Space finder

Alternative work spaces.

Flooding on the New Museums Site, caused by heavy and sustained rainfall early on the morning of Friday 17 July 2015, resulted in the University's Internet connection being cut until lunchtime. This created anxiety for graduate students who had their dissertation work loaded on google docs and who wanted to print it out ready for submission. I directed them to the Cambridge Central Library only a few minutes from the College Library and the deadlines were met.

Local public libraries are listed here and the Central Library (still) has a cafe. Unfortunately group study rooms in public libraires have to be paid for

LibCAMp 2015 Suddenly Alone

Suddenly alone – contingency plans to keep a library service going.

The concept of “suddenly alone” is taken from trainings offered by the Cruising Association and conversations in harbour with yachtsmen. If a crew member becomes incapacitated, how would you summon help, get the vessel to a safe harbour, and what should be in your “grab bag” of essential documents.

In the Library context the TES Temporary Employment Service provided by the Human Resources Division has for the last few years at the instigation of Dr Peta Dunstan included Library Assistants on the register of skills tested staff. The link to Information for those requiring a temp (Raven password protected) contains comprehensive information about charges, time limits and contact details. To give an idea of costs, a grade 3 temp would receive £9.73 an hour plus £1.14 an hour pay in lieu of holiday, Departments would be charged £13.67 an hour and Colleges are charged VAT as well.  Assignments can last up to 9 months in departments and institutions but only 8 weeks in Colleges and affiliated institutions.

Discussion points.

If illness or some other problem strikes and someone is recruited at short notice what essential services need to be provided? What should be in the Library equivalent of a grab bag?

Some ideas

Access to the library – can a key be collected from an administrator/receptionist, does IT need to set up a login to the office computer, does Libraries@Cambridge need to provide a login for access to Voyager, does a temporary University Card need to the activated to gain access to any part of the building. Most libraries use Voyager for circulation, but what security system is in place? If the temp has to open up and close the library at night is there a clear floor plan of areas to be checked and location of light switches? Has security been informed in case alarms are inadvertently triggered?

Are you considering registering as a temp?

In some cases TES has turned away prospective temps because of a perceived lack of demand. The advantages of registering and getting references taken up are that if you approached by a library to cover at short notice you can start immediately. On one occasion I was contacted via Twitter and was able to start the same morning. There is no guarantee of placements so network, and let it be known you are available.

When is a TES appointment not appropriate?

For Colleges the TES charges are high, since VAT has to be paid and a temp is limited to an 8 weeks placement. It might be more cost effective to use in house casual worker or fixed term contracts, especially for short term projects such as stockchecking (note that undergraduates are not permitted to work during term time and the Board of Graduate studies has guidelines about employing post-graduate students). Check with your HR department.

What have I enjoyed about temping?

I have had the freedom to go sailing for extended periods but have relished the opportunity to work in various Faculty, Department and specialist libraries, interacting with students, teaching staff and external visitors. Remember to take a mug, a notebook and not to say “but in x they do y”.

January 2014 readings

8th January. Although Christmas and Twelfth Night had passed I started with Twelve days of Christmas - correspondence by John Julius Norwich and then returned to the Grimm Fairy Tales edited by Philip Pullman reading The Goose girl at the spring, which sent most of the audience to sleep. Whilst tea and cakes were prepared I read from Essential  poems from the Staying alive trilogy including Stopping by woods on a snowy evening by Robert Frost, Ithaka by C.P. Cavafy, As I go by Julius Chingono and Happiness by Jane Kenyon. Ten people attended including one lady new to the group and Maisie who had been absent through illness for many months. Session started at 2 and finished with tea and yummy ginger cake at about 2.50 with a time for a chat after.

15th January. The fairy tales and short story theme continued with 10 attenders. Before Christmas I had read poems and Jungle book stories by Rudyard Kipling so began, as people were assembling, with the poem The Law for the Wolves as an introduction to Little Red Riding Hood from Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales. An alternative view of the story was provided by the poem Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf from Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. The short story The word was Wheesy by Adrian Bell from the anthology East Anglian short stories had a good reaction, one gentleman who had dozed through the fairy tale poems, commented that he had used to plough with horses and there was a short discussion. As tea and cream filled pastries were distributed I read another Grimm Tale The musicians of Bremen and ended with a selection of poems from the Staying alive anthology : Dawn revisited by Rita Dove, Wild strawberries by Helen Dunmore, Strawberries by Edwin Morgan, Atlas by U.A. Fanthorpe.

22nd January. Session started shortly after 2 and ended with tea and cake at about 3.20. Eleven residents attended although some left early. As people assembled I read from the anthology I like this poem edited by Kaye Webb the poem The calendar by Barabara Euphan Todd which referred to toys such as tops and shuttlecocks. I then returned to Philip Pullman's version of the Grimm Fairy Tales leaving out the gory last two paragraphs. At 12 pages it was slightly too long, most residents were asleep well before the end, but they had been on an outing in the morning.The same story was then read in verse from Roald Dahl's Songs and verse followed by the poem The duchess's song which I tried to sing to the tune of My bonny lies over the ocean. Whilst Denise brought tea and cake I read Pleasant sounds by John Clare and Roald Dahl's version of Goldilocks. We reprised the Duchess's song at the end with the whole group singing.

