there is no wrong.
The latest voluntary thing I'm doing is helping to arrange a fundraising party through CDG. What I have gained through this-
I have always preached about the value of volunteering, you can learn so much by simply donating your time. It doesn't cost you anything and you gain so much, plus, you don't have to go through the dreaded interview, there is no wrong.
The latest voluntary thing I'm doing is helping to arrange a fundraising party through CDG. What I have gained through this-
- Project working - my job does not involve any sort of projects, despite repeatedly asking to be picked for projects I have yet to see my name come out of the hat. I now have experience of working as part of a project team.
- Liaising - while I do some liaising as part of my job and through CDG as Website Officer I am now developing my liaison skills, especially important when you're trying to get freebies as prizes!!
- Time management skills - I am helping to organise a party, a raffle, do my job and have recently moved into a flat which needs gutted, it would have been impossible without good time management skills.
- Networking - again, it is often overlooked but I have worked with people I would not normally even meet so it's been interesting.
- Advertising/publicity - I have helped to advertise this event by creating a Facebook event and promoting it on CDG event pages.
Organisation restructure - opportunity knocks?
It's been a while since my last post, mainly because nothing has changed or struck me as worth writing about after 23 Things. Now a restructure has dropped a fantastic opportunity at my feet, finally a chance for more personal and professional development!!
I've reached the stage where I have done all the training offered by HR, I have done the MSc and updated my training every year, jumping on any new training sessions offered in-house. I am now suitably qualified for a higher position, however, despite getting close at interviews I have not yet had that life changing phonecall to say 'Becky you got the job, when can you start?' So needless to say when the emails started going round saying there was a restructure and the circulation team (my current team) would be merging with the enquiry team I leapt at the opportunity to expand my experience.
To date I have attended a number of 'training' sessions which are more like an overview of what the enquiry team does now and what I will do at a future date. My advice, for all it's not an actual training session, go on as many as possible because you learn things that you did not know, even if it's just a chance to talk to someone you wouldn't normally get to talk to, it's an opportunity to network.
Instead of just dealing with basic library tasks such as issuing/discharging/fines/reservations etc I will be doing 'quick and easy' IT queries, learner enquiries and basically feeling much more useful to customers by not having to refer them to a different department on a different floor. While it will only be lower level enquiries that I deal with it is still an opportunity to expand my knowledge, an opportunity I'm grabbing with both hands.
I've reached the stage where I have done all the training offered by HR, I have done the MSc and updated my training every year, jumping on any new training sessions offered in-house. I am now suitably qualified for a higher position, however, despite getting close at interviews I have not yet had that life changing phonecall to say 'Becky you got the job, when can you start?' So needless to say when the emails started going round saying there was a restructure and the circulation team (my current team) would be merging with the enquiry team I leapt at the opportunity to expand my experience.
To date I have attended a number of 'training' sessions which are more like an overview of what the enquiry team does now and what I will do at a future date. My advice, for all it's not an actual training session, go on as many as possible because you learn things that you did not know, even if it's just a chance to talk to someone you wouldn't normally get to talk to, it's an opportunity to network.
Instead of just dealing with basic library tasks such as issuing/discharging/fines/reservations etc I will be doing 'quick and easy' IT queries, learner enquiries and basically feeling much more useful to customers by not having to refer them to a different department on a different floor. While it will only be lower level enquiries that I deal with it is still an opportunity to expand my knowledge, an opportunity I'm grabbing with both hands.
Personally, I can't wait to start the training and actually do new things, while it will be challenging to start with as new people get used to working with eachother and we have new tasks to learn overall it's definitely an opportunity to be taken advantage of. Of course there are the change-fearing 'moaners' to contend with but how often do things stay the same? If things always stayed the same we'd be living in caves, cold caves, because man hadn't invented fire (that was a welcome development!). We would be stuck walking everywhere because people hadn't embraced the developments the invention of the wheel brought. Wait until you've tried it before you moan.
Thursday 24 November 2011
The importance of regional roundups
Yesterday I attended Mini-Umbrella, an annual conference where local libraries showcase best practice and innovative projects, which was a thought-provoking experience as well as a useful way to discover what is happening in the wider library community. This year the theme was Bleak House or Great Expectations, with the keynote speaker being Isabel Hood (leader of CILIP Council 2011).
The Winds of Change, Isabel Hood
Ali Pickard of Northumbria University, who co-host the event with NE CILIP opened the event with Isabel Hood giving the first presentation. She gave a passionate presentation on the change and refocussing of CILIP. Isabel described the issues faced by CILIP in a challenging economic climate and how CILIP were responding to this and increasing member demands to keep CILIP relevant to members, support the sector, be sustainable and be outward looking whilst continuing to be a support mechanism in changing times.
NHS Clinical Librarian Project, Rachel Steele
This presentation was a new project where librarians are involved in the patient consultation process as they go around with a doctor and note where the doctor requires further information, the librarian then does a literature search to better inform the decision making by providing information on best available research and the evidence-base. So far the results were positive however, it is a pilot and at this stage the implications on resources by rolling out this practice have not been considered.
Tyne2Seine: Reading and Creativity Without Borders, Mark Freeman and Kathryn Armstrong
This was an interesting talk as it involves a partnership with Epinay, France. A project was implemented to link schools and libraries across borders, this has involved UK authors going to Epinay and French authors visiting the UK. A drawback was that the children weren't allowed to travel but libraries were transformed and a treasure hunt took place, there are now bilingual books so that the children can enjoy them in both languages. The positivity has not been just for the children, the speakers noted a marked uptake on French conversation classes. Strong links have been forged. At this point the project is at a stage where UK children are writing one half of a story and French children will then write the other half of the story, the only issue is the lack of technology in the French school which they will find a way to overcome.
Rising Expectations: Using Customer Feedback to Deliver Strategic Objectives, Christine Willoghby and Dilys Young
This talk was on how Northumbria University used feedback mechanisms to develop services, and how important it is to deliver a responsive service to users which is varied as different subject areas have different expectations, for example a book-based course vs a lab-based course. It is necessary to not promise unrealistic expectations, while it is important to say what can be done it is also necessary to say what cannot be done. Recently a digitisation project was implemented after using scores to target resources, providing e-copies to improve access thereby improving satisfaction. It is vital to continuously look for ways to improve as if you reach a high level of satisfaction and then do nothing the library will quickly become irrelevant, it is by doing this that you remain a useful resource for users.
Services for Visually Impaired Users, Sharon Reeve
Newcastle Libraries has recently developed its services for visually impaired users by providing new equipment and training staff, one activity involved one member of staff ebing blindfolded while being led by a non-blinded member of staff so blindness could be experienced. Thunder, free software is being used alongside Supernova, a paid for software. A questionnaire, Your Reading Choices, has been developed to provide visually impaired users with a personal profile.
The New Curiosity Shop: What's on Offer Today?, Middlesbrough College
The best was definitely saved for last! Middlesbrough College library is using technology to attract and engage users, a treasure hunt is conducted using QR codes (students can loan a phone if they don't have smartphone) where the first clue directs them to find the 8th Harry Potter book, a mock book has been created! They stated the importance of not spending extra money by making best use of things you do pay for as well as exploiting freebies, for example, you pay the same amount for Blackboard whether you do a lot with it or nothing with it, to best exploit it they have added a weekly top ten e-books section to promote ebooks as well as having links to the catalogue and podcasts. Freebies are used to promote services by using Prezi and Twitter. The most valuable point was that library space is a most important resource, people may want remote access but they also want to have a physical space to use as well. A useful feedback mechanism was the use of quickcards to gather information, the example used was when asking what a library app should have, a card was handed out with a number of options with tick boxes, this proved more popular than the online questionnaire.
I think that what Mini-Umbrella is best for is promoting local developments, CILIP is notoriously Londoncentric and this event gives the North East a venue to tell people what has been happening locally while providing a valuable networking opportunity. Mini-Umbrella highlights the region, and afterall, if we don't tell people what we're doing, who will?
The Winds of Change, Isabel Hood
Ali Pickard of Northumbria University, who co-host the event with NE CILIP opened the event with Isabel Hood giving the first presentation. She gave a passionate presentation on the change and refocussing of CILIP. Isabel described the issues faced by CILIP in a challenging economic climate and how CILIP were responding to this and increasing member demands to keep CILIP relevant to members, support the sector, be sustainable and be outward looking whilst continuing to be a support mechanism in changing times.
NHS Clinical Librarian Project, Rachel Steele
This presentation was a new project where librarians are involved in the patient consultation process as they go around with a doctor and note where the doctor requires further information, the librarian then does a literature search to better inform the decision making by providing information on best available research and the evidence-base. So far the results were positive however, it is a pilot and at this stage the implications on resources by rolling out this practice have not been considered.
Tyne2Seine: Reading and Creativity Without Borders, Mark Freeman and Kathryn Armstrong
This was an interesting talk as it involves a partnership with Epinay, France. A project was implemented to link schools and libraries across borders, this has involved UK authors going to Epinay and French authors visiting the UK. A drawback was that the children weren't allowed to travel but libraries were transformed and a treasure hunt took place, there are now bilingual books so that the children can enjoy them in both languages. The positivity has not been just for the children, the speakers noted a marked uptake on French conversation classes. Strong links have been forged. At this point the project is at a stage where UK children are writing one half of a story and French children will then write the other half of the story, the only issue is the lack of technology in the French school which they will find a way to overcome.
Rising Expectations: Using Customer Feedback to Deliver Strategic Objectives, Christine Willoghby and Dilys Young
This talk was on how Northumbria University used feedback mechanisms to develop services, and how important it is to deliver a responsive service to users which is varied as different subject areas have different expectations, for example a book-based course vs a lab-based course. It is necessary to not promise unrealistic expectations, while it is important to say what can be done it is also necessary to say what cannot be done. Recently a digitisation project was implemented after using scores to target resources, providing e-copies to improve access thereby improving satisfaction. It is vital to continuously look for ways to improve as if you reach a high level of satisfaction and then do nothing the library will quickly become irrelevant, it is by doing this that you remain a useful resource for users.
Services for Visually Impaired Users, Sharon Reeve
Newcastle Libraries has recently developed its services for visually impaired users by providing new equipment and training staff, one activity involved one member of staff ebing blindfolded while being led by a non-blinded member of staff so blindness could be experienced. Thunder, free software is being used alongside Supernova, a paid for software. A questionnaire, Your Reading Choices, has been developed to provide visually impaired users with a personal profile.
The New Curiosity Shop: What's on Offer Today?, Middlesbrough College
The best was definitely saved for last! Middlesbrough College library is using technology to attract and engage users, a treasure hunt is conducted using QR codes (students can loan a phone if they don't have smartphone) where the first clue directs them to find the 8th Harry Potter book, a mock book has been created! They stated the importance of not spending extra money by making best use of things you do pay for as well as exploiting freebies, for example, you pay the same amount for Blackboard whether you do a lot with it or nothing with it, to best exploit it they have added a weekly top ten e-books section to promote ebooks as well as having links to the catalogue and podcasts. Freebies are used to promote services by using Prezi and Twitter. The most valuable point was that library space is a most important resource, people may want remote access but they also want to have a physical space to use as well. A useful feedback mechanism was the use of quickcards to gather information, the example used was when asking what a library app should have, a card was handed out with a number of options with tick boxes, this proved more popular than the online questionnaire.
I think that what Mini-Umbrella is best for is promoting local developments, CILIP is notoriously Londoncentric and this event gives the North East a venue to tell people what has been happening locally while providing a valuable networking opportunity. Mini-Umbrella highlights the region, and afterall, if we don't tell people what we're doing, who will?
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Save Our Libraries
When is our government, the people we elect to care for this country and its inhabitants, going to realise that libraries are a central feature of communities and that closing them down will be detrimental to society?
My grandma uses the library as a meeting place for the local walkers club, she's made some good friends through that. There's also weight loss groups which meet there, although I suspect that's more to do with the gym which shares the building.
After reading other peoples views on library closures I have been made aware that there are strong links between reading ability and educational achievement, so why put todays youth at a disadvantage? They're already being born into a time where unemployment is the highest it's been for 17 years! Then the government is going to take away opportunities for them to develop outside of a school environment, how does this make sense to people? Yes, the last governement did not fix the deficit but I really don't think that closing libraries is the way for this government to address it.
My local library is awesome, I love it, I would be lost without it!
It's not like this anymore!!!
It's not just about the books! Libraries offer so much more than just books. Gone are the days when libraries are dark buildings with row upon row of books with a strict librarian glaring over the top of her glasses at any one who dares make a noise, if they ever were the days they happened long before I was around. These days libraries still have row upon row of books but also computers so the 23% of the population who do not have internet access can access it. Not to mention the great many events which are held. Library staff have such a wide range of skills why discard them? A librarian is a font of knowledge, use them wisely.Look at it now! community.newcastle.gov.uk/libraries
Some of my happiest memories of my childhood were spent in the library, at school we used to go once a week to our local library where the lovely librarian would read to us, when I got a bit older with a better reading ability my mam would take me on a Saturday morning and I had a great time finding new books to get lost in. Now its great, I live opposite my local library so can go almost any time, it was even better when they did free reservations!
My grandma uses the library as a meeting place for the local walkers club, she's made some good friends through that. There's also weight loss groups which meet there, although I suspect that's more to do with the gym which shares the building.
After reading other peoples views on library closures I have been made aware that there are strong links between reading ability and educational achievement, so why put todays youth at a disadvantage? They're already being born into a time where unemployment is the highest it's been for 17 years! Then the government is going to take away opportunities for them to develop outside of a school environment, how does this make sense to people? Yes, the last governement did not fix the deficit but I really don't think that closing libraries is the way for this government to address it.
My local library is awesome, I love it, I would be lost without it!
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