CPD23 – Thing 4 (late, late, late!)

I’ll admit I’ve been a bit lax in updating, or even looking at, my blog recently, but where on earth did Thing 7 creep up from? When did things 4,5 & 6 scuttle past me? And it’s mid-July, already?! So in this vein of mild-mannered panic, I’m going to be on a bit of a blog-fest for the next few days – hopefully I can catch up!

I signed up to Twitter earlier this year, as a bit of a lark,  and I’ve found it really useful to keep abreast of all the latest news and information, – it was also good way to track and follow the librarian flock. Ok, I’m sorry, the very poor bird puns will stop now. But seriously, even though I am more of a lurker than an active tweeter, Twitter has giving me all sorts of information and event-listings that were never accessible to me before. I found out about the LISPN New Professionals conference through Twitter, and although I haven’t able to attend other conferences and meets, I can still follow the events and read up on any key issues that come up.  It has also been a good way to make contact with fellow professionals, like those starting the course at UCL with me in September. The lists provided on the CPD23 blog look great, I’ll definitely be exploring those on the first chance I get. 

Ah, RSS. I was really surprised to find out that this actually means ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Simple?! I did try to master this slippery little facet thing a while ago, but found it all slightly baffling (even slightly cold-sweat inducing.) But Annie’s instructions make things much easier to understand (thank-you, thank-you, thank-you) – so I gave that ubiquitous orange spoldge another chance.  I now know that I can subscribe to feed alerts not only through my google account, also subscribe through my web browser, hell I can even browse through feeds whilst on my phone! I am aware that this is news to very few people – its like an Iron-Age man discovering that stone can be shaped into tools, and then dancing like a loon around the cave-fire (that image popped into my head, and its sheer randominity forced me to share). Nevertheless, I am impressed, and a little annoyed that I deprived myself of this for so long…

I have never before heard of Pushnote, it’s almost painful how technologically un-savvy I have become! I have signed up, but I can’t say that I find it very useful right now. Most of the good websites I find I actually come across when I’m at work (finding out other useful resources for members, or being told about interesting sites by helpful colleagues) – but I cannot download the application onto a work computer. My ‘very advanced method’ for remembering all these gems is to email myself long lists of links, and then bookmark them on my home browser. Also, my online network isn’t very big at the moment, I tend to tell people about these new discoveries in person. However, it could be more useful when I start the MA, so I’ll keep it in mind for the near-future.

All-in-all, Thing 4 was a great summary of these three internet tools/sites that are around to help keep me (and everyone else) informed and connected.  And I have finally learnt how to properly use RSS feeds, which is a huge relief! Off for a congratulatory crumpet now.

CPD 23 – Thing 3

Ah, it is finally here, the dreaded ‘thing 3′! Branding….

My personal brand is, well, nonexistent. I’m not very good about being open online and I usually use pseudonyms or nicknames rather than my actually name. It’s not that I am up to any mischief (honest!) just that I am a little wary of having personal details freely accessible. Ok, so more ‘neurotic’ than a ‘little’ wary – given that I rarely even use my name! So, unsurprisingly, when I did a Google search on my name the results revealed a garden pond expert, a recently graduated nutritionist, a kosher chef, and watercolour painter of dogs – none of which are me, alas.

I realise my position is a little stupid and outdated. I look at other people’s blogs, follow them on twitter – I may not have met them face to face but I do have a small view into their lives/career. It is a good way to network and find out what it going on in the world of libraries and librarians – and it’s fast becoming an important process for potential employers. So, I think that it’s high time I went through my professional accounts and make sure my name is, at the very least, visible. I will be keeping my personal identity separate from my professional one – although they overlap considerably in ‘real life’ , I just don’t think I could comfortable blog about it and I do still have that nagging concern. Besides, the non-professional bits of my life aren’t really ’publishable’, even in a blog format - I very much doubt people will be interested in my tea obsession, penchant for finding a good bargain, or my habit of losing various personal effects. Of course this blog and my other professional accounts won’t be contrived,  but they will deal with professional matters in the main (and random trees, of course, which slightly deflate my entire argument…)

