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Deadline |
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October 2003
Editorial After two years of dedicated service to AUKML, Ian Watson's stint as chair came to an end in July. I'm sure that all members would like to join me in thanking Ian for the huge amount of time and effort that he has put into the association over the past couple of years. During this period Ian has made it to almost every committee meeting, despite commuting from Glasgow to London. He has also injected verve into the annual conference, brought his informed knowledge to discussions and generally spread the media librarian word to all who would listen. I would also like to add that he has been a regular contributor to Deadline. Of course Ian remains an AUKML member and he will no doubt continue to bring his wit and information nous to all aspects of the association's activities. As a final task he has filed his outgoing report for Deadline and now hands over the reins to the "energetic and capable" Jill Tulip. Also in this edition of Deadline, author Giles Foden fills in the questionnaire, Paul Fairclough writes about a week in the life of the Time Out library and Myrrhine Crowe outlines partnership opportunites for AUKML and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). On top if this, Alan Power does his news round up, Linda MacDonald reports from the recent meeting about how to avoid downsizing and closure and back by popular demand is Deadline gold; a look at what Deadline was saying in years gone by.
Deadline is produced by Richard Nelsson, Alan Power, Katy Heslop and Linda MacDonald from the Guardian Research Department. Please send news, reviews and letters to: richard.nelsson@guardian.co.uk or deadline@aukml.org.uk The opinions expressed in Deadline are not necessarily those of the AUKML.
CHAIRMAN CIAO Pass the word around, at £25 membership of AUKML is the best bargain in the information business. After two years in the chair I am more convinced than ever of the value of AUKML. As corporate libraries and information units shrink, close or re-invent themselves to adapt to changing circumstances, it is more important than ever to take part in a network in which to exchange news and views on trends and practices. The nature of the information business in general has been changing in recent years, and within the media in particular there has been rapid change. In these circumstances it is normal, inevitable even, to become absorbed in day-to-day survival, but it is also important that the professional keeps an eye on the wider world and what is happening beyond immediate daily concerns. With staff shortages and tight budgets it can be difficult to get out and about, which is why AUKML is important. We have within our membership some very successful and dynamic people more than happy to share knowledge and experience. Copyright and data protection, for example, are becoming more important in the daily lives of people working in the media. Organisations like AUKML play an important role in helping members keep abreast of developments. Under Richard Nelsson and his team at the Guardian, Deadline continues to offer a stimulating read. Richard, it should be said, has managed this in a year in which he was promoted to Manager of the Guardian Library, and became a father again. We owe Margaret Katny a debt for managing the website, a very time consuming exercise. Katharine Schopflin has been an extremely effective and hard working Meetings Secretary, especially in forging links with other organisations to set up a sustained programme of affordable events. The committee has given a lot of thought to the conference. It is apparent that it is difficult to secure finance for residential courses and the conference therefore returns to London with the theme 'Conquering the past; Embracing our future'. It is hoped to attract London-based members for at least part of the weekend as well as people on the fringes of media work with a view to boosting membership. Sadly this conference will be missing a well-known and respected face. The tragic death of Justin Arundale last year shocked us all. Justin was a fixture at AUKML annual conferences dispensing erudition and withering wit. We are delighted that Charles Oppenheim will deliver the first Justin Arundale Lecture at this year's conference. I should add that Justin's parents have taken great comfort from knowing that Justin will be remembered in this way. I am sure the conference will be a great success and that AUKML will continue as one of the most open and vibrant professional associations around. Please support your new committee, chaired by the energetic and capable Jill Tulip who has made a huge contribution over the years, notably as conference organiser.
