Thing 20 Advocacy and Engagement

Thing 20 Advocacy and Engagement

Exercise 1: Name three detrimental effects to a local community when a public library is closed.

A: There would be no free access to information and books, no place were all sections of the community would be welcome, our children and young people might not have access to computers and printing after school to enable them to do their homework’s.

Exercise 2: Find a Library Strategic Plan in Ireland or beyond for a library of any size.  Identify three ways in which the strategic plan also advocates for the Library Service.

A: I looked at Libraries NI Corporate Plan 2016-2020, one of its corporate goals is looking at contributing to social and community wellbeing. The Plan is looking at a Library as a community hub, which is free, inclusive, shared, accessible and trusted space where all ages, cultures and backgrounds are welcome. To enable a wide variety of learning, information and social resources to make a difference to quality of life. This reflects the core values of Librarianship of access and diversity. The Library has a cultural responsibility and Public Libraries in Northern Ireland have a long tradition of collecting and preserving material which relates to our cultural heritage. This gives a sense of place and pride and is important in enriching the community’s understanding of its location and also the past and its role in shaping the present. My local Library had an exhibition of old photographs of past industries in the area and I was able to identify some relatives and got copies of the photographs for my family history. The advocacy of Librarians is needed as it is a changing environment with more digital technologies. Libraries NI plan states ”it is essential that we develop staff’s skills so that they can provide a responsive, effective, user-focused public service that is part of community life in the 21st century”. It is creating an environment to encourage its staff to be creative and innovative.  Giving the staff the tools to deliver and develop customer-focused service.

Exercise 3: Name three ways in which you can demonstrate the impact and value of the library service that you work in or use.

A: The Library service we provide is to National Health Service Employees and Students. The Library provides free training on searching to find relevant research/information quickly and easily. This enables staff to keep up to date with relevant healthcare information. Another service is book request.  We are a small library and therefore can’t stock all the books required but we offer a book request service were we can borrower books from Queen’s University.  This means that the borrowers don’t have to travel a significant distance to get the books and it is more convenient for them. We also have an article request service which is used by a variety of staff and we can get articles for them from within Queen’s University or through Inter-Library Loan. This enables time for staff for staff to be doing their work and can also impact upon patient care.

Exercise 4: Identify three key people (name their role) outside of the library in the wider organisation/community that you need to network with in order to advance the development of the Library Service.

A: Three people/groups we would network with are The Coordinator of the Medical Education Centre, Heads of Trust Departments and Education Coordinators.

The Coordinator of the Medical Education Centre will let us know when student changeover happens and then we can organise promotional material and to be attending induction meetings. We network with the Heads of Departments within the Trust to see what training maybe required and they to let us know if there are any books which would be good to purchase and have in the Library. Education Coordinators liaise with us to do Library Induction tours and to help with new students. We would work with overseas nurses who come to the Trust to work and we help them locate the information they need.

Exercise 5: Write down in 200 words or less an idea for Library Ireland Week for a library you work in or use.

A: Sources of Information - Really Useful Information You Need to Know About Your Library.

The Library is a place traditionally used for borrowing books and getting information.  We can still borrow books but the way we receive information has changed so our Library Service evolved to meet your requirements.

Throughout the week the following workshops are available:

Meet the Library Staff with a Library Induction Tour explaining where everything is located in the Library, the Library facilities, opening hours, printing etc.

How to find a book – searching the catalogue for a book and finding it on the shelves

How to find your way around our Library Website

What are the benefits of Library Membership and how to apply for membership?

How we can support you

Database Training

How to access E-Resources.

Demonstrations on the use of tools such as Canva, Powtoon, Pikochart.

Personnel Information Management

A leaflet could be created summarizing the various services provided, which could be handed out.

Exercise 6: In your opinion what are the three best features of the My Library, By Right Campaign and why?

A: The three best features in my opinion are:

1.      Public’s rights to libraries to recognised and respected because it is the right of the individual to have access to Libraries although some people see it as an extra service and not an integral part of people’s lives.

2.      To promote the provision of a great Library Service.  This is important that the service is promoted so that people see how Library services meet their requirements and then people access the services and then they recognise the good service and tell others.

