Right. My cpd23 six-word story is definitely: "shouldn't have taken me so long". But, at long last, I'm up to the last thing: looking forward.
Having some sort Professional Development Plan is definitely a good idea. I've yet to work out how best to manage it for myself. I don't really like the PPDP format used in Chartership, although that's maybe because the whole Chartership procedure feels artificial to me. I do know that I'll be needing a plan seeing as I'm starting a new job soon. But I can't really do much on it until I have my feet under the desk. I do already know that an improved knowledge of RDA and of the history of medicine are needed. The former I'm addressing by watching this webinar, the latter by watching #histmed tweets.
I'll set myself a target to have a plan written by the end of January. That will give me a little time to work out what it is I need to know.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
#cpd23 Thing 22: Volunteering
Wowee, this is a contentious issue, and not just in UK libraries. There was a great post the other week about the use of volunteers in archives: I recommend reading it, even if you're not au fait with the workings of the Society of American Archivists.
There's a real and unpleasant tension between the competitiveness of the job market necessitating everyone get experience even before they're employed in a library and the constant pressure to save money (in the short term, if you actually want to maintain a decent service I suspect) by losing staff. Of course, the latter also contributes to the former.
I've been remarkably lucky in not having had to weigh up my conscience against my need to gain experience. I did a few weeks voluntary work in my local public library when I was a third-year undergraduate, at the point at which I'd worked out I wanted to go into library work and had read the university careers service advice suggesting I get some experience. Even at that time (c. 2004/5) I felt a bit concerned that I was doing work, as a volunteer, that probably warranted 'proper' staff attention. I spent quite a while updating a very useful catalogue of the contents of song compilation books in the music library: vitally useful when someone's looking for a copy of a given song and doesn't know, or care, what book(s) it might be in. I think I did a good enough job of it, but I did feel that there really should have been enough paid staff time for it to be done regularly and not relegated to "when we have someone extra here".
I was considering offering up my services to various libraries if I'd not found a new post after my current contract ended. The areas in which I thought I could do with more experience (cataloguing in particular) lend themselves to volunteer help, I think, and there's always something to be catalogued somewhere. Other extra-curricular work, such as sitting on the Cambridge Library Group committee also counts as voluntary work, I suppose. (And the Group is always looking for new committee members, if anyone local is interested...) It's certainly a good way to develop new skills, and is a way to broaden your horizons without feeling that you're contributing to putting professional and para-professional out of their jobs.
There's a real and unpleasant tension between the competitiveness of the job market necessitating everyone get experience even before they're employed in a library and the constant pressure to save money (in the short term, if you actually want to maintain a decent service I suspect) by losing staff. Of course, the latter also contributes to the former.
I've been remarkably lucky in not having had to weigh up my conscience against my need to gain experience. I did a few weeks voluntary work in my local public library when I was a third-year undergraduate, at the point at which I'd worked out I wanted to go into library work and had read the university careers service advice suggesting I get some experience. Even at that time (c. 2004/5) I felt a bit concerned that I was doing work, as a volunteer, that probably warranted 'proper' staff attention. I spent quite a while updating a very useful catalogue of the contents of song compilation books in the music library: vitally useful when someone's looking for a copy of a given song and doesn't know, or care, what book(s) it might be in. I think I did a good enough job of it, but I did feel that there really should have been enough paid staff time for it to be done regularly and not relegated to "when we have someone extra here".
I was considering offering up my services to various libraries if I'd not found a new post after my current contract ended. The areas in which I thought I could do with more experience (cataloguing in particular) lend themselves to volunteer help, I think, and there's always something to be catalogued somewhere. Other extra-curricular work, such as sitting on the Cambridge Library Group committee also counts as voluntary work, I suppose. (And the Group is always looking for new committee members, if anyone local is interested...) It's certainly a good way to develop new skills, and is a way to broaden your horizons without feeling that you're contributing to putting professional and para-professional out of their jobs.
#cpd23 Thing 21: Job applications and interviews
Having recently been applying for jobs (once successfully, hurrah!) it would have been well to have tackled this Thing a few months ago. But no matter: perhaps I can conjure up some useful advice from my recent experience?
Keep a list
Keeping a list, table, spreadsheet, notebook, or other record of everything notable you've done professionally both inside and outside work is absolutely invaluable when trying to write up a new CV or complete and application form. I keep mine divided up by the type of thing I did - attending a talk, speaking at an event, visiting a library, writing an article, etc. - but you could equally well use another organising principle. As long as the salient details are recorded (what, where, when) you can pick the things you need for each application. I also keep all my old applications and CVs, so I can pick (with care!) phrases from them, and so I can use previous lists of "tasks undertaken" in any given job as a basis for the new write-up.
I'm pretty ruthless and try to keep a note of everything I've done, even if it doesn't look particularly relevant to my current or future work. You never know when it might come in handy, and if I haven't recorded it I tend to forget that it happened at all. Seeing something on a list (e.g. a presentation about medical databases that I attended) will call to mind some of the things I thought and learnt at the time (e.g. that there's an awful lot of really good metatdata work going on in databases like pubmed), which might just be useful to bear in mind during the application process.
Make it relevant
Compared with, say, applying for a University place (and I went through the Cambridge application process, complete with moderately baffling interview questions such as "how would you explain the differences between the main two political parties to a Martian who'd just arrived on earth?"), applying for jobs always seems to me a bit like sitting an exam for which the answers are given in advance. I'm not saying it's easy, but most applications (certainly in the library world) come with a list of requirements that the candidate should meet. I find writing an application that meets each of these one-by-one--neatly supported with evidence from The List--pretty dull, really. The constant self-aggrandisement grows wearing, and there's no intellectual or creative challenge beyond trying not to start each sentence with "I". Still, I'm not complaining... I still have flashbacks to how I didn't mention attitudes to taxation in the Martian question (and how I wish I were joking).
