On Saturday I went to Library Camp NE - it was interesting and I enjoyed it.
First point to note - all of my family and friends that I mentioned it to in advance thought it was either hilarious or weird. Why? What? On a Saturday? Yes, it's hard to explain so I just say 'it's a CPD sort of thing'.
Mind you they think this about other sort of library focused events such as visiting libraries for National Libraries Day although in that case I give them a serious answer and persuade and cajole them to come with me.
Learning Technology events fare slightly better as long as there's no embarrassing or weird people there.
So to Library Camp which was held at Northumbria University in the Sutherland Room of the Sutherland Building. It is a beautiful space.
It was organised by @nikkidavey @MiningLibrarian @audesome @louiselib (apologies if I've missed anyone out) who are library people from Newcastle. It was nice to see quite a few people that I know from when I worked in Middlesbrough and people that I've met through work and networking events in the North East - and through twitter of course.
The first activity of the day was to decide on the unconference format for the day so in groups everyone decided on some topics for discussion. These were combined with some that had been volunteered beforehand with people offering to lead a discussion. The organizers then sorted these into a grid of groups and time slots and that was it. You just had a look at the chart, see which discussions were happening in which group at which time and move around accordingly.
The discussions I took part in were:
1. Closed Stock Libraries 'Argos Libraries' - which models would work? What are the advantages apart from saving space?
2. Operating a library from a temporary location eg Portakabin.
This is quite common for short periods of time but what are the pitfalls and problems if its for months or years instead of just weeks?
3. Shared services - what are the advantages of library services sharing their space, desk and roles with other customer facing facilities?
4. Job hunting and creative CPD. What should library professionals do to increase their chances of successfully getting jobs? What are the useful hints and tips for applications and networking?
It was an interesting day - it's good to meet up with colleagues, fellow professionals, library people etc. and share ideas in an informal setting and format.
I hope it happens again with cups of tea too :)
I've storified the tweets - not very well as in random order but they give more information about the day and the discussions.
http://storify.com/clairedonlan/library-camp-ne
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