Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’ll answer the bits I can answer.
Marketing – Kate said marketing will probably be covered in a few different areas, such as budget (as you’ll need to cost your marketing strategy), timeline, and possibly risks? But you can also provide more detail on the marketing strategy in the overview section.
Pretty sure tables aren’t included in the word count?
I don’t think every section would need references. Budget, for example, is much less complicated than in the Collection Development Report and we’re pretty much just listing things and costing them so no refs required.
I think in your overview you’d indicate that the project is designed to be ongoing, and also in your timeline?
HTH :).
Katherine yes I’m sure it’s intended as an inclusive place. I just know how certain groups can tend to dominant a space and that’s enough to make me avoid them. A concerted effort to welcome people who might not consider themselves to belong to a tech culture would go a long way I think.
Shannon, yes the $150 one was the one that stood out for me. Even $25, though it doesn’t seem like much, is possibly too much for people who are struggling to pay rent. I definitely went through a phase of my life not too long ago where I couldn’t justify paying $25 for something “indulgent”. I don’t know what the answer is, though. I understand there are costs associated with such things.
Ooh awesome! I have an 8yr old who is a total maker, so I’m also going to bookmark and find something for her. Thanks!
Echoing the others, it’s surprising there was no program facilitator or indeed much effort put in at all. Sounds like a pretty disappointing experience.
Thanks for the reply Deb! I think it would be fine just for groupwork meetups too, you know? After having the internet drop out on me at QUT the other day I said we should go to the Edge next time ;). Your idea about the Girls in Science and Engineering weeks is great! We should tell them :D.
Were you disappointed there was no hands-on component? I was, reading your review hehe. I think had I gone to something that advertised itself as an upcycling workshop I would want to make! Also it seems concerning there was poor marketing around the event (I agree with you, online bookings are a must in this day and age. I HATE calling people). I’m glad you were inspired though and please share some links to the other classes if you can?
It makes sense that you can use it whenever. In order to meet the needs of users, it should be accessible in the same way the library is accessible. If it’s only available as prescribed events then that would be easier to control but it wouldn’t put creativity and innovation firmly with the users at the centre. As a service, it should be widely and easily accessible. I think to market something like that they’d need to try to run some programs to get people in and aware of it, and then hopefully it will gain traction in the community as a space people can use. I’m curious to know where this is, because none of the libraries near me have makerspace services (only limited programs at set times) and I’d love to visit if it wasn’t too far away.
If I could make a decent amount of money off my writing I would actually be writing full time. I think writers make more money off speaking engagements and workshops than they do off their writing. (Short fiction writers… I have no idea about those novelists). The lack of funding for Arts is such a bug bear of mine, so I shall refrain from ranting to the converted, and merely say “hear hear”.
I guess literacy is a word that has a specific primary meaning, so putting the label at the front helps people to flag that we’re not just talking the ability to read and write. In fact now I want to go on a big tangent exploring why it is the word literacy was co-opted to mean fluency in different areas… why not information and digital fluency? But I digress. I think I like what Leena says about lifelong learning, because I actually think that’s easier to grasp than “information literacy” as a concept. But (more buts!) again having the label helps to contextualise what specific life area we are talking about. So… in answer to your question, I suppose I err on the side of letting sleeping labels lie, while pushing for the recognition that lifelong learning encompasses all the above ;).
Leena I like the lifelong learning approach too. I think sometimes people misunderstand what IL is, probably not helped by the academic rhetoric surrounding IL. As I get older I am much more aware when I’ve come up against a gap in knowledge, and the ways I can gain IL in that area. That IL is ongoing and contextual probably needs to be emphasised more in discussions of it, so the lifelong learning aspect of it is apparent to people who probably are already engaged in lifelong learning without realising! (Or those who feel intimidated by the concept of IL). Anyway, great post!
That does sound really interesting, and I liked the way you tied it back into the goals and strategies of the SLQ. Was there anything you thought could have been done better?
Yeah it would be basically impossible for librarians to be skilled in every software application. It’s probably good for reference librarians to have an idea where to point people for help, as you say tutorials and workshops, but also DIY online resources. But not expecting them to know how to use every piece of software (that reminds me of working at Dick Smith Electronics and a customer abusing me because I didn’t immediately know how to operate an electronic organiser. Bad memories!)
Kate I get a little bit ranty about things to do with kids. I don’t have a problem with the concept that storytime supports literacy… what I have a problem with is the way parental fears are played upon and magnified in order to justify a program. They don’t need to do that. There are other ways to talk about the way storytime supports literacy without promoting a doom and gloom, fear-based approach. There are also other ways libraries can support children’s literacy too (which I am finding out through further reading), including not being scary librarians hehe.