And I might be trying to re-jig my blog , just a little…It took me days and days to come up with a title, theme and colour scheme, so this time I am going to be quite strict on myself. WordPress isn’t as easy to manipulate schematically as Blogger, unless you pay a subscription; as  I’m practising scrimping for when I am a penniless student again this is not really possible. And there is the title of my blog; when I was first setting it all, I naively believed that the title had to be different from the blog’s name. The one I chose was less a reflection of what I wanted to project as my brand and more of the result of me reaching the end of my tether. But I am wondering if it might be a little too late to change it? And I am still no closer to figuring out what I could change it to!

And now for something (slightly) irrelevant…

Readers of this humble blog (if you exist, I thank-you), I give you the comic/manga/anime/cartoon thing that is LIBRARY WAR (or Toshokan Sensō, to give it is proper Japanese name)

My lovely friend in Japan first brought this ridiculous, implausible and oh-so-very corny manga to my attention a while ago. She took great mirth in it, and I thought it was time to share the ‘joy’…

I could try and explain the storyline, but I don’t think I could do it seriously, so here is the wikipedia page instead (or you could youtube it, but you didn’t hear that from me, ok?) Lets just say its a story about librarians protecting books and dispensing knowledge WITH HEAVY ARTILLERY. These are not just ‘librarians’, they are the ‘Library Team Defense Force’. DEFENCE FORCE. And there are no ‘acquistions’ departments, there is instead the ‘Logistical Support Department’ – they stock books, and guns.

Perhaps this could be a workable solution for the current threats our libraries are facing? I’m not sure how handy I would be with an AK-47, but if there was a module for it in Library School or even a thing on cpd 23, who knows? I might be remarkably proficient.

I think I should look around for more effective forms of advocacy, however; bullets and books can never be a good mix.

CPD 23 – Thing 2.2

So I have been looking at some of the blogs featured on the CPD23 list; like many people I’m a little overwhelmed by the number! But it’s great that so many people are taking part.

My viewings were a little haphazard at first; just clicking at random is perhaps not the best selection process… Most of the blogs I have seen so far look great, but as I can’t follow them all I decided to pick out a few  to look out especially for. I wanted to find the blogs of people who are having a different experience from me: working in other library sectors, or maybe taking different career routes, or further along in their general professional development (I am a lowly graduate trainee, after all).  Some of the ones I have chosen are below:

The first one I actually found through twitter: .http://gemcpd23.blogspot.com/. It’s the Blog of Gem, a library assistant at Cardiff University library, and though she has only just started out, it looks good.  What made me want to follow this blog is the really good first post, great design, and the fact that she has not yet decided on a career path (something I can identify a little with) – I’m curious to find out how she does progress in the profession, and what it’s like to work in an academic library.

The second one is Behind the Bookshelves . I’ll admit, the thing that first drew me to take a look was the title of the blog, and the great design made me want to keep reading. Cara Clarke is a chartered librarian, and her posts are interesting and informative – she really  seems to know what she is doing! It’s nice to find out about the experiences of someone who has progressed further in her career, and is so involved in the profession.

http://circulatingthestacks.blogspot.com/ is another one I have chosen, albeit randomly at first and based, once again, on the title. The blog is written by Sandra in Illinois  – I like the posts, the design of the blog itself, and, of course, its title. But I have decided to follow this one because it’s a chance to find out how things are down in across the pond, which is exciting.

There are loads more I plan on watching – and ones I have yet to read. Unfortunately I need lots more time, and that’s the one thing I don’t have much of at the moment! There are a few blogs of people at my professional stage (I promise I’ll add links and lists later ). But,  very quickly, I was a little naive about the CPD23, expecting it to be mostly for British new professionals, but in my brief foray I have discovered librarians from the four corners of the globe, in various stages of their career development. Which is encouraging and reassuring – I’m very pleased about the chance to track all sorts of experiences of libraries and librarians! And I have made one comment – to a complete stranger as well! More to come. When I get some time, eurrrgh!

