ISS UE NO.17 CLSIG JOURNAL...work is part of a larger project, do you know what the overall objectives are and what it is that you are trying to accomplish? If the answers to these

Welcome to CLSIG Journal No. 17!

Our focus this issue might be best summarised as 'Be

Prepared!' Regular contributors Carole Spiers, and our

regular Agony Aunt Ulla de Stricker give us both

principles and practical application.

Congratulations again Briggs-Washington Bursary Award

Winner Evelyn Webster, who gives us a perspective on

this year's CILIP Conference.

The Journal is always on the look-out for contributors -

could you write an informative book review like David

Griffith's on Phil Bradley's Expert Internet Searching?

Would you be prepared to write a contribution for the

Journal or suggest future topics for articles? Could you

review a book for us? Do you face challenging issues at

work which you'd like to share with our Agony Aunt?

Please contact the Editorial team below.

Editorial

Editorial Team

CLSIG JOURNAL

ISSUE NO.17

October 2017

Editor Richard Gaston

[email protected]

Deputy Editor David Griffiths

[email protected]

Associate Editor Lindsay Bradley

[email protected]

Editorial Board

Claire Groom

Sheila Pantry OBE

Arthur Weiss

In This Issue

1 Editorial

2 Article – Preparation

can pay off big in time

and money

5 Conference report –

CILIP conference

9 Book Review: Expert

internet exploring, 5th

edition

12 Agony Aunt

15 Next issue & contact

PAGE 2 CLSIG JOURNAL

Preparation Can Pay Off Big In Time

And Money

Carole Spiers

It is a skill set that can be learnt with a touch of

dedication and more

Adequate preparation is not always fun and many of

us do not always look forward to doing it. It can

appear to be boring and uninteresting — particularly

to those who love the ‘buzz’ of spontaneity.

However, it can prove to be one of the most valuable

skills you can master in avoiding the build-up of stress

and anxiety as deadlines approach.

A large part of your working day probably entails

dealing with, and managing, problems as they arise —

a proportion of which may be completely unexpected

leaving you with the responsibility of reacting to them

... unprepared.

Of course, if a problem comes along that has been

unforeseen, then it may be prudent to think about

whether or not it could have been anticipated rather

than be caught unawares.

Preparation is a skill that can be learnt and which, with

discipline and experience, improves over time. For

some, planning and preparation may come naturally,

but for others they invariably prefer to meet and deal

with challenges and problems as they arise.


The difference, of course, with being

reactive instead of proactive is preparation.

The advantage of preparation is that you

can manage problems quickly and more

efficiently because you will already have the

solutions at hand to be implemented.

The important factor, here, is time and as

we all know, time is money. Solving a

problem in one hour is clearly preferable to

having to maybe expend two, or even three

hours dealing with it. An appropriate

analogy might be tackling a fire in a

warehouse.

If there were a professional fire crew ready

for action at a few moments’ notice, to be

on site with firefighting equipment and

water without delay, then valuable stock —

and possibly life — could be saved.

Contrast this scenario with an unprepared

fire crew who might take an hour to get to

site to then find they have no access to

water. Thousands of dollars’ worth of stock

would have been destroyed, unnecessarily.

For those of you who I have trained to stand

up and speak in public will know that one of

the keys to delivering a great presentation is

preparation. There are many issues that I

need to take into consideration before I

walk onto the stage.

For example, the audience profile; their

level of experience and knowledge base;

their expectations plus details of the venue

where the event is to take place. As a

professional speaker, I need answers to

these questions and many others before I

even start to prepare the content of the

presentation.

So preparation is key for me, as is true for

all professionals.

It may not be a presentation that you are

going to deliver, but it could be a report that

you need to finish; an action plan that

needs writing, a proposal that needs in-

depth research or perhaps preparing for a

very important job interview.

So let’s look at some issues that could help

with preparation:

* Understand

Do you understand what you are preparing?

Do you know why you are doing it? If your

work is part of a larger project, do you know

what the overall objectives are and what it

is that you are trying to accomplish?

If the answers to these questions don’t

make sense or they do not accord with your

aims, then your preparation might be a

waste of time.

* Pace yourself

Preparation isn’t all about seeing how fast

you can get a job done. It’s more important

to focus on doing it efficiently.

