Managing your boss

Following several discussions about different management issues, I came across an article from the Harvard Business Review. First published in 1980, it has become "a staple at business schools and corporate training programs worldwide". Reading through it myself, I found that it provides many good tips and promotes common sense thinking that I could use in managing all my relationships.

Here's the reference to the 2005 reprint:

Gabarro, J. & Kotter, J. 2005. Managing your boss. Harvard Business Review. 83 (1): 92-99.

I downloaded it from http://www.slmgtgroup.com/protected/Archives/Harvard%20Leadership%20Articles/Managing%20Your%20Boss.pdf

Looking Back

It's good to be home but I miss the Academy dearly - Mont Fleur, All of you, the stimulating lectures, Pat's clockwork organising. What a wonderful experience!

Enjoy the pictures and the memories.
http://picasaweb.google.com/116037142212621528768/RLCAcademyMontFleurOct2010

Back home after the academy

It is wonderful being back home again, but I do find myself thinking back about all of you all the time. Thank you so much to all of you. Everyone attending and presenting were contributing to a wonderful experience for me.

UKZN Research Commons turns two years old

Read about it on the Research Commons Conversations blog at http://rlcresearchcommons.blogspot.com/. RLC librarians, please send me an email if you would like to be able to post to the RC blog - Caroline Dean at UCT.

Day One and Day two of Week 2

This is the week when we look at developing skills for supporting research. There were some good "takeways" (food metaphor again!!)

Karin stressed the importance of knowing about the mechanics of research. And asked whether we were radical librarians who were subject specialists - or at least owned our subjects, reading subject literature and constructing bibliographies. While Colin reminded us that academic librarianship is a specialisation. There was a discussion about the tradition of "scholar-librarianship".

And he asked whether the LIS schools are teaching the right competencies, and what some of the problems within the LIS education sector were:
* too many confusing qualifications * too early as a professional degree * too much "management" * too much technology and too little technosavvy * too little subject knowledge and * too little research experience.

Johann Mouton spoke about knowledge production of SA universities, in some cases, echoing and taking the opposite views of earlier speakers. Real food for thought!!!

And Tuesday's speakers addressed issues related to access to information, intellectual property and research ethics.

(follow #libacademy on twitter for updates...)

Week2@MontFleur

This week started with winter weather and likewise a complete change in direction. Monday, the focus was on what the library needs to do to partner in enhancing research. From the challenges of the new "radical flying librarian", to understanding the new "wild user" , to a hindsight comparison of the German "referenten". Very challenging and motivational. Prof Mouton explain Knowledge production in SA in such a manner that I could understand which trends can be deducted from interpreting statistics.
All in all, again a very valuable day .

One week later...

One week at the Academy and cannot believe what I've learned! I just enjoyed today's presentations - all about the research environment - specifically in South Africa - and journals and ScIELO - making the life of a researcher easier, faster and better with Open Access...
To all my "30 seconds" friends - I'll miss you next week!
Have a look at the Mont Fleur Photo collection on Facebook - nice pictures of the picnic of last week.

New week at the Academy

This new week at the Academy seems to be a whole new ball game. It is much more focused. I have a list for new ideas picked up here and things that I would like to implement at my institution. This list grew by leaps and bounds today. I think I need a new 'research diary'.
Sunette

Chillin' at the Academy - some photos

Vacancy: UCT Libraries, Executive Director

The University of Cape Town invites applications for the position of Executive Director: University Libraries. The campus seeks an innovative and dynamic leader, with a proven record as an effective manager, who is able to articulate and implement a clear vision for a major, next-generation research library in support of the University’s strategic plan. See the full advert at http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/about/intro/vacancies/execacad/2010/Libraries_ExecutiveDirector_Oct10.doc

Illustrated guide to a Ph.D

Spotted this on a number of blogs - The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/

Enjoy!

First week at Mont Fleur

Wow, I cannot believe it is only one week here at Mont Fleur. I have learned so much from the lectures/presentations, but also during the group discussions with collegues from other institutions. I think the program is excellent, diverse and thought provoking. I am very much looking forward to the second week. But, first I am going to enjoy the weekend and get some sleep.

This Academy's relaxation seems to be '30 seconds' with all the fun and laughter going with it. It is wonderful to also get to know the other delegates in such a relaxed way.

