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Posts Tagged ‘libraries’

Posted on June 5, 2009

Corporate Library Accomplished

My partner’s corporate library has finally been organized, with a little unexpected help from other office staff. Time will only tell if it will STAY organized.

The 4-week process, which really in the end only needed 1 week to to do began with the weeding out of non-essential publications and reports during load-shedding (when there was no power) and when there was no load-shedding, development of their classification scheme.

Before:

My main goal was for the office staff to take ownership of the project and to support them through the process. We went through a brainstorming exercise of figuring out different ways of organizing their information that made sense for them and devised a plan on how to maintain the library and make it useful and interactive (rather than making it a simple storage facility as it is now).

We did an information audit by identifying the types of information that they had (reports, training manuals, publications, etc.) and how they needed to be accessed. We also identified common themes (subject headings) and even discovered useful reports that they forgot they even had. It was decided that in the end that the most easiest way to classify their publications was by program sector:

Health
Environment
Education
Peace Building through income generation

and everything else came under GWP reports and training manuals. The items were then sub-categorized by author and then by year. The cataloguing scheme was simple and simplicity was the key for long-term success (in my opinion) for this organization.

My counterpart was enthusiastic at first as she devised the categories and then helped with the initial weeding and sorting. She was really keen on organizing the library and also wanted to create an online library catalogue (whoa). It was an ambitious goal considering that I very well knew that we needed time (lots of time), electricity (smirk) and meticulous dedication to catalogue each and every item (all qualities of a good librarian).

However, as I feared as time went on, her interest in the project began to diminish and eventually we were stuck for almost 3 weeks with piles of books and publications scattered all over the floor. It wasn’t until the thulo manchee (big boss) became impatient and expressed her passive-aggressive unhappiness about the state of corporate library.

With my tail between my legs, head down, and abandoned I began to label each file case and started to re-shelve each item into our new classification scheme all by myself. To my surprise however, as it was foolish of me to feel otherwise, I had received some help from the office peon staff.

Peon – is a term here that they use for office helpers and are often considered “low” employees. In some places, (definitely not in the ones that I have worked in and seen) they are treated with less respect and they rarely speak unless spoken too. It’s sad to hear and I do not tolerate it as the best relationships that I have here are with peons.

My office help staff, Shyam and Mena mainly manages the bank transactions (a.k.a goes to the bank and makes deposits), sends out faxes and mail, makes photocopies, cleans the office, and most importantly makes milk tea. Essentially, they take care of us and make sure the office runs smoothly and thus I think that is why they were at my side. They recognized the need and the importance of an organized library and for the whole day, they helped me translate titles and authors and shelved items in the right place. After only a few hours, we were done.

After:

Posted on May 5, 2009

UN Small and Field Libraries

I just stumbled upon the UN Library Network and their Technical Assistance Programme for Small and Field Libraries. There is also a neat “For Starters” section for Guidelines on Library Management.

GOLD!

Other sites that I stumbled upon:

Posted on April 27, 2009

Room to Read Event in Vancouver

The Vancouver Chapter of Room to Read will be hosting a fundraising evening on Thursday, May 14 with Mr. Allison Rouse, Senior Development Director of Room to Read, who recently launched education projects in Zambia. He will also be speaking about Room to Read’s work in other developing countries.

Please share this invite with your friends and colleagues so they too can join Room to Read’s global community of supporters.

Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out my video about my recent library books side-project.

Posted on April 25, 2009

Building a Library with no Librarian

I have come across a number of interesting projects where NGO’s have requested some assistance in regards to managing their "Resource Centre", "Electronic Documents", "Information Resources" or in some cases (yes, this buzzword made it over here) "Digital Assets". Having been working in this ever-evolving field for quite some time, I am always surprised by the fact that people still balk at the idea of using the "L" word to describe these areas. It is not until I mention some of the strategies and solutions that have originated from the "Library" world/community that people finally get it. As my previous mentors have always preached, "Nothing has changed, people are saying the same things but differently".

Check out the Diamond Shreddies commercial.

Check out the Ad campaign video as well.

Right, back to the topic at hand….

