A&SL 2018 Conference and Exhibition - Fail Better: Lessons Lived; Lessons Learnt

Guest post by Colleen Ballard. Colleen Ballard is studying MLIS at UCD. Special interests include books, manuscripts and ephemera. @cballard_biblio

A&SL Conference Brochure

I had the pleasure of attending the A&SL Conference 2018 on Friday 9th March at the National Gallery of Ireland. Borrowing from Beckett, the theme, Fail Better: Lessons Lived; Lessons Learnt, endeavoured to prompt a shift from failure as negative to failure as a valuable learning pivot in a progressive profession. This resonated personally. I knew I could benefit from a positive approach to failure, and I felt both reassured and buoyed up to tackle my faulty perceptions.

Speakers candidly revealed failures. It was reassuring to discover in various levels of library and information service, failure is experienced. Colleen Burgess (HUC) stated how in the US regular events to discuss failure had resulted in a supportive culture of experimentation. John McManus (TCD) noted it is easy for a cataloguer to make mistakes, and, no escaping it, they are visible to all as illustrated by exposure of his own mistakes. He observed some difficulties within cataloguing could be addressed if the desire for perfection is challenged. Áine Carey (MU) highlighted how the best attempts to improve teaching provision can disappoint and not develop as expected. The importance of continuing in the discovery process and implementing plans to find what works was emphasised.

I particularly anticipated the keynote from Duncan Chappell (Glasgow School of Art) on the loss and restoration of the art noveau library designed by Mackintosh, and he did not disappoint. Happy to extract himself from the “disaster circuit” and into the calm of the NGI and A&SL Conference, he guided the audience through devastation, aftermath, recovery, and the value of a disaster plan. Residue of grief was palpable but so was excitement at the new incarnation in progress, a testimony to lessons learnt that will better facilitate user friendly engagement with a beautiful new space. Gauging audience response, many hope to visit when the library reopens in September 2019.

From tweaking titles to boosting blogs; papers, panels, and three posters conveyed failure as a formative learning process. The final presentation by Jane Burns (IHF) and Niamh O’Sullivan (ITB) – a duo which delighted many according to Twitter responses – addressed workshop woes with WOW’s (workshop on workshops), sharing a tried and tested checklist for success. Overall, specific words stood out emphasising the value of acknowledging and using failure to advantage: experiment, change, improvement, trying, growth. Or, drawing from the eclectic quotes displayed at the conference, as Yoda puts it, “the greatest teacher, failure is”.

Tweets confirm that the pleasing space of the National Gallery of Ireland was an appreciated new venue. The facilities were comfortable and conducive to concentration, and the atrium used for breaks beautifully enhanced the generous hospitality of the NGI and facilitated perfectly the chance to form new acquaintances. Andrea Lydon informed us the NGI has plans of its own and it is hoped, lessons lived and learnt, all their library dreams come true.

A quick directive how to move slides on would have avoided hitches – apparently it was not the usual arrow. Taking notes in the dark was a challenge!

This conference opened the conversation on failure, and suggests there is much more to discuss, indeed continue discussing, now and in the future. #ASL2018.

My personal gratitude to Bibliotheca for the bursary I received to attend this enjoyable event and A&SL for this opportunity.


Note: There will be a second review of the A&SL Conference published in the October issue of An Leabharlann.

Read More

Fake news is an Oxymoron and a LibGuide won’t cut it - review

Guest post by Siobhan McGuiness. Siobhan is part of team @uklibchat & @rudai23 for 2017. Siobhan has recently been appointed Chair of SLA Europe Digital Communications

Photo by Siobhan McGuinness 

Fake news is an Oxymoron and a LibGuide won’t cut it, was the title of Alan Carbery’s very popular talk recently held in the Royal Irish Academy. The talk was organised by the Library Association of Ireland

Alan began his inspirational talk about the many changes, good and bad, he has seen happen in Ireland over the last few years. His place in a liberal arts college in the U.S. allows him to keep abreast of issues such as homelessness, the marriage referendum, and abortion.

In a world where all these serious issues are at the forefront of every country, I have questions, for instance; What information is the next generation absorbing? How can teachers and librarians make sure these kids are getting the right information and a are getting a balanced view on these issues? Is the technology we are all using doing more harm than good? 

In a world where the President of the United States uses tweets to inform the world, tweets that are in so many ways contradictory, how are these kids meant to know what is true, false or even fake?

Teaching students today about credible sources needs to be more than about how to search numerous databases. Teaching students today should be about illustrating that credible and popular are two very different things. Get the student to think, are the authors credentials making it a credible source. In the same way, because it is a popular source is it a credible source? Each student should be given the tools to critically analyse the source and to be able to make that decision. Alan states that we could make Information Literacy meaningful and genuine by placing it within a real-world context. We can take our library tools and real world knowledge and use the two for good IL practice. 

So, let’s look at those real-world problems. Alan shows archival documents dating back to a time where the language used in policy documents surrounding the topic of immigration was discriminatory. He then points out how in today’s world with “a Muslim ban” being enforced in the U.S., how policy documents today are also showing this same discrimination. Showing this important information to students and allowing this conversation to take place is how we teach our students information literacy in the era of fake news.

However archival documents are not enough today. We also need to look at social media  tools like Twitter - a force / source of information that spreads ideas and knowledge - to see how we can use these tools to look at information relating to issues such as gender inequality. 

Alan sees that students want to talk about the issues that surround them. For example, explaining to students how the Spanish version of the White House website was removed soon after President Trump came to power shows them a live relevant information literacy topic in action. It shows a real-world issue of how one ethnic group is being treated in the U.S.Other examples like this can be found to teach students information literacy.

Again, students are challenged with technology. With filter bubbles they only see what the search engine thinks they want to see. This gives a narrow unchallenged view of the world. We all need to see all sides of an argument before we decide where we sit. If students are getting most of this information from the internet then how are they making informed decisions based on that information?     

The onus is on teachers, librarians, educators to bring the real world and critical information literacy together to teach our students how to make informed decisions about the information they are seeing and the issues surrounding their society.

Photo taken by @ibelle

Read More

Review of A&SL’s screening of The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas

*Guest post by Amye Quigley, Executive Librarian, Wicklow County Council Library Service*


On 3rd December 2016 the A&SL Section screened the documentary The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas by filmmaker and poet Greta Bellamacina and journalist Davina Catt. The documentary investigates the history of British public libraries and their decline in present day Britain. The documentary chronicles the beginnings of the public lending library in Scotland in the 18th Century and explores the important place that the library had in British society. The filmmakers interviewed many well known personalities such as Stephen Fry, John Cooper Clarke, Irvine Welsh and William Seighart to discuss what public libraries mean to them. The documentary is essentially a love story to public libraries and a plea to politicians to save Britain’s libraries from further cuts.