Sunette

Day 4 and Day 5

These two days have been really full of brilliant speakers ... I need time to digest everything, but some takeaways:

Dr Eugene Cloete, Dean of Science at US: Imagine having a university on the web using what is out there on the web already. The possibilities are endless.

Prof Renfrew Christie : We were given print copies of the talk, which I am certainly going to share with my colleagues in my library. Again, challenging .. SA University research is inadequate to serve the needs of a country of 50 million people and an economy which is in the top thirty of the world. Good specialist research librarians get Ph.ds. And what makes a Ph.d friendly library?

Dr Robert Morrell sharing his research journey, as didDr Gaelle Ramon, from the UCT Research Office. "Library" did not feature on the list of advice and services the Research Office tells their researchers about .. so here is something for the UCT Librarians to take back and work on. (Although talking to our other colleagues afterwards, the connections between the other libraries and the institutions' research offices are the same - so a challenge for all of us!)

And the very practical advice that came from Prof Chrissie Boughey about writing.

And today?
Wowee! The presentation by Prof Martin Villet on forensic entomology was fascinating, while Dr Andrew Kaniki demystified the NRF and flagged some issues for research librarians where they can support their researchers, which included the liaison with the institutions' research offices. Dr Andrew Nash compared Excellent Universities with Honest Universities, while Dr Adam Haupt introduced his research about HipHop (which I must admit I know very little about - maybe a generational thing?)

But the Wow today was Prof Adam Habib (DVC Research at UJ) with his thought-provoking, at times radical and controversial comments. We need to keep the South African context in view at all times. Yes, look internationally but keep the local context in view - in fact, start with the local context and what our students and academy needs.

A really radical thought was to use a public system to purchase access to journals, as is done in Brazil and Chile amongst other countries. That the journal budgets for all the libraries are combined and that access is purchased that way and that everyone (all institutions) have access. He raised the question of why the academic libraries were chasing international partners when we should also be looking at local partners. We need to act as a system, not individuals.


(Can I please get away from these food metaphors!!!)

Day 4 @ MOnt Fleur

Pof Eugene Cloete blew my mind : a paradigm shift in tersiary education which is working smarter with what is already out there on the Net to provide a win win solution. We will gladly follow his steps to free time up for supporting researchers at our institutions. Using teaching of the highest quality from the Net and ensuring that undergrads are having FUN at learning . Its all about us finding the "fun" in our jobs too.

Prof Boughey yet again blew my mind , Where was this all my life? She unlocked the secrets of writing to us all. I am definitely starting a "Dear diary" asap to improve my writing skills and applying the pre-writing, drafting and editing steps to the process.

The yoga and drumming was a magnificent stress releasor. We could tap into our inner child to restore our energy for the rest of this uplifting Academy. Lovely rain, dramatic wind sounds and billowing clouds created an exciting backdrop to our day.

Day Four at Mount Fleur

Prof Christie and Prof Boughey really gave out of this world presentations today. Christie gave librarians a challenge to acquire PhDs and persuaded us that it is doable. Boughey, on the other hand, really hit the nail on the head when she said 'writing is learning' and 'learning is writing'. I have found in my studies that if I prepare for an exam or test I forget things that I did not write down in my preparation. I did not know that this was supported by research literature.

What a fantastic day!

3rd day @ Mont Fleur

Our day started with Stan Du Plessis talk on Research in Economics. I liked his explanation of libraries being a kind of decentralised cooperative market shared with scholars over time and space. A new viewpoint for me .

Lisa Kane shared her personal journey as a researcher with all the frustrations and challenges , trying to find her topic, a supervisor and support in general : pointing to gaps where the library can play a huge role in supporting new researchers .
Again a wonderful thought provoking day !
But I am exhausted now and my head is spinning with all the ideas !
Off to bed now.

The Third Day

I am just bowled over by the presenters - we are so fortunate to have be exposed to people like Prof Stan du Plessis (US) and Lisa Kane (UCT) who had really good things to say about libraries and the support they get. As well as some practical "stuff" we can take back to our institutions. This afternoon's session with Shamiema McLeod was different, but worthwhile - it is always very difficult to expose oneself!

