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CPDWL Podcast Project Season 2, Episode 3: Ulrike Lang and Vera Keown (Part I)

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our next episode (for season 2) of the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

This episode’s guests are Ulrike Lang and Vera Keown

To see the episode, see here: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/S2E3-Ulrike-Lang-and-Vera-Keown-on-Coaching-Programme-Part-I-eo3a93

Transcript is below.

Ulrike Lang – Until June 2020 Ulrike Lang was head of the Education and Training Department at the State and University Library Hamburg, Germany. Also responsible for Health management, conflict management, diversity management and addiction prevention. She is a member of the German library association BIB and gave several presentations at national and international conferences concerning CPD. Ulrike Lang already served eight years at the Continuing Professional Development Section (CPDWL) as co-chair, was four years member of the Education and Training Section of IFLA and now returned to CPDWL again as co-chair. She is a member of the coaching working group and served also as coach in the past years. At the 2019 Satellite conference in Zagreb she held the workshop „Challenging Presentation Needed? „

Vera Keown has been with the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada since 2010. First as Head of the Sciences and Technology Libraries and since 2014, as an Associate University Librarian. She previously held a number of library and business positions at the National Research Council of Canada. Vera has been a member of the IFLA Management & Marketing section since 2016. She considers it a great honour to be working on the IFLA Coaching Initiative with such talented and dedicated committee members. Vera is a certified leadership coach, Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, and a  member of the International Coaching Federation. She offers one-on-one coaching to managers, leaders, and executives of all levels for leadership and performance development, and provides coach training to organizations. 

Transcript:

Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.. Today’s guests are Ulrike Lang and Vera Keown.

Until June 2020 Ulrike Lang was head of the Education and Training Department at the State and University Library Hamburg, Germany. Also responsible for Health management, conflict management, diversity management and addiction prevention. She is a member of the German library association BIB and gave several presentations at national and international conferences concerning CPD. Ulrike Lang already served eight years at the Continuing Professional Development Section (CPDWL) as co-chair, was four years member of the Education and Training Section of IFLA and now returned to CPDWL again as co-chair. She is a member of the coaching working group and served also as coach in the past years. At the 2019 Satellite conference in Zagreb she held the workshop „Challenging Presentation Needed? „

Vera Keown has been with the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada since 2010. First as Head of the Sciences and Technology Libraries and since 2014, as an Associate University Librarian. She previously held a number of library and business positions at the National Research Council of Canada. Vera has been a member of the IFLA Management & Marketing section since 2016. She considers it a great honour to be working on the IFLA Coaching Initiative with such talented and dedicated committee members. Vera is a certified leadership coach, Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, and a  member of the International Coaching Federation. She offers one-on-one coaching to managers, leaders, and executives of all levels for leadership and performance development, and provides coach training to organizations. 

Welcome Ulrike and Vera!

Hi, Hi, thank you.

2:04  

Our first question is really to look at the collaboration of coaching the idea of coaching. So we’re really excited to have you both coming in from CPD wl and mmm sections to talk about it. So how did this idea on coaching come about in cpW, well, and m&m sections to start things off, or Rico? Can you please talk about this?

2:27  

Sure. The CPD wl section always try to present interactive programs and sessions at the word Library and Information conferences. And we realized that a lot of colleagues have the need to communicate about the tasks and problems with colleagues from abroad, they might talk much more open than with the colleagues in their own institution. Because in some business cultures worldwide, it’s not appropriate to name your lack of knowledge or competency. Also on previous satellite conferences of CPD, wl career and professional development coaching has already been part of the program of beige in a smaller size. And pushing usually is cost and time intensive. So we thought about offering a low threshold supply, which was also an experimental balloon.

3:18  

So let me follow up with that. Who is the coaching program for Oh, Rica.

3:23  

Actually, it’s for everybody who has a problem in daily work with her or his team, with the leadership, the organization of the customers, or the own role in the institution. There are lots of topics which has been raised during our years of coaching. And it’s not only problems, but it’s maybe just to will to change anything.

3:45  

That’s very interesting. Thanks for giving some context here. And I know that at CB wl we working with the m & m section, we have started hosting these online asynchronous training and video support for the area of coaching. Vera. Can you tell us a bit about the training videos and why is it important for potential coaches to complete the ifla coaching training webinars?

4:13  

Yes, so we recorded five training videos for the CPDWL website. And they’re presented in English however, through the work of numerous volunteers, we were able to post copies of the slides in six of the seven languages. But you know this, it was a huge undertaking to do that. But we really felt it was important that if the coaches could review the material in a language that they were most comfortable with. Coaching is about developing a good relationship and building trust for the coachee and it’s vital to the success of any coaching session. That can be more challenging when you’re coaching in a language that is maybe not your your first language. conversations that happen between coaches and coaches are usually very personal. And it’s very important to be able to convey and capture the essence of what’s being communicated. So I am really happy that we were able to get the translations of the materials and that the coaches feel that they were better prepared. They’re important to watch, because in my experience, there is a lot of confusion between, you know, what is mentoring, and what is coaching, both for the coach and the coachee. For the coaches, they often tend to be very accomplished managers and mentors already in their careers, they’ve had long careers doing that. And they’re kind of used to that problem solving environments where the, you know, the coachee or their employee comes to them with some problem and, and as the, you know, more senior person, they tell them what they need to do. So, so, the videos go through a lot of that, to try and clear up some of the confusion between what is managing what is mentoring, and what is coaching, and how they’re different when to use them. And then it also gets into how to do it, which involves a lot of open ended questioning. And the one of the things that we talked about, I believe, on the live webinar that we did with how to handle some of common coaching challenges that come up. So anybody who’s interested in being a coach could watch those videos, they’re only about a half hour each, and they can get a real mini course, in how to how to coach.

6:50  

Thanks for setting that up. And so that’s very helpful to see the resources that you have given to, to the members of IFLA. Right, and learning what types of differentiations of the types of positions. Now, Rica, can you talk about the the coaching program in the world Library Information Congress in 2018, and 2019? And what was that like? And I know you mentioned a little bit about it, but can you tell us more about that?

7:22  

Sure. And actually, we had no idea if participants of the wl IC in 2018 would take the time or felt the need of being coached. So we ordered a ballroom style room in Kuala Lumpur. We looked for coaches in our own section, but also every member of the Standing Committee of CPDWL with contacts to experienced colleagues tried to motivate them to participate too. We started long before the Congress to advertise for the session. And we also provide some colleagues as hosts to guide the coaches at the session itself. As we didn’t know how many would participate, we seriously worried if we would be just the coaches or too many interested coaches, we were pretty prepared to connect one coach with one coachee, but also to organize some kind of group coaching, if there would have been too many people interested. The organizing group prepared a list with coaching areas where the coaches could mark the topics she or he felt safe to coach with like management skills, health management, lifelong learning, marketing libraries, sectors, like academic or public libraries, career planning, change, men, management, etc. At the doors, the hosts would guide the coaches to an available coach who covered the asked topics. That was the theory. In practice, there were too many interested colleagues. So almost every coach had three to six people at her or his table. And it was the individual choice how the coaches deal with them. Of course, there was not very much privacy at the tables. So mostly they had some kind of group coaching. Our every coach he was waiting to get in the row. After the W li c 2018. We decided to offer more theoretical input about coaching, because some of the coaches came with the expectation to get the clue that means to find a mentor. And in some cases, it was very even for the coaches very difficult to go the way of coaching instead of just giving advice in 2019. In essence, we were prepared better, didn’t divide the coaches in topics offered only one by one coaching and also offered the coaching in all official languages. So the only Way to split the coaches was what was the language they would like to be coached in. We had more hosts who watched which coach could welcome the next coachee. And we started to collaborate with the m&m section, where a lot of well experienced colleagues are on board.

10:20  

Riga, thanks for that context. Actually, I do recall for myself being a coach for both 2018 and 2019. And it was quite quite different. So I’ve seen the improvement 2018, it felt like it was a good pilot, where we had a group of participants in one table, and everyone was trying to almost group coach each other in such a certain extent. And so 2019 was more consistent in terms of one on one support. And now with the pandemic, we know that things have flipped online, and there was no 2020 Congress, unfortunately, so we couldn’t get together and do another coaching session. However, I do know that some of our listeners and and might know this, that we flipped online. And so what was what was it like pivoting to online coaching format in 2020? Were there any logistical challenges that you’d like to share? Vera?

11:19  

Well, yeah, there were some things online. But coaching is actually fairly easy to do either by phone or video conferencing. In fact, that’s the way I’ve been doing most of my coaching is through virtual coaching with the clients that I have. It’s very convenient, both for the coach and the coachee. And it’s also very low cost, especially when we’re using online free online services. So there’s no long distance charges or travel time that’s required for on either parties. Um, it also needs to coachees are not limited to working with those coaches that are within their local area. And this is especially important for anyone living outside of a major city. One of the main challenges we had was implementing an online booking system for the coaching appointments. Because we had quite a number of coaches and coaches, and we didn’t have a paid subscription to an online booking system. And we also wanted to maintain the confidentiality and the privacy of everyone that was involved. But we did actually work that all out, and I think it worked quite well. I think the other challenge with the online coaching versus having the coaching with at the conference, or at the Congress was, you know, coachees not showing up for appointments. I think that happened a few times, because these tend to be booked in advance. And although they are put into people’s calendars, you know, it doesn’t always match up with what’s going on in people’s lives at that time. So we were at the Congress, everybody’s you know, more focused on on the Congress and, you know, are able to leave sort of their day to day lives a little bit behind they are there.  One of the biggest challenges though, with online and phone coaching, is the ability to read people’s body language, or to see their facial expressions. So with video coaching, you know, it’s actually not that bad because we, because of this year, we’re actually getting quite good at it. I think that doing this. But when you’re only coaching by audio, it can be a little bit more, more difficult. But a lot of the communication happens outside of the words people actually speak. So as a coach, it’s important to notice changes in body language and facial expression. If you only have audio to go on, then you know, you’d have to really pay attention to the tone of voice that  people are using the rate of their speech. These are all good cues as to what the coachee is feeling when they’re talking about an issue.

14:11  

Those are really great points about body language, facial expressions, the tone, like you had mentioned for in person, right? And then now it’s it’s, it’s a little different online where you could still see some body language, but it’s difficult, right? If they are if the videos are off, obviously you can’t see it, but the tone really picking that up. And so about the feedback from participants, what about that and you know, I recall hearing and reading about rolana Ron has experience a participant from the Philippines speaking about her experience with Coach Rajan a CPD wl member from Singapore remotely and highly enjoyed it. And I wonder if you could talk more about the feedback where we go.

14:53  

Yeah, you’re right, Ray. I think feedback is something we can really improve because it was different This year, we send out a questionnaire after the coaching sessions. And the return write rate was very low. The years before, it was much easier when the hosts at the exit doors of the room where the session took place, just asked the leaving coaches. But I know that some of the coaches got feedback from the coaches later. And I also know from one coach who is now friend with a coach he on Facebook, so it could be Yeah, connection for a long time.

15:37  

Yeah, those are great points for consideration how those connections right are so important, especially right now. And so we are we’re heading to our final question here on this topic, what’s next for the coaching? Sure,

15:57  

we’ll certainly continue with the online coaching as long as we cannot meet in person. And the W li c will be virtual in 2021. The coaching working group will meet soon via zoom to discuss the next steps.

16:14  

But those are great next plans, Vera.

16:18  

And well, For my part, I have lots of ideas that I will be bringing to our next meeting of the working group. I think we talked a little bit about these, actually this year as well. But I’d like to do a video training session for coachees to help them prepare for the coaching session. As I Ulrike had mentioned that, you know, there’s still some misunderstanding from the coachees as to what coaching is, and what their role is in it. And, you know, they may be still looking for advice. And for the coach to, you know, tell them what they need to do. But for coaching, it’s the coachee is the one that is expected to do all of the hard work of coaching. And it’s about discovering the capabilities that they already have within themselves to reach their goals and to find solutions to their challenges. The other thing I’d like to try and develop is a group coaching session, in order to help the the IFLA coaching program meet the demand that we’re getting. So with one on one coaching, the coachee determines the topic for the session, and they work with the coach to develop a solution that’s tailored to their situation and their their personality. With group coaching, it’s still focused on the individual and developing their own strategy, but it’s centered around a common theme or topic. And the coach leads the coachees participating in the group through exercises that get them to work through challenges, or define their goals and strategies. So each coachee does their own work. But the questions are, are, and they’re a little less less spontaneous than they would be in a one on one session. But it’s also a way to reach more coachees and  on a common topic that might be familiar and important to some people often around career. You know, how do I get my next job, those types of things, points that people will often

18:30  

have in common.

18:32  

Well, those are really great projects and plans. Bera thank you for sharing that. And it’s so helpful to hear what projects are in store right, even though we’re all working remotely to a certain extent, wherever we’re located. So these are still exciting projects and plans that Ulrike  shared. With that I want to thank our guests today or Riga and Vera, thank you so much for speaking with us today on coaching.

 18:59  

Thank you, it was really a pleasure. And for any questions from the listeners. Of course, we are here on the CPD wl website and I think on M and M to, to answer

19:13  

Thank you very much. I really appreciate you putting this together. And it’s been it’s been great having an opportunity to talk about coaching.

19:22  

Great, thank you all for listening.

CPDWL Podcast Project Season 2, Episode 2: Daria Beliakova and Monica Ertel

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our next episode (for season 2) of the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

This episode’s guests are Daria Beliakova and Monica Ertel.

To see the episode, see here: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/S2E2-Daria-Beliakova-and-Monica-Ertel-on-Knowledge-Caf-envs08

Curious about the upcoming Knowledge Café on Feb 9th 2021? See here: https://www.ifla.org/node/93475

Transcript is below.

