Dunn & Wilson Scholarship 2005

Latest Update

2008-07-15T10:04:00.003+10:00

It has been a while but I thought I'd share that I am yet again venturing out on another adventure. I have been successful in obtaining a branch librarian position with Bellingen Library in NSW. It is a branch of Clarence Regional Libraries and presents some wonderful professional and personal challenges for me. I finish up here at Ipswich this week and then have 2 weeks to relocate and get settled before starting my new position.

Another wonderful bit of news is that I have finally finished my Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science) and will offically graduate next year.

So stay tuned for a new blog sharing the experiences of living in a beautiful part of the world.

The Report is now Available!

2008-01-23T12:32:00.000+10:00

The report is now available via the conference site.

Please feel free to direct any questions about the report to me at anytime!!

A new chapter of life begins

2007-10-27T20:34:00.000+10:00

I thought I'd give myself some time to reflect before posting anything about my presentation, and I'm pleased to report it was well received. I didn't realise how nervous I was about the whole thing until my nerves kicked in on the morning of the presentation and I felt quite ill. I think I hid it well.

During some parts of the presentation I felt I was repeating what I'd said back in 2005 during my presentation "Multi-skill me: secondment opportunities and issues at QUT Library". But it was all relevant to bring the findings of the research together. Reflecting on the process there were perhaps things that could have been done better. For example, when sending out survey's to library technicians who had participated in secondments, I only used the word secondment. But secondments also embrace job exchange, rotations, and acting roles. Had I reworded the survey I may have received more responses. That said, from the responses I did get, it was refreshing to note that most had similar experiences, and the research supported this.

I am really hoping that employers utilise the suggestions within my report and either introduce secondments as a means of professional development for library professionals, or evaluate their current secondment policies and ensure that they meet the recommendations outlined in the report.

Once all the loose ends have been tidied my report will be submitted to the ALIA07 team for publishing online. I'll post the link once this is complete.

So is this the end for me as far as research is concerned. I sincerely hope not but for now I'm happy to move on from secondments and focus on my family, my last subjects to complete my Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science), and my role in NLS4 . I have a few ideas up my sleave for some conference papers but I think I'll give myself a bit of a break before putting myself out there again.

This has been a wonderful experience for me and I'd like to thank all those that supported me throughout this journey, including those that have continued to read this blog. I recommend anyone who has some ideas for research projects to seek out assistance and apply for the ALIA research grants.

Congratulations!!

2007-10-10T10:57:00.000+10:00

A congratulations to Rebecca Evans who has been awarded the Dunn & Wilson Scholarship for 2008.

Presentation

2007-10-10T10:54:00.000+10:00

Well tonight I head down to Melbourne and tomorrow morning at 9am I present my report. I'm a bit nervous arriving in Melbourne at 9pm as I've never been there but I'm sure I'll find my way to the hotel. I'm also nervous about speaking for such a long time - I've been allocated an hour. I hope there are lots of questions!! 8-)

I will write a post on my return to share my thoughts on how I went and also the presentations I saw at the conference.

The Report is Complete

2007-08-28T12:37:00.000+10:00

At last, my dear blog readers and Dunn & Wilson groupies, I can share that the report is complete. Now my work is cut out ensuring I create a presentation that will not leave people sleeping in their seats!! 8-)

I will not make this my last post as the whole project is not finished but it is drawing to a close. It will be a relief to close the book on it but sad at the same time. Two years is a long time to devote to a project, especially when life does not run smoothly, but we devote even longer to our children and this is really a "blink and you'll miss it" event in my life. Just as one day I'll look back on my university studies as a short hurdle in a long life (I hope long life).

Life can not be lived to its fullest unless one challenges themselves and pushes the boundaries. It is easy to sit back and watch others put the hard yards - but there's nothing like being amongst it!!

PS this blog is being archived by National Library of Australia - http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/66967

When it rains it pours

2007-07-30T15:39:00.000+10:00

Well no it hasn't been raining much in South East Qld but I have been doing a fair bit on the work front. I managed to pick up a bit of work in circulation this last week gone. It's been over 10 years since I worked in circulation at the Ipswich Library and Information Service so it was fun to catch up with the changes and realise how much I enjoy working in circulation if not just to chat with the customers and see what books everyone is reading. Bit by bit I am gaining that "big picture" view of my new (or old) workplace.

On a personal front, the last few weeks have been tough for us. My husband recently lost his job so you can imagine the extra stress this places on the family. I tried to pick up every available extra hour of work I could do and really didn't get much done with regard to finishing this research project off nor my presentation. Now uni is back (as of today) I'm guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with what's on my plate. This has not been the first rough patch we've been through since starting this research project - mid last year my husband was retrenched and we went through the same stresses. We've always believed that things will not be handed to us on a silver platter and we'll have to work hard to get where we want to go (I'm sure there are lots of other families out there in the same boat). But it does become a little hard to pull yourself out of the rut when with each step forward there's two steps back.

On top of this we have been blessed with a child that does not sleep all that much. A half hour nap during the day and very random sleep patterns at night. I think after 18mths I've become used to living on little sleep and sometimes amaze myself at what I can achieve in zombie mode. However, it has not made this journey any easier.

I thought I'd share this with you just to let others know the little things that can prop up when committing yourself to a research scholarship and how it all looks under control at the beginning does not mean that there will not be moments of chaos throughout. This is not to discourage those wishing to take on a research scholarship, but just adding a touch of reality to what sometimes appears to be smooth ride. There are times when I feel I should've said no to some of the things I've taken on board - however, the skills and experiences this scholarship has provided me can not be replaced and I never regret taking this on.

Holiday - let's celebrate!!

2007-06-20T11:36:00.000+10:00

If we took a holiday, oh yeah oh yeah, took some time to celebrate. Come on let's celebrate!!.....

Ok well I submitted my last assignment for the semester last week and our little family took a weekend away to Noosa North Shore Tourist Park to celebrate. Since our little person has just started walking, the weekend was not really that relaxing but I got to drive our Jeep on the beach, get it bogged, and get it out of the bog!! *clap* And our little person decided to go swimming even though it was very cold. She had managed to get in and out of the cabin (little step) without injury until the morning we left and she fell out the door head first onto the cement. A bit of a scrape on the head but nothing serious. Back home and back to reality!

So with the holidays comes the chance to put the finishing touches to my D&W report and get the presentation together for the conference - please note registration is now open so get in early!! I hope to see regular blog followers there!!

I've also been keeping tabs on my former workplace QUT and am happy to report that secondments continue to happen allowing library employees the chance to continually develop their skills and experiences.

Public library work has been treating me well and I'm continually adding to my skills and experiences. I'm particularly enjoying the Home Library Service work I've been doing - mainly selecting items for clients. It is an interesting part of library work that you don't often hear much about. Maybe a conference paper is in order - hmmm will wait till there's less on my plate!!

I'm not Superwoman!

