Eloise’s Work Experience

The Education Faculty Library Team have been delighted to host Eloise, a Year 12 student at Sharnbrook Upper School.  Eloise already volunteers at her local public library but she wanted to gain further experience by spending a week in an academic library, with a view to pursuing librarianship as a future career.

Here’s Eloise blog post about her time with us.

Over the past week, I have had a fabulous time doing my work experience with the wonderful team in the Faculty of Education Library. It has been fascinating to discover the vast variety of different tasks the staff perform and to give it a go myself! Throughout the week, I have had the opportunity to experience the whole lifecycle of a library book – from acquisition to processing, from shelving to charging, and from discharging to withdrawal. It has been so interesting to take part in all of the library’s different processes and I have learned a lot about what it is to be an academic librarian.

As part of my work experience I have been able to interact with staff and students, learn how to use databases to help people find the information they need, and discover the library’s use of social media to inform and engage with their users. I have gained a huge variety of new skills, from covering books to cataloguing new material, and am now confident in my understanding of the library system and all of the amazing services the library can offer.

I also had the opportunity to visit the wonderful Homerton College Library and University Library, which was a fantastic opportunity to experience two other types of libraries available to Cambridge University students. This helped me to understand the different roles these types of libraries play in supporting students and how they work together to ensure students have the best chance of finding the information they need.

I also got to go ‘behind the scenes’ at both of these libraries.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the processing and cataloguing rooms at the University Library. I liked the fact that despite the differences between the libraries, many of the fundamental processes were the same. I also found Homerton College Library’s collection of rare books fascinating and was impressed by their selection of children’s literature.

Overall, my work experience has been a wonderful opportunity to engage with the workings of an academic library and it has undoubtedly furthered my passion for library work. I hope to use all of my new skills and knowledge in my volunteering at my local public library and will hopefully be able to follow up this experience with a career in library services. I thoroughly recommend this as an opportunity to anyone who is looking to go into librarianship, and I am truly grateful to the team at the Faculty of Education Library for accommodating me!

It has been a pleasure to show Eloise all the different services we provide for Education students and staff, and we wish her all the best in her A levels and for the future!

Harriet’s Work Experience

The Education Faculty Library Team have had the pleasure of hosting Harriet for her Year 10 work experience placement during the last two weeks. We have very much enjoyed showing Harriet the different ways that we support our varied student community and we are thrilled with the window display she has created to reflect and promote our library services.

Harriet has written the following guest post about her time with us.

My work experience in the Education Faculty Library at Cambridge University has been a very enjoyable one. I have not had a day go by where I haven’t had something to do. I have been on visits to other University College and Faculty libraries (Homerton College, Medical Library, Betty & Gordon Moore, English Faculty Library) and by doing this I was able to compare how different libraries are run.

Also, during my time here, I created a number of things including a summer reading list display, advertising for new books and a window display promoting digital resources via the Library’s Moodle site (which included a giant sandcastle) to support students over the summer holidays. On one of the days I was joined by a work experience student from the Betty Gordon Moore Library and she helped me in creating my summer reads list and then arrange it on display.

I was also given the chance to give this student a tour of the Education Library which helped me to improve my knowledge of the collection and also get more used to where everything was. I have learnt many things here as I have gone along, mostly by watching and shadowing the team, but I have thoroughly enjoyed it all. I have always felt like a part of the team and have grown in confidence the whole time I’ve been here. I feel that I will take the skills I have learnt with me and use throughout the rest of my time in school and then continue to use once I have left school. Librarianship is a career that I would consider doing but there are so many different roles around that I am also intrigued to look into how they differ from one another, such as librarians in schools, public libraries as well as academic and medical libraries.

Overall, my Work Experience has been a great opportunity and I am glad that I was able to spend it here at the Education Faculty Library.

 

As well as a guest blogger, we invited Harriet to showcase her time at the Library with an Instagram takeover to report on her varied experiences. Please do read Harriet’s Instagram diary  #HarrietsWex

We would like to thank Harriet very much for all her hard work and wish her all the best for the future.

 

A window on working together: librarians, academic staff and displays

Over the last few years the Education Library Team have used the beautiful Library windows for different kinds of displays from #BeMyBorrower to the #FestiveFeedbackTree.  This academic year we had the exciting opportunity to work collaboratively with academic staff in devising window and Library displays of material linked to conferences and Faculty research themes.

Peter Cunningham, who has research interests in the social and cultural history of education and is an Emeritus Fellow at Homerton College, approached the Library Team about creating a display for the Dewey conference – here’s the result:

The Library houses a curated archive of texts with relevance to the history and development of education. Within this archive, Peter found a number of titles which demonstrated the influence of Dewey’s works on education and those writing about it.  The Library Team worked with Peter to compile significant titles into a timeline for display in the Library.

The collaboration on this project also included the Rare Books Department at Cambridge University Library who kindly lent copies of key Dewey texts for display.