Daria Beliakova has received the specialty of a librarian-bibliographer at Moscow State University of Culture. She has been working in the Library for Foreign Literature (LFL) since 1995. Her professional interests include: study and dissemination of experience of foreign libraries; preparation of publications in professional journals and social networks; organization of professional development programs for cultural workers, coordination of work with professional organizations, including IFLA, the Russian Library Association (RLA), the Library Assembly of Eurasia (LAE), with leading Russian, foreign libraries and universities.Since 2013, Daria has headed the International Librarianship Group. She was the compiler, one of the authors and editors of the annual scientific and practical collection “Open Access. Libraries Abroad”. She participated in the preparation of the annual annotated bibliographic index “Library Business and Bibliography”. She coordinated internships of Russian and foreign specialists in the Library for Foreign Literature and other Moscow libraries, and internships of students from specialized universities in the LFL.From 2016 to 2019 Daria headed the educational department of the Library for Foreign Literature “Rudomino Academy”. Her tasks included preparation and implementation of professional development programs, methodological events (working meetings, section meetings, round tables, conferences).  She developed and participated in advanced training programs: “Modern Practices of Russian and Foreign Libraries”, “Library as a Center of Local Cultural Heritage”. She took part in adaptation to the Russian language and holding in Russia the educational program of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs “Strengthening Innovative Library Leaders” (SILL). Since 2019, she has been the Head of the Center for Cooperation with International Professional Organizations. From 2015 to the present day Daria participated as a speaker in conferences and working meetings on librarianship, including the Congresses of IFLA, RLA, the 2nd and the 4th meetings of the Russian-American Library Dialogue (Suzdal, 2018 and online 2020) . In 2018, she completed an internship at the International Institute “Life Beyond Tourism” to study the concept of responsible tourism and preservation of cultural heritage. Member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section (2018 – 2022); Member of the Standing Committee of the Section for International Cooperation of the Russian Library Association (2018 – 2023).

Monica Ertel is currently Vice President of Global Information Services for Bain & Company where she leads their worldwide information services network in 59 countries.  Her responsibilities include managing an international team of researchers who provide high-level research analysis and support, desktop delivery of key information resources, end-user consultant training and strategic information leadership for the firm.  Ms. Ertel has over 25 years of library management experience, including Korn/Ferry International where she was the Director of Global Knowledge Management and North America Research. Prior to that, she was with Apple Computer where she was the Director of Knowledge Systems that included the Apple Library as well as research programs in the field of information management. Monica holds a Master of Library Science degree from San Jose State University in addition to an MBA from Santa Clara University.  She has been active in a number of library and information associations and was appointed Fellow of the Special Libraries Association and Outstanding Alumni award from San Jose State University.  She has also held leadership positions with the American Library Association and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions where she has been a member since 1988.

Transcript:

Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.. Today’s guests are Daria Beliakova and Monica Ertel.

Daria Beliakova has received the specialty of a librarian-bibliographer at Moscow State University of Culture. She has been working in the Library for Foreign Literature (LFL) since 1995. Her professional interests include: study and dissemination of experience of foreign libraries; preparation of publications in professional journals and social networks; organization of professional development programs for cultural workers, coordination of work with professional organizations, including IFLA, the Russian Library Association (RLA), the Library Assembly of Eurasia (LAE), with leading Russian, foreign libraries and universities. Since 2013, Daria has headed the International Librarianship Group. Member of the Standing Committee of the IFLA Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section (2018 – 2022); Member of the Standing Committee of the Section for International Cooperation of the Russian Library Association (2018 – 2023).

Monica Ertel is currently Vice President of Global Information Services for Bain & Company where she leads their worldwide information services network in 59 countries.  Her responsibilities include managing an international team of researchers who provide high-level research analysis and support, desktop delivery of key information resources, end-user consultant training and strategic information leadership for the firm.  Ms. Ertel has over 25 years of library management experience, including Korn/Ferry International where she was the Director of Global Knowledge Management and North America Research. She has also held leadership positions with the American Library Association and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions where she has been a member since 1988.

Welcome Daria and Monica!

0:04

Let’s talk about the knowledge cafe and our upcoming workshops. First tell us briefly what is knowledge cafe, who started it in IFLA. And when did it start. And why is it so wildly popular under Congress, Monica. Would you like to address that?

0:20

Sure. And thank you, Ray. The concept for knowledge cafe started in 2013 and IFLA in Singapore. We have a session CPDWL on libraries as learning organizations how to nurture growth in our staff and communities, and it was several presentations, if I can remember back that far, but we also broke up into tables to talk about topics that had to do with learning organizations, and we had 294 people. So we knew we were on to something. We didn’t call it a knowledge cafe at the time, but we decided to build on this idea, so a knowledge Cafe is a place where people come together to talk to share ideas of common interest so just like you go into your local coffee shop, you see people, chatting with their friends talking about their families or talking about movies, whatever is of interest. So, as librarians, our job is to listen to share to help to educate our patrons, and it’s just very natural to do this for ourselves. So, we come to IFLA to learn, in many ways, and I think some of the best ways is from talking to one another and so that’s why we decided to formalize a session where people could just come and talk on topics of interest to them in a very non formal way. And here we are, 2020, and we’re headed off into, I think this will be our eighth or ninth one. 

1:59

Wow, eighth or ninth one? that is quite impressive. I remember going to a couple of knowledge cafes in person. During the past few congresses, and it is very popular, lots of people coming in with different perspectives, sharing their ideas, the trends that are going on to address these specific topics. Right. And so right and it’s interesting because we have an upcoming knowledge cafe session on Zoom In February, and some of the table topics such as change management techniques for staff and designing user centric services and programs are really great ideas for discussion particularly now. During this period that we’re all experiencing, and Daria Can you tell us which topics are relevant to you, and in your work.

2:45

Hello everybody. Thank you Ray and I thank you Monica. Actually when preparing the program, we chose from topics that were popular last time and have not lost their relevance. And of course we have suggested some new topics. My favorites are: Upgrade your brain! Top 10 essential competencies for modern info pros and Working with diverse generational staff: Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers. Because my activity has been related to the implementation of professional development programs for librarians for several years. We always need to upgrade our brains! Using information technology, online teaching methods and personnel management. We need to learn how to quickly assimilate large amounts of information. How to communicate with people of different generations? These people have different competencies. They have different life experiences. They have different approaches to their daily challenges. It is very interesting! And together in the work team, they complement each other perfectly. But we must understand and remember these differences well.

Well, yeah, those are really great points Daria, and I think the one that you mentioned upgrading your brain, that, that, that beginning part I did stood out to me so I find some of these topics, I’m certain, most of them are really connected to the bigger issues and some of them are very can be very specific. And so we want to talk about these topics and trends like how are they chosen and Daria mentioned them being popular, but if you, if Monica,  if you can also expand on how are they chosen from your point of view and which one stands out to you. I think our listeners would like to hear that.

Sure. Um, well, it’s really the top of search chose and just based on as Daria said what are hot topics at past cafes what has been interesting, getting ideas from colleagues, and the organizers. This year it’s CPDWL, and knowledge management. So Daria, and I are the representatives, organizing this. We put together a long list between the two of us. And then we passed it by the leadership in the cam and CPDWL standing committees and ask them for their ideas, and we put together a big list and then we just send it around and we, we kind of voted on it but really it was up to Daria and me to say, these are the top topics we figure out “how many tables we want.” I should back up and say, “okay that purse drives” “How many do we have” and we base it on the number of people that we had in the prior year and where the conference is being held so generally we’ve had 10 to 12 tables of 10 people each. And so that means we come up with 10 to 12. 

6:26

And so that said it’s pretty simple. There’s nothing very scientific to it but just based on what we know is going on out there and what we think that people want to talk about and I suppose some of it is kind of selfish because it’s what do I want to hear about and to me the sessions that are interesting have to do with measuring impact of our learning activities, and finding motivation for how do you take control of your own professional development. 

6:58

Yeah, that’s a really great point about the motivation aspect particularly now with so many distractions going on. And for folks who are going from one zoom meeting to another webinar, and so forth.

Right.

And so how do they adapt some of these features into their work and continue right sharpening their skills and experiences and you brought up a really great point about the coordination with you and Daria, which is really important, right, if you are interested in organizing a knowledge café, whether it’s in person or in zoom, definitely have a team of folks to help, help us get that started. So we certainly hope to see more of these types of sessions down the line. And so you had mentioned about the roundtable discussions, people coming in together and then having a facilitator and a reporter potentially and then documenting all of that discussion so that it could be shared later. But I wanted to ask on this other type of question on this note what happens with the shared notes after the discussion. Do you think the discussion, helps participants share their ideas in their workplaces Daria, what do you think? 

8:08

Ah, well, first, you do prefer a summary of the results, or the discussion for each focus, and then video series for all participants of the knowledge coupler and before sir for all the attorneys that are interested in it and do publish their results in our blog and our newsletter. I’m sure many librarians. Did you find it useful information for themselves? Most important. 

8:44

Well, at first we will prepare a summary of the results of the discussion of each topic. And then we will share it for all participants of the Knowledge Café. and of course for all specialists who are interested in it. We will publish the results in our blog and newsletter. I am sure many librarians will find useful information for themselves. Most importantly, during the discussions, we share the best practices of our work. Things that work in some libraries and countries are likely to work in others. And besides, the competent professionals will discuss their best ideas. I believe these ideas must work in practice. 

9:14

Right. And certainly, I think it’s important for all of us to try to create a strategy where you can transfer knowledge to the workplace, I hear this a lot, even in our discussions at IFLA, how do they translate and transfer what they’ve learned into what they’re doing directly, and sometimes it might not be connected and sometimes they are curious, right they don’t know what topic, for instance of on a specific technology and then they participate in. And so it’s quite interesting to hear how the Daria, you share the strategy to disseminate in different areas so that other people who couldn’t attend can also get an idea and participate and share their reactions and feedback, potentially with their own colleagues.

Now we want to pivot to this other question here really looking at, for those who are interested in organizing a knowledge café session, whether it’s in person or online. What advice do you have for those interested in doing so, Monica? Would you like to start first?

Sure.

10:17

I would say if you have a topic that you want to learn more about from people from your colleagues, it’s a very simple way to get people together to talk and share at the say the kind of the impetus to the knowledge café for me was a long time ago when I was at Apple, and I was hired to start a library for them and asked to do it on was an apple two at the time, and I said in the interview, “yes I can do that”, you know, and then I got the job and I thought, What am I going to do you know I don’t know how to do this, but I knew a lot of people were using Apple’s own library so I put a call out in American libraries and said, “Anybody want to get together to talk about how they’re using apples in their libraries”, and I got a lot of response, and we kind of went for there and for several years we did this we broke people up into different tables to talk about circulation systems or reference and so it, it kind of comes out of a need that you have to learn and to share in a more informal setting with your colleagues who have more experience and everybody learns.

Definitely not necessarily a sage on stage kind of approach.  Right.  So we have you here, and a community of practice

And Daria, what advice do you have?

Invite the best professionals to the discussion! Invite the most experienced moderators as discussion leaders! Invite the smartest secretaries to write and prepare the reports. Discuss current topics with your audience in advance. And now, if you do it online, try to bring people who live in different time zones together in one session.

12:21

Yeah, that those are really great points, it’s really challenging right now that we’re sort of working in this vacuum of sorting out different time zones and for those listeners who have been following in our previous conversation, IFLA President Christine Mackenzie also mentioned that this has been a lingering challenge right for everyone, even to the work that she’s trying to do online.

Even though we are all connected right now in different ways, it’s still quite a challenge. And so, really, those are great points, thank you both for sharing. And now we want to end on this last question here since we are about professional development.

13:03

This last question is, what’s a professional development tip or advice that you’d like to share with others, particularly those who are new, and or would like to be involved in IFLA, Daria, would you like to start first. 

13:16

Be proactive! IFLA is undergoing major changes. And really needs your fresh ideas and energy.

Get to know better your colleagues in the IFLA section. You can use their rich experience in your work. And fear nothing! IFLA is a very friendly community of professionals.

13:44

Great. Great advice..  Monica.

13:47

I would say, my advice would be to get involved. Join a standing committee, attend to meeting, volunteer do a poster session.

13:57

Anything you can you just get the most out of any organization when you get involved do meet people lasting relationships and again, you kind of have these informal knowledge cafes outside of the programs, but you, the more you give, the more you get so my advice is in any organization and IFLA especially.

14:22

Do what you can to get involved you will make friends for life, and you, it will really benefit your professional development. 

14:33

Yes, those are really great points, as we mentioned there will be a knowledge cafe sessions, we have ongoing yearly webinars in collaboration with different groups. We have social media channels engaging with the library profession, and certainly those are opportunities, if you’re unable to attend in person, like all of us aren’t able to but even so when things change down the line. These are still opportunities to stay connected. And so thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with us today and sharing your thoughts on knowledge cafe.

15:07

Thank you, Ray enjoyed it.

15:10

Thank you very much.

15:12

See you all.

CPDWL Podcast Project Season 2, Episode 1 Featuring Christine Mackenzie, IFLA President 2019-2021

The CPDWL Podcast Project is back!

Our first episode for season 2 features Christine Mackenzie, IFLA President and CPDWL Co-Chair Gill Hallam as host.

Hear the podcast conversation: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl

Transcript below.