2007-05-16T16:45:00.000+10:00

I didn't end up taking the contract work with Bremer TAFE - I had a trial run and worked out that it was not possible for me to work from home as the little "spare" time I have when my daughter is asleep is when I do my studies so I couldn't really put them on the back burner. It was hard to say no. I don't believe I'm the only person in the LIS world that has difficulty in saying "no." The fear of missed opportunities and disappointing employers that may cross your path again later in life plays hard on my mind when deciding to say "no." But alas, I'm sure other things will come up and I'm still heading in the right direction as far as my career goals are concerned.

Talking of opportunities, I mentioned in my last post all the secondments I participated in. You will note that most of them were at QUT and my paper "Multi-skill me..." discussed my experiences with secondments with QUT. I have to say that QUT Library was an excellent employer in giving opportunities to its staff to move into different positions through secondment opportunities. I gained so much experience during my time there that has lead me to this point in life. Also having the opportunity to participate in "big picture" planning through the Library Planning Forum also assisted me in seeing the "behind the scenes" of library planning which has also added to my experiences.

For those working for employers that offer secondments and support staff in gaining new skills and experiences, make the most of it as it doesn't occur everywhere.

Complete Circle!

2007-05-12T19:59:00.000+10:00

As regular readers of this blog know, I have recently started working casually at the Ipswich Library and Information Service. This week sees me take on some casual contract work with Bremer Institute of TAFE Library working from home. Interesting comments made by a colleague when I mentioned I was doing some work from home. They questioned the occupational health and safety aspects of it and also whether there was any loading/reimbursement for the use of my own electricity etc. Interesting points that I had not ever thought about. Perhaps blog readers out there might like to comment on that!!

Eleven years ago I was working with the same employers although, at the time, I was also completing my Associate Diploma of Applied Science (Library Technician Studies) at Southbank Institute of TAFE. Funny how life sometimes does a complete circle, although I'm happy to say that I'm now far more experienced and a lot more confident then I was eleven years ago. And am also happy to note that some of the staff that I worked with back then are still with these employers and still remember me - although I don't think I made that much of an impression back then!! 8-)

I would also like to note that it is due to participating in many secondments that has enabled me to be successful in gaining these positions. Had it not been for the valuable experience and skills that I gained through my secondments, I'm sure that I would not have been as lucky!!

And just for the record, here are the secondments I've done:

Reference Librarian (Creative Industries) - QUT Kelvin Grove Library
Library Systems Officer - QUT Kelvin Grove Library
Monographs Assistant - QUT Kelvin Grove Library
Library Assistant - CSIRO Centre for Advanced Technologies Library

April Showers?!? Nope none in Qld!

2007-04-28T22:06:00.000+10:00

Well actually we did get some rain this evening but not enough to change the level 5 water restrictions we are currently imposed with. 4 minute showers and the aim to use only 140 litres of water per household per day. If I had more money and a house that was better designed I'd be installing tanks and grey water diverters left, right and centre but alas our house is unique in too many ways!!

Isn't it funny how the subjects studied often relate to something you are doing in "real life" or better yet they also relate to each other. Currently I'm completing my BA(Library and Information Science) through Charles Sturt University. The subjects I'm doing at the moment are Topics in Library Management, and Serving Children and Youth in Public Libraries. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with my research - both subjects are discussing planning and policies.

Market Plans are the topic of an assignment for Topics in Library Management. I remember talking with Geraldine Barkworth of Bold Women Big Ideas career coaching. She encouraged me to create a market plan for this blog. However, due to my lack of knowledge of market plans I never followed through on this task *slap wrists*

The other subject is discussing policies and regular readers of this blog will know that I've had plenty of discussions relating to secondment policies.

Secondments and Teams

2007-03-11T16:54:00.000+10:00

I didn't make the once a month post deadline but regardless I'm making a new post which is a milestone in itself!!

For my studies I've been doing a lot of reading about teams. This then prompted some thought about teams and secondments. I've worked in a number of teams and have recently started work with a new team at Ipswich Library and Information Service, so I thought that I could share some observations with working in different teams and frequently changing teams.

One of the challenges of secondments is that movement of staff in and out of a team can upset the dynamics. The readings I've read (that sounds really bad but since little one is asleep I'm trying to rush this out so forgive me for any shortcomings in my writing ability) talk alot about getting people with the right abilities into teams so that you can create a highly effective team. I'm wondering how much of the "right abilities" selection criteria team leaders/managers use when selecting people for secondment into their team? And then I also wondered if they had selected a person thinking they had the right abilities to "fit in" with the rest of the team, and then this proved to be wrong, how could one fix it?

Moving on. I found a quote that stood out "Tell me and I'll forget it; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand." Chinese proverb. I think sometimes management forget to involve staff in decision making, and generally lack communication. I've worked in some teams where communication was very much lacking, and in many where the team leader/manager involved the whole team in decisions and let us know where we are going. I think that's where that quote hit me - in the teams where all staff were involved in the decision making and goal planning - things worked so much better. Everyone knew why they were there and what the outcomes should be. I understood why I was doing the tasks I were set. In teams where communication was lacking - most of us were lost and couldn't work together because we couldn't understand why we were doing these tasks. Having a big picture view was something I really valued - how did my work affect the work of other teams in the organisation?!? Once I knew which cog I was in the wheel that turns, I not only felt more valued but I knew how my actions were affecting other members of my team and other teams in the organisation.

Gee, haven't I rambled on - hope it's making some sense.

I have also learned that sometimes it's hard to get the big picture view, especially if you are not working in the organisation every day or don't really get the opportunity to talk with members of other teams. It is my goal to find out what my cog does and how it affects the organisation as a whole. I wonder how many other people like to know what their cog does!!

Kick up the bum!!

2007-01-21T14:06:00.000+10:00

With the arrival of my study guides for this semester, I received a fair kick up the bum to get moving on my scholarship. Not that I had been doing nothing on it, rather a lot was going on in my head but not much was reaching the keyboard. So today I sat down and started sorting out my brainstorming ramblings to resemble something legible. *Pat on the back*

So there really isn't anything new to share but I would like the readers to share something - if you have ever done research or perhaps uni assignments or any assignments, how do you overcome procrastination or writers block? Ideas would be welcome. Also any ideas on how to manage things with a small child (almost 1yr old) would be appreciated too!!

Welcome to the New Year!

2007-01-05T21:19:00.000+10:00

Happy New Year everyone!! Welcome 2007. D-Day creeps closer and work on the scholarship continues.

I have news - I may be starting casual work at Ipswich Library and Information Service in the near future. This will mean I will be crossing from academic to public librarianship - something I've wanted to do for a long time. With the excitement of possibly starting a new job, new position and working with new people (something I've done many times before with my many secondments), comes the immense guilt of leaving my darling, Anaki. She will be in the care of family and close friends, but there is still the feeling of guilt of being excited about having a few days a week where I can be something other than a "mum." Not that I'm dismissing motherhood at all. I would love the option to stay at home full time to care for my beautiful girl, but due to financial issues I must get some income. With this excitement and guilt, there is also some anger that I am being forced to do this (although professionally it is probably a good thing). I so wish that motherhood was recognised as a "job" by society and that our government provided more assistance for those sitting on the fence of poor and middle class. Ok that's my vent and my off topic comments for tonight!!

