Strategic Thinking for Academic Libraries Using Appreciative Inquiry – Part 2

Ronan Cox (@ronancox2) - Business Librarian, Dublin City University

Appreciative Inquiry as a Strategic Process
Developed by David Cooperrider, appreciative inquiry (AI) is an approach that only shows up in library literature within the past decade (Dole, Dabbour & Kott, 2017, p. 471). To my mind, the power of this approach lies in the fact that while social organisations such as libraries need to demonstrate value to several stakeholders, this value is not in monetary form and therefore requires a different strategy. Unrepentant in its aims, with a focus on strengths-based practice, and the search for the best in people and organizations as a way to create organizational innovation and transformation (Orr and Cleveland-Innes, cited in Openo, 2016), AI provides a platform to capture and accentuate the positive and good that libraries are doing. At the risk of sounding alarmist, I think the latter is something many academic libraries may not yet fully leverage. Libraries continuously innovate and break new ground, the time to speak up and speak out is now. Remember, the visionary strategist considers the environment not as a given but as something that can be moulded to your advantage. But only if you are willing to make the leap and stay the course!

As mentioned previously, academic libraries gauge their value in ways other than monetary. Cox (2018b) referred to this at the DBS Library seminar, citing examples including; information literacy impact on students, open access citations, archives engagement, and scholarly collaboration. As a result, AI maps particularly well to strategic planning because of its focus on a desired future state, achieved through reflection exploration of the ‘best of what is’ and focusing on internal strengths, values, sources of pride and positive experiences. This information capture can be used to identify emerging strategic areas and inform the creation of the strategic plan that is unique to the library, yet also encompasses institutional priorities. From a strategic purpose perspective, this might seem like the pinnacle. However, we must keep in mind that a purpose can never be fully reached. The best organisations continuously adapt and evolve to meet environmental demands.

AI Models
There are several AI models, including, the 5-D cycle, 4-D cycle, and the strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results (SOAR) model. The most commonly used is the 4-D cycle (see Figures. 2,3).

Figure 2: 4-D Cycle (Wikmalm and Wikmalm, 2009)

Strategic Planning Stage	4-D Cycle Stage
Environmental scan, identifying important values Creating a vision Creating a structure to implement the plan Sustaining the change	Discovery-Appreciating Dream-Envisioning Design-Constructing Destiny (or Delivery)-Sustaining

Figure 3: 4-D Cycle mapped to strategic planning process (Dole, Dabbour and Kott, 2017)

Dole, Dabbour & Kott provide an excellent case study of the benefit of using an AI approach as a basis for strategic planning in academic libraries. Of particular value in their case was the ability to include both internal and external stakeholders in the discovery and dream stages. Rather than simply taking an introspective view, the Library Strategic Planning Task Force actively engaged the services of students, faculty and staff when seeking data collection. For the discovery process, the aim was to capture the ‘best of what is’. Participants were asked to examine the current mission, vision, and values statements of the library and determine what they would retain for the future strategic plan. In addition, they were asked to describe a high point in their experiences with the library. Following this, participants generated ideas on how the library could contribute to student, faculty and staff success in the future, thereby fulfilling the dream stage. At the time of writing, the design and deliver stages had yet to be completed. The reason I refer to this study is to provide an example of what an AI approach could look like within academic libraries and to stimulate the thought process with regard to your own organisation.

AI Problems
To paraphrase Roosevelt - nothing worth having is easy. Given the complexity and scale of academic libraries, it would be naive to paint a simplistic picture of AI integration. Like any change initiative, to gain support and traction requires a considerable cultural shift, a departure from the current way of doing things, most notably a change in existing values and beliefs. The AI approach is not intended to be the solution to all strategic approaches within libraries, it is simply another to consider. Perceived weaknesses have been documented (Egan and Lancaster, 2005, p. 42 cited in Kelly, 2010; Preskill and Catsambas, 2006, p. 27 cited in Openo, 2016), including;

• difficult interpersonal situations are overlooked
• feelings of anger or frustration may not be voiced
• dissatisfied organization members may retreat and withdraw from the process
• the process overlooks or ignores existing problems

However, several authors have argued that AI does not ignore problems or issues; rather it looks at them in light of current strengths and successes. Whitney and Trosten-Bloom (2003, p. 18, cited in Kelly, 2013), argue that AI ‘does not dismiss accounts of conflict, problems or stress, it simply does not use them as the basis of analysis or action’. Upon reading this quote for the first time and without being aware of it previously, I immediately understood this to be my default thought process. Through the lens of AI, problems and conflicts are viewed as lived experiences, and subsequently re-framed as a positive inquiry, thus requiring a shift in how we think. Kelly offers the example of a common complaint that the academic library is undervalued. Rather than fixate on this, the AI process would extrapolate the positives and investigate the most effective ways to demonstrate the value of the library service to stakeholders.