The A&SL organised for the filmmakers to attend the screening and afterwards there was a Q&A session which was quite interesting. There weren’t many other public librarians in the audience. Having watched the documentary and listened to Greta and Davina speak of their love of libraries, the process of making this film, and their efforts to interview various personalities, I felt profoundly sad and at the same time annoyed. Libraries in the UK are facing the biggest crisis of their histories. According to the BBC over 8000 library jobs have disappeared in the last six years in the UK. In many areas the councils have turned libraries completely over to volunteers, but without proper structure and a qualified librarian to organise and run these libraries they have been slowly closing. Annual visits to libraries in the UK decreased by 14% in 2015 and by up to as much as 21% in more deprived areas. Politicians use this kind of information as excuses to close even further libraries. But of course visits to libraries decrease if hours are reduced to volunteer-only run libraries. Funding to libraries has been cut by £25m in 2015/2016 which brings to 14% the reduction in total net expenditure since 2011. That amounts to about 5p to 9p per head of population spent on stock. Compare this to the €3.77 per capita target as laid out by Opportunities for All for Irish libraries. If funding into resources isn’t being made available, then this contributes to the decrease in visitors to the service too.

Here in Ireland, Opportunities for All, the national library strategy is coming to an end. There are some interesting and possibly difficult times ahead for public libraries with a new national library strategy on the way. In the past few months the public library service has been in the national newspapers with the My Open Library service and also with the new national tender for stock. Public librarians have voted against the roll out of the My Open Library service across the country. Booksellers have appealed the decision of the national tender. My Open Library is going ahead in some counties while others are delaying the implementation. The library service does need future-proofing and Opportunities for All steered the way for many great initiatives, such as all library services having access to the same e-resources and a new library management system which our borrowers love. Longer opening hours should probably be part of the next library strategy, but library staff fear that staffless hours could lead to additional unstaffed hours. What’s to stop a council from deciding to keep a small solo-librarian branch open staffless after the librarian retires? We say it won’t happen, we say we treasure our public library service, but certain cross sections of our society won’t use a staffless library and with a reduction in usage, will those branches be kept open? Watching The Safe House: A Decline of Ideas wouldn’t give you much hope.

Reading:

BBC, Libraries lose a quarter of staff as hundreds close. London: BBC News, 2016. Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35707956 Accessed 04 Jan 2017.

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Spending on local libraries falls by £25m. CIPFA, 2016. Available at: http://www.cipfa.org/about-cipfa/press-office/latest-press-releases/spending-on-local-libraries-falls-by-%C2%A325m Accessed: 6 Jan. 2017.

Clarke, Vivienne, Staffless libraries ‘not there to replace workers’ – Simon Coveney. Dublin: The Irish Times, 2017. Available at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/staffless-libraries-not-there-to-replace-workers-simon-coveney-1.2931610 Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

Cowdrey, Katherine, Irish Booksellers demand rethink on library tenders. The Bookseller, 2016. Available at: http://www.thebookseller.com/news/irish-booksellers-manifesto-asks-gov-rethink-national-library-tenders-343706 Accessed: 04 Jan. 2017.

The Decline and Fall of British Libraries, Library Journal, 2015.  Available at: http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2015/02/09/the-decline-and-fall-of-british-libraries/ Accessed: 06 Jan. 2017.

Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Independent Library Report For England. London: Department for Culture, Media & Sport, 2014. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388989/Independent_Library_Report-_18_December.pdf Accessed: 4 Jan. 2017.

The Irish Times, Librarians vote against rollout of staffless libraries. Dublin: The Irish Times, 2016. Available at: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/librarians-vote-against-rollout-of-staffless-libraries-1.2889720 Accessed: 06 Jan. 2017.

Local Government Management Agency, “My Open Library” Service. Dublin: LGMA, 2016. Available at: http://www.lgcsb.ie/en/news/my-open-library-service-welcomed Accessed: 8 Jan. 2017.

Local Government Management Agency, Opportunities for All: A Strategy for Public Libraries 2013-2017. Dublin : Department of the Environment, Community, and Local Government, 2013. Available at: http://www.lgma.ie/sites/default/files/public_libraries_strategy_2013_2017.pdf Accessed: 8 Jan. 2017.

Read More

Altmetrics: a practical guide for librarians, researchers and academics - edited by Andy Tattersall (review)

It feels like quite a long time since I first started blogging about altmetrics back in 2012/2013. At the time, some may have thought that these kind of new metrics were nothing more than a fleeting fad that would never last. Whilst it is true that altmetrics may still remain relatively embryonic, they now constitute a frequently recurring thread in the mainstream research impact discourse - even appearing alongside traditional bibliometric indicators on many journal webpages today (indeed, altmetric.com data is now displayed on around 6000 journals from over 60 different publishers (Adie, p.68)).

For librarians, it has perhaps been one of the more fast-moving areas to keep pace with, with new tools, platforms and capabilities emerging all the time. That is why this new practical guide to Altmetrics by Andy Tattersall is extremely timely, coming at a point when the terrain has matured sufficiently to allow for deeper debate and analysis of the issues involved. For those who have been following the area with interest to date, the table of contents reveals several familiar names including Euan Adie (founder of Altmetric.com), William Gunn (Mendeley), and Ben Showers (as well of course as Tattersall himself).

Andy Booth's (a name that will be particularly resonant to anyone with a health libraries background) chapter provides a very succinct overview of "metrics of the trade", contextualising where altmetrics dovetail with more traditional measures, and the limitations of research metrics generally. This provides the perfect foundation for Ben Showers' chapter which looks at how altmetrics are inextricably linked to the evolution of scholarly publishing, and indeed library metrics more generally.

For those without any kind of grounding in measuring research impact, both Booth's and Showers' discussion provide a sufficient primer to enable the reader to delve deep into the specifics of altmetrics in the chapters that follow. With bibliometric indicators becoming virtually synonymous with impact, it is refreshing that Euan Adie reminds us of their role in the filter failure problem (Shirky, 2009), that is, to assist the users and consumers of research output rather than just those who are trying to assess or measure it. Adie also discusses four key developments in scholarly communications which have precipitated the emergence of altmetrics, making a very compelling case how such measures can help us tell an important story about non-traditional outputs, wider audiences and engagement.

Andy Tattersall himself contributes several key chapters as well as editing the book. The sheer volume of social media and research tools and applications can be overwhelming for many, and his chapter on what to consider when implementing or promoting new technologies helpfully includes a link to the ScHARR Research Hacks videos - a series of short clips that give an overview of many of the key tools now available to researchers. The book itself also provides short summaries of many of these resources and how they can be used to publish and share research, as well as to provide altmetrics in some cases. Convincing researchers that these tools can be valuable to them can remain a challenge for librarians however, and Tattersall also includes a chapter with some helpful tips and tricks in this regard, such as identifying champions or 'movers' who can help bring other colleagues on board, and providing concrete evidence to academics that such technologies can deliver real benefits and represent a good use of their time.

Compiling a book on such a fast-moving area is a challenge no doubt, and Tattersall clearly points out that altmetrics represent "a work in progress"(p. 205) in a landscape where change is embedded. Rather than focusing on the nitty-gritty and details of numbers and metrics, the book offers a very readable and accessible overview of the topic - why and how altmetrics have developed, a snapshot of what they look like today, and a glimpse of what we might see in the future. Of course the latter is still unknown to a large extent, but it is clear that for now altmetrics have most certainly earned their seat at the research impact table.