Get some advice
As well as having a second pair of eyes look over your application for typos, style and tone, it can be invaluable to speak to colleagues, mentors or connections who know something about the place you're applying to. Obviously this isn't always possible, as you don't always want to advertise that you're applying for jobs in general, or a particular post in particular. However librarianship, especially in certain sectors, is quite a small world, and it's likely you know someone who knows a bit more about the ethos and aims of the place you're applying than you can glean from their website and the application materials.
Enjoy yourself
This bit is hard, especially when you're applying for jobs because you're on a short-term contract or are currently out of work. But there's no point working somewhere that you're not happy: you'll only make yourself ill. So, at interview, make an effort to enjoy yourself and show your personality. If this doesn't go down well then you probably don't want to be at that place anyway...
To anyone reading this who's currently applying: good luck!
Keep a list
Keeping a list, table, spreadsheet, notebook, or other record of everything notable you've done professionally both inside and outside work is absolutely invaluable when trying to write up a new CV or complete and application form. I keep mine divided up by the type of thing I did - attending a talk, speaking at an event, visiting a library, writing an article, etc. - but you could equally well use another organising principle. As long as the salient details are recorded (what, where, when) you can pick the things you need for each application. I also keep all my old applications and CVs, so I can pick (with care!) phrases from them, and so I can use previous lists of "tasks undertaken" in any given job as a basis for the new write-up.
I'm pretty ruthless and try to keep a note of everything I've done, even if it doesn't look particularly relevant to my current or future work. You never know when it might come in handy, and if I haven't recorded it I tend to forget that it happened at all. Seeing something on a list (e.g. a presentation about medical databases that I attended) will call to mind some of the things I thought and learnt at the time (e.g. that there's an awful lot of really good metatdata work going on in databases like pubmed), which might just be useful to bear in mind during the application process.
Make it relevant
Compared with, say, applying for a University place (and I went through the Cambridge application process, complete with moderately baffling interview questions such as "how would you explain the differences between the main two political parties to a Martian who'd just arrived on earth?"), applying for jobs always seems to me a bit like sitting an exam for which the answers are given in advance. I'm not saying it's easy, but most applications (certainly in the library world) come with a list of requirements that the candidate should meet. I find writing an application that meets each of these one-by-one--neatly supported with evidence from The List--pretty dull, really. The constant self-aggrandisement grows wearing, and there's no intellectual or creative challenge beyond trying not to start each sentence with "I". Still, I'm not complaining... I still have flashbacks to how I didn't mention attitudes to taxation in the Martian question (and how I wish I were joking).
Get some advice
As well as having a second pair of eyes look over your application for typos, style and tone, it can be invaluable to speak to colleagues, mentors or connections who know something about the place you're applying to. Obviously this isn't always possible, as you don't always want to advertise that you're applying for jobs in general, or a particular post in particular. However librarianship, especially in certain sectors, is quite a small world, and it's likely you know someone who knows a bit more about the ethos and aims of the place you're applying than you can glean from their website and the application materials.
Enjoy yourself
This bit is hard, especially when you're applying for jobs because you're on a short-term contract or are currently out of work. But there's no point working somewhere that you're not happy: you'll only make yourself ill. So, at interview, make an effort to enjoy yourself and show your personality. If this doesn't go down well then you probably don't want to be at that place anyway...
To anyone reading this who's currently applying: good luck!
Sunday, 18 November 2012
#cpd23 Thing 20: Library Routes
I don't have a lot to write for this Thing. I wrote about my library roots and route a couple of years ago, and while I've moved on a bit in job terms since then, my history in libraries hasn't!
I don't think my path into special collections work has been particularly unusual. It's certainly been marked by a fair dose of good luck at various times. My advice to other people would be to grab chances to gain experience whenever they come along. You never know when they might come in useful in the future!
I don't think my path into special collections work has been particularly unusual. It's certainly been marked by a fair dose of good luck at various times. My advice to other people would be to grab chances to gain experience whenever they come along. You never know when they might come in useful in the future!
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
#cpd23 Thing 19: Integrating Twitter into professional life
I use a few different tools and tricks to make Twitter work for me professionally.
The first thing I do is archive everything I tweet using ifttt.com and Evernote. I think it's useful to have a record of what I've said, just for later personal reference and so I can trace any useful things I might have said or shared and not bookmarked at the time. It used to be very straightforward to link Twitter and ifttt.com (ifttt stands for "if this then that" and is a service that lets you link triggers in one place with actions somewhere else), but sadly Twitter withdrew the ability to join the two directly. For the time being you can still use RSS feeds to suck Twitter content into ifttt. The RSS feed for any given user looks like this: https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=USERNAME, where you replace USERNAME with the obvious. Using this as the trigger it's straightforward to save all tweets to an Evernote note, which records their time and date and the tweet URL.
I also use ifttt to save tweets with certain content as bookmarks in Diigo. There's an option to do something only with RSS feed items that contain certain text, and I have triggers set up for certain hashtags such as #speccolls, #archives, #manuscripts and #libraryhistory. Whenever I tweet something with any of those tags the tweet is saved to Diigo with various tags of my choosing. I include the tag "tagme" so that I can find them all on Diigo later and add further specific tags as necessary. This is, unsurprisingly, the bit I am least good at. I need to make some time every week to tidy them up a bit.
I find interesting #speccolls content mainly from two Twitter lists I've set up: spec colls people and institutional spec colls. Every now and again I'll search Twitter users for appropriate new additions to the lists (as well as adding users I stumble across in every day tweeting). I don't follow everyone on these lists, but I keep the lists open in Hootsuite to keep an eye on what's going on, and retweet (with the hashtags mentioned above) what interests me.
Lastly, I use Scoop.it to draw together links connected to special collections. It's set up to catch my tweets with relevant hashtags (as mentioned above), as well as taking posts from a few special collections blogs. Then I choose the stuff that I want to include, add extra description, select a picture to show and add tags. I do this once a week at the weekend, and it takes surprisingly little time. It's a really good way to review what's been happening recently and to get a chance to read in more depth the things I might have skimmed over previously. Hopefully the links are useful for other people, too! I tried using paper.li to do something similar, but it's a completely automated process. I can see how that's useful in some situations, but for me it means I don't come face-to-face with things in the same way, and I didn't find it was picking up all the stuff I wanted it to. That latter could be fine-tuned with a little effort though, I'm sure.