This might mean that you have to revisit

one particular area many times to perfect it

and that is acceptable because this is

exactly what preparation is all about, that is,

fully understanding the problem and

applying the necessary solution.


* Set aside time

Because preparation is time-consuming,

there are some individuals who try to avoid

it, wherever possible. But if you task

yourself to set aside a period of time that is

probably more than you think you are going

to need, you will feel very satisfied when

you complete the task earlier with some

time in hand.

Key points

* Preparation is essential, not optional.

* Being prepared saves time and money.

* Failing to anticipate puts you at a

competitive disadvantage.

Carole Spiers

This article originally appeared in Gulf

News, 28th July, 2015

Carole is a Business Stress consultant

and International Motivational speaker

who shows organisations how they can

increase the performance and

productivity of their employees by

building resilience and managing change

effectively. She is chair of the

International Stress Management

Association [UK] and author of Show

Stress Who’s Boss! Carole is regularly

called upon by the media for

comment. www.carolespiers.co.uk


Conference Report: CILIP Conference

Manchester, 5th & 6th July 2017

Evelyn Webster

Briggs-Washington Bursary Award

Winner

Attending the CILIP conference is inspiring. I find it's

easy to feel a bit despondent about our profession,

because of the ways that political, economic and

technological developments are changing our roles,

but the CILIP conference is, essentially, people from

the full range of library sectors talking about

overcoming the problems we all face. I was

exceptionally lucky to be given a place by CLSIG, and I

hope I made the most of the opportunity.

Connecting and reconnecting with people is a major

benefit of the conference, and the Manchester

location maximised this for me; I did my masters at

MMU, and even before the first keynote started, I'd

run into a friend from my course. Later I ran into my

managers from both the student volunteering

placements I undertook, as well as people from

various events I'd attended or organised. If I'd had my

wits about me I'd have found a future colleague too,

who began working at the Pinsent Masons Edinburgh

office a few days after the conference. Thinking back, it

struck a chord with Carla Hayden explaining that

"these are your people", and even if we don't meet

often, we're all colleagues.


My biggest 'lightning bolt' moment came

from Caroline Carruthers' talk about turning

data into information, when she mentioned

hoarding data just because it might be

useful, and the amount of wasted time that

causes. Law firms have to be careful to keep

documentation of everything they say and

do for their clients, which leads to a lot of

'just in case' duplication, but our document

archiving system is well designed to support

the way lawyers work. However, that's very

different from how the library team need to

use it, so we're finding that our tree

structures and folders bear little

resemblance to our current work divisions,

and we often rely on word of mouth to find

documents. Caroline's talk brought home to

me how important classification (naming

conventions) and cataloguing (document

filing locations) are, and gave me the steps

to address the problem we've got, for which

I was extremely grateful.

Professor Floridi expanded on what gives

information value in his keynote "Fostering

the Infosphere". I make it through very few

after-lunch sessions without a bit of

nodding off, but I was riveted. Information

means nothing until you ask for it – until

you need it for something. There are

companies, or governments, or other

interested parties who do not want people

to ask certain questions, and libraries are

there to ensure those questions can be

both asked and answered. I am doing

Professor Floridi a gross disservice by trying

to summarise the talk like this, but I have

never heard the 'nice, fluffy, warm' motive

of libraries put so eloquently and

powerfully. Librarians are protecting access

to information, and protecting the world as

it was, so that in the future, people can ask

whatever question they want, and get

answers.

One of the striking things that Carla said

was that nobody thinks librarians are in it

for the money, so they trust us to serve

them. Our stereotype is incredibly strong –

ask anybody what a typical librarian looks

like, and they will give the same answer.

Like all stereotypes, there are negative

implications, but as Carla pointed out, the

librarian one can work in our favour. I

thought, until I went to the ethics breakfast

seminar, that I didn't really know much

about our professional values (turns out I

do, you'll be pleased to know), but I realised

that because of our stereotype, the public

also knows a decent bit about our

professional values. They know we protect

information, we help people, and we don't

discriminate or censor (except by shushing).


