• Complete my MSc dissertation – finished in July
• Attend more conferences – I attended lots of great conferences and events in 2011
• Implement the Getting Things Done system at home and work – I seem to have this sorted for electronic information, though need to work on physical organisation of paperwork and notes
• Participate in Library Day in the Life – I took part in both rounds of Library Day in the Life in 2011
• Continue to blog – I posted 44 times on this blog in 2011, and also blogged for Evidence Base and for projects I’m involved in

As it was a useful exercise for helping me focus last year, so I’ve decided to set myself more resolutions/goals for this year. In common with Erin, these are general aims so cover all areas of my life.

1. To work on CILIP Chartership (reflecting on achievements and updating wiki on at least a monthly basis)
2. To improve physical organisation, particularly in home office – notes and paperwork etc.
3. To achieve a more productive balance between different parts of my life ensuring I make time for professional, personal, and social activities
4. To continue to blog about professional issues and ideas as well as reflection on activities
5. To publish at least one paper (preferably peer-reviewed)

Bring it on!

Last fun duty of my year as SLA Europe president: about to chair today’s #elt2011 with @joeyanne @obnoxiouslibrn @kwelle #online11

— Sara Batts (@Batty_Towers) November 30, 2011

I think the panel discussion flowed well – there was largely agreement across the board on a number of different factors, suggesting that libraries across Europe are at a similar stage with social media (the panel had representatives from UK, Germany and The Netherlands). There were some really interesting examples from my fellow panelists – one example of Yammer being used for internal communication (in an international organisation with staff dispersed geographically), and one example of Facebook being used by a University before students arrived to help answers queries and help them begin to make friends.

The main messages I took from the session were that libraries and librarians should experiment with social media to see what works, and should aim to understand more about their users as no two libraries will use social media in the same way.

You can see the tweets from the session at the #elt2011 hashtag (thanks to @WoodsieGirl and @EBSCOUK for such comprehensive tweeting!) and there is a write up of the session on the SLA Europe website.
As mentioned before, I decided to get  information for my section of the discussion via a brief survey – many thanks to those who gave feedback. The main themes emerging from the results of this are shown below.

Social media use in UK libraries

• Many using Facebook and Twitter.
• A number using blogs, Flickr and delicious.
• Diigo, LibraryThing, FourSquare and Vimeo being used but not as common
• Few starting to create Google+ pages
• Some using for staff communication (e.g. Staff blog, wiki, Yammer)

Integration of services is becoming more common as is utilising one to many communication channels to feed from one place to another. One example of this is using RSS feeds to create a Netvibes site which sends out current awareness emails via Yahoo Pipes and Feedburner.

Difficulties in social media implementation in UK libraries

Strategy

• Management resistance (not used to informal conversational style and concerned about image it portrays).
• Balance between experimentation and the ‘just do it’ approach and the careful considered approach with policy, structure, branding etc.
• Restrictions of social media policies.
• Being seen as something distinct as separate rather than a core part of service.

Staff responsible

• Buy in from staff and lack of knowledge – one commented that they have colleagues who are scared of social media; another said it was considered trivial in their library.
• Risk of relying on just one member of staff.
• Keeping content fresh.

Infrastructure

• Access blocked in some libraries.

Users

• Lack of uptake from users.
• Concerns about negative comments.

Time, time, time – this was a common theme with competing demands in UK libraries at present.

Qualities needed for librarians using social media

• Appropriate style (formal/informal – ‘the personal professional’).
• Ability to judge tone and mood.
• Filtering and selecting information to share.
• Willingness to try new things and take risks.
• Flexibility and open-mindedness.
• Communication skills.
• Knowledge of users and different platforms.
• Determined/tenacious/enthusiastic.

This was summarised by one respondent – “The qualities any good librarian should have!”

Factors contributing to social media policy success/failure

Factors leading to success

• Promotion.
• Flexibility and trial and error to find the right fit for users, message and library.
• Social media embedded into library service.
• Sustainable approach (not just one person).
• Actively seeking comments on library to get feedback.
• Timely and appropriate content.
• Engaging, varied content (photos, videos, questions).
• Integration with other library media.