So back to possibly starting a new job!! I will get an inside view on secondments in a public library - this seems to be lacking somewhat in my research. I've also found that my definition of secondment is much broader than what some organisations refer to. Secondments embrace job rotations, job exchanges, project work and acting in higher positions/lateral positions. I never realised that in the past secondments were used as a resource to reduce staff numbers during times of economic struggle. Staff were poached from other areas so that organisations would not have to advertise and fill another position - unfortunately the staff member who was poached, their position was never backfilled - hence the saving money aspect.

Anyway, my brain is turning to mush as my bedtime is way past due!! Sad really!! Please feel free to make comments were you wish! Till next post......

Merry Christmas and all that!!

2006-12-18T11:50:00.000+10:00

I can't believe that the year is almost over. Phew it has gone quick!!!

The conference presentation went well and I enjoyed my one day of "freedom" in Sydney, although I really didn't do much other than attend the conference. For those interested my paper is now available online.

Another Australian Library Technician, Kevin Dudeney (Convenor of the ALIA National Library Technicians Group) has just started a blog. Go KevinD!!! And for those enthusiastic people out there, how 'bout considering writing a paper for the ALIA Library and Information Technicians Conference 2007. Or you can just come along and listen to my talk about the research you are reading about on this blog!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Secondments and Professional Development

2006-11-19T12:14:00.000+10:00

Did you know that secondments is a recognised activity in the ALIA PD scheme??

I discovered this while "tidying up" my ALIA PD Scheme records and found that secondments are actually worth 2 points per hour.

For more about ALIA and it's PD Scheme, please visit http://alia.org.au/education/pd/scheme/

I wonder how much keeping blogs is worth?.....

Policies and Similarities

2006-11-10T21:56:00.000+10:00

Have finally find time to look at my research project - in between occupying small child and preparing a paper/presentation for another conference see: http://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2006/abstracts.php#uthmann.

Today I looked at the secondment policies I had collated and looked for similarities. Most universities have very similar policies, although not all mention setting objectives (I mentioned this in a previous post). Having been on many secondments myself, none required that I set objectives however, they were all required to be managed through the Performance Planning and Review program. This was usually achieved by listing the job requirements (description) and ensuring I was able to meet all requirements during the duration of the secondment and that all of my professional development was recorded.

It is my view that if an organisation would like to use secondments as a means of professional development for their staff, that objectives are set prior to commencing the secondment and that these are reviewed throughout. This ensures that the staff member participating in the secondment is not just "sitting" in a position but actually gaining skills, knowledge and performing the position to the supervisors/managers standard.

Is there anyone out there who has completed a secondment where they had set objectives? I'd like to hear from you.

On a side note, Anaki is now 9mths old. Being a mum still occupies the majority of my time but I do have the odd moment where I can put on my "career hat" (like now). I am now facilitating Butterfly Wings in 3 venues - Gailes Community House, Goodna Community Health Centre (Goodna Mothers' Group) and Elorac Place Playgroup Carole Park. This along with mothers group and swimming lessons keeps me busy!!

Hope to catch up with some of you at NLS in Sydney - I'll be there on Saturday 2nd December for my presentation.

Mother's Group, Morning Tea and Gaga Boo Boo

2006-09-12T19:29:00.000+10:00

I have not fallen off the planet, unlike many of you may have thought. I have merely rested one aspect of my life - kind of like sleeping with one eye open!! So I'm back to post something of interest - I hope!

Yes I found one benefit of (internal) secondments (for organisations) that I did not mention in my paper - that is the cost saving, i.e. you do not have to advertise externally. A small point I know, but certainly one worth noting.

So what have I been doing during this "rest" period. I have become a Butterfly Wings Child Parent Program Facilitator - www.butterflywings.com.au I see this as yet another way of gaining new skills as I teach child carers (be they parents, grandparents, babysitters or day/child carers) how to interact and bond with their children through nursery rhymes, songs and storytelling. Not only have I learnt those skills but also funding applications - my application for D&W really helped when applying for funding through government and other associations. You will be happy to hear that one of those funding applications has come through and I am eagerly awaiting on another which is looking very promising.

Mother's group has been taking up a lot of time although it is only held one morning a week, it does extend to morning teas with other mums at other places, shopping outings, picnics and zoo visits - http://www.alyandxavier.com/mothers%20group.htm

And of course, my daughter, Anaki is the main source of my lack of "research" time. She is now 7mths and very interactive but still as demanding as ever. I believe I really underestimated the time a baby takes and how much time I'd have for other endeavours - needless to say I have had to cut back in some areas, e.g. deferring from uni studies for a semester. I have not lost sight of D&W, I have merely lost time in being able to sit and get on with it. However, many thoughts are in my head as to where I am taking the research and it is still on track - according to my timeline.

Enough rambling! Remember if you do have anything to share please do so!!

Back in the good ol' days!!!

2006-06-28T14:18:00.000+10:00

Yay I've made 2 posts in one month!!!

Some interesting things I've found from the following book:

Gosling, R & Nutley, S 1990 Bridging the gap: Secondments between government and business, Royal Institute of Public Administration, London.

The first formal secondment scheme started in 1968 - told you I'd find out!!! 8-)

They have identified 4 categories of benefits of secondments:

They promote understanding between different types of organisations/departments;
They promote the personal development of the secondee;
They allow for the exchange of management and technical expertise;
They allow the introduction of skilled and experienced staff.

Good to see that some of the benefits listed are ones that I have already identified in my research.

Something funny I found was that they found that there are three secondee roles:

PARROT - this is where the secondee "sits on the shoulders" of people senior to them and learn about the organisation through accompanying them in their day-to-day work;
FERRETS - act as "spies" (my favourite) placed by a department to keep an eye on a project or intiative;
WORKER BEES - are set tasks and get on with them without much change or disruption to the organisation.

Are there any secondees/former secondees that can relate to any of the roles listed above?? I'd be interested to hear your story.

I also wonder how many secondees/former secondee had objectives set for them prior to starting the secondment (objectives set by both sides, i.e. the seconding org and the host org.) If anyone can share if they had objectives set, please contact me or reply to my post!!

Till next time....

Break in the Weather!

2006-06-05T20:49:00.000+10:00

Well not really a break in the weather - more like a break in the feeding/changing/burping baby!!

I managed to sit down and do some work on my research tonight. I have found that secondments have been around for quite some time. Very popular in the business industry as well as health and education. I am yet to read some of the articles I came across but it would be interesting to pin point when secondments actually started - I'll keep you posted on that one.

I'm also working on a few other things - just to keep life interesting. I could compare first time parenting to a secondment. Especially some of the feelings/challenges I've face/am facing. For instance, I feel I've been thrown in the deep end and am learning many new skills. How these will apply to the workforce on my return are yet to be known but I'm sure they will in some way. I have also felt a bit isolated or alone - well until I found a mother's group - this has presented yet another challenge, talking with people outside my profession. I have tended to surround myself with other LIS people and have such managed to restrict my conversational skills to that of libraries - so I'm now conveying with those outside the profession which is broadening my communication skills no end - including talking with a baby!! Is this making any sense!!??