The major concern that came up in the

ethics briefing was, essentially, how do we

provide a good and fair library service if we

don't have much money? For me, David

McMenemy's talk later codified the rise of

this problem when he explained that the

library faith (high quality service, regardless

of who or where you are) is under threat

because the prevailing political thinking

makes communities the major unit in

society. This allows the government to avoid

implementing some kind of national

standard of library provision, by saying that

it's better for each community to have a

service based around its needs. That

sounds great, and polls well, but then you

realise that what an individual can access

would be determined purely by the people

around them, so there's no protection for

'non-standard' interests. Although I

understood the shift towards community-

run libraries, I realised I'd not properly

engaged with the reasons behind it, I think

partly because the library I work in has a

different relationship with its clients. As

we're part of the same company, the library

has no obligation to serve all lawyers

equally, because we serve the firm's

interests.

During the ethics seminar, our group raised

the question of how librarians should

respond if pressured by their employer to

do something which conflicts with the CILIP

ethical framework. I found myself thinking

about the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Code of Practice in comparison to the CILIP

one. The SRA Code of Practice is very

strongly protected; you cannot be a solicitor

without being a member of the SRA and

upholding the code, and your employer

cannot require you to do anything that

contravenes it. The same is not true for

librarians, but in my job, I have not

encountered a situation that has made me

feel suspicious or uncomfortable - the

hallmark of a potential ethical problem. I

am also lucky to have a manager who I

would trust to help me resolve a conflict

between CILIP's ethical framework and

demands placed on me by the firm.

One of the sessions I'd most been looking

forward to was Jane Secker and Chris

Morrison's copyright card game. As part of

the CILIP Yorkshire and Humberside

committee, I'd recently brought Naomi Korn

up to Leeds to run a copyright course for

librarians, so I was feeling pretty confident. I

would like to think I was instrumental in our

team winning the quiz, but in my heart I

know that isn't true. During the game, I was

reminded of something Professor Floridi

mentioned, about how being an 'expert' is

relative, and if you can answer more

questions - remove more uncertainty – than

the other people in a given situation, then

you're an expert. I could answer some

questions raised by my teammates, but

Jane and Chris could answer many more.

When I spoke to them afterwards, about

potentially adapting the game so I could run

it with trainees at the firm, they explained

that the 'quizmaster' needs to know a

Copyright card game


significant amount more about copyright

than the players, because one of the

strengths of the game is that it prompts

people to think of tricky questions that you

wouldn't anticipate.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you to Alex

and Jo from the CLSIG committee for

looking after me. Before events and

conferences, I always worry that I'll have no

one to chat with, or that I'll say or do (or

tweet) something naive, but I will reiterate

here that librarians are all colleagues, and

we all appreciate the insights we can glean

from the similarities and differences in our

work.

Evelyn Webster


Book Review: Expert Internet Exploring,

5th edition

Phil Bradley

Price: £59.95 but to CILIP members £47.95

ISBN: 9781783302475

Reviewed by David Griffiths

One of the questions to be answered when producing

a new edition (in this case, the fifth) of a successful

book is “Why is a new edition needed?”, and this is

addressed by Phil Bradley at the very beginning of his

latest issue of “Expert Internet Searching”.

His justification is to point to the many changes that

have occurred with respect to the internet since that

first edition came out in 1999; these include the

disappearance of most of the original internet search

engines and the growing dominance of Google, the

growth in user-generated content and the (related)

difficulty in ascertaining the “truth” of much of what

can be found, the proliferation of formats in which

content is published, as well as the enormous and

continuing explosion in the sheer volume of

information available.

Despite these changes, the book opens with two

chapters whose titles, at least, have been retained

from earlier editions: “An introduction to the internet”

and “An introduction to search engines”. Their

retention serves to support one of the themes of the

book, namely, to rebut the often-heard claim that “it’s

all on Google, so why do we need libraries and

librarians?” Bradley admits that, as a child, his

ambition was not to be a sports-star, musician etc.,

but rather a librarian, and an avowed aim of the book

is a defence of the continued relevance of librarians

and information professionals.


The introduction to search engines opens

with a discussion of how many of these

there might be, suggesting that this could

be as many as 400,000! Although not all of

these get an individual mention,

subsequent chapters do include references

to over 300 search engines and associated

search tools. These are helpfully grouped as

free-text search engines, directory,

clustering and similarity search engines,

visual and image search engines, social

media search engines, news-based search

engines, and various other categories of

specialized search engines.