When I arrived at one NGO’s office for my initial site visit assessment, I immediately saw to my left the room that contained the proverbial book shelves, file folders, and magazine file cases/racks etc. that I am so fondly familiar with (the scent of aging books, towering stacks of newspapers and loose leaf articles, and the shimmer of glossy magazines spread out on the coffee table are universal).

And so with slight hesitation, as I dared to ask while subtly wincing to hear the answer, "So, who is in charge of the Resource Centre? Do you have a librarian?

Blank stares and inquisitive looks among staff around…

This has been the common scenario so far. There is no librarian or any staff members who resemble such position but a few key players who organizes the Resource Centre when they have time. As well, management displays the following personas: little to no interest in how the Resource Centre is managed (as long as everything is tidy and in some order); all talk but no action in some cases; or in all fairness recognize it’s importance but have no idea how to manage or utilize it effectively in most cases.

What do you do in situations like these, where you know the organization does not have a dedicated person to manage their their library. Where each staff has a some responsibilities in organising and maintaining the resource but ONLY if they have spare time.

I have also seen many places where there are stacks of materials either randomly placed in designated shelves broadly representing a subject or collecting dust (not a surprise in KTM) and waiting to be processed or even to be read in some cases.

Arggh, the librarian in me is just screaming to get out and wanting to dive in and start cataloguing all their materials.

The solutions and strategies are easy to design and implement – that is only 10% of the project. The other 90% is trying to stir up the organizational will and commitment to dedicate staff and resources that are necessary in order to maintain these information centers. Likewise to similar cases back at home, it would seem that I would have to help management realise the many direct and indirect benefits of having a well-organised library (surfing SLA’s web site and Googling "advocating + library", "promoting + library", or "making+a+case+for+your+library" retrieves a fair number of useful resources).

Did mention that in most cases I would have to help design a library solution without the use of computer or any library database package? The computers that are available are archaically slow, ridden with viruses, and using pirated software as well. Oh the joys of my job!

Photo: a typical Book "Accession Register" used to record books and resources received. It also acts as a hard copy library database.

I truly believe that everyone has a little "librarian" in them, hiding inside wanting to come out. It even doesn’t have to be with books per say but if you are finicky about organising some sort of personal collection, your cooking recipes, or even your closet (heh, I remember my dear friend Erin organises her clothes by colour scheme – genius!), then "You got that Librarian feeling".

(Whooaa, that LIBRARIAN feeeling…)

That said, there is always someone in an organisation that loves to "organise" something. I can usually spot these potential "librarian Jedi’s" after having quick conversations with them (or by taking a quick a peak at their desk). Once these people have been identified, then it is just a matter of time, good coaching and nurturing for them to see and develop their librarian potential.

Posted on April 1, 2009

A Library for Chankhu Besi

Project completed!

It was an amazing yet exhausting day. I had to climb up the mountain 3 times to help bring down the books and equipment. Most of the community members were surprised to see me again and of course asked me where the rest of my group was. They were even more curious to know what I was bringing to the school.

The children immediately clamoured over each other to get at the books like there was no tomorrow. Most of the children were so busy reading that they hardly noticed that we were there.

We had a small presentation by the school teacher of the items that we had brought followed by a short lecture on how to take care of the learning materials. The day ended upon receiving a framed letter of appreciation from the village leader.

It was such an immense heartfelt feeling witnessing everything first hand. Seeing the joy and smiles from everyone and also the emanating interest and curiousity from the children when they flipped through those pages. I only wish that I could have shared the experience with everyone.

Thank you so much to the following people who supported our project:

Kathy, Anne Maise, Isabelle, Theresa, June, Mary, Sue, Dennis, George, Allie, Tlell, Melissa, and Cameron. And to our Nepali support, Uday, Ajimme, and Sano.

(Apologies to those for whom we have missed or have misspelled their names).

I’m sure our group will return to Chankhu Besi to visit our respective Nepali families but to also help the local school community maintain their new library as well as help train teachers on how to effectively teach their students how to read.

Once again on behalf of Gord (http://gordclements.ca/) and myself, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.