The website - the academic facebook site - is http://www.academia.edu - and we, as research librarians, should be there.

library academy - mont fleur

This is our 3rd day at mont fleur, having wonderful time. This morning we had a presentaion from a young Prof du Plessis from the dept of economics. He told us that saving doesn's make one rich but productivity does. Meaning that as research librarians we need to be productive, our productivity will produce more researcher and our institutions and our country become rich. this might not mean rich in terms of money but in terms of knowledge.

The second presenter was Ms Kane an Associate Researcher from the University of Cape Town, who gave us tips on how to survive in the world of "Research".

That was not the end of the day. After Lunch we had Ms McLeod, she taught us that frustration is something that you as an individual you do to yourself, but we can get out of it by re-assessing the situation and think of the future in terms of "PURPOSE" "VISION" "INTENTION".

Walks, hikes and Day2

I love Marguerite's blog with her analogy of the mountain walk (did they say WALK???)

The speaker who really stood out for me on day 2 was Carla Tsampiras. I found her energy totally uplifting and inspiring and I felt almost reduced to tears by her obvious passion for what she does.

Prof Foster was challenging and took us out of our comfort zone - exactly what we needed at the end of a day of being passive listeners.

Roll on Day 3. I can't wait.

Thanks also to all my fellow walkers (hikers?) who encouraged, sympathised and were so cheerful and positive and allowed me to finish the hike! A really nice way to end a stupendous day.

Day 2

The absolute highlight of the day was the guided mountain walk… and, while walking back, thinking that it really was all the sweat and - at sometimes - the regret of even started worth, made me reflected back on all the speakers of the day…

Maybe research feels like this mountain walk …

First you have to start…

“Research should be fun, rewarding and be seen as a privilege…” – according to the first speaker of the day, Prof. Saurabh Sinha, who took us through all the stages of the PhD pyramid. Our second speaker, Carla Tsampiras, actually illustrated how a history PhD student can be excited and enthusiastic about research. Back to the mountain walk: although at one stage I really regret even started it, I actually felt proud being one of the few who finished the walk and reached the beautiful waterfall... Research can also be a difficult process – and you may sometimes regret even started it – but, at the end – knowing that you are one of the few who finished it, it is worth all the sweat and tears…

I don’t think I will ever try to do this mountain walk on my own... Our guide, Michael, guided us on the right tract – he gave interesting information about the fauna and flora on our route, he motivated, informed and assisted those who needed a little support through difficult areas – made me think of the role of the supervisor (or in some cases the librarian?) The third speaker, Prof Diane Hildebrandt emphasised the importance of group work and peers helping to assist each other: What can I say – if it wasn’t for Esther, and Roelien, and Yusaf, and Suzy, and Biziwe, and Viv, and Carine and Richard and Sulvej and Wouter…as well as all the others – I don’t think I would have been able to reach that waterfall…

Prof. Meg Samuelson focussed on interdisciplinary research from the perspective of literacy or cultural studies, while Prof. Leslie Swartz told us more about collaborative research.

To conclude the day, our librarians, as the guardians of knowledge, were informed about epistemiologies, onthologies and the branches of knowledge...

…the mountain walk was worth everything…

Amazing race

The second day felt like the amazing race. We have been exposed to different domains from Electrical and Electronic Engineering to vibrant History, than back to Chemical Engineering through to English literature and we ended off with Psychology. The race was amazing and i am not even talking about the guided tour up the mountain with Michael who are absolutely amazing. Thank you for those who played 30 seconds, it was amazing.

The Second Day

What a full day! And what amazing speakers! Dr Saurabh Sinha (UP) in his talk on Why & How to do a Ph.d, listed some strategies for Ph.ds which includes reading literature around the area, to go to many seminars as one can, make the most of attending conferences and to join professional societies. And the passion that emanated from Carla Tsampiras (History, Rhodes) about libraries and archives! While Prof Diane Hildebrandt (COMPS, Wits) speaking specifically about electrical engineering, said they want their students to about 6 months getting familiar with the field, before getting familiar with current literature. Meg Samuelson (English, US) spoke about interdisciplinary research from the perspective of literacy/cultural studies. Although she doesn't use the library herself, she has an army of research assistants who do. One of the first things she does when appointing research assistants, is to get the subject librarian to give them training.

Prof Leslie Swartz (Psychology, US) spoke about international collaborations and projects that he is involved in while Prof Don Foster (also Psychology, UCT) provided much entertainment and laughter in talking to the group about Knowledge. (I think I am going to make a point of heading into one of his classes when I get back to UCT!)

