All entries for April 2007

Warwick Open Day

On Saturday 28th April Warwick Uni held an open day for prospective students. I came in to be on hand to answer questions about the Library and to promote our services to the uninitiated.

I was only here for 3 hours, but it felt like I talked to a lot of people during that time - and I did get through a lot of leaflets!  

There was a lot of interest, apparently we had 900 Open Day visitors to the Library. Many of them were interested in services, some just wanted to have a wander around the building.

It was a good thing to be involved in, I got to see what some of the concerns of prospective students were - would they have help accessing e-resources? did they have to pay for an ATHENS account? what would happen if they needed something that wasn't in stock? would they be expected to buy any text books themselves?

These were all easily answered questions and people were happy with the answers. It was also clear that the jump from 6th form or school libraries to the University Library was enormous - people were stunned at the size of the building and at the range of services and equipment we have on offer - admittedly, the parents seemed more interested than some of the students - but the general impression was that people were pleasantly surprised by what we had to offer. 

It was a useful insight into what new students expectations are and the kinds of things that concern them, and their parents (who ultimately are paying for their university places) about the service.  

Katharine Widdows : 30 Apr 2007 09:29 |  Tags: Profile Promotion Widerorganisation |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I left my book on the bus!! :(

Yes, I left my book on the bus today.

Alice Walkers The Color Purple.

Let's face it - its not a great advert for my professionalism. But I did have a mild hang-over and I had been to work - for an Open day - on a Saturday! Maybe I should be blogging about that - I'll do it later.

I have emailed the bus company (losing books upsets me, even when I got them for £1.50 from a second hand shop and they have a ripped cover and someone elses name scrawled in the front)- I wonder if the email could be submitted as portfolio evidence? We were advised to include failures as well as successes!

Any suggestions as to what criteria it might meet will be warmly welcomed.

Katharine Widdows : 29 Apr 2007 00:17 |  Tags: Stupidity |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Chartership day

Yesterday I attended the Chartership seminar at Wolverhampton University Harrison Learning Centre. It was really nice to go back there (I worked there for a year before coming to Warwick) and catch up with some people I havn't seen in months. We even managed a pub trip at the end of the day!

I now have a better grasp on what the portfolio needs to contain, and how it should be structured.  I was alarmed initially at the 1000 word limit on the introductory report, but basically, that report is more like a glorified summary of contents than anything else, and the reflective practice gets documented in the portfolio evidence itself - by, for example, adding reflective writing as evidence following training courses or events.

Frances Hall was a good speaker and very enthusiastic about everything Chartership-related. She had some examples of portfolios that CILIP had considered "excellent" and it was reassuring to see that they were not enormous or particularly complicated documents. Quality, not quantity!

I think the course content was pretty much what I expected, and the exercises we did on reflecting on career history were kind of interesting, but because I am at the start of my Chartership, and because I am following the extraordinary route, I cannot really use past work as evidence - I only became eligible to charter in January and you can only include evidence from the point you became eligible. I need to be looking very much forward to find my portfolio evidence, and that made some of the exercises somewhat irrelevant to me. It did seem a bit like the facilitators were unsure about what the Extraordinary route was, and I did get a couple of odd answers to a couple of questions as a result, but with it being such a new thing and with so few people having followed it at this point it is hardly surprising that there is a degree of uncertainty.

I think anyone considering Chartership needs to be aware that it is more work than most people will admit. Several people have said things like "oh you just collect evidence for a year then write the thing up in a weekend or so, it's easy - you do most of it in work hours".

Well, I suppose some people could get away with that, but there is a lot of reflective writing expected, a lot of the evidence needs to be reflection on what has been done - a certificate is not enough proof that you attended a particular course - you need to give critique on the course and then show how it relates to your post and how it will affect your working practice.  There is much more to this than the things you can do in your normal working day. - I'm becoming more and more grateful for the blog!

Are there any other Extraordinary Route candidates out there? I'm beginning to feel all lost again.

:( 

Katharine Widdows : 25 Apr 2007 15:22 |  Tags: Career Chartership Cilip |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I'm on facebook

Follow-up to Facebook from When I grow up I want to be a Librarian!

Well, I am now registered on Facebook and have been using it to contact all kinds of people, from those I see everyday anyway - work colleagues and my flat mate for example, to people I havn't heard from in years, such as old housemates from Uni.

For the uninitiated, Facebook is basically some free web space you can sign up for to communicate with your mates (or just random people you find there) online. You can send messages, add photos and write on eachothers "walls" (which is like a really basic blog - kind of).

There are some interesting groups on there made up of Warwick students and some of them are surprisingly childish and lacking in imagination. I guess that access to all this exciting and spangly technology is no longer a thing of wonder, and is fast becoming a way to kill the time for anyone who wants to excell in work avoidance tactics.

There are a lot of groups which are really quite impressive, such as The Great Facebook Race (there are now 3 groups for this, boys, girls and British) - do look them up if you have a spare minute. Another interesting one is Random Acts of Kindness - although some of their suggestions for such random acts are a bit dubious.

Anyway - how does this relate to Chartership?