The first thing I do is archive everything I tweet using ifttt.com and Evernote. I think it's useful to have a record of what I've said, just for later personal reference and so I can trace any useful things I might have said or shared and not bookmarked at the time. It used to be very straightforward to link Twitter and ifttt.com (ifttt stands for "if this then that" and is a service that lets you link triggers in one place with actions somewhere else), but sadly Twitter withdrew the ability to join the two directly. For the time being you can still use RSS feeds to suck Twitter content into ifttt. The RSS feed for any given user looks like this: https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=USERNAME, where you replace USERNAME with the obvious. Using this as the trigger it's straightforward to save all tweets to an Evernote note, which records their time and date and the tweet URL.
I also use ifttt to save tweets with certain content as bookmarks in Diigo. There's an option to do something only with RSS feed items that contain certain text, and I have triggers set up for certain hashtags such as #speccolls, #archives, #manuscripts and #libraryhistory. Whenever I tweet something with any of those tags the tweet is saved to Diigo with various tags of my choosing. I include the tag "tagme" so that I can find them all on Diigo later and add further specific tags as necessary. This is, unsurprisingly, the bit I am least good at. I need to make some time every week to tidy them up a bit.
I find interesting #speccolls content mainly from two Twitter lists I've set up: spec colls people and institutional spec colls. Every now and again I'll search Twitter users for appropriate new additions to the lists (as well as adding users I stumble across in every day tweeting). I don't follow everyone on these lists, but I keep the lists open in Hootsuite to keep an eye on what's going on, and retweet (with the hashtags mentioned above) what interests me.
Lastly, I use Scoop.it to draw together links connected to special collections. It's set up to catch my tweets with relevant hashtags (as mentioned above), as well as taking posts from a few special collections blogs. Then I choose the stuff that I want to include, add extra description, select a picture to show and add tags. I do this once a week at the weekend, and it takes surprisingly little time. It's a really good way to review what's been happening recently and to get a chance to read in more depth the things I might have skimmed over previously. Hopefully the links are useful for other people, too! I tried using paper.li to do something similar, but it's a completely automated process. I can see how that's useful in some situations, but for me it means I don't come face-to-face with things in the same way, and I didn't find it was picking up all the stuff I wanted it to. That latter could be fine-tuned with a little effort though, I'm sure.
Sunday, 11 November 2012
I don't want to elect a Police and Crime Commissioner but it seems that I better had #pcc
(Edited 14/11/12 to add candidate replies from Farooq Mohammed and Rupert Moss Eccardt, and to add more nuance to the section on links.)
I'm sorry, dear readers, this post is political. It's not overtly party political (unless you view dislike of the English Democrats as overtly party political) but it does discuss, at length, forthcoming elections set up by the government because they decided to change how things are run. If that's likely to make you cross, or uppity, or wish you weren't reading this blog then it's probably best to leave now and come back for the next post and we'll say no more about it.
I'm also sorry dearest readers, because I am cross about this. I have been cross about it all week, and the feeling's not lessening, so I'm just going to have to write and hope that it helps.
Next week, on Thursday 15th November, England and Wales (excluding London) are voting to elect people to the brand new post of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), one person for each of the 40-odd police forces. These PCCs will replace the existing Police Authorities (one per force). Police Authorities are (or were) defined as follows by the Association of Police Authorities:
PCCs are described thusly by the Home Office:
I'm going to look at the Principle Of The Thing, how the elections are seemingly being run, and then I'll look at our local candidates. At the end are links to more information.
The Ranty Bit
I do not think that control of public services should be made political. Whether or not candidates or incumbents have party allegiances, by making this a voting issue, it makes control of the police political. Candidates will, the very nature of the thing, being appealing for votes, and probably therefore by promising to do populist things. I'd rather have the police run according to evidence gained through rigorous academic and practical research, not through unsubstantiated popular "hang 'em, flog 'em" opinions (the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate was preceded by vox pops all calling for "MORE BOBBIES ON THE BEAT!!!", which isn't necessary a good way to reduce crime). Policing is complicated. I do not understand how best to do it. I want the mechanisms of government to ensure that qualified, capable people run the police for me. I simply don't know how to choose the best person to do that - and I'm not sure how most other people can, either.
These Wretched Elections
Not only is the principle of PCCs in my opinion seriously flawed, these elections don't seem to be run very well at all.
The candidates have very large areas, compared to council or parliamentary elections, over which to campaign. They have been given no free mailshot to voters, as happens in parliamentary, mayoral and European elections. This likely unfairly disadvantages independent candidates, who do not have party finances and volunteers to help get the message out. Of course, some independent candidates may well have money of their own, or from their businesses: but do we want this role bought by the richest candidate or to have a candidate in the pocket of some company of other? Very many people are reporting that they've heard absolutely nothing from any of their local candidates. This happens often enough for other elections, it's true, and that's a great shame. But these elections are, or should be, much less about party policy (the basis for most voters' normal voting choices, I'd guess): how can we choose if we know little about the candidates?
The governmental decision to make a website the primary source of candidate information mirrors other decisions (such as that to make claiming Universal Benefit primarily online) which disenfranchise those (older people, poor people, people with disabilities) who can't, or find it difficult to, access information the internet. Just the sorts of people who, as we're always saying, rely on the public libraries that are being closed down to get access to the stuff they need to be active members of society.
There have, I understand, been some hustings events in various places. Reports suggest that these have been poorly attended, but I strongly suspect that that's at least partly because they've been poorly advertised. If there have been any events in Cambridge then my repeated searches have turned nothing up...
Added to this, the Home Office, via the Electoral Commission (I think), was supposed to be distributing a booklet about the PCC role and the elections in general to every household. I've yet to hear of anyone who's received one: the only thing that many people know about the elections is that they've received a polling card. Further to that, people who have requested a copy, or other information, over the phone have apparently been getting a very poor service, too. No booklet means that even if you have internet access, you don't know where to look online to find candidate information.
