Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal June 2005 Volume 3 (3)

Co-operation

Co-operation at a local level

Wendy Ball describes a highly successful Open Day held recently by the collaboration and co-operation network for Edinburgh, ELISA.

The tenacity of a good idea is extraordinary. Since the publication of the City Of Edinburgh's Cultural Policy in 1999, librarians and information professionals in the city of Edinburgh have volunteered their time and resources to develop the Edinburgh Libraries Strategy (launched in December 2003) and to create an informal organisation called ELISA (Edinburgh Libraries and Information Services Agency).

Over the past six years, ELISA has generated a number of collaborative projects such as the ELISA website, www.elisa.lib.ed.ac.uk, and the Edinburgh Libraries Guide. There have also been working groups set up to tackle particular issues, such as a universal library passport and exchange of experience visits to libraries across the city. This development and the vision for ELISA has been described by Chris Pinder (2004) in Information Scotland.

After six years of people volunteering time over and above their 'day' job, the appointment of a Development Officer and the ELISA Open Day on 3 May are testimony to the persistence of the idea that collaborative working on a local level is a valuable and worthwhile ambition.

Co-operative library activities are part and parcel of a professional's work. This is well illustrated by the masterly map of the co-operative library activities in Scotland created by Stuart James (2004). In setting up an organisation such as ELISA it is very important not to duplicate work, or reinvent the wheel. Yet through the development of ELISA, it is obvious that a co-operative network based on the loose geographical area of 'Edinburgh' (the city boundary is not viewed as rigid) is something that LIS professionals want and value. When discussions occur in the context of 'Edinburgh', there is potential tension between the views of Edinburgh as a locality serving its citizens and visitors, and Edinburgh as a capital city, acting as a gateway to the rest of the country. However, judging by the number of national organisations that are interested in ELISA, many of them value their geographical location and see the benefits of co-operation on a local level.

The fact that people working in our sector value local contacts was well demonstrated by the ELISA Open Day when 66 people turned up to participate in events at the Edinburgh University Main Library. Amongst these participants, 36 different organisations, institutions and agencies from all sectors across the city were represented.

The Open Day had two agendas, one for ELISA and one for the individual participants. The purpose for ELISA was to raise people's awareness of ELISA, what it does and what it is trying to achieve; and secondly, to solicit ideas for collaborative practical projects that ELISA could adopt. The agenda for participants was to meet colleagues and learn about current developments.

The organisation of the day involved a team of ten volunteers together with the Development Officer. The agenda required practical results so we organised short informal sessions requiring high levels of active participation. We also designed the sessions as separate modules, so people could attend part, or the whole of the day, as their work patterns allowed. Many people took advantage of this arrangement and several smaller library teams attended in relays.

ELISA is about collaborative working and we wanted to hear from some key organisations that have been involved in collaborative working for some years. We were delighted that Stuart James (University Librarian, Paisley University) representing Ayrshire Libraries Forum http://library.paisley.ac.uk/alf/alfohome.htm and Judith Brown (Senior Librarian, Robert Gordon University) representing Grampian Information, www.grampianinfo.co.uk/, agreed to come and talk to us about the experiences of their organisations and the issues that have to be tackled when developing a collaborative network.

Our guest participants were also invited to join a panel for our 'Any Questions' type discussion. Some taxing questions were posed by members of the ELISA Staff Development Working Group, such as, how do you sell collaborative working to your employers and how do you collaborate with your competitors? For a more detailed report see the ELISA website www.elisa.lib.ed.ac.uk/. Further expertise on collaborative working was represented by ELISA activists, Chris Pinder from Napier University Learning and Information Services, Alason Roberts from Edinburgh University Library and Museum Service, Bill Wallace from Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services, and Gordon Hunt from the National Library of Scotland.

Four workshops were designed to solicit ideas for practical collaborative projects that could be adopted by ELISA. The four key themes reflected the interests of the current ELISA Working Groups: 'Communications, P.R. and Marketing'; 'Staff Development and Training'; 'Access'; and 'Digitisation'. They were a resounding success as 23 practical projects were identified by the participants.

An important feature of the day was to give participants the opportunity to meet colleagues. We introduced Contact Exchange, an idea developed by Sally Kerr from Edinburgh City Community Information and Web Team, and myself. 20 'hot topics' on library issues, (identified using recent issues of Information Scotland), were arranged around the room and people were encouraged to stand next to topics that interested them. This had the effect of bringing together people with similar interests, although some topics were perhaps not as hot as we had anticipated!

The Open Day generated important fuel for developing ELISA. It pulled a wide range of librarians and information people out of their libraries and it underlined the value of doing this. It also identified a range of practical projects that ELISA can now adopt and take forward.

Informal feedback and some recorded vox populi on the day indicated that participants most valued the chance to meet colleagues, to hear about new ideas, to share information, and to promote their own libraries. In spite of the plethora of co-operative forums, it seems that it is the local, personal and immediate contact that most encourages people to 'think out of the box'.

Moyra Forrest, Information Officer of the Institute of Science, Technology & Innovation at Edinburgh University, gives the following participant's perspective on the Open Day:
"I booked for the morning but stayed all day... Why?

• Stuart James and Judith Brown described what had worked well in Ayrshire and Grampian respectively, were not prescriptive, and were refreshingly open about potential pitfalls
• libraries from across the city were represented
• major employers proved by their involvement and enthusiasm how much ELISA means to them
• the workshops were practical and realistic in their aims
• contact exchange did just that
• the Hospitality Team provided clear directions and a warm welcome

Edinburgh is a library-rich city with great potential for collaboration on a more formal basis than at present. Informally, librarians are a pretty good lot when it comes to sharing!

The umbrella role of the City Council in promoting an Edinburgh Library Strategy provides a useful framework for future action. Local political support is important. There were many positive suggestions about how we can all capitalise on Edinburgh's designation as City of Literature.

Themed working groups were agreed to be useful. Time is ever precious and the judicious use of information technology should help. The new ELISA Bulletin Board should encourage easy communication.

Above all, people came with a positive attitude. Most librarians care deeply about their users and the quality of service we can offer. In our Information Society hazards such as overload of information, and an information-rich/information-poor divide concern us.

It is very encouraging that at a local level ELISA is bringing us together."

Wendy E. Ball is Development Officer for Edinburgh Libraries & Information Services Agency (ELISA).

References

James, S. 2004, 'The Home Nations: the Scottish Collaborative Ethos'. Widwisawn, v.2, no.3 http://widwisawn.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/issues/vol2/issue2_3_3.html

Pinder, C, 2004, 'Co-operation in Action' Information Scotland, v.2 no.2. http://www.slainte.org.uk/publications/serials/infoscot/vol2(2)/action.html

Information Scotland Vol. 3 (3) June 2005

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