Umbrella Wow! Future Skills, Future Rolls by Hannah Bennett

I am still buzzing from my experience of attending the umbrella conference. This is my second in a series of blog posts about umbrella for PTEG. This time I will cover my general experience of attending Umbrella for the first time and one of the conferences key themes ‘Future Skills, Future Rolls’ as this fits into my role as a CILIP Mentor.

Overall Umbrella was incredibly inspiring not just in terms of the speakers but also in terms of the other library and information professionals I had the pleasure of meeting. The positive vibe of the conference (helped along by Unbrella’s social events) fostered a sense of joint purpose as well as a sharing of ideas and best practice across all sectors of the profession. The venue was fantastic and easily accommodated the 600 delegates! The app was useful but once I had registered and got my hands on the glossy paper programme I didn’t look back. I enjoyed tweeting throughout the conference; however, concentrating on the speaker, following the #hashtag and then tweeting took all my power in multitasking.

Future Skills, Future Rolls for the profession was one of the four themes of Umbrella and impacts not only on our own roles but also on those of our mentees and the skills they develop.

 

 

Janice Lachance, CEO of Special Libraries Association International (SLA) gave an inspiring keynote speech on ‘Highlighting and using your expertise.’ For me her key message was that in this ever changing information environment we need to learn from each other as professionals and adapt to change. It’s not about job titles and roles, our focus should be on transferable skills and expertise including, research skills, organisation, referencing, analysis, information skills, advocacy, communication as well as the power to persuade and influence others. Janice also highlighted the importance of a-lining your role with your organisations which is a key part of CPD and also Chartership. Absorb as much information about your organisation as you can and think about how your skills and expertise can benefit senior management. Read what they read (blogs, news etc.) and you will get to know how they think and then what information they want. Information is not just meeting needs but a tool that drives decisions. Librarians and information professionals do this by providing the right information to the right people at the right time. You don’t have to work in a library to use your skills and have an impact. Look for jobs and don’t be afraid to create them.

Janice worked at the White House as Bill Clinton’s Chief of Staff and I just had to chat to her afterwards but not about libraries about the West Wing! I am a big fan and to hear from her first hand about how realistic the TV show is and how she met the actors as they job shadowed in the White House just blew me away!

Ben Showers from JISC gave a great talk on ‘Tooling up: arming the librarian of the future.’ Think Rambo! Think big guns! This is the image that Ben showed us at the beginning of his talk. The key themes were Participation, Understanding and Emergence.

• Participation is about engaging communities with a purpose examples are crowdsoucing, moocs and the summer of student innovation project.
• Understanding: We need a greater understanding of how we are using technology.
  • Digital Residents (live life online) vs Digital Visitors (take from it the bits we need) we are all a bit of both using the Internet in different ways.
  • The Learning Blackmarket: students using social media in different ways, collaborating and exchanging ideas.
  • In the future we may see Lofi spots not wifi spots, a place with no distractions especially for students in exam time.
  • From chore to core: redistribute where the value is and focus on the right thing.
  • Emergence: Change is going to be the norm we need to have processes that enable us to adapt. Ben thinks the world will become a computer and we will interact with it. Take advantage of open access options and find the free alternative! Emergent skills, the decline of the specialist and rise of the generalist and entrepreneurial.

He ended his talk with a Bad News Sandwich! 1) We are part of a community, share and learn from each other and don’t reinvent the wheel 2) Disruption is a feature not a bug… (this was the bad news, change is a feature that is here to stay) 3) This is the best time to be a librarian. We are here at the start of the Internet. Just remember it took 150 years from the first printing press (which produced porn) to the first academic journal.

Rebbecca Bartlett, Innovation Manager at the Library of Birmingham touched on the future skills, future rolls theme in the debate ‘Where does the internet end and

the library begin?’ by highlighting that a Library of the 21^st Century is not just the building but a relationship between digital and physical. We need to explore how can we change adapt and reform by seeing the Internet as an extension of services – “a library without walls.” Through utilising mobile technology, crowdsourcing and gaming Birmingham Library hopes to double the “footfall” (this could be digital footfall too and has changed the way the see their KPIs) of 16-35years! Geoff white, Technology Producer for Channel 4 News also touches on this theme by saying that Future rolls is about multi-skilling. People don’t want infinity of information, they trust in the gatekeepers e.g. Librarians. Find the need that’s not being met and make that your priority!

Here are the top tips from the Leadership in the Information Profession Debate about what makes a good Leader:

• Passion and belief in the service
• Lead by example, delegate and give credit
• You can’t change who you are but knowing is very important, you can learn to act out of character
• Network, collaborate and share best practice
• Be strategic
• Be an advocate
• Keep your skills up to date
• Work well as teams you can’t do it on your own
• Attitude: say yes!
• Do it with a sense of humour
• Have a little bravery and take advantage of the situation
• Influencing beyond authority: have your narrative clear
• Have a critical friend.

I am glad to see critical friend in this list as this how I see myself in terms of supporting my Chartership mentees and it’s nice to see that this is important at other stages of your career too.

Cpd23 and the CILIP PKSB, Jo Alcock and Niamh Tumelty gave a great presentation that highlighted how 23 things  can not only help new professionals but can also map across the PKSB to help Chartership candidates who wish to improve their IT, communication, leadership and advocacy skills.  It is definitely something I will be recommending to my mentees.

#uklibchat presented by Ka-Ming Pang is another thing I will be telling my mentees about. It’s an online twitter chat which happens for 2 hours once a month and is a great way to improve your knowledge and network with other professionals. The are also new feature articles and summaries available on their website  

Ka-Ming was really inspiring and motivational saying “I started something and you can to!” Also encourage your mentees to check out Chartership chat on twitter and follow #chartership is stay in touch with other candidates.

