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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 116 of 293

  • Editors’ introduction

  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp xi-xvi

  • Summary

    THIS BOOK OFFERS a selection of papers from the Seventh International Conference on the History of Records and Archives (I-CHORA 7), which took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from July 29 to 31, 2015. I-CHORA was established in 2003 as a biennial conference series to encourage and promote interdisciplinary research into the history of records, recordkeeping practices and recordkeeping institutions. Conferences to date have taken place in Toronto; Amsterdam (twice); Boston; Perth, Australia; London; and Austin, Texas, each attracting between 100 and 130 scholars and professionals from around the world.

    According to the organizers of the first I-CHORA, ‘the impetus for the conference came from the archives community’, which felt the ‘need for greater sophistication in conceiving the history of records to address the issues of human communicative practices and the artefacts themselves as material and social products’ (Craig et al., 2005, 2–3). It was evident from the outset that investigating the origins and evolution of archival ideas and practices, documentary forms and structures, and recordkeeping methods and technologies not only supported archival work and archival thinking but also had a much broader and all-encompassing relevance in that the history of archives is the history of culture. Thus, throughout the years, the conference series has increasingly been promoting an interdisciplinary approach to the study of record making and keeping in different historical contexts.

    By entitling this book Engaging with Records and Archives: histories and theories, which was also the theme of I-CHORA 7, we wanted to emphasize another characteristic of this conference series; that is, the strong belief shared by all conference organizers and participants that engaging in scholarly research around histories and theories of archives and records is essential to ‘develop the maturity and self-awareness of those who work with records’ (Craig et. al., 9). Today, more than ever before, this suggests that everyone, not only archives specialists, would benefit from a deeper and better informed engagement with archival objects and practices as they become increasingly engrained in our daily lives, from the pervasiveness of archival materials on the web, to the use of archive-based knowledge in all sciences, to the uncertainty about the preservation of our digital memories that we may all experience sooner or later.

  • 9 - History and development of information and recordkeeping in Malawi

  • from PART 2 - ENGAGING RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 173-194

  • Summary

    COLONIALISM, DECOLONIZATION AND economic adjustments in Africa are some of the major factors that have enabled public administrations in sub-Saharan Africa to experience four distinct eras. These are: the period prior to colonization; the period around the late 1880s when original African institutions were radically altered and replaced by the Western bureaucratic models; the 1960s, when the colonial bureaucracy was redefined and expanded after independence; and the period from the 1980s and beyond (structural adjustment and New Public Management programmes) when Africa's economic situation tumbled to its lowest ebb and needed major interventions for recovery and growth.

    A sub-Saharan African nation, Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) has experienced four administrative epochs – the pre-colonial, colonial, postcolonial one-party and post-colonial democratic administrations. Through a careful analysis of the literature and official archival records, this chapter traces information sharing and recordkeeping practices during the four administrative dispensations in order to see how information generation and recordkeeping have evolved. While the chapter builds on the works of Mazikana (1986), who presents the development of archival services in Central Africa from the 1920s to the 1960s, and Lovering (2010), who discusses the development of Secretariat registry systems in Zambia and Malawi from the early colonial period to the early 1960s, it looks at pre-colonial information generation, sharing and preservation and offers a more detailed account of the developments of recordkeeping during the colonial and post-colonial periods than is provided by these two authors.

    Pre-colonial administration and ‘record’ keeping

    A description of the native system of government in the Yoruba country by ‘A Native of Yoruba’ (1902) is analogous to most of the pre-colonial tribal governments, such as those of the Chewa, Ngoni and Yao in Nyasaland. According to ‘A Native of Yoruba’, each tribe in the Yoruba country occupied a particular territory, which was regarded as a country on its own. At the apex of the native government was the supreme ruler, the king of the tribe. Different areas of the country were ruled in the name of the king by subordinate chiefs. Under each subordinate chief's jurisdiction were a number of villages, which were headed by village headmen.

