Category: Collaboration

Magnificent Summer Art: roots to blossoms

Published on by Seema RampersadLeave a comment

The summer days are here and I have been looking forward to June with much anticipation. The reason for this excitement is the biennial E17 Art Trail 2017, which ran this month with a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) theme. In cold January, some of my neighbours and I met in the pub to discuss how were going to participate in the art trail.  After a brainstorming session, we agreed that we would try to begin the process of creating a community garden in a public space that was a little nondescript, and in need of some attention.  Our title art trail submission from this garden was ‘Tree of Life’ which worked with the existing trees already in the green space, and to highlight the environmental benefits of this little oasis on the corner of a residential area and busy high street.

Earth, Wind and Fire

Sun, Rain

Wind, Snow

Hail, Sleet,

Chaos, Calm

Energy, Light

Day, Night

Earth, Sky

Stars, Moon

Out and Open to the Elements

Our Tree of Life.

by Seema.

Fast forward a few months to June and we have now created a community garden with some community funded that was kindly suggested by our local councilor Cllr Saima Mahmoud. We also found out from Cllr Saima that for the long term, we can nominate the space for a council run project call ‘Making Places’. We most certainly will be looking to develop this place further.

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In the last few months, I have relished the art elements of helping to create the garden and sourcing STEAM items, such as solar lights, wind chimes, bird nests, paints and other items to showcase the trees. We also got dirty in the process of tidying and clearing the area one weekend, and planted the garden borders another weekend.  Without a doubt – I loved coordinating and decorating the terracotta pots that were distributed to 20 residents too decorate, and then plant them with an outdoor plant.  It was even more pleasurable to get them delivered to my home one by one – it was a privilege to hold them if only temporary in my own garden before the official launch of the E17 Art Trail on 3rd June.

Bob, a local resident, also came up with a brilliant idea to create cogs with the help of the local wood turners, Nichols Brothers, to the STEAM theme.  The cogs were a hit with the garden visitors, and I frequently saw children playing with them as I went past.  I also liked that it reflected the cycle of the life of a tree.  Since then I have paid attention to many by-products from trees – paper, furniture, buildings etc.  I was even inspired to buy a wooden bracelet from a shop off Walthamstow Market that only sold wooden products.

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We placed STEAM themed poems on one of the trees to add interest to the garden especially as we are officially known as Poet’s Corner E17. We have already showcased poems and stories a few years ago, and coincidently when I was researching this idea, I saw the Royal Botanical Garden in Scotland also had poems on their trees.  John Hudson, a poet with local connections, had one of his poems displayed in their tree…and ours of course! I was also motivated to write some brief poems (some on here, be kind to me!) as they were tweeted during the art trail.

Tree of Life

Give me a…

T – Towering

R – Rejuvenating

E – Energising

E – Elasticity

o – Oxygen

f – Fibrous

L – Living

I – Indigenous

F – Fruitful

E – Evergreen (sometimes)

Tree of Life.

by Seema.

We also wanted to encourage wildlife, and so we sourced two bird nests for one of the trees. I had the pleasure of painting them with my son.  I made a point of tagging on to 1000 Swifts project to raise awareness of Walthamstow Wetlands (one of the largest urban wetlands in Europe), and Swifts as part of the E17 Art Trail. There were literally fabulous artistic Swifts all over Walthamstow that were displayed everywhere locally!  The magic and serendipity was also apparent on social media with RSPB sharing facts and figures about the importance and habits of this extraordinary bird.  Swifts migrate all the way from Africa to Europe each year, and can fly without stopping for days and months.  They became a metaphor to me – the Swifts in flight were like music to my ears…floating and gliding on their merry way, and so I was inspired to include them in the garden.

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We collaborated with another art trail project called the Bird Box Stories (@birdboxstories). There were several artistically decorated Bird Boxes that were distributed around Walthamstow, and in them they contained a notebook and pens for you to continue the collaborative story. You can also draw a little picture if you preferred.  It was a lovely to continue the story written by someone else whilst sitting and taking in the garden view in the sunshine. Some writers used the Bird Box notebook to give us positive feedback on the garden too!

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The garden will continue hopefully in the long term as we are going to nominate it in the borough’s Making Places project as mentioned above. Hopefully it will develop into a proper place for the local community, residents and passer-bys near a busy main street with phenomenal amount of regeneration in the area. We really could not leave this spot neglected for much longer.  In our ‘Welcome Hour’ for the opening weekend of the garden, and frequently during the art trail – we had positive feedback from local residents, businesses, strangers and passer-bys on how some simple low-budget items, and plants had transformed the public green space and made it into a ‘place’.  I saw people reading, chatting, reading poems, admiring the space and generally appreciative of what we as residents and volunteers have completed.  It feels very worthwhile!

