tfpl blog

TFPL's latest charity drive

Fans of the Archers will know that Lillian, the lady of a certain age and capacity to enjoy herself, has given up alcohol for Lent in order to raise money for the local cricket team.  We are very pleased that the script writers have followed our example.  TFPL's very own version of Lillian did the same thing two years ago and raised £700 for Macmillan Cancer Relief.  She is taking up the challenge again this year.  Lent started yesterday and so far we can report 100% success.

Angela Abell is raising money for Macmillan Cancer Relief by going on the wagon for Lent.  If you are interested in sponsoring her, please contact her on angela.abell@tfpl.com

TFPL sponsors student prize at Northumbria University

TFPL is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the TFPL Prize for High Achievement.  The prize, granted to a student in Northumbria University's School of Computing, Engineering and Information Sciences, will be awarded in July 2007.  The winning student will receive a place on a TFPL training course of their choice plus an additional £200 to cover travel and accommodation expenses.

Librarian on stage

'Underneath the Lintel', (starring Richard Schiff from The West Wing) is currently playing at the Duchess Theatre in London.  The intriguing plot involves a librarian trying to solve the mystery of why a book has been returned 113 years late.  The TFPL drama club plans to see the play in the next couple of week and members will post reviews on the blog!

New addition to the TFPL contract recruitment team

Claire Thompson started last week as our newest addition to the contract recruitment team. Here is a very brief bio from Claire.

"I graduated in Philosophy at Essex University in ‘92 and quickly established an editorial career. Working for firms that included Sweet & Maxwell and the British Standards Institute, I’ve edited everything from legal material to standards covering steel nails and prosthetic limbs! I moved into recruitment what now seems like an age ago (over 7 years) and specialised in the Human Resources and Editorial sectors. Within the Contract /Interim team at TFPL I’ll be focusing on developing the content creation and acquisition side of the market, which is where my experience in editorial recruitment will come into its own."

Professional skills for working beyond the Library (NGLIS conference)

I attended the Network of Government Library and Information Specialists (NGLIS) conference during the week, which was looking at the professional skills that Library and Information Specialists (LIS) need to acquire so they can work in other areas outside of libraries. Presentations were made by a number of senior LIS from different government departments, who spoke about the different roles being carried out by LIS working in areas such as records, intranet and knowledge management. They showed that skills like leadership, project management, good communication and facilitation are required, as well as applying IM skills in areas like content management or intranet publishing. Roger Wilshaw, from Government Skills, the newly licensed Sector Skills Council, outlined the Professional Skills in Government (PSG) programme that provides a framework of skills which will apply for all civil servants. Key message of the day: there are relevant roles beyond the traditional information job market and LIS must develop other core skills to compete in this arena. This was in keeping with the findings from the TFPL research project on e-roles, carried out in 2006, which looked at how IT had affected the emerging and evolving job roles around information management.

Librarian tattoos

Are we really a nation of 'self obsessed yo-yo dieters' as The Daily Telegraph infers from the list of Britain's most borrowed library books?  Reading the TV listings in the same paper I spot yet another body image/Size Zero programme is on tonight - the fourth this week.

Let's put this debate behind us, and instead focus on other ways to change our self image.  Available now from the same suppliers who brought us the Nancy the shushing librarian are these temporary tattoos for librarians.  Born to read indeed!

Changes in the library and information profession

If anyone can grab a copy of this week ' s CILIP Gazette there is a great feature called Time for information people to push back (sorry, no online link).  The job market for information professionals is changing, our director of recruitment Darron Chapman makes some interesting points regarding the need for “information professionals to reinvent themselves, push the boundaries!”

People are expecting a wider scope of services and other professions are moving into information management. We can now often include IT, new media and content management in this space, therefore it is time the information professional reclaimed some the territory!

New ROI of blogging report from Forrester

Personally I don’t feel the need to scan a spreadsheet quantifying the cost v benefits of blogging, however, more and more I am asked to do just that (which I find frustrating in that Scully/ Mulder, sceptic/believer sort of way). So here is a great post outlining some research Forrester is doing on the ROI of blogging.

Within fifteen years information will be delivered to the desktop untouched by human hand

We held a lively debate at the Bath Club

on the 31st January. The debate entitled "This house believes that within fifteen years information will be delivered to the desktop untouched by human hand." was met with a lively conversation and an audience with differing views on the subject. For me there was much to think about on the subject in my role to second the motion, following Ian McEwan from the Metropolitan Police, as proposer. Although I stuck to my brief during the debate, I left it personally rethinking some basic principles. Here are my top ten thoughts on automate vs manual.

1. Humans can be unreliable and do not always appreciate the importance of tagging and preparing documents for distribution and consumption.

2. Whilst computers are consistent they lack intuition, interpretation and insight when automating the publication and distribution of information

3. A combination of the two is most probably the more realistic and practical approach. (Chris Collison's third motion proposal!)

4. The vendors have promised too much in the past and left the market with an unhealthy amount of scepticism about the true accuracy of automation.

5. It could be time to reassess the manual vs automated option.

6. We have come a long way in 15 years but where will technology be in another 15 years. Will we be swept along by Moore's Law or will we maintain control over our information and change little?

7.Information Retrieval and Records Management may require different levels of control and this may vary across information assets and different organisations. Therefore, "one rule fits all" may not work.

8.There is a cultural, emotional or personal influence in this debate. Difficult to put your finger on what but individuals are influencing the outcome of organisations information policies and practice.

9. Some organisations are already automating their information management but there will always be a human at both ends of the communication pipe so let's not forget to build usable interfaces.

10.Whenever someone comes up with a top ten they are never exhaustive otherwise the list would most probably be 9 or 11!

Our chair's (Jaqueline Rees, from HM Treasury) introductory slide  "no humans required" is I suspect still a far cry. We may have to wait more than 15 years for the wonderful world of sitting on the beach, sipping cocktails, telepathically receiving precise data onto our sunglasses. Long may the debate rage on!!!!