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February Update – the one that considers the MLIS

February 2014 Update (no volume or part numbers I can find?) pops out of the plastic wrapper and spends an hour with me on the 20 bus after the Central Line goes into meltdown.

A few things catch my eye in the news section this time.

The CILIP VLE goes live.  I had a rummage at the time but have not yet got to grips with it (not least as login is a pain – can you login without going to the main CILIP site yet?). Getting to grips with it is on the list as part of revalidation plan.

There is an item on an NIHR publication (PDF) that includes the use of evidence by health managers. I could do with boosting the support for this group in the Trusts I work with so added to the reading pile.

There is an update on progress with books on prescription since the offer in this area by SCL / Reading Agency. Presents it somewhat as an overnight sensation, when it is clearly built on steady progress over many years, but it makes sense to try any lever to secure more work of this kind.

Finally there is the “Access to research” pilot as part of Finch. I had a look at the time of launch but my public library was not then in the scheme. The onsite only search tool, non commercial use clause and no downloading makes this a fairly restrictive pilot. How much time can people get on a PC? How might they be supported to print or download things they actually need?

The campaign for the right to e-read seems a vital one in terms of the future of public libraries. Good to see somewhere the professional body is involved in pushing for the needs of readers. The APPG meeting is mentioned as being back in 2012 which seems a little old even without my belated reading.

The Phil Bradley column is handy as ever.  BigHugeLabs looks a nifty tool.

The future skills section is the regular annual round up to frame the LIS school adverts. Given the debate about the merits of LIS qualifications this article provides some interesting perspectives around the balance between theory / practice and specific / generic. It sounds a good idea that accreditation of courses is now against the PKSB though at the time of the article my alma mater was not accredited.  I really enjoyed my MSc and the opportunity it gave me to really get involved with my topics.  I picked the course carefully as I wanted to work in health libraries and this is a strength at Sheffield. There were things I enjoyed less but most aspects of the course felt relevant and interesting to me (though my threshold for interesting may be lower than yours). I appreciate my view was perhaps coloured by studying full time and with financial support.  I can see how those paying for the course and working through out might have less room to think and different expectations.

Lawbore – looks a brilliantly tailored resource for law students and a powerful advert for City University and their Library Services. Serving students and reaching out it creates a community before and beyond University. I like the fact it has a specific URL.

There then follows stuff about RDA, special collections in Bradford and rare books. Nice pictures but not much else for me (though light exposure of this kind to RDA is probably a good thing).

An item on online mentoring was useful for the more generally applicable practical tips about online meetings. Working in this way is clearly on the rise. New library PCs at work have a built in webcam and Lync also supports screen sharing and online chat. This seems a logical avenue of advance for support at the point of need. Whisper it but I even saw glimmers of a move away from XP in the NHS yesterday.

Last up I was fascinated by the article on collection development for economics (great to see someone from outside the profession pushing debate in this area). While the article is immediately useful to those working with the subject the broader questions about how we carry out the task of maintaining a collection beyond the prevailing view point are applicable generally.  In my view we cannot be neutral collectors but must be inquisitive and open.

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January Update – the one with the familiar faces

Having sorted through the pile and discarded an issue from 2013 that mysteriously lacked several pages (possibly used to wrap a gift?) my CILIP Update catch up begins in January 2014.

The news section has not benefited from the passage of time.  I am very aware of having seen the turbulence from any major story on Twitter. The exceptions are a number of  rather churnalistic looking items on products and companies though nothing of note.

The first item of interest is some promotion of Sage QR enhanced ebooks. Moves to create something more than the paper book are welcome.  I am unconvinced of the convenience of things like chapter related answers not being in the book itself.  There is also not much in the way of discussion of licencing and plenty about DRM.

Having been till last year on the CILIP in London Branch committee I was impressed by the report of the North West Branch and Careers Development Group merger. The first familiar face crops with David Stewart.  The NW Branch clearly had a strong programme and it looks like this merger should help revive CDG activity in the area. London is perhaps struggling a bit on both Branch and CDG side with a small number of people involved considering the size of the membership.  I was involved in organising events for London branch and note that they are currently recruiting someone into this role. I really valued the CILIP in London evening events both for hearing about something of general professional interest and as a chance to meet interesting people.  I hope someone will pick it up and run with it. While setting up events is helpful I wonder if there might be a bigger benefit to members from providing tools and a forum to support the generation of multiple small events using something akin to Meetup? How could the London Members Network better support professional activity in the capital?

I had the pleasure of working with one of the instigators of The informed when on CILIP London Branch (Elly O’Brien), have met @ijclark and know Jennie through Twitter so the creation of this online space for professional  was not news to me.  It was good to read about how they used online tools to bring an idea rapidly to life.  The creation of an independent spae to host things is a useful one. It also makes me aware that my own blog reading has been slightly less intermittent than my blogging but still needs to be placed back on a more regular footing.

With my health hat on I was pleased to read about initiatives around dementia care through public libraries.  Important that this is commissioned and funded activity rather than something put together within existing resource.  The checklist sounded rather extensive. It was disappointing that while research evidence was mentioned the details of the papers were lacking.  Nice to spot another familar name in Helen Towers known from days before either of us worked in libraries.

Next on the roll call of familiar folk came Scott Gibbens (NHS Content days gone by) writing about the JISC historic books interface. Not my field but interesting in terms of work to combine fields and allow more powerful cross searching.  I spend a fair bit of time training and am regularly depressed by how primitive LIS systems tend to be.

A final familiar face was Adam Ray from my current employer KCL! I had already heard about his trip to Ghent via the staff blog and a presentation but it was great to see the pictures.

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Hatching a plan

Since I started in my current post I have been busily engaged in all sorts of new experiences.  I have moved from my familiar NHS environment to a higher education institute.  From a small team to one with a couple of hundred people in it.  From being a head of my own little world to finding my way in a bigger structure.

I have been very active and have learnt a great deal.  I have not done much in the way of blogging (ahem) and have been intermittent on some of my other activities.  The plan is to carry out a quick loop of revalidation of my MCLIP.  As part of that I am going to carry out a cavalry charge catch up through the the pile of CILIP Updates that have been slowly accumulating where I tidy my work gear at home.

The revalidation process now requires at least 20 hours of CPD per year and this can include professional reading.  Interested to know if others are regularly commenting on what they find in Update and how people integrate it into their practice?

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Hello world!

Welcome to this blog where you will hopefully find “Words about matters of interest to a health librarian”.

I previously blogged as part of the group blog (the) Health Informaticist.  Posts have been few and far between in recent times as various members left health roles or the country and so on. I probably already used it to post a few things that would have been better placed on an individually owned blog. So (the) Health Informaticist is going into mothballs (there is still stuff worth reading on there!) and Evidently has arrived.