I suppose the big difference with parenting and secondments is that one can not return to their original childless state. And one will probably never feel totally at ease or on top of the job - as with parenting the challenges change every day!! This is making it one hell of a ride!!! 8-)

Library Technician Blogs

2006-05-15T19:46:00.000+10:00

I had an interesting query come through via email the other day about library technician blogs. The person had stumbled across mine and was wondering if there were any other library technician blogs out there.

I only found 2:

http://librarysupporter.blogspot.com/
http://librarytechnician.blogspirit.com/

Does anyone else know of any others??

On a side note, the research continues - thanks to all the libraries and library technicians that have assisted with my research by answering surveys - your help is greatly appreciated!!

Seeking Library Technicians Interested in Secondments

2006-04-18T10:54:00.000+10:00

Back into research mode. I once again require your help. If you are interested in secondments but have never particpated in one, I need you to answer the following questions and get them back to me!! 8-)

Secondments are the temporary transfer of a staff member to another organisation, or section of their own organisation, to perform a specific job or project, to cover someone else’s job, or to fill a gap in service.

What organisation do you work for? e.g public, academic, special, school etc.
Are you interested in participating in a secondment opportunity? If yes, why? If no, why?
Does your organisation offer secondment opportunities? If no, why not?

Please note that all replies will be kept confidential so please ensure that you direct the email to me.

How to get Secondments

2006-04-04T14:05:00.000+10:00

I received an email a short time ago from another LIS professional asking how one gets a secondment outside of their organisation.

If one works for a QULOC University Library (see http://www.quloc.org.au/ for a list), then a secondment or staff exchange can be organised by following the guidelines on the web page: http://www.quloc.org.au/working_parties/staffing_issues/reports/Inter_Org_Exp_Program.doc

If you work in an organisation that supports external secondments then they may already have a policy in place that outlines how to go about applying for a secondment. I have a list of policies in one of my previous posts: http://dunnandwilson.blogspot.com/2006/01/secondment-policies-and-more.html

For those that are unsure, I would advise you to contact your HR/Staffing Officer and see if they can advise.

Why Libraries Don't Offer Secondments

2006-04-04T13:59:00.000+10:00

It's been a while due to my daughter and I trying to establish some form of routine - yeah right!! Regardless, here I am now.

So why don't all libraries offer secondments? The main reasons I've found are that some libraries are just too small, i.e. not enough staff, to sustain secondments. This then made me think if these smaller libraries might be able to get together and offer secondments across departments or industries. One library professional said that this may be impossible due to different salary levels, but if for instances, all of the libraries within the Qld Goverment offered secondments then there would be some standard of salary levels. And if all libraries in the CSIRO set up something for secondments then the salary levels again would be similar. I think perhaps the private sector (Law for instance) may have the greatest difficulty. I also found schools lacked secondments too.

Is there anyone out there who works in a smaller library or private sector library that know of secondments or staff exchanges working well in their industry? Can you please contact me or share through replying to this blog.

Library Technician Views on Secondments

2006-03-01T15:48:00.000+10:00

Back on track and making the most of Anaki's sleeping time!! 8-)

For my research I have made contact with a number of practicing Library Technicians and asked for their views on secondments and how their organisation offers them. So far I have received responses from the following sectors:

University;
Specials;
Government;
TAFE;
State Library.

I would love to get some responses from Library Technicians working in public libraries - so if you work in a public library or know of someone who does, please contact me: http://alia.org.au/~suthmann

Now to give you a small taste of some of my findings, here are some quotes from Library Technicians as to what they found are the benefits of secondments:

"It gave me the experience to work in a different field to my normal one and thus I then faced different challenges and issues."

"Benefits gained include project management skills, policy and report writing, policy development and implementation processes, increased technical knowledge particularly in the area of document security, negotiation skills, problem-solving skills, political skills, and greater understanding of broader organisational issues, particularly with regard to information privacy."

"Gained new knowledge, experienced a different environment not only physically but with patrons as well, for instance different disciplines and broadened my associations with staff."

"I was able to refresh my skills. I also was given the opportunity to learn new skills. My secondment gave me much more variety and a new enthusiasm for work."

"Increased awareness and knowledge of other areas in the library. More self-confidence in dealing with different aspects of jobs. More knowledge of what other staff do, and also learning more about individual members of staff who I don’t normally work with."

Secondments offer staff a wonderful opportunity for professional development. My next post will discuss a little bit why some libraries are not in a position to offer secondments and brainstorm possible solutions to this!!

Now my turn to have a sleep!! 8-)

New Arrival!

2006-02-11T18:20:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post to let you know why I haven't updated the blog for a while. Last Tuesday I was admitted to hospital after my waters ruptured. I gave birth to Anaki Maggie Robyn Uthmann on Saturday 4th February at 5.34am.

Anaki was born 6 weeks early and spent 3 days in the Special Care Nursery. Both mum and baby were discharged on Wednesday 8th February and are settling in well at home.

As a result the D&W research has been sidelined while mum gets her life together and bonds with her new child.

Will be back on track in no time!! Stay tuned!!

Special Libraries and Secondments

2006-01-23T16:15:00.000+10:00

I have had a number of responses to do with Special/Government Libraries and secondments - mainly about why they don't offer them.

The top reason are the lack of staff in special libraries and therefore the limited room to move around and limited opportunities to move into vacant positions.

It would be interesting to see if special libraries would utilise an opportunity to exchange staff with other similar libraries/departments. I participated in a secondment with CSIRO back in 2002. I was still employed by QUT and paid through the QUT payroll. CSIRO was invoiced for my pay at the agreed rate that their position was advertised at. My leave still came through QUT and my super arrangements did not change. Perhaps this is an avenue others might want to look into but perhaps vice versa, e.g. a special library staff member coming to work in a university library. I suppose the only problem would be the replacement of staff - but then does this not lead to further opportunities for either those working in the organisation or those trying to get their foot in the door.

On a side note, I was reading one of my parenting magazines recently and they had an article on blogging kids. This involved parents keeping blogs about their childs/children's development. I'm not sure if I'd want personal information going up on a blog, but perhaps it's a nice way of keeping a diary that your child may refer to when they are older.

Sidetrack During Research - Overseas Secondments

2006-01-09T19:34:00.000+10:00

Whilst researching for my scholarship, I came across the following book that is proving to be quite interesting. Although not directly related to my research, it does raise some interesting points.

The book:

Author: Thompson, Anthony.
Title: MEILLEUR, Mobility of Employment, InternationaL, for Librarians in EURope : professional staff exchanges and secondments between libraries in Western Europe : a survey of opportunities and difficulties / Anthony Thompson.
Published: London : Library Association, 1977.
Description: 68 p. ; 30 cm.
ISBN: 0853656606

I was very much interested in the difficulties encountered through overseas secondment opportunities. Obstacles listed include:

Qualifications: lack of equivalence and the problems of status in the receiving library;
Insufficient knowledge of foreign languages;
Insufficient knowledge of the foreign country and its library system;
Foreign exchange and different standards of living;
Cost of travel;
Accommodation: including home for family, and schools for children;
Social and health insurance;
Schools of librarianship: harmonisation of training;
Library associations: no agencies for fitting persons to jobs;
Governments: discrimination in the public service, based on nationality;
Libraries: not special vacancies for libraries, no funds to pay foreign employees, no prescribed length for exchanges;
Lack of imagination and of appreciation of the value of working abroad;
Advantage not taken of existing cultural agreements between countries and of twinning between towns.