The day ended with a guided walk on the mountain... sadly I got half way up, and I then voted myself off the mountain!

Tomorrow sees my research report consultation with Karin and Colin at the end of the day.

Day two at Mont Fleur

I enjoy being here at Mont Fleur so much. I find the presentations and lectures very stimulating. Slowly but surely the participants are also getting to know each other and I find the conversations thought provoking and interesting. Thank you to all of you that participate in making this a 'life changing' experience.
Sunette

First Day @Mont Fleur

A most thought provoking and interesting first day. One of the highlights for me was Prof Gevers' talk on Research in South Africa and the new possibilities SciELO can open up, for instance the e-translation facility which means articles in non-English languages can be accessible to all. This implies that more articles can be written in the mother tongue and thus broadening the vocabulary of indigenous languages on tersiary levels in all desciplines. Articles in languages like Portugese, Spanish etc will now also be freely accessible to all.

Open access publishing can also be pushed forward by a different pay model. Prof Gevers proposed that the Institution pays the once-off fee for an article to be published and thereafter the article is in open access for ever. This is a sustainable model and makes economic sense.

Dr.Lorraine Haricombe(Univ Kansas) was a guest at the second session today and provided interesting reflections on how libraries in the USA repond to the demand for research support. She also mentioned the Faculty status of some librarians in the USA, what it demands and that not all librarians prefer that : some choose to be practitioners. Different roles in different libraries, which resonate with our situation.

A lovely walk in the mountain covered with a magnitude of veldflowers and magnificent views, completed the first day for me on a high note !

What a day!

The first day has come and gone, and it was a very interesting day with Prof. Wieland Gevers kicking off with a very informative overview of research. The other speakers were all good.
(The FOOD hhhmmmm......What can i say???????) Simply devine
Looking forward to the next day.......

The First Day

(If I seem to have food on the brain, it's because we seem to be constantly eating!)

A full programme today, with Prof Wieland Gevers, who spoke about the SciElo (the Scientific Electronic Library Online) and the South African journals that have been included in his overview of research. More South African journals will be added in due course. Maryna van den Heever (Wits) and Cyrill Walter (UCT) spoke about their RCL experiences. John Tosh speaking on why history matters and touched on what academic historians can offer the wider public. Dr Zeblon Vilakazi from iThemba Labs spoke about the work and research in accelerator based sciences.
A full day with lots to think about.

Day 1

What a day! The Academy only kicked off yesterday, and I already learned so much!

Our first presenter this morning, Prof. Wieland Gevers gave a very informative overview on research publishing in South Africa. He referred to the important roles of the editor and peer reviewers in order to ensure high standard research output. International journals and citation analysis were also discussed. In order to allow a rise of the South, South Africa needs local publication of science. He referred to the important role of ScIELO and concluded with a brief discussion on the future of Open access publishing.

Two participants of the 2007 Library and US Internship 2008, Maryna van den Heever and Cyrill Walters shared their experiences with us. Maryna explained how the knowledge and research skills she gained at the Academy influenced her work and especially the services delivered to researchers at her institution. Cyrill focussed on her experience in the United States - especially at Yale University.

A very interesting discussion on the reasons why history matters followed after lunch and made us aware of the ways in which history can influence the present decisions.

The last presentation of the afternoon was done by Dr Zeblon Vilakazi, Managing Director of iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Science. He discussed research in Nuclear Physics and referred to the importance of knowledge management in the research environment.

Then we divided in small groups for our first reading circles.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's programme.

The end of our first day at the Academy and what a full and fruitful day it has been. The speakers were without exception, excellent and I am really looking forward to the rest of this week and next.

Just need to watch the calorie consumption!

We ended our day with a reading circle to discuss articles around Nicholas Carr's
"deep reading" and "deep thinking" in relation to Archie Dick's article about the quality of apartheid prisoner's reading and relating that to Debray's idea of the graphosphere as part of the mediasphere.

Hi Everybody!

I am Marguerite Nel from the Veterinary Science Library of the University of Pretoria. I am looking forward to the two weeks at Mont Fleur in the beautiful Stellenbosch. Apart from gaining new skills and knowledge, I know we're also going to make new friends. See you all on Sunday!