Summary Part 1: 3rd November – Library School

1.a. Which course did you do?

• Aberystwyth University – most were distance learning (@joeyanne, @Sonja_Kujansuu, @EmmaBettyHughes, @KrisWJ, @MariaJGrant) http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/dis/
• Berlin University – distance learning (@lisaburscheidt) http://bit.ly/vZiahk
• Brighton University (@DreamingEntity) http://www.brighton.ac.uk/cem/
• City University (@LindsayWallace) http://bit.ly/zeBO2N
• Loughborough University (@sarahcchilds, @stjerome1st) http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/
• Northumbria University(@halfpricechamp, @karenelainehall, @preater, @Library_Karen) http://bit.ly/ygsOsf
• Manchester Metropolitan University (@Library_Michael, @shedsue, @LFairie) http://bit.ly/oLAJHQ
• Robert Gordon University (_@kimguin) http://bit.ly/9Kvy1Y
• Sheffield University (@rachel_s_b) http://www.shef.ac.uk/is
• Strathclyde University (@call_me_cathy) http://www.strath.ac.uk/cis/
• University of Central England – now Birmingham City University (@MariaJGrant). Course no longer offered, now Evidence Base research facility http://www.ebase.bcu.ac.uk/
• University College London (@sphericalfruit, @Annie_Bob, @JenniferYellin, @usernametaken10, @Prossian, @ErikaDelbecque, @ellyob) http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dis/

1.b. Why did you choose your course?

• Enjoyed graduate traineeship (@sarahcchilds)
• Location (@karenelainehall, @shedsue, @halfpricechamp, @Annie_Bob, @ErikaDelbecque, call_me_cathy)
• Low cost (@sarahcchilds, @Sonja_Kujansuu, @joeyanne))
• Tutors (@jothelibrarian)
• Chose course because it was accredited by CILIP (@DreamingEntity, @karenelainehall, @halfpricechamp, @KrisWJ)
• Required for current job (@Library_Michael)
• Required for future jobs/to progress in career (@Annie_Bob, @Rosie_Lake, @call_me_cathy)
• Working at the university already (@halfpricechamp)
• To have qualification to back up experience (@LindsayWallace)
• Distance learning meant learning in course could be applied in practice (@joeyanne)
• Distance learning meant I didn’t have to worry about being unemployed afterwards (@Sonja_Kujansuu)
• Accredited course – to help get work abroad (@Sarahmaule)
• Personal recommendations (@KrisWJ)
• Course content/module options (@jothelibrarian, @sarahcchilds, @Sonja_Kujansuu, @MariaJGrant, @Prossian, @ErikaDelbecque)
• Flexible – can study at own pace (@Sonja_Kujansuu)
• Guaranteed part-time work after traineeship (@sarahmaule)
• Reputation (@ErikaDelbecque)
• Liked the university/the place (@stjerome1st, @jothelibrarian)
• Traditional yet transferable skills (@ellyob)

2. What was the most useful thing you learned at Library School?

• Cataloguing and classification (@sarahcchilds, @ellyob, @Annie_Bob, @halfpricechamp, @usernametaken10, @KrisWJ, @MyWeeklyBook, @girlinthe, @booleanberry)
• How important it is to stay on top of advances in the field, policy making (@sarahmaule)
• Research skills  (@sarahmaule, @halfpricechamp, @call_me_cathy, @JoLibrariAnne)
• Digital resources (@PaulaGoodale, @KrisWJ)
• Information Retrieval (@PaulaGoodale)
• Persistence (@joeyanne, @sarahmaule)
• Work placement  (@halfpricechamp, @call_me_cathy)
• Web design (@LFairie, @usernametaken10, @sarahcchilds, @sarahmaule, @girlinthe, @ellyob, @jothelibrarian, @JoLibrariAnne)
• Management  (@KrisWJ, @ellyob, @prossian, @ostephens)
• Dissertation (@jothelibrarian, @usernametaken10)
• Ethics (@call_me_cathy)
• Marketing (@call_me_cathy)
• Manuscript studies (@girlinthe)
• XHTML (@Prossian)
• Improved presentation skills (@usernametaken10)
• Being more user-friendly and doing things diffeently – Sandy Berman (@BhamLibrarian)
• Learning that it was about more than books (@ggnewed)
• Difficult to always get truth from information provided (@ggnewed)
• Competitive intelligence – useful for business information (@jothelibrarian) http://t.co/3ZxNcMTU http://t.co/nwCNbjzX
• Knowledge Management (@JoLibrariAnne)
• Learned skills and knowledge beyond work experience (@ellyob)
• @call_me_cathy pointed out that even though she hadn’t used all of the skills she’d learnt, she was still glad to have learnt about them
• @usernametaken10 said that doing the course prompted him to learn about Web 2.0 in own time, which helped him with job

