Putting Laura’s Dark Archive to bed

When I started this blog, I was the Librarian at St Hugh’s College (University of Oxford). Since then, I’ve worked at the University of Sunderland as the Law Librarian, and E-Resources Librarian; at ORCID in Education and Outreach, and I am soon to begin a new job at Crossref. It’s time to wrap up this “record of a librarian’s reflections” now that I am moving from libraries and into the world of digital research infrastructure.  Here are some of this blog’s Greatest Hits by theme:

Open Access

• Open Access – time for a review of the whole model of academic journal publishing?
• Academia will eat itself*: the awkward love triangle of scholarly publishing
• The Legal Academic’s Handbook – now available – includes link to pre-print of my chapter on Open Access

E-Resources

• Much ado about licences and subscriptions
• Journals and matryoshka (Russian) dolls
• Journals and platforms – a stable relationship? Neigh!

Recruitment

• How to write a job description
• Writing a job advertisement that will attract the candidates you want
• How to shortlist
• Designing good interview questions
• Designing interview tests
• Giving and receiving references
• What is an exit interview, and what is it for? And the cycle begins anew…

Oxford

• Visit from another college librarian (what it means to be a collegiate university)
• Learning to “speak Oxford”
• What does MA (Oxon) mean? (this site’s most popular post of all time, gets a lot of traffic from search engines)
• Scenario planning: the futures of Oxford’s libraries

And my personal favourite, Reminiscing about “23 Things”.  23 Things Oxford started as an after-work project done for fun and became a gateway to so many conversations, relationships, presentations, and skills. From small acorns…

My next job will be at Crossref, the sponsors of 23 Things Oxford back in 2010, which is a beautifully symmetrical way to close this chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Two paths in a wood: caring too much or caring too little?

I started using Twitter in 2009.  In the years since then, I have built relationships with lots of people on that platform, many of them librarians. Back in the day, many of us were “new professionals” (within the first 5 years or so of our careers after library school).

Perhaps it’s partly a cohort effect, that many of us are reaching early middle age (sorry), or at least the achieving some of the main milestones of adulthood at around the same time, but there’s a growing feeling that spending too much time checking in on the state of the world is all getting a bit much.

Just this evening, a friend has written of how Twitter has been her main adult company during her maternity leave this year, but the variety & depth of the world’s problems echoing in her head has caused her great anxiety and suffering. She says “I’m not going to forget, or give up.”  But cutting down on the frequency of checking in, and more time spent doing other things, will hopefully help to restore some perspective (alongside action where chosen). Note: this post has been published with her consent.

As we reach this time of our lives, in these times, it seems that our convictions, vocations, and politics are being sharply challenged. Maybe part of it is realising that we (probably) can’t save the world through libraries and education, and then deciding which battles to keep fighting.

Think global, act local.

I think the important thing is choosing to do something positive, no matter how small, rather than deciding it’s all too difficult and giving up altogether.

It is difficult to do good without unintended negative consequences. I took part in a discussion last weekend about the annual Christmas shoebox appeal, which I feel uncomfortable about because its religious evangelical dimension is often not made known. But as my friend pointed out, it’s an act of giving that many people can do, and do so generously. The recent safety pin débâcle, which started out as a call to wear a safety pin to show solidarity with persons experiencing a range of exclusions was swiftly appropriated by some who wished harm to these people, or denounced by others as being a shallow, meaningless gesture.

It’s hard to know where to begin. But please don’t stop thinking about it, and do what you can.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

Jargon vs vocabulary

Librarians are often advised not use technical library words (e.g. catalogue) when talking to students¹.  However, I think it is important to introduce new vocabulary (with definition or explanation) to someone who is learning to navigate the information environment, just as we would do when teaching them about their subject in a study context.  Giving the student some understanding of how they can interact most effectively with the computer interface or card index will empower them to become an expert user of the library’s search and retrieval tools.

Perhaps the difference between jargon and vocabulary is the ease with which one can discover the definition of a word.  To facilitate this, introduce new terms in context, with explanation.  If the word appears on a webpage rather than during a teaching session, link to a definition.  Here’s a comprehensive list of library jargon from Oxford Brookes uni library (and there are many others) – though I would argue that by defining the terms, they are no longer jargon but vocabulary.

I recently read Randall Munroe’s book Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.  This book covers “all kinds of neat stuff” (mostly scientific topics) and the titles, labels, and descriptions on each diagram are all written using only the thousand most common English words.  Some reviewers who gave the book a poor rating seem to have confused “simple words” with “simple concepts”, and I would not consider this an entry-level book.  I found it much easier to understand the diagrams with whose topic I was already familiar.  The “simple words” concept also shows how important specialist language is – without it, “water” can mean virtually any liquid, and does not differentiate between H₂O, blood, and cytoplasm.

