Envisioning a pastoral role for college libraries

I know it's been a while since I've posted, so forgive me for launching into an explanation for that before getting to the main topic of my post. I've been doing a lot of personal (i.e. not necessarily library related) growth and reflection this year, and started another blog about these issues that I have been much better about updating. I suppose I also felt like a bit of a poseur having a library blog as a relatively low-level employee and not having done much Postgrad-Level research. I started this blog with the intention of using it for CPD and networking because as I finished my PGDip in Information and Library Management I very much wanted and, to be perfectly honest, expected to see myself climbing some kind of career ladder with a speed proportional to my enthusiasm. That did not happen and my reaction to that fact has played a large part in the aforementioned personal reflection. I am trying to let go of attachment to "success" and "accomplishment" as they are often measured in our society and trying to do what is in front of me from moment to moment to the best of my ability.

Today I wanted to write, though, about a topic I've been carrying in the back of my mind for a while. It came up in conversation with a colleague from another library yesterday, so I thought I would get some thoughts out about envisioning a role for college libraries.

There are many libraries in Cambridge, the roles of which vary immensely. Broadly speaking, the University Library is a research library with a vast collection of resources at its disposal and is in many ways the nerve centre of all of the libraries, maintaining a broad view of the extensive academic community in Cambridge and related networks beyond. Their role is breadth. The departmental and faculty libraries specialise in particular subjects and the librarians there will be knowledgable about the research environments relevant to their users. Their role is to provide depth.

College libraries are a strange mixture, positioned not exactly between the other two. Because colleges are made up of students and researchers from various departments, college libraries need to provide a breadth of material, but to a sufficient depth to be useful to first years through research fellows. As such, it is difficult to characterise college libraries, especially given the vastly different sizes, resources and cultures of each college. A colleague told me that some view college libraries as not much more than "an extra reading room", i.e. a physical space to sit and work. Given the passion of the college librarians I know and the centrality of the college to the lives of its members, it would be a shame to have such a limited impact on our users.

As such, I have thought for a long time that it would be wonderful for college libraries to occupy a pastoral role in our users' lives, and to develop strategic visions that have that as a central aim. "Pastoral" is most often associated with religious or inter-faith chaplaincy, but I don't think the phrase is inappropriate to college libraries. It evokes the kind of caring environment that takes into consideration a whole person - intellect, body, emotions, consciousness, relationships - in a supportive and non-judgmental way. It is not a didactic, hierarchical teacher/student relationship, nor is it simply service-based, never delving beyond filling book requests and making sure the printer has paper in it.

So what would pastoral care look like in college libraries? That could be the subject of months of brainstorming involving people much smarter and more creative than I am. However, I thought I'd get some ideas out there just as a starting point.

College libraries are located physically "close to home" for students. We're their "home" libraries. In many cases we're probably the first HE library they'll use. While departmental and faculty libraries can offer very targeted, subject specific information literacy interventions, why couldn't we introduce more universal ideas, like critical analysis, time management and understanding their place in the academic landscape? If this is integrated skilfully with tutorial work early in the first year, it could ease the transition into HE and set up early on the idea that the college library is there to support the skills and development of its students.

Garden International School's commitment to student welfare. Source: https://www.gardenschool.edu.my/student-environment/student-welfare-support/

I think there's also something to be said for focusing (as much as possible) on physical comfort, ease of access and social spaces in the library. My library is sadly very lacking in these attributes but I think it's something worth focusing on in the future. Could we provide places for people to relax, chat and eat food while they're taking breaks from working? Could we provide different kinds of seating arrangements, like sofas and floor cushions for people who are not comfortable working at desks? Could we stay open 24/7 since that's something users say they want? Traditionally, we have been more concerned about our physical collections than what our users want, but a library that sees its role as pastoral would do the reverse. The physical collection is important, yes, but only because there are users who give it - and us - a purpose.

Could we also be doing more for general health and wellbeing? It's not uncommon for libraries to offer information literacy instruction these days, but could we offer courses on things like sleep hygiene and stress management? Maybe we could work with Student Welfare departments in the colleges to have borrowable "de-stress kits", quiet chill out spaces and snacks available during exam term. All of these would not just be useful for students but would change our reputation from rule enforcers and book stampers to active supporters of their educational and personal development.