The project also fostered collaboration with local schools and we were delighted to host works of art from Wroxham School and the University Primary School in displays in the Library:

 

There was wider engagement from the international academic and education community during the conference itself and the Library Team found it extremely rewarding to show attendees the dedicated Dewey display in the Library.  Some kindly made donations to the Library too!

 

The lasting legacy of this shared enterprise was the installation of permanent double-sided display boards within the Library celebrating the impact of Dewey on educational theory and relating Dewey to the work of the Library within the Faculty.

Following on from this success, we were contacted by Dr Arathi Sriprakash about creating a window display to highlight her race justice research as Arathi explains below:

“The Library’s exhibition on Race Justice and Education emerged from a collective of graduate and postdoctoral scholars at the Faculty of Education who are engaged in research on issues of racism in education. We are involved in a number of activities that are helping to establish race justice scholarship in education at the University. Our members have conducted workshops on racism and pedagogy, led teach-ins about Islamophobia, and convened a fortnightly reading group on theories of race and racism. We share our ideas through public engagement, blogs and news outlets, as well as through academic scholarship. And we present our ideas in public forums and seminars.

We wanted to celebrate the work of critical race scholarship that inspires us – which led to the collective curation of the Race Justice and Education exhibition. The texts and authors we have included in the display have – for example – been inspirational figures in black feminist movements, contributed critical perspectives on the political limitations of the concept of ‘diversity’, and brought new ways of understanding the racial dynamics of young people’s lives. Our reading group has recently been discussing the need for decolonised research methodologies and non-western theory in educational research. 

With this exhibition we hope to encourage scholars – both staff and students – to join us in conversation about the possibilities of an anti-racist agenda both in the field of education and in our university itself.

The collective: Amina Shareef, Amberley Middleton, Arathi Sriprakash, Christy Kulz, Michael Meaney, Sharon Walker, Daphne Martschenko, Anna Nti Asari“

The Library space was once again transformed with both a physical display within the Library, showcasing the breadth of resources from within our collection, and visual displays on the Library windows.

Both displays generated a lot of discussion and interest both in person and through our social media channels as can be seen in this Storify.

As part of this discussion, Sara Baker (University Lecturer at the Faculty) posted the following tweet:

We hope to continue supporting the Faculty through collaborating with academic staff in promoting their research in the future.  Who knows what the Library window will reveal next?

 

 

Librarians Recommend – Easter 2017

If you’ve visited the Education Library recently you may have seen our Librarian Recommends boxes, if not, now is your chance to catch up with some of our favourite books.

First up, we have Hazel’s selections, What do we know about the Inuit? by Bryan and Cherry Alexander and Shackleton’s journey by William Grill.

“Interested in the Inuit or want to know how Shackleton set sail to the South Pole? 2 of my favourite resources are available in the library collection.”

These titles are shelved at 933/073 GRI and 933/072 WHA and form part of our extensive collection of Educational Resources which covers all subjects ranging from Aztecs to Zoos and everything in between! The collection is primarily designed to support trainees on school placements but material can be borrowed by any member of the Library.

Next is Emma’s choice Code name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

“A wonderful but heart-wrenching story of 2 friends in WWII France – an inspiring tale for all ages!”

This title is located in the Children’s Fiction Section under WEIN.

The children’s fiction collection ranges from picture books to young adult fiction and includes short stories, poetry, fairy tales and mythology. Further information about the collection can be found in the guide to Children’s Literature Collections at Cambridge.

And finally, for everyone in the middle of research projects, Amy suggests The good research guide: for small scale social research projects by Martyn Denscombe.

“An excellent introductory guide for anyone starting to plan their research. Covers a number of research strategies, ethics and analysis. Plus it’s available as an ebook!”

This title can be found at 301/01 DEN.

We are always happy to guide readers to specific aspects of the Library collection useful for their particular interests or research – just come and ask at the Welcome Desk.  If you are unable to visit in person, just drop us an email and we can identify a range of books for you to choose from – or direct you to ebooks if preferable.  Don’t forget that you can browse the collection of Education ebooks yourself at any time via the Ebooks database on the Library Moodle site – there are over 1,000 to choose from!

Reflections on the FutureLib Intraloans Trial

This post was written by Meghanne Flynn, PhD student at the Faculty of Education and member of the library team. 

It’s over, it’s over, it’s all over!

The UL Intraloan Trial has now ended and the Library Team would like to thank everyone who participated and expressed enthusiasm for the project. It was a bit of a wild time here in the Education Faculty Library: fielding requests, transporting books, and making sure everyone had the best access to the best information we could provide! It may be some time before we fully understand all of the data generated through this trial, but here are some initial things we learned:

The majority of people who used the service were full-time post-graduate students

This was a surprise. Part of our initial enthusiasm for the trial was the hope that it would make more material available for part-time, distance and PGCE students who have limited time in the Faculty or in Cambridge at all.  However, very few students within these categories made use of the trial – possibly due to the short time-frame or possibly because we have everything they need in the Education Library!

