Thing 19: The Legal Side of Things

Legally Blonde...

A very interesting and informative blog which gave a great synopsis of the issues surrounding copyright and the ever evolving challenges facing legislators and producers and users of content. 

  

Although from working in libraries I was aware of the issues surrounding the copyright of printed material, I had not given much thought to copyright as it relates to images and photographs.  I haven’t used many images in my blog posts, mainly because of the difficulty of getting them to work.  At the time, that was very frustrating buy maybe on reflection, it’s been a good thing as I haven’t been unknowingly infringing on the creators rights. I realise I simply do not know enough about how to attribute correctly and would have been wary of doing using too many images or graphics.  The onus is on me though to go and properly inform myself and the Rudaí blog has given me some great places to start. 

The whole area of intellectual property rights is another area that I need to learn more about.  We sign away all kinds of things in contracts without thinking how they could apply in real world situations.  While understandable that an employer would have intellectual ownership of content created during work, it’s easy to see all kinds of grey areas and potential problems that could arise.

Again, knowing your rights and also your responsibilities is paramount.  As they say, ignorance is no defence.    Sharing content is great to but you do need to think about making sure your your own contributions are acknowledged.   

Hope I have attributed my image below correctly.  I will need to work like that little bee to get up to speed on copyright issues. 

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Thing 18: Communicating Through Photographs

Flickr and Instagram

Of all the Web 2.0 tools, Flicker and Instagram have the most immediate appeal to me.   Who doesn’t like looking at photographs especially when some of the photographs are as interesting and professional as anything you might see in a coffee table art book?

Flickr has an awesome catalogue of pictures and is doing something really important by hosting so many images.  It will be an amazing record of our planet and how our lives are lived.

For a long time, I had Instagram pegged as the go to app of the terminally vain and vacuous or for young kids, mainly girls, who were experimenting with their image but I have seen the light.

So yes while, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian might be fighting it out to have the most Instagram followers by virtue of how much skin they are willing to expose, there are lots of really interesting Instagram feeds out there to balance the scale.

I like the layout of Instagram a lot.  It is really clean and uncluttered looking.  It lets the pictures speak for themselves.   And the comments in the side are fairly contained and not too distracting. 

Instagram is a great way to document a library event.  The visual always appeals to people and it’s a great way of communicating and showcasing what the library has to offer.

As long as the photographs are good and visually interesting, it looks great.  Instagram also allows you to use lots of text with the post if that was something that was needed.   People are even writing short stories around their Instagram pictures. 

My library does not have an Instagram account yet but definitely something to think about for the future as it seems to be one of the social media tools whose influence is growing.   

Thing 17: Reflective Practice

Learning from doing.

Reflective Practice is not something that I have up until now being consciously doing as part of my working life.

The Rudai blog has been great at making me think about using tools or platforms that I might not have been otherwise aware of before now and reflective practice is another concept that could prove really useful. 

I have never kept a work journal nor am I particularly good about keeping notes when I attend workshops or, as I have already confessed in one of the earlier blogs, conferences.  I just never seem to get around to organising notes or reflecting back too deeply on what I have learned.  A mistake I know!

There is a lot to gain from writing notes or a journal when you do certain things.  If you take the time to reflect on what went well, what worked, what got a good response and also the things that did not work so well, then you can make positive changes for the next time you have to do it and keep reflecting and keep refining.   This type of reflection would be particularly useful after giving classes or tours or even after a session on the Reference Desk.   There is huge value in writing down our thoughts and clearly articulating them to ourselves.  The very act of writing our thoughts in a journal should make us more aware of what we are doing and means that our thoughts have much more of a chance of enduring and therefore making an impact on future actions than if we just think them in our heads.  And it should not be only about changing things.   It is also important to keep track of what worked and what went well.

Reflective practice requires us to use our critical thinking skills on ourselves and our actions and sometimes that can prove challenging and maybe a little bit uncomfortable if we have to reflect on things that did not go the way we wanted.  It is important that we value the time spent thinking about work and use it positively because it is all about learning and, ultimately, hopefully improving how we approach certain tasks and taking some out of the stress out of our working lives.  

Thing 16: Collaboration Tools

Collaborating positively...

Collaboration tools are really useful examples of how cloud based sharing can be used to facilitate collaboration and communication.

Although, I have never had to use Google Docs myself for work or otherwise, I can see how it has the potential to make working together so much easier for groups of students or colleagues.  

The fact that you can now work on and edit documents together at the same time without the old fashioned e-mailing back and forth is a great break through.   

