Remote Enquiry Services - anyone using text / SMS?

We have started looking at options for remote enquiry services, when I say started, I mean we are literally just starting. Previous investigations into Meebo and a couple of commercial messenger-style packages have been carried out and we are now revisiting these ideas in a wider context, also looking at text services for example.

There are already various options being used by a range of libraries, for example;

Wolverhampton Learning Centres are using ASSIST chat service and backing it up with the Ask A Librarian web form for when ASSIST is not staffed. This is a fairly popular model also being used by the University of South Australia. There is also the 24 hour chat option such as the People's Network Enquire service currently used by public libraries in the UK.

At Warwick Uni the IT Services team already uses a text service to provide information to students on where there are avaialble PC's on campus. But this is quite a specific service, not catering for other queries.

We already have Facebook and Twitter and a couple of enquiries have been fielded via these routes, but literally only a couple. They are more helpful for getting information out, rather than getting questions in.

Does anyone have a service for remote enquiries already, outside of the ususal phone and email options?

Is anyone using text services for Library enquiries? I'd be interested to hear about them.

Its been a while. . .

It seems ages since I blogged, and so much has happened since then (I've been extremely busy with my new job and personal stuff so things on the blogging/tweeting/gernally CILIPy side have had to give way for a while).

I suppose I can't really write anything at this point without mentioning the CILIP AGM. I was pleased to read that at the AGM this year there were more proxy votes submitted than in any other year. That's great, we need more member engagement.

As I'm sure everybody knows by now, voters overall were in favour of the rise in membership fees, and while I know this will make some members very unhappy, I do hope the £7 increase won't put anyone off renewing for next year. The decison, after all, was made by voting members.

CILIP made some effort this year to get the content of the AGM out to members on the web. I have to admit I have been impressed with CILIPs general, and Web 2.0 engagement with members since the big debates earlier in the year. The AGM was blogged and you can, of course, see a basic summary along with the official documentation on the CILIP web site.

And general CILIP Web 2.0 presence has been great,with increased blogging from a range of CILIP staff and services (many of the blog posts being included in the news feed on the CILIP web site), and  CILIP Training, CILIP Quals, CILIP Info and several individual members of CILIP staff getting stuck in to tweeting. I've created a list of all the CILIP tweeters I've found so far and if anyone knows of any more I'd be grateful if you let me know.

Anyway, thats all abotu I have time for right now, but I'll be trying to blog more frequently now that term 1 is over half way through and work, hopefully will be a bit less hectic for a while.

CILIP send excellent email about AGM - have you signed up for CILIP e-bulletins?

If you are not subscribed to the News from CILIP emails, here's one reason you should be, subscribers received an email today, which I have reproduced below in full (just without the pictures). . .

If you would like to sign up for email news from CILIP you need to register with the CILIP website you can then sign up for e-bulletins. Registering with the CILIP web site also allows you to get involved with CILIP Communities and receive e-information from your Branch and Groups.

The email sent out today reads as follows, and is great news for anyone who is interested in the AGM but cannot attend:

____________________________________________

This Special Edition of News from CILIP tells you all you need to know about CILIP's AGM 2009. If you can't attend in person then you can vote by proxy or get involved informally through social networking - see below.

CILIP Treasurer Nigel Macartney blogs about his proposals to change subscription rates.

After the Treasurer's subscription strategy and proposals for rates in 2010 were published in Gazette, there has been considerable online comment and discussion. Nigel Macartney answers key questions posed during the past few weeks on the Information & Advice Blog.

The Treasurer makes recommendations about membership subscription rates. Council have endorsed his 2010 proposals, which are now considered by the membership at the AGM.
 
Coming to the AGM?