Either this shambles is the result of deliberately, even maliciously poor deign, or (more likely) very shoddy implementation. We really ought to be able to do better as a country, though. It makes me cross.
Cambridgeshire Candidates
Now, much as I wish I could just be cross about a Rubbish Thing and leave it at that, there is a choice to be made here, because someone's going to get this role and I'd like to do my part in making sure the outcome is the least bad one possible. In Cambridgeshire we have seven candidates. They have spoken in a Radio Cambridgeshire debate, all have websites and other web presences, some have contributed to other PCC information sites, and they've all be asked the following two questions by me. (Questions picked, almost at random, from my personal list of bugbears.)
Ansar Ali, Independent
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: A long-time community advocate who believes he has the existing knowledge of policing to be an effective PCC; wants the police to be more responsive and to communicate better.
Sir Graham Bright, Conservative
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Believes that privatisation of some services and collaboration between forces is a good way to save money and become more efficient; views members of the public using the police as customers who deserve a good service.
1: Road safety is important to all road users and
pedestrians making people aware and education is one of the key ways of
making our roads safer. At the moment road safety is promoted and funded
by the police and local councils. I would like to review what is being
done at the moment and see whether a co-ordinated effort could be more
effective. The problem is you only need one bad driver, cyclist or
irresponsible pedestrian to cause a very serious accident. I would want
to see that road safety was featured in our schools as that gives a firm
foundation. I recently spent some time with a group of volunteers who
operate Speed Watch. I was very impressed by the way in which they had
effectively reduced the number of instances of speeding motorists and I
intend to offer them additional support.
2: Forensic Science is an important part of catching criminals. As you may
already be aware Cambridgeshire is co-operating with Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire. It is my aim to extend that co-operation to Suffolk,
Norfolk and Essex. With this very large grouping, there is absolutely no
reason why we should not set up several specialist facilities for all
forces to use and, of course, this would include Forensic Science. I
believe this is the right way forward and I will set about immediately to
develop this co-operation because in other areas, such as human resources,
payroll and I.T. support, I believe we could make effective savings that
could go towards more police on the front line.
Paul Bullen, UKIP
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: More police on the beat, wants strong tough laws on people who steal and threaten property, he values are: "straight-dealing, integrity, plain-speaking, honesty, and forthright defence of law-abiding people".
Stephen Goldspink, English Democrats
web (party website)
One-sentence summary: The official party name given is actually "English Democrats - 'More Police Catching Criminals'" so it won't surprise you to know that he's a zero-tolerance on anti-social behaviour and more visible police candidate.
1: The police should be around to enforce the law regarding cycling. We need
more resources on the front line to do this. Please see my leaflet for
pledges around this.
2: The fact that this service has existed for years and years show the decision
was all about cost, not effectiveness. Strange how, in other areas, they
are all for centralisation. I suspect there is no going back, although I
would be in favour of doing so. I think we need to collaborate with other
forces and experts and develop one set of rigorous policies and practices
for national adoption - much more efficient and cost effective; I'd promote
and champion this.
Farooq Mohammed, Independent
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Says he is the only genuinely independent candidate and can bring a fresh new approach; will ensure good police response although this doesn't necessarily mean more police on the streets, which is unaffordable and not the best use of resources.
1: As a father of four I have always cycled with my children and indeed, still do so occasionally with my youngest who is aged 13. I do get frustrated sometimes when motorists cut in sharply and show little or no consideration for those on bicyles. In a city like Cambridge which has one of the largest cycling populations in the country, I can imagine this is even more of an issue at certain times. The police's role as always is to uphold the law, and it may be that encouraging more bike patrols would give greater insight into driving behaviour - I would certainly be in favour of making bike training more accessible to traffic officers so they understand both viewpoints.
Here in Peterborough we are fortunate the Green Wheel and many miles of safe cycling routes but I am sure even more can be done across the county to highlight and improve road safety for all users especially as high fuel prices and greater emphasis on 'green' issues means more people are taking up cycling.
2: The decision to close the NFSS has been made and we have to live with it. As I understand the situation the archive service is still operational and those same rigorous standards independently regulated will apply to the Cambridgeshire force. Any changes would be carefully considered after thorough consultation with experts whose advice would guide local decision making.
Rupert Moss-Eccardt, Liberal Democrats
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Professes to be a life-long public servant, with connections in government that enable him to understand the issues.
1: The police have a responsibility to keep the whole community safe, and that does, of course, include road safety. Fortunately the Cycling Campaign's survery is now 'live' so I would encourage you to have a look at all our answers there. http://www.camcycle.org.uk/elections/2012pcc/cambs/
In summary, though, I would make it easier for people to report poor driving, work with the Community Safety Partnerships and the County Council to improve the streetscape and have targeted campaigns to deal with all road traffic offences.
2: The FSS closure was, quite simply, a mistake. There is no longer an independent, reliable source for forensic services. The recent failures at LGC show how dangerous this is.
I am grateful you have raised the issue of forensic material retention. It is of course important but I hadn't realised that the force may not be doing it properly. Can you let me know what you know of this or point me in the right direction, please? Interestingly, the project I'm working on at the moment has a significant forensic element.
[I've contacted Mr Moss-Eccardt to explain that I don't know of any specific problems and to clarify that I'm just interested in how, given the times of change in Force governance and forensic services poor practice caused by insufficient resources and care can be avoided.]
Ed Murphy, Labour
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Government cuts are ruining the police and forcing privatisation; he will stand against all privatisation.
1: The police have a lead role in ensuring road safety for all road users, but particularly cyclists. I would also look at more grant aid and commissioning work from local voluntary, community and mutual organisation to improve road safety. This can be everything from helping cyclists learn about safety to redesigning streets And signage. Obviously we also need to work with relevant local authorities and agencies. I am a bit biased towards cyclists and have always put the pedestrians and cyclists needs above those of the motorist when it comes to resource allocation. Just addressing the imbalance of past policy makers there. There are very different cultures in place in different parts of Cambridgeshire - In the north of the county I am presently involved implementing campaigns and thankfully some local action plans to stop pavement parking and remove vehicles parked on cycleways. Speeding is also a key issues and the fact is that recent reductions in funding for speed reduction will mean more injuries and deaths. In particular I support 20mph and Home Zones in appropriate areas to improve road safety.