Lest it be thought that the book is wholly

anti-Google, one of the early chapters is

devoted to “The world according to Google”

– a recognition of how all-encompassing

this internet search giant has become. In

fact, as is noted, Google has long outgrown

its initial definition of being just a search

engine, offering a host of other services as

well. It is its position as the world’s most

dominant search engine, however, that

earns it a whole chapter to itself, covering

the wider “Google experience”, the basics of

using Google’s search functions and some

tips on advanced search functionality, as

well as other search functions such as the

info: function, which not only links to a

particular site, but also provides further

options to see Google's cache of that site,

web pages that are similar to it, linked from

it and that contain that term. The chapter

also covers Google’s functionality for

searching social media (although, as noted,

there is also a chapter devoted to other

search engines specifically designed for this

purpose), as well as other features that

extend beyond what has previously been

thought of as the scope of a search engine.

At the conclusion of this chapter, Bradley

discusses some of the disadvantages of

Google. Partly, this leads on to the sections

on other search engines mentioned above,

but it also touches on another aspect of

using the internet to find information that

has recently become more contentious –

the difficulty of guaranteeing the accuracy

and truth of what a search may retrieve.

While the veracity or otherwise of the end-

content isn’t the responsibility of Google,

this issue is justifiably addressed here, both

because Google’s pre-eminence means this

is where such concerns are most evident

and also because, as Bradley contends,

some of Google’s choices (how it presents

search results, how it encourages users to

visit paid-for content etc.) contribute to the

overall problem.

Bradley suggests that librarians and

information professionals are needed now

more than ever, precisely to help identify

and combat “fake news”, as well as to help

users gain access to the abundance of

information available in a variety of

different formats from a variety of different

sources.

The book ends with some hints and tips, on

the basics of searching and using search

results, settings, finding confidential

information, as well as some predictions for

the future.

Although much has changed since the first

edition came out in 1999, one thing that

hasn’t is the quality and relevance of the

book, as noted in some reviews at that time;

for example:-

“An invaluable guide to searching on the

Net - a must for all Net researchers”


“It is clearly written, and well designed.

Intelligent signposting and numerous

helpful examples make it an easy book to

dip into when needed.”

“Every information professional with even

the slightest involvement in the internet

should make sure they have access to a

copy of this book.”

I think that this brief review has shown that

these reviews of that first edition are still

valid for the fifth.

David Griffiths


Agony Aunt has received the

following question:

“My organization has grown rapidly and

is now beyond the startup stage. The

CEO is suggesting the need for formal

corporate standards in terms of client

communications, response times, the

style and appearance of emails and

documents, the wording of outgoing

phone messages, dress codes for

meetings with clients, social media

activity, and the like. I have been asked

to advise on a method to develop such

standards, with an emphasis on

ensuring long term buy-in and

adherence. Where do I begin?”

Agony Aunt replies:

In Corporate Standards,

Employee Ownership is Key

Congratulations on "growing up" as an

organization. It must be exciting for you to have

a leading role in developing the tools with which

your organisation will create impressions and

perceptions on the part of clients and the

public. (As an example, clients may appreciate

knowing of a policy that phone calls or emails

will be responded to within one business day.)

I'm happy to share how I would go about the

project you have been given.


The key word for the advice you provide is

OWNERSHIP. You are aiming for a set of

guidelines all staff members can get behind

and follow day to day. Therefore, I

recommend that you ally yourself with

representatives from the business teams

and recruit a working group (6-8 members)

to perform the initial deliberations for

arriving at a set of proposed standards. You

could call those deliberations a "creative

workshop".

By engaging participants in devising the

rules that will impact their future work, the

workshop not only benefits from staff

knowledge – it goes a long way toward

fostering a sense of ownership. "These are

the standards we ourselves developed" is a

far cry from "these are the standards we

have been told to follow". Your goal is to

have the working group members feel that

their knowledge of work processes and

client situations is applied to the

development of sensible and sustainable

rules. The beauty of the working group

approach is that staff members are likely to

hit an appropriate balance between high

ideals and day to day practicality when they

are aware that they themselves must live up

to the standards they propose.

As preparation, gather up samples of

communications/documentation from

public organisations – good and less good –

to serve as springboards for discussion.