Extract from “Thing Explainer” by Randall Munroe

Once a teacher, always a teacher… and I found myself pondering how such diagrams could be useful in a lesson to reinforce learning of specialist terms and the importance of being able to distinguish between them.

I wished that Randall could have included a key – a way to find out which terms/keywords I would need to know in order to find out more about a topic.  And that brings me back to students and academic libraries – if students know the names of and some of the basic differences between our search tools (e.g. catalogue, discovery, repository), they will be better able to choose the most appropriate one for the task they need to do.

¹ Meredith Schwartz ‘Users Don’t Know What Libraries Are Talking About, Studies Find’ (Library Journal, 15 March 2012) <http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/03/academic-libraries/users-dont-know-what-libraries-are-talking-about-studies-find/>

#ISEWLib2014 at the University of Helsinki Library

University of Helsinki welcomes administrative staff from Erasmus partner universities to network, benchmark and share their expertise with colleagues around Europe. International Staff Exchange Weeks [ISEW] provide a unique opportunity to update your professional skills and revise your routines.

Photo credit Veera Ristikartano

I applied to the ISEW Library programme and was among 15 people chosen to visit the University of Helsinki from 2-6 June 2014.  I had been looking forward to it for months, and it truly was an amazing week.

#ISEWLib2014 participants (and 3 of our Finnish hosts); photo credit Veera Ristikartano

The 2014 participants were: Lorena (Spain), Renata (Poland), Ursula (Eire), Katarina (Sweden), Maria (Greece), Mantas (Lithuania), Monica (Norway),  Sandrine (France), Katrin (Germany), Massimo (Italy), Jordi (Spain), Tine (Belgium), Sigridur (Iceland), me (England), Fiona (Scotland).

Here is a roundup of my highlights from this week:

• Libraries at the University of Helsinki
• Minerva Plaza learning environment
• Collection management and e-resources
• Information literacy
• Public libraries in Helsinki
• Social media
• Staff spaces
• Finnish Parliament Library
• Digital Library Services in Finland
• Research data management

And some fun things:

I looooved that my name has been spelled “Wilkinsson” on the #ISEWLib2014 programme – feeling more Nordic by the minute.

Kalevala for children; in Savon; in Swedish; in Finnish

After the sauna on Wednesday evening…

At the library staff party, where we were all give leis to wear, and there were games and exuberant dancing

Antti, Veera, me – photo credit Veera

Finnish has a reputation for being difficult to learn but perhaps it’s not so hard after all…

A huge THANK YOU to the library staff from the University of Helsinki who put together an excellent programme and made us feel so welcome it was hard indeed to go home at the end of the week.

#ISEWLib2014 Libraries at the University of Helsinki

Main post: #ISEWLib2014 at the University of Helsinki Library

Colour-coded learning spaces

At start of last academic year, all new students at the medical campus were given a tablet computer each. But we still can’t assume that all students at have their own IT equipment.

Staff badges – staff choose for themselves which language flags to display

Post-graduates and “lost-graduates” – people who have finished their course but not sure what to do next! These are found in or near libraries all over the world, and now I know a name for them 🙂

Donate a textbook – but with money, not out-of-date editions!

Idea from Columbia Uni, NY: employ ‘newly-minted’ PhD graduates on library teams to provide recent user experience (UX) input

Little kitchen for students. Can heat own food (or baby food) in microwave

Mobile storage units which students can rent for a few euros. Side is open – secure once locked away

Service design project @HULib objectives and scope. Goal was not just to have a beautiful and functional new building, but also to offer world-class services.

It was important for @HULib to be seen as one university library service, and harmonise service and branding across campuses.

Four different user types emerged from customer profiling: lingerer, visitor, investigator, patron.  These users types describe behaviour rather than individuals.

Achieved change in service culture: strategy and service promise; user-centred & participatory design processes/methods/tools.  Across the group, we recognised that it is difficult to strike a balance between catering for younger students, and keeping older patrons and academics happy.

Having lots of different types of seats caters for different user needs, and makes them easier to replace.

“If there are no books at all, students don’t think about it as a library space”

Love these little glasses of flowers to bring some of the Finnish summer indoors! Photo credit Veera Ristikartano

From Antti Virrankoski‘s presentation on the learning centre project at Kumpula Campus. Library space usage, according to exit poll (2011):

Library space usage, according to exit poll

Requirements for the new learning spaces: individual , group and teachings spaces; comfort, accessibility:

‘Count the traffic’ customer behaviour profiling method by Tord Høivik.  After the redevelopment at Kumpula, there will be more seats, more computers, more flexible working spaces; and better accessibility, comfort, and infrastructure.