Altmetrics: a practical guide for librarians, researchers and academics is published by Facet Publishing, June 2016, £49.95, 224pp.

Read More

Conference Report: CONUL Conference, Athlone, Ireland

Guest post by Rebecca Jones. Rebecca has worked as a library assistant in D.I.T Aungier Street for 14 years. She is passionate about supporting students in the library with additional needs.

Day 1 - June 1st

CONUL held its annual conference at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone June 1st and 2nd 2016. The two-day action packed event was very well organised and the presentations from the
enthusiastic speakers, a river cruise on the Shannon and the Gala dinner made for a very
engaging and enjoyable experience.

Over the two days, library staff both nationally and internationally shared their experiences of
collaborative projects and presentations of papers relating to the theme ‘Going Further
Together: Collaboration in Irish academic and research libraries’. These were delivered to
a relaxed, friendly and supportive audience where delegates from all over Ireland used social
media platforms throughout the event to network and share information presented.

The presentation that most appealed and resonated with me was presented by Sally Bridge
from Queen’s University. The topic was about her experiences working in partnership with
students to empower people with disabilities in Queens. Sally was introduced as the Queens’
Librarian, Disability Liaison Officer and International Student Support Officer; roles I believe would be welcomed by many library staff.

The key motivator for this collaboration was the SENDO (Special Educational Needs and
Disability Order, Northern Ireland) Act 2005. This act ensures the legal obligation of the
library to make the library environment and all its resources more accessible to all who use it.
Now, the library, disability services, estate services and information services collaborate to
provide the 2,053 students registered with Queens’ Disability Services in 2015/2016
equal access to the library environment and its’ resources.

I was particularly interested in the availability of Assistive Technology on ‘ALL’ computers
and asked Sally during the Q&A session to elaborate further. Sally added that all the
computers in the library have access to Assistive Technology so no library users are directed
to a hub at the back of the library or a designated ‘disability corner’ as is common in many institutions.

I liked how Sally also emphasised the ‘human need’ to empower people with disabilities in
libraries and how the library staff in Queens received great feedback from library users;
this is a source of pride for the library staff. Over tea and scones, I took the opportunity to
speak and congratulate Sally on how inclusive their library came across and we talked about
the many barriers all people have in accessing libraries and their resources.
Sally’s presentation has inspired me and my colleagues in DIT to review our collaboration with disability support services to better support library users to achieve their
fullest potential and flourish.

I also enjoyed Siobhan Dunne (DCU) presentation titled Watch, Listen, Learn:
understanding the undergraduate research process through an ethnographic lens which
seeks to understand the user voice and capture students’ research journey. Her findings
outlined firstly how students were not going to library staff for support on how to research;
instead, they used social media and their peers. Secondly, the study identified a group of
students who were afraid to ask for help from the library staff because “within certain
cultures asking for help was seen as a failure”. The concept of library anxiety I thought was
an age old concept and obvious to all library staff, however, Siobhan explained that the
theories of library anxiety need to be further explored to create opportunities on how to
effectively reach out to these students. This concept of library anxiety resonates with me and these findings may influence future strategies on making the library both more visible and more accessible in my own library in DIT Aungier Street.

At the end of Day 1, all delegates excitedly embarked from the quays at Athlone Castle for a
wine reception on a Viking Long boat up the River Shannon to Lough Rea in the beautiful
sunshine. This was then followed by a fabulous four-course meal (and more wine) back at the
Sheraton Hotel. The evening was great fun and everyone was friendly and inviting with many
formal and informal discussions.

Day 2 - June 2nd 

After a lovely breakfast, the keynote speaker Susan Gibbons set the stage for Day 2. It was good to have an international speaker at the conference especially an author who has been referenced throughout the conference. Overall her presentation on Studying users to improve Library Services was engaging and thought provoking. The goal of her research was to use findings to improve services and digital presence. I especially enjoyed the strategy taken to respond to students who go to their parents for research support instead of the library. The practice of the library in shifting the focus from students to 'helicopter' parents on orientation day was insightful. By welcoming parents into the library to have a chat and a cup of tea, it gave them a greater awareness of all the library services on offer to their children, enabling parents to redirect their children to library services. This practice is now in its tenth year and very successful. Susan's final remarks were that the library requires tolerance for change or it will fail.

Following on came insightful presentations by DIT’s Allison Kavanagh and Sarah Anne Kennedy which were both engaging and thought provoking. Getting the edge delivered by
Allison spoke of the collaboration between the library and the Career Development Centre
(CDC). This collaboration led to a tool kit called the Graduates Attributes Toolkit and
provided insight into how digital literacy has real world application for students.
Digital Collaboration delivered by Sarah –Anne was of her experiences with developing an online marketing tool using MailChimp to support the transition of students into third level and measuring the level of engagement from students and academic staff. The key takeaway I found from these collaborations is the importance of engagement from all involved from the beginning to ensure success. It also raises the profile of the library to position itself at the top table of the institute’s future progressions.

Other uplifting presentations were delivered by Katherine McSharry (National Library of Ireland) on how a library can collaborate with the community and partner with the Media and cultural institutions to create a social space for communities to tell their stories and digitise memorabilia. She recalled how the public appetite of such a project led to a growing production event called Inspiring Ireland. Katherine added that it was a process that works regardless of the topic once you have the engagement across all people you are working with.

Final highlights for me from the conference were the expression by speakers that libraries are living systems that evolve and which exist in a neutral environment. This gave me an awareness into how library staff, given the right support, can adopt new innovative collaborative approaches to make our libraries more accessible and visible to all as we all face challenges of budget restraints and staffing issues. These new approaches and ideas may result in projects within our own libraries and possible presentations at future conference events.

I am already looking forward to CONUL Conference 2017.

Videos of conference talks and slides can be found on the Conul Conference website

Read More

Conference Report: The Drew University Transatlantic Connections Conference – January 15-18 2016: Part II

Guest post by Hanna Bush and Dermot O’Leary, School of Information & Communication Studies, University College Dublin

Building bridges to information:
A student perspective on the Transatlantic Connections Conference

We are Dermot O’Leary and Hanna Bush, two postgraduate students studying for our Master of Library and Information Studies at University College Dublin. In January, we were lucky enough – with the generous support of the Academic and Special Libraries Section – to attend the third annual Drew University Transatlantic Connections Conference in Bundoran with our lecturer, Jane Burns. As the first academic conference either of us had attended, this experience was particularly formative.

The Transatlantic Connections Conference covered a host of diverse topics ranging from medical humanities to literature and music, from multimedia technology to surf culture. All presentations related in some way to the conference’s overarching theme, “Building Bridges: Connecting a new Ireland and the Irish diaspora in the United States, past, present, and future.” The presenters were as varied as the topics – in one session on Irish literature, we saw several American postgraduate students present their research, sharing the stage with poet and Ph.D. Meg B. Tyler, and well-known thespian and Joyce scholar Michael Shanley.