CPD 23 – Thing 2

Wow, I’m blogging Thing 2 already, and it’s not ten o’clock at night! It would appear that miracles are possible, courtesy of CPD 23

Thing 2 of week one: Investigate some other blogs: Well, I’ve already been following a few blogs – those of my fellow trainees here at the LL (Carley and Eve) and also the brilliant blog by Sarah, one of last year’s trainees and blogger-extraordinaire. There are also the blogs of the people I follow on twitter, as well as a few by library-school veterans and prolific professionals (e.g. the awesome http://thewikiman.org/blog/). Recently I discovered the delights of RSS feeds, Google Reader, and subscribing; I’m still very much a greenhorn about all of this, so its taking me a while to figure it all out.  But soon I hope to be able to subscribe to lots of things and bulk-up my blog-roll list.

A fully comprehensive list of all the blogs I read would be far too long to write out, but I haven’t commented on any of them. Sure, I have been perusing these blogs in the quiet periods of work and downtime-hometime, but I haven’t really taken an active role (if your viewing stats are inexplicably high, but there’s no sign of any feedback, chances are I have been lurking. Apologies). This is really inexcusable, I know how nice it feels to get some positive feedback, and a lot of the posts that I have read have been funny and interesting – not to mention hugely helpful.

So this morning I am going to read some of the CPD 23 blogs on their delicious index, and COMMENT. Watch out people, I’m a’coming. Oh, and I will be working as well, you know, if I must…

CPD 23 – Thing 1

I’m very excited to be taking part in this year’s cpd 23 Things for Professional Development; it is such a fantastic opportunity to learn more about my profession, develop my skills, and interact with my fellow new professionals. I actually find blogging a really difficult exercise – it usually takes a few drafts to sift out all the nonsense! But here it goes: ‘Thing 1: Blogs and Blogging’. I’ve already covered some stuff in my introduction post, so this will be a brief run down…well, brief for me…

Working at the enchanting labyrinth of books that is the London Library has been a revelatory experience; sometimes hectic and sometimes monotonous, but always great fun and educational. Alongside the day to day tasks (issuing, returning, shelving, etc etc), I have been given lots of training sessions on the operation of other departments within the library, and I’ve had the chance to work in these departments to put my new-found knowledge to the test. Recently they’ve let me into the Preservation Department (fools!), where I’ve helping to nurse the unfortunate books suffering from broken spines and general ill-health back to their former glories (albeit now with added sticky tape and glue.) As my library is an independent one, reliant on the subscription fees of its members, a lot of my job is being as friendly and helpful as I can to the readers – running to fetch books and giving lots of  information  about the collections to help with any enquiry that comes our way (the flight span of swans, measurements of canvas, the clocks of the Russian Tsars….). Oh, and guiding people around the jungle of shelves, the baffling (yet utterly logical) classification scheme, and multitude of stairs. So all in all my job is part book dispenser, part encyclopaedia, and part sherpa. And I love it!

The cpd23 course is such a brilliant idea, and something I especially need – a guide on how to use social media networks (so vital now in our profession) and how to further my professional development. Working in an independent library can be a bit of an isolating experience, without the support networks that can exist in some larger library organisations. Though I can draw on my fellow musketeers and the former trainees for support, it is sometimes hard to stay on top of the masses of information – much less navigate through it to find something relevant and useful to me.  The chance to reach out to other new professionals (without appearing like a creepy stalker) is a great way to overcome this problem, and its been provided within the first week! And any help and impetus I can get to actually write something is a godsend – I’m a girl who needs structure.