Factors leading to failure

• Using social media to broadcast (should be two way not one way communication).
• Failure to respond to comments/feedback.
• A poorly implemented strategy (worse than none at all – for example a Twitter account which only broadcasts and ignores requests for information will give a worse impression than no account).
• Not enough staff with access to account (therefore not timely responses)
• Too much focus on strategy rather than doing – need to experiment to try things out.
• Focus on tools rather than outcome – should focus on desired outcome.
• Not kept up-to-date.
• Over or under moderation.
• Facelessness.

Thanks again to everyone who fed into this.

If you work in a UK library, please complete the form below (or complete the online version) to let me know your views. The feedback is anonymous – though if you have something you are particularly proud of which you would like me to mention as an example of good practice – please feel free to include links in your response, leave me a comment on this post, or email me.

EDIT: Thanks for the responses, I have now removed the form as the panel discussion has passed.

One of my sessions - really enjoyed the conversation at this one

The good

• The people – I met so many great people, put some faces to Twitter names, and had a lot of really interesting conversations with people I already knew. There was a really fantastic mix of people from different backgrounds, with different types of jobs and interests, and lots of different ideas.
• The enthusiasm – there such a buzz to the event the whole day (and the evening before and after!). It really was infectious and wonderful to see so many enthusiastic and passionate people who care about libraries.
• The interests – because there was such a diverse group, you were bound to find people interested in similar topics to you. I had conversations about mobile technologies in libraries; the link between library research and practice and the importance of sharing findings of research; embedding transliteracy (including information literacy and digital literacy) into the curriculum through school, college and university; and what libraries can learn from retail.
• The facilitating – although I was apprehensive about pitching for sessions and facilitating them, I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure what to expect at all but thankfully both my sessions were well attended and we had some interesting discussions. I’ll post up some notes from both my sessions to the event wiki in the next few days.
• The collaborative nature of the sessions – both of the ideas that I put forward seemed similar to another pitch so we were able to merge the sessions and facilitate together. I think this was really good both from the facilitator perspective and for people interested in the topic.
• The learning – not only did I learn some library-related bits and bobs, I also learnt a lot about the profession, and a lot about myself too.
• The cakes – although I kept forgetting to get some and only had one, despite the fact that there were a number of gluten free options (yay!).

The bad 

• The complete lack of structure – this was both a good thing and a bad thing. I wasn’t sure how to facilitate my sessions or what people would be expecting. I think it went OK, and the discussions at the sessions seemed useful, but I’m not sure how much long-term value they will have (I’m hopeful the connections they started to foster and the fact most people are on Twitter will mean that conversations can continue).
• The intensity – too much for me! Facilitating two sessions was possibly a bad idea, as I didn’t manage to make the last two sessions – I was mentally drained! There were sessions I would have liked to attend in both slots, but I just knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.
• The timetable – as with any conference with concurrent sessions, there were clashes which meant I couldn’t attend some of the sessions I would have liked to as I was facilitating at the same time. Can’t really be helped though.
• The lack of time – although I spoke to a lot of people, there were many people I didn’t get chance to talk to. Some I didn’t even seem to see at all and others I only saw just as I was leaving.
• The poet – it just wasn’t my cup of tea I’m afraid.

The ugly

• My incoherence late afternoon – I was really struggling so I do apologise if I spoke to you around that time and made even less sense than normal!
• My attempt at crochet – it wasn’t pretty. Thanks so much to Sarah for her patience in trying to teach me!

Sarah (blue yarn) trying to teach me (pink yarn) to crochet

Overall it was a really fantastic event – roll on Library Camp UK 2012!

Professor Charles Oppenheim with keynote speakers

I recently attended the LIS DREaM launch conference about developing research excellence and methods in library and information science. I wrote a blog post about my experience, but now I’ve had chance to reflect on the day I’m going to share my reflections using the basic method I learnt during 23 Things for Professional Development - what? so what? now what?

What?

The launch conference brought together LIS researchers, practitioners, academics, and students from across the UK and further afield. I hadn’t expected such a large turnout and it was great to see so many people interested in improving the standard of LIS research. The event included keynotes from influential researchers from within and outside the subject, and a number of breakout sessions focused on specific areas of research; methods, collaboration, networking and dissemination. We also heard more about the LIS DREaM project from Hazel Hall, and delegates had the opportunity to share their own research in a series of one minute madness session.

So what?