Christine Mackenzie is President of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions). She retired as CEO of Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, Melbourne, Australia in 2016 after 12 years in that role and following a long career in public libraries. Previously she was Manager of Brisbane City Council Library Service, the largest public library system in Australia. Christine has been very active in IFLA and was President elect 2017 – 19 and Treasurer 2015-17. She was a co-founder of INELI-Oceania, a program funded by the Bill &; Melinda Gates Foundation that provided leadership training for librarians in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific and which sponsored the formation of the Pacific Libraries Network in 2018. She has been a member of the Australian Government’s Public Lending Rights Committee; the Library Board of Victoria’s Advisory Committee on Public Libraries; the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Libraries; the Executive of the Public Libraries Victoria Network, and a juror for the Intelligent Communities Forum. She has held a number of roles in ALIA including President 2003-04. She was awarded an ALIA fellowship in 2008 and the VALA Robert D Williamson Award in 2012.

Gill Hallam has enjoyed a rich and varied career as an LIS practitioner, educator and researcher. She was an information manager in the Australian business and legal sectors before moving into the academic world, working with Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, Germany. Her recognition as Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) reflects the breadth and depth of her achievements. Gill is currently a freelance consultant undertaking applied research projects at the confluence of libraries and learning. Gill has long been involved in the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). She served as President in 2005-2006 and for many years she has contributed to the development of ALIA’s education and professional development policies. In 2008 she was made a Fellow of ALIA; in 2011 she was recognised as SLA’s Information Professional of the Year in the Australasian region. Gill is Co-Chair of IFLA’s Section for Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL).

Transcript:

Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.. Today’s guests are Christine Mackenzie and Gill Hallam. 

Christine Mackenzie is President of IFLA. She retired as CEO of Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, Melbourne, Australia in 2016 after 12 years in that role and following a long career in public libraries. Previously she was Manager of Brisbane City Council Library Service, the largest public library system in Australia. Christine has been very active in IFLA and was President elect 2017 – 19 and Treasurer 2015-17. She was a co-founder of the International Network of Library Innovators Oceania, a program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that provided leadership training for librarians in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific and which sponsored the formation of the Pacific Libraries Network in 2018. She has been a member of the Australian Government’s Public Lending Rights Committee; the Library Board of Victoria’s Advisory Committee on Public Libraries; the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Public Libraries; the Executive of the Public Libraries Victoria Network, and a juror for the Intelligent Communities Forum. She has held a number of roles in ALIA including President 2003-04. She was awarded an ALIA fellowship in 2008 and the VALA Robert D Williamson Award in 2012.

Gill Hallam has enjoyed a rich and varied career as an LIS practitioner, educator and researcher. She was an information manager in the Australian business and legal sectors before moving into the academic world, working with Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, the University of Melbourne and Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, Germany. Her recognition as Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) reflects the breadth and depth of her achievements. Gill is currently a freelance consultant undertaking applied research projects at the confluence of libraries and learning. Gill has long been involved in the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). She served as President in 2005-2006 and for many years she has contributed to the development of ALIA’s education and professional development policies. In 2008 she was made a Fellow of ALIA; in 2011 she was recognised as SLA’s Information Professional of the Year in the Australasian region. Gill is Co-Chair of IFLA’s Section for Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning (CPDWL).

Gill Hallam is the host for this episode. 

3:10

Gill: Thank you for the introduction Ray – that’s great – and welcome Christine! I’m absolutely delighted to have you with us on the CPDWL Podcast, this morning. So, first of all, if you had to describe yourself using only one word. What word would that be?

3:28

Christine: Wow, that’s a great question to start off with, Gill, and thanks very much for the invitation to be part of this podcast. I’m really delighted to be doing that.

3:39

When I think about that question I think of the word ‘responsible’. And the reason I say that….

3:48

I’m the oldest of eight children and I think when you’re the eldest of eight children, you have to be responsible. You grow up thinking that you need to take care of people. And so I think that’s been something that’s kind of come right through my life. It’s a funny word because it sounds a bit sort of uninteresting; I’d rather be able to say I’m fun or something like that. But I think ‘responsible’ probably the word I’d choose.

4:19

Gill: Well, certainly you’ve had a lot of responsibilities, beyond your family life, to be sure. Certainly within all of the different roles that you’ve played in the library sector and now of course within IFLA. That’s a highly responsible position that you hold! So, yes, let’s go with ‘responsible’.

4:37

But going back in time, what compelled you to become a librarian? So how did you actually get started?

4:44

Christine: Well, I’ve always been really fond of libraries and that started when I was in primary school, because I went to this country school and it was a new kind of model school and so we had a really good library in it – which is pretty amazing back in 1960. And so, they had a lovely teacher-librarian and I just really loved Mrs Stewart. So that gave me a very warm feeling towards libraries right from a very early age, and also my auntie used to take me into the local public library and I loved going in there too, so it’s where I just ended up. Of course, I loved reading. And so I’d always felt very fumbly towards libraries and as I got towards the end of school, you know, and thinking what I could do, well you know, Gill, back in those days the options were fairly limited. And so really for me, there was to be a nurse, a teacher or a librarian and the other two didn’t really appeal at all so I just…  I think fell pretty naturally into librarianship.

5:51

Gill: OK, so you actually moved into the career straight from school?

Christine: Yeah, well I went to, I did a Bachelor of Arts so I suppose the option of teaching was still there but then I got into the RMIT graduate diploma – and so I’ve been a librarian all my life!

Gill: So your first career – that’s amazing!

6:13

In a profession that brings in people from so many different avenues… Congratulations! That’s really good. You’re a great example for future people. OK – and then expanding our vision a little bit away from the Australian shores. What does global librarianship mean to you, and has that vision changed for you over the years that you’ve been involved in the profession?

Christine:  Well, I suppose my first taste of global librarianship – I’m not sure that’s really the right term – but I did a job exchange to Baltimore County Public Library back in 1990, I went there for 6 months, and boy, did that opened my eyes, and gave me a whole different perspective on things like customer service and the professionalism of the librarians over there. It was really quite an eye-opening thing and I also got to go to my first ALA conference while I was over there and wow, you know, all those librarians… So that really opened up my horizons, I think.

7:16

But the whole thing about global librarianship now, to me, I think is epitomized in the IFLA Global Vision project because we engaged 31,000 people from all the continents and we asked them: ‘What do you see are the strengths, and the opportunities for libraries going forward?’ And I think it was amazing that we all agreed: we share the same goals and values, and we’re all committed to free and equal access to information and I think that’s what it means to me – that we share these values, wherever you go, and that’s great.

7:58

Gill: Well, certainly the whole organization of IFLA supports that interaction on a global scale of, you know, library and information professionals from all across the world. So it’s an amazing organization from that perspective.  And now – you’re currently President, and perhaps it didn’t turn out quite the way you’d expected, given the pandemic that we’re suffering through at the moment. But first of all, how did you get involved with IFLA?

8:29

Christine: Well, firstly, well, I went to my first IFLA conference in 1988, and it was in Sydney. It was also my first ALIA conference, it was a joint conference and I’d have to say, I wasn’t terribly impressed.

8:46

But there again I was, you know, very young and very green, back then.

8:51

So I didn’t really think much about IFLA and then I was invited to join the Bertelsmann Foundation’s International Public Libraries Network. And so I got to know a lot of international colleagues through that and public library colleagues, and we worked together and really valued that relationship. And then when the Bertelsmann Foundation said they were no longer supporting it, we wanted to find a way to keep our connections going and so we found a home at IFLA.

And so, the Metropolitan Library section kind of became the old Bertelsmann network’s second home, I guess, and so I’ve been in the Metropolitan Library section since around 2003. And I was Chair, gosh, 2009 to 2011. it would have been… So yeah, that’s how my involvement with IFLA started.

10:02

Gill: Great, that’s really good. Many many experiences, I’m sure, over all of those years that you’ve actually been involved with IFLA then. So, can you share with us a memorable moment that you have about IFLA, whether that’s a particular session at the WLIC or a meeting or social event that you attended? What really stands out for you?

10:23

Christine: Well, selfishly, I would have to say my acceptance speech in Athens last year… That was for me a highpoint of my career: to be able to stand in front of my colleagues and accept the presidency of IFLA was an amazing opportunity for me.

But there’s another occasion that still warms my heart, and in the introduction, Ray mentioned the founding of the Pacific Libraries Network, and the work we did with that.  We had a summit in Fiji, to bring together all the libraries and library leaders in the Pacific. And then we followed that up in Brisbane, six-eight months later, with another meeting to try and try and develop a plan going forward to keep that connection going. And so, we had 15 librarians and library leaders from around the region and we’re all working on, you know all about workshops, Gill, working away in a workshop, and a group of them said : “Christine, can you come over?” And I said, “Sure.” And one of them said, “Now we know that this IFLA advocacy work. Now, what do we have to do to use that?” And Margaret Terry from Vanuatu, now Vanuatu was a tiny little place, with 300,000 people, a little island out there in the Pacific.  Margaret spoke up and she said, “We don’t have to ask permission: We are IFLA.”

12:03

Well, I just thought, well that’s really the ownership that people have of IFLA is so important. And that we don’t, you know, it’s a tagline, I suppose, but if there’s a lot of meaning behind it and if people really feel engaged they feel like they have ownership, I think that’s really one of the key things.

Gill: Yeah, absolutely that. Yeah, so that the nub of engagement in the profession is, I think, very, very important. And yes, as you say, I do know a fair bit about workshops, with all the Building Strong Library Association workshops that I’ve been involved in through IFLA around the world – they have been just amazing opportunities to interact with people at the global level, if you want to call it that.

Christine: So, we know how valued those workshops have been; we did an evaluation of them and even still now, when we’re talking to the regions and they say what’s important, they are saying, well, making sure that national library associations are strong… so it’s an important thing.

13:09

Gill: It’s really good to know about the lasting impact of the investment that was made through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation into that program, that’s really great.

13:18

And these days, what are you most excited about in the profession?

13:24

Christine: I feel really good about the profession because you know we’ve gone through this horrible year, and I’m on a lot of webinars and discussions and all the rest of it and, in particular, I remember one by the National Library Board of Singapore: they brought together … they called it Leaders’ Conversations, so there were leaders from three different streams: academic, public and national libraries. And what struck me through those conversations and the common themes coming through, and I think the main thing, is how resilient our profession is. That, you know, we were facing all these challenges and you’re closing and you’re opening and you’re closing again and…

I know over in Europe at the moment and my colleagues over there, they’re all busy closing down again. And one of them – I was talking to some of them yesterday and one of them just said – you know it’s a lot easier to open – I mean it’s a lot easier to close than to open. And we are a particularly resilient profession, I think, and you have kind of got to think back to mid 90s when the internet was all brand new. We certainly adapted and made that our own and I think we have that resilience and we can pivot with  the best of them, Gill, I think that we can look at the landscape and we can really see ways forward and we’re all passionate and we all believe so much in libraries.

15:01

Gill: Yes. In my observations about, what’s been happening across the world during the pandemic. The ability of the libraries – librarians particularly, obviously! – to pivot, as you say, to be able to just address the challenges as they come through, and it’s really exciting as you say.

15:21

Despite the negativity of what’s going on around us. Now, with a bit of selfish thought here, with representing CPDWL which is all about professional development… Can you give us a professional development tip or some advice, something that you’d like to share with others. Maybe particularly for those who are new or who’d like to become involved with IFLA?

15:47

Christine: Yes, sure.

15:49

My favorite bit of advice is: seize the opportunities. I think if you’re invited to be on a committee or you’re asked to do something, say yes because you never know where it’s going to lead, you never know. You’ll certainly learn new things, you know you shouldn’t feel concerned that I mightn’t be able to do this, because in particular you’re invited to do something or someone’s seen that, you know, you’re capable of doing it. And so it’s around taking up opportunities and just looking ahead.

16:29

And the other advice. I’ve got, I think this is more a managerial thing than an IFLA thing, is really do well in the job you’re in. You’re always thinking about what’s the next best job I can get. Be really good at the job you’re in and if you do that, you know, you consolidate your skills and people notice if you doing a good job. 

16:56

Gill: That’s right, new doors will open because there are opportunities. And so that’s been a trait of my career, sort of opportunities have come from angles that I wasn’t planning to move into…

Christine: So that’s right. You can’t really map out a career path, can you?

17:14

You never know what’s going to happen and you think, “Oh this job’s perfect for me.” Well, you mightn’t get it or you might get it, then regret it…

So then you need to be adaptable and resilient – and pivot!

17:29

Gill: And then picking up on your first vocabulary, of being responsible, I think it’s the responsibility of people who are working within IFLA on standing committees to think towards the future and to find younger people who do have the potential to get involved, and to do that tapping on the shoulder and to invite them to get involved in those activities.

17:52

It’s a two way street I think from that side.

Christine: Mm hmm.

17:58

Gill: Then, this might be quite a hard question in some ways, which is the focus is on what career you might have chosen instead of librarianship – and you’ve already sort of thrown out the nursing and the teaching.

18:14

But those were the opportunities in those days. Have you had any further thoughts during your career, to sort of think, “oh there’s all these new opportunities and different careers; I’d have been so good or I would have been passionate in that sort of area.” Anything else that inspires?

Christine: Oh, yeah. Oh sometimes. And I’m really happy being a librarian, I don’t think I could have picked a better career for myself. But some areas that I could have been interested in, you know, if you could have a parallel life:  psychology has always interested me. I got quite involved when I was doing, you know like staff developments things, I did the Myers Briggs accreditation course. Also, and I did an Enneagram course. And I found all that quite fascinating. Back in the day, and probably still so now, you had to have mathematics to do psychology and I had no mathematics at all. So that was never really a thing. The other thing, you know, if I was really out there in the wild, some thing in advertising perhaps? I like coming up with new ideas and being creative…

So, I’ve enjoyed for instance learning how to make websites, and that sort of thing. I found that quite interesting… 

19:31

Gill: But I think then, libraries do have, there’s so many strands to the profession, you know, different skills can actually bring those into the field.

Christine: That’s right, you can do it.

19:43

Gill:  It’s interesting, the ideas around the psychology and everything.

19:48

When I was teaching at QUT, Queensland University of Technology, a close colleague there was actually accredited with Myer Briggs as well. And so for several years we actually tested, with their permission, all the new students coming into our course, to actually track the psychology of the profession.

Christine: So, was there a dominant type coming through?

20:15

Gill: Ah, no, there wasn’t, as far as I can remember.

20:20

It was no longer than the introvert, that it changed…

Christine: there’s nothing wrong with introverts, you know ..

Gill: I know…  The traditional sort of, you know, scenario where you’re working behind the scenes, you don’t engage with people and things like that.

Christine: But that’s not really what introversion is about either, a bit because the introversion they talk about is where you get your energy so you get it from yourself, within yourself.

Gill: Yeah.

Christine: But if anyone who knows Myers Briggs is listening, I’m an INFP.

21:00

Gill: Good. And so this is really our final question for the podcast this morning.

21:08

Can you tell us about a recent project or presentation or program that you’re working on, or an upcoming event that you’d like, you will be zooming in and watching might be presenting on. Now I do realize that your schedule is very,very full and you’re in high demand across the world, to be zooming everywhere, so anything that’s sort of particularly important at the moment.

Christine: Oh, I guess the one that comes first to mind is the one at six o’clock tonight, Gill!

21:40

This year, we’ve been working on the IFLA Governance Review, as I’m sure the CPDWL people know…

21:49

And so we’re doing a regional workshop this evening with Asia-Oceania, and talking to them about how to how they think we can best encourage participation and representation in the Asia Oceania region. As part of this new Regional Council we’re forming

22:12

Yeah, so that’s on tonight.

22:15

Gill: Yes, well, you certainly had a very busy week, as I understand. The Governing Board has met, and you’ve had some long sessions online, I think.

22:26

Christine: Yes, we have. It’s a real challenge, but I think the biggest challenge, you know, I don’t mind doing the virtual, online stuff, but it’s the time zones. And I suppose that your section knows that too. I know sections are dealing with it in a different way but it’s impossible, basically to have a time that everyone’s can be kind of synchronously awake.

Gill: That is actually something we have been working on this week, with sort of avoiding ‘the ugly times’, as we call them, for the difficult times all the time. We did hold a single Standing Committee meeting late last year. So we did straddle all of the time zones. But that was in European summer time and it was a little easier than around the wintertime, that shifts it just a bit too much.

But I’m sure it’s been a quieter, in many ways a disappointing year for you. Because it’s such an exciting time to be president of association like IFLA, with the opportunity to visit so many different countries and to interact with people on different continents. So the fact that our borders are closed, ongoing for quite some time, has meant that you’ve had to pivot yourself as well, to become the online persona that you have become.

Christine: Yeah. But anyway, I just wanted to say that it is what it is. Who said that? It still is what it is. 

24:04

I think we should close.

24:10

Gill: So, um, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Christine: Oh, just to wish everyone a very Happy Holidays and let’s hope 2021 is a whole lot better than 2020 has been, hey?

24:25

Gill: There’s a lot of action around vaccinations and things like that beginning to happen so it is the beginning of the end, and lots of better things ahead.

Christine: Let’s hope so. And meanwhile, let’s work together and we are IFLA!

24:43

Gill: Indeed, we are IFLA. Thank you very much indeed for your time. We do realize that you have lots of meetings and lots of interviews and things like that happening so your contributions to our podcast series is just lovely to and to be able to engage with you on a personal level, that’s a little bit more relaxed than, you know, some of all the real professional stuff that you have to do, so thanks!

Christine: Thanks, Gill. Thanks very much. Thank you for your very nice questions and thank you, Ray for organizing it.

Gill: Thank you!

CPDWL Podcast Project: Episode 6

Colleagues, we are excited to announce the our sixth episode (and final episode for season 1) of the CPDWL Podcast Project where we feature library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

Our guest is Wanda Kay Brown, the American Library Association’s Immediate Past President, CPDWL member and the Director of Library Services for the C. G. O’Kelly Library in Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.

See here for the podcast: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/CPDWL-Podcast-Project-Episode-6-Wanda-Kay-Brown-ehjjca

Transcript:

Ray
Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work. Today’s guest is Wanda Kay Brown, the American Library Association’s Immediate Past President, CPDWL member and the Director of Library Services for the C. G. O’Kelly Library in Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. Welcome Wanda!

Wanda
Thank you. Ray. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Ray
We are really excited to have you here to speak with you on your, your journey to librarianship and your work. And so, a question here for you is if you had to describe yourself using only one word, what word would that be?

Wanda
I thought about that, I actually thought of two words. But I’ll go with the first one which I thought was “genuine.” And I say that because I try in all things to be authentic. And I think that that’s an important trait. I think people should just be themselves and then embrace who they are and how they are and just be sincere and be dependable and be all things to all people. And I think you can do that as long as you’re genuine. You know? Does that make sense?

Ray
Yeah, what was the other word?

Wanda
Sincere, it was between the two: sincere or genuine – I realized they are both, well, you know, they’re connected together sometimes we look for words that give us power and strength, but I just want to be me, because I think that I am a person who, when you find me one day you’ll find me the same way the next, right? I’m just me, I’m sincere, I’m earnest, I am, I think committed. And I think I’m committed to accepting that all people are different. And that we embrace that difference. And if we embrace that difference, we’ll be sincere.

Ray
Certainly, important traits here. And so, what compelled you to become a librarian. How did you get started?

Wanda
Okay, so, let me tell you. I worked as a library student assistant, when I was in college. Even though I was pursuing, I had a certification in secondary education. So, I did my student teaching at a time when they were just trying out the team-teaching approach. And I must admit that I did my student teaching in a place that wasn’t, I’m gonna say the “most culturally sensitive” place then it was to do it. So, I kind of decided you know I’m not sure I want to do this teaching, I just wasn’t sure after that student teaching experience so I was sure one thing and that was I didn’t really want to leave what’s the Salem, so I’d come here from northeastern part of North Carolina to go to school and I want to talk about going back so I decided I would start looking for work. And of course, everywhere you go, people would want to know what kind of experience do you have. So, what I had was three years as a student assistant here at this very library that I’m working at now, C.G. O’Kelly Library, so you do. Okay. So, I went to unemployment security.

And they said “Well Wake Forest University has a position that actually requires a Master’s,” but it was funded by the city of Winston Salem when it was called the “city employment training act,” so they were trying to get minorities to work on that campus. So, I went, I interviewed, I got the job right so after that one year in that training position. They offered me a full-time position and then the next year I decided, “you know what I think I like this I think I’ll go to the school” and so I worked full time and went back to library school, went to library school. After my maybe second year working? I went to library school so that’s how it all got started for me.

Ray
Wow.  So, you started out as a student assistant in the library that you are now the director of it?

Wanda
Right, yes, absolutely.

Ray
That’s quite a, quite a story. And so, we’re really curious as part of IFLA, our focus is always on building bridges and connecting with folks from all over the world. We are curious about your thoughts on global librarianship what does that mean to you?

Wanda
Well, you know, I hadn’t really thought very much of it until I attended my first IFLA conference. And it was there that that I saw that people from all different walks of life were just as passionate about the work that they do as I was. And so, then I realized, “oh my goodness you know how wonderful it is to have librarians and library workers right here that we can connect with and talk about how did you do this or, what did you what plans, did you put in place to reach your, you know, students who are working from home or students who are studying.”

But now we have a larger audience right? An extended family, where people still have that primary focus of reaching out to their patrons and helping their patrons become successful so I was like, “Oh man, I love this” and so that’s why I, it just opened my eyes I tell people we learn all the time learning never stops and if you allow yourself the opportunity to learn from something you’ll see that it broadens your horizons and now you’re thinking, you’re not just thinking about my community, “my little town my little village” but you’re thinking about the United States and now you’re thinking, even outside of it, and connecting with others and I think the work that you do is just awesome and that you’re just great uniter of people from across different walks, I think that’s wonderful.

Ray
Yeah, definitely. I think it’s interesting that we have so much opportunities to learn from one another as you’re saying because of the technology because of access, and so forth but also, you know, it’s, um, it’s ongoing right? It doesn’t stop. The, the other part of the question is, I’m curious here, because I know when you had mentioned your IFLA, we had actually met, I think, probably in Malaysia? And then we had talked a little bit about what sections you might be interested in and you had mentioned, “professional development” so I thought oh great you know our section, the continuing professional development and workplace learning has an opening slot and we were able to have you in. And so, just wondering here, how come like you were interested in this sort of topic, as opposed to, you know, information literacy or academic libraries? Just curious.

Wanda
No, I think I’ve always, I’ve always believed that professional development is the key. You can walk into a place until when, when you are around people who have invested in themselves, what it means to an organization so professional development is one of the things that that interests me a lot because I think somewhere one of my strengths is developer or helping people achieve all they can. And I think professional development is extremely important to each of us. As I said, you know, I hadn’t really thought about the global aspect of librarianship until an opportunity to attend the conference broaden my horizons around that and so when you talk about professional development, this is what we’re talking about is connecting people, helping people to see the dots and all the other places but coming together to advance not only yourself but as you grow, and you go, right? You’re going to bring up as with you. And so, I had, I just think professional development is the key.

Ray
Yeah, and with that being said, we’re really curious here, if you could share with us a memorable moment you have, whether it’s the IFLA conference or at ALA?

Wanda
I’m gonna go with the IFLA conference because so, then I’ve been in the profession what 40-40~ years or more, maybe 42 right? But I had never attended an international conference. So, I would just say that the love and pride that I got, or that I get when I attend a JCLC (Joint Conference of Librarians of Color) conference. It’s like minorities of all cultures coming together. Well, IFLA is like a magnification of that times 100%. And so, the very first one I went to which was in Malaysia. I was like, “oh my god this is so awesome, all of these different cultures, but people interested that common thread, what did they have, they would there” because a. they love libraries, they love the frustration area, and b. they love the fact that they can get better at what they do by surrounding themselves with people with similar interests. And so that first IFLA I was like so.

And so that’s why I wanted to get you know involved in the committee, because I thought “oh my god I missed out on this and maybe I have a little bit that I can contribute here.” As my career, you know, spirals. I would love to be able to be more active in this and then of course COVID-19 comes along, you may not have the opportunity to visit or to attend an IFLA now for another couple of years or so, but it was so, so, so just motivating just inspiring to see all the different cultures out there with a central thing. And then, wonderful, one of the sessions that I went to was about professional development, I think it was given by some librarians, library workers from Canada, but all of the things they were saying was “so right on point” and it’s like being people across the world, no matter what library types they’re in and which library, which countries they’re from, we all have the same passion for the work that we do the passion to drive and to make our organizations better. So, I was hooked. At that moment, as you can tell from my voice.

Ray
Yeah, that’s really exciting and that’s actually a nice segue to our next question, which we could hear from your voice about the profession, and the international collaboration opportunities. Anything else you want to tell the audience, listeners here, what are you most excited about in the profession today?

Wanda
I think, I think there are two things. First of all, I think we’re excited because I think we consider ourselves essential. So, in the midst of this COVID-19. It has just been amazing, My staff. I’ve had staff who have come in, week after week, making copies or supplying articles to students just doing whatever they could to make sure, a student have a chance to be successful. Right? And so, I’ll say students, the next person might say patron.

Well, whoever you serve, we are in this profession because we desire to help you be as successful as you can be right. So, to me, that is the number one thing that I’m excited about is that our ability to do that to help people be successful, but I’m also equally excited about the opportunity we have, and one I hope that people will take more of an interest in than the half. And that is our ability to influence and our communities from the standpoint of partnerships, coming together to uplift that community. I’m not sure this group has heard me say it, but I talk frequently about my community here. We are number three in the United States for a child who grows into poverty, grows up here in poverty is likely to die in poverty.

I think libraries can be crucial partners in lifting that community. If we come together, if school libraries and public libraries, academic libraries within a community, if we come together, embrace what the community needs, deliver, partner, I think we can make a difference and that’s been one of my things that I’ve said in all of my trips around when I was President of ALA because I believe we can do it. We just have to think about it. Is there a group of students who hang out at your library that you would like to put out, those are probably the ones that you would want to keep because you want to wrap your arms around them to help them, help them to see what they need to be successful because sometimes people don’t know what it takes to be successful and you’d be surprised. You’d have to see it, you’d have to witness it and sometimes people haven’t grown up in their families where they saw what success look like they haven’t seen.

I actually taught a first-year seminar a couple of years ago when I had the students raise their hands if they were the first in their families to go to college and I had probably, maybe like, I don’t know four or five hands to go up? And this one young lady raised her hands and she said I’m the first in my family to finish high school. So, see this is why I’m saying, we can make a difference. We can do this, we in libraries can wrap our hands, and our hearts around our community and help lift it up so this yes gives me hope for our profession, but it makes me love and anymore because I know we have that potential and I know we can make a difference.

Ray
Yeah, and you’ve planted some seeds of thoughts for ideas and suggestions, in terms of those who are just starting in the profession, those who might be very seasoned but is there anything else in terms of professional development tip or advice that you like to share with others?

Wanda
You know when I thought about and I have a healthy appetite. Have a healthy appetite for professional development, which means that you’re always looking for an opportunity to learn and to hear more about a particular topic, I had a supervisor some years ago who said, every conference pick a topic you know nothing about and go sit in on a session. I go sit in on hear what they have to say you’d be surprised. It might spark an interest in you around that topic, but it also may open a door that you might say, “Oh, I can learn more about this by involving myself in, you know, a particular area.” So that would be my tip would be to have a healthy appetite. And then, you know, as they say, you know, “variety is the spice of life” so then make sure that you are learning about some things that prepare you for today but also learn about what prepares you for tomorrow.

