The Good Ally: A Guided Anti-racism Journey from Bystander to Changemaker

My short review

This book was the ELHT Inclusive Book Club title for October. This month’s book club meeting took place during the Festival of Inclusion and followed a fire side chat with Nova Reid. ELHT is launching their “Anti-Racism and Allyship Framework” and Nova’s book has provided the groundwork for this. Please watch her TED Talk, read her book and find out more about her and her work.

This book is an urgent call to arms to become better allies against racism and provides a thoughtful and kind approach, centering collective healing. It will prompt deep reflection and it might even make you cry. The book is a bold, no bullshit guide to getting uncomfortable with your own racism and being fully human. 

Nova explains black history from the slavery era, to the post WWI race riots, through to today including UK govt policies and provides ample examples of institutional racism, unintended microaggressions and anti-blackness. She discusses white supremacy, privilege and shame, young people, healthcare, racism at work and the pain of inter-generational trauma. She also highlights how wonderfully divine and resilient black women are. 

This book opened my eyes and has greatly improved my understanding of racism. I couldn’t actually believe some of the examples of racism Nova shares. I now know this is my privilege showing through. This is how I have contributed to white supremacy. My ignorance around racism is in fact racist! This is hard to swallow and the book was a difficult read but Nova reassures you that this feeling is normal and is OK. She provides lots of tips on self-care and getting comfy with discomfort. 

My one criticism of this book is that the people who really need to read it probably won’t. I downloaded the audiobook and it was really great to listen to Nova narrating her work. She is energizing and her passion, dedication and knowledge is outstanding. But this is a book to highlight, fold corners and write notes in. I need to get the print copy so I can read it slowly and refer to the many learning and journalling prompts throughout. 

This book has made me realise there is a lot more work to be done and there is so much to learn. The work is never done but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worthwhile, meaningful and fulfilling. 

One of the perks of my job is facilitating the ELHT Inclusive Book Club. When I returned off mat leave, I was tasked with relaunching the book club which had been set up previously. The meetings take place on Teams and bring together colleagues from across the Trust who share an interest in reading and are curious about inclusion and belonging. The club works closely with our Staff Networks to pick interesting reads that tie into the Trust’s Inclusion Calendar, enabling the sharing of lived experience and perspectives.

The club is always open to new members and book suggestions. We are growing from strength to strength and I am learning lots of new skills simply by organising the meetings. But the important learning takes place when we are reading and discussing the books. To date, we have read;

• Girl, Woman Other by Bernardine Evaristo.
• Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz.
• The Danish Girl by David Eberschoff
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Good Ally by Nova Reid

Our next read is Can you see me?: A powerful story of autism, empathy and kindness by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott.

We can all learn from others and become better human beings and allies. That’s the simple mission of the book club and I can’t wait for the next meeting. Knowledge is power!

Some reflections on going part-time and returning to work postpartum.

I haven’t updated my blog in a long time! I realise this is how I start every blog post off these days so gotta keep up with the tradition.

I started my new role in the NHS back in Sept 2021 and I wasn’t in that role long before I fell pregnant in Nov 2021! Fast-forward to 2023 and my life has changed quite a lot. I am now a mum to not one, but two wonderful 15-month-old tiny humans.

My role was initially fixed-term and would’ve come to an end a few months ago. From day 1 of taking on a fixed-term contract, I was worried about the future having had the relative security and privilege of a permanent job in the past. Thankfully, a permanent position came available thanks to the hard work of my manager, and I was able to apply for the role and was successful in getting that job. Being pregnant at the time, I’ve never felt that kind of pressure to secure a position. My new shiny job title is Evidence Librarian.

My beautiful twins arrived a bit earlier than expected in July 2022 via emergency c-section. Our stay in special care and my maternity leave was a whirlwind. Those early days are easily some of the most challenging days I’ve experienced in my life. Learning how to be a mum to two babies was intense to say the least. I’ve concluded that mat leave is a wild and wonderful void in space, where time simultaneously stops and whizzes by. Some days feel never-ending, and you exist in your own little beautiful, messy baby bubble. It’s stressful and monotonous but you know you should cherish the time and enjoy the moments because you won’t get them back. Time outside of that bubble drives onward and before you know it, it’s over and you must re-join the real world. A world that expects you to carry on as you were. But this just isn’t possible because the process of birthing your babies and becoming “mum” has fundamentally changed you. The cliché rings true: when a baby is born, so is a mother.

I must preface what I am about to say. I know not everybody has the privilege of walking back into their job after mat leave – unfair dismissal and sex discrimination is rife. Unfortunately, and wrongly, there is no right to return to work on a flexible or part-time basis after maternity leave. I am very lucky to have a very supportive team and manager who have been compassionate and flexible. They have welcomed me back so warmly and I will be forever grateful. I was able to go back to work part-time on hours that suited me, no questions asked. I can WFH when I need to, and my role is quite relaxed in that I get to manage my own time and work.

But it has been hard adjusting to my new life as a working-parent. The nursery fees are crippling, especially as I am now working part-time so financially, things are quite hard. Because we have twins, we can’t afford to put them in nursery as often as we would like. Returning to the workplace is also just weird and no one seems to talk about it. I’ve been back at work for 5 months now and I keep saying to colleagues “oh I’ve just come back from mat leave”. There needs to be a point where I stop saying this because it isn’t true, but it still feels like I am fresh back to work. To be honest, time hasn’t been running the same since the pandemic but becoming a mum has made it even worse.