The people who did use it used it repeatedly

Looking just at the number of requests, it seems like a lot of people used the service. However, it turns out that the majority of requests were repeat borrowers.  Across the entire Intraloan trial—not just in the Faculty—5 people were responsible for 20% of the requests!  In the Education Faculty 142 requests were made by 65 different people.

Most of the requests were for books outside the field of Education

Of the book requests that we received, most were for texts which were outside the area of Education.  Many were also older texts and there were even a couple of foreign-language journal articles! (Reading the titles sparked the Library Team’s imaginations, so thank you!).  It was gratifying to us that there were few books requested where we thought, “Oh, we should really have that.” In the few cases that we did, we ended up purchasing the book/ebook to be able to provide it for all Education Staff & students.

Remember that if we don’t have the book you need, do ask us if we can get it. It’s not always possible, but input and requests from staff & students are an essential part of building our collection (and we will even consider non-education purchases if they’re available as an ebook!)

Even librarians at the UL sometimes can’t find books at the UL

One of the comments we hear quite a lot is how dispiriting it can be to go to the UL because it is so hard to navigate. It was amazing then, that some of the books requested actually couldn’t be located by UL staff! You’re not alone. The UL can be a dark and twisty cave of mystery. But if you have to go, remember that even people who work there have trouble. Who said education wasn’t an adventure?

Student engagement is (still) a top priority for us!

During this trial it was just as important for us to know why someone wanted to borrow a book as to know what it was they wanted to borrow. This might seem excessive—just hand over the book, right? But the more knowledge we have about your academic needs, the more we are able to help you. For example, some students requested books not knowing that we already had copies on the shelf in the Education Library, or in ebook format. This brought to our attention some serious problems people are having searching iDiscover, and we developed new search guides to help (available on the Library Moodle Site).

This trial generated a lot of data which we are continuing to explore with the UL and in due course the FutureLib team will produce a full report. It may be that there are more trials in the future! However, for any future projects, the Education Library Team’s objective is that nothing can be implemented that will compromise the current range of services that we offer.

Our goal is to supply all that you need for your education studies and if you need help accessing materials, or understanding the tailored services we offer, text us, email, phone, or just come in for a chat.

We may not have every book (yet), but we usually have candy.

Exciting new publications written by Education Faculty academic staff!

Explore our range of new publications by academic staff at the Education Faculty.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Ava. London: Speechmark Publishing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Hari. London: Speechmark Publsihing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., & Renker, B. (2016). Graphic lives: Lexi. London: Speechmark Publsihing.

Holliday, C., Browning Wroe, J., Renker, B., & Evans, T. (2016). Graphic lives: essential support guide. London: Speechmark Publishing.

Black-Hawkins, K., Florian, L., & Rouse, M. (2017). Achievement and inclusion in schools (Second edition). London: Routledge

 

 

 

Gronn, P. (Ed.). (2016). A University’s challenge: Cambridge’s primary school for the nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

 

 

Stylianides, A. (2016) Proof and argumentation in mathematics education research. In Gutiérrez, Á., Leder, G. C., & Boero, P. (Eds.). The second handbook of research on the psychology of mathematics education: the journey continues. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

 

 

 

Cliff Hodges, G. (2016) Reimagining Reading. In Oterholm, K., Rothbauer, P. M., Skjerdingstad, K. I., & McKechnie, L.  Plotting the reading experience: theory, practice, politics. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

 

 

 

 

Taber, K., & Akpan, B. (Eds.). (2017). Science Education: An International Course Companion. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers

 

 

 

 

To keep up to date with all new Faculty publications remember to follow our Pinterest Board: https://uk.pinterest.com/edfaclib/books-by-faculty-staff/

The magical care of books at the Education Faculty Library

The Faculty of Education Library Team perform magic in many ways, including taking care of more than 55,000 items on behalf of our readers.  If you have ever wondered how we keep our library books in such good condition read on…

To Prevent our books from damage whether it be from wear and tear or severe weather conditions, we cover all paperback books and put dust jackets on hardbacks.

Constant Vigilance is needed to keep our books in as good a condition as possible for the future. All books are checked for markings and damage when they are returned before making their way back to the shelves.

In some sad cases an Emergency Response is needed so we work a little magic to restore any damaged or defaced books back to health.

Where books are feeling a little ‘bent out of shape’ or ‘caught in the rain’ with water damage, there is always a clamp on hand to help.

We always hope that our readers will not deface our books by writing in them as we have to remove these marks by hand which is very time consuming and can in turn cause damage (sadly there is not much we can do to remove pen or highlighter!). We do get in contact with our readers when defacing happens to encourage everyone to love our books and to look after them as carefully as we do.

Remember that help for books will always be found at the Education Library for those resources that need it!