Placement, Rockhampton Regional Library Sept/Oct 2012 January 3, 2013

I undertook a fantastic range of activities while on placement. and was supported by fantastic staff in my learning. Key activities included:

Shelving Support

Each day I spent time in the non-fiction section of the Library, re-shelving returns and tidying/pulling forward books. All staff spent a part of their day on this activity.  Library Assistants spent more time than the qualified Librarians on this activity. This was a great time for thinking about the day, and to get a real understanding of this seemingly “never ending” task in a library of this size.

Reference Project

I was given the task of reviewing the Library Reference area of the collection.  This was an independent task and I enjoyed applying the principles learnt in ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum in making recommendations for culling/disposal.  One of the issues facing this area of the collection was a lack of use by clients along with age of resources.

Kids Holiday Program – Wimpy Kid Olympics

I absolutely loved this part of my placement!  I was involved initially in helping to set up the program, and then was given the responsibility of running this solo as the designated staff member was needed at another Library for one of the program days.  We had a great roll up of children for the activities (36 on one day), with some of these coming from my school. 

TechnoTots Program

The TechnoTots Program sounded great, unfortunately there were no attendees on the day I was assisting with it.  I did, however, get to do up the program for the following weeks activities.

Shelf Signage Project

This was another independent task I was given during my placement.  The library collection was moved approximately three years ago to a new building.  This is a beautiful venue with lots of open space, but quite sadly, designed by architects and not librarians!  As a result, shelves are arranged in an architecturally aesthetic manner, but it is like a maze to work in order through the sections of the library.  I prepared and presented a proposal to library management with recommendations on reorganising the main area of the library, including floor plan/shelf position proposals.

Home Delivery

The library offers a home delivery service to users unable to attend and borrow in person.  This is a free service that I had no idea existed until my placement.  I was able to spend time helping with organising books for borrowers and then to go out in the car and do a morning delivery/pick up service to one of the nursing homes in Rockhampton.  This was one of the most memorable elements of my placement as it really struck home the way the Library was meeting the needs of their users – and more importantly, how valuable this service was to the people using it.  I can see linkages to my own role at school with this service.  When students are on extended leave from school for a variety of reasons we send home work, but we don’t send home library books.  Something to change from 2013!

Overview/Support of COIN Academy

COIN is a project that provides basic computer skills training to members of the Library.  I was given a very comprehensive overview of the program and, while I didn’t get to assist with any formal courses, was able to support users on an ad-hoc basis with MS-Word and email needs.  I was really impressed with the range of users that access this service. http://coin.org.au/#

Overview/Support – Other Areas

I was also able to spend time in Cataloguing, the Local History Collection, preparing displays and setting up rooms for events, assisting on the Circulation Desk, and supporting returns in the Toy Library.  This was a great overview of what was on offer and a chance to network with some very competent staff in the process.  The processing area for new books provided me with new knowledge and during Term 4 I have used this at school to completely change the product range we use to process our new books. 

Study Visit, Brisbane Square Library, Brisbane – July 2012 October 7, 2012

Friday AM: Brisbane Square Library & Customer Centre
Reflection
Overwhelming statistics and the Booksorter! In the past week these are the two things I have talked most about with peers who have asked me about the study visits. 10 million visitors a year, 95% satisfaction rate – we could all aspire to a customer satisfaction rate like this! I could appreciate the move towards self management of borrowing, again freeing up staff to provide more specialised support to visitors. “Customer focused service is our competitive advantage – we need to maximise it” – this belief shared by Wendy Horwood really summed up well the direction of the library and its role in the community. Sharan Harvey (manager) reinforced this sharing the FACE (friendly, accurate, confident/ competent, efficient) philosophy that she has embedded with staff – I am keen to implement this within my library it has so much potential.
All library staff presented very knowledgably and appeared confident in articulating their shared direction – fantastic!

Evaluation Rating 5/5
Strengths – Having the program shown at the beginning of the presentation gave a clear understanding of how the visit would go. I appreciated the flexibility of staff to manage unforseen circumstances and to modify things as needed.
Weaknesses – not enough time! Will definitely be going back to visit this library when next in Brisbane.

Summary Reflection (What you learned overall)
I had a great week and felt really immersed in a variety of areas that comprise my future profession. It certainly opened my eyes to a lot more options and resources that are out there in the community.

Study Visit, Qld University of Technology, Brisbane – July 2012

Thursday PM: Queensland University of Technology
Reflection
The opening tour gave me a nice clear picture of what was on offer at the QUT Library, how things were set up and an idea of how staff would orientate new students to their campus. It was quite quirky the way the collection was organised in inverted storage order – with Level 5 of the library housing 0-299, Level 4 300-700, and Level 3 800-900. It made sense when the priority of having fiction stored on the bottom levels was explained. The scale of the job for staff in moving and reorganising the collection was scary! The librarians provided some really relevant information including the alignment of all loans to 6 week terms (with some “on hold” conditions) and a focus on automating borrowing giving staff additional time to provide more customised learning support to students.

Evaluation Rating 5/5
Strengths – the organisation of the visit was very professional. Adequate staff were allocated to support our visit and a variety of specialisations made available. The “snappy presentations” were great – very effective way to share lots of information and make us aware of different specialisation areas.
Weaknesses – the map we were given was quite a challenge to follow. Perhaps if the visit is going to be from a city venue out to QUT again – some bus route options might help?