Google Docs can make working together a truly collaborative process.  Not only can people work together in real time and from any location on the same document but you can also leave comments in the comments box or in the margins for others in the group who may be working on it later. 

When it works, it is a great way of working together on reports or projects.  The other side of all this collaboration is the need for moderation.  I have never worked on a collaborative Google Doc myself but I can easily see the potential for conflict arising over the final edits if there are strong personalities with opposing opinion about what should go in and what should be left out!   

Doodle was something totally new to me before reading the blog but it also looks like a really useful and time saving application to use for scheduling meetings.

Because, I work with a relatively small group of people and everybody is based in the same building, old fashioned e-mail works just fine for us when we need to arrange meetings.  However, if you working in a much bigger, more dispersed organisation, it could save loads of time on making arrangements.  The poll option for scheduling meetings would be really great if you were working on a big project where people are working in different organisations and different time zones and need to arrange the most suitable time to meet either virtually or in a particular place.  Organisations like NGO’s with offices and projects in different countries would really benefit from using the tool.  And the fact that Doodle integrates with Outlook, Google Calendar or iCloud makes the whole process even more seamless for the end user.

Both of these tools make it easier to communicate and collaborate and anything that can help people save time or take some of the stress out of working with and relying on others can only be a very positive thing.

Thing 15: Advocacy

Advocating for the profession.

Although advocacy for libraries is not something new, with the recent economic downturn and the increasing competitiveness for limited resources, it has become more important than ever.

Everybody working in the library and information sector needs to be able to show the value and importance of their service to their users, organisations or the wider societal benefits.

Advocacy is not a one off campaign. It needs to be embedded into our day to day work.  We should be always advocating, demonstrating how many people benefit from our services, how varied and diverse those services are, how our organisations benefit, what added value a library and information service brings, how the wider public benefits. 

We need to ensure that our stakeholders understand the value that we bring to the table and the importance of what we do so that funds continue to be made available.

Every interaction we have every day, with a student or with a member of the public is an opportunity to promote the important jobs libraries and librarians do. Ok, so it’s not in a showy, banner waving, loudspeaker hailing type of way but can be very effective as well. 

With a general election coming in the next few months, now is the time to make our voices heard in the political arena. With all the wannabe politicians knocking on our doors, engage with them and find out their views on providing funding for public services like libraries and make them aware of the issues.

There are lots of advocacy awareness campaigns being done in the UK and its really interesting to see their approach.

Being so upfront about the value of our work might not be something that comes naturally to everybody but it is important to take every opportunity that comes our way to demonstrate the important contribution that librarians make in our organisations. 

Thing 14: Augmented Reality

I can see the future..

I had never really heard the term Augmented Reality before reading the Rudai blog and had certainly never heard of the two applications Layar and Aurasma. I had a vague notion of the concept but had never wondered what the technical term for it was.

My closest brush with augmented reality was when I was used the Word Lens app.  This app translates text from one language to another.  It is a really useful app to have on your phone when travelling abroad and not familiar with the local language.

So while Word Lens is one straightforward example of augmented reality, after reading up about it and seeing the ways that some libraries and other organisations , musicians, medical professionals and even surfers have put it to use to practical effect, I have to say that I am really impressed with the possibilities.  There are an astonishing number of ways that this technology could be put to use to enhance services and improve users’ interactions in a library setting.

In academic libraries, there are lots of areas where AR could be used to enhance the user experience.

It could be really useful to use with literacy training, providing information for students with different languages, to help students find their way around the library environment.

At the moment, because of dodgy Wi-Fi coverage and lack of familiarity with the technology, it might take some work to get mass buy-in in using it but as smartphones get even better and Wi-Fi coverage becomes fully embedded, the possibility of creating added content in different library services is huge. 

Some of the AR apps have been a little bit gimmicky. QSR codes have just never taken off in a big way.  We have tried it in our library and the interest and use from students is very low.  However, there are loads of really impressive AR apps out there and the way companies and organisations have used them to boost their business have been really inventive.  Definitely, something to keep an eye on for the future.

Thing 13: Professional Organisations

The benefits of membership.

For several reasons, I haven’t, up to now become a member of any of the professional library associations. 

Cost was definitely one of the factors and the feeling that it was somehow only for the more senior members of staff.

However, I can see the benefits for staff at any level joining and becoming active in the professional library associations.

If you are looking to change or move jobs, the access to the information and resources of these organisations could prove invaluable. It also shows prospective employers that you are serious about your career and your professional development.

They are a great place to network, share ideas and knowledge, develop and broaden your network and become more actively involved in your profession.  It is an investment in your own career and future. 

And you can’t really place a price on that!