From "De-Stress Fest 2014" at Langara Library. Source: http://www.langara.bc.ca/library/news/articles/11212014-destress-fest.html

As the information environment becomes more complex and so-called "digital natives" are expected to arrive at Cambridge pre-loaded with all sorts of skills and literacies, it's important to remember the individuals behind those assumptions are often confused, self-conscious, frightened or overwhelmed. As a college librarian I would love to have a more hands-on role in my students' lives, creating safe spaces for them to develop research skills, knowing what's going on with their tutorials, what their schedules are like, what's stressing them out, what they're doing to relax, etc. in order to anticipate their needs. I want to have more opportunities to show compassion to library users, developing programmes and services that will not just give them what they need to grow as academics but will improve their quality of life. Should college libraries be able to do this? Is it even possible?

I don't see why not.

Birds in the Wren

The Caladrius, a mythical bird, heals a sick king. From Trin. Ms. R.14.9

Bird Iconography in a 13th Century English Bestiary

Here's my latest blog post over at the Trinity College Library blog. The text was originally written for an exhibition my colleague and I put together over two years ago, entitled "Birds in the Wren" (ha ha), looking at bird iconography, symbolism and representation from medieval manuscripts to Darwin's finches, to Owl in Winnie the Pooh.

Penumbra shadowing experience at the English Faculty Library

I was lucky enough to do a job shadowing afternoon at the English Faculty Library with Libby Tilley and Helen Murphy on Thursday the 8th of May. The shadowing experience was focused on user education, at my request, and so primarily involved sitting in on a training session entitled “Quickstart for Part 1 dissertations: processes and resources”. This built on a session held in Lent term on building bibliographies using Zotero, so knowledge of this was useful as a prerequisite, though they did cover it again for those who did not attend. The rest of my time at EFL was spent at Issue Desk and in conversation with Helen and Nora, a work experience employee about libraries in Cambridge, the differences in our libraries etc.

The training session

The EFL has a small but very nice IT training suite on site, and this was where the training session was held. There are laptops at each station and the person at the lectern is able to switch from projecting their screen to any of the laptop screens. The laptops can be locked away beneath the surface of the desk when the room is not in use.

The session was a quick overview of the process of planning and writing a dissertation, targeted at first year English students. Its purpose was to allay fears and also introduce students to some of the resources available, particularly those provided by the library. It was based on a hand-out that divided dissertation writing into 5 steps or sections, and each section had a “hook” or useful tidbit that I think students will find memorable when it comes time to start writing. Everything covered was on the hand-out and the services or resources provided by the library are highlighted in a different colour so that students know what the EFL provides. Furthermore, students were asked which section they thought they needed more help on. Responses were a little timid, I think possibly because no one had thought that far ahead yet, so all of the sections were covered.

SECTION 1: Choosing a topic

First, Libby emphasized that in the dissertation the library could help, but that students’ directors of studies/supervisors are gods as far as the dissertation is concerned. However, she pointed out that the first port of call for English students is the “Guidance on dissertations” on the faculty intranet. She recommended reading it over the holidays, since it’s quite comprehensive, and noted that in October there will be an additional and more comprehensive guide to referencing. The second resource she pointed to was a folder of past dissertation topics, which is available to use in the library and can be borrowed from the Issue Desk.

SECTION 2: Planning for effective working

Post-it note exercise - Everyone was handed a post-it note and asked to write one effective working habit they have. A couple of brave volunteers said theirs out loud, but the rest were collected and will be collated and passed on as advice to next year’s first years, so that they are getting advice from their peers rather than tutors, librarians etc.

Libby recommended starting early in case there are niche, hard-to-get resources, but emphasised that the library could get these resources for them if they were given enough warning. Additionally, the library is able to help by performing a literature search. They provide postcards that students fill in with their names and dissertation topics and hand in to the library if they are stuck, if they don’t know where to start, etc. This doesn’t take much staff time but sounds like a really big help to the students. The theory behind having a postcard rather than just giving out an email address is that there is a physical reminder of the service, and because you just fill in the back of the card advertising it and drop it back at the library, it’s a pretty user-friendly way of going about it.

Next, they did a refresher on Zotero, a free piece of referencing software that lives in your browser and recognizes bibliographical information, saves it, and automatically generates bib. references in your chosen format. The final useful advice on planning that was handed on had to do with time management and managing due dates from different libraries through the libraries@cambridge iCal app. (We could easily link to this from the web page and point it out to students who tend to get late fees.)