As students from an Irish institution it was interesting to hear such wide-ranging perspectives on topics that hit close to home, particularly since our own backgrounds are so different (Dermot is Irish while Hanna hails from the United States). During the multimedia narratives session, at which our professor Jane Burns presented, several other presenters shared projects relating to the 1916 Rising and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. One of us was given a unique look at Irish history through someone else’s lens, while the other was transported through that lens back to his own experiences during the Troubles. In addition, during this session we had the opportunity to watch Jane present her work on the Mary Martin Diary website for the second time. Jane is a skilled, experienced conference presenter, and seeing how she prepared for the presentation, adapted the talk for a new audience and interacted with her fellow presenters gave us great insight into the world of research and academia.

The format of sessions at the conference – multiple presenters talking about topics loosely related through a common theme – provided various perspectives that we would not normally get in a regular university lecture. A prime example of this was the session on surf culture, a theme close to the heart of Bundoran, the self-professed surfing capital of Ireland. Presenters discussed the sensuality of the study of surfing, the role of the surf club within the community, and the representation of women in modern surf media. To the surfing novice, these three topics put forward a new way of looking at the sport and its culture.

The conference sessions were held concurrently in the hotel and in a movie theatre just down the road. Having a choice of which sessions to attend and which presenters to see meant we got to direct our learning. But we both felt that having so many options was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, we saw some amazing presentations on topics in which we were interested; on the other hand, we missed out on some we would have liked to attend.

While the presentations were certainly the main focus of the conference, other events – such as planned meals and keynote speeches – lent us many opportunities to meet and network with American and Irish scholars. Evenings were a spirited affair, featuring live music and poetry readings. Though many sessions at the conference were sparsely attended during the days, students, professionals and scholars came out in force for the evening fun.

For first-time conference attendees, the Transatlantic Connections Conference was a great place for us to start. The conference was small and manageable, with plenty of opportunities to connect and network with other students, presenters and scholars from Ireland and America. It also gave us valuable insight into how a conference, regardless of size, can introduce a wide range of topics and catalyse conversations across many disciplines. As future library professionals, we aspire to do just that – make connections across subject areas, people and places, building bridges to information in any way we can.

Please follow us on Twitter: @dermotaoleary @hannajbush

Read More

Conference Report: The Drew University Transatlantic Connections Conference – January 15-18 2016, Part I

Guest post by Jane Burns, School of Information & Communication Studies, University College Dublin, one of the winners of the A&SL National and International Library Conference Bursary Scheme 2016

The Drew University Transatlantic Connections Conference –

 January 15-18 2016

Sometimes I forget the distance and difference there is between Ireland and the USA after living in here for just over a quarter of a century.  So I was keenly interested this time last summer when the call for papers for this conference went out. I was taken by the strapline of sharing information, ideas and connecting people and immediately thought this was solely a library information focussed conference. In fact it turned out to have a much a broader scope, with a range of presentations, participants and formats but all with a similar purpose to connect people to ideas and to enable them to share them in a meaningful way in order to make a range of connections.

I submitted a paper based on a research project I had undertaken with 4 other researchers whilst completing my Master’s Degree in Digital Humanities at Trinity College Dublin, entitled The Mary Martin Diary – A Mother’s Story of 1916 under the stream of Multimedia Narratives: Collaborative Research with Historical Material.  The Academic & Special Libraries Section had a call out for bursary funding and I decided to apply. This generous assistance not only allowed me to attend the conference but also provided funding for two of my MLIS students from the School of Information & Communication Studies, UCD, Hanna Bush and Dermot O’Leary to attend as well. Their reflections on attending this conference will be published in Libfocus tomorrow.

The conference was great. The range of speakers and conference participants was impressive. What I enjoyed the most was to see how others inside and outside of traditional library environments were creating and sharing content and research approaches and outputs.  I always think it is a good idea to see how others are processing, perceiving and personalising information – it certainly helps me refocus my understanding and perspectives as a LIS professional and as a Researcher.

The sponsors and organisers of this Transatlantic Conference was Drew University, which is a private third level institution located in Madison, New Jersey, USA. This was the second year this unique conference was organised through the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies at Drew University, in partnership with the Institute of Study Abroad Ireland, based in Bundoran, County Donegal. The Conference gathers together academics, experts and local guests to discuss the connections between Ireland, the US and the world, in an interdisciplinary context. This was not a library themed conference, but there were many librarians and information professionals such as archivists from all Ireland, the UK and the USA in attendance.

The Programme can be found here. The focus on cultural history and in particular music, the Irish language and education were very impressive.  There was a real emphasis on the relationships between Northern & Southern Ireland and the joint research and cultural understanding that has taken place, especially since the Peace process. 

The discussion panel about Hedge Schools and the Diaspora was very informative, particularly the perspectives by Liam Kennedy, who is the Director of the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, and roles and opportunities for the diaspora not just in the USA but globally. 

For those of us involved in managing, developing and promoting archival material, the topic of the Ethics of Archiving and Commemoration: The Fluctuating Status of the Stolen Irish in the New World given by Michael McKenna from Queens University Belfast was thought provoking and insightful.

A different approach to the exploration and understanding to experiential learning from a surfing perspective was fascinating. Ethnographic research is a very topical subject in the understanding of how information users experience library spaces. There were many insightful approaches to the sport and philosophy of surfing that could be transferable to understanding how people behave, interact and engage with their environments.

Cathal Cavanagh’s presentation (Cathal is a PhD student from the University of Ulster) on his multimedia project Grace Gifford: The Woman behind the Song was the highlight of the conference for me. Not only did he beautifully capture the love story of Grace Gifford, an Irish artist active in the Republican movement, who married her fiancé Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol only a few hours before he was executed for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising, but Cathal demonstrated the use of and linking of primary source information into an online platform that could reach a range of users, from ordinary people, to researchers and historians. 

Concluding thoughts

Library & Information Professionals are involved a range of subject areas, delivery methods and a variety of research initiatives. While it is so important for us to attend exclusive library centric conferences it is important for us to realise that our research and our interests can also be promoted at broader conferences with a wider audience. It allows for those outside of our primary circles to understand the range of work we are involved in and it also provides for us different perspectives and approaches to user research and interest.  If we only talk amongst ourselves we are limiting the space we occupy and narrowing the lens by which others see us and our amazing skill sets. 

Many thanks to the A&SL, a truly progressive committee, for their support for me and my students to attend this event.

Please follow me on Twitter: @JMBurns99

Read More

Libraries Futures Symposium – Trinity College Science Gallery – May 19th 2016

Guest post by Niamh Ennis, Librarian at Independent College Dublin

The event, held from morning to early afternoon, was the second last in a season of events organised by Trinity College librarian Helen Shenton as an opportunity for information professionals to meet to discuss the road being travelled into the future by libraries. Trinity themselves have a 2020 strategy plan recently published and this event had much to do with how other great library institutions are dealing with the ever-changing nature of libraries and what projects are under way in their own places of work to meet this future. After a very interesting introduction by librarian Helen Shenton, the University Provost talked for a few minutes about the plan and the importance of the Trinity libraries, both in terms of the historical collections and the uniqueness of the Legal e- depository. This seemed to be a theme of the evening as Helen pointed out at the end: the need to keep both heritage and books as well as more digital content.

