As is to be expected, most of the students were nervous, however they all performed really well. It was interesting to see where the students see themselves in the future; out of the interviews that I sat in on, one student was interested in a job with the RSPB, another had found a job in Fiji, one on the Isle of Mull and another student who wanted to go and work for an aquarium in America. It was great to see the some of the students so enthusiastic and passionate about their subject choice, and to learn more about their goals and ambitions. This was also such a useful exercise for me, as it gave me experience of interviewing and all the types of questions to ask. Not all the questions that we asked the students were directly related to the job they had found, some focussed on their general skills (such as ‘what are your weaknesses’ whereas other questions wanted the student’s opinions on current affairs). At the end of the 20 minute interview, the student was then given feedback straight away. The advice given by the lecturers on the interview panel was invaluable; make links with key people in the field through Linkedin, email them questions, join professional societies – get yourself noticed so that they remember your name and they know that you are passionate about your field! I realised that this advice is not only relevant for the students, but is good advice for everyone at any stage within their career.
Last Thursday I was asked to sit on an interview panel. Some of our HE students complete a module in ‘Professional Employability Skills Development (PESD)‘ and one of the tasks they are asked to take part in is a mock interview. The students are asked to go and find a job description and person specification that they are interested in, and then send it to their lecturer. The students then have to prepare for a mock interview for the job they have chosen, for which each student is allocated a 20 minute time slot. As the students on this module are studying marine science/biology, the jobs mostly have a marine conservation/animal conservation focus. The panel consisted of their course lecturer, a lecturer from another campus site, our Business Engagement Assistant and myself. Some of the students take this very seriously, trying to make it as realistic as possible by dressing smartly and treating it almost as if it's real.
As is to be expected, most of the students were nervous, however they all performed really well. It was interesting to see where the students see themselves in the future; out of the interviews that I sat in on, one student was interested in a job with the RSPB, another had found a job in Fiji, one on the Isle of Mull and another student who wanted to go and work for an aquarium in America. It was great to see the some of the students so enthusiastic and passionate about their subject choice, and to learn more about their goals and ambitions. This was also such a useful exercise for me, as it gave me experience of interviewing and all the types of questions to ask. Not all the questions that we asked the students were directly related to the job they had found, some focussed on their general skills (such as ‘what are your weaknesses’ whereas other questions wanted the student’s opinions on current affairs). At the end of the 20 minute interview, the student was then given feedback straight away. The advice given by the lecturers on the interview panel was invaluable; make links with key people in the field through Linkedin, email them questions, join professional societies – get yourself noticed so that they remember your name and they know that you are passionate about your field! I realised that this advice is not only relevant for the students, but is good advice for everyone at any stage within their career.
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![]() It’s been a few weeks ago now, but one of our first year HE Marine Science students asked if we could have a list of where things were on the shelves. What he wanted, was in essence, bay end signs. As we are a small Learning Centre (what we call our library), we have a limited amount of space for book stock and therefore we don’t have many printed materials anymore. We are also trying to explore having more resources available electronically. Due to the refurbishment of the Learning Centre last year, bay end signs were never created due to the low amount of stock that we have and the fact that none of our users had ever asked for them! Last year we also had several book moves where the shelves were rearranged, and so bay end signs was one of those jobs that simply got moved further down the to-do list, as they were viewed as less important. However, I firmly believe that good customer service means listening and acting on the views of your users. As a College, we are also about putting the student first. As a result, I had a chat with the student and decided that I would create bay end signs. It would have been easy to just quickly create them and put them up: job done. However, I decided that I would like the student to be involved in their creation. Rather than just use our Learning Services Dewey spreadsheet (what we use when we classify and catalogue), I wanted to ask the student for the terminologies that they use in lectures, in the hope that other students may be able to relate to and understand the book collection in a relevant way. Obviously, being a Marine Science student, other areas of the collection, such as marine engineering and watersports, were less familiar to him, but it was still interesting to wander the shelves with him and gather which key words and terms would mean something to him, rather than simply use the terms we use in our Learning Services Dewey. Once I had a list of the topics our stock covers, I did refer to our Learning Services Dewey in order to add slightly more detail and ensure that nothing important was missed out (especially for those areas of the collection that the student was less familiar with). With regards to the appearance of the signage, the student thought that it would be nice to have the logo somewhere on them. As we have free-standing shelving, with