As a relatively new researcher, this event was a real eye opener for me – I had no idea there were so many people researching the field! I’m sure there were also many others who couldn’t make it too, so there’s a lot of us out there interested in LIS research. This was very pleasing – definitely made me realise there is scope for collaboration within the field bringing people from different backgrounds together.

Coming from a practitioner background as an academic librarian, something that is always at the forefront of my mind is considering the value of research to practitioners. Although I’m currently not working in a librarian role, I try to keep up-to-date in developments and use practitioner blogs and conversations in person and online to understand the current concerns and consider research that could help librarians. One of the main aims of the LIS DREaM project is to bridge the gaps between researchers and practitioners and I’d definitely like to see more of that in practice.

Now what?

The event came at a perfect time for me – the cycle of research means that this period of year is often the time for assessing previous work and considering future work. It helped me reflect on where we need to go with LIS research, and consider ways of ensuring research is of relevance to practitioners (and hopefully of interest to other fields too). I’m definitely interested in moving away from the ‘cookie cutter’ style of research (same studies with slightly different participants) to deliver some innovative research.

I hope to attend the LIS DREaM workshops if possible as I would like to learn more about different research methods and their suitability for LIS research – I found the breakout session on different research methods at the launch conference really interesting. I’d also like to build links with other researchers and practitioners so that we can ensure that future research is positioned to meet the needs of today’s library and information workers, and is disseminated through the right channels.

I’m feeling really positive about the future of research in LIS, and hope I can be a part of making a difference. If you’re interested in keeping up to date with developments, I recommend following the @LISResearch and @LIS_DREaM Twitter accounts, and if you’re interested in following the research I’m involved in, I tweet for my workplace – @evidencebase.

However, sometimes you have to say no to things. It might be something that you don’t feel capable of doing (or you know someone else could do a far better job); it might be that it’s something you’re not as passionate about as your other commitments (or maybe even something you don’t agree with or have ethical issues with); or it may simply be that you can’t fit everything in. Laura wrote an excellent post recently about prioritising activities and finding time for yourself – something I have recently come to realise is incredibly important. I’ve had to think recently about my priorities to help me manage my time effectively and ensure I have time to do the activities which are important to me, and I thought I’d reflect on this process.

So how do you know when to say no?

This decision over whether to say yes or no is relatively straight forward if it’s something you definitely want to do or definitely don’t want to do, but if you’re anything like me it’s often not that simple. As I’m relatively new to the information profession I’m still figuring out what it is I’m really passionate about. There’s so much I enjoy doing and I want to push the boundaries and try new experiences to challenge myself, so knowing what to prioritise is tricky.

In the past I have done lists of pros and cons for each option, which works in some situations. I tend to weight the reasons as some arguments may be much stronger than others.

Sometimes, I listen to my instinct, and I’m trying to do more of that. By nature I’m a planner, but I don’t have strict plans as I think it’s important to be flexible and open to new opportunities. I like to think of myself as a rational, logical person but this needs to be balanced with the emotional side of things. Sometimes I have a good feeling about something (or a bad feeling about something), and that definitely plays a part in my decision making. I know that if I’m really excited about something I’ll make time for it, but agreeing to something I’m not sure about can be a massive burden.

If it’s still a yes or maybe after weighing up pros and cons and listening to my instinct, I take a critical look at my schedule. This is often the crunch point. My work often blends into my professional activities in my free time, but they both need high levels of concentration during certain periods. Although I keep them on separate (electronic) calendars, I have them both displaying on my iPhone and iPad. That way I can see at a glance what commitments I have and what preparation I will need. For particularly busy periods of time I use Gantt charts to map out my activities. I’m always overly cautious in this – I allocate more time than I think I will need to allow for unforeseen circumstances. If its looking like a busy period and I’m not jumping at the chance to say yes to the opportunity and trying to rearrange things to fit it in, then it’s probably not a good idea to say yes. If it’s a particularly busy period, sometimes I have to say no to opportunities that I would have loved to get involved with, but simply can’t commit time to.

How do you actually say no?