There are also additional challenges to returning to my role on a part-time basis when all I’ve ever know is full-time work. The weeks go by so fast and mentally, sometimes I just don’t feel there. I think this must be the “baby brain” everyone talks about. I sometimes feel I am not pulling my weight because I must turn down work or say no to things or miss emails or meetings due to my reduced hours. It’s almost impossible not to hold yourself up to that standard you set when you worked full-time. But I am working on being kinder to myself.

It is what it is – my new mantra.

I am not alone in feeling like this. A study by TENA found that it can take up to 6 months for mums to re-adjust after going back to work. It’s an interesting read and really validated my feelings. Some survey respondents felt they had to prove themselves all over again after being on maternity leave and were worried that their colleagues felt they ‘weren’t on the ball’. Imagine how hard it must be for women returning to work who had very traumatic births, who are still breastfeeding, or are suffering from post-birth complications such as incontinence or post-partum depression. An article in the Sun expanded on this study further. There is a lot going on for new mums going back to work: I must say, that last one doesn’t worry me one bit. My daughter’s booty came to work with me today.

I do look forward to my break from the twins and having time to myself at work and being with colleagues is nice. But my entire outlook and drive in relation to my career has changed. I used to be career-driven. I was so proud to have studied Librarianship and to have secured professional roles. I loved my work and engaged in professional development and networking. But these days, all I can think about and have the energy to care about is my home and my family and taking care of us. Work just doesn’t seem that important anymore. Saying that out loud feels wrong and a little bit shameful. Like I am betraying my job, or my colleagues, or my previous self? There are echoes of these sentiments online and when I’ve talked to other new mums, but I just don’t think it is talked about enough and no one warned me that I might feel this way.

I am still proud of my career so far, of course. I am also damn proud that I am making it work at as working parent. I am sure my passion and drive for my career will return. I made the mistake of looking on LinkedIn a few weeks ago and immediately felt a bit unaccomplished, and inferior compared to my “network”. People I went to Uni with or have worked with in the past, sharing their new wonderful job titles, management roles and high paying jobs etc and I couldn’t help but compare myself to them. I shared my thoughts on my personal insta and lots of people commented to say they felt the same. One person kindly reminded me that some people throw themselves into work because they have no other choice and would swap it for the family life in heartbeat. I just needed that reminder that comparison is the thief of joy. No-one’s journey compares to your own. Lean in and accept where you are at today.

I don’t want to wish away their babyhood. I know once my twins are at school, I will have the time and energy to focus on myself. But that will also be coupled with the sadness that I am sure comes with your babies gaining their independence and going off into the world. I am so not ready for that to happen! My family is what matters to me most in the world now and that is OK.

This is just one of the many readjustments and learning curves that have come my way as a new mum. It really is everything people say and more and nothing will ever prepare you for it. I actually laugh now at how naive and ignorant I was before having kids. I am truly sorry to my friends who had babies before me. I just didn’t understand what it’s like and I didn’t show up for you. Mum friends and support networks are so vital for new mums – find them if you don’t have them. Sharing your feelings and talking about these things really does help. Even if it’s not what people want to hear ❤

• Get out to baby groups, play groups etc.
• Speak to your Health Visitor
• Find mum groups online – Facebook and Insta have loads but make sure they make you feel good and not worse. Remove anything that doesn’t fill your cup. There are too many “perfect” social media mums not sharing reality.
• Connect with people you know who also have young children. Chances are they might feel similar to you, or will have experienced similar feelings.
• Join a Union!
• Does your workplace have any networks or specialist groups that you can join? E.g. a women’s network

Some links to helpful resources on this topic:

Transitioning Back to Work After the Baby: Tips for Working Moms

• ACAS 
• NCT
• Pregnant then screwed – An amazing organisation doing important work for women
• Working Families
• What to expect 

Thank you for reading ❤

HILJClub: Global responses of health science librarians to the COVID-19 (Corona virus) pandemic: a desktop analysis.

The paper for discussion is Yuvaraj, M (2020) Global responses of health science librarians to the COVID-19 (Corona virus) pandemic: a desktop analysis, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 37(4), pp. 337-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12321

https://hilj.club/2021/09/28/hiljclub-global-responses-of-health-science-librarians-to-the-covid-19-corona-virus-pandemic-a-desktop-analysis/

This desktop analysis is quite limited, especially as it only considers the oldest library association’s websites. I am sure many contributions have been overlooked as it’s a very surface level approach. The professional associations rarely capture the real experiences on the ground. The article feels a little out of date now and I suppose this is the nature of the Covid world we are living in now. Things change so fast! It was published before the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and it obviously does not discuss the impact this has had on health libraries. Masks are still mandatory for us and the majority of our meetings and training is still being delivered socially distanced or remotely. We are still in this pandemic and it’s hard to consider “the next pandemic” but I would like to think this experience had made us a lot more flexible and adaptable.

I was still working in HE in March 2020 and the one thing that the pandemic emphasised was the lack of regulation in the publishing and eResources marketplace. Due to copyright law, libraries cannot just purchase eBooks in the way individuals can and the closure of physical libraries simply highlighted the dodgy publishing practices that make electronic books unaffordable, unsustainable and inaccessible to libraries. See the academic eBook investigation for more on this. I read an interesting piece in TIME by Kahle who is the founder of the Internet Archive. They paint a grim picture of the current book marketplace and the impact this is having on libraries and it got me thinking about health libraries too. What is a library in the post-Covid, online world?

Perhaps the healthcare library will fully move away from a physical, operational library service i.e. print books, study spaces etc. and we can prepare for the next pandemic my making sure our services are flexible and deliverable online (if the publishers play nice that is). Some staff had extra time for research during the first wave; they wanted to read papers and do the work they ordinarily didn’t have the time to do. So my colleagues were really busy during lockdown with literature searches and article requests.