I'm wondering if anyone out there who has participated in an overseas exchanges/secondment would like to comment on any of these obstacles. Are they still the same? Have things improved? What are the advantages of going abroad?

Questions for Library Technician Secondment Participants

2006-01-09T19:26:00.000+10:00

Have come up with a series of questions that I'd like answered for my research. If you are a library technician and have participated in secondments and can answer some or all of these questions, please contact me http://alia.org.au/~suthmann or use the comment feature of the blog:

What benefits did you gain through participating in a secondment?
What was the application process for your secondment?
Were you working at a higher level or at the same level? If it was the same level, what was the rationale behind this?
What challenges did you face during your secondment?
What challenges did you face after completing your secondment?
Did your organisation encourage you to participate in secondments? If so, how did they do this?
Was the secondment internal to the organisation or external?
In your organisation are there many secondment opportunities for library technicians? If not, why do you think this is so?
In your organisation are librarians offered more secondment opportunities then library technicians? If so, why?
Would you return to study if it increased your opportunity at gaining a secondment?
Have you ever applied for a secondment and was not successful? Do you know why?

If you are interested in the outcomes of my research and think there are some questions that should be asked, please also contact me with your feedback!!

Old but New!

2006-01-08T15:35:00.000+10:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I have returned to my substantive position as Document Delivery Assistant at QUT Gardens Point Library. I have not been in this position since May 2004, so it is almost like starting over again.

In my conference paper I presented at the 2005 ALIA Library & Information Technicians Conference neXt - Multi-Skill Me: Secondment Opportunities and Challenges at QUT Library , I mentioned that one of the challenges of secondments is returning to your substantive position, as sometimes the secondment position is much better than your original one. This is the case for me returning to document delivery. This is not to say that I don't enjoy document delivery, it is just that during my secondments I was continually learning new things and working at a higher level. I suppose the challenge is gone - although I am re-learning my document delivery tasks, it is like "been there done that."

However, I am not looking at this as all being negative. Yes I am re-learning old tasks (which makes it somewhat new); yes I'm working at a lower level - but I am looking at an old job with new, more experienced and knowledgable eyes. Hence, I'm in a position to suggest changes or question why things are being done certain ways. Although if someone can tell me an easy way of doing this without upsetting the apple cart - I'd be much appreciative.

So although I return to document delivery with some disappointment, I am still grateful for having had the opportunities that I've had over the last 1 and half years. I've grown as a person and an employee. And in reality, lets face it, with 4 weeks to go until I'm on maternity leave, could I have learnt another position??!! Or should I be thankful that I've come home to document delivery and can concentrate on what motherhood will bring - another secondment 8-) Although with this one I can't return to childless state - and at this stage, nor would I want to.

Another Policy

2006-01-07T13:05:00.000+10:00

Thanks to those who have contacted me offering their assistance with my research. It's greatly appreciated.

I was forwarded another policy during the week:

Western Australia Public Service
http://www.wa.gov.au/opssc/files/publications/standards%20April%202001.pdf

Thanks, Noelle for forwarding that to me!!

Secondment Policies and more!

2006-01-01T10:43:00.000+10:00

Happy new year to all!!

Here are a list of policies on secondments that I have found doing web searches and through replies from people I have contacted:

http://www.admin.utas.edu.au/hr/staff/sd_policy.html University of Tasmania
http://www.uq.edu.au/hupp/index.html?page=25304&pid=25173 University of Queensland
http://www.mopp.qut.edu.au/B/B_12_06.html Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
http://www.pers.mq.edu.au/pmh/17/1704.html Macquarie University
http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy.jsp?policyid=230 Central Queensland University (USQ)
http://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/poldoc/lwop-sec.htm University of NSW
http://www.unisa.edu.au/policies/policies/hr/HR21.asp University of South Australia
http://www.scu.edu.au/admin/hr/policy/sec_8/8_5.html Southern Cross University
http://www62.gu.edu.au/policylibrary.nsf/0/bcd7f211508cabd54a256be200636e11?opendocument Griffith University (within Uni), http://www62.gu.edu.au/policylibrary.nsf/0/7b00f2a01dad84da4a256bf80063f414?opendocument (external to uni)
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/admin/hr/policies/recruitselectandstaffmove/secondment.htm Department of Education Tasmania
http://www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/trans-and-sec/ University of Melbourne

If you know that your organisation has a policy on secondments and it is not listed above, please contact me and I'll add it to the list. Or if your organisations policy is listed there but it is wrong, please let me know: http://alia.org.au/~suthmann

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!

2005-12-23T20:19:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was the last day of my secondment with QUT Kelvin Grove Library Reference Creative Industries team as Reference Librarian. I'd been working as the reference librarian since May this year, and had also (in recent weeks) picked up another secondment as monographs assistant in Library Resource Services for one day a week - that is now also finished. So on Tuesday 3rd January 2006 I will return to my substantive position of Document Delivery Assistant at QUT Gardens Point Library

I have not been in my substantive position since May 2004 so it is almost like starting all over again. And considering I go on maternity leave in 5 weeks time, it seems hardly worth returning. However, I bring back many skills and experiences that I hope to be able to share with the Document Delivery team before embarking on maternity leave. See my full resume to track my secondment travels: http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann/onlineresumes.htm

This is the thing with secondments, they usually, at some point come to an end and it is not always easy for the secondee or the secondees teams to deal with. Depending on the length of secondment and level of enjoyment/challenge one has obtained from being seconded, the difficulty level varies. For me I think it will be difficult. It is definately sad leaving reference behind as it was such a great experience and I worked for such a great team - but then leaving Library Systems in May this year was also difficult due to the working relationships I built.

Alas, I take it in my stride and know that I will be facing a greater life challenge in the coming months, that of becoming a mother!! 8-) A challenge I look forward to but also am very nervous about.

Human Resources Policies - Secondments

2005-12-18T17:05:00.000+10:00

I did some more searching today and came across many Human Resources policies concerning secondments. Unfortunately, the majority of the policies were University policies. This is good in that I have found some policies but most are very similar to QUT's. I'm interested in City Council policies, government department policies and the like.

I find it quite frustrating that in local, state and federal government websites, human resources policies are pretty much hidden from public eye. If anyone has a valid reason for this, please let me know. Also, if anyone knows of any policies out there concerning staff secondments within local, state or federal goverment departments, can you please forward me the details of how to find them!! http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann

At least my research is going somewhere now, as I have many policies to go on.

My other interest is to discover if it makes a difference if you are a librarian or a library technician as to how many secondment opportunities are available to you. If anyone has some comments on that topic, I'd be happy to hear them.

On a side note, I saw the new Harry Potter movie today and must recommend it!! 8-)

Surveys and more surveys

2005-12-16T14:16:00.000+10:00

Being one of those people that hates being phoned in the middle of dinner only to answer and find that it is someone wanting to survey me, I've never been keen on surveying people myself. Probably why when I developed a short survey for my scholarship research I decided it would be in email format so a person could answer at the leisure.