Conclusion
Shining a spotlight on the shifting issues and trends that affect the position and perception of academic libraries and library staff within the wider environment is something we all need to consider. Rather than viewing the situation as a negative, I have offered the opinion that we need to recognise our current operating environment and look both inward and outward to discover what our collective strengths and opportunities are and how they might best serve us when mapping our future. This involves the development of methods that allow for the recognition and further progression of these strengths and opportunities, not just through internal means but also via collaboration with external stakeholders such as staff and faculty. The literature has shown that one such method is the application of appreciative inquiry to library strategic planning.

While perhaps not the ‘silver bullet’ solution many might hope for, at a minimum it provides a starting point to begin these important conversations. To finish with a business-related reference - in such a competitive environment, the use of such a method bears striking similarities to the very effective Blue Ocean Shift strategic model proposed by Chan Kim and Mauborgne (2017). Within this, they suggest five steps to open up new ideas and space for organisations:

1. Get started
2. Understand where you are now
3. Imagine where you could be
4. Find out how to get there
5. Make your move

Have you started yet?

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Strategic Thinking for Academic Libraries Using Appreciative Inquiry – Part 1

Ronan Cox (@ronancox2) - Business Librarian, Dublin City University.

Introduction
‘Change is an opportunity for transformation, not a crisis’

The above quotation (Hillenbrand, 2005 cited in Kelly, 2010, p. 164) is one heard in the past, yet it seems ever more important in the present. I noticed recently that Kristin Meyer, User Experience Librarian at Grand State Valley University in Michigan is hosting a workshop ‘From Insight to action with Appreciative Inquiry’ at the 2019 UXLIBS conference. Such an event serves to highlight the dual function that appreciative inquiry can play, examining library operations at a wider strategic level while also focusing on improving customer experience. Having attended both the Consortium of National and University Libraries (CONUL) and Dublin Business School (DBS) Library Seminars last year, the words of two speakers continue to resonate. John Cox, University Librarian at National University of Ireland Galway spoke very convincingly at both seminars about the need for strategic transformation within academic libraries in order to position themselves centrally within the institution. Marie O’Neill, Head Librarian at Dublin Business School at the time, delivered the opening presentation at the DBS Library Seminar, speaking passionately about the importance for all libraries in writing a strategic plan and strategizing generally.

Different, yet intrinsically linked. The common theme? Strategic thinking and the need to reframe our identity both as libraries and as librarians in order to remain relevant. This might seem overly negative or unnecessary scaremongering, yet this is not the intent. In fact, my approach is to frame this situation in an entirely positive way by applying the concept of appreciative inquiry.

Libraries as a Business
In the role of a business librarian within a university context, perhaps the default method of thinking is invariably from a business perspective. Similar to any business, the operating environment for academic libraries is constantly shifting. A necessary consequence: be very clear about strategy, strategic positioning and alignment to the environment. Cox (2018a) addresses this point extremely well in his literature review on the matter of positioning the library within the institution. The higher education landscape exists in a constricted marketplace with several competitors, both domestically and internationally. With this comes greater accountability, stronger competition, higher student expectations and the need for competitive differentiation.

Operating in this environment, libraries are answerable to several key stakeholders. These include, but are not limited to; government bodies tasked with the delivery of national education mandates, the board of management at respective universities, local, national and international peers, and members of the public. Additionally, rapid technological developments, changes in the area of scholarly communication, data management and pedagogy are forcing libraries to develop new resources and service areas (Saunders, 2015, p. 285).

Once formed, the perspective on the current environment generates the obvious question. How do libraries and librarians react strategically? There is certainly a large volume of literature available on various strategic approaches. Murray and Ireland (2018) provide a very interesting examination of provost’s perceptions of academic library value; it is certainly worth a read. In general rather than library specific terms, I ask you to consider the example proposed by Reeves, Haanaes and Sinha (2015). They illustrated the idea of a strategy palette consisting of three dimensions: predictability (can we predict and plan it?), malleability (can we shape it?) and harshness (can we survive it?). The resulting five environments (adaptive, shaping, visionary, classical and renewal) differentiate the strategy required for each (see figure. 1).