  • 10 - History of community archiving in Poland

  • from PART 2 - ENGAGING RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 195-210

  • Summary

    HISTORICALLY, ARCHIVISTS IN Poland have not paid much attention to community archives. Nowadays, however, this challenging area has become a more and more popular field of study for those engaged in research in archival science. I believe, and am supported in this belief by other Polish archivists (e.g. Stępniak, 2012; Czarnota, 2014; Chorążyczewski, 2015), that community archives play an important part in Polish archival reality, due to their considerable number (estimated to be several hundred) and remarkable variety. Moreover, this type of activity – setting up a memory institution from below, spontaneously – is intertwined with a specific stage of development of civil society, as well as historical/archival consciousness. This community archives phase got underway in the West in the latter half of the 20th century (Gilliland and Flinn, 2013; Vitali, 2015), but started much later in Poland, due to its recent history.

    The definition of ‘community archive’ still causes some debate, both in countries that have longer traditions of research in grassroots archiving endeavours (Letimer, n.d.; Flinn, 2007; Flinn, Stevens and Shepherd, 2009; Flinn, 2011; Gilliland and Flinn, 2013; Newman, 2012) and in Poland (Czarnota, 2011; Czarnota, 2012; Ziętal, 2012a; Ziętal, 2012b; Czarnota, 2013; Wiśniewska, 2013; Ziętal, 2013; Chorążyczewski, 2015). In this chapter I use the term ‘community archive’ to describe archives endeavouring to ensure ongoing preservation (or at least those that believe their materials deserve long-term preservation) and set up at the grassroots level, often housed by non-governmental organizations, but also by informal groups and, in some cases, private individuals.

    There has not been any research to date exploring the history of community archiving in Poland as a whole, complex phenomenon, although in the archival literature one can find isolated studies on individual community archives (mostly the large and influential ones) that touch also on the issue of their origins and history. However, they are not rigorous case studies but are rather superficial and of little value. Minimal work has been done relating to the history of individual community archives; similarly, it is not possible to write a complete history of community archiving in Poland, treating grassroots documentary endeavours as a whole phenomenon.

  • 5 - Hidden voices in the archives: pioneering women archivists in early 20th-century England

  • from PART 1 - RETHINKING HISTORIES AND THEORIES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 83-104

  • Summary

    I HAVE BEEN THINKING about the public voice of the archivist, according to Hilary Jenkinson (1948, 31) ‘the most selfless devotee of Truth the modern world produces’. Jenkinson told us that the archivist's career ‘is one of service. He exists in order to make other people's work possible’. Jenkinson also urged the archivist not ‘to import into the collection under his charge what we have been throughout most anxious to keep out of it, an element of his personal judgement’ (Jenkinson, 1937, 149). In other words, archivists should leave their own views aside, should be detached and impartial, should not leave any mark or inscription on the archive, should not be seen and should not be heard. This notion of anonymity is a trope in archival discourse. Archivists dance over the archive imagining that they hardly leave a trace of themselves, of their actions and decisions. Archivists have understood themselves as not apparent in the archive. But, in their actions archivists do leave impressions on the archive; they are at the same time everywhere and nowhere. Can we hear the voice of the archivist? Do archivists document themselves? Or are archivists ‘sans-papiers’, the undocumented, the persons without identity papers (Derrida, 2005, 55)? Derrida examined the link between archives and identity, naming and existing, silence and presence. He reflected on secrecy and openness, the past leaving its traces in the future through the archive, and asked ‘what becomes of its archive when the world of paper … is subordinated to … new machines for virtualization? Is there such a thing as a virtual event? A virtual archive?’ (2005, 2). Or, one might add, a virtual archivist? Are archivists afraid of being identified and named? The phenomena of archives and the voices of archivists are explored in the literatures of other disciplines (Cvetkovich, 2003; Steedman, 2001). But philosophical, historical, literary and feminist writing overwhelms archival science; archivists are in danger of being drowned out, repressed, excluded and hidden.

    I see an analogy between the presence and absence of the archivist in the archive and the voice of women in the public sphere, the right of women to be heard in public discourse.