SECTIONS 3 and 4: Primary Reading and Secondary Reading

Most people indicated that they felt pretty confident with these aspects of dissertation research, but it was interesting to note that most of them had only one or two ports of call and did not cast their nets wider. Also they didn’t know the drawbacks of the databases they used (namely JSTOR and its out of date information, and the fact that many people assume that just because it’s from JSTOR it’s “solid”, so they don’t have to think critically about it). Of the sources listed on the handout, people seemed not to have heard of a few of them, and hadn’t used most of them.

They were given a chance to play around in some of the databases using a topic chosen from a list. This let people get more familiar with things like Project MUSE and LION, which have complementary coverage to what JSTOR provides. They also pointed out the UL’s uncatalogued book search function, which allows you to search for books by ISBN, request they’re moved to the front of the queue, and then have them put on hold for you. Because most people said they felt comfortable in this area, they did not cover every idea listed, but the handout would provide further guidance if people wanted it when it came to doing their literature searches, and it seemed like most people picked up on something new they could use.

SECTION 5: Writing and referencing

Libby once again emphasised the importance of the DoS/supervisor in this process, but pointed out some additional resources and tips, such as Transkills for English and Scrivener.

Overall impressions:

The teaching session worked really well. It never seemed to lag and it wasn’t too overwhelming. I think each section had a memorable hook that students will have come away with, and it was very nicely broken up with activities. I think it’s especially useful giving people the time and encouragement to try at least one new database on their own rather than doing a demo on a projector screen and mandating what they try. The EFL website is also really sensibly laid out with resources grouped by subject and then overarching, key resources like LION, Zetoc, Project Gutenburg, etc. down the side (grouped by primary and secondary resources). The single handout means that students weren’t sent away with loads to read so I think that was a really manageable amount of information overall, and the main starting point, the “Guidelines for Dissertations”, was reiterated at the end so people were reminded where to go first.

Other things I noticed about the EFL

- Duplication of knowledge and abilities: EFL tries to make sure that there is nothing that only one person knows how to do. This makes people’s roles more diverse and ensures that if someone leaves or is on holiday things get done. - Issue Desk entails other duties when the circulation slows down: Made possible by the fact that most users come just before or after lectures so the rest of the time is fairly quiet. Duties include checking the library email and sorting messages into relevant folders, book labelling, book repairs etc. - Issuing is done with RFID tag readers and there is self-issue as well as staffed issue desk, but books issued at the staffed one are still stamped out and in, which slows the process down. - Tea@3, poetry wall, relaxed rules about bags, comfy seats etc. make it a very comfortable library to use, people seem happy to approach library staff. Issue desk is low down, makes it look approachable. (Side note: I hate our Issue Desk. It’s like a fortress of doom.)

What I’ve taken away from the experience

First and foremost I’d say that it’s always worth visiting other libraries. It gets you to question the way you do things, generates ideas and promotes the sharing of knowledge and resources between libraries, which can only be good for the users of those libraries.

Second, I am very interested in and impressed by the reference help that the EFL provides. Not only are there clever and user-friendly schemes like the dissertation topic postcards, but the entire culture and design of the library promotes the impression that the staff are there to support learning, not as an obstacle to it. I think TCL needs to realise that whatever our sentiments about reader services may be, we do not give off a friendly and supportive impression and that should certainly be addressed.

Third, I feel like there is the potential for us to provide support in the form of user education initiatives. They would certainly look different from those at Faculty libraries, as they would not be subject specific, but we could have closer relationships with the directors of studies, point students toward the right sources of information and target our information toward the specific assessments that students of the College are doing. I will brainstorm ways of doing this. If we don’t have space to do it in person I think that we could develop something good online.

If nothing else, I think we should focus on structuring the library to be more approachable and develop some form of reference service, especially in subjects that do not receive that kind of support from their Faculty libraries, and on working more closely with Directors of Studies in the College.

Many thanks to Libby and Helen for letting me sit in/chat with you guys about library things!

Words and 'wordless'

The folio from B.14.52 containing the word “wordless” as quoted in the Oxford English Dictionary. It is located at the bottom of the right hand page.

I just wanted to share a blog post I wrote for work. I'm pretty pleased with it.

View it here.

When it comes to libraries, not all change is (necessarily) bad

Photo by Humans of New York, posted 25th February, 2014.

