Category Archives: IFLA Congress

CPDWL and M&M Online Coaching during WLIC 2021

Need assistance in achieving your goals or expand your professional development or career? Would you like to tackle challenging situations? Have you ever tried the business method of coaching?

The IFLA Coaching Initiative, founded by IFLA’s Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL) and Management & Marketing (M&M) Sections, invites colleagues registered for WLIC 2021 without any additional costs to take part in an online coaching session.

Coaching is currently available in the following languages: Bosnian, Cantonese/Mandarin, Croatian, Dutch, English, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Swedish.

To prepare for the session as a coachee please visit the Coachee Information and Preparation page: https://lnkd.in/dup8pMn

Book with an individual coach in your time zone at https://lnkd.in/d5YnCyi .

Available Dates: August 9 – 13 & 23 – 27, 2021

For further information please contact ulrike@lang-site.de

 

Wow! What Did I Do in Athens? Reflections on my first year as SC Member in CPDWL during IFLA WLIC 2019

Contributed by

Rajen Munoo, rajen@smu.edu.sg, Head, Learning and Information Services, SMU Libraries

‘Tis the season of thanksgiving, of reflection, of baubles, tinsels, good tidings, and gifting! With travel plans up in the air and the next opportunity for a face-to-face IFLA WLIC distant, my blogpost gifts to CPDWL a celebration of my last gathering at the IFLA WLIC 2019 in Athens and showcases the opportunities afforded to me by CPDWL as new SC member.

My story is around 5Is.

Involvement

Session 101: Active and Interactive Learning and Development Strategy – Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning and Evidence for Global and Disaster Health SIG. This was joint session with CPDWL and IFLA Special Interest Group E4GDH (Evidence for Global and Disaster Health):

The remit of this session was around the need to equip a skilled, flexible and agile library and information workforce for the future and to demonstrate a range of strategies and methods that improve learning and knowledge transfer – and build on the experiences of the participants. With interactivity being key, various options were put forth such as practical exercises, group work, or other innovative methods, e.g.  Fishbowl Technique / Speed Networking / Pyramid Discussion / Gallery Method /Appreciative Inquiry / Opinionator Triangle / Knowledge Café / Flipped Classroom

Initiating

And so the team was formed co-led by Dr Gillian Hallam, Co-Chair CPDWL, Dr Anne Brice, Head of Knowledge Management, Public Health England and Feili Tu-Keefner as facilitator, Assoc Professor School of Library & Information Science, University of South Carolina. Included was Emma Farrow, Public Health England together with Blessing Mawire, Librarian & Knowledge Management Specialist, Pretoria, South Africa and Mercy Moyo, Senior programme Officer, ITOCA (Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa) Pretoria, South Africa. With different time zones and countries, we had numerous virtual meetings and curated a successful programme down to the minute!

Ingredients

I gave a presentation entitled, “Engaging Students using a webinar to deliver and information literacy class as part of Emergency Preparedness Teaching and Learning at the SMU Library: Learning from Our Experience”

In 35 minutes, What do I cover? How do I structure my presentation? How do I fulfil the learning outcomes? My presentation plan, outline and transferrable learning strategies included:

Part A: Singapore in a VUCA World

  1. Scene setting [2 mins] > outline questions
  2. Video [5 mins]
  3. Reflection [5 mins]: Pairs / Table Talk
  4. Who are the different stakeholders? [Discuss at tables]
  5. Is anyone missing? [Discuss at tables]

iii. What opportunities for libraries and librarians (as first responders)?  [Feedback via Mentimeter]

Part B: Case Study [15 mins]

Part C: Fireside chat [5 mins]

Blessing Mawire and Mercy Moyo used the fish bowl method for discussion, including a silent fishbowl member. This session was highly interactive and popular.