All tight-fitting face masks need to be tested before they are used by staff in healthcare and the man power to deliver this testing just isn’t there so members of our library team were redeployed into fit testing a few days a week. On the one hand, this is important work and it’s fantastic that we are able to support the Trust and keep healthcare workers safe. On the other, it’s a shame that library staff were taken away from their work, which of course, we believe to be very important too. This feeds into the bigger issue on the perception of libraries generally. The library building was closed so perhaps it was assumed staff had no work to do? Of course, this wasn’t true.

The use of online chat workspaces such as Teams has made our training more accessible. We can be flexible around staff needs and they do not need to spend additional time getting to an in-person training session. Giving people a choice in how they want to attend a session is a good thing and is something we will continue to do, even when social distancing is no longer required. However, I have found the majority of people want face-to-face support. You can get so much more from a meeting or training session when you are in the room with people. Likewise with the physical library space, some people just prefer to read print books and study or relax in the library space and I think they should have the option.

The article only briefly touches upon disinformation and fake news relating to Covid and notes that “the role of academic health librarians now includes controlling fake information and providing authentic, updated information to health workers and the public”. Our team have been providing up-to-date health information way before the pandemic so the skills were already in place to help navigate the deluge of good and bad Coronavirus research. We can always do more though; training people how to spot bad research and fake news, helping the public navigate confusing health information, making information easier to understand and using our skills to help people develop digital literacy skills.

What does it mean for a health librarian to be a health activist? I like to think of myself as a health activist; I try to keep myself informed, I support evidence-based practice in healthcare, I promote high-quality learning resources at every opportunity, I am training to be a health and wellbeing champion in my Trust, I do my bit to try to keep healthy and I share information with my friends, family and social media network. But the current climate of disinformation and nastiness on social media can make it quite difficult to be an online health activist. The dismissal and distrust of expert opinion has come to the fore during the pandemic and it’s a little bit terrifying.

I think health activism falls under the bigger umbrella of social justice. As noted by Elaine Russo Martin, “medical librarianship is not only an information science, but a human science. It is the search, retrieval, evaluation, and application of information to meet human needs to help health professionals, students, and patients make informed decisions about their health.” It is our responsibility to provide access to accurate, trusted information as well as the tools and skills to critically evaluate that information in ways that promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. By doing this, we are all being health activists.

This was a really interesting article and I think it would be beneficial for library teams to reflect on their covid response and use it as a opportunity to reconsider their goals and priorities, and also give themselves a very large pat on the back ❤

HILJClub: Library jargon creates barriers for potential users of health library and information services.

The paper for discussion is Kiely, Helen (2020) Library jargon creates barriers for potential users of health library and information services, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 37(3), pp. 228-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12289

https://hilj.club/2021/08/13/hiljclub-library-jargon-creates-barriers-for-potential-users-of-health-library-and-information-services/

Joining in on this one a little late but this was a fascinating article and it has given me so much to think about in terms of my own practice. I think we use jargon because it’s what is familiar to us as library workers and we sometimes exist in our own library bubble. The use of jargon is also intimidating for new library staff as well as our users so I don’t know why we do it. But it is a problem across many sectors including medicine, IT services and other specialist services. I am going to try to be really conscious of this from now on and check that people understand and not make assumptions about prior knowledge. I did the 30 min ELFH health literacy module recently and it included some really nice tools to use in conversation to ensure people understand: the teach back method and chunk and check.

Library inductions are such an difficult task – there is so much to cover and it’s overwhelming for users. That’s if you are lucky enough to even get an audience with new staff in the first place. Induction is an important starting point and we should re-evaluate how we deliver our inductions and training – at least gauging people’s understanding of our services and language in the first instance. A game such as Dr Jargon as mentioned above, could be an effective way of introducing people to our jargon. I created a beta version of a game for a teaching course assessment a while back and it had a similar focus. I think I will create a new version for our library here at ELHT and test it. The idea is to get people familiar with the key services and the language first – then they can learn how to use them later. A game could be great icebreaker during outreach activities too.

I agree we have a lot of work to do when it comes to our use of language and a standardised approach would be welcome but until that happens (not holding my breath), it needs to be at the forefront of our minds when engaging with users. A health library glossary could be nice and could be something we share at induction and at other service points. There are a few University libraries now that have published library language glossaries for their international students. But I’d be interested to know how well these are used and do they actually make a difference? People have to be quite proactive and accept that they do not know what things mean before they go to a glossary and look things up. It’s not all doom and gloom though – simple, easy changes will make a huge difference here.

My career move into the NHS

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on my blog but some big changes have happened that needed recording on here. I have left my job at Manchester Met Library and have joined the team at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust as an Assistant Librarian. This is more of a sideways move into a different library sector rather than a promotion I suppose. However, I did manage to negotiate a higher starting salary thanks to some encouragement from Natasha den Dekker. I never had the guts to ask in the past and I am so glad I did – my new manager was very supportive and it worked!

I always thought academic libraries were where I would work but a department reshuffle combined with the pandemic lead me to re-evaluate. Going back to commuting on a packed train into central Manchester just didn’t appeal to me anymore, especially since we have moved further away from the train station during Covid. In all honesty, if the library wasn’t being reshuffled, I probably wouldn’t have left as it was a lovely job, with lovely people who I will really miss.

