Saturday 13 December 2008

update

Current status is that I am still in the writing phase but I have created a document where I am adding all the pits and pieces. I am struggling with the writing though, it's really hard to write with the overview in my mind, so I am putting in things as they come to me, which is why at the moment I have lots of pages but with lots of gaps and holes :)

In the meantime my mentor has resigned and is migrating to the sunny Spain, no it is not just a holiday, she is leaving the cold and rain for a sunny place near the beach! This means I will not, officially, have a mentor when handing in my application, so I need to ask as many questions as possible now! :s

So before I start feeling all alone, I want to get as much done as possible, so next week, the final week of this year, I am planning on working on this every afternoon and show my mentor before she leaves :)

Thursday 11 December 2008

Am I a librarian? Part II

My brother in law recently hinted that why would his 12 year old daugther go to a library to study, out of all places why a library! I didn't say anything, but I really wanted to interview him to find out why he said what he did and what did he mean? and why!??!

It made me think of another thing: He must know by now that I work in a library, but I wonder if he is one of those people who finds it difficult to comprehend that librarianship still exists and that a librarian doesn't have to sit within the four walls of a library!

It brings me back to the topic, am I a librarian? that stereotypical boring librarian? people think: who needs a librarian when you have the internet at your fingertips?

Why would I want to label myself with a tag that seems outdated for other people? Instead of batteling with the majority of people, why not adapt a new look and name to fit in with their thinking?
It all comes down one thing: I know what a librarian does and doesn't, just because I know it, doesn't mean the whole World knows it, it must be my responsibility to communicate this out, to market myself in such a way they will understand, by using their language and finding out what I can do for them. Once they know what I can do, they will know what I am. If I tell them I am a librarian, they don't know what I am and do. I need to find out the terms they would use to describe what I do. By marketing myself the right way, I can educate people. Maybe that internal marketing course I did last week, really did open my eyes!

Monday 1 December 2008

Marketing of a marketing library

Am at the Internal Marketing for the Workplace Librarian and Information Professional, it's held by Terry Kendrik at CILIP. Just writing some notes (thoughts coming into my head from left right and centre while I'm listning so need to get it on paper before I go nuts!) while listning:

  • the testimonials we did, what did we use them for eventually? if now, we could use them on the new website?
  • What is the health of our library?

general thoughts:

  • a lady at slough library wrote "www slough library" in Google's search box when she wanted to show me their library website.......if we cant use google better than the average user, then why should they come to us for help or advise? Obviously we would need to be better



  • In internal newsletters, how do we promote ourselves better? Terry's answer was to be more emotional, don't just provide the facts about what we did, write how we did, who did what and what were the consequences, promote everyone in the library, not just the manager, make sure people know who is who by mentioning them as often as possible?



  • Signage is part of marketing - sending people in the right direction and making them aware of things they didnt know we had

Break time, more later!