2: I question whether the decision to close is the national Forensic Science
Service is the right one as we need to ensure we have the tools to do the
job of policing and making successful and correct prosecutions.
Where to find out more
I'm bunging links up on Diigo - you can refine the choices with the tags on the right. In particular, here are links relating to Cambridgshire, including other people's blog posts and articles from the local media. Do be aware: I'm not selecting for quality, so evaluate everything for yourself. Lots of different organisations are writing about this, and I haven't investigated who they all are.
Postscript: Spoiling Your Ballot
If you are in a constituency where the candidates look uniformly bland, then spoiling your ballot does seem a half-sensible thing to do. Spoilt ballots have no legal standing, I don't think - even if there are more spoilt ballots than votes for any other candidate it doesn't affect the result - but they are counted up, and it at least feels like you're doing *something* about the situation. But here in Cambridgeshire we have an English Democrat candidate standing, and I can't very well note vote for someone, anyone, else in case my not voting lets the English Democrat in. (Although at least our English Democrate candidate isn't suggesting, as does Robin Tilbrook in Essex that "If elected every police station in Essex will proudly fly the Cross of St George and will promote Essex’s celebrations of St George’s Day").
I don't know for whom I'll vote - should I go with what candidates say in their statements, or how they engage people on Twitter, or whether they've replied to my email, or how well they write? I just don't know.
I'm sorry, dear readers, this post is political. It's not overtly party political (unless you view dislike of the English Democrats as overtly party political) but it does discuss, at length, forthcoming elections set up by the government because they decided to change how things are run. If that's likely to make you cross, or uppity, or wish you weren't reading this blog then it's probably best to leave now and come back for the next post and we'll say no more about it.
I'm also sorry dearest readers, because I am cross about this. I have been cross about it all week, and the feeling's not lessening, so I'm just going to have to write and hope that it helps.
Next week, on Thursday 15th November, England and Wales (excluding London) are voting to elect people to the brand new post of Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), one person for each of the 40-odd police forces. These PCCs will replace the existing Police Authorities (one per force). Police Authorities are (or were) defined as follows by the Association of Police Authorities:
A police authority is an independent body made up of local people.
Together with the Home Secretary and chief police officers, police authorities are responsible for the management of policing in England and Wales.
Police authorities make sure that you have an efficient and effective local police force.Police Authorities mostly had 9 councillor members and 8 independent people from local community.
PCCs are described thusly by the Home Office:
The job of the police and crime commissioner will be to ensure the policing needs of their communities are met as effectively as possible, bringing communities closer to the police, building confidence in the system and restoring trust.
They will aim to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within the force area. They will do this by:
So, in principle it looks bland and similar. But although the PCC won't legally have power over daily operational policing, they can hire and fire the Chief Constable, write plans and set the budget. That's quite a lot of power, and whilst committees can be terrible things, too much power in the hands of one person isn't necessarily so great. I don't argue with the suggestion that there should be someone in charge of keeping the police honest, but I do have a gripe with pretty much every aspect of this PCC business.It will not be for the PCC to tell the professionals how to do their job - the legislation continues to protect the operational independence of the police by making it clear that the chief constables retain direction and control of the forces officers and staff. The operations of the police will not be politicised; who is arrested and how investigations work will not become political decisions.
- holding the chief constable to account for the delivery of the force
- setting and updating a police and crime plan
- setting the force budget and precept
- regularly engaging with the public and communities
- appointing, and where necessary dismissing, the chief constable
I'm going to look at the Principle Of The Thing, how the elections are seemingly being run, and then I'll look at our local candidates. At the end are links to more information.
The Ranty Bit
I do not think that control of public services should be made political. Whether or not candidates or incumbents have party allegiances, by making this a voting issue, it makes control of the police political. Candidates will, the very nature of the thing, being appealing for votes, and probably therefore by promising to do populist things. I'd rather have the police run according to evidence gained through rigorous academic and practical research, not through unsubstantiated popular "hang 'em, flog 'em" opinions (the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire debate was preceded by vox pops all calling for "MORE BOBBIES ON THE BEAT!!!", which isn't necessary a good way to reduce crime). Policing is complicated. I do not understand how best to do it. I want the mechanisms of government to ensure that qualified, capable people run the police for me. I simply don't know how to choose the best person to do that - and I'm not sure how most other people can, either.
These Wretched Elections
Not only is the principle of PCCs in my opinion seriously flawed, these elections don't seem to be run very well at all.
The candidates have very large areas, compared to council or parliamentary elections, over which to campaign. They have been given no free mailshot to voters, as happens in parliamentary, mayoral and European elections. This likely unfairly disadvantages independent candidates, who do not have party finances and volunteers to help get the message out. Of course, some independent candidates may well have money of their own, or from their businesses: but do we want this role bought by the richest candidate or to have a candidate in the pocket of some company of other? Very many people are reporting that they've heard absolutely nothing from any of their local candidates. This happens often enough for other elections, it's true, and that's a great shame. But these elections are, or should be, much less about party policy (the basis for most voters' normal voting choices, I'd guess): how can we choose if we know little about the candidates?
The governmental decision to make a website the primary source of candidate information mirrors other decisions (such as that to make claiming Universal Benefit primarily online) which disenfranchise those (older people, poor people, people with disabilities) who can't, or find it difficult to, access information the internet. Just the sorts of people who, as we're always saying, rely on the public libraries that are being closed down to get access to the stuff they need to be active members of society.
There have, I understand, been some hustings events in various places. Reports suggest that these have been poorly attended, but I strongly suspect that that's at least partly because they've been poorly advertised. If there have been any events in Cambridge then my repeated searches have turned nothing up...