Your workshop could be structured as

follows:

• The CEO offers welcoming remarks

stressing the need for and benefits of

quality standards in the way the

organization 'behaves' externally

• You set the stage to provide context and

background, using samples to illustrate

positive and negative client impressions

formed on the basis of an organisation's

communications and client interactions

• The group discusses CLIENT

INTERACTIONS (phone, email, in-person

meetings): What do we want (potential)

clients to experience?

• PUBLISHED MATERIALS (documents,

reports, public presentations, forms):

What do we want clients and the public

to see?

• PUBLIC MESSAGING/SOCIAL MEDIA

PARTICIPATION (advertising, social

media pages and commentary): What

"voice" do we want to have in the public

space?

These are the kinds of topics to be covered

under the above segments:

• CLIENT COMMUNICATIONS: The

timing/deadlines and tone, styling,

wording, and salutation/signature of

emails; the wording of outgoing phone

messages and promises of return calls;

procedures for handoffs to other staff

members or teams; [etc].

• PUBLISHED MATERIALS: Logos & colours;

fonts & sizes & graphics; use of tables

and infographics; forms designs; [etc].

• PUBLIC MESSAGING/SOCIAL MEDIA:

Where to participate (e.g. FB page); what

topics to introduce or comment on; who

writes on behalf of the organization (and

how the messages are vetted); how

participation is triggered or scheduled;

what policy to follow regarding reactions

to others' social media commentary;

[etc].


Once the working group arrives at a set of

proposed guidelines (and note that it could

take more than just one day), you

summarize and present them for review by

the executive team.

With executive team blessing, you develop

templates to match the recommendations

for standard corporate behaviours. For

example, the standard "we never leave

anyone hanging" is matched with "email to

say that there has been an unavoidable

delay and to indicate new time horizon"; the

standard "we don't proceed unless we have

the full picture" is matched with

"letter/email indicating that additional

information is required"; and the standard

"in public, we feature our expertise and

professionalism" is matched with "public

presentation template"). Depending on

corporate culture, you may consider posting

the templates to allow staff members to

offer their reactions.

Finally – assuming overall acceptance of the

set of recommendations – you render the

proposed guidelines into a HANDBOOK for

employees. It will be your instrument when

you and the original key working group

stage orientation events to show all staff

members (and in future, new hires) how to

adhere to the guidelines. In each such

event, the key theme is that "your

colleagues helped develop these

standards".

Over time, it will likely be appropriate to

make adjustments to the handbook.

Retaining the working group members for

such future amendments would be a great

benefit. Over time, its membership could of

course evolve, but I would advocate for

maintaining employee engagement in the

care and feeding of the standards.

To get you started, I thought of one way you

could reach out to potential members of

your working group:

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS

AND DESIGN: HAVE YOUR SAY

Help create professional standards for the way

we communicate with our clients and to the

public

How do our clients and members of the public

perceive us through our emails, phone

messages, formal documents, and social

media messages?

The CEO recently charged me with leading an

effort to develop corporate standards for

communication and client interaction. Here is

your chance to bring your expertise and

creativity to bear on making us "look good" in

every way – won't you join my working group?

We kick off the effort on [date] with a creative

brainstorming workshop to review samples,

discuss how we want to be perceived in the

marketplace, and create recommendations for

consistent and easily followed guidelines.

Agony Aunt wishes you the best of luck with

getting staff excited about taking ownership

of corporate standards.

Ulla de Stricker

[email protected]

www.destricker.com


Notes for Contributors

CLSIG Journal is published 4 times a year: January, April, July

and October.

Copy deadline for the next issue:

CLSIG Journal No. 18 – January 2018 is 15th December 2017.

Back issues can be found on www.clsig.org.uk

CLSIG journal (Online) ISSN 2398-1202

Views and opinions expressed in CLSIG Journal should not be assumed to be endorsed by

the Editor, the Committee, the Group or by CILIP.

© CLSIG 2017

How to contact us:

Editorial team [email protected]

General committee enquiries: [email protected]

Website: www.clsig.org.uk

CLSIG (Commercial, Legal & Scientific Information Group), a Special Interest Group of

CILIP, the library and information association.

Documents

ISS UE NO.17 CLSIG JOURNAL...work is part of a larger project, do you know what the overall objectives are and what it is that you are trying to accomplish? If the answers to these