LIS New Professionals Network

Hi all, this is a post to announce that Rachel Bickley and Lex Rigby are taking over as the primary admins of the network. This is partly because I'm writing a book and that's eating all my non-work time, but also because the network has been going over a year now and it needs fresh impetus from people other than me to help it grow. Good ideas (and I do think LISNPN is a good idea!) deserve to be passed on to people who can keep the momentum going, and there's all sorts of ideas I've had for the network which I've just never got around to implementing.

The rest of the admin team remains largely unchanged (although Jo Alcock who's done a lot of work on LISNPN's social media presences is stepping down and we thank her muchly for all she's done...) and Rachel and Lex have lots of good ideas to take things forward. 

We're also delighted to finally announce some sponsors! The site has so many members and so much traffic that we pay for a Premium Spruz package - so Phil Bradley (and another sponsor to be finalised later today) have generously stepped in to cover these costs. The ads will appear on the top-left hand side of the home-page, so do click on them (and maybe on some of Phil's own site's ads as well!) and have a look - obviously, we're only accepting sponsorship from legitimate and library-and-information related sources...  And also obviously, but it warrants stating explicitly, all the sponsorship money goes into the site.

To start a network in an already crowded social-media-market-place and get more than 1,200 members is a great thing, I think - thank you to everyone who has helped get us this far, and here's to whatever happens next!

Cheers,

Ned Potter (former LISNPN admin)

Only a few days left to register your entry for the LISNPN advocacy competition. All you need to do to enter is fill in the registration form by the end of April 1st - the actual piece of advocacy you've created will be judged over the month of April. So for example if you create a poster or a slide deck or an article or whatever, its impact and success don't have to have happened by the time you enter.

So please get your entries in! The whole point of this competition is to get people thinking about library advocacy, so no idea is too small to enter - just do something, anything, and you've got a chance of the prize. Any piece of library advocacy that you've created for this competition is elligible.

Don't forget entry is only open to LISNPN members but you CAN join especially to enter.

The first prize is a pass to Umbrella, CILIP's massive two-day conference, and second prize is a trip to the New Professionals Conference. This has been confirmed as taking place in Manchester, at the University, on June the 20th.

You can read all the terms and conditions, and more info on the prizes, on the Competition Page. Good luck!

LISNPN is very excited to announce a new competition, in association with CILIP!

The Prizes

First prize is a full pass to CILIP’s biennial, two day Umbrella conference which takes place at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield (near London), including accommodation and social activities! This prize is worth around £500 and will hopefully give an invaluable opportunity for a New Professional to attend an event normally out of our price range... You can see information about the conference here: Umbrella Website.

Second prize is a pass to the CILIP New Professionals Conference! There will also be the opportunity for you to speak at the conference about your entry to the competition - this is optional though, so don't be deterred from entering the competition if you aren't keen on public speaking...

The CILIP New Professionals Conference takes place in June; Umbrella in July.

The Rules

The competition is very straightforward. Create some library advocacy materials and package them up in such a way that they reach beyond the usual audience for library-related materials. It could be that you create a video so fantastic it gets watched by the kind of people who never normally watch library videos, or create a slide-deck that is so attractive it gets picked up the kind of people who never normally see slide-decks about libraries. It could be an article in a newspaper, or on a website, or it could be an event, or an art-work, or anything at all. The only criteria are that it should raise awareness about libraries or librarians, and try to reach new audiences - to escape the echo chamber, rather than just preach to the converted (i.e other librarians). 

The winner will be the person judged to have done the best job of 'stealth advocising' libraries. It won't necessarily be the person who reaches the highest number of people (although it could be), but whomever is judged to have created the most innovative and successful idea to promote libraries to non-traditional demographics. It's about the concept, and how well it is executed. 

The competition is open to any member of LISNPN (and you can join especially to enter, that's fine) who is a decade or less into their career. We'd encourage everyone to enter, whether you have experience of advocacy efforts or not. The competition will be judged solely on your entries, and previous activities in the area of library advocacy will not be taken into account. First timers welcome! Veterans equally so. 

The thing about this competition is, the industry and the profession benefit from ALL the advocacy efforts that will arise from this, not just the particular projects which win the prizes in the end.

The Judges

The competition will be judged by CILIP CEO Annie Mauger, CILIP Past President Biddy Fisher, LISNPN admin Ned Potter and former New Professionals Coordinator Chris Rhodes.

For the full terms and conditions, and to enter, go to the official competition page on the network.

To ask any questions, and discuss the competition and your entries, go to the official forum thread.

Please tweet, share, and otherwise try and tell as many people about this competition as possible. And good luck!