In the performance art side, we also held a puppet show ‘Vikings and Valkyries’ by E17 Puppets on the road at our new street gallery. The performance was brilliant, funny, interactive and very engaging for children and adults.  Our main concern was that it did not rain on the beautifully handcrafted puppets.  This area of our neighbourhood was recently pedestrianized and it a much more pleasant area than the rat-run it used to be.

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In the neighbourhood, we certainly had some serious fun with our 6th annual street party with the New York Block party inspired theme.  We had a live funk brass band called ‘The Cracked’, salsa instruction and dancing, serious grooves with our resident DJs and fun activities on one of the hottest summer days of the year. See more photos on our blog here.  Hopefully 40 years in the future…the children will remember these fun times as I remember growing up similarly in Trinidad.

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I also attended a fab concert a St Mary’s Church in the neighbourhood to see Senegalese Kora player, Seckou Keita, who is one of the best Kora players. The instrument is beautiful (partly made out of a Calabash tree fruit) and made mesmerising music. Seckou Keita was great at telling stories whilst playing the Kora and getting us to sing back, such as in a ‘call and respond’ gospel style.

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I was so pleased that I was able to see this concert as part of a new initiative call the St Mary’s Art Collective.  The same church also had displays for the art trail which included fab women in STEM by the artist Emma Scutt, a Caribbean Windrush installation and other pieces by young artists.

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It was funny that week as I went to churches three times for art trailing and social reasons! I also went into Westminster Abbey for a work-related Summer Reception and was impressed with the 1200s era mural, Poets Corner, stained glass windows and other interesting features of the abbey.  It was the first time I went inside the abbey after remembering Prince Andrew’s and Sarah Ferguson’s wedding televised live to Trinidad, as well as other televised state occasions since then.  I also visited St Saviour’s Church in Walthamstow to see Veronique’s, my friend, art trail display.  I even bought one of her pieces and she was raising funds for a local charity she supports called Carefree Kids.

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Special thanks to all the neighbours who helped create the community garden and also for the E17 Art Trail team for giving us the opportunity to create art in a place where we live for the whole community and guests.  There is always something creative going on in my neighbourhood, where I work and sometimes at home. So I may seem relentless on social media, as some of you have mentioned to me.  I can only explain that there is some special energy where I am, or it is just me being me.

If you want to see my neighbourhood’s art heritage, the ‘Be Magnificent’ exhibition on the art school influence of Walthamstow School of Art 1957-1967 is currently on at William Morris Gallery. This really is a motivation place to get your creative sparks, heat and inspiration.  Like our ‘Tree of Life’ small community garden in its’ natural living form, and with future plans for development of the place – the roots are there with hope and aspiration for its’ future, and I have an inkling feeling that out of this small art project, the best is yet to come!

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Information Superhighway: access all areas

Published on by Seema Rampersad1 Comment

The Information Superhighway was a term used when I started working in the information industry in the early 1990’s. There are also a few books published on the topic at the time and my manager ordered some for our collection in the library where I worked. Recently I was reminiscing with my ex-colleague, Lina Kouzi, about this and we discussed how revolutionary it was at the time. That was about 24 years ago…before “everyone” used the web. I had already attended lectures at university on the “information society” vision that was a precursor to the information superhighway or cyberspace, as we now know it. All of this is history, but there are two aspects of the information and library world that will remain relevant even now: (1) Some people can use web-based sources very easily for their information needs, cruise at their leisure and/or accelerate in the fast lane for such things as the deep web and e-commerce. But (2) there are also parts of society and the developing world that do not have access to this road – much less so to a superhighway. These access barriers get forgotten sometimes.

Librarians and information professionals are always keen to help users to access content regardless of format, and to provide content that is relevant, correct, critically analysed within research frameworks and standards in various fields of interest.

This month, it was such a pleasure to volunteer to represent SLA Europe in Dublin for the inaugural Information Professional Career Expo at the Dublin Business School in Ireland. I was keen to meet professionals and new graduates in the Irish Information Community and to make time to see my ex-colleague and friend Lina at the National Council for the Blind in Ireland (NCBI). I flew into Dublin City Airport early in the morning and Lina took me straight to her office at the NCBI. I have kept track of Lina’s amazing work over the years and I find the library and media services she provides to the blind and partially sighted to users across Ireland awesome and inspiring! There are many features about their services that are unique and tailored for their users, such as a collection of braille resources and various media output in audio recordings of news, magazines (journals), books, etc. Lina showed we around the purpose built office in the Dublin suburbs with traditional library storage, but also with BBC standard built recording studios and booths. It was also very nice to be introduced to her colleagues, and I made sure I told them how amazing their work is to their users.