Added to this, the Home Office, via the Electoral Commission (I think), was supposed to be distributing a booklet about the PCC role and the elections in general to every household. I've yet to hear of anyone who's received one: the only thing that many people know about the elections is that they've received a polling card. Further to that, people who have requested a copy, or other information, over the phone have apparently been getting a very poor service, too. No booklet means that even if you have internet access, you don't know where to look online to find candidate information.
Either this shambles is the result of deliberately, even maliciously poor deign, or (more likely) very shoddy implementation. We really ought to be able to do better as a country, though. It makes me cross.
Cambridgeshire Candidates
Now, much as I wish I could just be cross about a Rubbish Thing and leave it at that, there is a choice to be made here, because someone's going to get this role and I'd like to do my part in making sure the outcome is the least bad one possible. In Cambridgeshire we have seven candidates. They have spoken in a Radio Cambridgeshire debate, all have websites and other web presences, some have contributed to other PCC information sites, and they've all be asked the following two questions by me. (Questions picked, almost at random, from my personal list of bugbears.)
Question 1: What role do you think the police have in ensuring road safety for all road users, but particularly cyclists, and what would you do as PCC to improve road safety?
Question 2: What is your opinion of the recent government decision to close the national Forensic Science Service. How would you support the creation of rigorous policies and practices for the retention of forensic science archives in the Cambridgeshire force?And here are my summaries of their positions and (where received) their answers to my questions. I do advise you to read their statements for yourself.
Ansar Ali, Independent
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: A long-time community advocate who believes he has the existing knowledge of policing to be an effective PCC; wants the police to be more responsive and to communicate better.
Sir Graham Bright, Conservative
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Believes that privatisation of some services and collaboration between forces is a good way to save money and become more efficient; views members of the public using the police as customers who deserve a good service.
1: Road safety is important to all road users and
pedestrians making people aware and education is one of the key ways of
making our roads safer. At the moment road safety is promoted and funded
by the police and local councils. I would like to review what is being
done at the moment and see whether a co-ordinated effort could be more
effective. The problem is you only need one bad driver, cyclist or
irresponsible pedestrian to cause a very serious accident. I would want
to see that road safety was featured in our schools as that gives a firm
foundation. I recently spent some time with a group of volunteers who
operate Speed Watch. I was very impressed by the way in which they had
effectively reduced the number of instances of speeding motorists and I
intend to offer them additional support.
2: Forensic Science is an important part of catching criminals. As you may
already be aware Cambridgeshire is co-operating with Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire. It is my aim to extend that co-operation to Suffolk,
Norfolk and Essex. With this very large grouping, there is absolutely no
reason why we should not set up several specialist facilities for all
forces to use and, of course, this would include Forensic Science. I
believe this is the right way forward and I will set about immediately to
develop this co-operation because in other areas, such as human resources,
payroll and I.T. support, I believe we could make effective savings that
could go towards more police on the front line.
Paul Bullen, UKIP
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: More police on the beat, wants strong tough laws on people who steal and threaten property, he values are: "straight-dealing, integrity, plain-speaking, honesty, and forthright defence of law-abiding people".
Stephen Goldspink, English Democrats
web (party website)
One-sentence summary: The official party name given is actually "English Democrats - 'More Police Catching Criminals'" so it won't surprise you to know that he's a zero-tolerance on anti-social behaviour and more visible police candidate.
1: The police should be around to enforce the law regarding cycling. We need
more resources on the front line to do this. Please see my leaflet for
pledges around this.
2: The fact that this service has existed for years and years show the decision
was all about cost, not effectiveness. Strange how, in other areas, they
are all for centralisation. I suspect there is no going back, although I
would be in favour of doing so. I think we need to collaborate with other
forces and experts and develop one set of rigorous policies and practices
for national adoption - much more efficient and cost effective; I'd promote
and champion this.
Farooq Mohammed, Independent
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Says he is the only genuinely independent candidate and can bring a fresh new approach; will ensure good police response although this doesn't necessarily mean more police on the streets, which is unaffordable and not the best use of resources.
1: As a father of four I have always cycled with my children and indeed, still do so occasionally with my youngest who is aged 13. I do get frustrated sometimes when motorists cut in sharply and show little or no consideration for those on bicyles. In a city like Cambridge which has one of the largest cycling populations in the country, I can imagine this is even more of an issue at certain times. The police's role as always is to uphold the law, and it may be that encouraging more bike patrols would give greater insight into driving behaviour - I would certainly be in favour of making bike training more accessible to traffic officers so they understand both viewpoints.
Here in Peterborough we are fortunate the Green Wheel and many miles of safe cycling routes but I am sure even more can be done across the county to highlight and improve road safety for all users especially as high fuel prices and greater emphasis on 'green' issues means more people are taking up cycling.
2: The decision to close the NFSS has been made and we have to live with it. As I understand the situation the archive service is still operational and those same rigorous standards independently regulated will apply to the Cambridgeshire force. Any changes would be carefully considered after thorough consultation with experts whose advice would guide local decision making.
Rupert Moss-Eccardt, Liberal Democrats
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Professes to be a life-long public servant, with connections in government that enable him to understand the issues.
1: The police have a responsibility to keep the whole community safe, and that does, of course, include road safety. Fortunately the Cycling Campaign's survery is now 'live' so I would encourage you to have a look at all our answers there. http://www.camcycle.org.uk/elections/2012pcc/cambs/
In summary, though, I would make it easier for people to report poor driving, work with the Community Safety Partnerships and the County Council to improve the streetscape and have targeted campaigns to deal with all road traffic offences.
2: The FSS closure was, quite simply, a mistake. There is no longer an independent, reliable source for forensic services. The recent failures at LGC show how dangerous this is.
I am grateful you have raised the issue of forensic material retention. It is of course important but I hadn't realised that the force may not be doing it properly. Can you let me know what you know of this or point me in the right direction, please? Interestingly, the project I'm working on at the moment has a significant forensic element.
[I've contacted Mr Moss-Eccardt to explain that I don't know of any specific problems and to clarify that I'm just interested in how, given the times of change in Force governance and forensic services poor practice caused by insufficient resources and care can be avoided.]