  • 2 - Organisms, skeletons and the archivist as palaeontologist: metaphors of archival order and reconstruction in context

  • from PART 1 - RETHINKING HISTORIES AND THEORIES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 21-40

  • Summary

    AS ARCHIVISTS, WE know that context is important; that it is, in fact, everything. As scholars, we also know that pretty much everything is context; what surrounds the text is virtually infinite. In the case of the Dutch Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives (Muller, Feith and Fruin, 1920/1940) we know about the immediate Dutch archival context of its composition, that it was grounded in the practices of its authors and their predecessors, and on their discussions with their colleagues at the Netherlands Association of Archivists (Horsman, Ketelaar and Thomassen, 2003; Ketelaar, 1996; Ketelaar, 1997). We also know that the Manual achieved renown not because of the novelty of its ideas, but as a consequence of the thoroughness of its compilation. As Samuel Muller acknowledged, the combination of concepts and principles that it canonized was already ‘in the air’ when the authors set out to write it (Horsman, 2002).

    In articulating those concepts and principles, the Dutch trio used a series of metaphors that has left an indelible imprint on the development of archival science. A common metaphorical thread was woven into the fabric of the discipline, linking archival science to natural history. An archives became an organism possessing a skeleton, record making and keeping were described as a process of accumulation and deposit of sedimentary residues, and the archivist's work was compared to that of the palaeontologist. How did that family of metaphors come to impregnate the theoretical language of archival science in its modern foundational period? Were they as much ‘in the air’ as the concepts and principles that Muller had in mind?

    One can dismiss metaphors as merely ornamental or illustrative resources. Scholars who have examined the use of metaphorical concepts in the scientific sphere agree that some metaphors merely add colour or play a pedagogical role. Yet many others so completely frame our thinking, individually and collectively, that we should think of cognition as being metaphorical. In every field of enquiry, metaphors provide ‘the cognitive means to chart the unknown’ (Klammer and Leonard, 1994, 31).

  • 7 - The bumpy road to transparency: access and secrecy in 19th-century records in the Dutch East Indies

  • from PART 2 - ENGAGING RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 127-146

  • Summary

    Jede auf Kontinuierlichkeit eingerichtete Herrschhaft ist an irgendeinem entscheidenden Punkt Geheimherrschaft.

    (Max Weber)

    THE CONCEPT OF the archive attracts much attention from scholars, who view archives as sites of epistemological power. The postmodern and anthropological attitude towards archives is appealing to those who are captivated by the elements of power they hold and the social significance of archives. Researchers who are interested in colonial archives unhesitatingly use fetching metaphorical descriptions of the archive as ‘a well regulated paper empire’ (Bowen, 2006, 180) or as a ‘collectively imagined junction of all that was known or knowable, a fantastic representation of an epistemological master pattern, a virtual focal point for the heterogeneous local knowledge of metropolis and empire’ (Richards, 1993, 11). Ann Laura Stoler even attributes almost human qualities to the archive in her search for its ‘pulse’ (Stoler, 2009, 17–53). However important and innovative these approaches may be, and notwithstanding the claim many authors make about their focus on archiving-as-a-process rather than on archives-as-things, they generally pay little attention to the daily routines, debates and dilemmas of recordkeeping in the past. In this article I investigate the daily practices of, dilemmas about and debates on record management in the colonial bureaucracy of the Dutch East Indies in the late 19th century. Historical research into the daily practices and dilemmas not only contributes to a better understanding of the continuities and discontinuities in the management of records but also helps us to comprehend the conceptual changes to the archive over time.

    Open access, freedom of information and the right to know versus secrecy, privacy and the right to be forgotten: these conflicting issues play an important role in our present-day information society and largely determine the degree of government transparency. The concept of transparency has a long history, having been an offshoot of the Enlightenment. Transparency is related to the concept of a knowable government, and access to government information is one of the key manifestations of transparency (Scholtes, 2012, 28–35; Frissen, 2016, 31–32). In the Netherlands, the earliest right to access the records of central government was regulated via the issuance of a royal decree in 1856, which was implemented with a companion regulation for the state archive that stated that ‘inhabitants of the kingdom as well as foreigners have access to the archives of the state’ (Ketelaar, 2003, 190–6).

  • 8 - Archival ethics and indigenous justice: conflict or coexistence?

