leading had been working as Library Assistants for a combined time of 97 years! I turned to them for advice. Could we add it to the catalogue? If yes, how? I was surprised that none of them had the training. Other anomalies popped up over time: a last copy, once deleted, could not be re-added; an item long-overdue that had been wiped in an admin exercise, would be a hassle to re-add; a stock of poetry anthologies published by the local school sat on an office shelf, not available to borrow. Some of this could be resolved by send- ing the items to Resources, but if only one person was able to do this work, what hap- pened if they were on annual leave, or ill? I was resolved. I wanted to know how to catalogue. Surely, there was a way to learn.
Stepping up
Incidentally, the Welsh Public Libraries Framework recommends that “[t]he designated operational manager of the library service shall, either be the holder of recognised qualifications in librari- anship, information science or informa- tion management, or, have undertaken relevant library management training within the last three years.” The major- ity of library management roles outside of Public Libraries require that candi- dates hold a recognised qualification or experience.
We receive a lot of training at Awen Libraries, but opportunities to attend libraries specific training are hard to come by. Research taught me that train- ing in cataloguing was ringfenced for school librarians, or attainable via the MA or Postgraduate Diploma. I can’t afford the latter, and I was not ready to change sector to gain the knowledge, as I’d heard colleagues in other services had done. So I played the long game, keeping an eye out for opportunities, signing up for mailing lists including the CILIP Metadata and Discovery Group.
March 2022
The email that changed everything This was the elusive training that I thought would finally make me a ‘real librarian’. I shared it with colleagues, too, and the waiting list of Awen Libraries staff keen for cataloguing knowledge grew by more than 20: a significant chunk for a total staff of 49. There was real appetite for this level of knowledge! If we could get on this webinar, we might all leave with a deeper understanding of those unusual numbers on the LMS.
I was inspired that so many of my colleagues wanted to deepen their under- standing of their roles. Why should this skill remain so mysterious? Why shouldn’t Nicola understand the reason as well as the method? We all deserved to be empow- ered, and this email might just be the key. In fact, it not only led to my attending a one-hour online webinar on Cataloguing; it connected me to Amy Staniforth, who, with her knowledge of funding available in Wales was able to point us to funding we could use to commission our own, bespoke training designed with and for Awen Libraries staff.
The view from the centre
(of CILIP Cymru Wales) Amy writes:
Amy Staniforth CILIP Wales.
Meeting Harriet was win win for me. I am CILIP Cymru Wales’ Relationship Manager three days a week and a metadata librarian
at Aberystwyth University the other two days a week.
CILIP Cymru Wales manages the Kathleen Cooks Fund, a benevolent fund for librarians and libraries in Wales, and we’ve been trying to raise its profile. So I got to meet a person who was enthusiastic about cataloguing, who worked in public libraries, and who needed financial help to get started. Win, win, and win! As a cataloguer I know there isn’t a lot of UK-based training beyond the begin- ner level. I also know what it is like to work via a shared Library Management System (LMS) and almost all of Wales’ public libraries are now using Sirsi-Dynix. While the centralisation of responsibili-
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