• 

I got so many comments, thank yous and goodbyes :’)

My colleagues in the library and the fashion department were so kind and I just couldn’t believe how lovely some of the comments were in my leaving cards. My colleagues also generously contributed to a leaving pot of cash for me which has funded my gallery wall. I will be forever grateful to my MMU friends and colleagues for their support during the past 2 years.

My horror inspired gallery wall – funded by MMU Library staff haha ❤

The library shakeup gave me the kick I needed to think about changing jobs. I’d been in my role for two years and I’ve heard on several occasions now that a career move every 2-ish years keeps you fresh. I just started looking at jobs and there were three professional librarian posts being advertised which surprised me given the library job market so I took it as a sign. I applied for a Subject Librarian role at the University of Huddersfield but my application was unsuccessful, although close according to the recruiter when I asked for feedback which was positive. I interviewed for a role as a Library Manager at Bradford Grammar School but I was also unsuccessful. In my heart, I don’t think management is for me just yet and it was a proper trek to get there so it was probably for the best anyway.

I really liked the sound of the NHS library job as I felt that supporting healthcare staff would have a much greater impact than any of the other sectors plus it was within a nice commuting distance – this has become so much more important to me these days. I got my first taste of health librarianship during my grad traineeship, shadowing the health studies librarian delivering PICO research sessions to the students. I enjoy literature searching and never really got to do much of it working in academic libraries and it’s an area I would like to develop. I asked for advice from info pros who worked in the sector (thank you so much again Natasha) and did lots of prep for my presentation. I apparently did very well and almost got full marks in my interview which makes me very proud.

NHS libraries are currently moving from using HDAS (a simple search interface that enables searching across several databases) to the native interfaces i.e. ProQuest, EBSCO and Ovid, and we are getting a new national website and discovery service. Demand for knowledge services has grown over the last five years, with a 30% increase in service users and access to high-quality information is vital for evidence-based practice in healthcare. The priorities for the NHS Library Service is to enable all NHS staff and learners (student nurses, trainee doctors, applied professionals etc.) to benefit from high-quality knowledge services, and optimise the expertise of library teams to inform decision making from board to ward, at the bedside and in community and primary care. So I think I have joined at an exciting time and there’s lots of work to do.

When I told my mum I got a new job at the hospital library, she thought I was going to be wheeling a trolley around the wards, handing books out to patients. She probably isn’t the only one who thinks this so here are some of the things I will be doing as an NHS librarian:

• Clinical literature searching – basically finding academic papers and evidence for consultants and other NHS staff.
• Information skills training – training staff how to find their own papers and develop their critical appraisal skills e.g. how to read a paper and evaluate evidence. I will also be teaching students how to find info for their assignments, placements and careers moving forward.
• Health literacy – an area where there is potential to work directly with patients – creating and distributing patient information leaflets and helping people to find high quality information to support their health i.e. not just Googling your symptoms, avoiding misinformation, understanding complicated information etc. Super important at the moment with the pandemic, antivaxxers and the general distrust of professionals.
• Outreach and promotion – telling staff in the organisation what’s available and basically getting more work for ourselves, going into the wards, meeting people, presentations, info stands and general promotion of library resources and services.
• Operational library stuff – working in the actual library (there are two of them) on the helpdesk, supporting people in the library, loaning books and equipment, admin duties, looking after online systems, creating info bulletins, social media.

I am currently busy swotting up on medical terminology and have started on some literature searches.

Developing my skillz

A riveting read

There are some similarities to my previous role. The NHS is a large, complicated organisation. The trust I work for is huge and is spread across East Lancashire; there are loads of different departments, heads of departments, staffing structures, online systems and local politics to get my head around. I am settling in nicely and I am really happy! 🙂 I am so excited for the next chapter in my career with the NHS Knowledge and Library Service and I am looking forward to supporting my new colleagues, our NHS heroes.

Thanks for reading

Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Busy World

I recently attended a webinar titled Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Busy World which is part of a wellbeing webinar series from the People Development Team at Manchester Met. These are essentially my notes and thoughts on the session but thought I would post them here as I haven’t blogged in a long time.

I have dabbled in mindfulness and can really appreciated the benefits, but I have just struggled to fit it into my daily routine. This webinar has served as a much-needed reminder that it is not hard to fit mindful practice into your life. The session was 90 minutes and was held over Teams. The message pings and feedback from other people’s microphones were a little distracting at times and in fact, highlighted the difficulties surrounding remote working. I attended the session to consider mindfulness practice in my personal life, but I also came away with a new outlook on my work life as well.

I have always multitasked to some degree regardless of whether I am in a physical place of work or working at home, but the pandemic has exacerbated multitasking at work and not necessarily for the better. For example, when attending a physical meeting, it would be quite rude to start editing a document on your laptop, using your phone, or writing out a response to an email that has just popped up. However, I find myself doing this quite a lot when homeworking. I might be attending a team meeting, but I will also be catching up on my emails on a different screen. As a result, I am not giving my full attention to either of these activities and diminishing the quality of the work. I am also at risk of stressing myself out and flooding my body with those pesky cortisol and adrenaline hormones. No thanks!

I have realised there are so many times when I am not fully present in the moment both professionally and personally and this stems from being on autopilot a lot of the time e.g. looking at my phone out of habit when watching a film or socialising with friends, falling into my thoughts when doing a task such as walking or driving, watching TV when eating, making the bed whilst brushing my teeth… You get the idea. I am not present. I will multitask to be more efficient and fit things into life, which is great for some things, but it is not always a good thing. Quality over quantity as they say…

Guilty…
Image from https://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/42-memes-of-truth-you-just-cant-argue/86083912/?image=86083930

The session slides were based on opposite ways of existing essentially: avoidance Vs approaching, mental time travel Vs staying present in the moment, depleting Vs nourishing.

