Thing 20: Advocacy and Engagement

This Thing dealt with advocacy for libraries however the issue is no less relevant to archives. In fact, public libraries have the advantage of being public and familiar, whereas archives are generally perceived as something more mysterious or less easily accessible.  Advocacy is an important tool for breaking down such misconceptions and presenting archives in an approachable and visitor-friendly light. Few people know what archivists do, and raising general awareness of this, and of the vital contribution archives make to the preservation of and access to information, is another thing advocacy can enhance.  Elsie Freeman Finch, a prominent figure in the promotion of archives, has gone as far as to suggest that marketing and customer relations should supersede the traditional functions of acquiring, describing and preserving records as the core activities of archives.  It makes sense, for what is the point of preserving records if nobody uses them?

I confess I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw the exercise for Thing 20!  I am not sure if I can complete every section, but I'll give it my best shot.

Exercise 1: Name three detrimental effects to a local community when a public library is closed.

1. The community loses a safe space where children and teenagers can relax, engage in learning activities, and learn to enjoy reading

2. The community loses access to free resources such as computers, internet, wifi, and opportunities for training and further education which these resources facilitate

3. Senior citizens and people with special needs lose an important space for social interaction and recreation, and access to special resources such as free newspapers, large print books, and audio books

Exercise 2: Find a Library Strategic Plan in Ireland or beyond for a library of any size.  Identify three ways in which the strategic plan also advocates for the Library Service.

I have taken a look at the 2016-2012 strategic plan for the National Library.  The plan acknowledges the financial constraints which affect libraries throughout Europe and seeks to develop innovative solutions to enable them to continue delivering public services.  Advocacy plays an essential role in the strategic plan and is woven seamlessly through every aspect of it.  Here are three strategic aims listed in the plan which demonstrate this:

1. Provide equal and safe access for everyone
2. Build on the research and educational strengths of collections
3. Trial innovative forms of engagement with online and physical collections

Exercise 3: Name three ways in which you can demonstrate the impact and value of the library service that you work in or use.

1. Collecting statistics through surveys and footfall counts, and distributing this information or making sure that it gets into annual reports
2. Circulating positive feedback received from patrons
3. For archives and academic libraries in particular, keeping track of theses, books and articles which cite material held in your repository and sharing this information with management

Exercise 4: Identify three key people (name their role) outside of the library in the wider organisation/community that you need to network with in order to advance the development of the Library Service.

1. Local politician, ideally one who has shown demonstrable interest in or support for libraries and archives; and/ or the local county or city manager
2. Prominent writer or journalist who hails from the area
3. Heads of other libraries in the area/ region - there is strength in numbers!

Exercise 5: Write down in 200 words or less an idea for Library Ireland Week for a library you work in or use.

Archives have a similar week called Explore your Archive which takes place at the end of November each year.  For a couple of years now we have run a very successful event during this week called Attics to Archives.  It's a hands-on workshop for people who have photographs and family documents at home and are looking for advice on how to organize and preserve these.  In addition to low-cost archival preservation tricks, the workshop teaches participants how to digitize and share records.  We have held workshops in our reading room and in the city, and find it a wonderful advocacy tool: people get to see what we do, and gain personal benefit from our knowledge.

Exercise 6: In your opinion what are the three best features of the My Library, By Right Campaign and why?

1. It raises public awareness of the importance of a quality library service and gives people an opportunity to lend their support; mass pressure from the grassroots level is the one thing politicians are apt to listen to and act upon
2. It brings together national and local government, library users, and professional bodies; this encourages open dialogue, creates momentum, and opens the way for working together towards a common goal
3.  It highlights the role libraries play in society, and the false economy of library cuts, which may in turn invigorate libraries by encouraging people who don't normally use them to become patrons

'What do libraries mean to you?'

Exercise 7: In 200 words or less, describe a new area of librarianship that you are passionate about. How would you go about promoting it within the library that you work in and/or the wider library profession?

Speaking as an archivist, I have become passionate about engaging with people who don't normally use archives and encouraging them to participate.  Considering the increasing popularity of social media and other forms of online activity, making collections available on the internet is one way of approaching this challenge.  Finding new and imaginative ways of communicating with potential new patrons is one of the reasons I participated in this course.  Engaging with existing users and inviting them to comment on the existing service is also important in order to find out what the service is doing well and what it could be doing better.  I try to promote this idea by highlighting that making holdings easier to discover and access is the best way to increase physical and digital footfall in the Library.  I also point to the fact that in the age where e-books are becoming the norm and the role of books as physical objects is diminishing, a library with unique archival holdings has a distinct advantage in attracting users and keeping up visitor numbers.

Exercise 8: Choose an area of library practice that you feels requires debate.

Again speaking as an archivist, the issue I would like to debate is whether the training currently offered to prospective archivists is fit for purpose.  When I graduated six years ago, my modules focused on collection development, description, management of archive services, and specialist skills such as paleography.  These are all valuable and worthwhile skills to possess yet my work revolves more and more around digitization, online exhibitions, and digital curation.  The only part of my course that in any way touched upon these subjects was a module on electronic records.  The situation has not changed.  Although modules on digital information and digital preservation have been added, they are not compulsory but can be selected as optional extras.  I often feel that anyone wishing to become an archivist in today's world would be better off acquiring a degree in IT than traditional archive administration.  The work archivists do and the way in which they do it has changed dramatically in the past ten to fifteen years yet archivists are still trained within the old framework.  A small example: my five-year course included about two hours's training on archival management software, yet it is a tool I have to use almost daily in my work.  I understand that the fundamental building blocks of archival principles have not changed - nor should they - and learning them is important, but I feel a bit hard done by the fact that virtually everything I know about digitization, content management systems, social media, and archival management software, I have learnt outside of college through my own initiative.  There is nothing wrong with that either but I do feel that archival training should not exclude these issues or make them optional.

Exercise 9: Open up the ALA Frontline Advocacy Plan. Complete the plan for a real/fictional advocacy campaign.

I am going to give this last exercise a miss as time is running short.  Apologies!!!

Image: 'What do Libraries Mean to You' by ijclark on Flickr under the Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 2.0