SuperLambBanana

So, fresh (or rather excited but a little exhausted!) after my trip to London and the success of Raising the bar, I now find myself in sunny Liverpool Hope University for the UC&R/COFHE joint study conference. Actually travelled down Saturday to stay with cousins and catch up with my four great-aunties. This involved a pub crawl which took in The Grapes, Rigby’s, The Saddle Inn, Masquerade, The Postie and the Crown Vaults. Soft drinks are a wonderful invention; it’s too humiliating to be drunk under the table by septuagenerians.

Am safely delivered to Hope Park nonetheless and immediately bump into one of the RTB delegates who says how much she enjoyed Thursday’s event. Also catch up with a former colleague and a few other sundry professional contacts.

Bijou gripettes: my room is fine but lacks soap, coathangers, a chair and anything to drink out of. Improvise 3 of these but stuck on the coathanger front. Will have to just be creased or make use of shared iron and put clothes straight on hot off the board.

Liverpool is host not only to the European Capital of Culture but to SuperLambBanana, a joyous spectacle of public art that picks up where Edinburgh’s Cow Parade left off, i.e. same principle (sponsored brightly decorated animal structures, only this time with lambs. That have a pointy back end. For some reason. I plan to snap as many as I see - they brighten up any powerpoint presentation.

We are warmly welcomed by Linda Taylor, Director of Library Services at Liverpool Hope Uni, who gives us the history of her institution which started from just two students training to be schoolmistresses in the mid 19th century.

Joyce Little, Head of Libraries & Information Services for the City of Liverpool then gave a spirited and honest keynote address. She described her service’s mission as being to inspire, inform and entertain; to be the street corner university; to empower residents. The capital of culture offers the promise of lifting what is still a very deprived city, through culture and regeneration. She mentioned some key projects and investment in transforming heritage buildings, balanced with the need to attract new audiences. One interesting comment was that she felt a ‘huge disappointment’ that more has not been invested in electrionic resources for public libraries. Student user numbers are falling in Liverpool’s Central Library, and this is one contributing factor, along with the investment in many LRCs at HEIs in the area.

Dr David Collins CBE, Principal of high-achieving South Cheshire College, spoke next. He emphasised leadership, clarity of vision, values; feels that staff needed to feel secure before they could welcome change; believes that ‘management is more concerned with guidance and support than with regulation and control’. He was vocal ont he topic of meetings: says we should never take minutes, but only record the names of those present, the cost of their time, and any changes or major decisions resulting from the meeting. A sobering thought.  He believes that the time-honoured technique of MBWA needs to have a purpose, and that the purpose should be only to thank or acknowledge individuals for their contributions to the college. We shoul cut down on emails and use more varied means of communication. We should fit structures to people and never the other way around. Above all, we should show that we care.

After a quick coffee break, we reconvened for the first workshop (there was no choice for this one so it was either accept the 3 line whip or skive with impunity!) Debbi Boden and Ronan O’Beirne battled technical hitches (I maintain this was LOLcats breaking in…) to deliver a lively and interactive information literacy session. They considered digital immigrants and natives and digital citizenship, and described their work on the POP-i and LolliPop projects.

Well now, I’ve duly blogged and now I need to freshen up in time for for the rigours of dinner, Hollywood Librarian (for the second time!), drinks and a quiz.