See also: Learning spaces at the University of Warwick Library

#ISEWLib2014 Minerva Plaza learning environment

Main post: #ISEWLib2014 at the University of Helsinki Library

Mikko Halonen introduced us to the Minerva Plaza building, which is like a tech petting zoo!

The big presentation room is called the Owl’s Nest, and it’s surrounded by smaller rooms with their own technology equipment.

Time-lapse video showing how flexible the Owl’s Nest learning space can be!

Some academics don’t like the glass walls of the Owl’s Nest – everyone can see what you’re doing; and some are tech refusers.

No point having devices if you have no idea how to use them to teach – showing academics how is key part of Minerva Plaza.

Kirsti Lonka has written about Minerva Plaza and its use – see this presentation from slide 19  and my own notes from her talk on engaging learning environments at the IFLA satellite conference on information literacy.

We tried out Flinga (live shared desktop) by NordTouch:

Flinga

Flinga has been valuable in encouraging discussion and engagement in conferences, as well as with students.  It lets people type rather than talk.  Non-native speakers of English in our group said they felt more comfortable with this.  Conclusion: Flinga is a great tool to use in presentations or during courses. It combines discussing, learning and interaction!

BALTIC Library & Archive

Yesterday I went on a visit to the Library & Archive at BALTIC, organised by CILIP Career Development Group (North-East).

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art opened in Gateshead on 13th July 2002, and the Library & Archive a year later.  The Archive holds materials relating to the history of the gallery and its exhibitions.  The Library is a reference-only collection of materials relating to contemporary art and design.

Gary Malkin, Programme Archivist & Librarian at BALTIC, told us about the history of the Library & Archive and about its current operations.

The opening hours of the Library & Archive are the same as the gallery opening hours, and entry is free, and open to all.

The classification system was developed in-house.  Gary explained that although a classification scheme such as Dewey (DDC) works well in a generalist library, it is less well suited to a specialist collection.  For example, all of art and design would be in the 700s in DDC.  The in-house system consists instead of the numbers 1-50.  Section 18 is artists, ordered by family name.  DDC separates artists by medium, and this distinction is not useful in contemporary art where many artists work in a range of media.

Users can search the database of holdings from the Library & Archive homepage.  Example of a search for “Hirst”:

Gary told us about some of the projects currently in progress to bring in students from schools, colleges, and universities to get them to use the library collection and produce an artwork.

In the future, there are plans to modernise the database of holdings, redesign the area just outside the library to create different educational zones, and improve the environmental conditions in the archive (a perennial problem in many libraries and archives!).

Note for font geeks: BALTIC’s official font is called BALTIC Affisch, and the font they use for non-headline writing is Akzidenz.

Gary showed me a box from the Archive which contains various communications from the time when the BALTIC Affisch font was being designed.   Here’s my favourite (see photo).  The typed text reads: “Could be more modern, more unique.  Good and different from page to page.  Delivers the BALTIC-feeling in a good way.”  And the handwritten response: “What do they mean by ‘more modern’?”

I love that even people at a contemporary art gallery could be mystified by too much modernity…

Many thanks to Gary for the tour (and looking forward to the gin* party** he has promised*** us).

*Gin may not be involved.  **”Party” was not specifically mentioned.  ***He didn’t actually promise anything but a gin party would be fun.

Scenario planning: the futures of Oxford’s libraries

Earlier this year, I took part in a scenario planning exercise which brought together a group of librarians from a number of Oxford libraries to consider the challenges that the future would bring and how we could best prepare for them.

Brainstorming factors affecting libraries in the future

We began by considering factors that could have an impact on our libraries in the future, and we came up with nearly 150 ideas.  Of this list, these were rated as being the most important and the most uncertain:

“The right – the most robust – responses to these issues will have to take into account a wide variety of uncertainties – dynamics over which Oxford’s libraries have no control.”

Lawrence Wilkinson (facilitator)

These were further distilled to elicit that the two uncertainties that were the most important and the most uncertain – the dimensions in which the alternative futures are most different; and these were:

• academia and the demand it serves – whose extremes are traditional and integrated vs reorganised, emergent communities
• technology and content – whose extremes are closed, restricted and commercialised vs open and free

These two fundamental uncertainties are juxtaposed to create four divergent futures (or scenarios) for Oxford’s libraries.

