Weeknote #25: Slow train
I’m writing this on the day’s fourth slow-moving train, heading back from a university open day at Durham with the boy. It’s been a very full week with little time for reflection, so I should perhaps be grateful for the change of pace. With the school holidays kicking in, people were trying to wrap things up before the Summer.
What happened this week?
Interviews for a new CRM role took place on Monday with a strong range of candidates. I always want to combine bits of different people to create the perfect match. Unicorns don’t exist, but I feel pretty confident with our pick.
Another workshop with the SG Digital Team to help them understand our registration requirements. It was good to step them through the process of signing up and issue shiny new Library cards. There’s still a bit of a disconnect between a service providing online sign-in and identification and the need to have people join and manage their ongoing relationship with the Library.
Some contract and procurement wrangling with website, support and CRM agreements. I’m slowly realising the importance of setting out the right contact structures at the start of projects to provide flexibility – and less procurement – in future years.
We’re trying to pull together a last-minute UKRI funding bid, linked to AI development and improving our workflows around large-scale dataset creation. Popping into the GLAM Labs Futures event at Edinburgh Futures Institute was super helpful to tap into the many big brains in attendance. A bit of weekend work beckons to get it over the line in double-quick time.
I’ve been asked to review a draft AI Policy for a high-profile University Library. Lots of great thinking, but it’s hard to untangle top-level principles from practical guidance for staff and service users. I’ve been avoiding creating a more detailed policy document for this very reason, but it feels like setting out some red lines will be helpful for staff i.e. here’s what we will never do. AI Staff Survey update: we’re approaching 125 responses, so almost at the 50% target.
An interesting example from SMK of thinking carefully about when, and how, to deploy AI tools. Machine-generated foreign language content in their new visitor guide is deployed "in the service of accessibility and inclusion" and any automation remains "very tightly curated". Nice.
Interesting things and other stuff
No time for any additional reading this week, so no nice links to share, apart from these reflections by Hugh Wallace on the social media ban.
The sunshine was amazing at the start of the week – not too hot, with a nice breeze (and yes, internet, I am aware it was very hot in London). That said, the crazy lightning storm in the middle of Thursday night felt a little bit like the end of the world. Here's a nice review of the Library's Rain exhibition.
Durham felt like the perfect match today in terms of course, set-up and size, but it's a big ask in terms of entry requirements (plus, they rejected me back in the day, so it's no biggie if it doesn't work out). Everywhere looks better in the sun, and we got very sweaty playing train roulette at the end of the day. After a day of 30 degrees and blazing sunshine, we arrived back in Edinburgh to be greeted with full on haar.
I’m enjoying Alice and Steve (Disney+) and was delighted to see guest appearance by Jordan Brookes, my favourite comedian and a must see at the Edinburgh Fringe (which reminds me I need to get booking).
The World Cup continues and it’s been good to watch games together with friends and neighbours. That said, I feel a little saturated with all the content, especially after an England game where nothing took place, and a Scotland match where the inevitable happened.