  • from PART 2 - ENGAGING RECORDS AND ARCHIVES
  • Edited by Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, Oliver Gillian
  • Book:
    Engaging with Records and Archives
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2016, pp 147-172

  • Summary

    MUCH HAS BEEN made in the last two decades of the ‘decolonization’ of institutions, theories and practices in the Western world. Archives are no exception. Broadly speaking, decolonization refers to the undoing of colonialism. Within professions it can refer to the recognition of professional theories and practices as being formed by a colonial mind-set, and continuing to assert and maintain the power and interests of the dominant culture. Māori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith (1999, 39) notes in her seminal work, Decolonizing Methodologies: research and indigenous peoples, that decolonization ‘does not mean and has not meant a total rejection of all theory or research or Western knowledge’, but instead ‘is about centring our [Indigenous] concerns and world views and then coming to know and understand theory and research from our own perspectives and for our own purposes’. Given the preponderance of records relating to Indigenous peoples currently held in Western archives, it is necessary to consider how archives may perpetuate colonialism, as well as steps which can be taken towards decolonization.

    Archivists have long taken pride in the implicit and explicit link between archives and justice, but what happens when justice and long-held archival principles are in direct conflict? Using a case study as a launching point, this chapter examines how archival theories of creation, ownership and authorship – born out of Western colonial thought and philosophy – together with archival values of access and preservation, may actually serve to undermine archivists’ efforts to pursue justice and nurture relationships with historically oppressed peoples.

    It contends that the archival community would do well to consider pushing beyond its current practices and Codes of Ethics when making decisions which impact on Indigenous communities, and that true justice may actually lie in the rejection of some of its own long-held theories and practices in favour of actions which respect Indigenous ways of knowing and perspectives of recordkeeping.

    We will begin by setting the stage for the case study by providing contextual information about Indigenous peoples in Canada and about Indigenous knowledge systems. This will be followed by the case study itself, which is an example of an interaction between a non-Indigenous archival institution and Indigenous community members.

  • 72 - Projects

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 186-190

  • Summary

    Projects

    YOUNG (2013, 14) defines projects as ‘Temporary endeavours to achieve some specific objectives in a defined time’. This means that projects are not something which are part of the day-to-day operation of a service, or business as usual. They are a one-off occurrence which is unique and will ultimately result in a change to your service, whether by changing a process, introducing a new product or creating an innovative service. Projects can vary in size and scope, will be of different timescales and will require additional resources, whether financial or human. Projects can range from large-scale national programmes of interconnected projects, interdepartmental working groups or smaller project groups.

    You and your teams will be involved in a number of projects, whether local, for example to implement a new library management system, or a national programme of work, such as the Knowledge for Healthcare Programme (Health Education England, 2014) in the UK. This programme incorporates a number of workstreams, each with a number of smaller task and finish groups which are responsible for delivering specific outcomes. Each task and finish group comprises health library staff from different organizations across England, who are working together to deliver their smaller project outcomes. Your team members may be involved purely in library-based projects, but can also bring their unique specialist skills in knowledge management, evidence or information to interdepartmental organizational projects involving a number of staff from different teams.

    Tools

    Newton (2013) defines a project as having a number of stages, including defining the project, planning the project, identifying resource requirements, delivering the project, managing risks, evaluation and learning lessons. There are a number of tools which can be used to manage projects and whichever you choose is likely to depend on the complexity of the project and your requirements. Check out Tip 73 (p. 190) for more information about project management tools. Project definition and planning are central to ensuring that everyone understands what the project aims to deliver, the resources required and individual roles, and this is discussed in more detail in Tip 100 (p. 266).

  • 82 - Time management

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 213-216

  • Summary

    Time management

    MIND TOOLS (2016A) define time management as ‘the way that you organize and plan how long you spend on specific activities’. Bartlett (2012) suggests that it is not that we don't have enough time, we just need to make the most of it and her article reviews a number of key books and journals available to help LKS staff adopt good techniques. Improving the way that you and your teams manage your workloads will increase productivity, enable you to deliver a more effective service and will remove stressors from within the team.

    Feeling overworked is one of the key reasons that people feel stressed in the workplace and helping your team members to adopt good practice when it comes to managing their workload within the time available can help to alleviate this. You may identify that a member of your team is struggling via regular one-to-ones or during appraisal when they have dedicated time to speak to you about their workload and the difficulties that they face. Alternatively, other members of the team may tell you if a colleague is regularly missing deadlines or appears to be struggling to keep on top of their work. Monitoring feedback from customers can also highlight if there are issues with meeting deadlines within the team.

