Blog Every Day in June Day 24 : Functional Illiteracy Workshop -Sweden

Today's guest contributor is Lara Lopez Boronat, a Spanish information professional. 
Earlier this month she attended a workshop in Sweden looking at the role libraries play in improving literacy. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Lara!  -Maria Savvidis

After completing my studies in Spain, I worked in Spain and Berlin. My current role is as a Library Assistant in the Information and Reference Library in Richmond (London) and requires a lot of IT training for people from the Borough and beyond. We mostly provide courses about Internet searching, iPads and Tablets, database queries and eBooks.

Twenty library and information professionals (including myself) were selected from around Europe to attend the Functional Illiteracy Workshop in Botkyrka (Stockholm, Sweden), promoted by the European Union Grundtvig Programme. I was interested in attending the workshop to enhance my knowledge and skills in information literacy and to find out what other European professionals are also doing in this area.

Over five days we discussed the role of libraries in society and in the provision of literacy skills, as well as focusing on the creation of an European network to share best practices and cooperation in between us.

Botkyrka, where the workshop was held, is the county in Sweden with a large percentage of immigrants. Libraries are essential in the process of teaching Swedish to refugees and immigrants. Although the Swedish government provides free courses for the Swedish language, libraries support this leaning with further activities and materials such as easy reading books, meeting groups and afternoon tea talks.

It surprised me the importance that Swedish professionals give to the learning in their own language. During the lectures, different people emphasized the essential right for immigrants of studying in their mother tongue, as well as also learning the Swedish language. The library where the workshop was held had a huge collection of books in more than 50 languages, and some library professionals speak more than two languages.

Lectures during the workshop were based mostly around immigration and its issues, as well as theory about the definition and variables of literacy. After a few discussions we all agreed that literacy is not only to learn how to write and read, but to be able to make functional activities in our daily life. We learnt how teachers use colours, images and visiting places with their pupils to make them proactive learners. 

We had great examples of literacy programmes, such as Livstycket. Here female immigrants are the main focus of the activities which include sewing, embroidery and textile printing; this is also combined with theoretical education in Swedish, social studies and IT. The key point of these activities is to work on their confidence by giving them practical skills that they can use in a variety of situations. 

Easy-reading newspapers are also trending in Sweden. They focus on people that are learning Swedish and people with learning disabilities and adapt the daily news to their comprehension level. For example, politicians’ campaigns are full of rhetoric and difficult to understand the meaning of every message. In these newspapers they make the messages understandable and direct. There is also a webpage where you can comment about the news and ask questions to politicians. 

In the afternoons, the group got together to speak about the lectures that we had in the morning and to create a European network of literacy professionals, our main aim. We talked about how to cooperate within our institutions to create a network of information professionals for literacy programmes. We also shared experiences and best practices to take ideas and to adapt them to our workplaces.

For me, the best idea I found in these talks was the “Dog reading” activity. In Ljubljana (Slovenia) children read books aloud to a real dog. In this way, they practice their reading skills and they improve their communication skills while at the same time they have fun.

Now that the workshop is over, we have to work in the network development. We have called it “Literacy for all -European Library Network”. At the moment we are working to compile everything from the workshop week and to make it public. This is the blog where we will be writing: http://functionalilliteracy.org/ and soon there will be more tools to share information with you.

To sum up this exciting week, libraries must be the soul of the community, not only providing traditional services but supporting the development and skills of migrants and people with learning difficulties. Literacy is the key to this improvement, people are not illiterate because they are poor, people are poor because they are illiterate.

Blog Every Day in June Day 8: The International Librarians Network

Jenny Mustey tells us about her experience as the Australia Country Coordinator of the International Librarians Network (ILN) which is now in its third round of participation.

The ILN is facilitated by four highly professional and forward thinking program coordinators who all work and live in Sydney.  Congratulations to coordinators Clare McKenzie, Alyson Dalby, Kate Byrne and Amy Barker as it is a credit to them for their vision and how they have developed the ILN program from the pilot round to what it is now.   Their strong strategic thinking holds it in good stead for the future.   The program coordinators oversee the whole program, facilitate and support the partnerships, constantly monitor and evaluate participants feedback and participation as well as maintaining an active website, twitter and facebook presence.

Initially I was drawn to the ILN during the pilot round in 2013.  The idea of exchanging information with another person from different country sounded very interesting and it provided an opportunity for a different type of professional development.  It was very exciting to take part in this initial program to meet an international colleague as well as assisting with the feedback and evaluation required to move it onto the next stage.  A positive pilot and first round experience encouraged me to think of becoming a Country Coordinator.   

As the ILN reaches 78 countries across the globe the Program Coordinators decided that a local contact person who could publicise and promote would be best served by having a Country Coordinator in each country if possible.  I noticed by looking at the ILN website that there was a vacancy for Country Coordinator in Australia so I volunteered for this role and was very happy to be accepted.   

My ongoing role is to encourage library workers and students to take part in the ILN and as round two was about to start this was my initial focus, however I will continue to promote it in further rounds.  There were a range of opportunities to publicise the ILN, either by communicating with the various networks and professional organisations as well as promoting it through social media. I also had the opportunity to write an article in the ALIA journal INCITE which had a positive impact as it reaches a wide number of people working and studying within the library industry.   

It was pleasing to see over 700 participants across the world take part in round 2 of the program with a large number coming from Australia. The program coordinators did an excellent job in matching ILN participants and they continue to encourage discussion and communication via discussion topics each month, as well as interesting and informative website entries, facebook stories and twitter chats.   

I also decided to take part in round 2 as a participant and have had a fascinating exchange of information from the Director of Public Libraries in Afghanistan. I anticipate that we will continue to communicate after round 2 finishes.  Many other participants decide to continue their digital relationship due to it being a positive learning experience. It is not overly onerous in time but you do need to be committed to it and make the most out of it.  

The Country Coordinators (CCs) also have the opportunity to have catch up meetings using live meeting technology to connect with each other. These have been wonderful opportunities to exchange ideas of how to promote the ILN within your country and also discuss the barriers and issues that make it challenging for CCs to get the word out.  This was an eye opener to me on how difficult it can be when websites or social media platforms are not permitted in some countries; we do tend to take this for granted sometimes.  

In terms if widening your own knowledge and creating your own global network I recommend people to consider taking part in the round 3, expressions of interest are now being taken.

There is a great deal of information on the ILN website or people can contact me directly if they have any questions about the program. It will continue to grow and be successful due to the individual participation. It is free to join and you will be very well supported by the Program Coordinators.

-Jenny Mustey

Australia Country Coordinator , ILN 

Keeping Up

In the library and information world, even if we aren't familiar with the term Moore's law, which refers to the exponential growth of computing technology, we're familiar with the incredible rate of change in society, and in our profession, where we are constantly changing and adapting to new ideas and technologies.

The question is, how do we keep up with changes? Or better yet, how do we figure out what's coming and prepare for it?

There are different ways to keep up with what's happening, both inside and outside the library and information landscape.

Like 'The Busy Librarian', Matthew Winner, I would now say that Twitter is my PLN (personal learning network). I follow LOTS of people who share interesting thoughts, blog posts, articles, to the point where I'm not really worried that I'm missing out on anything important.

Here are some other ways I keep up (or kept up - pre-Twitter) which may be useful, especially for those not too keen on Twitter:

Steven Bell's Keeping Up Web Site is a thorough listing of resources for librarians about librarianship. It's a great starting point. And if that's not enough, check out the related topics on the left menu, such as Design, Teaching & Learning and Information Technology.

But be aware, on the page he makes the following announcement:

The Keeping Up Web Site is no longer being maintained on a regular basis. It is reviewed annually for link rot and minor changes. To be occasionally alerted to new keeping up resources subscribe to Steven Bell's Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/blendedlib

Sally Pewhairangi has a great blog, Finding Heroes, which is a daily roundup of links to interesting, thought-provoking stories or blog posts relevant to the library and information sector, in New Zealand and the rest of the world. You can subscribe via email, download the app, or follow her on Twitter (@sallyheroes). Sally finds the stories on Twitter and lists the Twitter handle of whoever tweeted the link.

The not-so-subtle subtext of the above three suggestions, is that you may want to use Twitter as a way of keeping up-to-date, if you aren't already.

Two other great sources of information are the ALIA Weekly newsletter (anyone can subscribe - ALIA members are automatically subscribed), and the PD Postings (ALIA members only).

There are many other ways (I haven't even touched on RSS feeds, going to conferences, going to awesome ALIA Sydney events, podcasts, and many more) - please add your tips for keeping up in the comments.

Amy Croft

@amyecroft

Taking the next step?

It can take courage to take that next step in your LIS career, particularly if (like me) you are new to the profession and a bit unsure about your skills.

Those of us who are career change new professionals work with a double edged sword because while our previous experience is valuable, is useful and has provided us with a valid skill set – it’s not in libraries. Likewise, younger new graduates bring enthusiasm and fresh perspectives to balance against their lack of long years of work experience. Regardless of which best describes you, how can we fast track some of those skills onto a path that will then help build a strong LIS resume?

Even if you’re not actively job seeking, it’s useful to continue to build your skills and knowledge so that if an opportunity for your dream job (or one that sets you on the path to your dream job) does present itself, you have some extra confidence to leap! So what can you do? Here’s some of the things I’ve tried.

Get involved at work. Is there a project at work you can put your hand up for? Can you think of a project that needs doing? Can you make it known that you’re happy to fill in for others when needed, or perhaps volunteer to do something that has been left undone for a while as it’s not anyone’s favourite task?  You can sell your inexperience as an opportunity for fresh eyes to look at the issue, you’ll probably learn something new and as an extra bonus, you build a reputation as helpful and reliable.

Get involved in a professional association. ALIA has many committees and groups you can be a part of, including specialist new graduate ones or groups based around a geographic area or particular area of interest, but ALIA is also not the only LIS professional association. If you are working in a special library, law library, public library, health library or school library there is an association or group out there to suit you. Get your librarian skills on and google it today!

These groups and associations run social events and training that are both useful and helpful, but I think the real value is in getting involved on the organising side. I joined the ALIA New Generation Advisory Committee (NGAC) in 2010 as a brand new LIS professional and consider it one of the better career decisions I’ve made so far. I’ve developed valuable contacts (that in some cases have since become friends) but I’ve also learned a lot about collaborating with others to develop and provide strategic level advice to the ALIA Board. I recently stepped into the role of Chair of this committee and that is bringing another skill set with it as I write agendas, manage teleconferences and work as the connection between the committee and ALIA national office. All of this adds ‘CV sparkle’, but more importantly, builds my skills and the confidence to use them.

Get yourself a PLN. A personal learning network, or PLN, can be a valuable tool. It gives you contacts in the profession but also works to give you a sounding board for your ideas, virtual colleagues if you are isolated professionally (as I was in my first job working in a one person library) and people to meet up with when you eventually get to attend conferences, PD events or even travel interstate for training and development opportunities. I got my PLN up and running almost by accident – I joined twitter when I joined NGAC as everyone else on the committee was on twitter and I was pulled into a world of LIS folk swapping stories, sharing ideas, triumphs and failures and generally acting as a support network across the country.

Your PLN doesn’t have to be in cyber space. I have changed jobs and no longer work alone, so have been able to add ‘real life’ colleagues to my PLN. I love tapping into the different experiences staff here have had, it adds to my knowledge and often gives me ideas for further investigation or research.

So, if you’re thinking that perhaps you don’t want to stay in your job forever (no matter how satisfied you may be with it at present) and you want to have a bit of extra confidence to reach a little bit further for the next job, perhaps give some of these a go.

Oh, and we’re currently looking for new members for NGAC! Are you a new professional? Interested? Have a look at the expression of interest and perhaps drop me a line.

Clare McKenzie

Clare is an Outreach Librarian at UNSW and the current chair of the ALIA New Generation Advisory Committee. She tweets as @newgradlib.