Putting things into context: the 2004 HLG Conference in retrospect
A report by Emily Hurt, Faculty Liaison Librarian for Health, Canterbury Christ Church University College
I attended the HLG Conference in Belfast in September with the financial support of the West Midlands South Education Partnerships Group. I am a newly qualified librarian, and at the time of the conference I had been in post as Faculty Liaison Librarian for Health at Canterbury Christ Church University College (CCCUC) for a total of four days!
Whilst travelling from Canterbury to Belfast I thought about what I was expecting to gain from the three days ahead. Top of my list was the opportunity to explore the potential of my new role - up until then I had only worked in the NHS, and I was eager to meet and learn from the experience of other health librarians working in Higher Education. I was also very interested in learning more about marketing techniques – as a new face in a well established organisation, I felt I could do with a few tips on how to promote myself.
I came away from the conference feeling inspired and motivated, determined to return to my new workplace and put into practice everything I had learned, and to underpin everything I did with what Margaret Haines, CILIP President, had described as the four corners of professional practice (developing ourselves, our users, our organisations and our society).
Three months on, I have the opportunity to look back and reflect how that motivation and determination has carried through into my work. I attended several informative and interesting sessions at the conference, but when reflecting on my experiences over the last three months, two come to mind as being most influential.
“Building bridges with nursing students” was an interactive session led by Margaret Forrest, Andy Jackson and John Lee from the University of Dundee. It examined the gap between how students want to learn and how we teach them, and explored some alternative methods of teaching information skills. The discussion amongst delegates highlighted some of the common problems librarians encountered when teaching students – time, numbers and dealing with different levels of ability. The facilitators discussed research they had carried out amongst students and librarians to identify the differences between students' learning preferences and the way librarians delivered training. Most interesting was the comparison between traditional teaching methods and developing ones. Whereas the traditional approach to information skills training is educator-centred, new methods such as problem based learning and resource based learning are student-centred.
One of the largest projects I have undertaken since attending the conference is helping in the development and delivery of five information skills sessions for first year students on the Inter-Professional Learning programme. Thinking about the issues discussed in the interactive session helped shape the way the skills sessions were structured. Lots of space was given to the students to practice what they had learnt. Students were encouraged to think about information skills in context rather than a vacuum, and teaching used examples that were relevant to work they were undertaking in taught modules. As a result, the students could see how information skills help to support their learning, and that training was essential for them to make the most of the resources CCCUC has to offer.
The other interactive session that had an impact on my thinking was ‘What can marketing do for health librarians?' facilitated by Barbara Sen and Chris Watts from Liverpool John Moores University. This tightly focused session managed to cover a lot of ground in an hour. Delegates discussed whether the organisations they worked for were market oriented, and if not, how they could change this. The facilitators explained that marketing is not just about promoting yourself and the work you do, but about identifying who your customers are and what they need. Organisations also need to think about their competitors, their image and how to ensure that the whole of their organisation is market aware and focused on delivering high levels of service.
This has been harder to put into practice, being more about attitudes and ways of thinking than about practical activities. I have found it useful to think in terms of the AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action) discussed in the session, and to strategically develop each of my ‘customer' areas according to this model, first by letting people know what I have to offer, and then tailoring it to their needs so that they eventually sign up for a training session / ask me to support their research / request information skills training for their students. I have also found that it is essential to think of every contact with a customer as a marketing opportunity. Image is key, and if I am approached by a member of staff or student I need to keep in mind that I am a library representative.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole conference, met some interesting people, and for the first time felt like a ‘proper' librarian. If I had to pick out the most significant thing I learned from attending the HLG conference, it would be the importance of continuous professional development. It is very easy to get detached from the concept of yourself as a ‘professional' when you are trying to cope with the daily grind of the photocopier breaking down and getting the periodicals budget to add up. Once in a while there is the need to re-affirm that concept, to meet with others and share experiences, and reflect on the work you do well and the work you could do better - preferably in an interesting location with a gala dinner thrown in, although of course this will not always be the case.
Since returning from the conference I have made the most of every professional development opportunity given to me, and will continue to do so.
A report by Emily Hurt, Faculty Liaison Librarian for Health, Canterbury Christ Church University College
Updated: 07 June 2005