This can be even more difficult than coming to the decision not to do something. Knowing what it’s like from the other side of the fence (through organising events), I like to follow some general rules:

• Always keep in touch to keep the organiser/editor in the loop – even if you haven’t come to a decision yet or are not sure if you can fit it in, let the organiser know where you stand
• Be honest about your decision and the reasons you came to that decision – if you come up with an excuse that you think is a nicer way of saying no, you’re not really doing anyone any favours. The organiser may try to change things to fit your requirements, which would be a waste of their time if it’s simply something you’re not interested in or can’t commit to
• If appropriate, offer an alternative option – maybe a slight change in topic or a different timescale perhaps. Obviously it may not be possible to accommodate this, but it might be something that could be negotiated
• If you know someone else who might be more suitable, recommend them to the organiser/editor – they can then decide if the alternative person would be appropriate and follow it up if so
• Most importantly, be professional and polite in your response – I know that’s common sense but if you are doing this by email, it can easily be misinterpreted. Read through the text a few times to make sure it couldn’t be taken out of context or offend the organiser/editor

I think I’m starting to learn more about my priorities and to spot which opportunities most closely align to what I enjoy doing and what my strengths are, and I’m also improving my time management skills (though still need to work on fitting in the non-work, non-professional stuff like crafts and spending time with family and friends).

Do you have any other tips for learning when and how to say no to things?

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]]> http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/06/15/learning-when-and-how-to-say-no/feed/ 3 http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/06/01/ala-virtual-town-hall-2011/ http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/06/01/ala-virtual-town-hall-2011/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:05:36 +0000 Jo Alcock http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/?p=1321 As a personal member of both CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) based in the UK, and ALA (American Library Association) based in the US, and being involved in a CILIP branch committee and a group committee, I’m always interested to find out about what the professional organisations do and how I, as a member, can keep up-to-date and get involved where appropriate.

So when the opportunity to attend ALA’s first Virtual Town Hall, an online webinar, I was interested to find out more and signed up. I’m a relatively new ALA member so I don’t know much about the structure of ALA yet and I’m still learning about the different groups and round tables, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out more about central ALA issues and some of the priorities of the organisation.

It happened tonight (I’m writing this as it happens!) and I am so impressed that I wanted to share some thoughts about the organisation of the session and something we can maybe bear in mind for similar CILIP events.

Before the meeting

There has been an area on ALA Connect, the ALA member’s online community, which has had relevant documents and the opportunity to discuss these or submit questions for the meeting. Joining guidance has also been good – we have received numerous reminders and instructions to ensure our computers are prepared for the session.

During the meeting

The software used has features you would be familiar with if you have used webinars before – audio from speakers, presentation slides in the main window, and a chat sidebar on the right hand side. A few people have commented that they have had problems getting into the webinar, but I haven’t experienced any problems (using Google Chrome on Windows).



Virtual Town Hall webinar - agenda (click for larger image)

In addition to following the webinar on the screen, there was also live captioning on another website, and the hashtag #vth2011 was promoted to encourage discussion on Twitter also.

At the beginning of the webinar the process for the meeting was explained clearly including how to submit questions:

1. Private chat to send questions to be read out
2. Private chat to request the microphone to ask your own question
3. Through ALA Connect (which you have been able to do before the meeting)

The meeting was chaired by the ALA president, Roberta Stevens, who kept to time excellently throughout.

There was a vote at the beginning of the meeting to find out more about those attending in terms of how long they had been members:



ALA Virtual Town Hall - vote 1 (click for larger image)

There was also a vote after the formal reporting section of the agenda to prioritise which issues were to be discussed. I thought this was a fantastic idea to ensure that those present had chance to hear about the things that they felt had highest priority. I was quite surprised to see the results had a clear winner, so this was discussed initially, though there was still time for the other topics also.



ALA Virtual Town Hall - vote 2 (click for larger image)

After the meeting

At the close of the event (bang on time!) there was a survey to gather feedback on people’s views about the meeting. I hope there was some useful feedback for ALA through this route. Some people were also commenting through the chat window on the webinar, and on Twitter using the event hashtag which was being watched by ALA staff.

The event will be archived in ALA Connect for members to view (so hopefully those who had technical difficulties will be able to watch it soon this way). I’ve also just discovered that it will actually be available publicly, impressive transparency (this may be a requirement, I’m not sure).

Summary

It was fantastic to be able to be a part of this as an international member of ALA, I believe there were over 500 logins during the meeting (many of whom were broadcasting to groups of staff) and I’m sure many more will watch the recording. What a fantastic way to engage with members! Really impressed and can’t wait to attend ALA Annual at the end of this month to learn more from ALA.