Getting back-catalogue to Nature The digital middle-ages Fusty Libraries Role models wanted Oxford Brookes wins Booker prize...archive Big Brother is watching - and listening
MY INTERNET: GILES FODEN Giles Foden is a writer and journalist. His latest novel, Zanzibar (Faber and Faber, £7.99), is set in East Africa and explores the events surrounding the bombings of American embassies in 1998. His first novel, the acclaimed The Last King of Scotland (1998), won the Whitbread First Novel Award, a Somerset Maugham Award, a Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Prize. Giles is deputy literary editor of the Guardian as well as books review editor for Conde Nast Traveller magazine. WHEN DID YOU FIRST GO ON THE WEB AND WHAT DID YOU FIND? HOW OFTEN DO YOU GO ONLINE? WHAT HAS THE WEB IMPROVED MORE: THE QUALITY OF YOUR WORK OR THE QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE? HAS THE INTERNET HAD ANY DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS ON YOUR WORK (SPECIFICALLY), OR YOUR LIFE (IN GENERAL)? DO YOU SEARCH THE INTERNET YOURSELF OR DO YOU PREFER TO DELEGATE SEARCHES TO INTERMEDIARIES? NAME A FEW OF YOUR FAVOURITE SITES AND A FEW YOU DISLKE (OR IN YOUR VIEW, WHAT'S THE BEST AND THE WORST OF THE WEB?) WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU AGREE WITH? THE WEB: CAN YOU RECOMMEND ONE BRILLIANT SITE THAT MIGHT ENHANCE ANOTHER PERSON'S LIFE? DO YOU USE ANY OF THE WEB'S MORE INTERACTIVE FEATURES: CHAT ROOMS, DISCUSSION GROUPS, OR FORUMS? WHEN YOU CHUCK YOUR NAME INTO A SEARCH ENGINE, WHAT COMES OUT? WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE WHILE ON THE 'NET?
AT the AGM in July, Myrrhine Crowe from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), talked about partnership opportunities with the AUKML. For the benefit of those who couldn't attend, this is what she had to say.
CILIP is keen to build mutually beneficial partnerships with AUKML. AUKML has access to a highly focused community of expertise and CILIP can provide access to a range of resources such as staff and premises, and has the infrastructure and membership base to allow it to tackle issues on a profession-wide scale, such as working to improve conditions, and recognition for the profession as a whole.
Events (conferences, seminars, training etc) Training Collaboration with CILIP Groups Focus groups Publishing ventures Joint advocacy Consultancy Research More formal partnerships Contact Tim Buckley Owen, Head of External Relations, to discuss partnership possibilities: tim.buckleyowen@cilip.org.uk. Contact Information Services, info@cilip.org.uk, to be put in touch with the right department to deal with a specific request. http://www.cilip.org.uk
Oh, how we laughed at the doll in the last issue. That was nothing though compared with Jane's Fault (http://www.janesfault.com), the website dedicated to the travels and life of Jetset Jane, the travelling librarian. Admire pictures of the lovely Jane at work and play then read her exciting diary. This might whet your appetite for more librarians on the web ( http://www.renegadelibrarian.com).
It's hard to pick out a favourite, but bellydancing seems to be a popular way of relaxing after a hard day dealing with queries. Have a peep at the gallery on http://www.sonic.net/%7Eerisw/bdlib.html, then shimmy round the office. There again, please don't. Instead cool down by having a look at the site dedicated to quotations about libraries ( http://www.ifla.org/I/humour/subj.htm#humour).
Sample quote:
I've been drunk for about a week now, and I though it might sober me up to sit in a library. The Great Gatsby, chapter 3 F.Scott FITZGERALD (1896-1948) And on that joyful note, I'll leave you with a song about libraries ( http://www.cheekybeef.co.uk/library.html). I haven't been able to open it myself, but it comes highly recommended by the AUKML musical youth wing (and blame them if it's awful).
AUKML was delighted to host this presentation and brainstorming session which addressed many important issues facing media libraries today. Graham not only highlighted ways in which libraries can avoid downsizing but also looked at how we can develop more positive images of our staff and services in order to influence users and decision makers. There often seems to be a lack of understanding about what libraries do and the contributions they make to their organisations. This session emphasised that the success and survival of information services are very much down to how they are perceived and how well they are promoted.
Graham began by highlighting the importance of communicating with users effectively. This means leaving our micro-environments and talking to users in their own environments and on their terms. Emphasising the importance of your service to them will make users realise your role in their success and the organisation as a whole. Relating to them in this way will not only encourage them to keep using your services but also allow you to better understand their needs and repackage services in order to meet them. Producing annual reports or regular newsletters are effective ways of informing users and highlighting successes. Promotion must be a continuous process and not a last option used to fight potential downsizing or closures. Such activities must always be related to the objectives of the overall organisation and use the organisations' language. In raising the profile of the information service you are also demonstrating how key your role is to the rest of the organisation.