The other day I sent off my first survey's to a list of contacts I'd put together for my scholarship. So far out of the 10 or so I sent, I have received 2 replies saying that they have either forwarded it to the person most likely to answer my questions, or they are unable to answer at this point due to workload but will get back to me in the new year. I probably chose the wrong time to send out a survey - being the silly season and all - with most people going on holidays, so I will send a follow up email in the new year to jog people's memories.

I have also called on my fellow LIS professionals to assist me. I have done this through utilising ALIA's email elists: http://alia.org.au/alianet/e-lists/ I am hoping people are in the Christmas mode of caring and sharing and they will be able to assist me with getting even more info on how libraries offer secondments.

I suppose my worst nightmare would be receiving very few responses and then I suppose I'd have to get drastic and start telephoning people!! 8-)

On a side note, I've reached the 28 week mark of my pregnancy and am rather large - although I know I will get larger. I am interested to see how I cope being a new mum and completing my research project and my studies and anything else I decide to take on. I'd like to hear from other mum's who've successfully managed to balance family and career - so please contact me: http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann

I have also thrown together a conference paper abstract for the upcoming New Librarians Symposium 3 - http://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2006/ I hope to be able to speak about how I have coped with doing my scholarship and being a new mum. I feel this topic will be of great interest to our profession which is predominately female. Many of us, me included, think that our careers have to be put on hold to create and raise a family, but I'm hoping that this is not the case. Regardless, I will be finding out!! And then writing about it!! 8-)

Enough reflecting - back to the real work!!

Blog Marketing Plans

2005-12-11T19:46:00.000+10:00

Back again.

I was lucky enough to win 2 free career coaching sessions with Geraldine Barkworth - Bold Women, Big Ideas - at the ALIA neXt conference in September. I have completed the 2 sessions with Geraldine and got so much out of them that I have planned another session with her in 6mths time - just to make sure I'm on track.

The main reason I wanted career coaching was to gain some ideas of how to deal with the challenges of being a new mum and keeping a foot in the door whilst on maternity leave - i.e. not losing what I had worked hard to build up. I was a bit afraid of dropping off the radar once I start maternity leave. But with the scholarship to complete and some other ideas discussed with Geraldine, it is unlikely that will happen.

One of the things we discussed was creating a marketing plan for my blog - this one!! I have tried advertising on the ALIA elists but I only get short term responses. What I'd like to know is how do you ensure that people keep checking back with your blog to see what you've done since the last post, and how to ensure that there is constant feedback??!! If anyone has any ideas, please share them with me - http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann for contact details.

For those interested in career coaching - something I'd recommend if you are a bit lost at which direction you are going, or you need some coaching in things like time management, then please contact me and I will forward you Geraldine's details!!

Celebrate Qld LIS Professionals Research Success

2005-11-30T19:40:00.000+10:00

I will be making an appearance, and promoting my research, at the following event:

You are invited to join with the ALIA Research Committee and the ALIA Quorum Committee to celebrate the presentation of the 2005 ALIA Ray Choate Scholarship to this year's recipients - Kate Watson and Chelsea Harper from Central Queensland University.http://www.alia.org.au/awards/choate.scholarship/ Kate and Chelsea will be conducting research "Investigating blog and wikitechnology for the enhancement of internal reference services processes" during the coming year.

When : Tuesday 6th December, 2005 5.30pm for 6pm start. 7.30pm finish.
Where : O J Wordsworth Room 12th Floor, S Block QUT Gardens Point Campus

Speaker for the night will be Anna Raunik, Acting Director of Public Library Services, State Library of Queensland. Anna was the recipient of the 2005 VALA Travel Scholarship and she will be discussing herr esearch and study into webconferencing and webcasting in the UK and USA. Other current Queensland library research projects will also be showcased on the night.

Food and Drinks provided so please RSVP for catering by Monday 5th December to Joy Goldsmith - email joy_goldsmith@hotmail.com

Parking available at the QUT Gardens Point Pay & Display Carpark under the South East Freeway.

All Welcome.

Sue HutleyALIA Quorum Convenor
http://www.alia.org.au/groups/quorum/

It's great that there are so many Qld LIS Professionals winning research awards. I can't emphasise enough how important LIS reseach is to our profession - for those with a passion, please apply for an ALIA research award: http://alia.org.au/awards/

On a side note (since we are celebrating Qld LIS success), congratulations to Clare Glanville who was today presented with the ALIA Metcalfe Award!! Claire has recently optained the position of Campus Librarian for the new USQ Springfield Campus Library: http://www.usq.edu.au/springfield/default.htm

I'm Mobile

2005-11-30T19:34:00.000+10:00

Today Christmas arrived at my temporary work desk in Library Systems (the Reference area is currently being refurbished)!! Yes my laptop has finally arrived!!

What does this mean??

It means my research is now mobile!! I can write notes about my research anywhere, anytime!!

It means that when I eventually travel to perform interviews for my research I no longer have to worry about deciphering my indecipherable handwritting (funny how the introduction of computers has lead to a destruction to handwritting skills!!) I can write on the run!! And I can take my laptop into our future baby's nursery and still complete work without disturbing baby!!

My world has opened so much further!! Ok slight exageration but I've been waiting for this moment for some time!!

Articles on Secondments

2005-11-24T17:02:00.000+10:00

It's been a while, but since I'm on a mini-holiday, I thought I better post something to prove that the Scholarship is still on my mind.

Here are some articles I found whilst researching secondments for my conference paper: Multi-Skill Me: Secondment Opportunities and Challenges at QUT Library - http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Uthmann,_Sharon.html

Malinski, RM 2002, 'Job rotation in an academic library: Damned if you do and damned if you don't', Library Trends, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 673-680.

Kish, K 1996, 'Multi-skilling and job rotation', Nexus, January, pp. 2-5.

Pierce, J 2001, 'Job rotation: Beyond your own branches', Library journal, vol. 125, no. 12, pp. 48-50.

Bond, P 2002, 'Changing places', Nursing management, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 12-16.

Critchley, D 2002, 'Second sight', Nursing management, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 12-13.

Burley, D 2004, 'Take a second chance', Nursing standard, vol. 19, no. 7, pp.112.

O'Reilly, N 2004, 'Stepping in to a new role', Personnel today, January 6, pp. 18-19.

Olorunsola, R 2000, 'Job rotation in academic libraries: The situation in a Nigerian university library', Library management, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 94-98.

Cope, B 1995, 'Pros and cons of secondments', Canadian lawyer, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 30-32.

Morris, B 1993, 'Making a swap: Making the most of secondments', Librarian career development, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 23-25.

Watt, E 1994, 'Work attachments and secondments at National Library of Australia for librarians from Asia and Pacific', Education for library and information services: Australia, May, pp. 22-23.

Did you note some of the articles discussing secondments in other professions??!! You may have thought that these were not relevant, but really issues and challenges can be very similar to those encountered in the LIS industry.