On Tuesday 25th February, Humans of New York posted a photo of a man eating chicken on the street outside a branch of the New York Public Library as part of their photojournalism series. The man asked that in return for appearing in the photo, they broadcast a message for him:

"I work at this library. And before that, I was coming here for twenty years. It’s my favorite place in the world. As many people know, the main reading room of this library is supported by seven floors of books, which contain one of the greatest research collections in the world. Recently, the library administration has decided to rip out this collection, send the books to New Jersey, and use the space for a lending library. As part of the consolidation, they are going to close down the Mid-Manhattan Library Branch as well as the Science, Industry, and Business Library. When everything is finished, one of the greatest research libraries in the world will become a glorified internet cafe. Now read that back to me."

There was a resulting uproar from library fans around the world commenting in support of the anonymous chicken-eater (Tumblr introduced the tag #angrylibrarianeatingchicken), encouraging people to sign a petition to the mayor to keep the branch open and so on. Such outpourings have had great effect in instances like the Pulaski County Public Libraries and slightly less success in UK branch libraries.

However, this David and Goliath story was not exactly as it first appeared. Humans of New York contacted NYPL and later the same day posted this clarification:

 "Because of all the attention of this morning’s library post, I thought it’d only be fair to post the NYPL’s response. I’m quoting four points that they’ve asked me to clarify:

*The man says “I work at this Library.” Ends up, he doesn’t “work” for the library in the sense of being an employee. He is probably doing his work at the library (millions do each year!). We fear the confusion might make people think he is offering his opinion as an employee.
*The vast majority of research books will remain on the site (in far superior storage conditions)
*None of the public spaces he and others enjoy will change, and we’ll be returning a circulating collection to this main library (it had one for its first 70 years).
*This plan will be greatly expanding access to the library. The renovation will allow all New Yorkers–scholars, students, educators, immigrants, job-seekers– to take advantage of this beautiful building and its world-class collections.
Obviously the issue is more complex than soundbites from either side, so feel free to educate yourself further and form your own opinion:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=NYPL+renovation+debate"

I wanted to bring this instance to the attention of my reader(s) as an example of the in turns gratifying and infuriating passion some people have for libraries. While I of course laud the intense loyalty many show to libraries, there is often the knee-jerk assumption that any change undertaken by a library is a) the result of budget cuts alone and not influenced by other factors such as demand, usage statistics and so-on, and b) is a change for the worse. Perhaps these people feel protective of libraries, viewing them as both timeless and defenceless, and get a sense of satisfaction from crusading on their behalf.

However, libraries serve very diverse purposes. Some are historical records of a particular collector, institution or country and for them change would be potentially cataclysmic. However, for modern libraries that serve a user base, change is a necessity borne of the changing needs of the communities they serve. Sometimes this means growth and sometimes it means consolidation. I am not familiar enough with the intricacies of this particular branch to comment on its impending changes, but I think it is worthwhile to point out that a conservative attitude toward libraries can actually be worse in the long run, allowing them to slip into irrelevance rather than remaining vital and central to their users' lives.

Libraries are never going to please all of their users, but the assumption that the public knows better than the librarians who are making these decisions is symptomatic of the attitude that dismisses libraries as static institutions and devalues librarianship as a profession. Try talking to librarians about why changes are taking place before jumping to the conclusion that it is for sinister reasons. Libraries are there to serve their communities, so if you have genuine concerns, get in touch with the librarian before starting a campaign. Some libraries do need protecting, but not all change is (necessarily) bad.

My latest book haul from the UL

Great informative video on LinkedIn by the Cambridge Judge Business School

Who better to give you the run down on how to use professional networking tools like LinkedIn than librarians at a business school? I watched this video and brought my LinkedIn profile up from "beginner" to "expert" level in one evening! Meg and Andy explain why LinkedIn is a good tool and how to make the most of it. I highly recommend watching it, especially if you feel a bit flummoxed by LinkedIn.

(I'm well aware this sounds like a paid advertisement - it is not. I just love sharing informative resources! Because I'm weird.)

