Library Camp 2013

Yet again another amazing experience at Library Camp. This is the third national Library Camp that I have attended and each time I have come home full of enthusiasm and hope for the profession, re-energised and glad to be a librarian. Each time is different, with people coming up with a huge variety of subjects to discuss. This morning the first session started with two children's stories and we swapped suggestions for good stories to read aloud at story-times. We talked about using picture books to help older but less secure readers to enjoy and practice their reading skills. We also thought about the stories that help children with emotional literacy. It was a session that could have gone on for hours.

I was facilitating the next one, and I wanted to publicise that open access repositories are a source of available information and data that anyone can read and use. As it turned out the people who came to the session were well aware of repositories and it turned into an interesting and illuminating discussion about getting the information onto repositories in the first place and the problems associated with young researchers wanting to make their work open, but there eventually being and establishment barrier that prevents it happening.

Lunch was great, provided mainly by the un-delegates (well, if it and un-conference than we must be un-delegates!) This year, "Cake camp" was accompanied by "Snack camp" , with savory items. I took along some home baked Pizza. I think that the concept of pizza always tasting better the morning after must be totally true. I baked the Pizza last night and by the time I got to the snack table, it had all vanished! After lunch I attended a session about digitisation because I wanted to find out more about the process and how hard or easy it is. Once again we had an in-depth conversation not merely about the process, but the consequences of putting work and images on line, and the problems of machines trying to convert characters into text.

I then diverted slightly by going to the session about the future of Cilip, and managed to say a lot of stuff, which I thought was thought provoking and interesting but seemed to give the impression that I had a negative attitude. Maybe I should have kept quiet. One phrase stayed with me, from one of the other un-delegates: "Industry Standard", and I think that Cilip as a relatively young incarnation of two older old organisations, is still trying to work out the clear cut, modern, professional weight that it should have. Finally, I went to the last session to listen, and find out about what open source software there is that can deal with library stuff, and learnt about various programmes, software and devises. There is also a rather wonderful device called Library box, which is like a portable server which you can load up with all sorts of wonderful e-documents and take it around with you for other people to access, like WiFi.

I do have two regrets, once again there were clashes of sessions going on, especially at the same time as I was doing mine, and I missed some topics that I would have loved to have attended. The other was that this year's Library Camp was in the brand new shiney Library of Birmingham, and I was so intent on the sessions and networking that I didn't get a chance to have a good look around it, or take any photos. I am a big fan of Library Camp, and the Un-conference style, it really demonstrates the intelligence, enthusiasm and range of people who work in all sorts of library sectors. Can I book for Library Camp 2014 now?          

Library camp 2011, my first experience of an Unconference

Attracted to the event in Birmingham, by the fact that it was free, about libraries, something I had never done before and not far from my home in Derby, I was one of the early people to sign up. I also wanted to publicise my research, and where better than an event which attracted undelegates (if it is an unconference, they must be undelegates) from far and wide. The atmosphere was very supportive, enthusiastic and creative, with the first "Pitching" session inspiring many people to facilitate a discussion relevant to many groups in the room. I had gone along with the intention to lead a discussion on the way to make politicians realise that libraries enhance literacy, because of all the reports that I had read during this research journey that emphasised that libraries add to literacy and there is insufficient policy supporting this fact.

Here is a brief outline of the discussion, its outcomes and my thoughts after the discussion. I first asked everyone what their personal understanding was of the term "Literacy", so that everyone could come to a common understanding of what we were discussing. I was really shocked when one contribution was "surely its just reading and writing?" and chose to regard that as a "devil's advocate" answer because any trained and self respecting library or information professional should understand that literacy is so much more than that. Sure enough, the discussion wove around the concept of literacy being about words, the spoken word, comprehension, fluency, confidence, empathy, social skills, inspiration, visual skills, language, vocabulary, and a life long journey that constantly improves. The general feeling was that literacy was far more than decoding writing. I summed up the definition of literacy as the ability to understand symbolic events. Actually, I couldn't remember the exact words I used, but it was something like that. I posed the question "how can we teach literacy in libraries?" to get the response that we couldn't, that learning is a personal thing that comes from within, and actually libraries give people a chance to learn.

Unfortunately, no one easy answer of how to get Politicians to listen was found. We did find that there was problems in quantifying the work that libraries do, that reporting success is difficult in a public authority when staff are not allowed to talk to press, or talk about their work even though they want to boast about the positive things their service is achieving. There was also the comment that we know what is good and what is working, but there is not enough of it, for instance "rhyme time"s one day a week is not reaching all the children that it should. It was felt that maybe libraries are not giving out the right message to politicians, "Don't close us because we are great!" is not a powerful enough argument. Advocacy was suggested, libraries need a strong ally like a newspaper, money, or opinion leaders, such as certain bloggers with a reputation of leading thought. Although authors lend their voice to library campaigns, simple stating that they loved libraries as children and owed their writing career to a helpful librarian is not enough. Unions can speak their members voices, but librarians scattered as members of various unions. CILIP may have a role, and the National Literacy Trust. Political awareness is essential, knowing how to present the library case to fit in with political agendas. The policies to support public libraries need to be cross-governmental, not just in one department. Overall, libraries should

1. Clarify their message
2. Capitalise on research
3. Find powerful advocates  

 
My thoughts on all of this led me to give the group an idea to think about. Maybe  public  libraries should not be run by local authorities, maybe they should be run by a national library trust?

Afterwards, I took to thinking, Cilip as a professional body that is gradually waking up to its role to defend and support all librarians everywhere, and I think that with the upcoming president and vice president it will become more militant. It is not a trade union however, so should we start a Library and Information Worker Union, and if so how do you go about doing it?

I also think that the media should be used, not by running "visit your library" campaigns, but by featuring library and information workers in dramas and soaps. This will dispel myths and show us as hero's! We are real people with real lives that can be just as dramatic and interesting as doctors and nurses, market stall holders and pub landlords, police and con-men. Maybe spies are a little more exciting. Well, any budding dramatists out there?