Don't be afraid of the 'A' word

I've been thinking recently about the perceptions that come with the word 'academic' and how it can be used in both a positive or intimidatory way. I know a bit about this; for a start I have the word academic in my job title, which frankly is a bit of a give away.

But does that make me an academic?

Honestly, I'm not sure. Some days I feel absolutely confident in what I'm doing, saying and sharing. On those days I'd probably say 'yeah' I'm an academic. But equally there are times when I go to meetings with 'proper' academics when I feel about twelve years-old.

When I first started working in academic libraries a typical mistake made by librarians was to try and turn students into proto-librarians. This was clearly a terrible idea and luckily for you this approach is now illegal in most civilized countries. Now the trend is to try to turn students into proto-academics. Although you may not personally be comfortable with this notion, I think it's a much more healthy option.

Because I think you are all proto-academics; you research, you evaluate, you debate and you may well eventually publish. You may not ultimately describe yourself as academic within your chosen full-time career, but along the way you contribute to the total sum of academic human knowledge and what could be smarter and more honourable than that?

Just remember this; everyone starts somewhere. Academics are not born, they get to be academics by reading stuff and writing about it, exactly the same way you do when you write assignments.

Finally, to those of you who are about to hand in dissertations, I trust you luxuriate in the feeling of having wings on your feet. I hope you learned something new about yourself and your topic along the way and I congratulate you on your efforts.

The future of... well everything really

In a week where my favourite news story related to something that happened over 13 billion years ago, this seemed like the perfect time to also think about the future too. I haven't blogged about technology for a while (believe it or not, some people only subscribe for the occasional tech stuff I discuss) so this seemed like an opportunity to combine the two things.

But firstly, something about history. One of the things that librarians help to do is archive the past. We do this by maintaining manuscripts and collections, providing the public with access to all sorts of materials that can be of hugely important historical significance.

If you ever wonder if these things really matter can I recommend a film I saw last year. It details how the head librarian, along with others at the national library of Sarajevo, risked their lives again and again to save history books from being destroyed during the civil war in 1992. Their bravery quite frankly is hard to comprehend. YouTube, as so often, has provided me with the opportunity to say watch the film by clicking here. I hope you'll be astounded.


Now the technology bit. I read a great piece by John Naughton recently about how nothing lasts forever. He writes about technology for the Guardian. This is what got me thinking about the Sarajevo film and how we 'protect' the past. Facebook, as it is recognisable now, won't be around in 20 years. I'm so confident of that prediction I'm prepared to write it down. Time will naturally reveal all. I also think Google will one day be confined to history books. And that's where things get interesting. Because where will those history books be stored? They won't be on Google Books because it won't be there any more. The John Naughton article reports a meeting with representatives of Google and a librarian who was involved in the Google Books project. The librarian asked them 'what happens to all these digitised books when you're gone?' They were apparently stunned by the mere idea that Google would one day not exist.

That's the thing with librarians. We tend to ask awkward questions and expect other people to know the answers. So that's what I'm going to do now. When you buy an mp3, an e-book for your Kindle or a downloaded game for your xbox, are you thinking about how you'll access it 10 or 20 years from now when the hardware has long moved on?

The John Naughton piece is here.

If you'd like to have a chat about any of these things you know how to find me.

I'm moving house this week.

I'm only telling you this because it means that I won't be in work or blogging until mid-March at the earliest.
It did cross my mind to try and link moving house with some research on stress and anxiety, but as I've discovered again today, moving house is more stressful than writing dissertations, having children and being an Arsenal fan by a mile and a half. My advice would be stay where you are forever.

If you need any urgent help in the immediate future you can see if one of my colleagues is free to offer advice. Their contact details are here. We all offer similar help so you'll be well looked after.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

When I see you for the new induction sessions in October/November time my role will have changed a bit so I thought I'd give you some information now to explain how things are likely to pan out.

As you may know I currently support applied social studies and human resource management. Well from the middle of October my subject responsibilities are being adjusted.

I'll still be responsible for applied social studies, but I'm gaining the major addition of psychology. I'll also be gaining criminology and social care whilst giving up human resource management.

You're unlikely to notice any difference at all in how I support you, but I may decide to broaden the scope of the blog to include both social and psychological issues. Or I may keep the focus of this blog as it is and do something separate for the psychology students. If you've an opinion on this then tell me.

As a psychology graduate this is all quite exciting, although don't think for a second I'll be favouring psychology over applied social studies! Never fear, you've been brilliant in helping me get this blog off the ground and just generally lovely, so I won't be getting distracted by the bright lights and shiny things that the psychology department are bound to offer.

Yet another thing that myself and Lady gaga have in common...

As you're well aware certain professions come with, shall we say, baggage.

I have on occasion lied in polite conversation as to what I do for a living. This is usually because when I tell someone what I do for a living their response is something like, 'Oh it must be nice being surrounded by those lovely books'. When I point out that weeks can go by before I even stand near a book they look somewhat disappointed. So I often lie and tell people I'm a dolphin trainer instead. Unfortunately I met a marine biologist once and had to have an argument with her about the ethics of my job. My made-up job. It got complicated.

But now things have changed. I will no longer be slightly embarrassed about what I do.

Because if it's good enough for Lady Gaga, it'll do for me.

Yes, everyone's favourite barmy pop princess thinks of herself as a librarian. I'm not making this up. She said so in this interview.

So as a sign of solidarity, for all my future training sessions I'll be wearing a dress made of chopped up journals and half finished assignments. Gaga would understand.