Doing Vs Being or Autopilot VS Conscious Choice

Are you just going through the motions? This includes doing things at work such as planning, developing, analysing and we can all do this automatically without much thought to a certain extent. Doing helps us get through the working day and life e.g. answering emails, travelling to work etc. But you can exercise your ability to make a conscious choice in how you do these things and be present in the moment and in touch with your senses. Fair enough, answering emails is not the most joyous of tasks but it would help improve the standard of work if you are fully present when answering them.

Striving Vs Accepting

It is natural to want to strive for better in life and at work. Often, we are working towards targets or personal objectives and striving helps us to improve. We attend meetings and fixate on what wasn’t discussed or what needs to be done next instead of accepting that we had a good meeting and got some things done. It’s not always healthy to constantly be looking towards the next task or step in your career or life. Of course, to drive progress we need to strive and do… but to help ease the pressure of these responsibilities, sometimes it’s healthier to just accept things as they are, on the day. Some reflection can be helpful but sometimes there is no benefit to be gained from interrogating a past situation or action – let it be. Feelings and thoughts do not always reflect the reality of a situation and treating them as a mental event that comes and goes can be helpful.

Here are some practical tips I came away from the session with:

Control technology use. For me it serves as a massive distraction and I need to limit my use, especially social media.

Train the mind. All of this comes with patience and practice. I need to try to practice mindfulness and set time aside for this. I took up mindful colouring at the start of the pandemic and I need to get back to that as I loved it. There are so many books, podcasts, YouTube videos and free apps to choose from; some more practical, theoretical, or spiritual than others.

Mindfulness meditation. We did two short meditations in the session and it was lovely (despite being able to hear Jay’s meetings next door). I love this line which the mindfulness pro Mark Williams said at the end of the video – your breath is always with you and can be used as an anchor to stillness and peace.

Small ways to have a mindful day: be present during the morning shower, the morning coffee, when eating meals, walking, listening to music, exercising or reading. Take up gardening or do something creative.

Find a mantra…

Am I enjoying the journey?

I do enough. I have enough. I am enough.

Be kind to yourself Amy 🙂

Image from https://quotefancy.com/quote/34548/Jon-Kabat-Zinn-You-can-t-stop-the-waves-but-you-can-learn-to-surf

TALENT & Library Taboo

I recently completed a 15 credit unit through the University Teaching Academy at MMU. The Teaching and Learning Essentials for New Teachers (TALENT) unit is designed for academic staff at an early stage in their career – associate lecturers, graduate teachers, librarians, and higher education professionals with a role in supporting learning. TALENT can be taken as an optional 15 credit unit on the Master of Arts in Higher Education programme. Successful completion of the unit gives me professional recognition, as well as 15 level 7 academic credits. The unit maps to the UK professional standards framework (PSF), a globally recognised framework for benchmarking success within HE education. This means I am now an Associate Fellow of Advance HE (AFHEA). Sounds fancy!

TALENT comprised of two workshops: 3Ps (Planning, Preparation and Purpose) and Microteaching. Here is some of what we covered in the sessions:

• Theory and practice related to experiential learning
• Theory and practice related to reflection and professionalism
• The how and why of teaching observation
• The process of session planning and assessment for learning
• Ideas around what is effective teaching
• Plan, prepare and deliver two 15-minute microteach sessions to a small group of peers

The assessment for the unit was an essay covering three aspects:

• A summary of my professional activities linked to teaching and learning
• A reflective commentary on my learning from the microteaching and peer observation experience
• An annotated bibliography (my favourite bit)

As an academic librarian, I teach people to develop low level, routine information skills, such as how to navigate our library website. I also need to impart higher level, generic skills such as constructing search strategies, source evaluation and critical reading. Most library sessions are delivered in “one-off” workshops which can appear to have little relevance to the curriculum and can be quite boring. The format of library teaching makes constructive alignment and assessment particularly difficult and as a result, I have felt pressured to cram extra content into my sessions to ensure I tell the students everything they need to know because I may not see them again. But this does not really work…

The TALENT unit has forced me to think hard about my own practice. This unit introduced some of the key concepts of teaching such as constructively aligned learning objectives, which until recently, and despite being aware of their importance, I have overlooked in my practice. Sometimes I wouldn’t even include any learning objectives 😱 I would simply demonstrate resources and wonder why everyone looked bored.

via GIPHY

 Experiential learning is based on the idea that people learn best through experiences. Activities that require learners to do stuff engages higher order thinking and improves the learning experience. In my microteach, I wanted to move away from my usual didactic methods, so I adopted an active learning approach. Inspired by the library games master, Andrew Walsh, I developed a game for my microteach; Library Taboo!

Games in teaching encourage memory formation, improve communication and teamwork skills, boost creativity, and they make for a more enjoyable learning experience. There is so much evidence for this out there. The game is still in the beta stages and I need to tweak it but I based the game on a combination of Taboo and the forehead detective/ the sticky head game. Hope Hasbro don’t sue me…

Image credit: Amazon

The purpose of my game was to explore the many different services on offer from the library and this tied directly to the intended learning outcome (ILO) for the session. The game is flexible depending on the learner group i.e. new students, third years or academic staff. Here is what a game card looked like:

Not very pleasing on the eye, I know. This was printed on A4 paper and folded in half. This is the side of the card you hold up to your forehead and show your teammates. They have to explain “subject librarian” to you without saying “subject librarian”.

