Some thoughts on graduating

Summer holidays are over, and people all over Sydney have returned to work and school and daily routine. For those who have recently completed a course of study there are plenty of new choices to make. What to do - find a job, study more, find a job and study more, take a breather - there are many different pathways.

I've recently completed my Diploma of Library and Information Studies at Ultimo TAFE. I studied for three years part time, while also working casually in another field, and looking after two primary school age children. Now that I've finally got my final transcript in my hands, I am firmly committed to ...... pausing.

I've always had a plan for my LIS career. Wanting to use the time caring for children to change direction by studying, I had no useful knowledge of the industry. While studying I've volunteered for several different groups, ALIA Sydney among them, and attended social gatherings like LFAP, and professional development opportunities around Sydney, as well as volunteering at my local public library. I joined ALIA as a Student Member and completely leveraged my status as a student to ask lots of questions, look around, and assess the lie of the land. Now that I'm finished and graduation is looming I'm ready to activate the next part of the plan, which is to wait. I'm not looking for full time work for at least another year, maybe two, unless the perfect job comes along or if my circumstances change. However, I must keep my skills current and continue to find out just what opportunities are out there. 

I'm looking around for some casual work and thinking to do some short courses that add to my resume. I'll probably do an RSA, and some short courses in different tech skills I think I lack or could improve on, such as video editing. I'll continue to volunteer at the public library and with ALIA Sydney, and I'm looking forward to NLS7 in Sydney this year. I'll build my resume and my contacts in the industry, and in my own personal interest in graphic novels and comics and adult instruction, as well as managing my still young family. People have regularly asked me if I will continue studying and go on to university, and my answer is, maybe, probably, but not now. Now I need to find out if my investment of time and money will get me where I want to go, and if that is really the destination I was hoping for, before I consider that step.

There were people from every different stage of life studying in my course with me, some already working in the industry, some trying for a change of career, some immediately going on to a degree course. To all those recently qualified Library Technicians out there, congratulations! I wish you well with your career plan, whatever it may be. 

And, what are you wearing to graduation?

-L

How do you feel about working in a dying industry?

Great actually!

If libraries are what people consider a dying industry, please let me share with you a few statistics that were compiled by the State Library of NSW.

There are 376 public libraries in NSW, 142 in metropolitan NSW and 234 in country areas.

The key indicators of public library use show that public libraries are highly valued by their communities. 2012 figures show:

• almost 35 million visits to NSW public libraries (up 30% since 2000)
• almost 48 million loans
• over 3 million internet hours used by the public
• almost 3.2 million library members (44% of the NSW population)
• more than 52,000 public programs and events
• more than 1.2 million people attended public programs (up 38% since 2008)

Now I don't know about you, but I would consider that a growing industry, if anything. We are currently in an era that could shape how people view and use libraries in the future.

What an opportunity and a privilege!

- Gabby

5 lessons I learnt at Aurora

Last month I was lucky enough to be able to attend this year's Aurora Institute for Emerging Leaders. I'd heard about Aurora for the first time via ALIA mailing lists back in 2006, and had thought it sounded amazing and challenging. It was something I hoped I would be ready for one day, but each year it was offered I thought, 'maybe next year.'

This year was no different. I saw the call for applications, looked at the website, thought it sounded fantastic, and that maybe I should think about approaching my Director about it-- next year.

Lesson 1: Seize opportunities. Sometimes it's worth taking the next step even if you don't feel completely ready. It's that idea of stepping out of your comfort zone and stretching yourself. If I had waited until I felt completely prepared, I don't know when (or if) I'd have ended up going. Mentors (Aurora Foundation Board members and invited guests), spoke about their careers and passed on what they had learnt from them. A common thread of their talks was that when a new challenge presented itself, they went for it, even if it meant leaving jobs they enjoyed, or moving interstate or overseas.

Fortunately, my Director asked me about Aurora and encouraged me to apply. It was the push I needed to finally put together an application. And it was definitely worth it.

Lesson 2: Think about how you act. And how it affects others. If you are leading, people are looking to you for guidance.

The program is facilitated by Annie and David McCubbin of coup, who use the Human Synergistics Life Styles Inventory tool to develop a picture of how you view your behaviour, and how others see your behaviour. (Thanks to everyone who completed the survey for me, by the way- it's looong, but the feedback was enlightening and extremely useful.) By working out your motivation for acting in certain ways, you can then move to consciously choosing to behave in more constructive ways. David and Annie were brilliant at using their acting skills to demonstrate particular behaviours and bring them to life.

Lesson 3: Fake it until you become it. If you can avoid behaviours which make you seem less confident and capable in stressful situations, your message will be more convincing. It also helps you personally deal with pressure.

All attendees brought details of projects from their workplace. We were asked to pitch the project as we would to our management teams or whoever would normally be responsible for approving or funding the project. Presenting in public is often nerve-wracking, but this time there was the added pressure of knowing the presentation would be evaluated and (eek!) recorded. After being told the expectations of the presentations, we were taught techniques to deal with the pressure, including breathing and centring, and using body language to have an effective presence. Amy Cuddy's TED Talk was referred to, and I highly recommend it. The importance of telling a story to make a presentation more engaging and memorable was also emphasised, and this TED Talk also happens to be a great example of that.

Lesson 4: Find friends and allies. One of the mentors said she thought of it as 'finding friends and allies' rather than networking.

This can be an especially powerful idea in the LIS world, where we may shy away from the stereotype of corporate schmoozing and exchanging business cards without making a real connection. At Aurora there were plenty of opportunities to get to know other participants over group work, meals, and maybe a game of pool. The mentors were also extremely generous with their time, attending and contributing to the sessions, eating with us, and providing excellent advice. I genuinely feel I've made friends and allies at Aurora, rather than simply 'extending my network'.

Lesson 5: Think big. A common theme for the Aurora attendees was that we were focusing on day-to-day operational matters, and letting them distract from more strategic, long term, 'big picture' thinking-- vital for the future of the profession.

But how, when we are all faced with budget cutbacks, restructuring, and the everyday tasks of helping clients and providing a well-run library or information service to our clients? One of the mentors mentioned making your own agenda, including focusing on what only you can do, and getting others to do the rest. I am particularly guilty of letting everyday tasks eat away at my day, so I will be working on this.

Amy Croft
@amyecroft

Thank you to the Aurora Foundation, mentors, and fellow attendees. As the program is held under the Chatham House Rule I have not identified individuals. But I have learnt a great deal from all of you.

Did you want to be a librarian when you grew up?

Did you sort your personal book collection as a child? Or maybe order your DVDs, CDs or cassette tapes by title, genre, series, or musician? I wonder about these early signs as an indicator of people more likely to work in libraries, and how some now-librarians found their calling so soon in life. To try and find out how people just “knew” their career path, I informally surveyed 46 library workers in Australia about their childhood career dreams, as well as asking 29 preschool children in Canberra about their career dreams.

Many librarians spoke of their personal libraries from childhood, where short term loans were managed with the scrawl of “Libry – 3 days” on the back of books, ownership defined with bookplates, or owning a set of flimsies for writing due dates (from this revelation, I learnt the term flimsies, which is a word that sounds better suited to an impractical petticoat).

If you felt affinity for libraries early on, you may have revelled in the joy of a Little Librarian kit, “…the first personal library kit made just for kids!”? These DIY homemade library kits have great potential as propaganda tools for instilling library principles and a love of organising information. Library branches could also sponsor kits so that the brand imprinting stays with people for their borrowing life! Building on this, there are even “home library kits” for adults to play library at home and organise book collections.

My personal book collection was not a good predictor of a future librarian - it was modelled on my family’s sorting method. This is the debatable finding aid of spine height (descending order left to right) and the even fancier criterion of spine colour. However, the book rainbow display method is gaining traction in design circles. Plus, my family visited the library on a weekly basis, so I knew that books were ordered in different ways (but had no inclination towards personal Dewey labelling!).

Exposure to library thinking in early childhood could help more people to consider a career in libraries, or look at sorting books as a gateway to full-on information management. Something that worked in many now-librarians’ favour were frequent trips to the local library to foster a love of books, as well as librarians in the family (with obligatory unpaid work).

So how many now-librarians had any inkling of their professional field during childhood? From 46 surveyed librarians, there were 69 career aspirations (39 when accounting for duplicates), which showed a number of different options at different life-stages.

Childhood career dream responses from library staff

As you can see, the most common career dreams were librarian (10), and teacher (11). I think this shows the impact of regular contact with particular professions. It could also show further scope for looking at the teacher-librarian career pathway. Some of the other professions really do overlap, and many respondents observed the commonalities between their different careers and the highly transferable skills of librarians.

Even though my “survey” was only one question “Did you want to be a librarian/library technician when you grew up, or something else?”, it was leading and I should have better articulated that I was interested in the most vivid career aspiration, rather than at a particular age. My sampling was also fairly biased towards government/special libraries and the National Library, rather than public or university libraries. I’m sure that the results would change with a more scientific method!

From 29 preschool children (ages 4-5) surveyed, there were 30 career aspirations (21 when accounting for duplicates). None mentioned roles involving library roles. There was also some crossover with the librarian results, such as teacher (3) and ballerina (6). Their sample provides an interesting snapshot of their personal interests and the professions that are important (or prominent) in their lives at the moment.

Career dream responses from preschool children

Marketing libraries and library services is part of our professional branding, but I think we overlook the need to market the profession itself. There could be a lot more people interested in library careers if they were actually promoted – but another complication ties in with library anxiety, and exposure to negative library experiences during childhood. Observations about the possibility of a library career were that it wasn’t even on the radar (throughout life), or that people didn’t know what librarians actually did – unfortunately we don’t actually explain what we do, so lots of adults are still uncertain about our role! Additionally, no one in either the adult or child groups mentioned “library technician” as a career dream, and I think this demonstrates the decreased visibility of different roles in libraries, or perhaps it shows that we don’t need the traditional demarcation between library roles.

A more telling study is what kind of careers people choose after librarianship, as one librarian mentioned a future career dream. Nerida Hart is conducting a study of librarians who have moved out of the library space, you can find out how to contribute here.

In the meantime, keep an eye on your kids’ and friends' children’s book collections – are there signs of a future library career?

Sonja Barfoed is an artist and librarian in Canberra, Australia. From the age of 6, she decided to be an artist and mermaid – librarianship happened of its own accord!

@SonjaBarfoed

www.sonjabarfoed.com