    Improving an individual's time management skills

    So what can you do to help an individual to improve their approach to time management? As with any issue, the first step is to talk to the team member in order to find out what the problem is and listen to their response. Use your coaching skills to help them to pinpoint the problem and to explore options with a view to finding a solution. It is important that you do not make assumptions about what is happening and also avoid taking on their workload yourself, as this will transfer the problem to you; it will not empower the individual or help them to be accountable for their own work.

    Your role as a manager or supervisor is to listen to the individual and support them. You may find out that they feel overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to complete, or that they are setting unrealistic deadlines. Or there may be issues outside work which are impacting on their ability to focus and manage their workload.

  • 88 - Twitter chats

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 235-237

  • Summary

    Twitter chats

    GETTING INVOLVED IN Twitter chats is a great way to learn and a good way to encourage reflection on learning. They are also a great way of building personal networks. You could set up your own Twitter chat to provide a learning opportunity for yourself, your team members and other LKS staff in the wider network. To do this you need to create a hashtag, tell people about it, tell them what you are going to talk about and set up a time for you all to ‘meet’. Then you would all tweet using the chat hashtag.

    People are using Twitter chats to discuss topical news or subjects in the profession but also as book clubs and journal clubs. Public and school libraries have even organized author chats with children's and young adult's authors. There are several established Twitter chats that you and your staff can get involved in and they will often set an agenda, a number of questions or a topic for people to prepare for:

  • • #uklibchat @uklibchat

  • • #chartership chat

  • • #edchatuk

  • • #ukmedlibs @UKMedLibs.

    • Staff who are undergoing Chartership find the Chartership chat very useful, as they can ask questions and get support from other Chartership candidates.

    In addition to participating in LKS Twitter chats, you can encourage staff within your teams to join conversations that your users are involved in. In the health sector, for example, health professionals may participate in journal club discussions such as #TwitJC or join conversations facilitated by #Wenurses or #WeAHPs. LKS staff can join or observe these discussions to develop their skills in critical appraisal, get ideas for delivery and develop their understanding of LKS users.

    Example from practice: Tom Roper – LKS professional (NHS)

    Inspired by the US #medlibs chat, and by ones like the British #uklibchat and #chartership chats, three of us set up #ukmedlibs, meeting monthly. Participants say they value the informality – ‘you don't have to worry about talking with your mouth full’, said one – and between April 2015 and June 2016 302 people have participated, easily the number that might attend a good-sized professional conference. Following a fast-paced chat can be challenging, so good facilitation is important, and compressing thoughts and communicating clearly within the discipline of 140 characters is a skill that needs to be mastered. Practice makes perfect.

  • 26 - One-to-ones

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 61-63

  • Summary

    REGULAR ONE-TO-ONE MEETINGS with your direct reports are essential to improving communication and establishing good relationships. Meetings can be monthly or weekly, dependent on time constraints or your LKS's needs. Meetings should remain confidential, be open, honest and provide an opportunity for two-way communication. Adair (2007) suggests that the one-to-one can help to create a supportive relationship, ensure clear direction and identify ongoing development needs. Meetings can be informal, used as a way to keep in touch with team members, or can be part of a formal performance management, appraisal or development process.

    Well conducted meetings should be organized to give the individual time to discuss any problems, raise any issues and make suggestions for improving services. You should encourage the individual to use this time to ask you whether they can attend training courses or events which may help them to fulfil the requirements of their job. As a manager it is your role to listen, take suggestions on board, coach staff to find solutions, work with the individual to resolve any issues and essentially follow through on any actions.

    Whilst the one-to-one meeting should provide a safe space for the individual to talk to you, it is also an opportunity for you to address any issues with performance, keep track of projects and objectives and find out what is really important to your team members. Ensure that you give constructive feedback. Crucially you should not dominate the meeting, but you must ensure that you have set time aside to address any issues that you want to discuss. The meeting should not be confrontational and you need to be aware of the power balance in play.