The first speaker was Roly Keating, the Chief Executive of the British Library. Opening with some comic remarks on what we thought would be the future library in the sixties (clean lines, Doctor Who), Roly began an enlightening talk about the two sides of the library and The British Library’s 2023 plan. He spoke about how their primary location near St Pancras station in London is a knowledge centre surrounded by organisations seeking knowledge but only became a knowledge quarter through communication. The two sides of the library line up with the geography of the location; the physical, collected, preserved lines up with the physical library itself to one side of the train station and the virtual, open, connecting and global linking to the ongoing Google build project to the other side. The library however is working towards the second side, in digital items and openness as well as taking a role in creative economy. An important aim is described as being to “make [their] intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment”. Roly says that as the library is funded by the public it is their “birthright”. The focus of a lot of the talk was the library’s six purposes: Custodianship, Research (of all kinds), Business (support), Culture, Learning and to be available for and represent an International audience. The key projects under way include the ‘Save our Sounds’ project which plans to try and save some of the most under threat recordings in their collection, the off-site newspaper archive in Boston Spa in Yorkshire which houses ever piece of British Journalism since the 1600s, and their international print digitisation project.

Following on from Mr Keating was Mike Keller from Stanford University. He began his talk with a summarising statement saying what they were about that followed on from the two side of the library – both tradition and innovation in supporting and stimulating. Although he pointed out that their aims are mostly in line with serving their university population of students and faculty, what they do at the university is very useful in their responsibility towards “cultural patrimony and documenting [current time]”.  Mike went on to talk about how they preserve reference based information assets via LOCKSS and CLOCKSS (which he explained for those not in the know), Stanford Digital Repository which contains over 1100 collections, and they have also begun web archiving alongside other libraries and institutions. Key points he mentioned included the importance of having a data management plan when seeking funding for research, which encouraged a follow-up question from the audience after he was done speaking. Next Mike spoke about how their catalogue search worked and how library catalogues are much better for finding titles over Google Scholar. He also spoke about a very useful tool developed by a friend of his called Yewno.com. This search is based around conceptual maps that connect areas of a topic when searched which researchers can then discuss. He demonstrated this by searching ‘Ireland Easter 1916’ which drew a plain but detailed mind map of concepts around this event. He explained that 50 algorithms are used to create this. Mike also talked about a several year long project that occurred in the University which gathered 67,000 and counting maps from the collections of David Ramsey and created an exhibition centre with a stunning floor to ceiling screen. Following this he discussed the IIIF vision for the future of this and other projects, questioning if in the future of digitising these items if they could be analysed, a search could be done within the collection and results could be even compared across websites. Stanford is working with many other institutions, including UCD, to make the tools to meet this vision and make the project findable on the web. Another project they have undertaken at Stanford launched mere days ago and is entitled ‘Enchanting the Desert’ and aims to provide a interactive resource where peer-reviewed scholarly articles were available. Mike finished up with the empowering message that people are what will make the future of libraries and not necessarily just those with degrees.

The third speaker was Richard Ovenden of Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. Richard continued the theme of traditional and new library uses in his talk when comparing conserving the heritage of the historical reading room and the new needs of the library in relation to the refurbishment of the New Bodleian. He mentioned the problems with fitting these new needs within although beautiful, restricted architecture. Therefore they have preserved the older parts for the heritage but also for the historical books and manuscripts and refurbished the 1930’s building  in the centre of town to make it less “opaque” and more visible to students and the public and suitable for use as a cultural and research building. The first step in this process ,aside from changing the front of the building to be more visible with a open facade, was to move a great deal of their low-use titles to the appropriate storage facility for the work on the building. They would then be returning some of them while keeping a flexible storage facility with a smooth service should any of these texts be required. This storage facility would be staffed by an interesting mix of library staff and those with forklift licences! This reduction of books would make for more open shelf access and study space as well as exhibition space. They also worked on the general appearance of the spaces to make the tunnels more Star Trek and the space in general more open, while retaining important spaces such as reading rooms. These reading rooms would get a more fresh and well-lit look, while the stonework would be cleaned and unseen features would be made visible. All of these changes made a huge impact academically and in terms of the public. In Academic terms it opened up the space for research collaboration and international fellowship projects (which would include a ten week immersion project) as well as seminars. The updates also supported the changing nature of the library. In terms of public impact, footfalls exceeded expectation at over 880,000 visitors in 13 months, with the Oxford Literary Festival hosting 49 events in the library. Other cultural highlights include the Shakespeare’s Dead exhibition which was launched recently by Dame Maggie Smith. The library has now also hosted educational events such as coding for young people and the Big Draw of the Year. He closes on the points that the library functions completely on philanthropic donations and that marketing is key in libraries.

The final talk of the day was given by the founder of MetaLAB at Harvard, Jeffrey Schnapp. He began with an extinction chart from the past that suggested that the library as a physical form would be extinct by 2020, which he mused was simply not true. The belief at the time was that the library was “vestige of the past” and ideas along these lines of the library as only physical were naïve ideas about what the library was or will be or indeed what knowledge is.

This fantasy is an either/or idea; that there can be libraries with books or the internet with knowledge. Jeffrey then suggested that the library was an experimental space and as he mentioned later on it had been since early in the 20th century as new types of technology had to be dealt with. This is where the idea of Metalab came – “an idea foundry, knowledge-design lab”.  Two things of interest are designing a user-centric digital lab and archive (as a physical space) and designing the 21st century library, one component at a time. One project undertaken at the University was something called a Library Test Kitchen that didn’t lose the expert element but brought the conversation into an area of speculative design. This project asked questions such as ‘what would a reading room fit for text and digital library use look like’ and ‘what does the contemplatory space in this 21 century library look like’. An interesting point that Jeffrey brought up was how libraries are leading the pack in relation to collecting data in databases and catalogues and how useful it would be if this was open. One project he was part of that looked at this used records to show how the printing of books was disseminated across Europe over the first 1000 years of printing. Something that he said towards the end really stuck with me. He claimed that having a background in cultural history made him interested in ethnology. He spoke about how the work library and its origin Biblioteca essentially means bookshelf and that although people use this to justify the extinction of the use of libraries, the idea of a book is also changeable, so why should the shelf not? He then proceeded to talk a bit about the interesting history of libraries from Alexandria and Pergumon to Napolean’s mobile library that he brought to war with him to attempts at the modern library including the Idea Store. His concluding points concern an important recipe – What is the library yesterday, what is the library today and to link up with the topic of the day, what is the library in the future. Jeffrey believes this is a hybrid, a multimedia space for knowledge access and activation. It will include reading rooms but will not be the ridiculous space for books mapped when the New York library was opening and the reference desk will need to be changed.

Read More

The Library of the Future, the Future of the Library

Guest post by Marie O’ Neill, Head of Library Services & Information Services,  DBS Library

The Library of the Future, the Future of the Library symposium was held in Trinity College Dublin’s Science Gallery on the 19^th May. After the recent A&SL Conference on Smashing Librarian Stereotypes, a symposium exploring future possibilities for libraries and librarians felt timely. Now that we as a profession know what we don’t want to be, how do we reimagine and describe anew the modern day library and librarian?