Figure. 1 - strategy palette

It is possible to provide a strong argument that for the last decade, the prevailing dimension for academic libraries has been one of harshness with an accompanying renewal strategic environment. This argument is based upon my own experience, having worked in a previous academic library role during the years 2011 – 2017 when the full effects of the recession in Ireland were apparent, in addition to attending various external library committees during this time. Under a renewal environment, an organisation must recognise and react to the deteriorating environment, act decisively to restore its viability – economising by refocusing, cutting costs and freeing up resources to fund the next part of the journey.

However, I suggest that academic libraries are on the brink of reaching a turning point in the strategy palette, moving from a harshness dimension to one of malleability. In order to strategically navigate this changing and increasingly flexible situation, now is the time for libraries to move from a renewal environment and begin to cultivate a shaping/visionary environment. Consider the following explanations of shapers and visionaries:

‘Shapers focus beyond the boundaries of their own organisation, often by rallying a formidable ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and/or champions to their cause by defining attractive new markets, standards, technology platforms, and business practices. They propagate these through marketing, lobbying, and savvy partnerships. Like a shaping strategist, the visionary considers the environment not as a given but as something that can be moulded to advantage. Visionary strategists must have the courage to stay the course and the will to commit the necessary resources’ (Reeves, Love and Tillmans, 2012).

Vision, Mission and Goals
Looking forward, O’Neill (2018) correctly emphasises the need for a vision, mission and goals. Librarians at all levels need to recognise the currently operating environment, answer the strategic question concerning what kind of library they want to be and set appropriate performance goals and policies to achieve these in an agile manner. A vision statement guides organisational values and provides purpose. Therefore, library vision needs to link inextricably to strategic direction. A mission statement aims to provide employees and stakeholders with clarity about what the organisation is fundamentally there to do; and should address the following key question:

What is our purpose for being?

Goals are how the library intends to achieve identified priorities. Of paramount importance, alignment with the overall goals of the university. Library goals simply cannot exist in isolation. As O’Neill puts it, ‘I would contest that libraries should be equal partners and influencers in the formulation of institutional goals’. Collins and Porras (1996, p. 69), argue that while an organisation might achieve a goal or complete a strategy, they cannot fulfil a purpose; like a guiding star it is forever pursued but never reached. The fact that purpose can never be fully realised ensures that the best organisations never stop stimulating change and progress. Give the innovative environment in which academic libraries operate, I believe they are unique positioned to take advantage of this.

Normative Isomorphism
A well-written strategic plan should contain risk, innovation, originality and have transformative impact. O’Neill (2018) raises the point about using tools such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis or political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental (PESTLE) analysis in order to facilitate strategic planning. While I have used both of these tools in the past and recognise their practicality, there is potential danger hidden within. There is a risk of ‘normative isomorphism’, described as a tendency to replicate the plans of others, to look as others look and to approach problems in the same way (Maplas, 2015, cited in Dole, Dabbour & Kott, 2017). Secondly, the use of the SWOT analysis in particular tend to emphasise problems and shortcomings rather than accentuating the positive. I argue that now is the time to shape the future of academic libraries by adopting visionary traits in order to gain an advantage and seek competitive differentiation. Instead of focusing on what is wrong, libraries and librarians should be encouraged to envision a preferred future without constraint.
 

Part 2 - Appreciative Inquiry as a strategic process will be published 19th March

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FORCing the issue: A can’t miss workshop on future directions for contributor recognition

Guest post by Cory Craig, Mohammad Hosseini and Alison McGonagle-O’Connell

An unlikely trio is collaborating to bring the attendees of FORCE 2018 a pre-meeting workshop discussing the CrediT Taxonomy, the standard that everyone’s been talking about.

CRediT is a linked data initiative that allows author contribution(s) to scientific papers to be specified, transparent, and machine-readable. CRediT has been adopted by hundreds of journals, yet implementations vary widely.

With backgrounds in research ethics and integrity, academic libraries, and publishing, researchers Mohammad Hosseini, Cory Craig, and CRediT Program Committee co-chair Alison McGonagle-O’Connell will deliver a dynamic pre-meeting workshop session to advance the dialogue.