books on both sides, the signage text was justified by either left-aligning or right-aligning the text to correspond with which side of the shelves it refers to. Once I had created them, the student laminated and put them up. Seeing as a few weeks have passed since this was completed, I asked the student if he was still happy with them, to which he replied yes, although he now knows where things are so he doesn’t look at them anymore! Despite this, if we ever have any visitors to the Learning Centre who are new to the campus, or students who may need a book outside of their usual subject area, they will have some guidance to refer to. It will also be useful for the start of the academic year when we have new students joining who may need to get used to finding resources and the Dewey system. Although this seems perhaps a trivial thing to blog about, I think it’s important as sometimes I think we just assume that everyone is happy, when perhaps we should consult our users more and find out what they really think and how we can improve their learning and study experience. It also highlighted how the students do use the Learning Centre and look at the books, but it also allowed this student to take ownership of a project for the Learning Centre; it was therefore both beneficial for the Learning Centre and the student. This reminded me of something that I had come across a couple of months ago while browsing online, which is the Library Student Advisory Group that that the University of Lincoln have established. This is where students can apply to join the group and once recruited, they advise on the provision of library services and facilities, including things such as induction activities and materials and reading lists (University of Lincoln, no date). I think in the future this may be something we could benefit from at the College; it is this feedback from our students that will help us to improve our services and facilities and prevent us from becoming complacent. I think it would also be a great CV enhancer for our students and help to develop their employability skills. Perhaps therefore a similar student advisory service, specifically for the Learning Centre, could be set up. Watch this space! Reference: University of Lincoln (no date) The Library: Student Advisory Group. Available at: http://library.lincoln.ac.uk/home/feedback/student-advisory-group/ (Accessed: 30 November 2015). And below are the finished signs: Last Friday I attended a workshop on becoming a CILIP Mentor. After Chartering earlier this year, I felt that I would like to help others see the value of Chartership and to share my experiences of the process. I think that having only just Chartered and that I submitted under the new regulations (using the VLE) is an advantage in helping others. As a Mentor training session was arranged within the region, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and go along.
The day began with a session conducted by Helen Berry from CILIP. The differences between coaching and mentoring were discussed, and then we shared our experiences of being mentored. Looking at my own Chartership experience, from being mentored I gained support and reassurance that I was on the right track. Things that my mentor did to facilitate this included listening and providing practical advice to help me along the way. I also enjoyed being mentored as it was an opportunity for me to catch up with an old line manager (my mentor was my line manager in a previous sector that I worked in). As a result, I have also benefited from networking with some of my mentor’s current colleagues as well. The session also discussed learning styles and how you may end up mentoring someone who works in a completely different way to yourself, and as a result you may end up adapting your style to accommodate your mentees. For example, some mentees may require more contact than others. We also discussed how to build rapport, the mentoring contract and confidentiality. Powerful questioning was also something else that we spent time discussing – the who, what, where, when, why and how. Asking these questions of your mentees helps them to explore their situation in more detail, encourages them to be more reflective (rather than just being descriptive) and to develop their personal awareness and responsibility. Constructive feedback is also important, as this is helpful feedback rather than destructive feedback which can be undermining. Thinking about the qualities that you need as a mentor also made me reflect on myself, having integrity, being honest, reliable and adopting a non-judgmental attitude are vital. Overall, the mentor’s role is to enable, encourage and enthuse. I realised that being a CILIP mentor is a two-way process, and that just as the mentee can feel that things might not be going right, so too can the mentor. Several times it was stressed that the mentor also needs to be learning and benefitting from the experience. Mentoring therefore is a great opportunity for continuing professional development. The afternoon session was conducted by a current mentor who is also an assessor. She provided an overview of how CILIP Professional Registration works before moving on to the finer points of the Mentoring Agreement and the First Formal Meeting between mentor and mentee. Establishing an Agenda when you have meetings is also important, as it gives you a focus and helps to ensure that progress is made. When I was completing my Chartership, my mentor and I always had an agenda and I found that this kept me focussed and I’m sure that as a result, I got my portfolio finished much quicker! Within the training session we also spent some time looking at the PKSB and how to use it, along with how to go about helping a candidate to write the Evaluative Statement and selecting material to submit as evidence. The session concluded with the stages involved in submitting a portfolio and how the assessment process works. The day itself was also a good networking exercise – a couple of people on the training were also known to me as they work in libraries that I visited as part of my Chartership. It was also nice to meet other library and