Ray
Yeah, that’s a great tip and we’re going to segue to this other question here something a little different. What profession, other than librarianship, would you like to attempt?

Wanda
Well, you know what I wrote down? “Customer Services representative.” I think sometimes I think I get so annoyed with companies who I think don’t invest enough in the training of their employees that people don’t understand what it means to be, to give good customer services, and also sometimes, I think you know I’d like to get a job at this restaurant or at this store and really teach people what it means to deliver expert customer services so that’s what I put for the answer for that one.

Ray
That is an interesting point here because right now we see a lot of automation right “press one.”

Wanda
Yeah, yeah, yeah..

Ray
That discourages people from engaging with the organizations. Well thank you for sharing that and we’re gonna segue to another question here. What is next for you as Immediate Past President of the American Library Association, what would you like to accomplish next?

Wanda
Well there was one of my one of my missions that didn’t happen, and I still hope it will. I don’t know if you know, but one of the many things that I thought I could accomplish, one of those three primary things was to have a strategic aligning session for the staff of ALA. And I think that is still important.

I think the best way for an association to serve its members, is to have all of that socialization wrapped around a single mission. Right, or wrapped around a single concept of what you’re what it is that the members find most value in having, right? And so therefore what I wanted to do was to have a strategic planning or strategic retreat where we invited the staff of ALA to come be a part of design where this organization is headed and how we get there together so as of kind of aligning around the central mission.

It’s like a one ALA because I just think they need that. And so, hopefully, I’m hoping that maybe that’s the one thing if I have to complete my list of two dues. That would be the one that I would want to see happen.

Ray
Were there two other ones you said, two other primary, other two?

Wanda
You know, one was the prison pipeline, the pipeline to prison for Hispanic and African American boys. I’m just hoping that somewhere I’m planting enough seeds that maybe in some neighborhood somewhere people are now thinking about you know, programs that they can put in place I wanted to have, you know, speakers to speak around this topic and then we went virtual and then COVID-19 just kind of changed, you know a lot of that and then it was to do the Finding my own ALA which we did do there.

We did some didn’t do as much you know because the spring was all canceled COVID-19 but I did a lot of touring in the fall and it was wonderful to hear the stories around people who, who found their ALA how they found it, because I wanted to see what is it we need to be to people. Right? What does the association need to be so that we are there when someone needs?

I ran into a lot of library workers who were simply tapped because they had a college degree to lead a library never been library school or anything like that. And I think that our association has to be there for those as we are for those who are at institutions where they’re paid lots of money and most of the time people are paid the least amount of money, but they impact the communities they live in tremendously. And so, I just think we have, to have to be aware of that and I was certainly happy to hear all those stories that people will come up and talk to me about how they ended up in this profession and so I just think our association has to, has to be there. So, help us find out ALA to help people find their path to what they need within our association.

Ray
Right, and we certainly commend you and your stellar leadership during unprecedented times it’s, it’s been very challenging for everyone around the world and those who are listening. So certainly, I think that there’s always, there’s always a lot of great work and planning to do and as an ALA member, I’m really thankful for the work that you’ve done. And so, this is our final question for folks who want to know more about you or want to contact or connect with you, where can our listeners, connect with you online?

Wanda
Right. When I wrote this up though, here’s what I want to say, just know that my social media presence it’s not great, it’s like I’m not a big tweeter? I’m very private so I put very little on Facebook. Mostly I just see what other people have to say, so I’m just gonna say, “can you just old fashioned like email me, pick up the phone and call me? Or you can text me those things work. My email address is brownwa@wssu.edu.” I’m happy to exchange emails or, or you can pick up the phone and call me. Because I am, I’m kind of old fashioned in that. I need a “Ray,” I need a “Ray” in my life to be my social media person, I don’t have one and it just, I guess. It’s kind of hard sometimes if you’re accountable, private person that be so public, you know, does that makes sense?

Ray
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, there are definitely people who are lurkers right? They just look at other profiles and updates.

Wanda
And I love to hear what other people are doing and saying so you know usually if I get a friend request on Facebook I accept it. I’d like to see what others but just know that I’m probably not going to be the one sharing tons of stuff around myself. And I do have a LinkedIn profile, I’m there and I like to read what others are doing but I very rarely post stuff myself.

Maybe now that I’m not President and I’m like to tell me more you know when you’re in leadership roles I always think that you have to think carefully about what you say and what you share, you know as an opinion, with people because sometimes just say sometimes that people have personal thoughts that don’t necessarily need to be shared because of how different opinions out there.

So sometimes, sometimes I think that’s what happens is that people say “well, it should have been a personal opinion” and they say “okay you know I’m just going to push this out there,” because I feel this way, and not realizing that maybe the way you feel is based upon the lens that your life took you through. Right? Because we all tend to see life through the lens or how we will read life circumstances for us and that was common every day for you maybe something I never heard that, or I thought about.

Ray
No, it’s true. I really appreciate that comment because we have had conversations in different circles whether a leader needs to be extroverted or, you know, very engaged, involved in social media. And of course, we know that it’s not the case. Leaders, managers, anybody who are involved in, in type of work that that brings people together, you know they have different types of approaches, so it’s really great to hear your perspective on that and knowing that there’s a lot of ways to be engaged but without having to necessarily be extroverted in social media and so forth.

So, I think that’s those are really great points, and we want really to want to thank you Wanda for taking the time to talk with us today about your thoughts on professional development, your plans and background. And really, and for those who are listening, I thank you for tuning in. We will have the transcript; you can see right there if you were wanting to see some of the resources that Wanda listed. And again, thank you for joining us on the CPDWL Podcast Project. Thank you, Wanda.

Wanda
Thank you Ray, you have a wonderful day. Take care.

CPDWL Podcast Project: Episode 5

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

Our guest is Dr. Mitsuhiro Oda has been involved in LIS education and CPD activities for 33 years. His current responsibilities as Professor of College of Community Studies (CCS), Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) in Japan, relate to bringing up information professionals in charge of the succession of information resources in local communities. He has engaged in the development of library profession, as well as the revision of qualification program and curriculum for librarianship. And, in these two decades, he played a role of instructor / mentor to around one hundred and more training workshops and sessions for workplace learning.

As to research activities, by adopting practical and empirical approach, he has published more than twenty research articles on such topics as effective methods for workplace learning, efficiency of training program using product- sharing database system, and significance of integrating LIS education with continuing professional development. Since 2014, he has been an active president of Japan Society of Library and Information Science (JSLIS). And, for 6 years from 2013, he contributed to LIS education as a director of Division of Education for Library & Information Science (DELIS) under Japan Library Association (JLA)．Also, he has been a member of the Standing Committee in Section of Education and Training (SET) for two terms (2011-2019), IFLA.

This conversation was conducted in Japanese by Dr. Hiromi Kubo, an academic librarian from Fresno State, California, USA.

See here for the podcast: https://anchor.fm/ifla-cpdwl/episodes/CPDWL-Podcast-Project-Episode-5-Mitsuhiro-Oda-in-Japanese-eh985i/a-a2ptsk5

Transcript

[00:00:03] こんにちは、レイモンド・パンです、IFLA CPDWL のポッドキャスト・プロジェクトへようこそ。このプロジェクトでは、図書館情報学の分野で、技能育成を支援したり、参加したりしている方々にお話を伺っています。 本日のゲストは、フレズノ州立大学の図書館司書である久保裕美先生と、CPDWL分科会メンバーで青山学院大学図書館情報学教授、日本図書館協会理事長の小田光宏先生です。対談は久保裕美先生が日本語で進行します。

[00:00:41] IFLA CPDWL ポッドキャスト・プロジェクトへようこそ。このプロジェクトでは、図書館情報学の分野で、技能育成や職務研修の参画・支援に関わる方々にお話を伺っています。今回は、CPDWL分科会会員であり、青山学院大学図書館情報学教授、また、日本図書館協会理事長でもいらっしゃいます、小田光宏先生にお話を伺います。

[00:01:13] 小田先生、よろしくお願いします。

[00:01:17] はい、よろしくお願いします。

[00:01:19] まず最初に、ご自身を一言で言い表すとすればどんな言葉でしょうか。

[00:01:28] 簡単な質問ではないところから始まったかと思ってますが。

[00:01:36] 日本語で表現すると、「遊び」という言葉、これが自分に適しているのではないかと思っています。遊びという言葉にはいくつかの意味がありますが、遊びというような意味合いもありますけど、それよりももうちょっと「ゆったりしてる」というような意味合いで、自分では思っています。車を運転する時をイメージしていただくといいかもしれないんですが、ハンドルを回すときに、ハンドルはいきなり右へ回したからといって（すぐに車が）曲がるんじゃなくて、初めに少し何も動かない、タイヤが動かないっていう、そういう部分を車の運転では遊びと言ってますけど、それに近いものを自分自身に感じています。

[00:02:25] 面白いですね。ありがとうございます。次の質問です。図書館情報学の教授になったきっかけは何かありましたでしょうか。

[00:02:38] 一番最初は、図書館情報学という領域が、昔自分自身が始めたころは「図書館学」という呼び方でしたけれども、そういった領域があるということに驚いたというところで、この世界に飛び込むきっかけがありました。いろんな勉強はしましたけど、ものを覚えるというのが決して得意な方ではなかったので、ものを覚えるよりは、ものの覚え方を覚えた方が少なくて済むかなっていう、そんなちょっとずるい考え方をしまして。この領域は多分そういうことに役立つ領域だろうなと思って始めたということです。そのうちに大学院に行く機会があって、教員の方に身を置こうというふうに思うに至りました。

[00:03:46] とても面白いです。そういう風に考えたことがなかったので、とても興味深くお伺いしました。

[00:03:53] それで次の質問です。小田先生にとって、「国際的な図書館司書」であるということはどういったことを意味するのでしょうか。また、もしそのお考えに何か時間の経過と共に変化がございましたら、教えてください。

[00:04:14] 国際的な、というふうに考えたときに一番こうぱっと浮かぶのは、やはり、国によって人々の考え方、生活の仕方、そういったものがもう全く違ったりするということで、今の言葉で言えば「多様性」みたいなところを強く感じます。いろいろな方々とIFLAの活動などを通じて話をするときに、あ、こういうものの捉え方があるんだな、っていうふうになって、しかも、それがまた図書館っていう世界にも反映されていて、同じライブラリー、図書館といっても、日本のものとそれぞれの国のものとがまったく違ってるっていうところが見取れて。そうしたことをお互いに理解するというのが「国際的な図書館司書」っていうところに欠かせないのかなという、そんな捉え方といいましょうか。考えに至っています。ところが、変化はありましたかという、これなかなか鋭い質問だなと思ったんですけれども。（海外の図書館・図書館司書に）接すれば接するほど、逆に共通点も見えてくるという面白さがあります。

[00:05:35] こんなに違うんだっていうふうに思ってても、実はどこかでつながってる部分も数多くあるという。違うものが先に見えて、その後に何か共通なものが見えてくる。そんなことをこの３番の質問の中で感じました。

[00:05:57] なるほど、とても共感します。ありがとうございます。
それでは次の質問です。CPDWL分科会に関わるようになった経緯を教えてください。IFLAにはたくさんの分科会があると思うんですけども、その中で、特にCPDWLをお選びになった理由がございましたら教えてください。

[00:06:28] 背景は二つあります。一つはCPDWLの委員を務める前に、Education & Training のセクションの委員を務めておりました。そのセクションでeducationは自分の職業と結びつきますから、これはそのままその通りなんですが、トレーニングということに関して、やはりきちんと何か自分の中でも位置づけた方がいいだろうな、というのが一つの背景にあります。それを考えた時に、今のIFLAのセクションの中ではCPDWLがそれを生かせるのではないかということで、貢献できればと考えて参加することを認めいただいたということになります。もう一つは、自分の研究の中で、自分の研究が情報サービス、日本だとリファレンスサービスに当たるのですが、それもコンピテンスを高めるには、という研究をここ十数年何らかの形でやっていまして。そういったこととの結びつきということももう一つはあります。

[00:07:58] なるほど。何年くらいCPDWLに係わっていらっしゃいますか。

[00:08:07] ちょっと厳しい質問ですが、委員になって2年ほど、1年とかここで新しくなりますけれどもIFLAの分科会では時間の許す限りのところで、そうですね、3年ぐらい前からでしょうか、IFLAのCPDWLのジルさんとEducation & Training (Section) の時に知り合いになるきっかけがありまして。その影響もまたあるということですね。

[00:08:48] なるほど、ありがとうございます。次の質問ですが、CPDWL、もしくはIFLA全体について、特に心に残ってるようなことがございましたら教えてください。

[00:09:04] はい、ちょっと固い言葉で「ロゴス」と「パトス」という、哲学的な用語でもあるけれど。皆さん議論してるときにきちんとしたロジックといいますか、論理で議論しているんだけれども、ひとたび終わると非常に情熱的なというか熱情的な、そのパトスの世界でやりとりが進むというそこの対比が、毎年どこの場面でもそれが強く印象に残っています。IFLAでライブラリーツアーとか最終日にありますけれど、そういったバスの中で交わす会話は、それぞれの背景のいろんな方がいらっしゃるので熱情的な語り口でお話になるんだけれども、いざセッションになると、そういったところよりは、それぞれの考え方を論理的にご説明されたり報告されたりっていう、そこの対比が面白いなというふうに感じています。

[00:10:28] 面白いですね。それでは次に、図書館司書という職業について教えていただきたいのですけれども。先生にとって、図書館司書という職業で最も面白いと感じることは何でしょうか。