As a ‘standalone’ project under the auspices of CASRAI, CRediT has been managed by enthusiastic volunteers on a Program Committee. This grassroots approach to the management of the taxonomy has attracted passionate advocates, but has at times presented some challenges to wider adoption: mainly, a lack of resources to get documentation and visibility to critical levels and ambiguities in relation to co-authorship. This workshop seeks to address these in an interactive session and explore next steps for the CRediT taxonomy. To further engagement with the scholarly community, and identify next steps for CRediT, this workshop will:

• Start with an overview of CRediT and how it works, including: author, publisher, integrator perspectives; ethical issues; and barriers to adoption.
• Use live online polls to gather participant opinions, conduct thought experiments, and identify topics for breakout groups.
• Use Breakout Groups to identify innovations and next steps. Topics to be determined by participants and might include: implementation and barriers, ethical issues, usefulness, and application in non-science disciplines.
• Share results from breakout groups (both during the workshop and after).

Select the “CRediT: Discussing Next Steps”pre-meeting workshop (12:30-3pm) on October 9, when you register to attend FORCE 2018.

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Studies in Arts and Humanities Journal 3:2 – Special Issue on Minorities and Indigenous People

Guest post by Jane Buggle, Deputy Librarian, Dublin Business School 

The Editorial Board of Studies in Arts and Humanities Journal agreed to mark the official recognition of the ethnicity of Irish Travellers by the Irish Government in 2017 by publishing a special issue on minorities and indigenous people.  I am grateful to the Editorial Board for allowing me the opportunity to edit this issue.  The librarian– faculty publishing partnership creates meaningful networks across disciplines, institutions and countries.

Studies in Arts and Humanities Journal is an open access, peer-reviewed academic journal which publishes quality academic papers by undergraduate and postgraduate students alongside that of faculty.  It also publishes work by artists and practitioners. The Special Issue on Minorities and Indigenous People attracted submissions from academic institutions from around the world, including Monash University, the University of Auckland, the University of Hawaii at Mãnoa, Cambridge University, Dublin Business School, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and the University of St. Andrews.

Martin Collins, the Co-Director of Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, wrote a powerful editorial in which he contextualised the importance of the official recognition to Irish Travellers.  We grouped together other submissions on the Irish Travellers in an In Focus section. Missie Collins provided insights into the creation of the Traveller Ethnicity Quilt, Traveller lifestyle and the many years of campaigning that have finally wrought this recognition.  Professor Gianpiero Cavalleri provided an overview of the recent DNA study of Irish Travellers which demonstrated that the Travellers did not split from the settled community during the Famine, as had previously been believed, but rather some twelve generations ago. Anthony Howarth, a PhD student at Cambridge University, looked at the recognition of Traveller ethnicity through Barth’s critical approach to the study of ethnicity.

There is an almost global sweep to the content in the issue.  Articles look at the experiences of the Roma, the Māori, the Aborigines, Kanaka ʻŌiwi in Hawaii and the Sephardic Jews who were exiled from Spain, through a variety of prisms including civic emancipation, resource ownership, resistance, genealogical curation and cultural syncretism.  We are particularly pleased to have published our first piece of European funded research, The Commencement of Roma Civic Emancipation by Professors Elena Marushiakova and Veselin Popov.  Mo Wells, a member of the Lakota Sioux, contributed an insightful perspective on the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Also included is a topical article on the protection of endangered languages.

Jeremy Dennis, a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation on Long Island, discussed his art and influences with Fiona Cashell.  We have included poems by a number of recent immigrants to Ireland.  Marie O’Neill wrote a book review of Donal Ryan’s All We Shall Know

In the course of editing this issue, it struck me that open access publishing offers an incredibly powerful platform for the voices of minorities and indigenous people that are so often excluded from discourses that concern them. We hope that in the year of the official recognition of the ethnicity of Irish Travellers that this special issue helps to empower the voices of ethnic minorities through its peer reviewed academic content.

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Boole Library Green Energy Campaign #LoveOurLibrary

Guest post by Ann Byrne, Liaison Librarian, Library Services and Environment, University College Cork Library

University College Cork as part of its Sustainability Strategy is committed to monitoring the impact of the University on the environment. The Office of Building and Estates plays a key role and responsibility in managing the University’s environmental impact. In September 2016 the library was approached by UCC Building & Estates Energy & Utilities manager Pat Mehigan. Pat put forward a case with regard to the energy consumption in the Library and asked if we would be willing to join with him and his colleagues to reduce the energy bill for the Boole Library. Colette McKenna, Director of Library Services was very supportive of the idea and asked that I liaise with Pat to see how we could achieve this. It was a bit of a leap in the dark for me (forgive the pun) as I had no previous experience in this area but always have had an awareness of environmental issues so was very willing to give it a go. Pat was very enthusiastic and easy to work with and we started out on a journey to save the planet!!!