information professionals from the wider region and to hear about their experiences, as some of them are already mentoring and attended the training as a refresher. This week I have updated my profile on the CILIP VLE and sent CILIP my completed Mentor Application form. As I am based in the South West, I am happy to mentor at a distance. When I completed my Chartership, this is how I communicated with my mentor, as she was based in the Midlands. About once a month we would have a telephone conversation, and in between these I could email her if I had any problems/questions. This method worked for me, although I appreciate that some people might miss the face-to-face contact, however, with things like Skype and Facetime, this could address the feeling of isolation to some degree. So, if anyone out there is looking for a mentor…feel free to contact me! Daren Mansfield, an Academic Subject Librarian at the University of Lincoln, has written a really informative and useful CILIP blog post all about how to become an avid blogger. It is definitely worth a read if you’re not sure whether to give blogging a go. I especially like how he also refers to himself as a ‘Marketer’. As library and information professionals, we have many skills that are not just confined to traditional librarianship or archival administration, and certainly, promoting our resources and facilities is a crucial part of our job. Social media is definitely one of the best ways that I have found to keep up to date with the library and information sector. I have read many interesting articles through links that have been posted on both Facebook and Twitter for example. In previous job roles, I have also tweeted live from events (such as World Book Night) and I have used Facebook to promote the collections; in fact I still post onto a Learning Centre’s Facebook at a different campus site that I worked at. This takes the form of looking at national days/events and seeing how the collections held across all the campus sites compliment these. For example, when it was the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday, I referred to this on Facebook and signposted to the items in our collection relating to Shakespeare, in order to try and promote this area of the collection. When I volunteered in a local university’s archives and special collections department, I began to write and collate tweets ready for the launch of their twitter account.
Blogging however allows you to say more, and critically evaluate what you are doing and why. It has made me really think about being reflective, which was obviously important for Chartership. Although I have now successfully completed Chartership, I have found that I am still being reflective without even realising it! I think this has been one of the most valuable things that I have learned, as I am now really thinking about what we are doing in the Learning Centre and why, and how these things can improve on the service that we provide for our users. Daren Manfield’s (2015) top tips for blogging, which are worth remembering, are: · post a blend of media including audio-visual, text-based and photos · regularly update the blog · keep up to date with what is happening in the sector through engaging in social media I’m going to try and be a bit more adventurous with some of my posts, as I tend to stick to simple, text-based posts, with the occasional photo or image. Keeping up to date can be a challenge, but I think little and often is the way to go. As Mansfield highlights, you need to develop your blogging voice, and the best way to do this is to simply get writing! As part of my Chartership, I submitted specific blog posts as part of my evidence, and I also linked to my blog from my Evaluative Statement. You can read Daren’s original blog post for CILIP here. He also contributes to the Business Librarian Blog at the University of Lincoln. Happy blogging! References: Mansfield, D. (2012) ‘Becoming an avid blogger: blogging tips from a Subject Librarian’, CILIP Blog, 21 July. Available at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/blog/becoming-avid-blogger-blogging-tips-subject-librarian (Accessed: 4 August 2015). University of Lincoln (2015) Business Librarian Blogs. Available at: http://businesslibrarian.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 4 August 2015). As part of my Chartership evidence, I reflected on an online learning object that I had created using Xerte Online Toolkits. As it’s the summer, we’re using this time to prepare for the start of the next academic year. All our students will return in September, so the race is on to get everything ready by then. During this last academic year, I have noticed (through the proofreading service I have offered) that students really struggle with grasping the basics of referencing. This was one of the reasons that I decided to experiment with Xerte and see what I could come up with. After acting on feedback received from colleagues, I have recently been editing this learning object, as I’m hoping to highlight it during our inductions in September as another referencing resource that our students can use. Click on the image below and take a look!
The campus site that I work at is currently undergoing a major refurbishment process. It’s nearly complete, and over the last couple of weeks one of the old buildings has been demolished to make way for a car park. This is right outside the Learning Centre and so we’ve all been watching the building gradually being reduced to rubble. It’s amazing the impact this has had on the Learning Centre – already we have noticed that the light levels inside have really improved, as now we have much more natural light entering the Learning Centre. Below are some of the photos that I’ve taken from the Learning Centre windows. For those students returning in September, the campus will look very different!
Last week I had a nice surprise when I checked my emails – my Chartership portfolio was successful!!! Although I’ve finished my Chartership, I’m going to continue to write this blog in order to keep up to date with my professional development and all things to do with the library world.
