Umbrella 2013 – a view from a CILIP trainer

By Elisabeth Goodman

The last time I attended a ‘CILIP’ conference was in the days of one of its predecessors: The Institute of Information Scientists (IIS).  So it was a real treat to have the opportunity to catch-up with so many people (about 600) practicing a range of careers relating to Library and Information Management.

The following blog is based on my tweets, and those of others that I re-tweeted in the sessions that I attended.  (There were many other sessions running in parallel and after I left which you will no doubt be able to catch-up on from other tweets and blogs from the event – just follow #UB13).

Training for Library and Information Professionals

On @CILIPinfo stand until conference kicks off if anyone wants to discuss training

I am one of CILIP’s ‘on-site’ trainers so this conference was also invaluable for networking with and meeting people with an interest in some form of training.  I had lots of great conversations and I’m looking forward to more of these with the CILIP team.

Born Digital?  The British Library at 40

I had not realised quite how wide the British Library’s scope is, and all the ways in which it is developing.  The following tweets just give a flavour of what Roly Keating, the Chief Executive, managed to convey of its 40-year history (and of what is to come) in just 40 minutes.

Really inspiring keynote @rolykeating digital melting the boundaries between departments & institutions & the BL’s fantastic projects! PTEG ‏@cilippteg19h

@rolykeating excellent opening speech – good challenge for British Library to “connect as well as collect”

@rolykeating great achievements re: British Library in helping new businesses and fostering learning

News has broken its print mooring & this reflected in BL building new partnerships with BBC and new media and news centre Phil Bradley ‏@Philbradley20h

Focus session: Future skills and future roles

This was one of 4 parallel focus sessions to choose from, and it consisted in itself of 3 presentations – lots of very rich content in this conference!

Up first was an overview of CPD23 – 23 things for continuous professional development and a self-help programme of learning initiated by Niamh Tumelty and others, which has experienced a tremendous take-up and success.

Niamh and Jo Alcock compared CPD23 with CILIP’s wheel and diagnostic tool – PKSB  (Professional Knowledge Skills Base).  It seems there are tremendous opportunities here for harnessing people’s enthusiasm for learning, the resources from CPD23, the use of the PKSB diagnostic tool and the range of onsite training available for both continous professional development, and chartership.

“@RareLibrarian1: Didn’t know about PKSB online – excellent CPD tool to target your professional weaknesses” for library / info mgmt

Great to see positive take-up of CPD23 & strong mapping with @CILIPcpd PKSB for professional development

We then heard from…

Keri Gray from Sue Hill talking on managing change Jane Roberts ‏@jane_roberts8519h

This is the subject of one of the courses that I offer through CILIP – Achieving successful business change.  The following tweets tell the story …

People are scared of change (especially mothers!) – huge topic affecting everyone in all sectors of libraries. Hannah Thomas ‏@RareLibrarian119h

Big themes for change in Library & Info Mgmt are budgetary cuts, use of volunteers & non-professionals, digitisation

Barriers to change similar to other sectors/professions: reluctance, resources, time, expertise, accountability, need to self-promote

Coping with change – requires a change in mind-set (yes!) – many in room having to manage teams with fixed mindsets

Successful change projects place users at their heart, are aspirational, engage internally as well as externally

And last but not least in the session was Ka-Ming Pang’s truly inspirational presentation (and there were a few other inspirational talks during the conference) about how she initiated the tweet chat #uklibchat – and how it has simply taken off as another forum for sharing learnings and knowledge, and for CPD.

The prezi for my #ub13 presentation is up on the #uklibchat page: http://uklibchat.wordpress.com/about-uklibchat/ … Ka-Ming @AgentK23

The power of SM is demonstrated by #uklibchat to get librarians talking about topics that interest them Jo Whitcombe ‏@jowhit19h

#uklibchat summarised online and archived so always available as a resource. Free way to meet other professionals with new approaches! Hannah Thomas ‏@RareLibrarian119h

Uklibchat – a way to share expertise on library topics on Twitter. Check out http://uklibchat.wordpress.com/  Alan Brine ‏@alanbrine19h

#uklibchat recognised as counting towards CILIP chartership. Meaningful conversation with structure and professional inputHannah Thomas ‏@RareLibrarian119h

Liz Jolly: As information professionals we can’t afford to not use social media

Jo Alcock: I have some very valuable conversations on Twitter and these occur during work time

Information professionals – using our own information management skills to manage our own online presence. Hannah Thomas ‏@RareLibrarian119h

Where does internet end and library begin?

This was one of the debate sessions taking place during the conference, although sometimes, as in this one, it was just fascinating to sit back and listen to what the speakers had to say!

Session on “Where does internet end and library begin?” Access to knowledge & community coming together are common themes #kmers

@librarygame Interesting perspective on how activities such as book borrowing can be gamified: they have challenges, rules & actions

RT @librarygame: Here’s our new site —hot off the coding table librarygame.co.uk  Unbrella2013

Focus session: Beyond Information Matters

Next up “@gig_cilip: Reflecting on Yesterday, Understanding Today, Planning for Tomorrow: Brian Kelly, UKOLN”

Brian’s was a very enjoyable exploration of this general theme.

[Incidentally, Brian mentioned that a paper has been prepared to raise the profile of Information Management within CILIP…

As ex-IIS member – good to hear that @CILIPinfo pushing for more emphasis on Information Management]

Brian was followed by…

Graham Monk, DWP speaking on Sharepoint though not (yet) using it

And these tweets tell the story…

Do we need sharepoint to do our job? Personally think share point needs info professionals to properly exploit it.Simon Edwards ‏@SimonEdwards7515h

Key challenges with implementing #Sharepoint are collecting & cleaning the content & aligning work practices

Again – reasons for information technology (#Sharepoint) given as managing content & enabling communities (virtual teams

Other reasons for #Sharepoint: information overload, finding info, rework, waste of resource, inability to answer questions

Simon Barron followed…

@simonxix common tensions tween IT & librarians/information mgrs yet increasing emergence of cybrarians

Speaking at now on librarian-IT hybrids, technology in LIS, and transhumanism. Follow along at home: http://ow.ly/mxqD0  Simon Barron ‏@SimonXIX15h

Nice representation of librarian / shambrarian overlap by @SimonXIX accredited to @daveyp #ub13 pic.twitter.com/fgmTRLSDNz Karen Bates ‏@karenfbates15h

@simonxix: we need to be where the users (of library / information services) are and they are on the internet

Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it’s a librarian!

This was the final session of Day 1 and a wonderful case study of the work of a Clinical Librarian, Victoria Treadway, from the Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, jointly presented with Dr Girendra Sadera, a Consultant Critical Care & Anaesthesia there.

RT @charlotteprew Fantastic & inspirational .. talk by @Librarianpocket & @sadera65 .. about developing role of a clinical librarian

Subject librarians / information scientists could learn lots re: delivering business impact from @Librarianpocket @sadera65 case study

Here’s our film on the Clinical Librarian supporting ward rounds in Critical Care: bit.ly/172NVA0 Victoria Treadway @Librarianpocket

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a librarian! View my Prezi from Umbrella 2013 here: http://tinyurl.com/pvku3nc  

Storify: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a librarian! http://sfy.co/hNQT  Victoria Treadway @Librarianpocket

An evening at MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) – mosi.org.uk

This was our evening outing with the Library Awards ceremony  (won by @SurreyLibraries)

Now watching video clips about projects short listed for Libraries Change Lives awards cilip.org.uk/about-us/medal… niamhpage

… and dinner followed by enthralling talk by Fi Glover of the BBC.

Fi Glover doing our after dinner speech! So funny! pic.twitter.com/fL1691sYRV anniemauger

Day 2 – Highlighting and using your expertise

We had an inspirational keynote from Janice Lachance, CEO of the Special Libraries Association International.

Look for opportunities, take risks, make a difference not just a living, Janice Lachance pic.twitter.com/isCva9x2Zl daveparkes

Great to hear @JaniceLachance talking about non-traditional roles for library and information professionals and using our expertise joeyanne

@JaniceLachance Think holistically re: information needs of organisation & align your inner entrepreneur w/ its & leadership’s goals

(There was quite a lot of Twitter chat about her comments on the word “Librarian” – a great word with a strong historical tradition but a limiting definition?  Maybe?)

Focus session: Information to support society

I was keen to attend at least one of the sessions organized by the Information Literacy group, as I also run training on how to promote IL to end users (a combination of change management and marketing approaches that is also picked up in a UKeIG course that I run jointly with Shaida Dorabjee – Marketing and internal change: a case study based approach…).

Next up: ‘A critical approach to information literacy’ with @walkyouhome CILIPNWBranch

@walkyouhome Advocating better information literacy training thru’ pedagogical approaches, critical thinking & democratic engagement

RT @calire: A critical approach to information literacy  slideshare.net/laurensmith/a-… ijclark

Debate: community managed libraries

The last session that I was able to attend before heading off home! It seemed like a change programme in itself…

Community managed libraries a change programme for the community – librarians can support through consultation & on-going sustaining

Terrific turn-out on a dark evening at consultation on Community Managed Libraries in Yorkshire was early indication of engagement

And so home…

On my way home from excellent @umbrella_2013 #UB13 conference – will be writing my blog on the train! [which I did!]

Notes

Elisabeth Goodman is the owner and Principal Consultant of RiverRhee Consulting and a trainer, facilitator, one-to-one coach, speaker and writer, with a passion for and a proven track record in improving team performance and leading business change projects on a local or global basis. 

Elisabeth is an expert in knowledge management, and is accredited in change management, Lean Six Sigma and MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator).  She has a BSc in Biochemistry, an MSc in Information Science, is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Information and Library Professionals (CILIP) and of the Association for Project Management (APM) and is also a Growth Coach with the GrowthAccelerator.

Elisabeth has 25+ years’ Pharma R&D experience as a line manager and internal trainer / consultant, most recently at GSK and its legacy companies, and is now enjoying working with a number of SMEs and larger organisations around the Cambridge cluster as well as further afield in the UK and in Europe.