Study Visit, Qld Museum, Brisbane – July 2012

Thursday AM: Queensland Museum Library
Reflection
The presentation from Kathy Buckley (Senior Librarian), provided a great deal of background information and statistics on the operation of the Qld Museum Library. I found an interesting comparison with the Museum Library opening in 1876, while my own school library was founded in 1896 – we certainly don’t have comparable practices in place to care for our resources and perhaps, whilst not being able to reach the standards Qld Museum Library, should certainly be aspiring for a little more rigor in our preservation/care than we currently do. I also found a degree of satisfaction in hearing how their classification system is based on geography – all books from the one place stored together. Obviously the quirks of librarians go far beyond the school libraries I have experience of.

Evaluation Rating 4/5
Strengths – the knowledge held by the staff who supported our visit was fantastic – certainly experts in their field.
Weaknesses – number of students on the tour was probably a little higher than they were used to – was a tight fit in the meeting room area. The visit ended an hour short of the allocated time – perhaps we could have visited parts of the Museum collection as well with this extra time?

Study Visit, Qld State Archives, Brisbane – July 2012

Wednesday PM: Queensland State Archives
Reflection
I learned a lot from the visit to the Qld State Archives – I knew something like this existed somewhere, but any stereotype of an archive I had in my head was totally blown with our tour and the presentation. The state of the art nature of how records are maintained and stored was superb. I wasn’t expecting the building and processes to be quite so professional. The tour and interaction with a variety of staff gave me a good understanding of the processes in place for quarantining incoming materials with staff very willing to answer questions while all the while treating our tour group with professionalism worthy of colleagues and not university students.
I have also picked up some great tips and contacts/processes for planning my own schools 125th anniversary in a few years time!

Evaluation Rating 5/5
Strengths – professionalism of staff, digital presentations very clear and facilities welcoming with staff happy to have 23 people traipsing through their work spaces. For an “out of towner” it was also really really great to find an easy to access facility with a free car park and a cup of tea!
Weaknesses – it was quite difficult at times to hear the presenter during the tour

Study Visit, Qld Parliamentary Library, Brisbane – July 2012

Wednesday AM: QLD Parliamentary Library
Reflection
The resounding element of the Qld Parliamentary Library was the copyright conditions they operate under – how amazing to be able to legally copy absolutely anything (given, of course, that it serves the purpose of assisting a member of Parliament). This allows them to maintain an amazing electronic database of articles from serials for easy access and “on demand” access. I also appreciated the fact that staff of the Library is long term, hold double degrees and really appear to appreciate the value of working in a team valuing each other’s strengths.
The quick visit to the section of the old Parliament House containing the “Reading Room” was enthralling. It is easy to stand there and imagine a time when these rooms were a place of escape and solitude for sitting members. Perhaps a reminder that we need to consider the needs of all users as our libraries become more vibrant, active, and at times very loud hubs of interaction.

Evaluation Rating 4/5
Strengths – presenters were very articulate and complimentary to each others styles. The statistics on research briefs were interesting along with their emphasis on the value of statistics to maintaining and supporting the ongoing battle all libraries seem to be having in justifying their ongoing existence.
Weaknesses – the run through of the Parliamentary website was interesting, but as we are unable to access information from this, perhaps too much time was spent on it?

Study Visit, State Library, Brisbane – July 2012

Tuesday AM: State Library of QLD
Reflection
The State Library visit highlighted for me the diverse range of experience, qualifications and skills people working in the library field possess. The EM Visitor Experience of the State Library of Queensland (first speaker of the morning), clearly articulated that she was not a librarian which set the scene for the day. I appreciated the clarity in which she spoke of the FISH philosophy that is in place in the library and the significance of people as the primary focus for staff and operations and can see direct application of this to my own school library. The passion demonstrated by Gavin (Qld Memory & Heritage Collection), was inspiring and he raised some interesting points for me on how we store and record our school memories. In finishing up the morning Grant (Collection Preservation) provided one of the best definitions of the difference between a restorer and a conservator that I have ever heard.

Evaluation Rating 4/5
Strengths – it was great to have a program shared at the start of the day – gave a real picture of what was coming up and allowed notes and questions to be taken and saved for appropriate staff. All speakers were passionate and inspiring – they are obviously working in the right field for them!
Weaknesses – the issues with presentations and flat laptops was distracting and it was a shame to not see the presentations some staff were unable to show.

Tuesday PM: State Library of QLD
Reflection
The tour of the State Library provided some great background to the actual operations and the logistics of a quite different (and significantly larger) collection than I have had access to before. I have never considered collecting statistics on collection use, as opposed to loans – obviously something the State Library needs to do as they do not loan to the public. This has major implications for me with my current disposal guidelines – just because a book hasn’t gone out for three years doesn’t mean it hasn’t been looked at and been of value to a user – a revelation! Statistics provided in the Collection Access session were also amazing – 3.5 million physical items available for access with only 15% of the collection on open access. Being able to see “behind the scenes” in the collection rooms was a real gift and provided perspective on the scale of storage and organisation needed for a collection of this size.

Evaluation Rating 4/5
Strengths – the tour was a highlight – “behind the scenes” was great.
Weaknesses – the actual day was quite full on – minimal breaks with inadequate time to order lunch and eat in the half hour given. For out of town attendees like myself, being told the day would finish early, only to finish half an hour overtime, threw the carefully arranged times for trains and connections out and became quite a stressful experience for one not used to the public transport system.

Placement Confirmed…. August 19, 2012

I am heading off to Rockhampton Regional Council Library (non sure which one) for my two week placement in the September holidays.  Looking forward to it!