[00:10:46] 自分が関心を持っている図書館が公共図書館と学校図書館ということもあるんですけれども、やはり住んでいる人達に対して、あるいは子供たちや先生方に対して、いろんな活動をしてそれぞれの生活であったり学習であったり、そういったことを支えているところの喜びがあるというか、そこが一番面白いところかなと。

[00:11:20] なかなか他の人を支えて、そしてそこで喜びを自分がまた得られるという職業はなかなかないと思ってるものですから、そういった点で貴重な職業だなと。その点が図書館員にとっては最も面白いものになるんじゃないかなと、また、なってほしいなというふうに思っています。

[00:11:50] そうですよね。何かしたことによって感謝してもらえることがまた糧になるという、そんな気がします。それでは次の質問です。図書館司書や図書館情報学の研究者に対して、専門的能力の向上に関するアドバイスやキャリアアップのヒントがございましたら教えていただけますか。

[00:12:18] あまりアドバイスのようなものってできるとは思ってないんですが、それでもこんなこともあるかなっていうのを申し上げると、図書館司書の方に対して、あるいは図書館情報学の研究者に対して同じ意味合いになるんですが、「お互いを理解しましょう」という話にまずはなると思うんですね。日本の事情なのかもしれませんが、なんとなくそれぞれが分かれてしまいがちになるんですね。

[00:12:56] 図書館司書の方は図書館情報学の研究者は自分たちとは何か異質なもの、逆に図書館情報学の研究者の方も図書館司書とは何か一線を画しているような、そんなところがやっぱり少なからずあるので、お互いを理解することが必要かなということがまず第一に思います。ただこれだけだと抽象的なので、図書館司書の方にはやはり、いろんな研究ってどういうことなのかなということをもっと知っていただくとご自身のキャリアアップなどにもつながると思いますし。図書館情報学の研究者の方は、かつては図書館にお勤めの方なども結構いらっしゃるんですけども、（研究者に）なるとだんだん疎遠になってしまうので、そうではなくて、むしろ図書館の現場に入り込んで研究というような実践的な研究がもっとあるといいのかな、というふうに個人的には思っています。

[00:14:10] そうですよね。おっしゃる通りだと思います。
それでは次の質問です。日本図書館協会の理事長という役目で重要なことをひとつ挙げるとすれば、それはどのようなことでしょうか。

[00:14:29] そうですね。

[00:14:32] これも日本の事情がやっぱりあるんですが、やはり図書館員の専門職制度をやはり少しでも整備することにつなげる活動ができればなというのが、今の自分の大きな役割だと思っています。ただ、それだけ言うと図書館員のためだけの組織のように思ってしまうんですが、そうではなくて、図書館員を支えていく、図書館員の専門職性をきちんと整えることによって、その先にある日本の、日本で言えば日本の人々が豊かな生活ができる、的確な情報を得て適切な判断ができるようになるという、そういったことを目指しているというところになります。ちょっとかっこいい言い方しかできないのですが、そんなことを考えています。

[00:15:29] なるほど。すみません、質問が前後してしまいましたがもうひとつ。もし大学教員以外の職業を目指すとすれば、先生はどんな職業を選んだでしょうか。

[00:15:47] 難しい質問だから飛ばしていただいたのかと思ってしまいましたが。

[00:15:58] 正直なところ大学の教員を辞めたいなと思ったときは何度もあって、その時にはなにか転職できればなと思ったんですが、なかなかそれも難しいなと思っていますけれども。もし今から若返ってこんなことができたらなということならば、人があまり来ないところにまず行ってみます。そうすると職業として成り立つかどうかは別なんですが、山岳隊員になってみたいなというふうには思っています、山岳の案内人ですね。これは山登りが好きで、歩き回るのが好きだからということにも関係していますけれどもね。

[00:16:55] 楽しそうですね。また全く違った感じで、自然の中で。

[00:17:02] 違い過ぎます。

[00:17:06] でも今はWiFiもありますので、もしかしたらやっぱり人と繋がってしまうことになるかもしれませんね。

[00:17:16] そうですね、どこへ行っても繋がるのはいいところでもあるし、ちょっと煩わしいところでもありますね。

[00:17:28] では最後に、先生のウェブサイトやソーシャルメディアなど、もし今日聴いてくださっている皆さんが小田先生のことをもっと知る方法がございましたら教えていただけますか。

[00:17:42] 実は自分自身がアナログ人間なのかもしれませんが、自分のウェブサイトは開いていませんし、ソーシャルメディアは使いたくないという変な意地がありまして。ここを見ればというのはなくて、もちろん勤め先の紹介のページなどはありますけどそれはあくまで仕事に関係した情報しかないので、もし何かをお知りになりたいということがあれば、直接メールでご連絡くださるのが一番良いかと思います。それからもっといいのは、今年は残念ですけれども、来年以降IFLAで直接お会いするというのが一番いいのかもしれないというふうに思っています。

[00:18:42] そうですね、やっぱり直接お話するのが一番ですよね。私もそう思います。

[00:18:51] きちんとお答えできずに申し訳ありません。

[00:18:55] とんでもないです。

[00:20:18] 今日は、小田先生、本当にお忙しいところありがとうございました。

[00:20:24] こちらこそありがとうございました。これをお聴きになっている皆さんとまたIFLAの会場でお会いできると嬉しいなというふうに思っています。

[00:20:35] そうですね。それでは皆さんも聴いてくださってありがとうございました。

English Transcript/Translation

[00:00:03] Hi, this is Raymond Pun, Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work. Today’s guests are Dr. Hiromi Kubo, an academic librarian from Fresno State and Dr. Mitsuhiro Oda, CPDWL Section member, Professor of Library and Information Studies in Aoyama Gakuin University, and President of the Japan Library Association. Dr. Hiromi Kubo will be conducting the conversation in Japanese.

[00:00:41] Welcome to the IFLA CPDWL Podcast Project. In this space, we talk with library and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work. I am speaking with Dr. Mitsuhiro Oda, CPDWL Section member, Professor of Library and Information Studies in Aoyama Gakuin University, and President of the Japan Library Association.

[00:01:13] Nice to meet you, Dr. Oda.

[00:01:17] Yes, nice to meet you.

[00:01:19] First of all, if you had to describe yourself using only one word, what word would it be?

[00:01:28] I’m wondering if you started with a not-so-easy question.

[00:01:36] I think the word “Asobi (play)” is the right word for me to express in Japanese. The word “Asobi” in Japanese has several meanings, but besides the meaning of playing, it also means that there is a little bit of room (in the connecting parts of the machine, for example), which I think suits me well. Imagine that you are driving a car. When you turn the wheel to the right, the car doesn’t turn all of a sudden: the tires don’t move right away. This is the part of driving that we call “Asobi” in Japanese, and I feel it’s similar to that in myself.

[00:02:25] It’s interesting! My next question is…. What compelled you to become a Professor of Library and Information Studies? How did you get started?

[00:02:38] First of all, I was surprised that such a field of library and information sciences, which was called “library science” when I started out, existed, and that’s how I got into this world. I studied a lot of things, but I was never very good at memorizing things, so I thought it would be easier to learn how to memorize things rather than trying to memorize them, which I admit was a bit of a cunning way of thinking. I thought this field would probably be useful for that kind of thing. Eventually, I had the opportunity to go to graduate school, and I came to the conclusion that I wanted to put myself in the position of a teacher.

[00:03:46] It’s very interesting. I hadn’t thought about the library and information science field in that way, so it was very interesting to hear from you.

[00:03:53] My next question. What does it mean to you to be an “international librarian”? Has that vision changed for you over the years?

[00:04:14] When I think of the word “international”, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that people’s ways of thinking and living are completely different in each country. In today’s terms, I would call it “diversity”. When I talk to people through IFLA’s activities, I am reminded of the fact that there are different ways of understanding things. This is also reflected in the world of libraries, where even though we have the same library, there are differences between the libraries in Japan and those in other countries. I think that understanding each other is essential for an international librarian. That’s the way I see it. I thought that was a very insightful question, asking if there was any change in my thinking (of being an international librarian). It’s interesting to me that the more I come into contact with (libraries and librarians abroad), the more I see the similarities between them.

[00:05:35] Even though we may think we are so different; we realize that there are many aspects that are actually connected in some way. You see the differences first, and then you see the things you have in common. That’s what I felt in this question.

[00:05:57] I can relate to that very much. So, my next question is how you became involved in the CPDWL Section. I know there are many sections in IFLA, but what made you choose the CPDWL among them?

[00:06:28] There are two backgrounds. One is that prior to serving on CPDWL, I was in the Education and Training Section. While education is directly linked to my profession, I thought it would be better to position myself in some kind of a proper way with regard to training. When I thought about it, I thought I could make use of my understanding and contribute to the CPDWL Section, and I was accepted to participate in CPDWL. Another thing is that I have been doing research on how to improve competence in information services, or reference services in Japan, for the last 10 years or so. That connection to those things is another reason I got involved with CPDWL.

[00:07:58] I see. How long have you been involved in CPDWL?

[00:08:07] This is a bit of a tough question. I’ve been in the section for about two years, or a year or so, and I’m fairly new, but I’ve been on IFLA sections for as long as time permits. About three years ago, I had the opportunity to get to know Jill from CPDWL when I was in the Education & Training Section. She also inspired me to get involved with CPDWL.

[00:08:48] I see. Would you share with us a memorable moment you’ve had in particular about CPDWL, or IFLA in general?

[00:09:04] There is an interesting aspect of IFLA that reminds me of two slightly technical, or philosophical terms, “logos” and “pathos.” When IFLA members discuss in a formal session, they do so in a very logical way. But when the session is over, they speak in a very passionate or impassioned way, and from there the interaction takes place in a world of pathos. The contrast between these two modes has stuck with me every year. The conversations we have on the bus for the library tour on the last day of IFLA are very passionate, as people from various backgrounds talk about their experiences. However, when it comes to formal sessions, everyone explains and reports on their ideas logically rather than passionately. I find the contrast between the two to be interesting.

[00:10:28] That’s interesting. Now, I’d like to ask you to share your thoughts about the profession of librarianship. What are you most excited about in the library profession?

[00:10:46] Since my interests are in public libraries and school libraries, I find pleasure in supporting the lives and learning of people in the community, or children and teachers, through various activities. I think that’s the most interesting part of it.

[00:11:20] I don’t think there are many professions where you can support other people and get pleasure from it in return, so it’s a valuable profession in that respect. I think that’s the most interesting aspect for librarians, and that’s what I hope will be.

[00:11:50] You’re right. I think it’s the kind of profession where the gratitude you receive for doing something for others is a source of sustenance for you. So that brings me to my next question. Do you have any advice or tips for librarians and LIS researchers regarding professional development?

[00:12:18] I don’t think I can give you much advice, but I would say to librarians and to LIS researchers alike, “Let’s understand each other.” It may be a peculiar situation in Japan, but librarians and LIS researchers tend to be divided into different groups.

[00:12:56] Librarians tend to think of LIS researchers as somehow different from themselves, and conversely, LIS researchers are also distinct from librarians in more ways than one. So, I think the first thing we need to do is to understand each other. To be more specific, it would be helpful for librarians to learn more about various research topics and what it means to do research, which would help them to advance their own careers. For LIS researchers, there are many researchers who used to work at libraries, but once they become researchers, they are estranged from the field. Rather, I personally think it would be beneficial if there were more practical studies that would take place in the frontline of libraries.

[00:14:10] That’s right. I think you’re right. So, here’s my next question. If you had to name one important aspect of your role as president of the Japan Library Association, what would it be?

[00:14:29] Well, let me think.

[00:14:32] There are some circumstances that are unique to Japan, but I think my major role right now is to help improve the professional system for librarians as much as possible. It may sound like the organization is only for librarians, but it’s not. By supporting librarians and improving the professionalism of librarians, we aim to help the people of the local community, or the people of Japan in the case of JLA, to enrich their lives and to help them get accurate information and make appropriate decisions. It may be a bit too cool to say, but that’s what I’m thinking about.

[00:15:29] I see. Sorry, I asked the questions in the wrong order and skipped this one. If you were to pursue a career other than university faculty, what profession would you have chosen?

[00:15:47] I thought you skipped this question because it’s a difficult one.

[00:15:58] Honestly, there were times when I wanted to quit my job as a university professor, and I wished I could change my job in some way, but I thought that would be difficult to do. If I’m young again, I would try going to places where not many people visit. I don’t know if that would be a viable profession, but I would like to become a mountaineering expert, or a mountain guide. This is related to my love of mountain climbing and walking around.

[00:16:55] It sounds fun. Working in nature would be very different.

[00:17:02] It’d be completely different.

[00:17:06] But we have WIFI now, so maybe you’ll still be connected to people.

[00:17:16] Yeah, it’s nice to be connected everywhere you go, but it’s also a little bit annoying.

[00:17:28] Lastly, could you tell us if there are any ways for people listening today to learn more about you, such as your website, social media, etc.?

[00:17:42] Maybe I’m an analogue person myself, but I don’t have my own website and I have a weird streak of not wanting to use social media. Of course, there is my profile page on the website of the university I work for, but it’s only work-related information. If you’d like to know something, I think it’s best if you email me directly. And even better, although it’s not happening this year, it might be best to meet in person at IFLA next year or later.

[00:18:42] I think so, too, it’s best to meet and talk in person.

[00:18:51] I’m sorry I couldn’t answer your question well.

[00:18:55] You did great and it was a great conversation.

[00:20:18] Thank you so much for your time today, Dr. Oda.

[00:20:24] Thank you as well. I hope to see those who are listening to this today at IFLA.

