A Little Bit of What You Fancy…2

So, I am very, very excited. As I mentioned before, I’ve been attending the Occupational Therapy book group this academic year and, although the turnout hasn’t been brilliant, it’s been a fantastic insight into what my OTs think, do, work with, are up against, ad infinitum…However, due to how our courses work, the current lead is now on placement and will be leaving at the end of this academic year. Boo…

But, the other day, I got a message from the lead, asking me if I would be willing to take over facilitating the book group. WOW! was my immediate reaction (one of the lecturers had asked her to ask me if I’d be willing). I’m incredibly humbled and thrilled to have been asked, but had reservations about whether it would fit into my remit or not…So I answered that I would be privileged to take over, but would have to discuss with my manager about time, relevance, etc.

My manager was likewise thrilled and asked me a few questions about how much time it would take etc. As it’s already established, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to hand over and after that it is simply about doing the admin and promotion (which I have in the bag as our management services team agreed to tweet/disseminate through our comms channels at my instigation a couple of months ago…). So I have the go-ahead to try it for this year.

Immediately, though, my librarian head kicked in and I began thinking of how I could support this. I searched for some information on running a successful book group and found a very interesting Radio 4 site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/book-club/running-a-club/ which I am going to investigate before I begin. There’s lots of other stuff on the web, but it is mainly about target audiences and the idea for us is that we open it out to people who aren’t necessarily Health and Wellbeing folk, but who are interested in reading as therapy and mental health issues…quite difficult. I think the first thing I need to do is to either find the remit (which the handover with the current lead may contain) or to write one…(poss with help!).

Anyway…it’s all quite exciting and I talked with my manager about how it reaffirms our role in the University, how it can help me create greater links within my faculty area (they’re good, but could do with being better) and how it also links us in with the wider profession (coming from a Public Library background I have much experience with Reader Development activities – I can bring in my previous experience of working with reading groups in my branch library days!). But first, have to get a meeting together with the lead…hopefully the Chinese curse doesn’t hold true – May you live in interesting times – because it is getting very interesting around here, with the new Uni strategy and my extra-curricular activities! Watch this space…

Post-script to Miss Moore thought otherwise…

Re-reading my blog posts, in the spirit of research and reflection, I realised I made an unforgivable error in the post ‘Miss Moore thought Otherwise’. I mentioned that I got my first library ‘card’ aged 5, completely forgetting that, at this point, libraries still operated the browne card issue method! So, I didnt get a ‘card’, I got a little brown envelope where the issue cards from the books were kept, that had my name on the front of it and lived in a little drawer in the main library desk. No bar codes in 1975! They looked a little bit like this: browne issue system

I was totally obsessed with these little cards and the drawers they lived in. So it’s no wonder that I became a Librarian, really. But it’s got me thinking about how much more there is to the profession, even then. I saw the Librarian at our little branch library as almost Godlike in her ability to know exactly where a particular book was, and if they didn’t have it, she could get it for me! I thought it was by magic, but now I know it was simply the reservation and Inter-Library Loan systems that produced the eagerly awaited volume. She had the power to make or destroy my day/week.

I distinctly remember the first ILL I ever had: it was a copy of ‘The Blue Lagoon’ by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. I had recently watched the film, aged about 12ish, and was determined to read the book about two children cast ashore on a desert island with no adults to tell them what to do (every 12 year old’s dream, I think)! As it was an old book, which I didn’t know until I spoke to the Librarian about it, we didn’t have a copy in the local library, but never you fear, young Karen, she got it for me!

By today’s standard, the investigation she would have to do to find a copy would simply be to type it into Copac and send off for the text in question. In 1982, the process was much more arduous. It would’ve involved microfilm, I daresay. I don’t think I ever expressed my gratitude properly to her, or her very well-trained staff, so, belatedly, thank you to all Bilston Library staff from 1970 to the present day! I wouldn’t be where I am today without you…

Well, where does that leave me? I hope that, in my customer service dealings, I give as much to my customers as I received from the Bilston Library staff. The profession has changed beyond what Mrs Morgan would recognise now (and I know she retired about 1994). But the ethos remains the same: we facilitate access to knowledge and information, we do it with a smile on our face and we have a dedication to our profession that most occupations will never see…I thank my lucky stars I have been allowed into such a great institution and have such enthusiastic, wonderful colleagues and compatriots! Hats off to all Librarians everywhere! 🙂
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