And wow, what a structure! I’m a little wary of the ‘personal brand’ stage next week, I’m more of a lurking door-mouse than a fence-strutting cat, but an online presence is something I admire and would like to achieve. Organisation has never been my forte, alas, but hopefully with some good advice and support (and lots of willpower) I can work on this, too. And I’m eagerly awaiting all the technical advice about filesharing, presentations and advocacy; I’m very keen on improving my skills and being able to work more confidently and efficiently. Oh, and maybe I could learn how to make my posts more concise!

One unexpected pleasure of this career is the niceness of its people. An odd statement, I must confess, but I had never gave much thought to how friendly, helpful and supportive us librarians can be, especially to each other. The people in this profession are always willing to share any information/advice/resources that they  have come across to help their associates – even if they have never met! The fact that there is such a well-planned and extensive online course, free of charge and open to all, run by fellow new-professionals and skilled old-hands (no disrespect, you’re all amazing!) is wonderful. We don’t compete in a cut-throat environment, trying to cut each other out from under our knees; we support, help and encourage. That is something to champion, protect and admire; and I, for one, am very thankful for it.

Random Tree

I just realised that I had promised some randominity in my ‘about me’ blog. Foolish, I know, but one must keep one’s promises.

So here is a picture of a Tree to ponder upon. It’s a very nice picture of a very nice tree.

DSCF7347, a photo by Helerini on Flickr.

This took me ages to work out, and made me (internally, I do work in a library) rage like a nutter.  Adding Flickr photos to a wordpress blog-post is not easy, and it is not fun.  This is what happens when I ‘try new things’ ….

So no more randominity for a long while methinks. And I only did this to get some creative juices flowing to do my CPD23 first post. Think I’ll need a nap before I try that one.

nb. I have no idea why the text at the top is smaller. Or why it won’t change.  Sod the nap, I’m going to have a melodramatic cry in the ladies loos.

CILIP New Professionals Information Day 2011

A little late in the day, I must admit, but here’s my post about the CILIP New Professionals Information Day that I attended in early June.  It’s taken me a little while because I needed to try to digest all the huge amounts of information that was provided, before I could give any kind of informed account of the day. Not just because I have been distracted by my over-ambitious reading list and the DVD box set of Harpers Island!

It began with a brief meet-and-greet coffee/pastry breakfast, which is a good start to any day, and then it was on to the opening session – a rousing and thought-provoking talk by the keynote speaker, Steve Clarke. Steve is a UK sales mentor, a business mentor for James Caan’s Entrepreneurs Business Academy. He was kind enough to share his time, experiences and expertise with us, telling us that our attitudes can shape the altitudes we can reach in our profession – it is our own attitudes, enthusiasm, and hard work that would bring success.

As a marketing guru his talk was structured around business ideology, he likened librarianship to sales in that we provide a service to people by solving their problems/queries and providing them with information that they wanted. He outlined some of the deep-set problems we face as a profession today, identifying the internet as a ‘competitor’ with its abundance of easy-accessible information. One way that we could overcome this was through social media – the internet may provide information, but we as information specialists can use social media forms (such as twitter and blog spaces) to advertise our skills as knowledge managers to those in need of us. He also mentioned how the negative, out-dated stereotype of the librarian (we all know the type: an older women of brown mien, throwing disapproving glances over horn-rimmed spectacles) was a huge disadvantage to us; a parody that belittled and undermined the important roles we can and could play. It is incumbent upon us to change this view, and show that librarianship is modern, relevant, essential. 

I have always been very reluctant about applying business theories and practices to other spheres of, well, anything except business, and I couldn’t quite identify with a lot of what Steve said, I certainly don’t see myself as any kind of salesperson! Nor do I see the internet as a competitor, rather an incredibly useful resource. But I did enjoy the talk, and it brought up a lot of issues for me to ponder on. He was absolutely right that we have to make sure people are aware of the important service we as librarians do/will provide, and if this means ‘selling’ ourselves in the terms of business so that our voices are heard then, unfortunately, so be it. And I’m all for squashing stereotypes, despite my affection for buns, cardigans and comfortable footwear.