Ed Murphy, Labour
web | twitter
One-sentence summary: Government cuts are ruining the police and forcing privatisation; he will stand against all privatisation.
1: The police have a lead role in ensuring road safety for all road users, but particularly cyclists. I would also look at more grant aid and commissioning work from local voluntary, community and mutual organisation to improve road safety. This can be everything from helping cyclists learn about safety to redesigning streets And signage. Obviously we also need to work with relevant local authorities and agencies. I am a bit biased towards cyclists and have always put the pedestrians and cyclists needs above those of the motorist when it comes to resource allocation. Just addressing the imbalance of past policy makers there. There are very different cultures in place in different parts of Cambridgeshire - In the north of the county I am presently involved implementing campaigns and thankfully some local action plans to stop pavement parking and remove vehicles parked on cycleways. Speeding is also a key issues and the fact is that recent reductions in funding for speed reduction will mean more injuries and deaths. In particular I support 20mph and Home Zones in appropriate areas to improve road safety.
2: I question whether the decision to close is the national Forensic Science
Service is the right one as we need to ensure we have the tools to do the
job of policing and making successful and correct prosecutions.
Where to find out more
I'm bunging links up on Diigo - you can refine the choices with the tags on the right. In particular, here are links relating to Cambridgshire, including other people's blog posts and articles from the local media. Do be aware: I'm not selecting for quality, so evaluate everything for yourself. Lots of different organisations are writing about this, and I haven't investigated who they all are.
Postscript: Spoiling Your Ballot
If you are in a constituency where the candidates look uniformly bland, then spoiling your ballot does seem a half-sensible thing to do. Spoilt ballots have no legal standing, I don't think - even if there are more spoilt ballots than votes for any other candidate it doesn't affect the result - but they are counted up, and it at least feels like you're doing *something* about the situation. But here in Cambridgeshire we have an English Democrat candidate standing, and I can't very well note vote for someone, anyone, else in case my not voting lets the English Democrat in. (Although at least our English Democrate candidate isn't suggesting, as does Robin Tilbrook in Essex that "If elected every police station in Essex will proudly fly the Cross of St George and will promote Essex’s celebrations of St George’s Day").
I don't know for whom I'll vote - should I go with what candidates say in their statements, or how they engage people on Twitter, or whether they've replied to my email, or how well they write? I just don't know.
#cpd23 Thing 18: Jing / screen capture / podcasts
After a long absence, I'm back on the cpd23 bandwagon, rushing to complete in time for the 30th November certificate deadline. I've done some of this Thing before: I made a screencast about using the GIMP image-editing programme last year.
I've taken a particularly special collections angle on the Thing this time round, and considered the value of audio and video for promoting understanding of rare books, manuscripts and other interesting holdings. This is something that, for example, the Bodleian Library does with its exhibitions, making curator videos about star exhibits and themes.
I've also recently rediscovered Gresham College, which gives public lectures on a wide range of themes. They do a really good job of having streaming and downloadable video and audio, and transcriptions, accessible on their website. See, for example, Dr Peter Ross' lecture 'The Historical Collections of the Guildhall Library'.
Inspired by these, I've put together a short video about medieval manuscript calendars. I'm not a specialist medievalist, so if you find any errors please do let me know! I've made it available in lots of different formats, listed below. Please let me know if any don't work properly.
You can view the whole manuscript I use as an example--St Gallen MS Cod. Sang. 402--via the e-codices Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland.
And I've collected together other examples of manuscript calendar pages over here on Pinterest.
Download mp4 video here
Watch YouTube video:
Download mp3 audio here
Listen to mp3 audio:
Transcription (download pdf here):
I've taken a particularly special collections angle on the Thing this time round, and considered the value of audio and video for promoting understanding of rare books, manuscripts and other interesting holdings. This is something that, for example, the Bodleian Library does with its exhibitions, making curator videos about star exhibits and themes.
I've also recently rediscovered Gresham College, which gives public lectures on a wide range of themes. They do a really good job of having streaming and downloadable video and audio, and transcriptions, accessible on their website. See, for example, Dr Peter Ross' lecture 'The Historical Collections of the Guildhall Library'.
Inspired by these, I've put together a short video about medieval manuscript calendars. I'm not a specialist medievalist, so if you find any errors please do let me know! I've made it available in lots of different formats, listed below. Please let me know if any don't work properly.
You can view the whole manuscript I use as an example--St Gallen MS Cod. Sang. 402--via the e-codices Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland.
And I've collected together other examples of manuscript calendar pages over here on Pinterest.
Download mp4 video here
Watch YouTube video:
Download mp3 audio here
Listen to mp3 audio:
Transcription (download pdf here):
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
All change!
Big news here at Girl in the Moon towers: I've managed to land myself a new job. From the start of December I'll be the Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
Some readers may know that my contract in Cambridge is soon to expire, so this couldn't have come at a better moment for me. And, in addition to that, the RCP has a really interesting collection of early printed books, and the job description includes lots of things that I enjoy: cataloguing, exhibitions, public engagement.
But there's no doubt that it's going to be a Big Change. I've been a student at, or an employee in, the University of Cambridge (or one of its connected institutions) for ten years now. It's definitely the right time to break free and experience work somewhere else, but by this point I'm pretty well enmeshed in the daily, termly and annual rhythms of this place. Not to mention that I've had the same @cam.ac.uk email address, and a very generous mailbox limit, for all of those ten years: switching that is going to be a real wrench.
I'll not be moving away from Cambridge, not in the short-term at least. The joy of not having to move house is counterbalanced by the added excitement of acclimatising to the commute. I've been hugely lucky so far in life - the longest I've ever had to travel to work is a 25 minute bike ride. So I'm not complaining now, just facing up to the fact that the alarm's going to be going off a lot earlier than it used to!
It's going to be a very interesting time, professionally. It's just the motivation I need to get on and sort my chartership, and there'll be lots to learn about local systems, cataloguing practices and collections. And about the history of medicine. London librarian types: expect to see me at more evening events (LIKE - I have my eyes on you in particular). Cambridge librarian types: expect to see me, blearily, in the vicinity of the station. Other librarian types: watch this space for (hopefully) news of how I get on.
If anyone has any hints or tips for 1) commuting, 2) learning about the history of medicine and 3) places near Regent's Park/Portland Place to eat, drink and shop, I'd be happy to hear them!
Some readers may know that my contract in Cambridge is soon to expire, so this couldn't have come at a better moment for me. And, in addition to that, the RCP has a really interesting collection of early printed books, and the job description includes lots of things that I enjoy: cataloguing, exhibitions, public engagement.
But there's no doubt that it's going to be a Big Change. I've been a student at, or an employee in, the University of Cambridge (or one of its connected institutions) for ten years now. It's definitely the right time to break free and experience work somewhere else, but by this point I'm pretty well enmeshed in the daily, termly and annual rhythms of this place. Not to mention that I've had the same @cam.ac.uk email address, and a very generous mailbox limit, for all of those ten years: switching that is going to be a real wrench.
I'll not be moving away from Cambridge, not in the short-term at least. The joy of not having to move house is counterbalanced by the added excitement of acclimatising to the commute. I've been hugely lucky so far in life - the longest I've ever had to travel to work is a 25 minute bike ride. So I'm not complaining now, just facing up to the fact that the alarm's going to be going off a lot earlier than it used to!
It's going to be a very interesting time, professionally. It's just the motivation I need to get on and sort my chartership, and there'll be lots to learn about local systems, cataloguing practices and collections. And about the history of medicine. London librarian types: expect to see me at more evening events (LIKE - I have my eyes on you in particular). Cambridge librarian types: expect to see me, blearily, in the vicinity of the station. Other librarian types: watch this space for (hopefully) news of how I get on.
If anyone has any hints or tips for 1) commuting, 2) learning about the history of medicine and 3) places near Regent's Park/Portland Place to eat, drink and shop, I'd be happy to hear them!
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Come on everybody, do the #chapowrimo
November is the month of getting things written. It's National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo), Academic Writing Month (acwrimo), National Blog Writing Month (nablowrimo) and probably plenty more besides.
Now, thanks to the genius of Helen Murphy and others -- see their Twitter discussions here -- it's also Chartership Portfolio Writing Month, or chapowrimo for short. (I keep reading it as 'chapeau wrimo', which would presumably be a month of writing about hats. Maybe next year...)
The idea with some of these wrimos is to set yourself ludicrous goals and see if you can meet them. The nanowrimo, despite the 'nano' in its name, encourages you to write 50,00 words in thirty days. That's 1,666 words each and every day. The academic writing month suggests that you "set yourself some crazy goals. Try and come up with some outcomes that would really push you beyond anything you ever thought possible." Blogging month is a bit more modest - the idea is to post every day.
Chapowrimo is, fortunately, a little less pressured. The idea is to set yourself a goal or target and to stick to it for the month. Lots of people are going to a 'certain number of minutes' work every day' goal, rather than a 'certain amount of work produced by the end' goal. (Here are posts by Emma Davidson and Niamh Tumelty.)
I much prefer this sort of goal. Firstly, it means you're setting yourself up for less failure: it doesn't matter so much what you achieve, so long as you're trying to get some work done. Secondly, my personal barrier to getting on with my Chartership portfolio is inertia: I haven't done any work for a while, so it's really hard to get started again, and the amount of work to be recouped seems huge. So I'm saying that I'll do 30 minutes every day and see where that gets me.
I'm being strict about it - setting aside proper time when I'm not distracted by other stuff, and using a timer to give the 30 minutes a defined start and end. This is a pretty powerful psychological trick: knowing you're only obliged to do a short amount of work means you pick a small, discrete and therefore un-intimidating task. Because it's a nice, approachable task I get caught up in doing it, and actually start enjoying myself. Then, at the end of the half hour, I actually want to spend a bit longer on it. When that happens I'm resetting the timer for another 15 or 30 minutes, so that I don't wind up just wasting time and faffing about.
So that'schapeauchapowrimo: we'll see whether I've achieved anything concrete by the end...
Now, thanks to the genius of Helen Murphy and others -- see their Twitter discussions here -- it's also Chartership Portfolio Writing Month, or chapowrimo for short. (I keep reading it as 'chapeau wrimo', which would presumably be a month of writing about hats. Maybe next year...)
The idea with some of these wrimos is to set yourself ludicrous goals and see if you can meet them. The nanowrimo, despite the 'nano' in its name, encourages you to write 50,00 words in thirty days. That's 1,666 words each and every day. The academic writing month suggests that you "set yourself some crazy goals. Try and come up with some outcomes that would really push you beyond anything you ever thought possible." Blogging month is a bit more modest - the idea is to post every day.
Chapowrimo is, fortunately, a little less pressured. The idea is to set yourself a goal or target and to stick to it for the month. Lots of people are going to a 'certain number of minutes' work every day' goal, rather than a 'certain amount of work produced by the end' goal. (Here are posts by Emma Davidson and Niamh Tumelty.)
I much prefer this sort of goal. Firstly, it means you're setting yourself up for less failure: it doesn't matter so much what you achieve, so long as you're trying to get some work done. Secondly, my personal barrier to getting on with my Chartership portfolio is inertia: I haven't done any work for a while, so it's really hard to get started again, and the amount of work to be recouped seems huge. So I'm saying that I'll do 30 minutes every day and see where that gets me.
I'm being strict about it - setting aside proper time when I'm not distracted by other stuff, and using a timer to give the 30 minutes a defined start and end. This is a pretty powerful psychological trick: knowing you're only obliged to do a short amount of work means you pick a small, discrete and therefore un-intimidating task. Because it's a nice, approachable task I get caught up in doing it, and actually start enjoying myself. Then, at the end of the half hour, I actually want to spend a bit longer on it. When that happens I'm resetting the timer for another 15 or 30 minutes, so that I don't wind up just wasting time and faffing about.
So that's
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