This is the content on the inside of the game card. It provides more details and context on the service.

For those unfamilar with games, I set aside a demo card and showed them how the game should be played. Here are the Library Taboo game instructions:

• Who was the last person to borrow a book from a library? Congratulations, you get to go first. Pick up a game card from the pile
• Without looking at the inside of the card hold it up to your forehead so your team can see the word​
• Your team must work together to describe the library service displayed on your game card without saying the name of the service ​
• You have three guesses. Which library service are they describing?
• ​Take turns to play the cards run out.

I need to seriously condense the amount of text and redesign the game cards so they actually look like snazzy game cards. I want them to the be size of a standard playing card. Any tips on what I should use to design the cards? The game activity lasted five minutes so I only included six playing cards covering the following services:

• Academic journals
• Info skills workshops
• Subject guides
• Library Search
• Reading Lists
• Subject Librarian

At the end of the game, participants chose one service and moved onto a second task to explore the service in more detail – hence why the information on the inside of the playing card is quite important. One participant did not know the service that was being described (Info Skills Workshops) so they were unable to guess it. But this does not actually matter because of the information on the flip side of the card. If they didn’t know the service before, they know now! This is also why you only have three guesses – failing is an inherent “risk” of the game and this is why games are fun to play. You can fail in a safe environment and it is totally fine. In fact, failure is expected. What is the point in a game that everyone successfully completes first time round?

via GIPHY

To address the misunderstanding further, I could provide a short summary of the library services (a standard library presentation) and the game could be used as an assessment activity instead. Or I could focus on Info Skills workshops a little more in my session after the game if people don’t know what they are. If I was delivering this activity to a large group, I would not be able to listen to each game as it was being played, but I could ask for some feedback at the end of the activity and address any knowledge gaps then. I am getting ahead of myself though, I would need to make several game packs and so far, this is an activity for small groups.

The game version I used in my microteach was aimed at academic staff, but it could easily be adapted to work with students and the focus could be on specific source types such as databases instead. There are so many possibilities with this game! I could make it more difficult for final year students or postgraduates by making the game more like Taboo i.e. there are a list of words that you cannot say when describing the service, instead of just not being able to say the name of the service. This game could be a short starter activity, or it could be the basis of an entire workshop. I could even use QR codes linking to the library website instead of summarising the service on the card.

The observation feedback I received confirmed that the game made my microteach exciting, engaging and enabled a “potentially dry subject to be brought to life”. A win for me! There may be similar library games out there so I am not going to take credit for the idea. I’d love to know about them so I can iron out the issues with my game. Likewise, if anyone would like to use the idea and develop it further, please do so – I’d love to hear about your experiences.

The completion of this unit has enabled me to fully appreciate the need for alignment in my teaching. If a teaching session is unsuccessful, we should not blame ourselves, the student or the teaching tool; we should blame the lack of alignment. I will keep this in mind and carefully plan my teaching in future. To further develop my practice, I set the following SMART goals:

• Develop my Library Taboo game
• Develop ten learning outcomes to use in my teaching
• Engage in peer observation and collect feedback twice in 2020/21.

I finished this course fired up and ready to enter the classroom a new woman but COVID has put all face-to-face teaching on hold for now. On the flip side, I now have extra time to plan my teaching for the new academic year and to further develop the Library Taboo game. Every cloud eh!

Stay safe and play games! ✌️

Mindful colouring or mindless colouring?

Once reserved as an activity solely to be enjoyed by kids, ‘mindful colouring’ has emerged as an adult-only version of ‘colouring in’ to help us to switch off and relax. Vanry (2019) charts the interesting history of the colouring book craze which has been described as a flash trend. Colouring books formed part of a small and niche market which had existed for years among smaller publishing houses, but their popularity suddenly skyrocketed in 2015 with the sale of 12 million colouring books but their popularity quickly dipped again. Why the boom? Who knows, but apparently the colouring book craze is over anyway … but I say nope, not true! It was only the other day I bought by best friend this incredible Jason Momoa colouring book.

Who doesn’t need a lawn momoa in their life. Am I right? Image credits: Amazon

Coloring books are a beautiful present to receive and I have four. I’d flick through and admire the illustrations, maybe dip in and out a few times but then they just sat on my shelf looking pretty. Since COVID-19 forced us into lockdown, I have found reading and concentrating on TV and films difficult for reasons I cannot explain. I just feel restless most of the time. I am bored but I also don’t want to watch TV and I just don’t know what to do with myself. So, I dug the colouring books out and I am hooked! They have been a wonderful analog escape for me.

I have been spending more time than ever on my phone or on my laptop with home working. The colouring book illustrator Johanna Basford explains why colouring is the perfect way to switch off; “social media, smart phones, rolling news—all these things make us constantly connected to the world, never really focusing on something for an extended period… Colouring gave people an accessible way to be creative and treat themselves to some digital detox time” (Vanry, 2019).

Colouring in has also helped me to feel like I am being creative and artistic but in an easy and accessible way. I am not very confident with drawing or painting and I wouldn’t describe myself as overly creative anyway, so colouring gives me an outlet to create without the pressure of producing a masterpiece. The work has already been done for me by wonderful illustrators and artists so I can just fill in the lines and finish it off for them. Everyone has a different approach when tackling a design and they all end up unique and beautiful. Just take a look at some of these incredible pieces on the Millie Marotta gallery.

