When we visited New Zealand the Christmas before last we visited the Lord of the Rings movie set because Roz is a huge fan of both the books and the movies. While I watched the film it was interesting to spot places we had seen at the set and also to remember the tricks, like making people appear larger or smaller than they really are by having identical large and small fences and other props!
Last weekend I went to The Star to see the Lord of the Rings with a live orchestra and a choir of 250 people. I am not really a fan of fantasy, either to read or to watch, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the evening. I hadn't seen the film before, or any of the other Lord of the Rings films, but I am quite tempted to watch them all now. I just need to arrange for an orchestra and choir to come to my living room so I can have the same effect?! When we visited New Zealand the Christmas before last we visited the Lord of the Rings movie set because Roz is a huge fan of both the books and the movies. While I watched the film it was interesting to spot places we had seen at the set and also to remember the tricks, like making people appear larger or smaller than they really are by having identical large and small fences and other props!
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I often enjoy Google's special logos but this has to be one of my favourites. This logo celebrates what would have been Maurice Sendak's 85th Birthday (he passed away on 8 May 2012) by showing many of the scenes from his famous book, 'Where the Wild Things Are' - I love it! As you may know, I've recently started studying for a Master of Information Studies by Distance Education through Charles Sturt University, Australia. Last weekend I submitted the second, and final, assignment for my first subject, so that is one subject down…eleven to go!!! I am really enjoying studying again (after a twenty year break!) but it has been quite difficult getting back into essay writing and I have been surprised at how much time it takes to research and write an essay. It took me about 100 hours, including all the background reading and research, to write each of the assignments!! The first subject I have studied is 'The Information Society' which I have found really interesting. The title of my first assignment was "Is the UK an Information Society?" The rest of the students wrote about Australia but as I don't know much about Australia, and quite a lot more about the UK, I decided to be different! The problem with doing something different was that a lot of the course materials and the forum posts were about Australia so that meant more research for me. I didn't really mind though, it is doing the research and finding things out for myself that I find enjoyable! So, in my first essay I looked at how the UK has developed, and continues to develop, from having an economy based on industry to one mainly based on information. The rapid development of technology has facilitated a change in UK society towards an information society. Librarians and Information Professionals have vital skills to to help develop the essential skills of all citizens who are living and working in this new society, this makes the UK's closure and funding cuts of many public and school libraries seem very short sighted. One thing I found really interesting was how the UK government have always embraced advances in technology, beginning over 50 years ago when computers were introduced to areas requiring large transactions, like the Post Office. Since the introduction of the internet, the UK government has had an online public presence, which has grown to an extensive network of sites, and UK citizens can access GOV.UK for public service information. A white paper was recently published which states that the UK government “has released the largest amount of government data of any country in the world” (HM Government, 2012) and the public are now able to access crime and sentencing statistics, health data and information on school results. By 2014 the websites of all 24 ministerial departments and over 300 other departments and public bodies will be available through the 'Inside Government' section of the website, one of the only countries in the world to achieve this. After finding all this out for my assignment I was interested to see on this website that the UK Government's website has just received a 2013 'Best Design of the Year' award, competing against buildings, cars, inventions etc. It seems to be the simplicity of design, so people can find the information they need more easily, without distractions, that is key to the website's success. My second assignment, which I have just submitted, was a report in which I had to put forward "A case for the value that Hilltop School Library contributes to the community, economy and society." Again I just had to be different, most of the other students were reporting on a public library in Australia but I was writing about a school library in the UK! Hilltop School Library is created by me and if you read the report you would see lots of similarities with Tanglin's Senior Library including a website with similar pages, a collection of libguides, a QR code treasure hunt, blogs for students….. It was great having Tanglin's library to get inspiration from! The main areas I focussed on that add value are the library itself (both physical and virtual), the library staff and how the library improves students' knowledge creation skills, literacy, information literacy skills and their understanding of ethical issues. It was great to discover reports which prove how important a school library is, like Ofsted's Good school libraries on UK school libraries and School Libraries Work! (including the graph above) from America. The thing I found really difficult for this assignment was trying to stick to the 2,500 word limit, by the time I had done my research I felt I could write a book on the value of a school library! I always knew we were extremely important to students and to the school but it was great to sit down and really think about the value we add to our community, to society and to the economy by preparing students to participate and contribute to today's information society and by our positive impact on student's academic achievement and literacy skills.
I've got a few weeks break now and then in July I will begin my second subject, 'Information Sources and Services' which is all about library reference services so that should be really useful. REFERENCES HM Government. (2012, June). Open data white paper : unleashing the potential [White paper]. Retrieved from http://data.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Open_data_White_Paper.pdf Margetts, H. (2006). E-government in Britain-a decade on. Parliamentary Affairs , 59 (2), 250-265. doi: 10.1093/pa/gsl003 Ofsted. (2006, March). Good school libraries: making a difference to learning. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from Ofsted: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-school-libraries-making-difference-learning School libraries work! (2008). Retrieved April 26, 2013, from: (Wallis, 2005) http://www.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/s/slw3_2008.pdf Williams, N. (2012, November 05). What is Inside Government? Retrieved from Government Digital Service: http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/05/what-is-inside-government/ Last night, I decided to have a look at the next text book for my course - Reference and Information Services: An Introduction By Kay Ann Cassell, Uma Hiremath. I am sure it is not supposed to be a humorous read but I had to smile at this advice. It says that as a customer approaches you at the desk you should… raise an eyebrow, then lower it, maintain eye contact, nod and smile. I know we sort of do that anyway (I'm not sure about the eyebrow bit!) but I just had an image of us all ending up looking like this man as we try to move our faces in the right way to make our customers welcome!!! It must have been the mood I was in but another part really made me giggle… It was talking about examples of poor customer service and one was "the librarian leaves the desk and does not return"!!! Yes, I think it is safe to say that is not very good customer service, I can just imagine a customer standing at a desk all day waiting for the disappearing librarian!! (Source: http://dekedickerson.tumblr.com/post/37848389618/demonstrating-a-fine-facial-art-known-as) [I'm not sure if gurning is something you will have come across in Singapore! It is a strange English competition where the person who pulls the funniest face wins! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3670504.stm] |
Suzanne Parfitt
I recently worked as Assistant Librarian at a British International School in Singapore. I've now relocated back to the UK and I am hoping to find a job that I enjoy as much as the one I've just left! Searching the ShelvesThis is my blog for interesting things to do with my work, my Continuing Professional Development (CPD), my studies or just anything that catches my eye relating to libraries, technology or books. Archives
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