 

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]]> http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/06/01/ala-virtual-town-hall-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/27/23-things-for-professional-development/ http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/27/23-things-for-professional-development/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 12:30:04 +0000 Jo Alcock http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/?p=1296

CPD23 logo

Many readers are likely to have heard of the 23 Things staff development programmes (also known as Learning 2.0) which have been used in a number of libraries across the world over the last few years. For those not familiar – it’s an online self-discovery learning programme used to introduce library staff to some of the technologies relevant to libraries (particularly social media). It’s achieved via a reflective blog which serves as an introduction to blogging as well as recording progress on each of the 23 ‘Things’ thoughout.

In the UK, a number of public and academic libraries have run the programme, including Cambridge who did it last summer. Some of the Cambridge librarians loved it so much that they’re doing it again – in fact this summer they are running two versions! The first is a repeat of the initial programme, whilst the second is what this blog post is about – 23 Things for Professional Development. So what’s that then?

Free CPD this summer!

23 Things for Professional Development is a free online programme open to information professionals at all stages of their career, in all types of role, and anywhere across the world.

Inspired by the 23 Things programmes for social media, this new programme will consist of a mixture of social media “Things” and “Things” to do with professional development. The programme starts on 20 June and will run until early October 2011.

Each week the CPD23 blog (http://cpd23.blogspot.com/) will be updated with details of the next thing to be explored.  Catch up weeks and reflection weeks are built into the programme, so it’s not a problem if you’re going to be away for a week or two!

Please do spread the word to any friends, colleagues, or groups that might be interested: please pass on this message and link to http://cpd23.blogspot.com. If you’re on Twitter follow @cpd23 and tweet with the hashtag #cpd23.

If you already have a blog and you’d like to register for the programme, feel free to add your details to the registration form (there will be a list of participants and hopefully a Google Reader bundle to subscribe to early in the programme). If you don’t yet have a blog, don’t worry – the first thing will take you through setting up a new blog and registering it.

I was invited to contribute to one of the ‘Things’ but loved the idea so much that I asked if I could be involved in helping to plan the programme. I haven’t done much yet so can’t take responsibility for the superb reaction it’s had so far (both in the UK and further afield), but it’s been really great to work with a group of such enthusiastic librarians. I can’t wait for the programme to launch! We already have people registered, and lots more thinking about it. If you are interested in sponsoring the programme, please contact us.

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]]> http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/27/23-things-for-professional-development/feed/ 2 http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/20/networking-for-introverts/ http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/20/networking-for-introverts/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 15:30:29 +0000 Jo Alcock http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/?p=1284 I’m fascinated by personality and how it affects the way we work; my Psychology A-level was one of the most interesting courses I’ve taken and my undergraduate dissertation (on Sports Psychology) focused on individual personality differences and their impact on sport participation. I’ve also always loved taking personality tests to try to find out more about myself.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about a book by Devora Zack titled ‘Networking for people who hate networking: a field guide for introverts, the overwhelmed, and the underconnected‘. Now I don’t hate networking, but I do find it difficult so thought this book might be able to help (plus it has pictures on penguins on the cover and within the chapters, which was always going to sway me!). I decided to buy a copy for my Kindle and have really enjoyed reading it.



Networking for people who hate networking – from Amazon

So what really is an introvert anyway?

The book starts with an insight into the differences between introverts and extroverts, before encouraging you to complete a series of questions to discover which type of person you are:

Introverts
Reflective – introverts think to talk
Focused – introverts go deep
Self-reliant – introverts energise alone

Extroverts
Verbal – extroverts talk to think
Expansive – extroverts go wide
Social – extroverts energise with others

I came out as a strong introvert, and can definitely relate to the above characteristics, particularly reflective and self-reliant. Some people I know seem surprised to discover that I’m an introvert. How can I enjoy presenting if I’m an introvert? This is covered in the book and definitely rings true for me:

Introverts are entirely capable of being skilled public speakers. In fact, introverts prefer clearly defined roles and so may be more comfortable leading a discussion than participating in one. Many introverts are more at ease in front of a group than roaming aimlessly through a cocktail party.

I found myself nodding away to this. I am terrible in group situations such as parties – I tend to just stick with one or two people and really struggle to ‘mingle’.