    A well organized meeting will be rewarding, with each participant having a clear understanding of the purpose. An agenda set prior to the meeting ensures that the individual can prepare and it is important that you both review the notes of the previous meeting. A basic template can help to maintain focus for the meeting and could include the following points:

  • • meeting date

  • • areas for discussion – individual

  • • areas for discussion – manager

  • • follow-up actions.

  • 59 - Meetings – attending

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 152-154

  • Summary

    MANY OF US spend a significant proportion of our working week in meetings. Good meetings get things done, they move projects on, assist in achieving individual, team and organizational objectives and can be an excellent way of facilitating communication. Bad meetings are a waste of time and resources that can leave participants feeling demotivated and frustrated. Getting the most out of attending meetings is a key skill for everyone in the workplace. As a line manager you need to work with your team members to enable them to benefit from attending meetings and to demonstrate the value their attendance brings to others at the meeting.

    The best meetings have a specific aim or purpose with clearly set objectives. They start and finish on time. They allow for debate, facilitate discussion and encourage creativity. At the end of a meeting decisions should be made and actions agreed.

    Attending meetings gives participants numerous opportunities to develop a wide range of skills. Having good communication skills is essential if your staff are to get the most out of meetings. If they have been asked to attend a meeting it is usually because it is believed they can contribute something to achieving the purpose of the meeting. When speaking in a meeting ensure your team members aim to be clear and concise. They should not be speaking just for the sake of it or deviate from the point in hand. Make it clear to them that meetings are not the place to rehash old arguments or to try and point score off other colleagues or teams.

    Presenting

    If your staff member is at the meeting to present a proposal or introduce a new project then you should encourage them to prepare in the same way they would for any other presentation. Ask them to agree with the Chair in advance how long they will have for their presentation and how long is to be allocated for discussion. They should find out who will be attending the meeting and aim to discover as much as they can about them in advance. This may be their one opportunity to influence those people who will ensure the success of their project.

  • 68 - Networks – running

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 175-176

  • Summary

    Networks – running

    ONCE THE NETWORK is set up, the operational aspects need to be considered. A structure should be established and adhered to from the outset and roles may need to be allocated to the network leads. It is important to ensure that ongoing tasks are shared and monitored to ensure that they are completed. Individuals also have a responsibility to be realistic about what they can and cannot do, which will ensure that relationships between team members are maintained. Communication is also integral to an effective network, both internally with the network leads and externally with the network members. There are many communication channels which can be used to promote the network, such as e-mail lists, existing contacts, library schools, special-interest groups, social media and face-to-face meetings.

    Tools and platforms

    There are many free tools available to facilitate the running of a network, including social media, self-service ticketing platforms, e-mail and wikis. Social media is a good way to promote networks and to keep participants/members aware of any developments. Many networks within the library sector use social media to provide a current awareness service, alerting their members to useful resources, training events and developments in the profession. However, there are positives and negatives to all platforms, so encourage experimentation to decide what works best for those involved.

    There are many different platforms for different purposes, such as Vine, which is a creative way of sharing videos, Twitter for providing useful information and updates and LinkedIn to formally promote events. Any tool should be fit for the intended purpose and be evaluated to ensure it continues to be valid. A social media page or profile with no content gives the impression that the network is no longer running and will therefore lose out on potential members.

    A self-service ticket platform is a really useful tool for managing sales for events where there are costs to the individual. For free events Eventbrite provides a free service which enables personalization of event pages to include pictures, maps and a structure for the day. It has a facility to manage bookings, create waiting lists or cancel tickets if necessary. Eventbrite also provides a service to send reminders to attendees and create a list of attendees, which can be used as the registration form on the day.

  • 12 - Workforce planning

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 30-32

  • Summary

    WORKFORCE PLANNING IS about having the right staff in the right place at the right time in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the organization or department. At an organizational level it can involve many processes. Listed below are those activities which the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has identified as being part of the workforce planning process (CIPD, 2015):

  • • succession planning

  • • flexible working

  • • labour demand and supply forecasting

  • • recruitment and retention planning

  • • skills audit gap analysis

  • • talent management

  • • multi-skilling

  • • job design

  • • risk management

  • • outsourcing

  • • career planning

  • • scenario planning.