For those of you who are either considering Chartership or are part way through it, have a look at the CILIP Chartership Group on Facebook. There’s lots of really good advice and discussions going on within this group, and it will definitely help to keep you motivated if you’re struggling. Finally, congratulations to all those who last week also found out that their Chartership Portfolio submissions were successful. It’s finished! I decided this week to submit my portfolio, otherwise I feared that I would constantly keep changing things and I was worried that I would just drag it out and never finish! After I’d submitted it, I then realised that there is a new book out detailing the registration process (http://cilip.org.uk/cilip/news/cilip-publishes-new-guide-professional-registration); from reading the sample chapter that’s provided it looks like an incredibly helpful book, and in a way, I wish it had been available sooner. However, for those of you who are thinking of Chartering, or are part way thorough it, it certainly looks like it will be well worth obtaining a copy.
Now that I’ve submitted my portfolio, I thought I’d add a few thoughts on the whole process. Was it worth it? Did I enjoy it? Have I learnt anything? The answer to all these questions is yes. I still believe that Chartering is a worthwhile process, as for part of my library Master’s dissertation (which I submitted last year) I completed a content analysis of information literacy job roles within FE/HE institutions in the UK. Chartership came out as the top desirable category found within person specifications. Obviously, this was only representative of the sample I used, nevertheless this was still one reason that I thought trying to achieve Chartered status was worth the effort, as employers are clearly recognising Chartership. Another reason that I wanted to enrol for Chartership was to demonstrate my commitment to the profession, and importantly, evidence that what we do as library and information professionals is worthwhile and makes a difference to the places we are employed in. Over the current academic year I have been collecting my evidence, and whereas before embarking on Chartership I would never really think about how what I was working on impacted on the bigger picture, Chartership has made me evaluate and question (in a positive way) what I have been doing and the facilities and services that we provide within the Learning Centre, and why these are necessary. It has also ensured that the extra things I have been working on (such as studying a Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies) have been worthwhile, as Chartership has made me see how these are relevant and how I can use my learning and transfer it to my job. It has also made me think about the things that frustrate me, and those things that perhaps I would like to change. While it may not always be possible to change everything, Chartership has allowed me to critically evaluate situations, and come up with solutions to some of the challenges that we face (such as proving that Learning Centres are a necessity). I now realise that evidence of what we do and the feedback we get from our users are vitally important to secure our future. Completing Chartership has also given me greater confidence within my role, as I realise now that within the Learning Centre we are doing some really positive things, and also working really hard! Sometimes it is easy to just keep going, day-in-day-out, and never really step back and evaluate things. I realise that actually I have achieved quite a lot so far in this academic year, and there are definitely things that I am really proud of completing and implementing, like the proofreading service. It has also been lovely to work with my mentor, Sue, who was my line manager in a previous job. Although I created this blog to document my Chartership progress, I feel that being reflective within my role shouldn’t stop, and therefore I intend to carry on with this blog. In fact, the process isn’t quite finished yet as I need to await the decision of the assessors to see whether I have been successful. Over the next few weeks I also hope to share some of the things that I included as part of my evidence for Chartership. Over the last couple of months I have been busy organising library visits and collecting evidence for my portfolio. I have really enjoyed visiting libraries within the South-West region (primarily Cornwall) and I have discovered some real gems of the library world, and those libraries that I didn’t even realise existed that are on my doorstep! These visits were also a great opportunity for me to promote my workplace, as a number of library staff I spoke to didn’t know that the Marine School existed either! Over the next few weeks I’ll try and summarise some of the library visits I went on, to show the diversity of the library world within Cornwall.
I’ve also been busy collating my evidence for my portfolio. I have found it quite hard to be selective, and also knowing how to present this information has proved challenging. I’m aware of the importance of being reflective, and so I’ve selected just parts of my evidence and then added my reflections to these pieces. I’ve also been trying out the CILIP VLE and I’ve now created my Portfolio page. So far, so good! Since being in my role, I have decided to start up a proofreading service. At the moment, I have asked students to email me directly with their assignments. This was a service that we used to run at a previous campus site that I worked at, and was very well supported by HE students. At the time, I felt that it was one of our unique selling points of the Learning Centre, as when I was at university there was no such service – if only there had been! I quite enjoy proofreading (although I should say here that I am not qualified as a professional proof reader and I make this clear) and very often colleagues will ask me to quickly check the odd email or short piece of writing. I decided that I would start-up a proofreading service here at the Marine School, as an extra service that we could provide. The initial verbal feedback from teaching staff has been one of enthusiasm for the service (partly, I suspect, as they feel it might make their job a bit easier when it comes to marking assignments!). So far, it has been mainly the HE students who have sent me work. The majority of the pieces of work I have looked at have been assignments, and so far I have been able to keep on top of the work that I have been sent. I tend to focus on basic grammar and punctuation, along with spelling. I also look at the way they are referencing (this is usually what takes the longest) and in nearly every piece of work I have looked at there have been referencing mistakes. As a result, I decided to create a Learning Object (LO) on Referencing & Plagiarism using Xerte Online Toolkits (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/index.aspx). Last year I attended a training day that focussed on the basics of Xerte, so I thought that I would finally put into practice what I had learnt. By creating a LO for referencing and plagiarism, it provides the students (and staff) with an online resource that they can consult. I’m also thinking of creating another LO for academic writing – the more assignments that I have read, the more I think it would be useful to provide a resource that students could consult while they write. The correct use of commas, for example, and how to write in paragraphs, are just two areas that I have noticed students are struggling with.