[00:20:35] That’ll be great. Thank you all for listening.

CPDWL Podcast Project: Episode 4

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

Our guest is Juanita Jara, CPDWL Section member and a former Liaison Librarian in McGill University Library in Canada.

This conversation was conducted in Spanish by Sara Ulloa, a school librarian from Peru and also a CPDWL Section member.

See here for the podcast

Transcript:

Sara: Hola, bienvenidos al podcast de la sección de Desarrollo Profesional Continuo y Aprendizaje en el Lugar de Trabajo de la IFLA, más conocida, por sus siglas en inglés, como CPDWL. En este espacio conversamos con profesionales de bibliotecología e información, quiénes apoyan y participan en el trabajo de desarrollo profesional.

En esta oportunidad contamos con la presencia de Juanita Jara, actual miembro de la Sección de Desarrollo Profesional Continuo de la IFLA y ex bibliotecaria de la Universidad de McGill de Canadá. Debo añadir que para mí es un gusto conversar con Juanita porque es mi compatriota. ella es peruana radicada en Canadá desde hace muchos años. Tuve la oportunidad de conocerla una vez en una conferencia en Lima cuando yo estaba exponiendo sobre mi experiencia de cuando fui por primera vez a un congreso de la IFLA en Ohio, en los Estados Unidos. Y, bueno, sin más preámbulos a continuación pasaré a hacer unas preguntas a nuestra invitada.

Sara: Bienvenida Juanita.

Juanita: Muchas gracias, Sara. Y muchas gracias también a Ray que ha organizado esta conversación. Aquí estoy a las órdenes de ustedes.

Sara: Cuéntanos Juanita, ¿Qué te impulsó a convertirte en bibliotecaria? ¿Cómo empezaste?

Juanita: Pues, como mucha gente yo llegué a la Bibliotecología por accidente en realidad, porque buscaban alguien que supiera inglés y yo sabía inglés. Nada que ver con biblioteca, y no tenía la menor idea. Pero, para mí siempre los libros y las bibliotecas tenían una especie de atractivo intelectual. O sea que me dije: voy a probar. Me gustó y allí me quedé por 54 años.

Sara: ¿Qué significa la Bibliotecología para ti y sobre todo en este mundo globalizado? ¿ha cambiado tu visión de la carrera a lo largo de estos años?

Juanita: Yo diría que no ha cambiado mi visión, ha cambiado la manera de hacer Bibliotecología. Pero, la Bibliotecología siempre fue globalizada, desde mi punto de vista. Las grandes bibliotecas tenían colecciones universales en muchos idiomas, sobre todo tipo de material, todo lo que era el legado clásico y cultural y las novedades que venían apareciendo. Y creo que ahora la Bibliotecología sigue teniendo la misma tónica. Seguimos tratando de recoger la mayor cantidad posible de información disponible y ponerla a disposición del mundo.

Sara: Y, cuéntanos, ¿cómo así te involucraste en la Sección de Desarrollo profesional continuo de la IFLA?

Juanita: Yo fui al Congreso de Buenos Aires en el año 2004, fue mi primer congreso de IFLA. Si bien, yo había tenido ya relación semi personal con IFLA y sus programas, nunca había ido a un congreso. Y cuando estaba ya trabajando acá en Canadá, la directora me invitó a que fuera al congreso, dado que iba a ser en Argentina y, por lo tanto, en español. Entonces, yo me presenté. Y me encontré con que, de todos los programas a los que asistí, de todas las sesiones, la mejor de todas, la más interesante, fue un workshop [taller] que organizó CPDWL, que fue tan fantástica y estaba tan relacionada con lo que yo quería hacer en términos de acogida a los nuevos estudiantes que venían a trabajar con nosotros en la biblioteca. Entonces, me pareció que ese era el punto por donde yo debía entrar a IFLA, y me inscribí como socia a título personal de IFLA. Y desde ahí sigo siendo socia en esta misma sección.

Sara: ¿Tienes algún momento memorable sobre la sección CPDWL o de IFLA?

Juanita: Momentos memorables, creo que han habido cada vez que he ido a IFLA y he estado, sobre todo, en las reuniones satélites, organizadas por CPDWL. Sobre todo el primero al que asistí en Oslo, porque allí me dio oportunidad para conocer a la gente que realmente había comenzado la sección, las que lograron que pasara de ser tabla de concertación, de interés, a ser aceptada como sección. Y esa gente como que ya estaba terminando su periodo y entraban nueva gente. Entonces, tuve oportunidad de conocer a los primeros y a los que siguieron a continuación desde el 2005. Momentos memorables, bueno, conocer gente tan conocedora de lo que era CPDWL y una cosa también muy importante para mí fue cuando se aprobaron los Guidelines, las directrices, porque ahí viene todo un conjunto de conocimientos que redondean lo que es el desarrollo profesional continuo. Haber podido participar y traducir al español esas directrices para mí ha sido un momento muy importante.

Sara: Volviendo un poco la carrera, ¿qué es lo que más te entusiasma de la profesión?

Juanita: La verdad que de la profesión me entusiasma todo. Me entusiasma ver que hay gente que realmente está comprometida con la profesión, gente que se jubila, como yo, y que sigue trabajando como bibliotecaria, que sigue pensando como bibliotecaria. Conozco mucha gente que después que se jubila sigue pensando como tal. No es que era un trabajo, ya lo terminé y ahora no hablo de eso, sino que todavía se interesan por los avances, por las cosas nuevas que hay, ya sea que uno las entienda o no, porque, obviamente, cuando no estás en el trabajo todo el tiempo, no logras comprender cómo encajan las nuevas teorías y los nuevos puntos de vista.

Sara: Sí. Precisamente, tengo entendido que ya está retirada, que ya estás jubilada. ¿puedes contar un poco sobre cómo era tu trabajo? Sé que eras bibliotecaria académica. ¿Te encuentras trabajando ahora en algún proyecto emocionante?

Juanita: Pues, en mi trabajo como bibliotecaria se puede decir, efectivamente, que yo empecé como bibliotecaria académica en la universidad de San Agustín en el año 1961. Pero, en esa época no había bibliotecarios ni en la universidad, ni en toda la ciudad. En Arequipa, Perú, no había bibliotecarios profesionales. De manera que mi trabajo, si bien era en academia, no era un trabajo académico como tal. Era una biblioteca tradicional de estante cerrado. No había mayor actividad excepto con algunos profesores que eran investigadores y lográbamos hacer como una especie de amistad personal y desarrollábamos discusiones relacionadas con la biblioteca.

Eso duró hasta que yo me fui a estudiar a Inglaterra con una beca del Consejo Británico y, cuando regresé, empecé mi trabajo de capacitación del personal que estaba allí, para tratar de que la biblioteca subiera un poco su nivel., por lo menos en la organización bibliográfica, a través de un catálogo más profesional digamos. Y allí estuve trabajando otros cuatro años, y tuve oportunidad de que un director, que estaba muy interesado en la posibilidad de que la universidad entrara a automatizarse, y me promocionó para poder aceptar la beca Fullbright para irme a los Estados Unidos a estudiar automatización en bibliotecas. Eso es lo que a mi me marcó, porque descubrí que efectivamente, por mi naturaleza, me gustaba la sistematización, el análisis. Y, entonces, como bibliotecaria de sistemas logré encontrar el redondeo de lo que ya sabía con lo que podía hacer. La ventaja que tuve de haber ido, tanto a Inglaterra como a los Estados Unidos, a estudiar, teniendo un trabajo al que iba a regresar, era que mis estudios estaban muy centrados en lo que yo iba a utilizar. De manera que todo lo que veía, lo organizaba como: esto lo puedo utilizar cuando regrese a mi país. Y esa fue una etapa que duró 18 años, en que fui bibliotecaria en la Universidad des San Agustín de Arequipa.

De allí me fui. Las cosas no funcionaban muy bien porque, políticamente hablando, las personas, que me habían promocionado para que fuera a estudiar automatización en bibliotecas, ya no estaban. Y, a los que estaban en ese momento, no les interesaba la automatización de la biblioteca. Y esto coincidió con que Gran Bretaña decidiera invertir, no solamente en dar capacitación en el exterior y obsequiar libros a las bibliotecas, sino en tratar de desarrollar una Escuela de Bibliotecología. Entonces, conseguí un trabajo a medio tiempo en la Pontificia Universidad Católica , para el curso de enseñanza de la bibliotecología y capacitación de bibliotecarios que ya tenían título. Y un [trabajo de] tiempo completo como bibliotecaria de un banco. Y allí estuve 14 años haciendo equilibrio entre las dos cosas.

Y, finalmente, cuando me vine a Canadá, tuve un periodo en el que tenía que ajustarme, y las cosas acá tampoco no estaban bien, era el periodo después de los… referendos con la posibilidad de que Quebec se separara de Canadá, entonces, no había mucha oportunidad de trabajo. Y conseguí trabajo en la otra parte, que fue siempre mi trabajo: la traducción. [Trabajé] como traductora de catálogos cuando comenzaba la catalogación en web y hice varias traducciones [al español] en eso hasta que se abrió la oportunidad de trabajar en la Universidad McGill. En McGill, no solamente, era referencista, sino que también tenía a mi cargo recibir a los estudiantes que venían a ayudar a la sección de referencia y orientarlos a seguir su programa de capacitación para integrarse al equipo de referencia. Y, claro, eso fue evolucionando; al principio, era ser bibliotecario de referencia e instrucción y terminamos siendo lo que se llamaba bibliotecario de enlace o liaison librarian, cuya misión es atender al público, hacer investigación y selección bibliográfica, osea una cosa mucho más completa, hasta que ya me retiré.

Sara: Wow. ¿Cuándo fue que te retiraste?

Juanita: En el 2015. Me retiré, quiere decir, de ir a trabajar todos los días de mañana y tarde, fines de semana, etcétera, pero no me retiré nunca de la Bibliotecología. He seguido trabajando, haciendo consultas para Perú. Viajé varias veces a dar pequeñas charlas de formación, organizadas por la Universidad Católica, tanto para su personal como parte gente de fuera; y, trabajando siempre en CPDWL con las traducciones y el boletín.

Sara: Sí fue un gran proyecto lo de las traducciones, para los que leemos en español, de las directrices de CPDWL.

Juanita: En realidad, mi formación, mi desarrollo profesional, ha sido en tres campos: en el campo de la enseñanza, porque tengo un título de profesora de educación secundaria y enseñaba inglés y después enseñé en la Universidad Católica en Bibliotecología; por el otro lado, la bibliotecología misma practicada en el campo, en la biblioteca; y, por otro lado, la Traducción e Interpretación, que la hecho desde interpretación a profesores británicos que iban al Perú a dar clases; y, traducciones para la Bibliotecología de ponencias del CPDWL, que están en la biblioteca IFLA en español y, además, en la traducción de las directrices, que eso ha sido una cosa muy importante. Y allí todavía hay muchos campos que están abiertos en lo que se relaciona a la traducción que hay mucho por hacer. Tenemos más de 25 países que hablan español y no tenemos un vocabulario aceptado para que sea entendible por todos los que hablan español.

Sara: Sí, muchas gracias Juanita por traducir las Directrices de Desarrollo Profesional. Yo las leí hace poquito y es bien interesante, creo que es algo que deberíamos saber desde la universidad. Vamos a promoverla un poco más de pronto. Con toda esta experiencia que me has contado, me has hecho un super resumen de toda tu experiencia desde que te has iniciado, muy interesante, ¿no te has planteado en documentarlo, en difundir tu memorias?¿te interesa?

Juanita: Jajaja, yo no creo que haya alguien que quiera leer mis memorias…. yo he tratado a lo largo de toda mi vida, sobre todo en la enseñanza, —cuando he dictado cursos a nuevos estudiantes de Bibliotecología y en la capacitación— de introducir mis experiencias y aspectos que reflejen un poco una experiencia que yo había vivido. ¿Si es interesante? Pueder ser que sí o no, no lo sé. Alguna vez hice una pequeña presentación sobre lo que yo sentí cuando finalmente llegue a ser bibliotecaria de referencia e instrucción, que para mi, en ese momento, era como la culminación de la carrera profesional que había comenzado, primero, como una persona que trabajaba en biblioteca, sin formación profesional; luego, como catalogadora, y allí tengo una experiencia increíble porque yo he comenzado cuando teníamos las fichas escritas a máquina des escribir. He pasado por la iniciación del MARC cuando AACR era una versión diferente en Inglaterra y Estados Unidos, donde se producían catálogos en microfilm el famoso COM (computer output microform) y, luego, clasificar y catalogar a nivel más elevado, en términos de catalogación y traducir catálogos para uso del público. Pero, es en la otra parte, siguiendo los principios de un libro, que leí el primer día que fui a la escuela de bibliotecología en 1964 en Aberystwsyth en Gales, que se llama Library Power: a new philosophy of librarianship de James Thompson, donde explica y hace un análisis de todo el trabajo que se hace en bibliotecas y como el trabajo culminante del bibliotecario es el que te permite ayudar a que la gente encuentre la información que necesita. Y el liaison librarian es justamente esa etapa, que yo cuando escribí esa pequeña presentación, no tenía esa visión, faltaba el elemento de control bibliográfico que no estaba en el referencista. Y, eso sí es interesante, pero, no como memoria, sino como una visión del desarrollo profesional.

Sara: Bueno a ver si te animas. Para la revista Fénix de la Biblioteca Nacional que justo ahora hay una convocatoria. Bueno, ¿Qué consejo sobre desarrollo profesional te gustaría compartir con nosotros, en general y en estos tiempos pandemia?