Interventions, strategies and methods that improve learning and knowledge transfer

  • Self-Reflecting Questions: Posing a few scene setting questions before the start of your presentation piques the curiosity of your participants especially if it’s a provocative one!
  • Video: This is good to grab the attention of your participants and also brings a sense of realism especially if the video is produced in-house as the one created by Blessing and Mercy.
  • Fireside Chats: Creates and informal conversational setting personalising the experience where the facilitator and presenter share using a set of guided questions
  • Mentimeter: Visual word cloud presentation of ideas for participants to share especially for introverted and extroverted participants.
  • Fishbowl: Provides opportunities for proactive sharing of ideas and experiences by ‘taking the chair’ and facilitates discussion around a topic. A silent Fishbowl member plays the role of scribe, and resource person
  • Social Learning: Tweets and postings using social media tools on social networking sites highlights the Aha! Moments and key learning points to a wider audience

Upon reflection, little did I realise the foresight of my presentation on our current COVID-19 pandemic.

In my current role, I have oversight of the SMU Libraries staff learning and development portfolio and I am excited about being involved in the taskforce to develop the CPDWL Toolkit – Transferring learning back to the workplace which I hope to use myself.

Integration

CPDWL made me feel welcome and I actively contributed in the following ways:

  • Attended both the business meetings where I got to meet other members and understood the pulse of this awarding winning section.
  • I also co-facilitated Session 184 Knowledge Café 2019 – Knowledge Management with CPDWL and Library and Research Service for Parliaments with Crehalet Marie-Estelle where we harvested ideas around the topic, “Focus on what the library does versus what it has”
  • Session 251 Coaching Drop in Session – CPDWL with Management and Marketing was also enriching were I am still Facebook friends with my coachee who was from Athens!

In closing, being a CPDWL SC member provides opportunities for all! It’s how you seize them to be actively involved. I look forward contributing further during my term.

CPDWL Coaching initiative: Campaign for volunteer coaches

The coaching method has been explored by the Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Standing Committee over the years, as part of Satellite Conferences and as part of the IFLA WLIC programme. Since 2019 CPDWL is collaborating with Management & Marketing Section on the Coaching initiative.

We are now very pleased that the Coaching initiative was approved by the Professional Committee of IFLA for the next three years 2020 to 2022.
At the WLIC 2020 n Dublin the session will focus again on individual coaching, and the format will be a drop-in/walk-in session where coaches are prepared to meet the delegates that want to be coached. As was the goal of the 2019 session, CPDWL and M&M aim to offer coaching in all IFLA languages this year too, as well as any additional language spoken by volunteer coaches.The purpose of the Coaching initiative is to support the coachee (the person who wants to be coached) in aligning organisational and individual goals to improve individual performance and to ensure that the organisation’s mission is achieved.

Coaching focuses on asking open questions, and allowing the coachee to come up with the solution. This differs from mentoring which mainly focuses on giving advise.

In order to give the coaching session, we need many coaches. Maybe you are one of them? If you have experiences in coaching or if you are interested in developing your coaching skills, you are very welcome to contact us!

During Spring term 2020 an online coach training programme will be given in the format of webinars, in order to prepare for acting as coach at the WLIC coaching session. Vera Keown, member of M&M SC and Certified Leadership Coach, is planning the training programme and will be instructor at the webinars.

Since we aim to offer coaching in many languages, we are also interested in knowing if you can coach in any of the IFLA languages or your mother tongue.

Please send your expression of interest to: Carmen Lei carmen@ift.edu.mo or Barbara Schleihagen schleihagen@bibliotheksverband.de.

For further information about CPDWL’s coaching initiative, please contact: Ewa Stenberg , Convenor of the Coaching initiative ewa.stenberg@mau.se.

More general information about the Coaching Programme here https://www.ifla.org/cpdwl/projects

The coaching work group: Ewa Stenberg, Almuth Gastinger, Barbara Schleihagen, Carmen Lei, Ulrike Lang, Vera Keown

January 2020 Issue OUT!

Check out CPDWL Section’s Latest Newsletter (January 2020 Issue)!

The issue features:
CPDWL’s activities during IFLA WLIC 2019
IFLA Division IV, Division Chair Letter by Catharina Isberg
Communication initiatives
Staying relevant by Susan Schnuer
Opening up new vistas for Inostranka by Maria Bereslavskaia
…and more!

Check it out here!

Top Five CPDWL Blog Posts in 2019

CPDWL Section members frequently blog about their work, programs or activities throughout the year. Here are our top 5 popular blog posts with the highly numbers of visits:

5. With 880 visits, CPDWL Podcast Project: Episode 1 is our 5th most popular post. It kicked off our podcast series featuring Loida Garcia Febo! (Published in October 2019)

4. CPDWL Satellite Meeting 2019 in Zagreb, Croatia: RECAP is the 4th most highly visited post in 2019 with 896 visits. (Published in September 2019)

3. “New Resources for Library Advocacy” by Loida Garcia-Febo (Published August 2019) and “INELI-MENA-Egypt: Librarians as Motors of Change” by Heba Mohamed Ismail (Published in July 2019) are our third most visited post with over 900 visits!

2. With over 1k+ visits, our post on “Digital Tools That Can Change Your Librarian Life” is the second most popular blog post of 2019. The recording is also listed in the post. (Published October 2019).

1. With over 4k+ visits, “Wellness for Library Workers” by Loida Garcia-Febo is our most popular blog post of the year! (Published August 2019)

Stay tuned for 2020, we have of interesting posts coming soon!

Knowledge Café 2019: Change Literacy: Digital, Collaborative, Creative compiled by Monica Ertel

The 7th Knowledge Café was held at the 2019 WLIC in Athens, Greece.  Approximately 150 information professionals attended this meeting to share and learn from their colleagues on a number of interesting table topics.  Participants represented a diverse number of countries including Russia, Sweden, Norway, Ghana, Canada, Singapore, Germany, United States, Kenya, Japan, Uganda, Australia, Brazil, Greece and many others.  Public, school, university, parliamentary and special libraries were among the organizations of the participants. The goal of this program was to provide an opportunity for IFLA colleagues to discover, share and takeaway new ideas.

Change is the currency of our libraries, communities, parliaments, organizations, and world.  Whether it involves digital transformation, collaborating with traditional or non-traditional agencies, or creating new and exciting engagement opportunities, change is at the heart of our activities.  Learning, growing, developing and succeeding in the face of change are our challenges.  

Summaries of the table topics are included below.

Table topics:

  1. Developing New Communication Tools: Keeping Up with Advances in Technology
  2. Outreach and Collaboration with Non-Library Agencies
  3. How Library Spaces Affect Learning
  4. Creative Uses of Social Media in Libraries
  5. Change Management Techniques for Staff and Users
  6. Digital Transformation: Adapting to Changing Client Needs
  7. Developing Library Leaders of the Future
  8. Improving Performance Through Mentoring and Coaching
  9. Focus on What the Library Does versus What it Has
  10. Learning, Training and Finding the Gaps
  11. Managing Staff in Tough and Uncertain Times
  12. Succession Planning and Getting the Right Skills

Full Report available here. [PDF]

CPDWL Podcast Project: Episode 1

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

Our first guest is Loida Garcia-Febo, the Immediate Past President of the American Library Association (ALA) and consultant to CPDWL Section and information coordinator to the IFLA Management of Library Associations Section. The transcript is below with resources that Loida referenced Enjoy!

Transcript Below

Raymond Pun 0:10
Hi, this is Ray Pun. Welcome to the CPVWL Podcast Project in this space we talk with library information professionals, who support and participate in professional development work related to librarianship. Today’s guest is Loida Garcia-Febo. The Past President of the American Library Association, and President of the Information New Way, a not for profit organization seeking to enhance the education of multiethnic populations in the United States, and in Latin America and Caribbean region. Loida has been a member of the CPWL section for eight years, and currently serves as a consultant, and also served the IFLA governing board from the 2013 2017. Thank you for joining us, Loida.

Loida Garcia Febo 0:56
Thank you so much Ray I’m so happy to be one of the inaugural guest of this CPDDL podcast and thank you so much for the invitation.

Raymond Pun 1:08
Great. We’re really excited to have you here, and we have a series of questions that our listeners are really interested to know more about you. So I guess the fact is that you’ve been so involved with international librarianship, and the work you do for ALA, IFLA, and a lot of people have described you and your sense of fashion as chic, very fashionable. And I wonder what would be one word, you would use to describe yourself.