December readings

4th December the poems were chosed from the Staying Alive anthology and the stories from the Oxford book of Modern Fairy Tales edited by Alison Lurie,  Jeanne Desy The princess who stood on her own two feet and Richard Kennedy The porcelain man. Whilst tea was being made I read Late fragment by Raymond Carver. Twelve people attended including one new to the group

11th  December poems were chosen from Ten bedtime poems selected by William Boyd including Songs of praise by Derek Mahon and short stories from East Anglian short stories edited by Goodwyn and Baxter, The visitor by Adrian Bell and The shortcake by Harold Freeman. I ended the session with Trees from Classic favourite poems. Twelve people attended

18th December The session began and ended with poems from anthologies. The story One eye two eyes and three eyes (a Cinderella Variant) was taken from Grimm Fairy takes edited by Philip Pullman. It was very well recieved. Twelve people attended

November readings

I was unable to attend sessions on 30th October and 6th November but arrived early (2pm) on 13th November to find seven people waiting for me including two new members of the reading group. One gentleman left after a short while but another regular joined us.

I started with two poems from Being Human ed by Neil Astley p 487 A marriage by Michael Blumenthal and p 476 He wishes for the cloths of heaven by W.B. Yeats.

There had been a request for stories rather than memoirs so I read from Kipling's Just so stories. How the whale got his throat and How the rhinoceros got his skin at 4 pages each were a good length but The cat that walked by himself at 14 pages was slightly too long, both for my throat and peoples' attention span, various residents drifted off to sleep waking up for a nice cup of tea and cake. The stories were liked. Whilst waiting for tea I read two further poems by Kipling If and Tommy. There was a general chit chat about sailing, Comberton and the meeting ended about 3.40.

On 20th November  I started with some more poems from the anthology edited by Neil Astley : Nobody by Michael Laskey and Seed by Paula Meehan before returning to the Just so stories by Rudyard Kipling. The first story at 4 pages was How the camel got his hump which I followed by How the first letter was written, which at 12 pages was a little too long. I finished with another poem This is how memory works by Patricia Hampl whilst tea and cake was served. Ten people attended including three new to the group

On 27th November I chose poems from Classic favourite poems edited Osborne. As I read Sally in our alley by Henry Carey one lady began to sing the music hall song in a lovely voice and others joined in.
From the Just so stories by Kipling I read The elephant's child and part of How the alphabet was made, illustrating the letters on sheets of papers. Again the story was too long and people began to fall asleep so during tea and cakes I read again from the Osborne anthology A subaltern's love-song by John Betjeman and A wet sheet and a flowing sea by Allan Cunningham. Nine people attended.

Autumn picking up from the pilot

After a break from the Read Aloud session because of holidays and work commitments I returned to Home Meadow Toft in October.

Wed 16th October.
Ten people attended the session, including two people new to the group. The previous week there had been an outing to the seaside, Felixtowe, which made selection of material easier.
The session started with two poems, Robert Louis Stevenson At the seaside and Jack Mapanje The seashells of Bridlington North Beach. I then read three extracts from My country childhood edited by Susy Smith which consisted of essays by Jane Lapotaire, Jennifer Johnston and Tom Paulin. There was not an lot of discussion but it was agreed by the group, when refreshments came round, that it was a nice cup of tea. Whilst we were enjoying tea and cake I read Leisure by WH Davies from the anthology Classic favourite poems. Several people recited the poem along with me. The session started at 2.15 and ended 3.45.

Wed 23rd October
A few regulars were ill so only eight people attended this session including two new members. I picked up last week's theme of seasides by reading a piece about Piers from Edgelands edited by Varley and then moved onto a meals/food theme. From the anthology Being Human I read A long way from Bread by David Scott and How to cut a pomegranate by Imtiaz Dharker, then from the collection My country childhood read memoirs by Nigel Slater and Penelope Fitzgerald. Several people dozed off during the readings but there was a little discussion about bread, jam and cake making. Over tea and cakes I read Moon by Frances Leviston from the Anthology Being Human.

I asked at the end for ideas for future sessions and stories rather than memoirs were asked for.

Reflections on the pilot

How it started

The Reader Organisation has been delivering Get Into Reading groups for those living in care homes who are elderly and people living with dementia since 2006 and has produced A Little, Aloud edited by Angela Macmillan, an anthology of prose and poetry for reading aloud.  Cambridgeshire libraries launched a pilot scheme to read aloud to groups in residential homes in March 2013 and one pilot in Toft was evaluated at the end of May.

How it went

The initial training was interesting, community librarians and prospective volunteers gathered  in Cambridge Central Library to find out more about The Reader Organisation and to read favourite passages. Residential homes which already received Library at Home visits were selected for the pilot since staff and some of the residents would see a familiar face. In the case of Home Meadow, Toft, attendance has been steady over the weeks, some people never missing a session, others only prevented by illness or injury. It became clear that sessions worked better when Denise, the activities organiser was present, some residents were distressed when an unfamiliar face was in the room. Ranganthan in his Five laws of library science, 1931 had as a second law : every reader his or her book. With a captive audience the choice of material may not always appeal to all in the group. A short story which takes 15 minutes to read may not be appropriate if the group has just returned from a long outing and members are so tired they fall asleep half way through.  Passages of reminiscence, local stories and poems worked well.

Sourcing material from the Library was initially a problem, there were no copies of the anthology available so I purchased my own copy and the loan length on a personal library card was limiting, so a dedicated card was supplied. Gwen Raverat’s book was recalled and could not be renewed so was used for three weeks only.
It was noticable that some participants, initially wary of the project became regular attenders, even if they did not contribute much to discussions. Unfortunately some of the more lively participants became unable to attend because of falls or sickness.

To be continued

Weekly attendance by one volunteer is a commitment and holidays or accidents disrupt delivery. It is important that a rapport is built up with the group, even if it might have fluid membership but it might be worth recruiting extra volunteers to work as a team in residential homes if the sessions are to be run for lengthy periods.