AUKML NEWS:
After a number of years of dedicated service, Paul Pedley has stepped down
from the AUKML committee. Declan Kelly, AUKML Treasurer, has also decided
to stand down. The nomination procedure for new candidates will follow
shortly.
This year's AUKML AGM and summer party will be at the Yorkshire Grey Pub, 46
Langham Street. Come along to discuss the future of the association, eat,
drink and be merry.
The next two evening meetings planned are to be in August/September and October;
they will be a demonstration of the Economist Intelligence Unit's digital
archive at their offices in Red Lion Square, and a social visit to the Profile
Group's offices in Holborn to hear a little about what they do and how they do
it - both should be interesting for existing customers and those unfamiliar
with their products.
Precise details are being finalised so watch out for invitations nearer the time.
This year's AUKML/CLSIG open day will be held on the 27th October. With a wide
range of speakers and a choice of library tour this event is an ideal
opportunity for students, trainees and first jobbers to gain an insight into
the information profession.
Venue: Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Time: 9.00 to 4.30
Cost: £15 including buffet lunch
For more information, or to book a spot, please contact Lauren Goodchild at
lauren.goodchild@guardian.co.uk
. . . AND THE REST
Sad news, as yet another media organisation decides to downsize its library.
James Murdoch is paring down News International's research team from 25 to five
following the advice of an American consultation agency.
GNM staff are currently enjoying a series of talks on the future of
journalism. Adrian Holovaty's talk on how technology can enhance the
way news data is presented was particularly illuminating.
AUKML weren't the only ones having a conference this June. The Washington
Times wrote an interesting review of the Special Library Association's
conference in Seattle.
Spotted: a plea in Time Out for back issues from their own
library. Anyone who can help them "strengthen [their] collection" should
email: library@timeout.com
The opinions expressed in Deadline are not necessarily those of the AUKML.
FEATURE: The Scotsman's library by Craig Nelson
This piece originally appeared in TACIT, the newsletter of the Edinburgh
libraries & information services agency.
Staffed from 8am to 8.30pm, the library consists of a Library Manager,
3 full-time, 1 part-time day and 2 part-time staff who fulfill the
evening shift on a job share basis.
I joined the library a few months before the move from North Bridge
and have seen massive changes in technology and working practices.
When I started with the company there was just one computer in the
library that provided access within the company to a searchable
database. Now all staff have desktop access to our in-house database
and all journalists have access to Nexis.com to enable them to
research other publications.
The enquiries we receive can be about everything and anything and
library staff make the best use of all available resources to answer
them. The various types of enquiries can involve fact checking,
tracing people, biographical profiles, statistics or detailed
background research. Recent enquiries include:
- What is the length of the average cat? (This was so
they could work out how much room you actually need
to swing a cat)
- Can you track down people in Edinburgh who were
married on the same day as the Queen and Prince
Philip?
- What was the name of the first baby born in Edinburgh
after the introduction of the National Health Service?
When dealing with editorial enquiries we have to find a balance
between speed and accuracy due to the deadlines our journalists work
to. We aim to complete research enquiries within 15 minutes.
As well as trusted sources on the Internet, resources used include
databases such as:
- NewsSearch (our in-house database for our titles dating
back to 1991)
- Nexis (access to thousands of publications worldwide)
- Cameo - Electoral Roll
- Companies House
n the era before electronic databases, library staff would cut
articles out of the day's papers and file them in relevant envelopes.
We still use the cuttings that have survived the various culls over
the years and these cuttings will be an invaluable resource until
our entire archive has been digitised
For researching within our own titles we have various methods at our
disposal. We have a complete collection of all our titles on
microfilm and in bound volume: The Scotsman dating from 1817,
Evening News from 1873 and Scotland on Sunday from 1988. We also hold
the now defunct titles, the Edinburgh Evening Despatch and The Weekly
Scotsman in bound volumes.
Since 1991 the content for all our titles has been archived by the
library to our in-house database and in recent years we have seen
the introduction of The Scotsman Digital Archive
which, for a fee,
allows users to search the papers from 1817 - 1950.
We do not have a complete index for our titles so for enquiries which
are non-date specific library staff have to use other sources such
as cuttings and photographs to trace the relevant article.
The library is also responsible for the archiving and maintenance of
our photographic database which currently holds over 800,000 of our
photographs. The company began the switch to digital cameras in the late 1990s and
had stopped using film by 2000. All digital photographs are held in
our database.