The book also debunks some common myths, such as the fact that shyness and outgoing-ness (is that a word? It is now!) have no direct correlation with introversion and extroversion, and that introverts can use their strengths to network. They will obviously have a different approach (fewer, deeper connections), but by using their strengths they can be excellent networkers.

How can I use my strengths as an introvert to help me network?

The main idea behind this is to follow a simple 3-P process:

PAUSE – PROCESS – PACE

By doing this, it enables introverts to think to talk (pause), seek depth (process), and energise alone (pace) – our strengths! The book discusses some of the ways to do this though I think it will take a bit of practice to get used to. Many networking events are fairly fast-paced (which suits extroverts as they talk to think) so it may be difficult to achieve this in practice. I know I struggle to join in brainstorming sessions if I have’t had the information in advance, as I need time to process the information and form my own thoughts about it before talking to other people about it. However, with a bit of preparation and using some of the key lessons I learnt (below), I’m willing to give it a go and hope it will improve my networking and help me feel a little less exhausted!

Key lessons

I took away a lot of lessons from this book, and will definitely be trying to follow the advice when I attend the ALA Annual conference in New Orleans in a few weeks time, which will be by far my largest networking event. The main things which stood out for me were:

• Focus on connecting with a few individuals rather than trying to flit around and connect to a large number of people
• Remember to schedule time alone to recharge (according to the book, “a drained introvert is an ineffective introvert”)
• Ending a conversation is a valuable skill (I definitely need to work on this and the book has some good tips)
• Treat others how they want to be treated – adapt and modify your communication depending on who you are communicating with
• First impressions are important (Devora mentions that it takes two hundred time the amount of information to undo a first impression than it does to make it)

And probably the most important thing you can do to prepare yourself for networking situations:

Prepare a personal elevator pitch which is flexible so that you can adapt it depending on the situation, the listener and the intended outcome.

I really enjoyed reading this book and would thoroughly recommend it to any introverts wanting to improve their networking skills.

_____________________________

As an aside, I am honoured to be named a finalist in the Salem Press 2011 Library Blog Awards, particularly among such incredible blogs. Huge thanks to whoever nominated me (who I presume is a blog subscriber!) and to those who have voted for me – thank you so much. This blog is primarily a reflective tool for myself (see, definitely an introvert!), but it’s great that others find it interesting and I love receiving blog comments. Thank you

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]]> http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/20/networking-for-introverts/feed/ 24 http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/04/10/doing-your-bit-to-spread-the-word/ http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/04/10/doing-your-bit-to-spread-the-word/#comments Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:05:41 +0000 Jo Alcock http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/?p=1253

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been thinking recently about advocacy and educating people; not necessarily on a huge scale like some of the campaigning going on in the library world, but on an individual level. It’s sort of a double pronged approach – doing things at ground level to help spread the word as well as some of the larger scale campaigns.

Some examples

As a librarian, I often end up in conversations where I try to explain what I do to people. I’m not as good as I’d like to be at it, especially since moving to research librarianship which I find even harder to explain, but I do like to do my bit to help people understand the work of the profession. I often find it easier to do this when talking to strangers – I’ve had a number of conversations about it with taxi drivers, train passengers, and a particularly interesting conversation with a train ticket collector at a train station in Exeter. I was there for last year’s UC&R/CoFHE joint conference, where I was doing two presentations; one about your library brand and the student experience, and one on professional networking for new professionals. It was a three day conference with around 100-150 delegates (I’m guessing). As I arrived at the train station I stupidly put my ticket through the barrier and it kept it. I needed the tickets to be able to claim back the expenses so I had to ask the ticket collector if he could retrieve it for me. He was very nice about it even though this meant he had to go through ALL the tickets to find mine (which happened to be in the last pile he checked). During that time, we struck up conversation about what I was doing in Exeter. I explained about the conference and his initial reaction was one of surprise – what did librarians have to talk about that could fill three days? When I explained that this was actually just a very small section of the librarian profession and mentioned some of the other conferences I had presented at and attended and the things we had discussed, he was amazed. We got chatting about what a normal day is like as an academic librarian, and he was really impressed with the variety of things I was involved in and the support we offered to the University. He had no idea that we taught or provided support for developing information skills, he didn’t know that we took a qualification to become librarians, and he was amazed at the variety of topics I mentioned would be discussed at the conference. He then found my ticket and I thanked him profusely before leaving the station. As I was leaving, I noticed he had started chatting to his colleague about our conversation and some of the stuff academic librarians do – our conversation had obviously made an impact on him.