All members of CILIP are welcome to attend the AGM, but only Personal Members, not Organisation Member representatives, have the right to vote.
To attend register online
 
Start time: 3.30pm

Date: Thursday 15 October 2009
Location: Brunei Gallery, The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London

Proxy voting - deadline 3.30pm 13 October

Personal members who can't attend the AGM and want to vote on a number of issues can submit a Proxy Voting Form. To download the form and for guidance in completing it visit www.cilip.org.uk/agm2009. Alternatively request a Proxy Voting Form from CILI'P's Governance Unit at governance@cilip.org.uk. Proxy Voting Forms must be received by 3.30pm on Tuesday 13 October 2009.

Return by post to The Secretary, Governance Unit, CILIP, 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE, or by email to governance@cilip.org.uk

If you don't know someone who will be at the AGM then name "Chair of the meeting" as your proxy and their address as "7 Ridgmount St"
 
Social networking at the AGM

Posts from the AGM will be posted on The CILIP Council blog and Twitter during proceedings so members unable to attend can keep up to date with the issues being discussed . Comments are welcome, but cannot be included as part of the proceedings.

Blogging: CILIP Trustee Isabel Hood, will be blogging live from the AGM

Twitter: The hash tag for the AGM is #cilipagm. Hash tags group Tweets (posts) in Twitter so conversations on a topic appear in one place. For more information see the Twitter fan wiki.

Members wishing to access wi-fi at the AGM should purchase a BT Openzone voucher prior to the event or from the University Reception Desk on the day.

Library Routes

The Library Routes Project is looking at how librarians got into their careers and a wikki has been created to allow librarians to document their own experiences and share them with other professionals, or with those interested in following a career in librarianship.

Well, here is my story. . .

Brief history of my education and early employment:

• 1996 Did A-levels and went to Nottingham Uni to do Philosophy, but left after 1 semester because I realised I just didnt want to be at uni. at that time
• Spent some time volunteering in Birmingham with CSV (part time working with adults with learning disabilities and part time as a live-in carer for a lady with cerebral palsy)
• Also got involved with the Bridgnorth African Project - partly fund raising and partly preparing for spending a summer fact finding in Tanzania (which I did in 2000)
• 2000 went back to Uni in Hull and started a degree in Psychology (went to Tanzania during the first summer vacation)
• Graduated in 2003 and got my first graduate job in head injury rehab with REACH
• Needed full time work to pay the bills so took a job as an Attendance Monitor at Hull College - looking out for attendance patterns in students and working to keep students in college and help them with a range of problems which were preventing them from acheiving
• 2004 Left Hull and moved back to Nottingham, took the first job I was offered working in the call centre at NHS Direct this was my first information job, but it was VERY stressful, with very anti-social shift work and often dealing with calls from very distressed people (everything from suicide attempts to domestic violence via the usual tooth ache and medication queries)

So how did that lot lead into libraries? 

After working at NHS Direct for about 9 months I decided I just didnt want the stress anymore and I started applying for all kinds of jobs, just to get out of the one I was in. I had no particular plans to work in libraries, but I had really enjoyed the work at Hull College and started looking at jobs in education in general. After being turned down after a couple of interviews I was offered a job at New College Nottingham's 6th Form library.

I loved that job! 

I have to admit, I used to be one of those people who (shudder) thought librarians stamped books all day. I was so surprised at how much was involved and how much training was on offer, and I took all the courses I could, including everything from web design to customer service, and eventually joined CILIP and completed my NVQ2 in Library and Information Services.

I was there for a couple of years before I decided I was ready to move out of my comfort zone and start looking for other posts. I started working at Wolverhampton University's Harrison Learning Centre in 2005 as an Academic Information Assistant delivering a roving enquiry service. (This is where I met Jo Alcock and decided I wanted a job like the one she had at the time). The original job I took at Wolves was part time, and so allowed me to apply for other part time jobs at Wolves, and before I knew what had happened I was also working with the Electronic Resources team looking after subscription set-ups, taking enquiries and collating usage statistics AND working on a reclassification project - giving me 3 seperate jobs at Wolverhampton for a while.