The next session was about ‘Getting Involved’; Bethany Ruddock discussed the various ways we could become more involved with our profession, and what this actually meant. This was an interesting session, and a lot of time was spent brainstorming amongst ourselves. Something that came across quite strongly was how vital networking was for sharing ideas/advice/information, providing support, and raising awareness. Getting involved in networks such as LISPN and professional bodies like ASLIB is hugely important. Becoming involved, whether formally or by tweeting and blogging, we build skills, increase employability, and get to have a bit of fun. I’ll certainly become more involved in my peer networks, not only by blogging but also by participating in CPD 23 and any other opportunities I can find.

Then Lyndsay Rees-Jones gave us a really informative run-through of the ways in which we could gain experience to improve our career opportunities. Lyndsay had a wealth or experience and knowledge to share with us, and like Bethany she stressed the importance of getting involved – saying yes to opportunities and asking for help from our peer networks.  She gave us some useful tips on where to look for the opportunities; volunteering on committees, shadowing colleagues, participating in projects in the workplace and through social media, conferences and mailings. By doing this we can gain new skills and confidence, improve our CVs and increase our own profiles within the profession. These were things I had not considered before, but now I am on the look-out for a volunteering opportunity to help me gain some vital cataloguing experience.

After lunch, the last two sessions were ‘Getting a Job’ (given by recruitment expert Alex Wilson-Campbell) and ‘Getting International’ (by Maria Cotera). Alex gave some helpful tips on the ‘dos and do nots’ of applications, CVs and interviews; as well as where to look for these elusive jobs (useful resources like internet recruitment agencies). The session was an in-depth look at what employers look for in a potential employee, and there were lots of handy tips, like writing skills in the present tense on applications, (‘researching’ and ‘communicating’, etc.) Afterwards, Maria told us about the different organisations, conferences, and volunteer opportunities available in the international community. She encouraged us to follow international library news through blogs and encouraged us to go for awards and sponsored placements in order to fund conference attendance. So in the future I’ll be looking out for ILFA conference news and the next SLA event.

Overall, the day was inspirational and stimulating, and gave me lots of really useful ideas on how I could develop myself, and get more involved with my profession. I noticed how enthusiastic many of my fellow attendees were– contributing to the discussions, sharing their own experiences, and putting forward ideas. A key message of the day was that getting involved, interacting and participating, develops not only ourselves, but the profession too. If the future of librarianship is the onus of us new professionals, then the willingness to engage, participate and support displayed at the conference was greatly encouraging. And I am very glad I had the opportunity to attend.

Visit to the RCN Library

Visit to the Royal College of Nursing Library
(24th February 2011)

Back in February, on blustery Thursday morning, four intrepid London Library employees navigated the treacherous wiles of Oxford Street (narrowly avoiding the beguiling lure of Topshop) to reach the RCN Library in Cavendish Square. Located in what was once a grand Georgian townhouse, the library is at the heart of the RCN institution; established in 1921 (only three years after the college itself was founded) it is today one of the world’s largest specialist nursing libraries, serving almost 400,000 nurses, student nurses and the occasional healthcare assistants.

Cavendish House, location of the RCN Library

Although there are three other regional branches of the library, located in Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, the London branch is considered to be the main hub of the library service as it is located at the central headquarters of the RCN itself.The library is about to undergo a massive redevelopment of both its structure and building, so it was a great opportunity to see how it was functioning at present.

We were met at the reception by Hazel Atlass (Resource Delivery Information Manager), and her colleague, and after some refreshments we were given a well thought-out and informative talk (including a very helpful slideshow) about the history of the RCN and the library itself, as well as the services it provides and how it meets the requirements placed upon it by its readers. As part of a larger institution, one that is both a professional body and a registered charity, membership to the library is included in the subscription to the RCN itself. There are special rates for student nurses to encourage participation into the organisation, as well as for health care professionals who are not technically nurses (such as social workers and carers). The library also offers free temporary membership to members of affiliated international nursing organisations, and can provide research for members of the public (both in terms of current medical advice and also through its archives for those researching their genealogical roots) for a fee.