Another thing I talk to people about (probably more often than librarianship as it arises so often due to having to eat unusual meals!) is the fact that I have coeliac disease. I’ve been diagnosed since December 2009, so it’s still a relatively new thing for me, though it’s almost normal to me now. For those who don’t know, those of us with coeliac disease have an auto-immune response when we eat anything with gluten (wheat, barley and rye are the main grains that have gluten). It brings different symptoms which makes diagnosis difficult, but thankfully when I was suffering I was tested for pretty much everything by my doctor and following a positive blood test for coeliac disease I had an endoscopy to confirm diagnosis. It’s a condition you have for life and there’s no treatment other than cutting gluten out of your diet. I get some food on prescription, and my grocery shopping now takes a lot longer than it used to as I have to check every product to check whether or not I can eat it. It’s a bit of a pain, but it’s necessary – I feel so much better since adopting the gluten free diet and it means I’m now at far less risk of some of the problems I could have if I continued to eat gluten (things like osteoporosis, infertility, and cancers). It does make eating out a little tricky, and I’ve had some revolting gluten free offerings at events.

There’s a lot of confusion about gluten free diet – some people choose to adopt a gluten free diet but don’t need to (though I don’t understand why – it’s so difficult to eat gluten free and most people can manage gluten with no problems), and some coeliacs seem to think that they can get away with eating gluten or that their body will learn to cope with it (not true, but some coeliacs don’t have physical symptoms so I can see why they might think they’re not affected). Also, because it’s not really an allergy, the effects of inadvertently eating gluten aren’t as immediate or violent as someone with a severe food allergy (in my case it takes about 12hrs to take effect and symptoms last about 3-4 days). These issues dilute the message about the importance of a gluten free diet for coeliacs (high profile chefs with coeliac disease saying they eat pasta and pizza don’t help either!). And let’s face it, it is bloody awkward! We can’t have anything that’s been anywhere near gluten, so I can’t even use the same toaster without using one of those toaster bags for my gluten free bread, I can’t use the same butter as my non-gluten free partner, I can’t use the same serving tongs if they’ve been used for food with gluten, I can’t have sauces that have been thickened with flour…. Like I said, it’s awkward and difficult!

I do understand that for people not familiar with the condition, it can be difficult to understand. But because it’s so crucial for me to follow a gluten free diet (and I want to make it easier for myself and others in future), I do try to do my bit, particularly when I’m eating out. I have to ask about gluten free options anyway, which I think in itself helps raise awareness, but I will also explain it to people I’m with or servers/chefs at restaurants if necessary. At a hotel in Edinburgh recently, the rate included breakfast. Now I can’t eat cereals, or toast, or muffins, so breakfast can be tricky. I’d asked the hotel if they were able to offer anything for a gluten free diet and they were really accommodating. They bought in lots of special food including gluten free bread, cereal, and rice cakes for me (for any coeliacs reading, I would definitely recommend Holiday Inn Express Royal Mile if you’re visiting Edinburgh). This did however mean that I had a loaf of bread and a whole box of cereal on my breakfast table. It got some odd looks from others in the hotel, and the guy next to me asked me why I’d bought my own breakfast. I explained that I hadn’t, and that the hotel had got some gluten free food in for me. What followed was another interesting conversation, where I basically had to defend my diet and explain that it wasn’t a faddy choice – it was something I had to do to stay healthy (as it happens, during this conversation we also discussed why we were in Edinburgh and I also got to do a bit of library advocacy too!).

I’d like to think that through these examples, and many others conversations like it, I’ve managed to educate a few people about both librarianship and coeliac disease.

So?

I thought I’d share my experiences because maybe you’d like to help spread the word about something you care about too. My advice is to get out there and start talking about it – either face to face, or online. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t get involved in campaigns if you can, but grass roots level stuff is important too and it all helps.

Think about the main message you want to get across; this is something I’m trying to do at the moment so that I have an easy to understand answer when people ask what I do.

As much as I despise BT (though they are hopefully installing fibre optic broadband for us tomorrow so I might change my opinion slightly if all goes to plan), I do think their old advertising campaign is relevant here: “It’s good to talk” (though nowadays with social media there’s no need to spend money on expensive phone calls to do it!).

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