3. What do you wish you’d learnt or had been different?

• Support for information literacy teaching and subject librarian skills (@BhamLibrarian, @KrisWJ, @kirsty_thomson, @joeyanne, @sarahmaule, @Lfairie, @ellyob, @prossian, @girlinthe, @halfpricechamp, @ggnewed, @call_me_cathy)
• Conference advice, e.g. networking  (@joeyanne, @girlinthe)
• Writing for publication (@joeyanne, @MariaJGrant)
• Research skills (@MariaJGrant, @sarahmaule)
• Career planning (@MariaJGrant, @KrisWJ)
• Cataloguing – more practicals (@DreamingEntity, @Sonja_Kujansuu)
• More choice for part-time students (@ellyob)
• Better socialising opportunities for part-time students (@ellyob)
• More IT skills and advanced computing element e.g. web design, databases, VLEs, digital libraries (@shedsue, @JoLibrariAnne, @ostephens, @sarahmaule, @Sonja_Kujansuu)
• Reference interview skills (@kirsty_thomson)
• Keeping up to date (@girlinthe)
• Public libraries (@girlinthe, @sarahmaule)
• Marketing (@sarahmaule)
• Presentation skills (@Readyourbook)
• Advocacy – selling oneself and services (@Readyourbook)
• Budgeting (@call_me_cathy,@clinestar)
• Behaviour management (@call_me_cathy)
• Time management (@call_me_cathy)
• Personality types and communication at work, 360 assessment or similar could be added to mangement module (@jothelibrarian)
• More presentations (@jothelibrarian)
• Records management (@JoLibrariAnne)

Universities should offer stand-alone course as CPD (@JoLibrariAnne). Some already offer this e.g. Northumbria (?) Many, many others agreed with this suggestion – Ed. 

4. Did you do a distance learning course? Were you satisfied with its quality?

Those who didn’t do distance learning:

• Many felt face-to-face contact was important, and it wouldn’t suit them. Potentially lonely (@booleanberry, @usernametaken10, @sarahcchilds, @jothelibrarian)
• Admire distance learning students – they work the hardest (@sarahmaule)
• Studying full-time can distance you from the library world – volunteering is helpful (@Prossian)

Those who did distance learning courses:

• Concerned about learning alone but doing well so far (@EmmaBettyHughes)
• Good to be able to apply learning (@joeyanne, @JoLibrariAnne)
• Was a little disappointed as content outdated (@joeyanne, @Sonja_Kujansuu)
• Not much online support e.g. webinars (@joeyanne, @KrisWJ)
• Poor online communication though this is variable (@joeyanne, @KrisWJ)
• Poor feedback, slow response time (@joeyanne, @Sonja_Kujansuu)
• Happy with course despite poor reputation for distance learning. Difficult to compare the two (@preater)
• Assignments can be vague with little guidance – not sure if you’re writing the right thing  (@Sonja_Kujansuu)
• A few admin problems but never felt unsupported (@preater)
• Big plus is working at same time, relief to have  job security. Supportive boss is very important (@KrisWJ)
• Tutors good so far but online help from fellow students also great (@Library_Karen)
• Really helpful, good online community, interesting modules (@_kimguin)
• Need to be motivated (@joeyanne)
• Structured at Robert Gordon – have deadlines (@_kimguin)
• Aberystwyth  totally flexible and never know who is studying same module as you (@joeyanne)
• Those who used VLE found it useful (@joeyanne, @_kimguin)

5. Was your library course worth the money?

• Yes – got a job with it (@BhamLibrarian, @sarahcchilds, @sarahmaule, @prossian, @readmybook, @LFairie, @Kirsty_Thomson)
• Yes – though difficult to judge. Friendships made, enthusiasm shared – definitely worthwhile (@jothelibrarian)
• Yes – better pay (@girlinthe)
• Yes – although was funded (@call_me_cathy)
• Yes – although fess lower and funding available (@ostephens)
• Yes – wish I’d done it earlier – for less money (@preater)
• Got more out of it than value for money (@sarahcchilds, @prossian)
• Don’t need qualification to do current job but also couldn’t do current job without it (@halfpricechamp)
• Could have been a lot better (@LFairie)
• Judge it on a module by module basis as doing distance learning (@JoLibrariAnne)
• Got jobs & pay rises based on being about to do course, doing course & having done course – so paid for itself (@ellyob)
• Qualification will make it easier to find a job post-redundancy (@LindsayWallace)

6. Are you concerned that public sector cuts will mean you won’t find a professional post after #libraryschool?

• Very worried as are many trainees (@Rosie_Lake)
• Qualification is useful outside libraries (@DreamingEntity)
• Worried about economy (@DreamingEntity, @RRosieRose)
• Concerned – will join library campaigns. Currently working in museums and we face similar issues (@Library_Karen)
• Number on library course has dropped, presumably partly due to current situation (@Sarahcchilds)
• Much more competitive (@Sonja_Kujansuu, @KrisWJ)
• Constantly worried that should be doing more to make employable (@booleanberry)
• It was tough around 5 years ago – must be worse now (@call_me_cathy)
• Being able to move around makes you more employable (@sarahcchilds)
• Not many qualified posts left in the public sector – opens up opportunities (@shedsue)