Loida Garcia-Febo 1:42
I’m just very happy to hear those words. And I do put a lot of heart what I do. So, one word to describe myself is passionate. Everything I do in my profession is done with passion. And I really work with teams, I love teamwork, to accomplish goals, and I’m bringing my passion into that, you know, working, as you mentioned on the IFLA governing board for two terms, being ALA President, founding the IFLA New Professionals, collaborated on FAIFE annual report, establishing the CPDWL webinar series, everything, Everything is thanks to their support of librarians, in my passion for the profession, and for the library workers, and the communities we serve at academic public and school libraries and libraries of all types.

Raymond Pun 2:50
Yeah, and you’ve been so connected, as you’ve described so many different groups within IFLA, but also around the world based on the work you’ve done. And so, a question that probably a lot of people are thinking is what compelled you to become a librarian? How did you get started?

Loida Garcia-Febo 3:06
I love this question. Thank you. My mother was my school librarian. And I grew up in a school library. When I was thinking about which field, I will select for my master’s degree, my mom suggested to think about Library and Information Sciences, and I was familiar already with the LIS school at the University of Puerto Rico, because I accompany my mother when she was studying for her master’s degree there. So, I was familiar with the school, with the professors, and I really liked it there. And it was a great decision. I love being a librarian and I’m so happy that my mom was also a librarian.

Raymond Pun 3:55
Wow, so that you have a library in your family, so that’s really fascinating to hear. And do you think, based on that kind of influence, your work for doing international work was also influenced by your family or that was something you wanted to do something different.

Loida Garcia-Febo 4:16
I always love to travel and I always like to learn from different cultures. And so, when I had the opportunity to do this librarianship, it just both things came together: my passion for traveling and international work in, of course libraries in the work that we do in librarianship and through librarianship, and these international work. I have had many opportunities, I’m so grateful. Being able to impact our profession, and our library workers and communities in different regions of the world doing work in teams and it means this work means that I can collaborate together with librarians from different regions of the world. For instance, as I did to place access to information on the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, and you all are familiar with that now, and I’m still very very happy to have advocated on behalf of the IFLA in libraries or the United Nations participating in forums and the UN in conjunction with civil society organizations, meeting with leaders from different countries, representing their countries at the United Nations. And as part of a really amazing. Each level global team. So it was an incredible feat. And for the first time that UN including access to information, which is at the core of what we do. They put it that into documents so just the SDG. the Sustainable Development Goals, which is used by countries worldwide to strategize their development efforts, they dedicate infrastructure, their budgets, and it was amazing to be there with our partners from IREX, I still remember that typing warranty that will become part of the target 16 point 10, which is our goal 16. And that is a specific target 16 point 10 that speaks about access to information so that was amazing and I was able to that to do that building on international librarianship work, and of course, as part of a very mighty team that you know National Library teamwork is everything.

Raymond Pun 6:42
So it sounds like international librarianship means working with and collaborating with different stakeholders and really focusing on supporting libraries across the world and information access, and so forth. And I wonder has that vision changed for you over the years, or it’s been consistently the same?

Loida Garcia-Febo 7:02
It’s been consistently the same. I can tell you that when I started at IFLA. I started as a volunteer translator, or FAIFE’s annual report so I will translate papers from Spanish to English and that was an amazing eye opening, because I was able to get in touch with the international librarianship, different colleagues from different regions, different stakeholders and that was a really great spark. That I have been able to take that those things that I learned there with me throughout my career.

Raymond Pun 7:48
Wow, that’s very inspiring to hear how you started as a volunteer. And, as I described to our listeners earlier, you’ve been involved at our Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section for eight years and starting webinar series with New Professionals, as well as sessions in the World Congress, and I wanted to know how did you get involved with our section, and why this section?

Loida Garcia-Febo 8:13
Yes, yes. So yes, I started out as a volunteer translating for FAFIFE. And then I became the secretary of FAIFE. And by the time I was in the my second term in faith, which is the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression for activity of IFLA. So by the time I ended my second term, there I was working at a library where we host some international libraries students as interns. And I was also coordinating some staff trainings. And so I got very interested in continuing professional development, and I was really happy to find CPDWL, and collaborating with the section has been wonderful to bring programs and resources to help librarians acquire skills needed for the job and workplace. It has been a wonderful eight years, and I’m still working with CPDWL as a consultant now.