The online services provided by the library are an integral part of its operations; given the disparate locations of nursing staff throughout the UK, and the busy nature of their work it is essential that the library provides ease of access to its resources in order to function properly. The e-library provides access not only to over 700 medical journals, but also a large section of relevant e-books and information databases (such as the British Nursing Index and Medline) – all of which are laid out comprehensively on their website. There is even a ‘FAST’ literature search, which is set up by the librarians to provide the most up-to-date information on particular popular subjects trends; this service is constantly updated and enables quick, easy access to resources on ‘trending’ subjects (such as hospital hygiene). They offer literature searches to full members of the RCN (not student or temporary members), as well as a ‘Virtual Enquiry Service’, where professional RCN staff can interact one-on-one with members needing advice and guidance on a particular topic or coursework piece. This service is practically available 24/7, and is a clear example of the revolutionary way the library strives to meet the needs of its users in a comprehensive, practical fashion. The RCN members  often do not have the time to trawl through pages of information, and combined with irregular working hours they have a ‘need to know, and need to know fast’ kind of requirement that is happily lacking amongst my own library’s membership, no matter how odd or pressing the request!

In order to meet these stringent demands, they use a wide range of information services, such as Osiris, to provide their members with up-to-date online resources, as well as using the ‘delicious bookmarks’ service to catalogue all relevant articles and databases. And if that weren’t enough, ‘webseminars’ or information literacy training sessions are offered to all members to guide them through the intricacies of the RCN e-library – a member of staff provides a live web seminar showing the resources to members from across the country.

Of course, the library has a very physical presence in its members lives, and doesn’t just exist in cyberspace. Enquires may be undertaken at the library itself, where they also provide a photocopying service for journal articles, which are often posted out. The RCN is a union body, so aside from medical texts the library provides useful employment and welfare information, and co-operates with the varied sections of the RCN organisation. And of course, they also loan books! Members can request titles from any regional library branch of the RCN, including the archives, and these too can be posted to them.

After ingesting all of this incredible information we were given a brief tour of the library itself, which was situated over several floors. The library was open and spacious, with a large number of computers to work at, as well as a bookable group discussion room, which could cater for any need for collaborative work. The library holds a core collection of relevant titles and journals, all shelved under its unique cataloguing system, and often the key texts were kept in several duplicates. The ever-updating nature of the medical material meant that previous editions of important textbooks were also kept– and all of these were in high demand. Once a new edition of a well-used text came out, some copies were moved to the store, whilst others where sent to the archive department. The store itself was rather unassuming, but we were a told a grim tale about cockroach infestations (which left one of our number warily glancing in every dark corner with a shudder). The archives, which are of the RCN as a whole and include a large collection of Florence Nightingale’s possessions and works, as well as influential journals and nursing memorabilia, are currently held at the Edinburgh branch. The London branch often displays exhibitions throughout the year with items of special historical interest, however, and the planned redevelopment of the library includes a special allocated space for this important aspect of the RCN’s history.

So, a little overwhelmed with the intricacies of the RCN library’s services, we left Cavendish Square and headed to back to our own more traditional abode at St James’s Square. The tour was a fascinating insight into the way in which a library can rise up to meet the specific needs of a disparate clientele (and one that works in a demanding, ever-changing environment), and I was amazed at how every aspect of information management was well thought-out to ensure that the RCN members had almost every resource they needed at their easy disposal. It was a very valuable experience to have such an informed tour of a library so different to our own, and a big thank-you goes to the staff at the RCN for their time and hospitality.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia: http://rpmedia.ask.com:80/ts?u=/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Rcnhq.JPG

Drumroll, please…

So, after months of designing, redesigning, naming, colour-adjusting, theme-sifting, and generally doing anything I could (except, of course, actually sit down and write a post) I have decided to properly start this blog. As I appear to have an innate ability to make internet molehills into megabyte-mountains, this should be easier done than said, right?