Hannah Bennett
Assistant Librarian, LRC
Guildford College, Stoke Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 1EZ

The CILIP Mentoring Award 4 by Carol Brooks

The following is the fourth and final article in a short series of articles about the CILIP mentoring scheme and the newly introduced Mentoring Award. In this article Carol Brooks reflects on the purose and role of the Mentor Support Network.

The Mentor Support Network: Way back in 2005 when CILIP introduced mentoring as a requirement for Chartership, PTEG were asked to switch their former ‘supervisor’s network’ to a Mentor Support Network.  Already formed as a regional network we undertook Mentor training ourselves and then a few of us set to and wrote a programme which would deliver the basics of mentoring skills and introduce what the CILIP scheme was all about. We trained all the Mentor Support Officers (MSOs) in the package and then, pairing up initially, we started to deliver the package around the country.   Initially there was an MSO in each region although today we are down to 6 dotted around the country (see http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/personnel/mentor-support-network/pages/mentorcontacts.aspx for your local contact).

So what is the role of the MSO? It is quite simple really – the MSO is there to offer one to one support for mentors as they start up or whenever they have a query – usually by phone or e-mail.

We also have a Jiscmail list https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=LIS-CILIP-MENTOR which all mentors can join as sson as they are registered.  This enables anyone to ask a general question or seek general advice using the experience that has been built up through the Mentor Network.

Most MSOs also run a Mentor training day in their region each year and where possible facilitate a Mentor Support Network meeting/exchange of experience in their region to allow mentors to exchange their experience and support one another.  It also enables the MSO to update people on any changes in processes and regulations. 

This year, in response to feedback from our training, we are going to deliver a full day course on further developing mentoring skills.  We know it’s quite a rush trying to cover mentoring skills in half a day so we’re adding this additional course to assist people’s CPD in this area. 

I love being the Network Co-ordinator – it’s a wonderful role and I do hope we’ll see lots of you coming along to the new course.  Gil very eloquently laid out some of the real benefits of being a mentor – it benefits the candidate but it so enriches the life of the mentor too.

If you are not yet a Mentor look out for our courses this year – they are posted here https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=LIS-CILIP-MENTOR

We will be updating this regularly as soon as we have finalised dates and venues.  In addition to what is on the list so far there will hopefully be courses in Wigan, London, Shrewsbury and Flint (North Wales).  There may also be others and we are always open to requests for us to attend different areas if we can get venues and sufficient people to make the course viable. 

Join us as a mentor – it is so hugely rewarding and it helps us build the profession for the future.

If you’re already a mentor and would like to support other mentors as an MSO for your area please contact me: Carol Brooks carol.brooks@derbyshire.gov.uk   01629 535866 or 07770 703727

Carol Brooks
PTEG Chair
February 2013

The CILIP Mentoring Award 2 by Bethan Ruddock

The following is the second in a short series of four articles about the CILIP mentoring scheme and the newly introduced Mentoring Award. In this article Bethan Ruddock, reflects on her relationship with her mentor and why she choose to nominate her for the award.

When I saw the call for nominations for the first CILIP Mentor of the Year Award, my first response was ‘what a great idea!’, and my second was ‘I hope I can still nominate Gil!’.

When I asked Gil to be my Chartership mentor, I hadn’t really thought much about what having an official mentor would mean, beyond it being a requirement to charter. I think I saw your mentor as being a sort of supervisor, who would set you deadlines and make sure you were keeping to the rules and regulations. While that can be a part of the mentoring relationship, Gil soon proved just how much more a mentor can be.

As well as very valuable practical suggestions (such as ‘find job descriptions for the job you want to be in in ten years, and work towards developing those skills and experience’), one of the most important things that I brought away from my mentoring relationship with Gil was professional confidence. Gil doesn’t encourage egotism – but nor will she stand for over-modesty and the playing down of achievements. She helped me to realise that it was good to celebrate your successes and be proud of your achievements. Her honest delight in the successes of others is inspiring.

This is why I immediately wanted to nominate Gil for Mentor of the Year. She is always so pleased to celebrate other people, and deserves to be celebrated herself. Gil encouraged me to take praise gracefully and admit to myself that I deserved it, and nominating her for this award was my way to give that back to her.

Mentors so often work quietly in the background, supporting others to success and recognition, but never looking for that recognition themselves. Gil is a perfect example of this, and I wanted to show everyone how much she’d inspired me. She inspired me to take risks, to believe in myself – and to pass this inspiration on, by becoming a mentor myself.

I now extol the virtues of mentoring – both as a mentor and a mentee – whenever I speak to a professional audience. It’s incredibly valuable to have that professional support available, and it’s such a privilege to be able to offer that support to others. As information professionals we all like helping people, and mentoring is an excellent opportunity to scratch that itch, and develop yourself and others.

I’m delighted to hear that the Biddy Fisher Award for Mentoring will continue to be awarded in the future, and will celebrate many more of the unsung heroes of our profession.

Bethan Ruddock
January 2013

Mentor Training

PTEG is responsible for delivering training to those wishing to mentor candidates working towards Cilip qualifications. Lisa Jeskins, a recent attendee at one of these events, has posted a review of the training on her blog. The article, called Enable, encourage and enthuse… or becoming a CILIP mentor, provides a short over view of the mentor training course which took place in Wigan and includes Lisa’s reasons for deciding to become a mentor.