The Terrible Inevitability of the Past

Robert Quilter Gilson was at King Edward's School, Birmingham with J.R.R. Tolkien, part of his close-knit group of friends who called themselves the T.C.B.S. While Tolkien went to Oxford, Gilson went to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1912 to read classics. When Britain entered The Great War in 1914, Gilson entered the Cambridge University Officer's Training Corps, and was shipped out to France with the Cambridgeshires in 1915. A reluctant but beloved officer, Gilson was also a prolific letter writer, to his school friends, his family and his sweetheart, Estelle King, and wrote nearly daily from the trenches. Gilson was killed by a shell while leading his men over the top on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July, 1916. Friend and fellow officer Andrew Wright wrote to Gilson's father, "It was the final but not the first triumph over his sensitive nature - He alone is brave who goes to face everything with a full knowledge of [his own] cowardice." (Excerpted in Garth, Tolkien and the Great War.)

R.Q. Gilson (left) with J.R.R. Tolkien in 1910 or 1911 (image from www.johngarth.co.uk)

I've been researching Gilson for an exhibition I'm helping to prepare on Trinity and members of Trinity in WWI. I wanted to find someone to focus on who wrote letters from the trenches and could speak, not to a spirit of the age, but for himself, and found Gilson in the pages of John Garth's excellent biography Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle Earth. I've been looking through Trinity's archives and other records for mentions of him and have found relatively little, but have had a few nice surprises, for example a drawing he did of the cloisters beneath the Wren Library appeared in Trinity Magazine in 1914 in a section called "Artwork by Undergraduates". The past few days I have been doing this kind of work; chasing leads and scouring records, feeling more like a historian than a librarian for the time being.

Today, as part of my research, I looked Gilson up in the college Admissions Book, mostly to find the name of his tutor, as I already had a fair amount of information about him from other sources. After silently cursing my predecessors for not having students fill in their details alphabetically by surname as I do at the beginning of each Michaelmas Term, I found his entry and was surprised by the emotion I felt on seeing Gilson's details in his own handwriting, his curling script leaning slightly to the left in that upright early 20th century hand. It was as if after the time spent chasing after scraps of evidence of his existence, I turned a corner to meet him face to face. I thought about all the young men and women who I see signing the latest incarnation of the Admissions Book each year and imagined Gilson (I admit, I call him Rob in my head) in the same situation, brimming with possibility and purpose, but in this case I know what lays in store for him, unguessed by any of his peers. He has four years left after writing his details in the regimented columns of this book.

Four years.

Most of what I know of him comes from John Garth's biography of Tolkien, but I have the impression of a generous friend, a kind, caring, eloquent young man with a talent for drawing and painting. He got so little chance to leave his mark, but he left one just the same. I've reached 1914 in the Cambridge Review searching for Rob's name, and behind the articles about donations of books for the Field Hospital in Nevile's Court, Trinity, a Royal visit to the Leys School and sudden anti-German sentiments there are the statistics, the falling undergraduate numbers and the growing lists of names. And each of those names was another Rob Gilson - perhaps not as eloquent or artistic, perhaps not so fiercely beloved - but a young man full of potential.

Lieutenant R.Q. Gilson of the 11th Battalion Suffolk Regiment (known as "the Cambridgeshires" - image from http://www.curme.co.uk/p.htm)

I do not want to argue that World War I was good or bad, or that nationalism is foolish. My own pacifist feelings are, after all, a legacy that this war, the Great War, gave to the modern world. It's as irresponsible to judge people in 1914 for going proudly to war as it is to judge people predating the germ theory of disease for not washing their hands. I have little patience for people who indulge in this kind of retrospective superiority. But I do mourn what these men might have been. I want people who see our exhibition to know of someone like Rob Gilson, to see the awful gap he left in the world when he died in a field near Albert, France in July, 1916.

One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918, all but one of my close friends were dead.

— J.R.R. Tolkien, forward to The Lord of the Rings

If you want to read more about him, an article excerpting Rob Gilson's letters was written by John Garth and published in Tolkien Studies.

Book notes #2 - Vision

Andy: Do you have a vision for your book?
Me: ...Yes? As in do I know what I want it to be?
A: Not what you want the content to be, but what you want it to accomplish.
M: Yes.
A: Have you written it down?
M: No.
A: You should write it down.

Andy got this piece of advice from a book he's reading on software start-ups and entrepreneurship. The point of writing a vision down is that the particulars may change as you develop  your company, write your book, change your professional development plan etc., but if you have a consistent vision to refer back to, you will always be progressing in the same direction. The same is true, of course, with strategic planning within existing organisations. While you're slogging it out with the details, getting frustrated, getting sidetracked, you always have the vision to refer back to.

