I think, although this is day 13, that I'm actually now halfway through this prompt list (I've been doing some out of order as they've inspired me) - woohoo, turns out 13 can be lucky for some!
Interestingly, I live on a road where there is no number 13 - 11 and 15 are nextdoor neighbours. I hadn't really considered it, although I guess I should have - when I visited New York a few years back we simultaneously admired the beautiful art deco buildings and inwardly smiled every time we saw a 12th floor, and a 14th floor, but no 13th floor.
But anyway, I digress. So...outreach. The bulk of this in the museum is actually done by people who are paid to do it and do it well. It's something that as a mostly-solo librarian I just don't really have time to do. So I don't really do outreach in the way of ensuring that the library is accessible to everyone, I just hope that the people who do need to use it know that it's there and do get the access they need.
However, I may not be able to do outreach with readers, but I have done a lot to raise the profile of the library within the university community, so that hopefully other libraries who do more to engage with their readers are able to point to us as a resource that is available. That started even before I first took over the library following the departure of the librarian and senior library assistant, through doing the Cambridge 23 Things, which not only taught me about Web 2.0 (as you'll see from the beginning of this blog 10 years ago!), but got me talking to a number of librarians across the university. That, plus the Faculty and Departmental Libraries group, helped to get to recognise a lot of the real library superstars around (you know, the ones who spearhead all the initiatives and lead lots of cool projects).
Then I volunteered for the libraries@cambridge conference working party, and all of a sudden some of the superstars also knew me! That was awesome. And hopefully it helped - I think most librarians in Cambridge have gone from not even knowing there was a library at the museum, to knowing that there is, and who runs it!
Interestingly, I live on a road where there is no number 13 - 11 and 15 are nextdoor neighbours. I hadn't really considered it, although I guess I should have - when I visited New York a few years back we simultaneously admired the beautiful art deco buildings and inwardly smiled every time we saw a 12th floor, and a 14th floor, but no 13th floor.
But anyway, I digress. So...outreach. The bulk of this in the museum is actually done by people who are paid to do it and do it well. It's something that as a mostly-solo librarian I just don't really have time to do. So I don't really do outreach in the way of ensuring that the library is accessible to everyone, I just hope that the people who do need to use it know that it's there and do get the access they need.
However, I may not be able to do outreach with readers, but I have done a lot to raise the profile of the library within the university community, so that hopefully other libraries who do more to engage with their readers are able to point to us as a resource that is available. That started even before I first took over the library following the departure of the librarian and senior library assistant, through doing the Cambridge 23 Things, which not only taught me about Web 2.0 (as you'll see from the beginning of this blog 10 years ago!), but got me talking to a number of librarians across the university. That, plus the Faculty and Departmental Libraries group, helped to get to recognise a lot of the real library superstars around (you know, the ones who spearhead all the initiatives and lead lots of cool projects).
Then I volunteered for the libraries@cambridge conference working party, and all of a sudden some of the superstars also knew me! That was awesome. And hopefully it helped - I think most librarians in Cambridge have gone from not even knowing there was a library at the museum, to knowing that there is, and who runs it!
No comments:
Post a Comment