Raymond Pun 9:15
Yeah, and we really appreciate your expertise and your experiences and skills to help continue growing with us. And I wonder if you can share with us a memorable moment you have about CPDWL, or IFLA?

Loida Garcia-Febo 9:30
Well, I have to say that I need to share two. Because they are really memorable in my career. The first was funding the IFLA New Professionals, and the IFLA New Professionals are under the sponsorship of Management of Library Associations, but they are all part of their professional division 4. And so we’re together with CPDWL and under that classification, let’s say, of IFLAA. And so I got in contact with CPDWL that way as well. And so, yes, one, one moment was establishing IFLA New Professionals in 2004 with two colleagues from Denmark and England, and that was a highlight that brought opportunities for students and new librarians to engaging associations work and to impact our profession globally. The established and other professionals, brought together new librarians worldwide, and I’m so proud of the group. And what all the conveners have accomplished through the years, and my other example is really more close to CPDWL, and it has to do with the opportunity of establishing a webinar series. And this was back in 2012. And so this webinar series is presented with CPDWL with the New Professionals in partnership with ALA, and the series is named “New Librarians Global Connections: Models, Practices and Recommendations.” And this series is wonderful. It features a wide variety of topics related to continuing education, such as human rights, open access Big Data, Services to teenagers, it is really very broad. We have many different topics and I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to access their recordings for free. Everything is free (gratis). And they are on the website of the New Professionals, and I’m so very happy to have been able to present webinars in English but also there are some in Spanish and Portuguese. And so I hope that people can take advantage of that. And I want to thank everyone CPDWL, and the New Professionals for continuing their webinars as well.

Raymond Pun 12:18
Certainly, that is something that our listeners should really look into the archived webinar, their archived and in the pages that you’ll find in the page right here where you access the podcast. And really, those are highlights that we really appreciate you sharing and our section is obviously focused on trends and developments that are happening in the profession. And I wonder what are you most excited about in the profession?

Loida Garcia-Febo 12:49
I am very excited about the present, our present and our future because I see a tremendous spirit of togetherness of working together, and that is beautiful. So I am looking forward to continuing working together with librarians from all regions of the world. That is very exciting, because that’s the only way in which we can impact, really truly impact our communities, our profession, our librarians and libraries, and I am here for the long haul. To continue, continuing to unify our library field. I’m also excited about all the evolving areas within libraries. We are creating a future, every day. So I’m very excited to continue working together with librarians to design programs and services to meet the needs of the communities we serve. And to do that, we need to equip our librarians, and this is the part was related to CPDWL, we need to keep an eye on societal trends, emerging technologies. And we can do that through our various resources I always like to recommend: IFLA trends report, which is updated periodically, and also the ALA Center for the Future of Libraries, they have a different set of trends that are updated in daily basis. For instance, artificial technology, big data, smart cities, and they’re all impacting the work that libraries do. So I’m excited about that, about working to continue integrating these type of trends in libraries to serve our communities and also to work to equip our librarians, with the skills they need to keep building libraries forward.

Raymond Pun 15:11
Yeah, it sounds like there are really great tips you shared, and those are really useful resources that our listeners should look into. And I wonder if there’s any other professional development tip or advice that you’d like to share with our listeners?

Loida Garcia-Febo 15:27
Yes, you know I’m an activist, a librarian-activist, an advocate. And so my advice also will go to the area of advocacy, to continue talking and also taking action, both things got together about issues that are impacting access to information which is at the core of what we librarians do. You know their copyrights and legal matters: ebook embargoes from publishing houses that are so wrong and limiting access to ebooks for our library patrons. So we must continue advocating for human rights, equity of access, the importance of diversity in our libraries programs, services and workforce and inclusion for all and different library associations: IFLA and ALA for instance, they have courses, and they have resources to equip. librarians, and also our library advocates. You know more wider group in this area of advocacy to help was advocate for this matters that I mentioned. Advocacy was at the center of my ALA Presidential National Library Tour, which I visited libraries across the USA and internationally, including the European Union Parliament. And so it is very important for us to stay abreast of resources, so we can utilize soon and continue advocating for libraries. Besides this, I will like to encourage librarians, also to dare to create. There are times when we noticed that some things will benefit our profession or libraries. But these are not in place. And so I want to encourage everyone to join forces with others, or with library associations, bring them your ideas and create those things yourself. You know, if you see something missing, you can certainly create it or work together with others. And that’s my favorite part, “together with others.” To create it, and that’s why and that’s how we created the IFLA New Professionals, and that is how we developed resources to help library workers for instance with wellness strategies, and that’s another area and information. Wellness is very important for all of us and it was one of my presidential initiatives. So that’s another area that we need to look at as well, to help our library workers, personally, as human beings as well. You know library workers’ wellness is extremely important for me, and I’m still very much collaborating with other librarians to move forward information, and our message to help us all. And I would like to encourage everyone listening to visit our ALA APA Wellness page which my presidential team revamped last year. And it includes our wellness resources for library workers in the areas of emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational physical, spiritual, and social wellness. And I want to highlight that the page on emotional wellness includes the recording of the webinar on strategies to manage microaggressions and workplace stress. So, I have just shared so much information on tips and advice, those are the areas I thought that were very timely at this time. So thank you for the opportunity.