Sadly, many of the very early photographs have been lost but the
pre-1963 negatives that survived have all been digitised. That leaves
us with a large collection of negatives dating from between 1963 to
1999, only a selection of which have been digitised. We are currently
researching possibilities for digitising as much of this unique
collection as possible.
The media industry is constantly evolving and the library has to keep
pace. In recent years we have changed from being the sole point of
research to taking more of a facilitating role, providing advice on
research and updating the company intranet with relevant web links and
portals whilst still providing research services as required.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: The Herald Library by Catherine Watson
When, in July last year, the Association of UK Media Librarians
presented us, the Herald & Times librarians, with their inaugural
award for excellence, we were not expecting our Newsquest managers
to take much interest. Our accolade would do nothing to boost
advertising revenue or circulation so we were not bracing ourselves
for a pat on the back from our profit-obsessed employers. However,
it seemed that we had been too cynical. The general managing editor
was eager for details and wrote a gushing description of our 'triumph'
for the company intranet. There was a further surprise when we were
urged to attend the prize-giving ceremony in London. Not only travel
but hotel expenses would be provided. For two librarians.
We knew that editorial staff rarely received such lavish treatment as
Newsquest's penny-pinching regime had kicked in hard since the American
company bought SMG Publishing in 2003. Compulsory redundancies had just
been announced and journalists were gearing up for strike action. The
industry press was dutiful in reporting the plight and the Guardian,
Times and the Scotsman were all contributing to the anti-Newsquest
column inches as fears for Scotland's newspaper heritage grew. It was
clear that the company was highlighting our achievement because we had
provided some rare positive publicity.
It was still a blow when, only months later, just before Christmas, we
were told that our services were no longer required. The department,
which had six librarians on the rota when I joined in 2004, was being
reduced to just one manager, who would oversee a 'team' of one. We
were by no means naive and knew the library would be under continued
scrutiny by those in control of the company's budget. Indeed, by August
2006, three full-time librarian posts were lost to voluntary redundancy
and our manager had left the company. The library's future looked bleak.
However, the situation was turned around when a new department head was
recruited from Glasgow City Council's Mitchell Library that October.
She brought with her experience in metadata and intranet development,
areas for which the library would become responsible. But, according to
the general managing editor, 'library' was old-fashioned and not 'sexy'
enough to reflect our revamped role and we were thus re-branded as Media
Resources. Despite the unpopular name change, we were glad to take on
these demanding projects and smart enough to realise that this new remit
would safeguard our employment. We expected the metadata project to
guarantee our jobs well into 2008 when a new production system would be
fully implemented for the Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times.
Because our roles had expanded, I requested an audience with the
general managing editor. I was determined to raise the issue of our
appallingly low wages, a consequence of continued neglect by both our
employers and our union representatives. I held little hope for a
successful outcome but wanted to hear an explanation for how such a
hard-working department could be the lowest paid professional staff
in the company. Maybe I wanted to watch him squirm but I'm not sure I
succeeded. He solemnly assured me that librarians would not be
receiving an increase in salary since 'there was no money left in the
pot'. It was a predictable reaction but I was not ready for the
anti-motivational speech in which it was patronisingly explained that
'this is what big business is like' and 'that's why you should start
your own business'. Another option would be 'to explore the job market'
or 'take the VR opportunity'.
It took me a moment to work out that VR stood for voluntary redundancy.
This came as a shock as I couldn't understand how the metadata project
could possibly succeed with even less staff. We had never been so
short-handed. Although we had a part-time assistant who did most of the
archiving, we were only just managing to keep on top of the day-to-day
research and copyright inquiries as well as our new duties. As chartered
librarians with years of newspaper experience between us we were ideally
qualified to carry out the metadata project but we lacked the time,
staff or support. Our manager insisted she was pushing for more
resources but appeared to be burying her head in the sand. By October
2007 all metadata project meetings had melted away and our
regularly voiced concerns about the project stagnating were dismissed.
Work on metadata continued but it was hard to stay motivated given that
our manager seemed to have lost interest altogether and was spending
increasingly more time at her former place of work.
Suddenly, in early December, we were told the library was being
'targeted'. Typically, Newsquest's definition of 'targeted' was not
explained despite our Paxman-like grilling:
"So by targeting you mean getting rid of the library?"
"At the moment the library is just being targeted."
"So, we are going to lose our jobs?"
"The library is only being targeted at the moment."
