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 2007 Volume 5(3)

Networking

A day of skills-sharing

An Open Day in Edinburgh used a variety of interesting formats to help professionals share skills and thoughts on the future of the profession, writes Christine Irving.

An interesting and informative day was had by library and information professionals who attended the ELISA (Edinburgh Libraries and Information Services Agency) open day. The event is designed to promote networking, exchange of experiences and the chance to learn – and it certainly succeeded.

Attendees came from a variety of roles, sectors and different stages of their career. The short breaks between the sessions allowed attendees to talk to each other over a cup of coffee, and people could attend for a particular session/s, half day or the full day depending on their commitments. The programme was a mix of presentations, discussions, debate and information exchange. Alana Macmillan from Idox plc outlined her company’s approach to marketing its information service. This was a good introduction to marketing and set us up nicely for Nat Edwards, John Murray Archive Programme Manager, National Library of Scotland, who gave an overview of the challenges in marketing this prestigious archive. He certainly convinced me and a school librarian I spoke to that the archive was something we needed to visit.

Sheila Cannell, Director of Library Services, Edinburgh University, spoke on the topic ‘What is a Librarian?’. She gave us food for thought as she talked about the different roles of librarians including curator, procurer and organiser of information, information expert, promoter of information use, guardian of the knowledge of an organisation, a trusted public servant and change agent. She also highlighted what others think of librarians referring to a recent Research Information Network study.1

“Library Wildlife Park” gave participants the chance to meet seven different librarians to talk about their different career paths and skills sets. I found this event really interesting and would have liked to have heard all seven speak but with the allocated time I managed to hear Garry Gale who gave a fascinating insight into his life as a Music Librarian (with Edinburgh City Libraries), an area of the profession I knew little about, and Bronwen Brown on her role as a Web Communications Officer (City of Edinburgh Corporate Services). Also included were an Art Librarian and a Botanical Librarian. As to what is a librarian – this session certainly demonstrated the diversity within the profession and the varied roles that we carry out.

The debate “This house believes that the things that librarians do are better done by other people” saw a brave Bette Johnston (Learning & Development Officer Information Services, Edinburgh University) arguing for the motion. She eloquently put forward the case for the expansion of the MacLibrary borrowing the successful business principles of Macdonalds fast food. Cleo Jones (Principal Officer Information and Learning Resources, Children & Families City of Edinburgh Council) argued against the motion and verbalised the passion and commitment felt by professionals for their work and its principles. With a vote of 2 for the motion and more than 50 against, this debate affirmed the delegates’ commitment to and belief in their work and their position in society. This was a light-hearted session that many participants enjoyed but also identified some important issues facing the profession.

Angus Ferguson, a member of the Digital Resources Development team, East Lothian Museums Service, talked about technologies available to communicate with current and potential service users. Angus had lots of useful suggestions of free software to use. Whilst he did briefly talk about blogs (simple to update but takes time and not everyone’s cup of tea), podcasts (making audio files available for download – a doddle to do) and metadata, I think he lost some of the audience along the way. This is a shame because he was enthusiastic and had a lot of experience which he was willing to share, such as that the public want new fresh information and the advice to experiment and pull experiences together.

The “Information Exchange” was an experimental activity aimed at pooling ideas and generating a list of good information sources on seven hot topics: marketing; new technologies; funding; information skills; databases; legal issues; and preservation. The results of this activity will be on the ELISA website to make a useful resource.

The Open Day was brought to a close on a high with an inspirational and frank talk by Karen Cunningham, Head of Libraries & Community Facilities, Glasgow. Karen shared her thoughts on making contacts (being out there and prepared to talk to everyone) and building trust and partnerships slowly (delivering what you say you will and giving back as much of your time and commitments as you can).

The ELISA Open Day 2007 ‘Skills to Change’ was hosted by the National Library of Scotland at the Causewayside Building on 15 May.

Christine Irving is Project Officer, Scottish Information Literacy Project, Glasgow Caledonian University
e: christine.irving@gcal.ac.uk

Background information on speakers by Wendy Ball, ELISA Development Officer
e: wendy.ball@edinburgh.gov.uk

Information Scotland Vol. 5(3) June 2007

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