This will probably also help those of you that actually read my previous post figure out what the heck I was on about, and potentially provide me with a useful way to succinctly answer the question I keep getting: "Oh, you're writing a book? What's it about?" This has up until now been followed by a resigned sigh from me as I prepare to launch into a rambling explanation beginning with, "Well, it's a bit complicated to explain..." So I thought I should do this sooner rather than later.

At the most grandiose level, I suppose I want to live in a world where everyone capable of making decisions (especially through voting but also in general) is armed with the tools of critical analysis and information literacy in order to make informed and ethical decisions. I also want readers of my book to question the compartmentalisation of disciplines and not be afraid to make inquiries in unfamiliar territory, transferring the skills and knowledge they have to new contexts. In doing this, readers will challenge the idea that learning takes place only in academic spheres and instead feel empowered to explore and learn independently, and to ask good questions of experts such as teachers, journalists, writers and politicians.

At a more practical level, it should give readers of many different learning styles a primer for understanding how knowledge is constructed in many different disciplines and how it is used in many different formats, so that an artist can pick up a neuroscience article in a newspaper and can understand whether the conclusions are valid, and a mechanic can listen to a political speech and know whether there is an attempt at manipulation, just as two random examples.

The audience I have in mind is explicitly not an academic audience, though it could benefit people in academia. I haven't decided if I want to write it specifically for pre-teen students or keep adults in mind as well, but I think that's a challenge I can face later. The main thing is that I want it to be engaging, visually interesting (part text book, part infographics, part graphic novel), full of activities and humour as well as really challenging and surprising.

On a personal level, I just want to try to write a book that makes people as excited about learning and investigating as I am. I want to inspire the kind of wonder about learning and information literacy issues that books like the classic Dorling Kindersley books and other such books inspired in me when I was a kid. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and even if it never gets off the ground I'll have had a lot of fun researching it. But some day I want to hold this book in my hands, regardless of what it looks like, and know that I made it.

I hope this makes sense. I'm sure I'll write more on this soon as I appear to be a little bit in the groove of thinking about this stuff.

Book notes #1

In the autumn of last year I got an idea for a book. It's a book I want to read, but it doesn't exist, so, as many writers before me have done, I'm setting out to write it myself. I have only just begun really sitting down to think about it since my course ended at the end of December so these represent some of my first notes. I've written them out by hand and I think I might just transcribe them directly by way of backing them up somewhere other than a flimsy, eminently lose-able Moleskine notebook, in a city where Moleskines outnumber people 3 to 1. (Probably. I'm just making that up.) Feel free to skip this - it's for my own safe keeping, but together these entries may provide an interesting insight into my writing process, or a black box if the project fizzles out.

HWKWWK [my abbreviation for the working title "How We Know What We Know"] - 16/1/14

I spent the evening combing over the shelves of Waterstone's in Cambridge, looking for something useful, relevant or inspiring in some way to my endeavor, but found very little. In some ways this is comforting - apparently there is a niche, and given the prominence and recent proliferation of books on infographics, I think my book will look appealing to fans of that trend. However, I had hoped to draw inspiration from somewhere fairly directly. In the spirit of viewing nothing as a failure as long as it teaches you something, I did at least refine what my book is NOT, and the sort of sources I can safely avoid. I spent a lot of time in the popular science section, systematically disregarding books of 'facts', books about the internet, books about the brain etc. Dawkins' Magic of Reality still looks intriguing but perhaps more comparing science and mythology. One I did consider buying (and stupidly forgot to write down or take a picture of) was a collection of writings by scientists about their discoveries and claimed to be as much about the cultivation of a scientific way of thinking - insight into the scientific mind for 'outsiders'.

Overwhelmingly, however, anything that looked likely was either a compendium of scientific 'facts' designed to sell to the "Brainiac: Science Abuse" crowd with titles like Why Do Men Have Nipples? and taglines like "What your science teacher DIDN'T tell you!" The aforementioned books on infographics have a similar feel: dense with very visual information but with little to link them. It's like reading a novel abridged and posted on Twitter. Are you learning something? Sure. But is it deep learning you can transfer to other contexts? That is doubtful. In some ways, not only is this what my book is not, it's what my book sets out to remedy; the shallow, passive acceptance of facts presented in uncomplicated ways, which authors assume is okay because it's for the 'uninitiated'. Though I suppose it's likely to end up shelved here (or with philosophy?), my book should give people the tools to question this, social science books, news, political arguments, art criticism etc. Emma used the colourful phrase 'crap detector', which is partly true, but it is also about breaking down the idea/assumption that if you aren't part of the discipline you can't deconstruct an argument.

