The Library Routes Project is still in its first month and has already passed the 50 contributions mark (with over 3,500 people having accessed it) – I think that’s pretty good for a new project like this, and it means the Wiki really does provide a useful resource for aspiring or current Information Professionals, wondering how and why people got into the job. Thank you very much to everyone who has contributed so far! And if you've been wondering about writing your own post on the subject and haven't quite got around to it, then now is as good a time as any.
Woodsiegirl has been promoting the Project via the latest issue of Gazette (see page 12), and there may also be an article relating to the subject forthcoming in one of the CILIP Career Development Group newsletters.
There’s a couple of things still to sort out, though. The first is how to make the Wiki more international in terms of contributors – it is fantastic to have so many people from the UK getting involved, but it would be great to broaden the scope to other countries too. The second is how to make this whole thing some kind of annual event, much in the same way as Library Day in the Life is; a resource like this needs the value of annual exposure in order to draw in contributions from new professionals, and to expand, and to generally retain its relevance. Any thoughts on how we can achieve these? Let me know.
In other news, my local public library in York is closing for 6 months of major refurbishment, in order to become an Explore centre with all the obligatory cafes etc that modern libraries have. I’m told that during its closure, not only can people take books, CDs and DVDs out for the entire period without incurring any fines, but the limit on how many an individual can take has been rescinded! So you could literally grab 100 books and keep them until April. I think this is brilliant – it is a nifty way of getting some of the stock out of the way, of course, saving on storage costs and logistical nightmares. And, it is a great example of a library doing a decidedly non-stereotypical-libraryish type of thing – not getting uptight about the stock, relaxing the rules, and allowing the customers to benefit from difficult circumstances. Good stuff!
- thewikiman