Raymond Pun 19:44
Yes, those are really great resources for sure and we really appreciate that you’ve worked on this really hard with your teams to ensure that advocacy, wellness, work life balance are all part of what we do as we go forward in the profession, and something a little bit different. A question for you maybe is what profession, other than librarianship would you like to attempt?

Loida Garcia-Febo 20:11
This is a great question. I was always curious about attorneys and I think I will be a good attorney. I’m persistent, methodological and I love to advocate for causes that benefit communities so I will be that type of attorney.

Raymond Pun 20:31
Yeah, I could certainly see you even being human rights attorney. Right?

Loida Garcia-Febo 20:36
Yes, that will be wonderful.

Raymond Pun 20:40
Yeah. And so during your, your term right now, what is next for you after ALA presidency work, what are you working on now?

Loida Garcia-Febo 20:50
Well, it’s a very interesting question. I receive that question very often now. And after my ALA presidency, I took a very nice time to relax, and now I’m back with renewed energies, and as ALA Immediate Past President. I am an active member of the ALA board for one more year. And I’m also a liaison to some ALA areas, such as advocacy and I’m very happy because I truly enjoy working in that area. And IFLA, I am now have after and the my two terms, CPDWL. I am now a member of the IFLA section of management of library associations. And I was very familiar with that section because the New Professionals are under that section so I have collaborated with them for many years as well, and I’m currently coordinating our mid term meeting, and that will be at the ALA headquarters in Chicago, so it’s very exciting. And I’m working with it we have a working group working on that. And I’m also very excited because I am the newly information coordinator for the management of library associations, as a very fun thing, and so I’m enjoying that too and of course I continue with my work as a consultant so these days. I am immersed in papers and reading and writing. So, you know, that’s the life of the consultant, and I love everything that’s happening in my life right now.

Raymond Pun 22:36
Wow, congratulations. Those are really great opportunities and we’re really thrilled to have you still being really active with us for so many work that you inspire us to do. And we know that you are active in social media, but if you wanted to share with us, where can our listeners connect with you online?

Loida Garcia-Febo 22:57
Yes, I am on Twitter, so people can connect with me on Twitter, where my handle name is LoidaGarciaFebo, one word. I’m also on Facebook and on Facebook, you want to connect with me on the page that has the title of Loida Garcia-Febo as ALA President, 2018-2019, that’s the page to connect with me, Loida Garcia-Febo ALA President 2018-2019, and I’m on LinkedIn too, and I’m happy to connect there as well. You know, I’m a people’s person I love to stay in touch with colleagues and Ray knows that. Ray was part of my Presidential Advisory Board working on international topic, a star. Wonderful. So I’m happy to connect with my colleagues, and people through Twitter, on my Facebook’s President’s page, and on LinkedIn, of course.

Raymond Pun 24:04
Great, thank you for sharing those and certainly. Again, thank you for taking the time to speak with us and we’re really happy to have you still involved with CPDWL and the IFLA work. And with that, we wanted to thank our listeners for listening.

 

Resources:

Past Webinars from IFLA CPDWL Section and New Professionals SIG

ALA-APA Wellness Page

ALA President 2018-2019 Loida Garcia Febo’s Facebookpage