Personalised service? Changing the role of the government librarian

Investigates the feasibility of personalised information service in a government department. A qualitative methodology explored stakeholder opinions on the remit, marketing, resourcing and measurement of the service. A questionnaire and interviews gathered experiences of personalised provision across the government sector. Potential users were similarly surveyed to discuss how the service could meet their needs. Data were analysed using coding techniques to identify emerging theory. Lessons learned from government librarians centred on clarifying requirements, balancing workloads and selective marketing. The user survey showed low usage and awareness of existing specialist services, but high levels of need and interest in services repackaged as a tailored offering. Fieldwork confirmed findings from the literature on the scope for adding value through information management advice, information skills training and substantive research assistance and the need to understand business processes and develop effective partnerships. Concluding recommendations focus on service definition, strategic marketing, resource utilisation and performance measurement

Transportations of space, time and self: the role of reading groups in managing mental distress in the community

Background: The practice of reading and discussing literature in groups is long established, stretching back into classical antiquity. Although benefits of therapeutic reading groups have been highlighted, research into participants’ perceptions of these groups has been limited. Aims: To explore the experiences of those attending therapeutic reading groups, considering the role of both the group, and the literature itself, in participants’ ongoing experiences of distress. Method: Eleven participants were recruited from two reading groups in the South-East of England. One focus group was run, and eight individuals self-selected for individual interviews. The data were analysed together using a thematic analysis drawing on dialogical theories. Results: Participants described the group as an anchor, which enabled them to use fiction to facilitate the discussion of difficult emotional topics, without referring directly to personal experience. Two aspects of this process are explored in detail: the use of narratives as transportation, helping to mitigate the intensity of distress; and using fiction to explore possibilities, alternative selves and lives. Conclusions: For those who are interested and able, reading groups offer a relatively de-stigmatised route to exploring and mediating experiences of distress. Implications in the present UK funding environment are discussed

Information professional

The magazine of CILIP - the library and information association.Access is restricted to staff and registered students of the University of Strathclyde

A study of the UK information workforce

Introduction This report presents the findings of a study to map the Library, Archives, Records, Information Management, and Knowledge Management professions in the UK. It was commissioned in 2014 by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and the Archives and Records Association (UK and Ireland) (ARA) and completed in 2015. This study is important for a number of reasons. It may be the first national workforce mapping study of the Library, Archives, Records, Information Management, and Knowledge Management domains ever conducted in any country. This is also the first workforce mapping study produced for any of the individual domains since the 2011 closure of Lifelong Learning UK. The last (remotely relevant) research was the 2012 Library, archive, records and information management services workforce survey (produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, 2012). The findings of this report are drawn from a data set of 10,628 survey responses, a statistically significant proportion of the estimated 86,376 workforce and perhaps an unprecedented survey sample. This makes the findings even more robust than those used in the national UK Labour Force Survey and gives CILIP and ARA (and the wider sector) a strong evidence-base for their future advocacy work

Evaluating electronic resources A guide

Includes bibliographical referencesSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/35895 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo