librarian – Page 4 – Dumpling in a Hanky

Supporting the middle sag

Well, my last post triggered a lot of discussions: one big thing was that many people identified that they felt the same in regards to losing the momentum to push themselves, but that they didn’t really mention it formally because they felt they couldn’t give any input on how to fix the problem.

But then that’s not right – if you feel you can only speak up when you can fix a problem rather than be able to just identify that the problem exists, then that means there’s a lot of silent people out there, quietly hoping for someone else to see and fix what’s wrong.

So, while talking about this feeling of a need for some sort of support, Bethan Ruddock (@bethanar) and Celine Carty (@cjclib) and I started to try and work out what we felt we needed, and what was possible. Beth said that she was hoping to implement some sort of one-on-one mid-career support within SLA Europe, and Celine said she had been working on something for her group High Visibility Cataloguing (@hvcats). Initially, the ideas were based around providing a personal professional mentor for all career stages, not just for certain situations, like attending a conference for the first time, or when going through a process like Chartership. But then, this relationship can put quite a burden on someone, who’s almost certainly going to be fitting in this supporting around their normal life.

So, what would be more realistic than asking one person to support others? Well, maybe a group? Perhaps something along these lines:

A group of about 6 volunteers, which allows for a good spread on the demands of members time.
Making sure that they’re a mix of people – in different sectors if possible, but in different workplaces for definite.
Providing a secure and private chat space, with the understanding that all discussions happening in that space are entirely confidential, to ensure free communication between group members (a “what happens in Vegas” rule).
Having the facility to allow any member to voluntarily leave any group without having to explain or justify the decision, as people and situations change.

In this way, informal relationships across sectors could be developed, without the expectation of more demanding one-on-one support. However, as relationships naturally form, certain people will inevitably gravitate towards each other, and these may become more personally supportive relationships.

As people’s situations change, they would be likely to shift between supporting, and needing support, and back again.. A fluid system of a private professional group would be more likely to allow this switching back and forth between giving and taking more easily.

Also, being able to see how people in other sectors are working can allow you to look with a more realistic eye at your own workplace and career. Ideas about mutual issues and solutions could be exchanged – for example, if you’re not experienced in giving presentations, but one of your mentor group is, perhaps you could pick up some more detailed and tailored-to-your-specific-situation information than you would if you just put out a general “I need help” email on email lists and social media?

What do you think? Is this something that could work, or that you would take part in?

Careering along

When I look around at the activities of information professional groups, it seems that there’s a disparity. There’s quite often a lot of support and funding available for those who’re just starting out in the profession, but a desert of nothingness for those of us who’re “just getting on with it”.

If you’re a new professional, you have lots of groups to support you as you progress in your early career, various prize funds available for essay and report writing, access to bursaries for conference attendance, eligibility for awards for being new and enthusiastic. But what do you get when you’re past that bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed first 5 years (5 years seems to be the approximate cut-off point for becoming “established” and no longer new).

What happens when you’ve already received a bursary from an organisation earlier in your career and so wouldn’t be eligible for one now, meaning you’re not able to attend events or training? When you’re heavily involved in a project but not at project manager level, so will never be visible as a leader or receive recognition for that? When you’re voluntarily acting as a mentor to other professionals, but not in a formal manner? When you’re motoring along in the middle, not frantically aiming to rule the library world, but just wishing for a bit more support for your “I’m not shouting about this, overall I’m quite satisfied with my current role, but I could do with some help in a few areas” feelings. When you’re doing your day to day work, and wondering how to keep yourself motivated and interested in the wider profession?

It feels to me that I’m entering the normal-career wilderness. I would say mid-career, but I’ve got at least another 30 years of working days ahead of me, so being only 12 or so years into my career I can’t really say I’m in the middle yet! But already I’m feeling it to be much harder to summon up enthusiasm for doing things outside my own core work duties than it was five years ago. I’ve mostly stopped attending things in my own time that previously I would have gone along to, especially those further afield, as it costs me both time and money that I could be spending on myself rather than work activities. I have spent many years doing a lot of things in my spare time to enable and support others in their careers: sitting on committees, organising training and social events, writing articles, mentoring people in various ways. But I’m looking around now, and I’m wondering: who’s doing this for me? I recently revalidated – unlike the Chartership process, this doesn’t require the involvement of a mentor. So somehow, now that I’m not new and have been through an approximation of the system once, I’m meant to be perfectly happy to do this process myself, with no support or interaction from anyone else? Luckily, I organised with a great professional to informally fill this role for me, but again, that was down to me, and involved further effort on my part and theirs rather than any involvement or support that I was being given by the system.

It feels like the profession has sort of gone “well, you’re not new and shiny any more, so on you go, sort yourself out”. But I’m tired, and I just don’t have the ability to endlessly maintain my own enthusiasm in the face of constantly seeing things that I can’t be involved in because I’m “too old/too experienced”. Where’s the ethos that to be a good professional you must constantly evolve and learn? We don’t stop needing that when we stop being new professionals, but it seems that the structures that work for new professionals vaporise when you progress beyond that point.

I’m not all moany – I do get a lot of support from other information professionals on Twitter, and it’s through them that I’ve gained most of my professional involvement over the last few years, but it’s not the same as feeling that there’s some sort of formal structure to support those just getting on with it, and regularly coming up against various issues along the way. And I don’t know what the answer is to this, but I just know that, because I’m neither a “thought leader”, “acknowledged expert” or happy to do conference presentations, I feel that somehow I’m regarded as having less value the longer that I go on in this profession.

Draped in libraries – part two

And (almost) the last part of this epic series of library related items on Etsy…check back tomorrow for the Grand Finale – a single item, of epic expensiveness! Feel free to guess in the comments below about just how expensive the item I’m going to post will be! 😀

Dewey decimal charm bracelet

Library cats fabric

Scrabble tile necklace

Book letter

Wood chip earrings

Library card pouch

Library card catalogue drawers

Individual card catalogue drawer

What would Jane do? sign

Fabric storage basket

Oxford Library scented candle

Library books fabric

Library hair comb

Library book burp cloth

Notecard

Vintage book bookmarks

Pillow

Library mouse customised stamp

Library bag

Badge

Stamped phrase bracelet

Narwhal stamp

Draped in libraries – part one

Library items and imagery are popular for use as both adornments for the body, and the home. These final posts (so many I’ve had to split it into two) covers those types of items, and anything else that might come under the heading of “random libraryish stuff”.