The Power of Talking

The Power of Talking

Here at Essex, we have come to that time of the year when we all, as a staff, have our annual ‘conversation’ with our Librarian. It’s a bit like an appraisal but a lot less daunting. It’s a time to reflect on the year that has passed both within the library as a whole and in our department in particular.

It gives you a chance to think about what went well and what could be improved, how we have developed, individually and departmentally, over the last 12 months. Through the medium of the humble ‘chat’ a whole range of ideas, issues and questions can be gone through, and solutions to problems  found, or just a bit of reassurance given that you’re doing the right thing.

For me personally, one of the changes has been becoming a part of FIL committee and trying to get my head around everything that that entails. I would definitely say that it has been a great opportunity to meet up with other ‘interlibrary loaners’ while planning future events like the forthcoming FIL conference –‘ FIL Interlend 2014 Conference - 23rd - 24th June 2014 in Edinburgh.’

For those coming to this year’s conference please take the opportunity to ‘chat’ to as many of the other delegates and committee members as you can, whether it’s your first conference or you are a seasoned veteran, because there is always something to share and learn at this event.

Already looking forward to meeting up with friends and colleagues,  old and new, and having a 'gud blether' as they would say in Scotland. This is a picture of me so you know who to look out for.

Reflections.................

As my time as FIL Chair is rapidly coming to an end, this week has been all about planning for the future and ensuring that I hand over the mantle to the next Chair in the best possible way.

So, I've been going through my files, downloading the relevant ones to a USB stick that I can hand over at the Interlend14 Conference to the new Chair, who will be revealed at this years AGM! 
I've thoroughly enjoyed my time on the committee and I'd encourage you all to consider standing for election. 

Talking of Interlend14 - have you seen the conference programme? The conference is shaping up to be one of the best yet, with a wide variety of speakers.

I look forward to seeing you all in Edinburgh, where we may partake in a wee dram - just to be polite of course! 

Marie Lancaster
FIL Chair

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30691679@N07/4245406951/">VancityAllie</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

New (financial) year, new start ....?

Our lovely venue for Interlend 14

Spring has sprung and bulbs and lambs are popping up everywhere. We have been busy (Easter) bunnies at FIL too. I hope you have all seen the Benchmarking Survey on the FIL mailing list and the announcement of the draft programme for Interlend 2014 ...? It looks a very 'egg-citing' programme in Edinburgh. Anyway enough of my bad seasonal jokes, if you have missed news on the survey or Interlend, please look at the FIL website for further details.

April is the start of the new financial year ... and we follow this pattern in the NHS too. So April is stats month for us. We go back and look at all our activity from the previous April to March and report on this nationally. One of the stats we report on, is how many ILLs we do and where we get them from ... so for example, last year we processed 2,503 ILL article requests ... But as librarians we want to know a bit more about those 2,503 requests. Our users want to know 'how long will it take?' whereas we want to know 'was it useful? and 'what did you do with it?' so we are working on a local ILL survey to find out. About 18 months ago we introduced a new web based ILL requesting system called BASE Doc which was developed with the know-how and technical expertise of a band of NHS librarians.

NHS types - they need their ILL requests stat!

We don't use a requesting system through our LMS like many of our HE or public library colleagues so had to come up with something else. Our users scoffed at our paper forms and as busy clinicans they wanted to submit request 24/7 on or off site. We also want to find out from our users what they think of it. They tell us they love it, but having formal evidence would be the icing on the cake ...
At the moment our survey contains a lot of questions but we are trying to go for the less is more approach - how do you look at what your ILLs are used for? Please respond with any hints and tips ...


Jennie
Marketing Officer