I am sure that there are those who feel that proofreading is not part of the job of those who work within a library and information environment. This may be due to the time it takes to accurately proofread work, the size of the institution and the numbers of students who potentially could access such a service. Recently, I have been reading Alex Osmond’s book ‘Academic Writing and Grammar for Students’, which I thoroughly recommend. In this, Osmond (2013) actively encourages students to do their own proofreading, for the following reasons: · Most universities don’t offer proofreading services (therefore students have to do it themselves) · Staff don’t have the time But the most important reason he gives is: · Proofreading is an important skill to learn – if a student doesn’t learn how to proofread their work they will never fully develop their writing (Osmond, 2013, p. 198). Another reason, which I particularly like, is that it is an employability skill. Within a job, you may need to write a report or produce formal writing, and therefore you need to be able to effectively proofread your own work (Osmond, 2013, p. 198). Why therefore, based on the above reasons, do I think that it’s a good idea to provide a proofreading service? It is really appreciated by HE students who genuinely want to improve their grades. When proofreading, I never actually correct their work, but will highlight areas that I suggest they look at rephrasing or offer them suggestions of what to focus on to improve. I always try and send any work back with a detailed email that outlines certain areas that I think the student needs to improve on. I will never just correct work and write it for them. The service is designed to provide a ‘fresh’ pair of eyes to help spot mistakes. With regards to the issue of staff time, yes, it is time-consuming to be proofreading, however one way to address this that I have found is to schedule time within my day specifically for proofreading. Another issue is one of deadlines. We’ve all been there when we’ve left something until the last minute, however by setting out some service standards it is more manageable to get work back to students in a timely fashion, and also ensures that the students know that if they send me work half an hour before their deadline I’m not going to be able to read it for them! These standards that I have come up with include the following: · Work will be proofread within 3 days of receiving the assignment · The subject matter, and any factual information, will not be commented on. Students are advised to consult their lecturer if they have any queries regarding the subject content. · If students have been advised to format or reference certain things in a particular way, they are advised to follow the advice of their lecturer as they are the ones who mark the assignments. The issue of proofreading being an important employability skill is a slightly trickier one. I am sure that there are some students who perhaps do not even read their work once all the way through before they send it, however, if by sending it to me to be proofread it ensures that they revisit their work, then I feel it is worthwhile; the service is designed to encourage students to look again at their work. When I reply, if necessary, I will attach any writing guides or include any links that I feel the students might find useful. One such link that I find myself telling students about is the University of Manchester’s Academic Phrasebank (http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/). This resource was invaluable to me when I was studying, and I’m sure it helped me to improve my writing. I hope that by highlighting areas of their writing that they need to improve, they take on board my comments and work harder to improve their grades. Although the service has only been running for about six weeks, some students have already used the service on more than one occasion – so I’m taking this as a good sign that students are happy with the advice! As for the info-skills sessions, I have developed a questionnaire using Survey Monkey and will shortly start to analyse the results to gauge how the service is working and what it is achieving. Once I have looked at these results, I’ll reflect on them and see whether it is a service that is worth continuing and how it can be improved. References: Osmond, A. (2013) Academic writing and grammar for students. London: Sage. The University of Manchester (2015) Academic phrasebank. Available at: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/ (Accessed: 13 March 2015). The University of Nottingham (no date) The Xerte project. Available at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/index.aspx (Accessed: 13 March 2015). |
About meMy name's Heather and I'm a Learning Centre Tutor in an FE/HE College in the South West of England. I am also a CILIP Mentor and welcome enquiries from prospective mentees. I created this blog to keep up to date with my professional development and all things library related. Please note - all views and images are my own, unless stated otherwise. Archives
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