3.      The value of public Libraries.  Libraries help with digital literacy through workshops held at the Library, they help public health, working towards employment and reading. The value of this cannot be underestimated and people appreciate the help and support they receive.

Exercise 7: In 200 words or less, describe a new area of librarianship that you are passionate about. How would you go about promoting it within the library that you work in and/or the wider library profession?

A: New areas to look at are online tools and have workshops explaining how to use them.  While doing this course I have been looking at Online Tools I have never used before and I can see the benefit of using them in different areas.

Personnel Information Management would be very useful for most people using the Library. Students and staff receive so much information and it is being able to store the information in one place and to retrieve it when necessary. A workshop could be held about the different online management tools and then people could decide which suited them best. The Trust has workshops on One Note and there could be collaboration between the I.T. department and Library Staff to create a workshop.

Another online set of tools to look at is for visual communication. Infographics is a very popular way of displaying information and tools such as Canva and Pikochart can be used to create infographics. A workshop on how to create infographics would be useful. Powtoon would be a great tool for nursing paediatrics. A nurse explained it is hard sometimes to take blood from a child.  I showed Powtoon to the nurse who thought it would be a great way to create a visual to distract a child while bloods are being taken.

Exercise 8: Choose an area of library practice that you feels requires debate.

A Librarian’s skills.

As the service evolves the Librarian needs various skills and the skills required now may not have been needed ten years ago. The Librarian can be juggling so many areas particularly if they are staffing the Library with a small team.

There are different areas with the Library that need to be looked at and workshops created to empower Librarians to do their job. There needs to be a planning group looking at where Libraries are going and look at the skills needed for the Library of the future. 

Exercise 9: Open up the ALA Frontline Advocacy Plan. Complete the plan for a real/fictional advocacy campaign.

Your Frontline Advocacy Plan

Congratulations! You’ve done a lot of creative thinking and planning and now it’s time to put it on paper. You can boil it all down to two easily shared pages.

1.      What is your goal? (What are you trying to accomplish?)

 Helping all Health Professionals

2.      What are your objectives? (Why is it important?)

 •  To support staff with the information they need as this can have an impact on   patient care

•   To help them to find relevant research/information quickly and easily. To provide  the necessary training to access the information.

•   Providing Library facilities that suit their requirements. Adequate study spaces and printing facilities

•   To ensure that the Library is a welcoming environment for them to work.

•   Ensure free access to online books, journals and databases.

3.      What are your strategies? (the activities you’ll do to accomplish your goal)\

·   Provide friendly and helpful staff.

·  Look at the Library environment and see if there was any improvements could be made. Visit other Libraries to look at their use of space.

·  Have Library Inductions to explain how we could help support their work

·  Library Workshops on how to access information

·  Making sure the online books, journals, databases that are relevant are available on the Library Website.  Asking departments for suggestions of books, journals, databases

·  Advertising the library services through social media/ leaflets/emails.

4.      What is your message? (15 words or less)

 The Library is here to help all Health Professionals - your source of information.

5.      What data (or stories) support this message?

·  The Library provides Library Workshops and we get very positive feedback after the workshops through questionnaires.

· When people find the Library, they are impressed with the service and facilities that it provides and they recommend it to others.  Staff appreciate that if they can’t find an article they can contact us and we can get it for them.

· Borrowers also comment on the help and support they receive and occasionally we get a box of sweets as a thank you.

6.      Who is your target audience?

7.       

·        All Health Professionals and Students. 

·        Why should they care?

 They need current up to date information which we can provide or guide them to how to access the information.

8.      How are you going to reach them? What will be your best tools?

·    Library Inductions.

·   Social Media Campaigns.

·   Offering to go to Team Meetings.

·   Advertising Workshops.

·   Library Tours.

·   Pop up Library Events.

·   Student Inductions.

·   Infographic posters explaining services.

·   Promotional Leaflets.

ALA is available to assist libraries facing threats to funding, position reduction, negative state or local legislation, and more.

Contact the ALA Office for Library Advocacy Director, Marci Merola (mmerola@ala.org), or Grassroots Specialist, Megan Cusick (mcusick@ala.org), and let us know how we can help.