It was revealing that we had reverted to being a library again.
Somewhere along the line we had ceased to be sexy.
When summoned on 21st December we got an answer to the reason behind
our manager's mysterious meetings at the Mitchell Library. We were
being offered an 'opportunity' to take voluntary redundancy before
Christmas. We had three days to accept and if we turned it down we
would be forced out at the end of January. The reason we were losing
our jobs was because the metadata project was being transferred to the
Mitchell Library, which we were told constituted a 'centre of expertise'
with adequate resource to complete the project on deadline. The words
'stitch-up' crossed my lips. Another justification for our redundancies
was the 'automation of the text-archiving process' meaning that the NLA
feed clipped by workers in Manila would be used to supply third parties
with our content. We argued that this was certain to fail due to
technical and copyright difficulties and were vindicated in no time as
that scheme failed dismally and was swiftly abandoned.
Our archiving assistant moved on and two of us held out until February
before leaving for new jobs with an enhanced redundancy package.
Failure to automate the archiving has meant that the newspaper database
is now woefully out-of-date with only one librarian to archive three
newspaper titles.
At the time of writing, the one remaining librarian and manager are in
the process of being transferred to The Mitchell Library under TUPE
regulations. As employees of Culture & Sport Glasgow they will provide
a research service for Herald & Times journalists, run the intranet,
clip and maintain the text archive and work on the metadata project. The
manager has promised that the Mitchell will provide an 'even better
library service backed up by a team at the largest public reference
library in Europe'. In reality, it's a cheap, cost-cutting tactic and
it's hard to imagine how a lottery-funded organisation with a commitment
to public library service could meet the standards set by an in-house
team of dedicated staff.
For those of us who took redundancy, we are relieved to be out.
Although sorry to leave media librarianship, we were tired of being
undervalued and demoralised. Perhaps the move to the Mitchell Library
will prove a viable alternative to having no library at all. The
journalists deserve it. Whether we deserved the shoddy treatment we
received is another matter.
Reviews:
AUKML conference:
Reviews by students from Manchester Metropolitan University, Rebecca
Smith and Suat Siow, who helped run this year's conference.
Being the student helpers at the 2008 conference was a great deal of
fun; it feels a little fraudulent to be credited with running the show
at all really. Having contact with real live librarians doing all kinds
of jobs that we hadn't even known existed until recently was really
enlightening and reassuring - everyone was incredibly friendly and
enthusiastic about the things they were doing.
Unfortunately for Suat the tours were out of the question owing to her
little cherubs demanding her attention at home, but I was ready to take
my place as chief head-counter on the coach. Already knowing how
wonderful the NWFA is - I did my placement there - I chose to go on
the Imperial War Museum tour. Rather shamefully it was my first visit
and what a privilege it was to be shown around by the exhibitions
manager, David Hopkins. I was especially glad that the apparently
purposefully disorienting bent of the building, tilting floors and
all, was explained to us as it was quite odd. David's passion was
unmistakable and very engaging; the behind-the-scenes viewpoint
really made the experience special. I'm sure Geoff Senior was
similarly effervescent at the Film Archive!
The talks throughout Saturday were constantly absorbing and humorous,
and Ian Watson's banter and commentary in between helped the day to
flow so well that there seemed to be none of the customary afternoon
flagging. The diversity and quality of the talks were remarkable,
it seems that they were similarly useful to us students and to you
seasoned professionals which shows how well pitched they were. It was
interesting for us to see Jenny Rowley speak in a different environment
than the lecture theatre, and to have such an array of speakers from
different backgrounds. The themes of the conference were nonetheless
very clear and well addressed by all and this was made clear by the
fact that there was a good deal of relevant discussion during breaks
and meals. Both the more formal part of the conference and the social
side were exceptionally enjoyable, and in fact it didn't feel as if
there were a real divide between the two elements.
All in all I think that we student helpers got the better part of the
bargain, being looked after by Katharine, treated to lovely meals,
staying in a swanky hotel and practising our "networking" (surely a
euphemism for drinking?) in return for a couple of early morning
starts and a few paper cuts. Having said that, Ian did well out of the
deal too as I rather embarrassingly gave the bottle of wine that
Katharine bought for Richard to him instead (sorry, too much
networking). Thanks for the experience; perhaps we'll see you again
in a different capacity some day.
Rebecca Smith
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We want to thank AUKML for our attendance at the conference which was
very much appreciated. It was a well organised event. The choice of
venue was excellent and so were the activities, though at times it was
quite hectic.