First things first, I suppose. At the moment I’m working at a lovely library in London, starting off down that long road of librarianship as a Graduate Trainee Library Assistant (the caps give me kudos, or so I’ve been told). Then, from September I’ll be taking an MA in Library and Information Studies at UCL. It took me a long while to figure out what kind of career I would be happy in; one that wouldn’t make me reach for the nearest 190-proof bottle of Everclear after each working day, and one that would actually pay well enough to afford me a more varied diet than the budget Pot-Noodle dinner. After a few hiccups (or rather, one large belch) I settled on Librarianship, after all what could suit an avid bibliophile better than a future surrounded by books?

Obviously there is much more to the profession than ‘books’, but it’s a great place to start; and I was at last relieved to finally be settled on a job that I really enjoyed. Each day is varied, I can either be rooting around in fascinating areas of research hitherto unknown to me for a harried reader; or else spend my time viciously rubbing out the irritating notations drawn by a less-scrupulous soul in a poor, innocent book. There’s also the time spent shelving, banging-and-stamping (not at all as amusing as it sounds), book retrievals, book trace hunts (this is fun), conservation work, issuing, returning, and guiding anyone in need around the warren-like labyrinth that is the London Library. These tasks are of course part of the more junior roles of library work, a sort of baby-steps programme that introduces us to the multitude of skills, positions, and opportunities that a career in a library both demands and supplies. And for me that beats a 9to5 office job, 10-1. Indeed, we, that is me and my fellow two Musketeers Graduate Trainees, are mostly content knowing that we have put off (if only for a few decades) that inexorable search for a job/career that is more than bearable; it can actually be very enjoyable, very rewarding, and very, very satisfying.

I considered myself to be quite lucky in this job choice of mine, but there were a few comments on a recent poll for the website Goodreads (asking if members were Librarians or worked in a Library) that made me pause to reflect. One member of the site commented on how those who had answered yes to the poll were ‘lucky’. ‘Lucky??? trapped in a dying field?’ was one of the responses. Another stated: ‘No offence for people who voted yes, but to be honest, it’s like you’re in LUV with big Mac, and you wouldn’t mind being the one flippin the burgers with the spatula ’ (sic). Trust me, offense was taken…and not just at the terrible grammar and the irritating emoticon.

The profession is under threat – not just from funding cuts and budget restrictions, but from the huge explosion in information now freely and easily accessible through the internet and, perhaps most significantly, and most damagingly, from the presumptions of people about what the role of Librarianship actually entails – and what the value of a library actually is. It is those disparaging views of some of the Goodreads’ members that are actually a lot more widely held that even I could conceive – when I told the people I knew about my plans to undertake a Masters in Library Studies the general response was ‘you need a degree in shushing people?’. Apparently this is the old-chestnut of librarian-themed jokes, but is none the less irksome for those of us on the receiving end. Yes, you do need a degree, and why not? How many people can say that they have successfully mastered the delicate art of the well-timed, authoritative ‘shush’ to demonstrative effect?

Joking aside, it is disheartening to hear how undervalued the profession is. Librarians have been serving as the guardians and dispensers of knowledge for eons; hell, we were the original Google long before even the pioneer of the idea of the internet, J.C.R. Licklider, was a twinkle in the eyes of his great-, great-, great, great-grandfather. Librarians are the cataloguers, categorizers, finders and janitors of information – we don’t save lives, cats in trees, or global financial systems, but we do do a vital and significant job.

I’m well aware that this post has been a bit of a jumble so far, and has not really provided any concrete answers and definitive arguments as to why librarianship should be seen as a valued and important profession. But that, at least in part, is the purpose of my blog, a sort of aid to help myself figure this out! And I start with the very best of intentions.  Honest.