The first step the library took was to sign up to accepting an annual budget for electricity, which if exceeded would incur a charge for us and if under spent would mean money back to use on energy saving projects.  The Boole Library spend on electricity for 2015/16 was €263,000 which accounted for 10% of the University budget on electricity - definitely worth taking a look at from both an environmental and a cost issue. We were allocated this sum for 2016/17 and we then set out to see how we could make reductions.

A small team was formed within the library with representation from every physical area and across grades. It is a large building with a lot of different environments with a wide range of purposes. Each member of the team worked closely with Pat to discuss the different issues which they had and looked to see how these could best be solved. Working with Pat over the year a number of issues were worked on and resolved:

• Air conditioning and heating was improved to office areas which resulted in the turning off of individual heaters at staff desks and a happy staff!!
• Changes were made to the lighting in the old part of the building in the summer of 2016. Light bulbs were changed to energy saving LED ones. Throughout this summer lights were turned off in the main reading rooms and students used overhead desk bulbs and daylight to study. This along with changes to timing of lighting saved a whopping €15,000. 
• A major problem with cold air on the ground floor has been resolved by the removing the old air curtain and putting in its place an air barrier. The air barrier prevents cold air coming in to the library and keeps in the heated air. A by-product of this is that it also keeps out the leaves!! The air barrier cost €25,000 to install. A grant of 30% was received from SEAI and savings made on the lighting went towards the cost. The air barrier will save €8,000 a year in running costs. 

New projects to do with expensive air cooling systems in Special Collections and Archives are being investigated. This is an area of the library where there are requirements for very specific temperatures for the handling and storing of manuscripts, fragile material and archival collections. The new system being investigated will be more energy efficient and cheaper to run.

We will be looking out for more ways to conserve energy into the future and will be engaging with staff to keep the momentum going.

While all of this time was being spent on looking at how environmentally friendly our library was, we became acutely aware of the amount of waste which the library was generating. There were 167 bins spread across the Library using up to 10,000 plastic bags a year. These bags were heavily contaminated and there was virtually no recycling during semesters. We looked at lots of options and decided that we would have to do something dramatic to make a difference. So from the 4th September 2017 we are introducing the Love Our Library campaign. The scope of the campaign is to improve energy consumption, waste consumption and water consumption.

Our plan will involve:

• Binless offices - staff will be required  to bring their waste and recycling to the nearest waste & recycling station
• Binless library – students will be required to bring all their waste and recycling to the ground floor.
• Proper recycling stations on the ground floor of the library will make it easier to do the right thing. These stations will have 4 bins – waste, plastic, paper and batteries.
• All drinks to be in reusable cups and bottles. Paper cups for tea & coffee will no longer be allowed in the library. Staff and students will be expected to use re-usable containers. 

We are looking forward to a cleaner greener library with sustainability at its centre

. The Library is now a key partner and driver of sustainable change and activity within the UCC campus.

“The Sustainability Strategy can only be effectively implemented with the support and efforts of staff, students, contractors and other stakeholders, who will be kept informed of sustainability matters and initiatives and encouraged to engage in active involvement at all levels.” https://www.ucc.ie/en/greencampus/about/ 

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CONUL ANLTC Hosts ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week in Dublin

Guest post by Allison Kavanagh, College Librarian of DIT's Aungier Street Library

2017 ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week Participants in DCU

18 participants from 10 European countries attended the Dublin ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week from 26th to 30th June 2017.

The week’s activities were hosted by seven of the Dublin area CONUL libraries (Dublin City University, Dublin Institute of Technology, Maynooth University, National Library of Ireland, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Dublin, Trinity College, and University College Dublin).

The collaborative programme grew from a desire to reduce individual CONUL institutions’ workloads resulting from hosting dozens of separate visits by European librarians throughout the year, and to contribute to CONUL’s strategic objective to be “the platform for our international presence”.

As a result, CONUL ANLTC decided to pilot a collaborative programme for ERASMUS visitors in the summer of 2017. For logistical reasons the ANLTC agreed to limit the pilot to CONUL libraries in the Dublin area.