We thoroughly enjoyed the guest speakers, the topics chosen by most
were appropriate to the event. It was informative with up to date
information on the emergence of new techniques which have helped in
expanding our skills and knowledge. This was especially the case
in Torsten de Riese's talk about 'Digitising the Guardian Archive'
and Karen Blakeman's talk on 'Search Tools'.
The idea of the 'Silent Auction' was very well thought out and
charitable, as all money raised went to Wateraid.
The conference attendance was small, but it gave everyone a chance
to talk to each other. The very relaxed atmosphere made for an
enjoyable weekend.
Suat Siow
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the 15th April AUKML members and guests celebrated the launch of "A
Handbook for Media Librarians". Much fun and sandwiches were had by
all. Below you can read review of the handbook by Peter Chapman, AUKML
Associate member and former Librarian at The Northern Echo and The
Scotsman. It's followed by an edited version of Katharine's book launch
speech.
A Handbook for Media Librarians ed. Katharine Schopflin
Facet Publishing 2008 978-1-85604-630-5 £44.95 (discount for CILIP
members)
A declaration of interest: first, I am mentioned in the book as a
founder member of AUKML, and secondly I attended the launch party and
partook of Facet's hospitality... Fortunately, neither potential
conflict of interest has influenced my endorsement of this book as the
latest 'must-have' for any self-respecting media librarian's bookshelf.
Anyone who knows Katharine will be aware of her fervent espousal of
the worth of librarians within the world of media and so it is no
surprise that this theme permeates the book. Although the realities
facing the profession in the industry are acknowledged - closing
libraries, falling budgets, pruned staff - time and again Katharine
and her team of expert 'insider' contributors show how the information
professional can demonstrate value to those who write or broadcast news.
The book starts with a comprehensive overview of the history and
current status of media librarianship, and the opportunities that are
available to pursue a career within it. The following chapters examine
current areas of concern: managing intranets, picture librarianship
within the media, cataloguing television programmes, managing online
subscriptions, and legal issues facing news databases. The book closes
with two fascinating personal accounts: Colin Hunt of the Liverpool
Daily Post and Echo on surviving as a UK regional newspaper librarian,
and Carol Bradley Bursack on making an impact in a city newspaper in
America.
All the chapters are backed by references and, where appropriate,
illustrated with screen-shots, and there is a useful index (but not
alas a comprehensive bibliography).
Of course, one can always see holes in the coverage of such a
'handbook'. As an ex-newspaper librarian, I was disappointed not to
see the support of the British Library Newspaper Library and the
regional NEWSPLAN projects acknowledged in the preservation of
publishers' archive volumes - especially now that digital archiving of
historical newspapers is gathering pace. Likewise, I am sure that
former BBC librarians will bemoan the lack of information on sound
archiving.
However, it is easy to quibble with an editor's choice of subjects.
Instead, let me end as I started... At a time of great pressure on
journalists to cut corners in the recording of 'the first draft of
history' - so wonderfully exposed by Nick Davies in Flat Earth News
- it is timely to publish a book highlighting the work of those who do
care about that 'first draft' (and subsequent drafts...). Perhaps the
AUKML should send Nick a copy!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Good News/ Bad News - A talk given at the launch of 'A Handbook for
Media Librarians' by Katharine Schopflin
This talk starts with the bad news. We know that times are hard for
those of us doing information work for media organisations. Information
units continue to shut down, indeed, the recipient of AUKML's inaugural
2007 award has since closed, despite innovative work which proved their
value and seemed to guarantee their future. We know that companies save
money by having media librarians, however, it is incredibly hard to
convince managers that employing information specialists to do work
that journalists are supposedly already doing is a good use of headcount.
The main threats to our profession are familiar, but I will list them
here:
Firstly, disintermediation - whereby the librarians stopped being the
gatekeepers to the sources of information and research - meant many
managers had an excuse to close posts.
A second reason is industry collywobbles. Before I worked in the
commercial sector, I used to point to falling profits in media as a
reason why companies were less happy to invest in their information
units. It is only now that I have come to realise that most media
companies make vast profits, they just choose to spend the money
in different ways.
The third reason for this bad news is us, media librarians ourselves.
I believe we are our own worst enemies in three particular areas.