What I found interesting was that there is very little written about secondments in large public libraries - is this because they don't happen??!! If you work in a large public library with multiple branches and you know your library offers secondments, please contact me as I'd like to learn more about how they work in the public library sector. I'd also like to know what happens in special libraries. http://alia.org.au/~suthmann/

Applying for research grants and scholarships: Just do it!

2005-11-11T18:42:00.000+10:00

Thought I'd share with you a short article I wrote for the ALIA QUILL Newsletter about applying for research grants and scholarships. It also gives a bit of insight into why I applied for the D&W scholarship.

If you are interested, please visit: http://alia.org.au/groups/quill/issues/2005.9/applications.html

I have also wrote a number of other articles for QUILL over the last couple of years. So you might be interested in reading those as well.

On a side note, although still about research, I'm not sure if many of you work in academic libraries, but if you do, I'm sure you've heard of the Research Quality Framework. I think it's something that academic libraries should be keeping an eye on this as it will be opening many doors for us in assisting academics to discover how to put together portfolio's of their research. It may even prompt us to thinking how we do our research in the future.

For more info, see: http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/policies_issues_reviews/key_issues/research_quality_framework/rqf_preferred_model.htm

Conference Paper Now Available Online

2005-11-04T17:09:00.000+10:00

For those interested in reading my conference paper I presented at the ALIA neXt conference in Sydney in September 2005 - please see:

http://e-prints.alia.org.au/archive/00000078/

Excellent to see so many Library Technician papers on the ALIA eprints site!! I'll also be linking to my paper through the QUT E-Prints site: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/

Questions I want answered

2005-11-02T19:52:00.000+10:00

Semester is almost finished - only one exam to go (on 15th Nov.) and then it's heads down and bum up into this research. This is not to say I haven't been thinking about it, in fact I have been having numerous brain dumps - I suppose this is what this blog is for. A record of my brain dumps.

So today's brain dump concerns what I hope to answer through my research. As you know, I presented a paper on how QUT offers secondments and now I'm looking at how other organisations offer them. So really there are a few things I hope to find out - like:

How does your organisation decide whether a position should be advertised as a secondment rather than a regular position?
Does your organisation have a policy that covers when secondments should be offered?
What are the requirements of your staff in responding to a secondment advertisement, e.g. expression of interest or full application process.
Does your organisation have guidelines (similar to those that QULOC have - see earlier post) on how secondments are offered and organised?
Are particular staff targeted for secondments, if so, why?
Can you give an approximate on how many secondments are offered at the library technician level in your organisation?
When would you encourage a staff member to take part in a secondment and why?
If your organisation doesn't offer secondments - why doesn't it?
What do you see are the benefits of offering secondments?
Do you have any challenges in offering secondments?
If you currently offer secondments and have policies and guidelines - are there any changes that you'd like to make?

That's all I can come up with at the present time. But if you read this and think of more questions you'd like answered - please contact me - see http://alia.org.au/~suthmann for a link to my contact details. I'd love to hear from you!! 8-)

Secondments on Google

2005-10-18T19:51:00.000+10:00

You can tell I'm procrastinating from doing a university assignment - I keep surfing the web!! Should really get rid of broadband - NOT!!! 8-)

Ok here's something that may/may not work. I did a quick search on Google for "secondments" libraries, limit to Australian sites only:
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22secondments%22+libraries&hl=en&lr=&cr=countryAU&start=0&sa=N

Hits: 461 - so we are talking about it and there is information out there. Perhaps I was wrong. Let's try the same search without the limiter:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=%22secondments%22+libraries&btnG=Search&meta=

Hits: 27,400 - wow!! Don't think I'll be going through them.

Enough procrastination - might go to bed instead - yet-to-be-born remaining genderless baby is taking lots of energy from mum!! 8-)

Secondment Reflections

2005-10-18T19:41:00.000+10:00

Some of you got to hear my views on secondments during the presentation of my paper at the ALIA neXt conference in September this year. For those interested in others accounts of secondments I have two stories to share that were published late last year in the QULOC Newsletter: http://www.quloc.org.au/

http://www.quloc.org.au/quloc_news/quloc_news3.pdf QULOC News Issue no. 3 2004. The stories can be found on page 2 and 3.

My Secondment, or Why I Moved to the Beef Capital of Australia? by Sarah McCallan

My Secondment to Central Queensland University Library by Ryan Weymouth

If you have a story to share about a secondment you've been on, please feel free to post to this blog!! 8-)

Interesting thing learnt about secondments today

2005-10-18T18:40:00.000+10:00

Today I signed my upteenth contract to start yet another secondment. I will actually be on two secondments at the same time - reference librarian and monographs assistant.

The reference librarian gets paid at HEW5 level and monographs assistant at HEW4. Rather than run on two different contracts, I am on one contract. How does one account for the pay differences you ask?

Well as it is, I will be doing 23.75 hours in reference and 7.25 hours in monographs. So the contract was made up as a full 62 hours per fortnight contract. Pay was worked out by averaging out the two levels. I never knew that this was done, but now I do. So I actually come off slightly better off - one can't complain.

Even more interesting is that even though I'm technically working 5 days a week one week and 4 days the next (a nine day fortnight) - I'm being paid more than I would working full time - this could be due to the penalty rate on the Sunday I work every second week.

Another thing to ponder before embarking upon a secondment is what happens to your leave. The QULOC Secondment Guidelines I referred to in my last post offer a very fair resolution to leave while on secondment but this is mainly used when one is embarking on a secondment in another organisation. When one participates in a secondment within the organisation it is often for projects or to deal with peak loads in service, thus leave may not be an option. So if you are working at a higher level while on secondment but can't take leave, when you do take leave on return to your substantive lower position you get paid at that level rather than the higher level.

Possibly not an issue for all but one to consider.

Example Secondment Guidelines

2005-10-15T17:52:00.000+10:00

When thinking about what I'd like to find out through my research for the scholarship, the first thing that popped into my head was "how do other libraries offer secondments?" My conference paper discusses how Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library: http://www.library.qut.edu.au/ offers secondments, but I think each library may do it in a different way. I know some libraries don't offer secondments at all as they may belong to a small organisation in which there is no scope for secondments.

Anyway, during my research for my conference paper, I decided it was necessary to discuss QULOC's (Qld University Libraries Office of Co-Operation) Inter-Organisational program of which secondments are a part of. Below is the QULOC Guiding Principles for Secondments:

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES OFFICE OF CO-OPERATION (QULOC)
GUIDING PRICIPLES FOR SECONDMENTS

Staff who have been employed by their home institution for a minimum of 12 months are eligible to apply. Secondments will normally be of six months duration, but may vary from a minimum of three months to a maximum of twelve months.
Payment Arrangements

· Staff members will formally be on secondment to the institution in which they are placed (the host institution) but shall continue to receive their salary and other benefits from their employing institution (the home institution).

As a general principle, the secondee should not suffer any less favourable conditions of employment than at his/her home library.

If conditions of employment vary markedly between the home and host institutions, it might in exceptional circumstances be more desirable for a secondee to be granted leave without pay from his/her home library and engaged as a fixed-term employee by the host institution. However this would be envisaged as a rare solution to meet extra-ordinary circumstances.