Four alternative futures

• “The Long and Winding Road” – a world with generally free and open access to information, and a familiar, traditional model of academic life.
• “Magical Mystery Tour” – a world with generally free and open access to information, and academic life taking place in new kinds of communities
• “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” – a world with generally closed and commercialised access to information, and academic life taking place in new kinds of communities
• “A Hard Day’s Night” – a world with generally closed and commercialised access to information, and a familiar, traditional model of academic life

Examples of early players in each scenario

• “The Long and Winding Road” – arXiv.org, MIT
• “Magical Mystery Tour” – Google, Khan Academy
• “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” – Kaplan, The Learning Academy
• “A Hard Day’s Night” – Apple, CourseSmart

We then explored each possible future in more detail, and exploring what we would do if we knew this future were the most likely.

From theoretical actions to strategic steps

As the real future is likely to be a combination of the four scenarios, with a balance between them that changes over time, we considered the overall implications for our future.  We divided our (very long) lists of actions into strategic steps that would (a) work in all scenarios; and (b) be helpful in one future and neutral in another, and (c) be helpful in one future but harmful in another.  These actions covered every aspect of the libraries, including collection/service strategy, funding models, and physical plant (buildings).

The last stage of the process involved only colleagues from the Bodleian Libraries, who met one more time to consider how all of these ideas could contribute to the Bodleian Libraries’ new strategic plan, and translate them into action points for specific teams or departments.

My two cents’

As a college librarian, I was not involved in this last stage, but I was still thinking about how the libraries individually could respond to the challenges and opportunities that had been identified during the course of this work.  The main theme I kept returning to was the idea of a collaborative library strategy.  This is more difficult than it might first seem, because there are about 100 different academic libraries at the University of Oxford (the Bodleian Libraries group, college libraries, departmental/faculty libraries), and these groups are fully independent of each other (as are most of the individual libraries within each group).  Here they are on a map.

As a biologist, I like to think of the libraries as forming an ecosystem with a variety of niches and habitats.  However, without an over-arching plan, we may be competing for the same “market” (e.g. level of study; subject; resource type) and risk overlapping in some areas and missing others.  I’m wondering if it would be possible to define the niche of each library to help its staff and users to know what to expect from it, and to ensure that as a university, we’re providing as broad a range of resources and services as possible.

This could help avoid conflicting priorities about types of study space, by making different spaces available in different places, but accessible to all users.  Some libraries would focus on having lending collections to support taught courses, and others would specialise in research or special collections (thus focusing budgets in particular areas).  This already exists to some extent, but it’s not centrally agreed or managed.

I’ve done this at St Hugh’s College Library by introducing a collection management policy that states that we will:

Purchase/accept/retain primarily what can be identified as:

1. Useful to an undergraduate/reference library, within the range of subjects taught;
2. Interesting in terms of College History, Women’s Education and other research areas specifically connected with St Hugh’s;
3. Contributing significantly to areas where the Library already has major strengths;
4. Exceptionally rare or valuable.

and that

Duplication should be avoided, unless deemed desirable for study purposes.

This helps to inform my decisions about how to use the budget.  For example, most students’ book suggestions submitted via our online form are for books on reading lists, which matches this policy exactly = green light for purchasing.  However, if a DPhil candidate wants an unusual item for their research, I would direct them to their faculty/departmental library.  As well as focusing my book budget to support taught courses, it also avoids accumulating research materials in a college library which is a private library, rather than at a faculty/departmental library which usually has more generous access arrangements for non-college (not just non-University) members.

Because all of these libraries are independent, there can be no mandate from anyone to any of these libraries to force them to adopt such a strategy, but it may be that some of them opt to do it voluntarily.  Perhaps many of these libraries already have similar policies, but perhaps they are not formalised or publicly available.

What are the treasures in your library?

At lunch today I met an academic who was visiting from Cambridge.  As we got chatting, he asked me “what are the treasures in your library?” and I answered: the staff – and the collections.

I think there is an assumption made of college libraries at Oxford and Cambridge that we will have substantial special collections or hoards of rare books.  However, as St Hugh’s is a relatively new college (founded in 1886) and it used to be a women’s college (and therefore doesn’t have a large number of higher-earning male alumni), it doesn’t have the same sources of income and bequests as the older, previously all-male colleges.

Rather than seeing this as a disadvantage, I believe that it allows St Hugh’s College Library to more precisely focus its mission and resources.  My collection management policy states that we collect to support undergraduate and graduate taught courses.  We have graduate research students at the college, but they and our academic staff are encouraged to use the faculty libraries of the University to support their research needs.