    • Within the context of this book workforce planning is about ensuring that staff have the skills, knowledge, behaviours and levels of experience to do their jobs. It is not about ensuring that every member of staff is able to do everything but more about using your knowledge of your service to ensure that it is as future-proofed as you can make it. It is about understanding your workforce so that you can work together to achieve the aims and objectives of your service.

    Activities which will assist you in accomplishing this, many of which are outlined in further detail in the following tips, include:

  • • identifying the skills, knowledge, behaviours and levels of experience that are essential in ensuring the work gets done at the level required.

  • • ensuring that more than one team member can demonstrate these if required.

  • • putting in place a developmental plan to rectify any gaps you identify.

  • • ensuring that all essential processes are documented to enable team members to carry out each other's roles if someone is absent at short notice or leaves and is not immediately replaced.

  • • horizon scanning to identify future skills, knowledge, behaviours and level of experience which will become essential in the near future.

  • • identifying members of your team who demonstrate potential as future managers or leaders and enabling them to develop the skills, knowledge, behaviours and levels of experience which will allow them to progress.

  • 57 - Job rotation

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 145-148

  • Summary

    JOB ROTATION CAN help you to provide additional opportunities for members of your LKS team. By carrying out different job roles within your service, team members are able to build upon their existing experience and develop new skills. In addition, job rotation can encourage greater understanding across your different teams and share learning and knowledge more widely. Bennett (2003) defines job rotation as the systematic and planned movement of staff and indicates that there are two forms of this approach: withinfunction rotation and cross-function rotation.

    Within-function rotation

    Within-function rotation is the movement of staff between jobs with comparable responsibilities or within the same area of your service; an example of this could be rotating a newly appointed subject librarian between different subject areas, thus enabling them to carry out the same activities, e.g. training, but within an alternative subject area and with different user groups.

    Cross-function rotation

    The above differs from cross-function rotation, which describes the movement of staff members between different areas of the service. For example, you could provide opportunities for members of your web development team to work in reader services. In this scenario, experience gained in a cross-function rotation could provide excellent learning which could influence the design of the website as a direct result of the experience of working more closely with front-line staff and user groups.

    Opportunities

    Whilst opportunities for rotation may be fewer for smaller services, job rotation can enhance the knowledge base of individuals, develop greater understanding between team members and create opportunities for innovation. Smaller services could provide job rotation opportunities for staff to work in all areas, which would mean that staff would be able to cover roles when needed. Bennett (2003) also indicates that providing opportunities for staff to work in a range of areas can relieve boredom, increase motivation levels, improve productivity and keep staff engaged. By systematically moving employees around, individuals develop a wider skill set which can only enhance your service.

  • Series Editor's introduction

  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp xix-xx

  • Summary

    This series provides a set of practical guides for the busy professional in need of inspiration. Sourced from experienced library and information practitioners, grounded in theory, yet not overwhelmed by it, the information in these guides will tell you what you need to know to make a quick impact in a range of topical areas of professional interest.

    Each book takes a tips-based approach to introduce best-practice ideas and encourage adaptation and innovation.

    The series is aimed at experienced library and information professionals looking for new ideas and inspiration, as well as new professionals wanting to tap into the experience of others and students and educators interested in how theory is put into practice.

    Practical tips for developing your staff

    Staff costs in any organization usually account for a large proportion of its budget: people are indeed our most valuable resource, not just in financial terms. Ensuring staff are supported to develop the skills, knowledge and experience to perform effectively is a key challenge for any organization.

    In a profession affected by constant change, staff must be equipped to develop and thrive. Change, however, is only one driver of staff development. Encouraging staff to challenge themselves to gain new skills in order to progress their careers is also important.

    Effective staff development should improve organizational and individual performance, but also have wider benefits in terms of staff morale and motivation. Finding effective methods of engaging and developing staff can be a challenge, especially in times of increasingly constrained training and development budgets.

    The authors bring the benefit of their wide knowledge and varied experiences together in this book, to provide a range of practical suggestions as to how to develop staff. The tips go beyond the knee-jerk ‘run a training course’ response, and cover a range of creative approaches.

    I am very grateful to Gil and Tracey for their hard work on leading this book and to Carol, Lisa and Helen for their contributions. I hope you will find it useful and inspiring.

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