The symposium was one of a series of lectures that has been hosted by TCD Library on topics such as TCD’s Library Strategy, the future of monographs in a world of open access, memory in a digital age and more. The full line up of lectures can be seen here.

During the symposium, there was much talk about the ‘outward facing’ library. The hosting of a series of free talks on librarianship by TCD’s Librarian and Archivist Helen Shenton fully embodies this concept. Moreover lecture series on librarianship such as this raise the bar for Irish librarianship. We should as a profession and discipline have academic lecture series to explore and critique pertinent issues in the way that other disciplines do. 

Throughout the symposium Helen Shenton displayed an endearing professional generosity. She appears to thrive on knowledge sharing. It was clear that the line-up of presenters had been informed by contacts that she had acquired during her extensive library career. The presenters comprised library world heavy weights such as the Chief Director of the British Library, the University Librarian of Stanford University, the, Librarian of the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford and Jeffrey Schnapps, Founder/Faculty Director of MetaLab at Harvard University. One symposium tweet referred to the line-up as follows:

It's like being in the same room with Messi, Ronaldo and Mourinho, only from a librarian perspective #futurelibrary

— Paolo Defant (@Chironeschest) May 19, 2016

When I and another delegate thanked Helen at the end of the symposium for a really exciting event, she cheerfully asked us if we felt ‘fired up’ and was genuinely delighted when we said that we were. 

It was also apparent that the genesis of the library lecture series lay not only in a desire to showcase activities at TCD Library but also in a desire to contribute to the wider professional library dialogue here in Ireland.  The symposium certainly achieved this. The coffee and lunch break conversation as well as the tweets that the event generated were vibrant and lively.  At one point, the event trended number one in Ireland on Twitter, higher than the Twitter coverage of the EgyptAir flight 804 air crash which had occurred that day.

It is not possible to do justice to the detailed content of each presentation. Do consult the slides when you have the opportunity. There were however powerful takeaways from each presentation. 

Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library was compelling on the potential of big data to empower researchers to get more from digital collections. He also highlighted that libraries have power in numbers, evocatively describing the universities and libraries that exist around the St Pancreas area of London as a ‘knowledge quarter.’ 

Mike Keller, the University Librarian of Stanford University described new forms of peer reviewed online scholarship. He also advocated that librarians embrace the ‘digital mashup,’ describing how disparate digital maps could be overlapped to generate ‘new hypotheses. ’Keller also demonstrated a new conceptual search engine called Yewno charmingly using the 1916 Easter Rising as an example. 

His most powerful takeaway however was his focus on talented staff as being integral to the library of the future. When he mentioned that he had obtained half a million dollars in salary bonuses for library staff at Stanford University there were audible gasps in the audience. Many Irish library staff haven’t seen a whiff of an annual salary increment for many years let alone a bonus nor have we ever conceived of looking for bonuses even in the good times which begs the question why not? What better way to smash librarian stereotypes than to be a profession that receives bonuses in the way that other professions do.  

Richard Ovenden, Librarian, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford spoke about the high density off-site storage facility in Swindon. Off-site storage of print collections to make way for more value added library spaces and services was a recurrent theme throughout the symposium. 

Ovenden also spoke about the highly successful remodelling of the drab Weston Library building (it was once described as a ‘dinner jacket made out of Harris Tweed’) designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1930s. The building was so non-descript that members of the public often mistook it for a public swimming pool. He was also insightful about the need for imaginative and modern marketing. The Bodleian libraries now advertise library events and resources on train station ticket turnstiles as thousands of commuters pass through them daily.  Genius! Ovenden like Keating highlighted the importance of library exhibitions describing them as powerful shop windows to collections. They also drive engagement.

There were yet more gasps from the audience as Ovenden revealed that the remodelling of the Weston Library was funded through eighty million pounds worth of philanthropy. New chairs in the Library were funded by alumni of the college for 500 pounds a pop for which the name of the donor would be printed on the back. Ovenden unashamedly joked that apart from the toilets there was very little space or furniture in the Weston Library that didn’t display visible evidence of philanthropy. Bodleian libraries also have coffee shops and other businesses that generate five million pounds in revenue.

Jeffrey Schnapps, Founder/Faculty director of MetaLab at Harvard in his thrilling talk appeared to develop a new nomenclature for librarianship comprising terms such as the, ‘library laboratory’, ‘programmable stacks, ‘books with memories’, ‘the awesome box’ and much more.  His talk generated stunning sound bites:

‘The reference desk as we know it is dead.’

and 

‘Special Collections should be at the centre and not at the periphery.’

Schnapps was one of the most richly descriptive presenters that I have ever seen with a powerful, evocative turn of phrase. He has authored a book called the Library Beyond the Book which I will be rushing out to buy next week. Schnapps’ vision for the library of the future was that it would be a space devoted to knowledge creation and as well as preservation. All speakers described the future of the library as being a hybrid of the analogue and the digital.

During the symposium coffee and lunch breaks much conversation and debate ensured. Some delegates griped that it was okay for these particular librarians as they had budgets in the millions and sometimes billions. A few women and one man asked where were the female librarians in the line-up? Another delegate countered this by saying that they thought that there was a female head of library services in Harvard University and that she was also Irish. One public library delegate felt that the presentation on the British Library could have referred to what the British Library do to engage with poor local communities and with children. Other delegates found the talks to be uplifting in the context of recent public library closures in the UK. One thing that all the delegates were in agreement with was that they were awe struck by the quality of the event, of the speakers and of the library developments they described. Superlatives flowed like, ‘amazing’, ‘incredible’ ‘mind blowing’, ‘inspirational’ and more. I was also impressed with the way library staff at TCD worked together during the event and the welcoming and inviting manner with which they greeted delegates. Shenton also thanked them at the end of the symposium. 

What was clear from all of the presenters’ talks is that the future library is already here. Additionally it has been fuelled by new library funding models as well as new technologies. Librarians don’t always like to talk money. At times we can be shy about courting industry and philanthropy but all of these speakers spoke about relationships with the corporate sector and philanthropy with ease and confidence. Ovenden has also been at the forefront of the partnership between Oxford University Press and Google for example which has resulted in the digitisation of thousands of the Library’s unique collections.  

It was rapidly becoming clear that the librarian of the future needs to think outside the box in terms of the financial management of the library. We as librarians could learn so much from the presenters in this regard. In fact during the symposium, I started to have a flight of fancy where I envisaged a jointly written book by all of the speakers entitled New Funding Models for Libraries. The book would contain chapters on corporate partnerships, a chapter on philanthropy, a chapter on how to get a bigger piece of the financial pie in your institution (Keller was unequivocal that as Stanford expands academic programmes they must expand the library budget), a chapter on the librarian as entrepreneur (how to incorporate book shops, coffee shops and other businesses into your library etc.), a chapter on consortia etc.  Equally new funding models for libraries would make a great PHD thesis topic. 