Well, it is yet another new means of e-communication that I am making myself familiar with, it also gives me an opportunity to see how the Library is viewed by students, there are groups on there which relate directly to the Library and to student opinions of it. There is also an academic librarians group - which I will probably join - and I'll see what other groups there are which may be relevant.

I am, however, also using it a social tool, and will continue to do so.

Katharine Widdows : 21 Apr 2007 10:27 |  Tags: Communication Elearning Networking Widerorganisation |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Warwick e–learning award

Writing about web page /johnwaller/entry/e-learning_does_it/

Writing about an entry you don't have permission to view

I've just seen this blog entry and I hadn't heard of the Warwick e-Learning Awardbefore, but I am now quite interested in looking into it - as if I don't have enough to do with my Chartership!

I'll add more details when I've checked it out.

Katharine Widdows : 21 Apr 2007 09:41 |  Tags: Chartership Elearning Qualifications |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Publicity Photos

After work today I stayed behind to join a group of other apprehensive individuals in posing for some publicity shots for the Library Remodelling project.

The Library is due to undergo something of a transformation this summer and LMG wanted pics of the building before it changed and also some shots to go on posters around campus.

Here's one of the pics with all of us in - that's me on the right. I think they are going to cut the rest of us off it and just have Megan, the lady in the middle, on her own for the big campus posters - she does look rather happy!

Anyway, it shows I was there!

Katharine Widdows : 19 Apr 2007 21:20 |  Tags: Libraryprofile Marketing Promotion Widerorganisation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

WMG e–learning event

Writing about web page http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/

Today was the WMG Engineering E-learning event and myself, Jen and Lindsay went over to meet academics and generally talk to people about how the Library can help.

I feel that things like this - although not presentations, are good experience for me in my quest to learn how to keep my nerves when speaking in public - so I plan to be involved in as many as possible!

I really enjoyed this event, we spoke to a lot of people, I didnt expect so much interest, and I felt that we did tell them things they didnt know before and they were helpful things. I left with a few notes of things to look up and email to people later and a few notes on comments people made about our web site and services. It was all very useful.  

It was also good to talk to the people on the stand for Questionmark Perception as we are currently looking at creating online tests for our students to complete following information skills courses. 

Other points of interest were the Pod-casting stand and the Personal Response System stand - impressive stuff.

The only thing that wasn't great was that the laptop had a touch pad and I found that quite tricky to control and we did loose the wireless connection a couple of times - I think I'll try to remember to take a mouse next time.  

But any event where you can get your hands on those fantastic mini pizzas and divine chicken skewers that Warwick Hospitality do is worth attending! 

Katharine Widdows : 19 Apr 2007 17:26 |  Tags: Elearning Marketing Networking Widerorganisation |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Wikipedia

Writing about web page /jessicaduffield/entry/a_problem_with/

Writing about an entry you don't have permission to view

Wikipediawas recently recommended by the Education Secretary, Mr. Johnson,  as “an incredible force for good in education” he also said “Wikipedia enables anybody to access information which was once the preserve only of those who could afford the subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica and could spend the time necessary to navigate its maze of indexes and content pages” (source Timesonlinearticle).

I wonder if Mr Johnson has ever tried to navigate EB? presumably he didn't try very hard.

What's really amazing is that he said this at a conference for the National Association of Schoolteachers and Union of Women Teachers(NASUWT)  -  I hope they laughed.

Also see www.iwr.co.uk/2187709

http://inthedeargreenplace.blogspot.com/2007/04/citizendium-swipe-at-non-expert-content.html

Katharine Widdows : 17 Apr 2007 14:04 |  Tags: Elearning Information Websites Wikipedia |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Facebook

Writing about web page http://www.facebook.com/

I have just been invited to join Facebook by a friend at work. I've never used it before and I'm not really sure what it's for, but hey, why not? It could be another interesting addition to my recent spate of e-learning experiences and might tie in nicely with the Chartership Blog.

I'll add details here when I have an account set up. 

Katharine Widdows : 11 Apr 2007 08:42 |  Tags: Blog Communication Facebook |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem

Presentation Skills Reading

Over the weekend I read a short book on basic presentation skills. (Presentations: your questions and answers by Josy Roberts. Trotman 1998) It was really very basic and introductory and somewhat out of date (it mentioned Powerpoint a few times as if only a few people would be able to use it and it was an exciting new innovation). But it was the only one I had, so I thought I should start somewhere!

It had some basic helpful tips about time management in preparation for giving presentations and about how to ensure you knew your material before you started, btu I think really these things were pretty much common sense. The part I was really expecting to find useful, about nervousness and projecting a confident appearance was very short and had little practical advice - it basically advised you not to be nervous and to find ways to deal with your anxiety - yes, it was THAT specific. 

I have recently joined the Public Library in Leamington, and I intend to spend some time in there reading and generally attending to Chartership things. I'll see if they have any more up-to-date titles. I know there are probably thousands at work, but I am reluctant to carry them all the way home to read them in another library just to bring them back again, and even more reluctant to hang around here reading after work! The public library is still a library, but at least its a change of scenery and only a few minutes from my house so I can escape when I've had enough.

Katharine Widdows : 02 Apr 2007 21:48 |  Tags: Presentationskills Professionalreading |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem