Writing research proposals and publications

After meeting with one of my mentees this week and saying that she should try to write about courses and events as she went along instead of way after the event, I thought I should practice what I preach, especially as I'm working towards my Fellowship.

So here goes..... After studying the PKSB I identified desk research and publication as being an area I was interested in and wanted to work towards for my Fellowship.  One of the reasons being that criteria three asks you to demonstrate what you've done for the library profession.  Research and publications are both ways of achieving that goal.  Not having many written many publications myself, other than brief write ups for various library newsletters, I thought I needed to find out more.

I was fortunate that Cilip ILG (Information Literacy Group) and Cilip LIRG (Library and Information Research Group) organised a workshop on writing for publication in September 2014 at Cilip which fitted the bill.  I must admit I was very dubious about the day as I'm certainly not much of a writer and thought this course might be over my head. 

The course was good and approached the subject of research and publishing articles, step by step:

• decide subject focus
• develop the question
• choose your strategy
• select your method
• arrange the practicalities
• collect data
• analyse findings
• report your findings

Quite a lot of this I knew, in relation to doing a literature review, searching for journal articles, collecting data, obtaining ethics permissions, etc, but it was useful to see the whole process.  As librarians we often help students or researchers find information and show them search techniques which will help their retrieval of articles, however we only see a very small part of the research process.  We don't see how they come up with their research question, or the statistical data they find or how they choose whether to use qualitative or quantitative methodology to analyse their findings.  This course was going to make us do just that! So armed with this methodology we delved deeper into the practicalities of doing the above steps.  I found this much harder than I imagined.

Writing the research question which would help answer our hypothesis was extremely difficult.  It needed to be concise, direct, focused on central issues and could be broken down into multiple smaller questions.  I think I failed miserably and was very grateful to the rest of my group who seemed to have more of an idea than me.  (It was at this point that I felt a lot of the other participants had done a lot of research already in their library roles and I felt out of my depth.)  For the rest of the morning we went on in groups to focus our question and think about the methods we could employ to find out the information we needed.


We also talked about the importance of doing a literature review to see if someone else had already done that research. We discussed what to do if your findings confirmed other studies and how a new angle could be looked at instead.  We also talked about finding that your piece of research broke new ground and the importance of identifying gaps in subject areas that hadn't been looked at previously.

The afternoon turned to writing proposals.  A good research proposal needs to be:

• pitched correctly
• clear and concise
• have the wow factor
• be achievable and realistic
• feasible
• have a degree of originality
• be intelligible to readers with no jargon
• *follow the guidelines given*

We then practiced writing that killer headline, like the Daily Mail which has an immediate impact, followed by a longer sentence with the key points.  Again this wasn't as easy as it sounded.


Writing for publication was next.  The presenter spoke about where to publish, who our audience was and most importantly to read the journal guidelines.  Another tip was to read other articles from the particular journal to give you an idea of how others had written their articles.  We were also told that if you were collaborating with other writers that it was easier for one person to write the first draft and the second person to review it, rather than trying to write it together. Otherwise the article could sound like it had two voices rather than one.  This was useful advice and I will hopefully put this into practice.


The day ended with a run down of some of the library journals we might want to publish in:

• Journal of Information Literacy
• Library and Information Research
• Innovative Practice in Higher Education
• New Review of Academic Librarianship
• Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

The course was very useful, although at the end I wondered if this was more in depth than I wanted. The research and teaching skills course which we had done over the summer, wasn't going to fit into this model as we hadn't sought ethics permission and come up with a research question and proposal.  Perhaps writing it up for Cilip Update or on a blog would be better.  Although if we were doing it a second time perhaps we could think about getting these things ready in case we wanted to publish something.

Having said that in November we did write a proposal for LILAC 2015 to talk about our in-house teaching skills course for librarians, as I felt it was a gap in the information literacy area.  The writing proposals section came in handy for this and must have helped as our submission was accepted.

The presentations for the course are all on slideshare:
Getting started - Alison Brettle

Writing a research proposal - Geoff Walton & Graham Walton

Tips for aspiring authors & meet the journal editors - Jane Secker & Angharad Roberts

Induction Week - October 2014

I always feel the start of term approaching with the arrival of Alumnae Weekend. This heralds two of the busiest weeks of the year for the library in College, where the warmth of welcome is essential to alumnae, new students and parents in making them feel at home within the college.

The library is very much involved in the arrival of freshers on Arrivals Day on Saturday.  Its a very smooth orchestrated affair which has been used for quite a few years.  The students and their parents are shown through the first room where they receive their tutorial pack and accommodation information. They then proceed to the library where we ensure that their cards are added to the Voyager Library Management System, followed by the IT Resource Centre where we make sure they received their email from the University Computing Service (UCS), telling them about their computer information, email and passwords, etc.  We also give them a USB with instructions for logging onto the network in their rooms and sell wired cables to those students who don't have one.  After this they are collected by current students and taken to the Porters Lodge to collect their room key and showed to their rooms.  Usually the Assistant Librarian and Library Assistant deal with adding cards in the library whilst the IT Manager and myself deal with the IT information.  This year was a little different as the UCS had sent out usernames and passwords before the students arrived.  Previously we had been responsible for helping students download their computer passwords from the web.  We did have a couple of issues however with the new system as some emails had been sent to school addresses which had been closed down after the students received their results.  Unfortunately this meant some students couldn't log on until the Monday.  I suggested that a few temporary accounts could be set up so the students could log on until Monday when UCS could resend their details.  This seemed to appease the situation.  This was fed back to UCS by the IT Manager, so hopefully they won't use school email accounts next year.

Library staff also attend Freshers fair on the Monday afternoon which gives us an opportunity to meet the students and hand out library bags with library information.  I chose free bags to give away instead of pens or usb's as we're always asked for bags in the library office. It also enables us to promote the library when the students use them for shopping!  We give library inductions but I also feel its important for students to receive library information in the bags as well. Some students don't attend the inductions or forget what you've said afterwards.

18 months ago, I suggested that we should move time of Freshers Fair to allow graduate attendance. They are often in the departments until 4.30-5pm.  Freshers Fair is now 3-6pm to allow graduates to come and feel part of the student body.  This year though some clubs and societies left early, even though it went on for another hour.  This meant that only a few stalls remained for graduates to look at and some thought the fair was closing up.   I fed this back so it can be included in next years planning.

The student inductions themselves start on the Thursday before Arrivals day for the early arrivals and international students and continue during the first week of term. They consist of a library tour and small online session on electronic resources which are voluntary.  This relates to my own teaching philosophy, that students learn at their own pace, when they want to or more likely when they need to and that essay deadline is looming!  Therefore, when I started at the library 5 years ago, we decided to do away with the compulsory induction.  I expected some discussion with Directors of Study explaining my reasoning but it didn't come.  Surprisingly there was a lot of support for this new idea. People felt that the students had so much to cram into the first 3 days of term, that it gave them the opportunity to have some time to reflect on the fact that they had arrived in Cambridge and what lay before them.   I personally don't feel its a productive use of time for myself or the other library staff giving tours or indeed the students listening if they don't want to be there.

In spite of the inductions being voluntary the attendance numbers have risen over the last 4 years which is very encouraging and shows that students do still want to attend.  Statistics kept of the tour attendances show an increase with a stabilization this year. This academic year (2014-15), saw 154 book and 115 attend.  In the previous academic year, 2013-14, 143 students booked and 116 attended, this was an increase of 45 students on the previous year (2012-13, 99 booked and 71 attended). Figures for earlier years are as follows: 2011-12 show 71 booked and 60 attended and for 2010-11, 71 booked and only 49 attended.

This steady rise of attendance could be because they think it is compulsory or it could be due to the shorter terms and supervisions in Cambridge, which means they need to get going on work straight away and have supervision essays each week. Therefore it is imperative they get to know how the library works very quickly.  Coming from much larger libraries such as UCL, University of Westminster and University of Chester, I got the impression that the students there had a longer lead into the term and weren't necessarily interested in the library until weeks 3 or 4. In our college library it is the end of induction week (week 1) and week 2 where the students utilize the library as they've just been given their first supervision essay.

For the first time this year I collated statistics on the level of students attending. This is mainly because college is looking at the graduate experience as well as the undergraduate experience. The library itself, for example mainly provides books to part 1 of the Tripos, with some provision of key books for part 2.  Books for graduates aren't really catered for, except for those on clinical medicine courses and Mphils in economics.

The attendance broke down into 120 undergraduates booking with 85 attending, 30 graduates booking with 26 attending and 4 PhD students booking and attending.  Its too early to really draw any conclusions as we have no previous data, but we can clearly see that a greater proportion of PhD and graduate students book and attend than undergraduates where the non attendance rate is much higher. This is probably because graduates and PhD student perceptions of libraries and what they can offer is much higher.  Although we also know that first year undergraduate students have a lot freshers events on offer, have lots of meetings to fit in at their departments and forget to cancel appointments or even forget about their bookings altogether.  It will be interesting to see what the figures are next year.

Portfolio building course 19/9/14 - Ely

I was asked to speak to the mentees for certification and chartership about the role of the mentor by Cilip East Candidate Support Officer. However, I found the course useful for myself having signed up for fellowship earlier in the year.

Having attended this course previously in order to assist my mentees and find out about the new regulations I found that I picked up new points second time around.  I gained tips about using the VLE and portfolio and how to upload content from Matthew Wheeler. I didn't know that you could just pick out a key section of a report and reflect on that, I had assumed it would be the whole report. Matthew gave some great tips about "less is more" and that 20 pieces of evidence should be enough between the three criteria. It was a useful reminder to be told to leave out evidence if not covered in your statement. This just goes to show that I am always learning and that different experiences help improve my knowledge and understanding of what is required. I will keep attending this course periodically even if not asked to speak again as it will be valuable to keep refreshing knowledge in order to give relevant and current guidance to my mentees.

Matthew also mentioned some good points for evidence and revalidating in relation to what counted as cpd. "Engaging on twitter", I would have thought hard to define as cpd but it does allow networking and asking questions of others with more experience, as well as receiving answers or advice.  This is particularly useful for lone librarians and for those who haven't been asked to do a particular task before and want to know where to start. I think as technology moves on, we take things for granted and get used to them but the immediacy of twitter in enabling you to get an answer quickly is extraordinary. I think it's easy to forget that cpd can be as simple as networking and talking with colleagues.  As most libraries are being squeezed for funding and having budgets cut, formal training such as courses are perhaps not going to be as high priority in the future.

Moving back to the presentation I gave on the Mentor-Mentee Relationship, I felt it was pitched right, but we'll see from the feedback forms. It's difficult to know how people will react to what you say, however I was asked a good question about whether choosing a mentor from a sector you wished to move into was a good idea. Personally, I think this is an excellent idea, as you can find out if that sector is really for you. The mentor should also be able to put candidates in touch with people who could help and perhaps provide volunteering opportunities.

Whilst listening to other presentations I realised I had perhaps not addressed the question of choosing an experienced mentor over a new mentor in my presentation.  I included it whilst discussing the first slide about mentoring over all. Being able to think on your feet and add things to a presentation as you go along demonstrates constant evaluation of your performance. In relation to new versus experienced mentors,  I feel it's difficult for candidates as they perhaps feel they need someone who's been through the process, which means they want seasoned veterans as it were. At the moment with the new changes and establishment of the VLE, I think new mentors are at a slight advantage as they are coming fresh to the new rules and both experienced and new mentors are in the same boat regarding the changes and new guidelines. I feel new mentors also have a lot to bring, as they may have supported their own staff, as well as encountering many experiences in their career.  They will have also chartered themselves, so will know how it feels to go through the process. New mentors are also able to gain valuable insight by asking seasoned mentors and the Mentor Support Officer for help and guidance through the mentoring process and to give assistance in dealing with questions they've not encounter before. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

I stressed the importance of finding the right mentor for you.  I feel its important to choose someone  supportive and encouraging who can help you achieve your goals. I explained that whilst mentors may be lovely and give more support at the start, we are ultimately facilitators.  This means that as the process goes on we will increasingly ask mentees to think about the answers themselves.  This is normally done by asking open questions, who, what, when, how, where and why? Of course the amount of support given will depend on each individual candidate. Some mentees may have an ability to see the bigger picture and wider context for what they are doing naturally, whilst others may need more encouragement and probing to look outside their specific job role.

I had wanted to ask them to think of what the roles of the mentor and mentee were before showing the slides, so it was more interactive rather than a straight talk.  That wasn't feasible in 10 minutes, there wasn't enough time.

Having said reflect, reflect, reflect, I also realised it was time I followed some of my own and the other speakers advice by starting to keep a log of what I do and to evaluate my performance and what I'm learning. As the recent chartership candidate at the event said, you may always think you'll remember what you did six months on but you won't. It's much better to reflect at the time whilst it's still fresh in your head. Here's to turning over a new leaf.

This course helped me to see things from both sides, firstly, in relation to completing my portfolio and secondly, for helping to answer mentee questions and concerns about filling in the PKSB and utilising the VLE and portfolio sections.

I always enjoy meeting and talking to different people and hope that I am able to contribute to this kind of event again.Mentor-Mentee Relationship

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

Well, after fourteen weeks, (most of those being behind everyone else!), I've finally come to end of the road with Cam23 Things.  Firstly I have to say that I've really enjoyed the course, the "things" I've experienced, and the ability to reflect upon it all.  I'm actually going to miss blogging too :(   Although I think that I will still use this blog to write about my continued use and experience of Web2.0 technologies in libraries.

No matter how much Librarians hate to admit it, Web2.0 tools, have definitely started reshaping the library world, and the services that we can now provide to our students.  The advent of them allows us to reach out to our users, become more interactive and market ourselves and our services in ways that weren't previously possible.

The things which I think are most useful are new methods of communication using social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.  This is a quick, effective means of communicating bite size pieces of information, to keep students up to date with our services.  The use of a Library blog would also give that opportunity, and this is something which I will look at, at a later stage. 

The things that I probably won't use in the library are, Library Thing, Doodle, Slideshare, Flickr and Google Docs.  Mainly because I'm not a fan and I think that there's no point in using something you don't like as you won't keep it up to date.

The things which have surprised me, and I find I've used a lot, especially for my own personal development and current awareness in libraries are; Twitter, Google Reader and blogging.  Twitter and Google Reader are great for keeping up to date with the latest news from other libraries, big stories and the latest developments in our profession.  Blogging has given me even more of an opportunity to reflect on what I do and how I learn as well as being able to reflect on our library service and how we can move forward and improve what we offer.

Wordle, the last thing was definitely funky.  I quite liked the idea that you can create word clouds quickly and simply from a list of words, or from a webpage.  I do think that Wordle could be used as a method of marketing various aspects of a library service.  I've included the Wordle I created of my blogspot.

As Clive Anderson says on "Whose line is it anyway, I'm going to sign off in the style of the Mother Abbess from the Sound of Music:

Climb ev'ry mountain
Ford ev'ry stream
Follow ev'ry rainbow
'Till you find your dream.

Wiki Wa Wa

My main experience of Wiki's up until now has been that of "Wikipedia". While in most cases it can be informative, the main disadvantage is that anyone can edit and add information, which may not necessarily be correct.  I think it's this unreliability, which makes the academic world cautious about the use of Wiki's.

I must admit that I think Wikipedia is ok to use as a starting point, but as librarians we have access to so much much more relevant, peer reviewed information that we tend to marketing to our students.

However Wiki's used in the correct way, can be good at enabling people to collaborate on shared documents and tasks, such as with the Cambridge teachmeet.  The site is easy to edit and means that people who wish to be involved can participate themselves rather than having to get a mediator to post things for them.

I think my main concerns about wiki's, is the content moderation with a shared wiki, who is responsible for that aspect?  Everyone or just one person?  It could lead to problems if someone else edits what you have written and your not happy them doing that.

We do have the basis of a Library wiki, in fact we have one hung off the IT Managers Wiki, which he used all the time as document storage for students documents.  Unfortunately ours isn't yet used, except as a means for accessing the library calendar off site.  So I think a watch this space is possible if I can think how and what to put up on it!

"Librarians do Gaga" or the delights of podcasting and YouTube!

Podcasting is great idea, enabling people to watch or listen to video casts or audio casts whilst on the move.  This is increasingly more common as people have ipods, phones and mp3 players, not to mention laptops and home computers.

Libraries have already tapped into this world, in order to get information and training on available resources, out to remote users.  The Cheshire Public Library podcasts are aimed at teenage users, and include their writings and music.  This is very good method of libraries marketing themselves and appealing to their users.

At a previous job we decided to make podcasts via Camtasia for our overseas students, as they don't receive the same face to face inductions about library resources.  The main ones we made were accessing journals online due to the problems faced by some journal providers not recognising our students Athens accounts off site and using databases (unfortunately I do not have access to show them here). As a remote student, this can be very frustrating and its not always possible to speak to a library staff member if your working after 9pm.  The first tip we learned about podcasting is making sure you have a script to work from.  Most of the libraries shown in thing 21 examples, have also included the scripts on their pages which is very useful if students wish to have a handout as well.

YouTube is another good way of making video's to advertise library services.  I like the plagiarism one, even though it had English subtitles, as it was different, fresh and enjoyable to watch.  Another favourite as the title of this post suggest is "Librarians do Gaga", Miss Crail and I have previous wondered how much this could be used as a fun introduction to databases, although apparently gin may be needed to do something similar ourselves!

Other you tube library related video's I like is the Cookie monster in the library and Library card.

Ghostbusters, The L team and The University of Liverpool's 1920's silent film on using databases and electronic resources (is very slick and well done).  The trick of using well known songs, TV shows and genre is an excellent way of making sure people view and keep watching your video or podcast.

In some ways one of the main disadvantages I find, is making a podcast interesting and funny, which will keep the student interest and make them remember the content.

Googling around again or not!

I hope that my fellow Cam23ers won't mind me not re-exploring Google Docs for Cam23, as I've used it previously, so will comment on my experiences from then, in order to catch up with everyone else who's finished already!

Firstly I have to say that although on the surface it seemed a great idea, the reality for me wasn't great.  In my last job a fellow colleague definitely had the Google Docs bug and encouraged us all to use it for sharing documents.  I realise that the main advantage of Google Docs, enables you to access your documents anywhere and make edits, along with the provision to work collaboratively and share documents.  However I have to agree with Adian's post on Google Docs, as although Google provides a "lite" version, it doesn't allow for the same functionality as Word.  And this is the main disadvantage I find with some of these Online products.

Secondly I did however try to add some further tips to "News from Nowhere's" Moving House Document.  So the collaboration aspect does work quite well, although having read some posts I notice that some Cam23ers have had problems with sharing their documents.

Thirdly I know that I will end up using Google Docs as more collaboratively programs develop with other librarians in Cambridge and maybe even within my College, but I have to say that although its useful in a limited way, I'm still not a fan.