Completed pieces from Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom

Colouring books often come with the claim that they can help with anxiety, reduce stress and aid in mindfulness practice. Rising concern for emotional and psychological health is leading many people to fill their leisure time with alternative activities that have a healthy spin and do not involve screens and smartphones (Mintel, 2020). Mindfulness has become something of a buzzword in recent years. Headspace define mindfulness as “the quality of being present and fully engaged with whatever we’re doing at the moment — free from distraction or judgment, and aware of our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them”. With mental health being in the spotlight, publishers and retailers that sell products as beneficial in this respect stand to benefit. But do colouring books really boost mindfulness?

Geometric shapes are one of my faves.

I decided to use the MMU Library Search tool to look for some academic literature. There is evidence that art and creativity can boost mental well-being and art therapy is a tried and tested treatment for lots of mental health problems. But there has been little empirical investigation specifically into the mindfulness claims made by colouring book publishers and advocates.

Dresler and Perera (2019) reported on the experiences of 15 women who engaged in colouring. They found that the process increased their capacity for concentration and colouring in allowed the women to take the “time to practice self-reflection, self-awareness and self-care” which boosted their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

Conversely, Mantzios and Giannou (2018) found that free drawing and mandala colouring as a standalone activity do not have an impact on mindfulness or anxiety. They tested this further in a second experiment that involved one group doing unguided mandala colouring and another group doing mindfulness-guided colouring with a practitioner who guided them through mindfulness breathing techniques applied to the colouring activity. They found the anxiety levels were reduced in the guided colouring group but there were no overall changes to mindfulness. So essentially, mindlessly colouring in may not actually improve mindfulness. So drinking wine, bopping to music and colouring in doesn’t count then? *damn!*

You would need to actively engage in mindfulness practices to see the benefits. In mindfulness training, you need to keep awareness focused on whatever is present, without fixating on any particular part of that experience, or engaging in any secondary processing.  The good news though is technically, you could transform any experience into a mindful one, including colouring or even just doing the washing up (Hanley, 2015). But without putting in the effort to mindfully complete the task, the experience can become mindless, fixated, and avoidant. This is where accurate instructions and guidance comes in (Mantzios and Giannou, 2018).

It is unlikely that colouring books are a mindfulness miracle and my dip into the academic literature did not provide a clear answer (does it ever tho?) but there is certainly scope for further research. Ultimately, I think good mental health and achieving a state of mindfulness is not something you can just acquire through a colouring book. Perhaps promoting them as ‘mindfulness’ colouring books is misleading. Good health generally takes work and mental health is no different. There are no quick fixes and we are all a work-in-progress. Books are great and provide tools and knowledge, but we must actively engage with these tools to benefit from them. For me, mindful colouring probably is more mindless colouring and that’s okay because I enjoy it.

I am wanting to engage further in mindfulness practice but I don’t think I will be doing it through colouring. The frontman of my favourite band has started a new mindfulness podcast with guided meditations which I am enjoying. I think doing some research, finding the right tools and setting aside some time to actively “do mindfulness” is an approach that will work best for me. Any tips or resources you can share would be greatly appreciated. Here’s my favourite flowery piece to finish this blog post with.

Stay safe and switch off 🌼

References

Dresler, E. & Perera, P. (2019) ‘Doing mindful colouring: just a leisure activity or something more?’ Leisure Studies. 38(6), pp. 862-874.

Grady, C. (2017) ‘The coloring book trend is dead. Happy National Coloring Book Day!’ Vox. Available at https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/2/16084162/coloring-book-trend-dead-happy-national-coloring-book-day

Halzack, S. (2016). The Big Business Behind the Adult Coloring Book Craze. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-big-business-behind-the-adult-coloring-book-craze/2016/03/09/ccf241bc-da62-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html?utm_term=.fdd7fbec6cff

Hanley, A.W., Warner, A.R., Dehili, V.M., Canto, A.I. & Garland, E.L. (2015), ‘Washing Dishes to Wash the Dishes: Brief Instruction in an Informal Mindfulness Practice’. Mindfulness, 6(5), pp. 1095-1103.

Mantzios, M. & Giannou, K. (2018) ‘When Did Coloring Books Become Mindful? Exploring the Effectiveness of a Novel Method of Mindfulness-Guided Instructions for Coloring Books to Increase Mindfulness and Decrease Anxiety’. Frontiers in psychology. pp. 56.

Mintel (2020) Hobbies and interests – UK – February 2020. [Online] https://academic.mintel.com/homepages/guest/

Rowe, A. (2018) ‘If The Adult Coloring Book Craze Is Dead, It Needs A Postmortem’. Forbes. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2018/05/31/if-the-adult-coloring-book-craze-is-dead-it-needs-a-postmortem/#5e1736ee7dae

Vanry, N. (2019). What happened to the adult colouring books? Charting the boom and bust. Available at https://bookriot.com/2019/11/06/adult-coloring-books-trend/

 

Human Librarian

The concept of the Human Library is simple: 

• People are published as open books and are loaned out to readers. 
• It’s an opportunity to challenge stereotypes.
• The event provides a safe space to ask questions about difficult issues and allows people to have an open dialogue.

The Human Library started off in Denmark in 2000 and has grown into a hugely popular concept operating in over 70 countries. In a world full of judgement, human books are breaking down stereotypes, one reading at a time. It’s a celebration of diversity and is a wonderful alternative to the dry equality and inclusion training that too often the norm.

Human Library. Do not reuse.

There was no way I wasn’t going to get involved with this event when it was announced that Manchester Metropolitan University Library would be hosting a Human Library. The concept is fascinating and I knew it would be a great experience so I signed up to be a human librarian to support the event.


The role of the librarian in the Human Library is multifaceted:

• Take care of the books. This involved keeping an eye on them during their readings and being close if they need to catch your eye in case the reading does not go so well (rare).
• To collect them for readings and to support them before/ after their readings.
• We were there to make sure our volunteers were safe and happy to continue. We kept an eye on them and encouraged breaks when necessary. 
• We facilitated the loans to the readers. We signed people up for readings, made reader reservations and managed the human books. We also supported with standard event logistics e.g. giving directions, putting up posters etc. 
• To explain the concept to readers/ potential readers and provide reader guidelines in a non-threatening way. We stick with the book/ library metaphor throughout e.g. “Our books are in mint condition, please keep them that way” I.e. treat these people with respect.

It was so much more than just a great experience. I see myself as an accepting, open-minded person normally but this event left me feeling refreshed and more open-minded than ever. I’ve been a walking ball of positivity since yesterday. When I was walking home to catch the train, I felt myself looking at people differently, wondering what their book titles would be and thinking how amazing it would be to hear their stories. 

 

I had a chance for a quick chat with some of the books but I didn’t get the opportunity to read any of them but I really wanted to. They were all volunteers and had taken time from their day to talk about their experiences. It must have been exhausting for them to talk about themselves for 4 hours. On top of that, they were talking about tough, lived experiences and I really do admire them for volunteering. AMAZING humans! If hope there is an opportunity to attend another Human Library locally soon and hopefully we will host one again next year.

Please check out the Human Library website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Librarianing update

I’ve been in my new job nearly 3 months and the new term is well underway. I am starting to feel settled in my new role and I am really enjoying it. My role is varied and interesting and it’s so nice to be working with a huge team of library workers. I have worked with someone, in a library, who once uttered the forbidden phrase: “they don’t need the library, everything is online”. So, it is so nice to be working with people who are all on the same page…

Here’s a brief overview of the stuff I’ve doing over the past few months:

• I have so far delivered 18 welcome talks to new and returning fashion students. These vary from 10 mins – 1 hour. I have also started to deliver Info Skills teaching sessions and I have loads more booked in. I have some upcoming visual research workshops, a session covering a research briefing from Missguided and on Monday, I will be teaching students how to use Mintel to search for market reports. I am trying to experiment with playful learning and I facilitated a “speed databasing” exercise which went well. Learning about databases isn’t the most exciting so this at least makes it a little bit more entertaining. I still can’t believe it’s my job to teach a lecture theatre/ seminar room full of university students!
• I am developing my subject knowledge every day. I’ve signed up to lots of trade publications and mailing lists to keep up to date with the fashion, retail and textiles industries. I have started spending money, buying books and curating reading lists. Getting paid to buy books is FUN!

• I have also joined a critical reading group and the MMU bibliophiles book club. Having the opportunity to engage with academics and colleagues from across the university is so nice. It’s challenging and stimulating – everything I could want from a place of work.
• I have joined the referencing team. I deliver workshops and online support to students on how to cite and reference materials for their assignments. This is actually more interesting than it sounds and is really testing my knowledge. Precision is key!
• I have joined the library’s social media team. I post on the library’s Instagram page and contribute to the overall social media strategy (I get paid to play on IG basically).

Give us a follow @mmulibrary

• I have also joined the copyright team which is a little bit scary. I will be advising staff and students on copyright issues, including what academics can include in their teaching resources. I’ll also be delivering training to library staff and we’ll be launching a copyright awareness campaign next year. Even though it’s scary, it is really interesting and challenging. I’ve been paying more attention to copyright news and copyright in the beauty and fashion industries is actually fascinating. I came across The Fashion Law which is super interesting. The legality of make-up dupes and Instagram photos is my jam. Here’s some coverage of the latest James Charles Vs Wet N Wild scandal.
• I am also on the Equality and Diversity team. We deal with enquiries from students with disabilities and work to ensure we are offering an inclusive environment where all students can make full use of our facilities and services. We are also working to ensure our collections are diverse and representative. As an ally, being in this team enables me to do my bit to make a difference for our students. We’re putting together a library guide to signpost the Library’s collections featuring authors, writers and content relating to the many different and diverse communities and identities across the University and beyond. We are working to challenge the whitewashing of the curriculum and will be advising academics on how to create diverse and representative reading lists.
• I’ve joined Wakelet! I am using this to promote resources in a visual way. I need to figure out how I can get students and staff to look at it…

• I work in the customer service team on the help desk in a supervisory role which is also terrifying. It’s great working in a team with hard-working, experienced and knowledgeable people. Over the Summer, the info desk has been very quiet! The start of term has been crazy, as is expected, but its been nice having the library full of people and being asked questions.

We get lots of training on how to improve the user experience

• For new students, starting university is scary and confusing and it has been a privilege helping them during this exciting time in their academic lives. We gave away over 1,500 copies of Behind closed doors by Miriam Halahmy to welcome new students to the University. The author also came to visit on Wednesday and she signed my book! We had pizza, celebrated fiction and spent the afternoon talking about books! If this isn’t the dream job, I don’t know what is..?

However, it’s not all cardigans and rainbows. It’s been insanely busy and no matter how much I prepare, I still feel unprepared and anxious. I’ve had teaching sessions cancelled and changed at the last minute and I turned up to deliver a lecture to find there was no IT equipment in the room. I’ve also come down with the dreaded fresher’s flu…

But I have been welcomed by the team and I feel incredibly lucky to go to a job everyday that is stimulating, interesting, varied and enjoyable! Plus, there are tasty treats in the staff room every other day. Literally.

I’m here to stay.

Thanks for reading 🙂