· Staff shall continue to accrue leave entitlements, salary increments and all other benefits from their home institution whilst on secondment. Recreation leave may be applied for while on secondment, and it is expected that recreation leave accrued during the secondment will be taken before it terminates. Where possible, prospective secondees shall disclose on their application what leave they intend to request during the period of the secondment. All leave (recreation, sick, special) shall be approved by the home and host institutions.

· It is important that both home and host libraries, and the secondees, be quite clear what arrangements will apply in relation to weekend or evening work, particularly in relation to hours of work and the remuneration and allowances payable for such shift work, etc. The general rule is that the conditions applicable to the home library obtain, along with the appropriate allowances for them; but clearly some flexibility and compromise will be required in specific cases of difference. It is important that any inconsistencies be discovered before appointments are taken up, and agreement reached on their solution then.

· Home institutions will continue to make salary payments and to invoice host institutions (including overhead costs) quarterly.
Reviews

· It is anticipated that both the home and host institutions will review secondment placings and the effect thereof in accordance with their normal procedures.

· Secondees will be subject to the normal review processes of the host institution.

· Should it develop that continuation of a secondment is considered undesirable, by either the home or host institution, its termination should be negotiated between the two institutions. Secondees should be given two weeks notice of the termination of their secondment.

Staff Secondment Agreement

1. The secondment is according to the general principles of the QULOC Staff Secondment Agreement (Attached).

2. The period of secondment will be from (date) until (date) unless otherwise negotiated by the Libraries.

3. (name) remains an employee of (home institution), and will work under (home institution) conditions of appointment, except where variations are agreed upon by both institutions.

4. (name) will continue to be paid at her/his current salary of $0000.00 per fortnight until (date) when her/his increment to $0000.00 is due.

5. (Host institution) will reimburse (home institution) for salary and normal on-costs and shift allowances on a quarterly basis.

6. (name) will send her/his time sheets to (home institution) every fortnight after initialling from (host institution) supervisor.

7. Applications for recreation leave, sick leave etc. during the secondment should be submitted to (home institution), signed by the (host institution) supervisor.

8. X days recreation leave accrued by (name) during the period of the secondment should be taken during the secondment.

9. X days sick leave will be billable to the (host institution). Should there be more, it will be not be charged to the (host institution)

10. Costs of any training and staff development support during the secondment will be borne by the (host institution), unless otherwise agreed by (home institution).

http://www.quloc.org.au/ - click on the drop down menu beside "About QULOC" and select "Documents" and you will find further information about the QULOC Inter-Organisational Program.

If you know that your library has guidelines for offering secondments, can you please contact me. I would love to be able to obtain a copy but understand that some of these arrangements stay behind closed doors or don't even have any written guidelines which are followed. My contact details can be found here: http://alia.org.au/~suthmann/

Starting Literature Review

2005-10-09T17:37:00.000+10:00

The interesting I found when researching for my conference paper - Multi-Skill Me: Secondment Opportunities and Issues at QUT Library - was that there really isn't a lot out there on secondments in libraries. Especially in Australia.

I began to wonder why this is so. I know that there are many libraries that offer secondments for their staff so it wasn't because no one was doing secondments. Then I thought maybe no one is documenting their secondment experiences. This is a common occurance in the Australian library world. Not many library workers document what they are doing. I'm unsure why this is so. Perhaps we think it's not worth sharing or that someone else is already doing it, or no one will be interested, or maybe we just don't have the time. I think it's something that must be worked on in our industry. We really have to document what we are doing and get it published.

The presentation of my paper at the ALIA neXt conference (http://conferences.alia.org.au/libtec2005/) proved that people were interested in secondments and wanted to hear more about my experiences and how we offered them at QUT. This proved that by me documenting my experiences and having them published was worthwhile!! So if you are doing something in your library or career and you don't think it's worth documenting - think again!! I bet you that someone out there is interested.

Now back to searching. So I have started with the most logical database: ALISA - Australian Library and Information Science Abstracts (via Informit Search). I really didn't get that many results when I performed a broad search on "secondments." Out of the results the following two look a little bit promising but I have a feeling won't be that useful:

Record 1 (ALISA)
TI: On the desirability of more frequent intercourse between teachers and practitioners: a response.PA: Dornan, BSO: Riverina Library Review v.1 n.3 p.213-216
PG: 213-216
JT: Riverina Library Review
PD: Spring 84
PY: 1984
AB: A description of the author's one year secondment from a position as a teacher librarian in Western Australia to a position as a Lecturer in Teacher Librarianship at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education. Despite difficulties it is considered that the concept of secondment and exchange is an excellent one. (ALB)

Record 2 (ALISA)
TI: Work attachments and secondments at National Library of Australia for librarians from Asia and Pacific.
PA: Watt, E
SO: Education for Library and Information Services: Australia v.11 n.1 p.22-23
PG: 22-23
JT: Education for Library and Information Services: Australia
PD: May 94
PY: 1994
AB: Explains a program which has been operating in the National Library of Australia since 1980.

So you can see - quite old articles and possibly not really what I'm chasing anyway. I know from previous research that secondments are discussed quite often in education and nursing journals. Why are we not talking about them in library land??!! Are they not important enough??!!

Anyway, might have to rely on talking with staffing development officers within libraries and contacts I make through this blog and elists to get further info.

So I call on you - if you have been involved in a secondment or your organisation offers secondments - contact me!!

Day 1 Baby Bouncing on Bladder Prompts Research

2005-10-08T21:53:00.000+10:00

Good evening to all!!

Due to my not-yet-born child bouncing on my bladder causing me the inability to find a comfortable position for sleep I have decided to set up my Dunn & Wilson Scholarship blog. Welcome to those visiting!!

For more information about the Dunn & Wilson Scholarship please visit: http://alia.org.au/awards/dunn.wilson/

A bit about my scholarship project:

My project will investigate and identify secondment programs offered to library technicians nationwide (Australia) and in all library sectors. This research will be a resource for library technicians seeking secondment opportunities. The aims of my study are:

to investigate the range of secondment opportunities available to library
technicians Australia-wide and in all library sectors;
to spread awareness of the role secondments play in library technicians’
personal growth and professional development;
to highlight secondment programs in different library sectors and provide a
resource to which library technicians can refer when seeking out secondment
opportunities in their careers;
to identify ‘best practice’ secondment arrangements; and
create a body of work that can be broadly utilised.

My interest in opportunities for library technicians to participate in secondments stems from my own experience and the research I conducted for my paper, ‘Multi-skill me’, that was presented at the 2005 neXt conference.

I am a qualified library technician with ten years experience in the academic library sector. I started my career at the Bremer Institute of TAFE before moving to the Queensland University
of Technology, where I currently work as a reference librarian at Kelvin Grove campus library.

For more information about my career and life, please refer to: http://alia.org.au/~suthmann/

So where to start my research?? Well on the project plan outlined in my application for the scholarship I have:

October 2005 – March 2006 Preparation: including research (web/database/catalogue searching), preparing site visits/interview times with contacts.

So I suppose I should get started with the searching. Also, if anyone reading this has been involved in secondments with their organisation, I'd be happy to hear from you. Please feel free to post comments to this site or contact me on the address provided on my website listed above.