Life in boxes

One of my hobbies is cardmaking. I thought I might create a new blog domain to showcase some of my handiwork and link to other crafty blogs and sites.

Why did I hesitate? I read lots of craft blogs and they are helpful and inspirational, but often dont' reveal much about the individual. If you read my blog; and to be honest, not many do; you will hopefully get a fuller picture of who I am, what I do and how I think.

Instead of compartmentalising my life in little boxes, you will find it all in one place.

Hey! Wake up there at the back!

If I can manage on my Kindle Fire - here's a card I made recently for my daughter's 21st. The stamp is from the Gorjuss range, coloured with Promarkers. The mats & layers were cut on my Silhouette Cameo - My much favoured toy of the moment!

Qualifications v skill set?

Last week I attended a conference, 'Reading for Pleasure', a joint venture by The Guardian Education and The British Library.  You can see tweets at #GdnBLreading

Two enthusiastic people from a school in Marylebone, explained how they had transformed an underused library into a thriving hub of the school.  I must admit, I found many parallels with my own school library - though we call it a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) and I am the LRC Manager.  I was feeling rather pleased with myself as, like them, over a few years I had increased loans of books from under 200 to over 5000 - using many of the same techniques.

I then heard someone nearby comment that these people weren't really librarians and had only done what any self respecting 'real' librarian would have done.

Someone also tweeted a similar sentiment.  Dander nicely 'got up', I tweeted to say that I wasn't a qualified librarian but had achieved similar results.  I added that an NVQ level 3 (there is no 4) in Library and Information Services, common sense and a passion had seen me through.  I added that Librarian snobbery was not for me.

A tweeter then said that it wasn't snobbery to lament the de-valuing of her profession and students deserve qualified librarians as much as qualified teachers.

Umbridge?  I took more than my fair share!  I have never de-valued professional librarians, however, these tweeters and any who have retweeted their comments, have certainly tried to de-value my, and many others, contribution to libraries within schools; and more importantly, our service to the teachers and students who use them.

For the record - as well as my own NVQ, I have assessed NVQs at degree level and delivered training to NVQ candidates.  I have honed my display skills with my cardmaking hobby and written and delivered Information Literacy at KS3.  I have copywrited my Information Skills mnemonic and it has been presented as good practice by - you guessed it, someone writing their thesis on Librarianship.

Is that it?  No, I have a CIPD certificate in Training Delivery and a CLAIT PLUS ICT qualification, (100% accuracy required to pass).

Surely that's it - no - wait, I completed 18 months of a B.Ed., before deciding against teaching as a career, however, it included two teaching practices and a whole year studying children's literature; that sits very nicely with my A Level English Literature.  Did I mention I like reading?

All this to brag?  Not really, but I do want to show that a degree in librarianship  is not necessary to run a successful school library.  You don't need to know Dewey to the nth decimal place, or study conservation to make your library or LRC, the hub of a school.

I actually replaced a qualified librarian who left a cupboard full of uncatalogued books, a fiction section where books were not sorted by genre or author, (or any other way - a nightmare to find anything), and who shelved non-fiction by school subject not Dewey, the result being that; where to put books on volcanoes - science?  geography? - caused quite a dilemma.

Graphic fiction was restricted to some sad b/w drawings in some of the classics, and six shelves of Everyman Library books were placed in such a way to put off the most avid reader.  She helped run the reading group - I run the reading group.

I'm not even going to start listing the initiatives I have introduced to make our LRC the lively and buzzing place it is today, but maybe you would like to visit during National Storytelling week, introduced three years ago and now a permanent fixture on the school calendar.

I have tweeted before about not being a qualified librarian, asking for opinion, and it all went quiet.  I thought no-one was interested but I see now that some thought I wasn't worth responding to.

A bit of a rant?  You bet!  The reason?  I would not de-value the profession of librarian working in a school or anyone else, but I would thank you very much, not to devalue my skill set, qualifications or professionalism, because they have served me, and my school very well.

Selfish Strikers?

When I joined the civil service in 1975 as a fresh faced 21 year old, they told me that the lower wage, compared to the private sector, was offset by the pension package and job security.  Fair doos I thought, took the job and they sent me away from home to live in a hostel in London.  Only 200 miles from my family!  I have been in the public sector most of my working life, for the government and then in local government. Job security went out the window years ago and I narrowly escaped redundancy around 1999.

Now, as I approach retirement, having planned ahead, I have had a 3 year pay freeze and may have to work 6 or more years longer and pay more for my pension during those years, and have it calculated in a way that will be to my detriment.

Hit 4 ways!

The pension pot is full. The government plan is to use it on something else. I'm not asking for more or extra - I would even think it reasonable to play my part by continuing with a pay freeze, which might happen again anyway.

I only ask for what I was promised.

A friend thinks that strikers are selfish.  She is angry that the military are being brought in to cover immigration on the grounds that they already do a dangerous job, with lack of equipment etc., so why should they have to do this too?

My response?  I have cousins in the military, they chose to be and I admire them for it. My father came back from WW2 a changed man. He had no choice but to go to war. I have a choice to strike and I do so gladly, losing a days pay to protect my own pension and that of people (including my friend) who work in the public sector.  She isn't 30 yet and I suspect her views will change in time.

Is that so selfish? I don't suppose the government will call in the military to man the school library where I work!

I haven't been on strike since I was about 25, but I feel strongly about this 4 way hit and will be out on November 30.  (Planning a lie in!)  Since the strike ballot, the government have moved a little on LGPSs for people my age, but it's not enough and does nothing for my younger colleagues.  Selfish?  No. I'm not only striking for me and hope myfriend will thank me some day; just as I thank the men who decided that going Cap in Hand to their factory/farm bosses was demeaning and often fruitless and joined together in a union to demand fair treatment for workers.

Wee small hours

When is the best time to write your first blog? Probably not at 1.16 am having woken after a far too early night.

What is the best hardware to use to write the blog? Certainly not an iPhone propped up landscape wise on a Lidl matchbox.

Why write a blog anyway? I expect the answer to that will become evident over time. Right now I have no idea.

Is that it then? Back to bed? What - stuck for words? Rarely.

Should you care to read my blogs, expect a less than intellectual content. Academics, serious scholars, those who think humour should be confined to 'Live at the Apollo', stop here. This could be the start of something new - or equally likely to be the end of a project too far. Who knows? At 1.34 am who cares?

Night all.Sleep well and God bless.