Another symposium tweet reflected on some of the negative talk by delegates re: the large budgets that speakers had to play around with in their respective institutions. 

post #futurelibrary - plenty of people seem to think innovation is just something for big libraries with pots of money. depressing.

— Jack Hyland (@hylanjac) May 19, 2016

The author of this tweet is absolutely right. Yes we can think outside the box re how we fund the library of the future, but there is still an awful lot that you can do on a small budget particularly in the era of open source software and creative commons materials and more. 

I would have liked to have learned more not just about the library of the future but also the librarian of the future and the skillset that this librarian would require and then I realised that throughout the symposium I was actually looking at the librarian of the future. All four speakers were erudite, visionary, energetic, confident, eloquent, humorous and inventive, not a single librarian stereotype in sight. They were scholars, publishers, leaders, managers, public speakers, collaborators, event and PR managers, project managers, and IT, design and marketing savvy.  One computer science lecturer from TCD in the audience (it was great to see non library professionals in attendance) asked Mike Keller a question after his presentation prefacing it with one word ‘wow’. 

Did the Library of the Future, Future Libraries symposium have the wow factor? Hell yea. Were we all fired up after it? Absolutely, in spades. I couldn’t wait to get back to my library desk. The Careers Development Group of the Library Association of Ireland also hosted an incredible Library Camp on Saturday of the same week. It’s been a fantastic week for the Irish library profession.

My key takeaways from the Library of the Future symposium is that the library of the future must collaborate more not only with other libraries but also with industry and alumni. In fact it is essential. Impact statistics like the ones that Ovenden displayed are also critical.  One symposium tweet correctly asserted:

All speakers at #futurelibrary mentioned the public / private model of funding which they have used. The way forward in face of gov cuts?

— Martin O'Connor (@martinoconnor3) May 19, 2016

But most importantly I came away with a sense that with the right mindset, the right skillset and the right technological tools, the library of the future will be more important and dynamic than ever. In fact it doesn’t matter whether your library is big or small, what matters for the library of the future is that we as librarians think big and that we let nothing hold us back in this regard. 

Read More

Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries - edited by Starr Hoffman (Review)

Edited books can sometimes be a challenge for a reader, but with Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries Starr Hoffman has done an admirable job in pulling together the individual chapters into a coherent and cogent collection. An interesting strategy presented by Hoffman herself in the introduction is the idea that we should “do less, but deeper” – a somewhat antithetical solution to the common “doing more with less” predicament. This concept in many ways underpins the book, which includes detailed case studies of what are for the most part significant or substantial projects - all no doubt requiring considerable planning, resourcing, time and/or effort. Hoffman’s philosophy that libraries should primarily focus on those key activities and services where they can add most value to their institutions and users, and not necessarily try to be all things to all people, is both an intuitive and pragmatic one that many will easily buy in to (however, I imagine in some cases the process of identifying the areas that may need to be cut back on can be quite a challenging task, particularly where staff may need to be redeployed, but that’s outside the scope of this book and review). Importantly, Hoffman also emphasises that every library, institution and context is different, and no one solution fits all.

Hoffman has assembled an impressive collection of authors with an international outlook and feel, which presents the reader with a variety of different contexts, environments and experiences from smaller libraries to larger institutions. The book curates a series of case studies from these various institutions divided across three core themes: training and infrastructure; data services and data literacy; and research as a conversation, offering something for everyone from planning spaces and systems in order to support our users better, to GIS, information literacy and open access. For the most part, the case studies are very well-detailed but sometimes quite specific, so the content may appeal most to those who are currently planning to undertake a reasonably similar project, or those looking for ideas for possible new services or initiatives at a more strategic level. On occasion I found that some chapters do assume a certain level of familiarity with research services and support in academic libraries, and so it may be a better fit for those with some degree of experience in the area rather than those who are just starting off. This is understandable however, given the limited canvas and word-count within which the authors have to operate, and a number of chapters do indeed provide significant background and introductory information on the topic to help orient the reader, for instance the chapter on supporting GIS in non-traditional disciplines which I found particularly interesting, thorough and practical.

I feel that Dynamic Research Support is not so much a handbook or reference tool that one might consult frequently in day to day practice, but rather it provides the reader with tangible inspiration and ideas, shaped by a clear vision of what dynamic and innovative research services can look like in practice. Hoffman’s collection showcases how we can add long-term value for our users by focusing on going “deeper” and delivering comprehensive specialist services which tap into a very real need. Whilst such projects may require significant investment (particularly in terms of staff time, which is a recurring motif), the examples in Dynamic Research Support provide evidence that the return will often far exceed the cost.

Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries is published by Facet Publishing, March 2016, £49.95, 176pp.

Read More

Practical Tips for Facilitating Research - Moira J. Bent (Review)

The title of this book emanates directly from Facet Publishing's new Practical Tips series, and in this case the content certainly backs up that claim. Throughout Practical Tips for Facilitating Research Moira J. Bent’s ‘wisdom of crowds’ approach offers insights and experiences that are very much based on real world examples and exemplars, both her own and those of colleagues working in other institutions. As a result, there is not only a real richness and breadth to the advice presented, but an underlying authenticity and credibility to it as well.

During the opening section on landscapes and models, Bent discusses how to understand who your researchers are, their needs, motivations, and workflows - an aspect that is fundamental to helping us facilitate research more effectively. Those who are relatively new to working in the academic environment may find this section particularly helpful to orient themselves in their new role and as a means of getting to grips with the perspective of a typical researcher. However, the recurring and useful “to think about” prompts also provide food for thought and reflection for even the most experienced readers. The references to theory are plentiful and well-researched, and give ‘just enough’ without dwelling on too much detail – it is, after all, a book very much focused on practice.

A similar pattern continues throughout the rest of the text, which covers a range of areas including collections and information literacy, as well as unpacking specific interventions where libraries can actively position themselves, such as RDM and systematic reviews. Suggestions are notably pragmatic, and very much cognisant of the practical realities of many resource-stretched libraries. For instance, in relation to the potential for libraries to become more involved in supplying data for research proposals, Bent suggests: "Before venturing down this route, consider whether you have sufficient resources to continue if the idea takes root. Treating the contribution as a pilot or experiment will ensure that you are able to draw back or even investigate if a percentage of the subsequent grant might devolve to the library in recognition of the work" (2016, p.131). Currency is crucial in a rapidly-changing area such as scholarly communications, and the text is very much up to date with reference to a number of recent developments such as the Leiden Manifesto.

Those who are exploring how to support research more strategically may find the chapter on organisational structures particularly useful. Again using examples from different institutions, Bent showcases some of the varied and different approaches that can all work well, depending on the specific context and objectives, for instance having a specialised research services function versus offering research support through subject or liaison librarians. I was particularly glad to see a section encouraging librarians to become researchers and writers themselves, as this is something that has personally given me a much greater understanding of the research process, and the needs and workflows of researchers.

What is very much apparent throughout the book is Bent’s awareness that a one size fits all approach does not typically work. Underpinned by a flexible rather than prescriptive format, the book prompts readers to consider the options that might work best for researchers in their own organisations, rather than suggesting that they try to transplant or replicate a successful service, model or programme verbatim from another institution. Unlike many books, the structure is deliberately designed to allow readers to dip into specific sections as needed, rather than necessarily having to read it from cover to cover – a real advantage for those time-poor librarians looking for a quick burst of inspiration or advice. Above all however, it’s a book that offers a variety of approaches, insight, and real-world examples that work – exactly what you need whether you are searching for a simple solution to quickly improve services, or ideas to help inform and shape a more fundamental or strategic change.

Practical Tips for Facilitating Research is published by Facet Publishing, March 2016, 299pp, £49.95.

Read More

Twitter Librarian Book Club: The Circle

Guest Post by David Hughes, Systems Librarian Dublin Business School

via Flicker

A few of us on Twitter have been reading The Circle, so I’d thought I’d write my own, spoiler free  review, perhaps encouraging other folk to discuss it. 

Social media is everywhere.  It’s ubiquitous.  Everything we do, we record on Twitter or Facebook or Foursquare or Google+ or any one of a number of myriad applications.  Ok, perhaps not Google+, not yet anyway, but we do share our lives online (*pauses while I tweet that I’m writing this*). Novelist Dave Eggers probably doesn’t share much on social media.  How do I know this?  By reading The Circle, that’s how.  

This is the tale of Mae Holland, a bright young 20-something who lands a job at The Circle – a vast social media conglomerate that combines attributes of Google, Twitter, Facebook & PayPal dwarfing them all (indeed, reference is made early on to The Circle swallowing up Facebook) .  Mae arrives at an auspicious time; The Circle is about to unveil “SeeChange”, a small & cheap video camera that streams to the Cloud allowing its feed to be accessed by everyone, everywhere.  “This is the ultimate transparency. No filter. See everything. Always" proclaims Eamonn Bailey, one of the “Three Wise Men” who run The Circle.  Mae quickly buys into the ethos, catalysed by a run-in with a SeeChange camera during a spontaneously undertaken night-time kayaking trip.  Following this, a company-wide shaming of Mae leads her to her to enunciate The Circle’s new slogans:

PRIVACY IS THEFT

SECRETS ARE LIES

SHARING IS CARING

Fittingly perhaps, Mae arrives at the idea of “DeMoxie” a system that automatically registers users to vote but only if they have a Circle account.  Fully participative democracy beckons.   Mae agrees to go fully transparent, that is to be always visible to an online audience.  But can she persuade her family and her ex-boyfriend to do the same? Hilarity doesn’t ensue   

Eggers has a lot to say here, so this is no sleek speedy Maserati cruising through a pleasant landscape of fine writing.  The Circle is more of an 18 wheeler truck rumbling through grotty neighbourhoods of poor character development, leaden dialogue, trite symbolism and clumsy metaphors (the aquarium, oh God the aquarium!); it’s all about the ideas, and in that regard, the 18 wheeler reaches its destination and unloads its cargo effectively.

You may think that The Circle is unrealistic but it’s merely a radical (or perhaps logical) extrapolation of technology trends.  I saw recently that Google filed a patent to run elections through its search results (so perhaps we will be forced to create Google+ accounts after all).  A little before the book’s publication, Google’s “chief Internet evangelist” posited that "privacy may actually be an anomaly"; a recent invention, facilitated (and soon to be taken away) by technology.   The use of “anomaly” is quite interesting, an anomaly being “a deviation from the common rule, type arrangement or form”.  So, says a Circle er I mean Google employee, privacy is deviancy.  That’s certainly an interesting way of framing the privacy debate. 

I suppose the main thrust of the book concerns privacy.  However, the revelations of Edward Snowden have somewhat blunted the force of Eggars’ message there.  The lack of privacy in the book comes from total transparency; total “onlineity” to coin a neologism (is there an adjective to describe being online?).  One of the first volunteers to go transparent is a politician, which eventually lead to a political paradigm shift.  To me, the consequences of The Circle’s technological advances are more interesting in a political setting and that’s what I’ll focus on.    

The Circle’s slogans are very redolent of 1984, which like the world of The Circle (and our own), is a surveillance state, but the model here is really Brave New World – a willing embrace of authoritarianism by a happy population, with The Circle’s really neat consumer products as stand-ins for Soma.  The Circle – the company, not the book, initially sounds and appears progressive, but Mae and her colleagues unconsciously (?) accept the slowly revealed authoritarianism of The Circle’s founders.  Sharing of personal and private information may be encouraged for superficially altruistic purposes, but the Circle wants it for commercial and political reasons.  And why not?  The Circle is doing well; it’s both popular and profitable.  Maybe they should run the country?  Perhaps Google CEO Eric Schimdt should be installed as CEO of America? A petition to this effect was created by Justine Tunney, a former Occupy Wall Street activist and all-round interesting character.  The writer and essayist Thomas Frank in his books The Wrecking Crew suggests there’s a school of conservative thought that not only thinks government doesn’t work, but also, when in government, sets out to prove it, and so encourages the endorsement of selling off state functions to the private sector.  Serious people have asked the question ‘is government too political?’ (registration required).   Does the decline of party politics pave the way for a technocratic, authoritarian capitalist future? Would algorithms make a better job of government than politicians? I have to stress, this is very much a subsidiary (if it’s there’s at all) theme of the book, but these questions interest me and did come to mind while reading the book (for what it’s worth, my answers to the questions would be: not political enough, probably and NO!) 

You could also compare The Circle to Fahrenheit 451 – at heart it’s a conservative rant against the evils of modernity.  I don’t necessarily mean conservative in a pejorative sense here, I mean conservative as in resistant to change.  However, I think Eggers is unduly pessimistic and does the general population a disservice when he writes about the public’s eager espousal of The Circle’s authoritarianism. There’s an old saw about nations being x (where x is a very small number) square meals away from revolution; Eggers would imply there we’re only a few selfies and LOLCATS away from surrender to technological totalitarianism.  Would people really prefer Internet access to democracy?  Actually, I don’t think I want to know the answer to that question.  With DeMoxie, Eggers also suggests that fully participative democracy may not necessarily be a good thing: the implication being that some people might just know better than others (again, is government too political?).   Hence surely, the need for just and fair access to knowledge (one of the aims of The Circle?) and therefore the need for radically-minded librarians; democracy only really works with an educated and informed citizenry. Perhaps Mr Eggers is just as authoritarian as The Circle; only he’d like to see a different elite running things rather than technological solutionists    

Something else to note is the character of Mae, the protagonist of the novel.  It’s easy to think of her as a victim or a brainwashed cultist (there’s more than a little religious symbolism going on in the novel; the first line of the book is “ ‘My God,’ Mae thought. ‘It’s heaven.’ ”).  However, there’s no spoiling the book by revealing that Mae is actually a villain, albeit one whose motives are fairly trivial – popularity within The Circle and the approval of its founders.  Talk about the banality of evil! 

The Circle could never be confused with great literature, and I don’t think it’ll ever be confused with great satire either.  But it’s an entertaining and scary read that really should get you thinking about technology, democracy and your privacy.   

Read More