At the end of that academic year (all the jobs were fixed term contracts) I started looking around and found my first "proper" job at Warwick Uni Library. Full time permanent contract in the Academic Support team, working with Science and Medicine.

In the three years I had that post I managed to pass my CILIP chartership (which is what got me into blogging) and gain a Post Graduate Award in E-learning for Academic and Professional Practice. I also joined the committee of CILIP West Midlands, on which I am now very active.

Warwick have restructured this summer and I started my new post as Enquiries Support Officer last week. This new post presents many great new opportunities, it will be the first time I have managed staff and will also involve me in the set up and running of brand new services. I'm really looking forward to where it might take me next. . .

If you would like to share your story, or read the stories of others, go to the Library Routes Project Wikki and have your say.

1st day in my new job

Yesterday was officially my first day as Enquiries Support Officer following the Warwick Library restructuring (I was previously the Information Assistant in the Science Subject Team).

The new post has quite a big remit, has potential for masses of development work, and sees me move from Academic Support into Client Services, so I have a brand new manager and a brand new set of team mates (new to me anyway - fortunately they have been in post a while, so I can ask them lots of questions while I'm finding my feet).

It is very sad to be leaving the Science Team. Helen, Sam and Charlotte have been fantastic to work with, and have accepted all my silliness as if it's almost normal (I even spotted Sam wearing my monkey head the other day - wish I'd had a camera). Of course the change of office won't stop me from sneaking back upstairs occasionally and defacing their team notice board - you've gotta keep people on the ball!

So yesterday I moved to my new desk, in the Customer Services office which is home to a range of Customer Services staff including the incredibly helpful Supervisors who have informed me of the only office rule (which I shamefully have already broken!)

"No fruit unless it's covered in chocolate!"

(My bag of apples has now been skillfully hidden amongst the magazine holders on my desk where I am storing various bits of project work - shhhhhhh! Don't tell anyone).

So I have all my work and training notes down here now, and my desk is starting to feel like mine, my PC has moved with me, so I wont have to download all my favourite bits of software again, and there is quite an impressive supply of biscuits :-)

Now that I've moved I need to get to grips with my new post - term starts on Monday and next week I'll be trying to get an overview of how enquiries are currently being received and referred so I can start investigating ways of offering additional support to front line staff and to students around the building.

I also need to complete the handovers of project work from my previous role to the people who will now be dealing with those areas, prepare for my new staff arriving, and start work to co-ordinate the library induction tours which will be up and running ASAP.

It is a time of big changes here, and it's a bit daunting, but things are starting to take shape, and I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into something new and different.

Want a quick and easy way to show support for schools libraries? Click here. . .

CILIP Trustee Bruce Royan has sent an email to Lis-Link drumming up support for the Schools Libraries petition. . .

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make school libraries statutory."

You can sign up at:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/literacy/

New issue of Open Access is now available online

With so much going on in other areas I'm afraid I am posting this a bit late! But the new issue of Open Access is now on line and will be with you in paper form soon if you are a member of CILIP West Midlands.

Editor David Viner has put together a great issue focussing on Web 2 and looking at various projects running in West Midlands libraries, and the uses that West Midlands librarians are making of Web 2 tools and social networking.

Article authors include Jo Alcock, Jess Duffield, Amelia Luzzi, and there is a even a bit in there from me.

The special Web 2 issue has been released in advance of the half day CILIP West Midlands Web 2 workshops which will be run in December by Phil Bradley. If you are interested in booking a place on one of these workshops please book now to avoid disappointment.

The current issue of Open Access also calls for nominations for new committee members, and includes a reminder about the Thacker-Woods Award, which is a great opportunity for West Midlands Librarians to gain recognition (not to mention a pretty good prize!).

Give it a read - you never know what you might find out!

Open publication - Free publishing - More library

Don't forget, you can also follow CILIP West Midlands on Twitter, join the Facebook Group, and subscribe to the blog to keep up to date on branch activities.