Emma helped me clarify what I mean by this. She said it's about allowing/enabling people to deconstruct an argument by a scientist, for example, on their own terms. As in, it isn't about a mathematician reading a social science paper and saying, 'Well, that was a logical leap and therefore invalid.' Rather it's saying these are the conventions and criteria for validity that this discipline has established. Does it meet those criteria? Y/N Where does the argument break down? Tied to this are the epistemological questions: are there really 'facts'? If so, why do 'facts' change over time? What is knowledge? What can we know? But there's also the practical element of giving people a key to the maps of different disciplines and conventions, such as academic writing, journalism, infographics etc.

This feels like an absolutely monumental undertaking and it is ambitious in the extreme, but it isn't intended to be a definitive work on any of the topics; I intend to provide a lot of suggestions for further reading. However, it should be a useful and engaging starting point. My own starting point may be with something like intellectual histories of disciplines - historiography, history of philosophy, history of science, history of criticism, etc. - as well as books on conventions for journalism, academia etc. and books on rhetorical techniques. I want to break down the imaginary barriers between disciplines and make readers feel empowered to investigate and question ANYTHING.
...
[Written later:] Rather than 'peering behind the curtain' [of other disciplines], [the book is about] arguing that the curtain is a false construct and the only barriers to understanding linguistic and conventional assumptions perpetuated to protect specialist knowledge. This is not to say experts are useless or don't exist. On the contrary, [I believe that] they should have the confidence in their own expertise to both allow their work to be questioned and to be able to explain it clearly to individuals who are not aware of the assumptions made in that discipline [e.g. 'outsiders'].
...
[In a list of areas to research:]
- History of epistemology: shows us that what we consider knowable ([within our] paradigm) shapes not only what is 'known' in disciplines but the very idea of disciplines and their relationships to each other [(their layout)]. Removing the assumptions that place FACTS at the centre of knowledge and disciplines at odds with one another allows one the freedom to investigate first principles and underlying assumptions within any framework. However, it's a 'threshold concept' and therefore very difficult to come to terms with, rather like identifying and subsequently questioning privilege. One could say that the current dominant epistemological paradigm privileges expertise and facts over trans-literacies, experiential learning etc. People working w/in that paradigm, e.g. academics, need to question that privilege.
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"How we know what we know" : The mechanisms through which knowledge is created, both within the current paradigms and how those paradigms came to be.

Time management: Pay yourself first

Where does the time go? Image by cmcbrown on Flickr

The title of this post comes from my High School Economics teacher, Mr. Shannon. From his list of what I'm sure were very astute financial tips, most of which are long-forgotten, this one has always stuck in my mind most firmly. I found myself thinking about it while considering how I'm going to balance my time over the coming year between work, roller derby, my personal life and working on career development and my book.

The idea behind "Pay yourself first" is this: as you earn money, no matter how small the amount, always put something aside into a savings account before spending it on the month to month costs, a new outfit or whatever (I've not been brilliant at doing this lately, but that is beside the point).

Time management is all about priorities. Of course some priorities are non-negotiable. I will always need to turn up to my full-time job, and I will always need to get exercise. However, it is the negotiable, unstructured time that needs to be carefully managed, particularly if you have some kind of non-work project, skill, etc. that you want to make progress with. It is extremely easy to lose hours to surfing the internet, watching TV, browsing in a bookshop etc. All of that is fine, even necessary sometimes, but it can be the enemy of anything you want to do outside the normal spheres of work, home, friends and clubs/sports/organisations.

That's why I think it's a good idea to "Pay yourself first" - make regularly scheduled time for those other projects like professional development reading, writing your book, perfecting your cooking, practicing piano, or whatever it is you want to make progress with in your own time - and STICK WITH IT. Treat that time as non-negotiable. You may feel like you're missing out on time with friends, or TV you want to watch (seriously, just binge watch it when it comes out on DVD, guys), or whatever, but you picked your priorities so you only have yourself to blame.

My partner suggested that we have a "professional development hour" once a week where we read or write something tangentially job-related and then discuss it with each other. I'm hoping we actually do this because it means that is time during which I can't do anything else but make progress on my own things and I'll have the chance to reflect by talking to my very smart and sympathetic partner about it. Hopefully I'll be better at that than the financial version.