A problem for many librarians is that they feel isolated and powerless, especially when it comes facing major threats such as downsizing or closure. Graham informed us of Managing Information's ongoing campaign, Where Seagulls Dare. It reinforces the need for information professionals to unite, share ideas and create a powerful voice which is capable of influencing key decision makers. A collective approach using professional networks such as AUKML is important in raising the profile of information services as a whole as well as providing individuals with support and advice. The Seagulls campaign intends to compile individual success stories which can be presented as evidence to influence policy-makers and decision makers as and when required. Documenting ways in which the library has added value or contributed to the success of an organisation is crucial, as evidence collected now can be used effectively in the future to help protect services against the threat of downsizing or closure.
Following the presentation Graham invited the audience to consider a number of points using their own experiences. Issues raised during the session proved to be of great relevance to many and some lively and constructive debates ensued. Changing the perception or status of a library was considered to be an important issue. Whether a service is seen to be profit making or a cost centre often influences perceptions. The connotations often attached to the term library are negative but titles such as Research Department or Information Centre can be misleading and confuse users as to what the service provides. Sometimes libraries can become associated with one particular service such as cuttings instead of the wide range of services it provides. It is therefore essential to identify the key selling points of our libraries and market them effectively. Raising the profile of a service through promotion is important in gaining and retaining users and also in influencing those who ultimately decide the future of your department. Identifying who the key decision makers are in your organisation is crucial. By targeting those at the top there is an increased chance of influencing decisions that directly affect your service. For example, this could mean being present at editorial meetings or inviting key decision makers to events in which your department is involved. Providing your service with a visible presence is essential to its success.
The main conclusion to be made from Graham's presentation and the successive discussion is that libraries need to learn how to sell themselves effectively; to their users, key decision makers and to their organisations as a whole. By promoting services and highlighting successes they can raise their profile and influence decisions that may benefit them or threaten their existence. Libraries must use their strengths and their voices. Dare to be a seagull!
In relation to marketing Graham recommended, Discover your sales strengths: how the world's greatest salespeople develop winning careers by Tony Rutigliano and Benson Smith, Random House Business Books, 2003. 1 8441 3014 2
Keep up to date with the 'Where Seagulls Dare' campaign in Managing Information every month http://www.managinginformation.com/.
A "slow-news-week-in-August" article that appeared in the Observer tested new research claims that birth-order shapes a child's destiny. The research claims that first, middle and last-borns are respectively: a success, a wild-child and a peacemaker. The model family contained three sisters: a "successful" first-born ex-member of Bananarama (Siobhan Fahey), a "wild-child" middle-born editor of Prima magazine, and finally a last-born "peacemaker" librarian. The librarian last-born said, "I was always the baby of the family, looked after and fretted about...I'm less confident...I was always following...I never really rebelled as a teenager...I still tend to try to slip into the background whenever possible...I've felt so much under the influence and control of other people all my life...My sisters had already taken up all the exciting and glamorous ground... I drifted through my education into my career". Rather than debate whether these comments embody the typical librarian, in the name of science, Deadline turned the theory on his head to see if all librarians are last-borns. In the words of The Fast Show scientist, "results were disappointing". A rigorous straw poll of five librarians in the Guardian's research department revealed among its librarians: one last born, two only-childs, one first born and one middle child. Please contact Deadline and let us know if, as a librarian, you come last in your family. This is important research.
Have you signed out that book in your shopping basket?
Guardian writer John Sutherland recently admitted in an article that his grandmother had stolen over 300 books from Fincham's "twopenny library" in Colchester's North Hill. Sutherland speculated that her larcenous behaviour was perhaps a "mute cry for education" and called the library, in which she would conceal her swag in her shopping basket while legitimately checking out the latest romance novel, her "university". The books were discovered by the family but never returned. Instead, they were "deposited by night, batch by batch, in ditches across the deserted Essex countryside." More recently a mystery reader returned a batch of books that were checked from Christchurch Library on 1 April 1971. The books were returned anonymously, thus sparing the reader a potential £7,000 fine. Not exactly model-citizen behaviour, but surely a better alternative to ditching books?
Time Out is London's best-selling weekly news, listings and information magazine. Head of its library, Paul Fairclough, takes us through a week of his life at work.
Monday Wednesday Of course, all of this is secondary to the job of providing a service to the magazine's writers who make the bulk of requests for information. For much of this Wednesday morning I've been putting together a file of cuttings on Debbie Harry using Lexis Nexis and supplemented by internet fan sites which more readily document her lesser known interests, like the New York gay garage rock sensations The Toilet Boys, who, despite having a name that sounds like the punk rock group in Grange Hill, I'm assured will be Quite Big. In the event the US embassy proceed at snails pace with our writer's working visit visa and he's unable to fly over for the interview. His carefully compiled in-flight reading ends up in the bin by Friday afternoon, and I move on to other things while Karin tucks in to our current awareness scanning provided by Romeike media intelligence. But by that time, I'll have discovered all there is to know on Herne Hill Velodrome, Ryanair's dispute with Air France, gun crime in London, US cable series "Dead Like Me" and hirsute yet balding comedian Bill Bailey, and a whole load of things besides.
It isn't always easy to get systems staff to do what you want when you want it to be done. In fact, many would take umbrage at the very idea that you should ask "when?" at all, what with the Red Dwarf convention coming up and all those Rush CDs in the sale at Virgin. But at last our people have installed the new hardware (new meaning computers that can handle stuff after Windows 95) we need to run the updated library catalogue. At Time Out we've had an electronic in-house library index for about fifteen years. It was an old TinLib module that has almost creaked and puffed its last, so at the end of the week I meet the serene Tim Twine from EOS who has come to complete the last act of a six month saga by installing our new GLAS software. The idea is that Time Out staff should be able to browse the index independently, but within an hour of Tim leaving I can see that I'll have to spend some time working things out for myself before I try to pass on my lack of understanding to anyone else.
Friday Paul Fairclough is the Chief Librarian at Time Out paulfairclough@timeout.com; http://www.timeout.com.
A New York hotel is being sued by Online Computer Rights Centre (OCRC), the owners of the rights to the Dewey Decimal classification system. The Library Hotel, which overlooks the New York Public Library, has dedicated each of its floors to one of 10 Dewey categories, and each of its 60 rooms are named after specific topics, for example room 700.003 is set aside for performing arts, with appropriate books inside. But because it is a proprietary system, its owners are accusing the hotel of trademark infringement. The complaint, filed in the US District Court in Columbus, seeks triple the hotel's profits since its opening or triple the organisation's damages, whichever is greater, from hotel owner Henry Kallan. The world's most popular classification system was created by Melvil Dewey in 1873 and now the OCRC charges libraries at least $500 a year to use it.
In other litigation news from the Big Apple, the New York Times is suing a hacker for $300,000 after he carried out 3,000 LexisNexis searches on five new accounts he had allegedly created under the Times's corporate account. Adrian Lamo, the accused, has disputed the $100 per-search charge. The Times have not yet said how they arrived at the figure, which has raised eyebrows among professional searchers and NYT journalists alike, one of whom said that if searches cost that much the paper wouldn't be long going out of business. Cynical observers have pointed to the fact that the size of the claim means that if found guilty, Lamo's maximum sentence under federal guidelines rises from six months to more than three years in prison. Even more cynical observers suggest that Lamo needs to improve his search strategies.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft has been mocking the American Library Association and its members over their criticisms of the antiterrorism legislation, passed a month after Sept. 11 2001, that allows federal agents to obtain records of books and other materials circulated to individual patrons from public libraries. Librarians are fighting back. In an attempt to stem what is being seen as federal abuse of civil liberties, at least four public libraries across the country are destroying records before federal agents ever get the chance to request to see them. Furthermore, the public library in Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, has adopted a records system that automatically deletes records after borrowed books have been returned, and libraries in Santa Cruz, Berkley and Illinois are now shredding library records on a daily basis. Not leaving it all to direct action, librarians have also taken the legislative route, with several bills pending in Congress that would set stricter standards for access to library records.
Back by popular demand is Deadline's glance at what was making the media librarianship news in years gone by. In this issue we turn to Winter 1988. This appeared to be a time of change. Top of the news was a piece about the AUKML conference that was to take place at the London Business School on April 6 1989. The title was News Information in the '90s. No information about the cost, but it was a co-production by AUKML and TFPL. There was also news about Express Newspapers disposing of its Manchester cuttings and picture library, and George Johnson talking about the Daily Mail's recent move to South Kensington.
And finally there was the hilarious news that amongst the 20 files missing at the Guardian, was the missing persons one. You couldn't make it up.
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