Firstly, we are too modest about our achievements. Secondly, we are too
chummy with our users. We should not be naive. Even if our users love
us, they couldn't save us if things became tight and, frankly wouldn't
if they could. Thirdly, we are too defeatist. There has been frequent
and furtive mutterings that it is time to 'throw in the towel', that
media librarianship is dead. But it's simply not true. One member
rang me up recently, opening his conversation by saying 'I'm not
really doing media librarianship anymore', but then proceeded to ask
me advice about digitising their newspaper archive. I passed on the
names of three AUKML colleagues who had been involved in similar
projects, demonstrating the continued value of a professional
network which he had just claimed to no longer be a part of. I suspect
that much of this defeatism derives from years of reorganisation,
restructure, downsizing and relocation. There has been written testimony
that carrying out media library work in an atmosphere of no respect
and straitened budgets is not much fun. I can't blame anyone for taking
a substantial sum of redundancy money in exchange for not having to turn
up to work and be miserable anymore. But every time they do, another job
marked out as information specialist disappears.
So, I promised some good news, and here it is. First of all we know
that, a few technological efficiencies aside, jobs are not lost in
media libraries because information and archiving work is no longer
needed. It is, more than ever! Most media companies are producing more
content on more different platforms than ever before. How do they fill
those platforms? How do they find that content again? They risk being
sued if journalists fail to check facts properly or misuse subscription
sources or copyright material. They risk losing their media assets
forever every time somebody saves a file under a meaningless name in a
personal drive or because the only archival copy is held in a third
party aggregator's database and they've just gone bust. There is no
doubt that our work is necessary.
If I had had defeatist feelings before I embarked on 'A Handbook for
Media Librarians', I was shamed out of them by the time I had
completed reading my contributors' chapters. The sophistication of the
modern media librarian's skills, the knowledge they bring, the
responsibilities they carry are all extraordinary and in full evidence
in the book. We are hugely technologically aware and, as we always
have been, a generation ahead of most journalists. We use sophisticated
searching techniques and know obscure corners of the web about which our
end-users can only dream. Certainly, we have a hard time getting people
to listen to us. If we see the downside of a situation and
point out, for example, that nobody puts information on the
web for free without a reason, we aren't congratulated for our canny
analytical skills, but are condemned for being luddite nay-sayers.
But we should enter every argument in the knowledge that information
professionals are working at the highest level all over the media
while short-memoried journalists keep making mistakes.
So, now we've heard the news, what do we do?
First, stop moaning to each other and start shouting at our funders
and managers. We can be the annoying splinter in the
finger of our finance manager or CEO. We should stop being nice to
their faces while complaining behind their backs.
Secondly, we should use and value our professional networks. We know
a huge amount which is of value to each other which can make us
stronger collectively.
Thirdly, don't be complacent. Be prepared for change and be one
step ahead of what's happening in both the media and information
industries. This applies to your organisation as well - keep up to
date with corporate changes and nurture every new manager, even if it's
a pain when they leave after six months and you have to start again.
Finally, we shouldn't shy away from bad news, we should face up to it
so we can learn from it and be ready for the future. Editing 'A
Handbook for Media Librarians' taught me that our profession is thriving
and achieving great things. We can take bad news, and we can survive as
a profession.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
AUKML visit to Chatham House, 15th May 2007
By Lauren Goodchild, Assistant Librarian, The Guardian
The latest AUKML event was a visit to the library at Chatham House.
The evening was kindly hosted by Mary Bone, Senior Librarian at Chatham
House. Members arrived at the library and were treated to refreshments
and given the opportunity to see the library and to look over photographs
from earlier days in the library, in the days when vast amounts of
cuttings were taken from international newspapers every day.
Once everyone had arrived, Keith Burnet, Director of Communications,
gave a talk. He explained his job as intermediary between Chatham House
and the media. Chatham House organises meetings and press conferences
where prominent international figures speak and can be questioned by the
press. Just that day, Chatham House had played host to Victor Yushchenko.
Keith is also responsible for putting journalists in touch with the
relevant experts on topics of international affairs. He also explained
the use (and abuse) of the Chatham House Rule.
Following Keith's very interesting and entertaining talk, Mary gave us
a tour of the building. The library is situated on the first floor, and
from there we went downstairs to view various reception rooms and saw
the room where larger press conferences are held. We then returned to
the library to explore that further. It was a really interesting and
enjoyable evening, and a great opportunity to learn more about a
slightly different organisation.
Please send news, reviews and letters to: deadline.<