I was DIT’s representative on the organising committee, together with Carmel O’Sullivan (UCD, Chair), Elizabeth Kirwan (NLI), Helen Fallon (MU), Jessie Kurtz (TCD), Kathryn Smith (RSI) and Órla Nic Aodha (DCU). Library staff in each of the seven host libraries also helped us to plan and deliver the programme.

The Programme
The programme consisted of presentations by library staff in the organising institutions, presentations by participants and visits to each of the seven participating libraries.

The programme covered six themes:

• Theme 1: Information and digital literacies
• Theme 2: Space & storage in libraries
• Theme 3: Cultural heritage and unique & distinct collections
• Theme 4: Enabling Research 
• Theme 5: Customer Service/User Experience (UX)
• Theme 6: Change and Future Skills 

Promotion and Applications
UCD’s ERASMUS office posted details of the Library Staff Mobility Week on the ERASMUS Staff Training iMOTION website and on an email discussion forum for ERASMUS officers. A message was also posted on the SCONUL email list and the News section of the CONUL website. The Twitter hashtag for the week was #ERASMUSdub17

29 people from 16 countries applied to participate in the ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week in Dublin. 24 were successful in their application, 21 accepted places and 18 ultimately attended. The final 18 participants came from the following 10 countries:

Participants by country

Logistics and Communication with Participants
Communication was essential to the organisation of a five-day programme across seven locations. The organising committee held its first planning meeting in February, with two further meetings and hundreds of emails exchanged before the event itself. We also stayed in in touch each day throughout the week itself.

We used a Gmail account (erasmusdub@gmail.com) to communicate with the programme participants in relation to confirming their funding, completing the necessary ERASMUS forms, their presentations, etc. The related Google Drive was helpful for sharing presentations and programme documents with the participants and with staff in each of the host libraries. The amount of communication required probably exceeded our expectations – we received over 3,700 emails to the ERASMUS Gmail account.

In an inspired move, Órla Nic Aodha (DCU) set up a WhatsApp group to allow participants to communicate with each other and with the organising committee prior to and during the programme. This proved hugely popular with participants who have posted hundreds of messages and pictures before, during and after their time in Dublin. In fact, they’re still using the WhatsApp group to keep in touch and to discuss potential collaborative projects.

We provided the participants with information at the end of each day on how to get to the next day’s host institution. Committee members and other library staff escorted the participants from one location to the next where activities took place in multiple locations on the same day.

The ERASMUS Mobility Week
The week’s events began in DIT. Patricia Tutty of HEA’s ERASMUS team, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chair of CONUL and Dr. Philip Cohen, Head of DIT Library Services each welcomed the 18 ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week participants to Ireland and to DIT.

I had an opportunity to chat with the participants over lunch in the nearby Radisson Blu hotel in Golden Lane and while escorting them from there to the National Library. Apart from being keen to learn more about DIT’s move to the new Grangegorman campus and about our information literacy programme, the participants also found Irish pedestrians’ jaywalking habits fascinating!

The participants spent Monday afternoon in the National Library:

Yeats Exhibition, National Library of Ireland. Courtesy of Maria Svenningsson 

Had a sneak preview of the brand new RCSI library

Tour of new RCSI Library

And finished the day at a reception at the National Library of Ireland.

They spent Tuesday in UCD covering Information and Digital Literacies and Space and Storage in libraries:

UCD Library

They discussed Cultural heritage and Unique & Distinct collections and Enabling Research in Trinity on Wednesday and had a very popular tour of the Old Library:

Tour of Old Library, Trinity College. Courtesy of Maria Svenningsson 

Tour of Old Library, University of Dublin, Trinity College. Courtesy of Maria Svenningsson
On Thursday they visited Maynooth University and covered Customer Service / User Experience

Tour of Russell Library, Maynooth University

and they finished up with Change and future skills in DCU on Friday.

Welcome to DCU Library

Social Events and Sponsorship
There were two social events during the week: a reception in the National Library of Ireland at the end of Day 1 and a dinner in the 1592 restaurant at the University of Dublin, Trinity College on Day 3. The ANLTC sponsored both events. They provided an opportunity for the participants to get to know each other and to meet the organising committee members. DIT’s ERASMUS office covered most of the cost of the lunch in the Radisson Blu hotel on Day 1 and UCD’s ERASMUS office sponsored lunch and refreshments on Day 2 in UCD.