Juanita: En general uno tiene que leer. Lo ideal es que tengas una fuente de información de lo que está sucediendo en bibliotecología. No solo en el tipo de biblioteca que estás practicando, ya sea en biblioteca pública, escolar, universitaria, sino en general, ¿cuáles son las tendencias en la bibliotecología?. Eso te lo da, participar en congresos como el de IFLA, donde tú ves toda la gama, de alternativas en la forma que uno puede desarrollarse. Por otro lado, desde que entré a estudiar en Inglaterra, me hice miembro de lo que se llamaba en esa época The Library Association, la Asociación de Bibliotecarios Británica, que ahora se llama CILIP. Como era miembro, me mandaban todos los meses, y me siguen mandando, la revista de la asociación que tiene cosas muy interesantes y eso me mantuvo al día mientras trabajaba en Arequipa, donde no había otro bibliotecario con quien hablar y, luego en el banco, donde yo era la única bibliotecaria. Esa fue la manera de mantenerme al día, de manera que cuando llegué a Canadá, las cosas no eran tan diferentes, ni desconocidas porque por lo menos yo las había leído. Y cuando comencé a ir a IFLA, allí vi que había cosas mucho más avanzadas. Claro que hay un momento en que tú tienes que escoger, porque hay mucho, pero fue todo un periodo de descubrimiento a través de mi pertenencia a una asociación profesional de bibliotecólogos que nos mantenía bien informados de todo lo que está pasando y nos sigue manteniendo informados de todo lo que está pasando..

Y en periodo de pandemia, pues, que mejor oportunidad para poner eso en práctica. Lo que estamos vivimos ahora alguna vez va a ser historia, que la gente va a retroceder y tratar de comparar. Actualmente, conozco gente que está comparando con la pandemia de la gripe española del año 18 y en algún momento alguien va a venir a mirar qué está pasando en esta pandemia. Y si estamos haciendo trabajo desde la casa, debemos hacer un tiempito para ir recopilando o viendo qué es lo que está pasando y pensar cómo esto va a ser utilizable en algún momento en el futuro por los bibliotecarios.

Sara: Para ir terminando unas dos ultimas preguntas: ¿si tuvieras que describirte usando solo una palabra, ¿qué palabra sería?

Juanita: Yo diría que soy una persona analítica. Todo lo que veo lo analizo para ver sus ventajas y desventajas, pero al detalle, me gustan los detalles. Y eso me hace ser un poco tenaz y persistente para resolver las cosas.

Sara: ¿Dónde se pueden conectar nuestros oyentes contigo?

Juanita: Mi único contacto es mi correo electrónico. No utilizó ningún medio social. Es una cuestión muy personal porque soy una persona que nunca puedo hacer una sola cosa, enseño y trabajo. Ahora tengo otros roles en mi condominio, etc. y no me gusta que alguien se contacte conmigo y no poderle responder. Entonces, para cumplir con la gente que me escribe, tienen que contactarme, solo si se interesan, a través de mi correo electrónico y tener la seguridad de mantener el contacto.

Sara: Bueno, Juanita, hemos llegado al final. Muchas gracias por tu tiempo y muchas gracias a todos por escuchar.

Juanita: Muchas gracias por tus preguntas, muy interesantes. Espero que algo de lo que he dicho despierte en la gente que va a escucharlo el interés por la profesión y por seguir adelante y mirar hasta dónde pueden llegar. Y agradezco también al Information Officer de CPDWL, Ray Pun, que hace posible que nosotros lleguemos en español a una audiencia mucho mayor. Gracias y hasta luego.

 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Raymond Pun: Hello! Welcome to the podcast of the CPDWL (Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning) Section of IFLA. Here we meet with librarianship and information professionals who support and participate in professional development work.

This time we have Juanita Jara de Sumar, current member of the CPDWL Section of IFLA and former librarian at McGill University in Canada. I must add that it is a pleasure for me to talk with Juanita as we both come from the same country, she is Peruvian and has been living in Canada for many years. I met her for the first time during a conference in Lima when I was presenting the experience of my first time in an IFLA Congress in Ohio, USA. So, without further ado, I will go ahead and ask a few questions to my guest.

Sara: Welcome Juanita!

Juanita: Thank you very much Sara. And thanks to Ray too, for organizing this meeting. At your service.

Sara: Tell us Juanita, what made you become a librarian? How did it all begin?

Juanita: Same as happens to many people, I really became a librarian by accident. They were looking for somebody who knew English, and that was me. Nothing regarding libraries, of which I knew nothing. But books and libraries had always had for me an intellectual attraction. So, I told myself, I’ll try it. I liked it and I stayed in libraries for 54 years.

Sara: What does librarianship mean for your, particularly now in this global world? Has your vision of the career changed through those years?

Juanita: I would say that my vision has not changed, what has changed is how we do librarianship. But, from my point of view, Librarianship has always been global. The main libraries had universal collections in multiple languages, on all types of materials, anything that was part of the classic and cultural heritage, plus all the new things that were appearing. And I think Librarianship is still doing the same. We are still trying to collect as much of the available information to make it available to the world.

Sara: So, tell us, how is it that you became involved with the Continuing Professional Development Section of IFLA?

Juanita: I attended the Congress in Buenos Aires in 2004, that was my first IFLA congress. Although I had somehow been involved with IFLA programmes, I had never been to a congress. And when I was working in Canada, the library director invited me to attend the Argentina congress, given that it was in a Spanish speaking country, so I went. And I found that, of all the programmes and sessions that I attended, the most interesting one was a workshop presented by CPDWL. It was so good and was so much related with I wanted to do in terms of induction training for new students who were coming to work with us in the library. I thought then that was the aspect of IFLA that I wanted to develop and became a personal member. And I have been in this same section ever since.

Sara: Is there a memorable moment for you in your relation to CPDWL or IFLA?

Juanita: I think there have been memorable moments every time I have been to IFLA, and particularly during the CPDWL satellite meetings. I remember particularly the first such meeting I attended, in Oslo, because it gave me the opportunity to know all those who had started the CPDWL section, those who made it possible for the Round Table to become an IFLA section. Some of them were finishing their mandate and new people were coming in, and thus I was able to meet the Section founders and those who followed them from 2005 to today. Memorable moments came from meeting people who were so knowledgeable about CPDWL. The approval of the Guidelines was also particularly important to me, because we find in them a whole set of knowledge of what continuing professional development is. Being able to contribute to the Guidelines and translate them to Spanish has meant a lot to me.

Sara: Going back to the career, what is it that excites you about our profession?

Juanita: To be honest, I am excited about all the aspects of the profession. I feel excited when I see people who are really committed to the profession, people who retire, like me, but are still living and thinking as librarians. I know many people who are that way. It was never just work: I am finished with it and I don’t talk about it any more; they are still interested in new advances, the new things that are done, whether we understand them or not, because, obviously, when you are no longer working all the time, you may not understand how the new theories and points of view fit.

Sara: Yes, I understand that you are now retired, could you tell us how was your work? You were an academic librarian, are you working now in an exciting project?

Juanita: Well, it is true that we can say that I started as academic librarian at the Universidad de San Agustin, in 1961. But at that time there were no librarians, either in the University or in the whole city. There were no professional librarians in Arequipa, Peru. Therefore, even though my work was in the academia, the work itself was not academic. This was a traditional library, with closed access. There was minimal activity, except for some research professors. We would develop personal friendships and would organise discussions related to their use of the library.

This lasted until I went to study in Great Britain with a British Council grant. When I came back, I started to work in in-house staff training, trying to improve the quality of library work, at least in relation to bibliographic organization, by creating a more professional catalogue. I worked on this for another four years, and then I had another opportunity, when a University director became interested in the possibility that the university would enter the automation era. He sponsored me to pursue a Fulbright grant to study library automation in the United States. These studies impacted me, as I discovered that systematising and analysing were part of my nature, Thus, as a systems librarian I could see what was it that I could do with what I new. I had one advantage. Because I knew the job I would be doing when I came back from studying, both times, I focussed on what would be relevant upon my return to Peru. Overall, I worked as a librarian at the Universidad de San Agustin for 18 years.

Then I left. Things were not going well due to politics. The people who thought of implementing automation in libraries were no longer in the administration, and the new directors were not interested in automating libraries. This situation coincided with a move from the British government from sponsoring training abroad and donating books, to try to sponsor a library school [in Peru]. This is when I was offered a half time position at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, for a teaching and training course for librarian who already had a librarianship diploma. And I also got a full-time position as a bank librarian. So that is what I did, balancing between the two jobs for 14 years.

Finally, when I moved to Canada, there came an adjustment period. Things were not great at the time, it was the period after two referendums to determine if Quebec would separate from Canada, so there were not many job offerings. And I got a job on something that had always been another side activity: translation. I was hired to translate catalogue screens into Spanish when web catalogues first appeared. And I did that until there was an opening to work for McGill University libraries. At McGill I was not only a reference librarian, but I was responsible of receiving the students hired to help at the reference desk and guide them through their training programme to become part of the team. Of course, this was evolving, from being a reference/instruction librarian, to become a liaison librarian, who had to deal with the users, do research, and oversee bibliographic selection on specific subjects, a much wider role. Until I retired.

Sara: Wow. When is it that you retired?

Juanita: In 2015. I retired means that I stopped going to work everyday, morning and afternoons, weekends, etc., but I never retired from librarianship. I have been working, with consultations with Peruvian colleagues. I went back to Peru to offer lectures and training presentation, organized by the Pontificia Universidad Catolica, both for their staff and from other libraries, and for librarianship students. And, of course, working always within CPDWL with translations and the Newsletter.

Sara: That was a great project about translation of the CPDWL Guidelines, for those who read in Spanish

Juanita: In fact, my studies and training, my professional development, has been on three areas: teaching, because a have a degree as Secondary school teacher and used to teach English and then Librarianship at the Catholic University; Of course, librarianship itself, practical work in libraries; and, translation and interpreting, which has covered from interpreting for British lecturers visiting Peru to teach librarianship and translation for librarianship, such as CPDWL conference papers which are available in the IFLA library in Spanish, as well as the translation of the Guidelines, very important. And there is still a big field related to translation, a lot to do. We have more than 25 countries where Spanish is spoken, and we don’t have a normalized librarianship vocabulary that means the same for all those who speak Spanish.

Sara: True. Thank you, Juanita, for translating the Continuing professional development Guidelines. I read them just recently and found them very interesting. I think this is something that should be learned in university. We will try to see about promoting them. All this experienced you have mentioned, you did a super overview of all your experience, from the very beginning. Very interesting. Have you thought about documenting it, write your memoirs? Would you be interested?

Juanita: Hahaha, I don’t think there is anybody who would want to read may memoirs … I have tried, through my life, particularly when teaching – when I taught to new students in librarianship, and during training – to plug in my experiences and aspects that would show somehow what I lived. Is that interesting? Maybe yes, maybe not. I don’t know. At some point I did a short presentation about what I felt when I became reference/instruction librarian, To me, at that point, it was like arriving to the top of the career ladder that I had started as a worker in a library with no library training; then as cataloguer, and in this area I have an incredible experience, because I started when we had typed cards, Then I did MARC cataloguing when there was a different version of AACR in Britain and the US and we produced COM catalogues on microfilm, and then to classify and catalogue at the highest level and translate public catalogues. But there is another part, that I found in a book I read on my first day of Library school in 1964 in Aberystwyth, Wales , called Library Power: a new philosophy of Librarianship, by James Thompson, which details the work in a library and considers that the top task of a librarian is to help users to find the information they need. And being liaison librarian is just that level which I did not know when I wrote my short presentation. I was lacking the bibliographic control element, which was not on what the reference librarian did. And I find that is interesting, not as memoirs, but as a vision of the professional development.

Sara: Well, maybe you can think about it. For Fenix, the review of the National Library. There is a call for papers now. Ok. What advice would you like to share with us about professional development? in general, and at the time of the pandemic.

Juanita: Overall, you must read. Ideally, you should have a source of information about what is going on in librarianship. Not just in the librarian sector you are currently in, be it public, school, academic, but in general. What are the librarianship tendencies? You can also find this by attending congresses such as IFLA’s. where you are exposed to a variety of alternatives for you to develop. Also, membership in an association. As a student in Britain I joined The Library Association, now CILIP. As part of my membership I received, and I am still receiving, the Association’s monthly magazine with relevant information that kept me up to date while I worked in Arequipa, with no librarians I could talk to, and in the bank, as I was a solo librarian. This is how I kept up to date, and when I moved to Canada, I found things were not so different or unknown, because at least I had read about them. Then, when I started going to IFLA, I learned there were much more advanced things. Of course, at some point you have to choose, there is too much, but it was a period of discovery, just by having a membership in professional library associations who keeps its members informed of what is going on.

Sara: Getting to the end, just two last questions. If you had to describe yourself using a single word, which word would that be?

Juanita: I would say I am an analytical person. I analyse everything I see, to determine advantages and disadvantages, within the details. I love details. And that makes me be tenacious and persistent to solve things.

Sara: How can our listeners get in touch with you?

Juanita: My only contact is my email. I don’t use any social media. This is a personal choice, because I am somebody who never does only one thing, like teaching and working. I have now other roles in my condominium, etc, and I would not like that people contact me and I never answer them. So, to make sure I follow up, the only way is that they write to my email, and this is how I keep in touch.

Sara: Well Juanita, we have reached the end. Thank you very much for your time and thank you to all our listeners.

Juanita: Thank you very much for your questions, really interesting. I hope that something of what I said will draw some listeners towards our profession or will give them strength to keep going and see how far they can arrive. I want to thank also the CPDWL Information Officer, Ray Pun, who is making it possible for us to reach a wider audience by organising a broadcast in Spanish. Thanks to all.

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!