Having this clear aim allows me to manage the collection effectively, use the budget wisely, and for my team to feel confident in the niche occupied by their workplace the complex library ecosystem at the University of Oxford.  It’s important that we provide a good circulation service and a friendly enquiry point for all our users.

Good things to have in mind at this time of year as we prepare for the beginning of Michaelmas Term in October.  I always get excited about “back-to-school” time…

Engaging learning environments for the future

Elizabeth Stone memorial lecture

by Kirsti Lonka, Professor of Behavioural Sciences at the University of Helsinki

Kirsti told us about the Designing society through thinking project, which is part of World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 – I love this idea, and it seems typically Suomi!

Integrated competence as the goal of higher education (HE) – an idea that came from medical education – problem-based learning.  Knowledge is important, but students need to learn how to be self-regulating, to think, communicate, have emotional intelligence, be able to handle stress (theirs and other people’s), think ethically, see technology as a natural part of life.

She introduced us to the sociocultural idea of human mind:

• Learning always takes place in a context
• The context relies on culturally and historically developed structures
• Human mind or brain does not simply ‘grow up’ biologically, but it is sensitive to being nurtured in a human-life environment

The “bulimic learning model” involves taking in knowledge, storing it and regurgitating it for assessment.  This type of instruction aims to fill a container (the human mind takes in knowledge, spreads it on the exam paper, then forgets it).  The goals are defined in quantitative terms e.g. a student scored 60% in a test.  This means they know 60% (of what?).  How do such practices shape our minds?

Modern ideas of learning involve the learner as central in the creation of meaning, not the teacher as transmitter of knowledge (Biggs 1996).  Learning as an active, constructive process rather than a passive, reproductive process.  How do these ideas really apply in HE practices?

What is epistemic agency? (Scardamalia 2002)  Epistemic agency indicates that the students themselves deal with the problems of goals, evaluations, and long-range planning that are normally left to teachers and managers.  Instead of studying for isolated courses and credit units, students engage in personally meaningful study projects.  Epistemic agency and self-regulated learning are valuable aspects of HE.

Our working days don’t roll as out planned, even with meticulous preparation.  We have to teach students how to cope with this kind of fast-paced working life, and how to manage interruptions etc.

Technology is a part of our social and knowledge practices.  95% of young Finns use technology for leisure, but only a very small proportion for education, so they learn that it is a distraction, not a potential work tool.  Blended learning environments combine physical, virtual, social, mobile and mental spaces of learning.

What is interest?  Interest is a psychological state including an affective component of positive emotion and a cognitive component of concentration.  Students who experienced more interest also showed more persistence, and performed better in a recall test.  Caring/interest correlates with results.

Four-phase model of interest (Hidi & Renniger 2006)

Situational interest (CATCH)
A) triggered
B) maintained

Individual interest (HOLD)
A) emerging
B) well-developed

Agency and ownership are so important.

What makes lessons interesting? (Tsai et al 2008)

• If the teachers control too much, students’ emotions are less positive
• Cognitive autonomy support gives students an enhanced sense of control
• Cognitive autonomy is supported during lessons where students’ prior knowledge and understanding are activated and aims are transparent

Such lessons are associated with more enjoyment and interest!

Four-channel model of flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1988)

Challenge and feeling of competence is a recipe for success!

What do Kirsti’s studies show so far?

• even mass education can be engaging and promote flow
• academic emotions, especially interest, predict cognitive academic outcomes
• on the basis of our measurements, can group students into c,uses that react differently in instructions settings:  “cook-book learners”, “theorists”, “reflective professionals”
• during an engaging lecture, optimism, reflective thinking and student engagement may increase

Creating new knowledge practices

Collectively cultivated knowledge practices have their impact on the nature of learning.  Knowledge practices are social practices related to working with knowledge and they include personal, collaborative and institutional routines.

The knowledge practices of digital natives (those born since 1990) are different. Typically, they multi-task, read from screens, are fond of computer games, make extensive use of social media, use online chat; and outsource many cognitive functions to different technological tools.  Collaborative knowledge construction means connecting people and ideas!

Reflect on what has been constructed collaboratively.  Puzzles and problems are great for deep learning.

New practices call for new tools – Kirsti has been involved in designing new office environments for academics which have multi-level desks, electricity points, space to hide cables, separate space for drinks.  Also, the practices of informatics have drastically changed.  Libraries may support a range of student activities in a flexible learning environment.  The library’s physical space can provide a unique learning experience to the students as well as allowing a new level of social interaction.