Dinner 1592 Restaurant, Trinity College Dublin

Feedback from Participants
Participants’ feedback in relation to the week was overwhelmingly positive. All participants either ‘Strongly Agreed’ or ‘Agreed’ that everything from the application process to the catering to the programme itself met their expectations.

Would We Do It Again?
The organising committee has already agreed that we will offer the programme again from 18th to 22nd June 2018. 

To minimise costs for participants and for logistical reasons the Dublin area CONUL libraries will host the programme again in 2018. The themes will be similar to this year but will be reallocated between the host institutions.

We are also making a change to the 2018 event in response to feedback from the 2017 participants and from library staff in the host institutions.  Next year’s participants will include eight Irish librarians from the CONUL Dublin area libraries.

Irish participants will follow the same application procedure as the overseas participants. We will begin advertising the programme in November 2017 – so keep your eyes peeled if you’d like to be in with a chance to participate in the 2018 ERASMUS Library Staff Mobility Week in Dublin!


For the perspective of one of the participants of the programme you can check out Maria Svenningsson's post

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Library Directors.org

Guest post by Alex Lent, Director of Milis, Massachusetts Public Library

Alex Lent contacted me and asked would it be possible to bring to the attention of Library Directors everywhere a group called The Library Directors Group. With that in mind could you please RT this post, share with those you think it might interest. And even copy and paste and share on any LIS mailing lists you think might be interested. The resource looks invaluable, and, I would argue, not just of use to current library directors, but those who would like to be in that position down the line.

Hi Everyone,

Last year, I started the Library Directors Group, which exists to facilitate communication, collaboration, and continuing education for library directors, especially for those library directors who are in their first five years on the job.

This group is the resource I wish I had had on my first day as a library director and it has been a huge help over the past year. I'm writing to tell you about the group because I think it could be useful to you as well.

We have a website, which has a list of resources other library directors have found useful, a blog which will soon be posting a steady stream of original content from a number of authors, and a link to a list of library director job postings. We're also on Facebook (facebook.com/librarydirectors) and Twitter (twitter.com/libdirectors). One of the projects we're working on right now is gathering as many state-produced manuals for library directors as we can. We've reached out to COSLA to help with this and the manuals have started to trickle in. Ultimately, we hope to have as complete a list as possible of these sorts of manuals.

We are also working to have a presence at as many library conferences as possible, hosting round tables for directors (and anyone who is interested in library administration) to discuss the challenges they face, share their experiences, and build a network of other directors who they can rely on for advice. I've been leading most of these round tables, and I'm hoping to convince other people around the world to lead round tables in the same format at their local conferences (although, if you want to fly me to Ireland to lead round tables or workshops, or give conference presentations, I would LOVE that).

But our most active platform is our listserv, which you can sign up for at librarydirectors.org. We have over 300 members from all over the United States and Canada and are looking to expand overseas. We've had questions on Friends groups, contracts, fundraising, mentoring, and a wide variety of other topics. Librarians are a question-friendly bunch and this listserv has proven quite useful.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, please sign up at librarydirectors.org. If you have any questions, you can email me at at alex@alexlent.org.

Thanks!

Alex Lent

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Ordinary Hangzhou Exhibition at UCC Library

UCC Library is currently hosting the Ordinary Hangzhou exhibition. The exhibition comprises photographs, taken by the 'ordinary' people of Hangzhou of the 'Ordinary life' of Hangzhou and its peoples.

The exhibition is the latest embodiment of the relationship and partnership between UCC Library and Hangzhou Public Library. An article about this partnership can be found here.

This exhibition has literally travelled the world, hanging in different partner libraries of Hangzhou Library and it is now hanging on the 2nd Floor of  O'Rahilly Building UCC, and is open to the public to visit.

The exhibition will hang until the end of February 2017. The exhibition hang dates are significant as they incorporate the Chinese New Year celebrations that run from January 27 until February 2, a very significant celebration in the Chinese Calendar.

So, if you want to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a bit of culture, please feel free to drop along and look at the almost fifty photographs of Hangzhou, a number of which are presented here.

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Irish Librarians making an impact in Ireland and beyond.

Guest post by Israel Chidavaenzi. Israel is the Business Librarian at DIT Aungier Street. He is originally from Zimbabwe but has been working in DIT for 15 years

Librarians are a caring lot and oftentimes, their caring extends beyond call of duty. Yes, a caring lot is the best way to describe Librarians and I can say this with a lot of gusto because as a librarian who has been in the field for more than 20 years, I have seen and experienced the joys and tribulations of the profession. As librarians, our primary role is to quench the informational needs of those who use our services; this is largely dictated by why the library was ever established. It is no surprise that more often than not, expectations of those who use our services go beyond the scope of the many job descriptions that informs what you as library profession does every other day. Often times, there is now this natural expectation that is organically growing and its now almost a given than most librarians are now venturing beyond their comfort zone, all in the hope of satisfying what they perceive as achievable - including networking and collaboration.

Networking and collaboration, herein used in the most generic sense isn’t a bad thing after all - for thus how we all get to know what others are doing hence this influences how we thrive to better our own practices. The quest to know what is happening in elsewhere is probably why you are reading LibFocus, which is a home grown platform where Irish librarians share their professional tit bits. It was through LibFocus that DIT and UCC recently collaborated on a project that will benefit students in an educational establishment situated more than 8,000km from Ireland.


Give what you have
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) is widely credited with promoting the idea of passing on to others, objects whose usefulness is no longer relevant to current owners. This well-known saying is attributed to him:

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Giving is sharing and sharing is caring, true to the last word – a good example of this is how Irish academic librarians recently cared beyond satisfying the immediate needs of Irish students but also that of students in Malawi. This was made possible through LibFocus which earlier in the year had featured an article about how fire had destroyed the Mzuzu university library in Malawi, resulting in the loss of more than 45,000 books. Librarians in DIT (Aungier Street) together with Martin O’Connor from UCC partnered a UCC Governor, Dr Rosarii Griffin in to putting together and dispatching a consignment of 22 boxes with more than 600 titles. DIT got books from its decommissioned collection, donations from well-wishers and from lecturers who often receive unsolicited donations from publishers.


Caring beyond the call of duty?
Well, in this instance “caring beyond the call of duty” is true because none of the librarians involved with this collaborative effort has any direct link with Malawi. This lack of direct link did not stop us from caring about the lack of library books to more than 4000 students at Mzuzu University. If librarians put their heads together something good comes out of their effort, thus collaboration makes things happen. It is a known fact that libraries in the developing world are the least funded and in some cases they operate with zero budgets so receiving a collection such as the one we dispatched from Ireland is for many, probably the only way to get new books in to the library. It is for this reason that, we the Irish librarians should blow our own trumpets for our help is going beyond the borders – we care for the educational wellbeing of people we will never meet.


It just didn’t start with the Malawi project
Prior to sending books to Malawi, books from DIT have been going to Zimbabwe where they were being received with the highest appreciation one could ever imagined. For years, Zimbabwean libraries were solely relying on donations from well-wishers because they just didn’t have money. Any budget allocations were wiped out within hours due to super - hyperinflation.  A quick layman’s check on the internet shows that at one point, the inflation rate was predicted to reach 1.5 million per cent. I am going to be bold here; I will not cite the source of the above figure as this record breaking inflation rate was at the time, common knowledge. So in such an environment, Libraries were left with no money so books from DIT went a long way in supporting the Zimbabwean education system during its darkest days. More than 20,000 books were shipped to Zimbabwe over a 10 year period. This was largely a solo project from me, I did everything from sourcing the books to arranging the shipping logistics and financing the shipping cost though occasionally I would receive help from others, for example one year DIT students’ Union paid the shipping cost and occasionally DIT lecturers would contribute towards the shipping cost.

The Challenge
Shipping books isn’t cheap and it’s not easy. Although I did it on my own for more than 10 years, the experience has shown that this approach is just not sustainable – collaboration is the way to go, just like what UCC and DIT did with books to Malawi. From personal experience, I got great satisfaction from doing this and I would challenge other librarians to extend their caring attitude beyond their immediate traditional users and one way is to help those in need from far afield. Every year, libraries decommission books that still have a life so instead of dumping that book in a skip think about how that book could potentially make some life changing contributions to the education of others. If you are to coordinate book donations for overseas institutions, you ought to be selective on what you dispatch to them – do not use your beneficiaries as a dumping ground, if you do so then certainly it will not be a cheap way of getting rid of your books.
I have done it, DIT and UCC have collaborated on it and many of you have also done it for years so let us continue the good work for our efforts are making an impact in Ireland and beyond. Remember, “Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think” and what you give might be all there is to that someone.

 

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