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Lina is also working with the local residents in a deprived community on a programme for up-skilling and training with recording items from the collection to be sent to users. I also saw the postal bags for materials that are sent out across Ireland free of postage charges, and with easy postal bags for users who may find it challenging to return items to the library. Some of her users have access to content on memory USB sticks, which are then returned in these postal bags (see photo). Library users have machines and devices for playing the audio materials that they receive from the NCBI. Obviously, there are younger users who may have smarter technology but some of them still use tradition and antiquated machines, as they are familiar with the machines. Lina created an annual report with some amazing facts and figures of their work and the valuable contribution they provide for their users and the positive impact this service has on users’ quality of life.

We both loved catching up and it was non-stop chatting on old and new stories. That is the beauty of being with an old friend – you pick up where you left off! We both quietly recalled and congratulated each other on our careers’ progress and how those early days at Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) were foundations skills and learning in the ‘Books’ and ‘Journals’ sections even in a corporate library – the experience is still relevant to the services we provide today in our current roles in terms of the ‘content’, transferable and business skills that we possess.

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After a quick lunch at the Temple Bar district of Dublin, I made a quick dash in the Dublin Taxi to the inaugural Information Professionals Career Expo at the Dublin Business School (DBS). Bursting with energy and excitement after seeing my dear friend, I entered the expo in full swing to a warm welcome to meet Irish SLA Europe members and DBS contacts Siobhan McGuinness, Neasa McHale and Marie O’Neill. I was mainly here to network, exalt the benefits of SLA Europe as a global network of information professionals and to give advice to anyone who wanted to chat at our stall.  I had the pleasure of meeting a few new graduates and gave then a few tips on how they can keep in contact with SLA Europe and what we are up to by our social media channels.  I also spoke on some of the more important CPD and social events we host. I gave tips on job seeking and staying on top of their personal development and seeking emerging new roles as well as traditional ones.

Representing SLA Europe
Lovely Neasa, Siobhan and Emma
Philip from the Library Association of Ireland
SLA Europe Nibbles and Networking at Information Professional Expo 2017
Nibbles and Drinks.

In the general career mentoring area, I also met Florence Curley from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  Florence and I (like many other geographical territories) used to communicate to exchange information and assist each other in finding information or leads for our library users.  It was nice to meet someone in person you have never met before – even if it was 10 years ago that I left PwC!

It was also a pleasure to give a short talk at the start of the SLA Europe hosted networking and nibbles, where I was introduced by Philip of the Library Association in Ireland.  Philip set the tone with any introduction that called for information professionals to be excited to “put information in the hands of their users”, but also to “fight the good fight” with all the changes in the industry. I had prepared for a light-hearted talk on my career and what SLA Europe has meant for me and my own professional development, but I went on to mention thoughts that was hopefully motivational, encouraging and praiseworthy. I also urged the room to be prepared for the fight that we face as information professionals.  There are various roles, industries, subjects and creative cultural aspects of our valuable contribution – and I made sure that point was not missed.  Siobhan has written a fab Information Professional Expo event review here.

Info Professional’s Career Expo
Promoting Professional Organisations
Meet people from industry.

It was really nice to meet many of the group attending the nibbles and networking afterwards for a more personal chat on issues and opportunities that they may face. It was a true pleasure to attend these different venues in Dublin with varied user experiences and professional elements, which personally put the library and information industry into clearer perspective on the roads that lie ahead.

My time in Dublin was not all work and I was able to take a nice walk to my hotel, spend the evening listening to live music in my music-themed hotel and go by train to Galway the next morning.  I have visited Ireland before about 15 years ago for St Patrick’s Day, and definitely, it is a fabulous city that is worth a visit.  The countryside on the way to Galway was beautiful and very cliche green with livestock roaming the fields.  It was such a joy to see the animals resting, playing or grazing in the green grass of Ireland.  Galway was really nice as shown in my photos and I hope to visit Ireland again one day to see more of the countryside.

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Not only did I spend time speed networking in Dublin, but I also attended the Business Show as part of the Business & IP Centre team at Excel in May.  It is amazing that information is ubiquitious and accessible night and day in the palm of our hands, but people still want face to face information or pointers for those hard-to-find information needs.  Even if it is to reassure them what they already know.  I assisted with about 15 speed mentoring sessions for the London Growth Hub at the Business Show and most speed mentees wanted information that was practical or confirmation of where they can go to find out what they were looking for. The Information Superhighway may be all well and good but there is still a need for information professionals to provide that face-to-face conversation or provide answers that some people still need…and they may prefer to communicate in person. We still do this everyday in the library where I work.

Fake News and digital literacy are other issues that have come to the forefront in the last year.  This had probably been exasperated by social media and mainstream news being manipulated by the powerful.  This is not a new issue and I have been interesting in the topic for a while but not overly passionate about it.  There is a fabulous article in Information Today May 2017 entitled ‘What’s behind fake news and What you can do about it‘ by Kate Dempsey – which gives some fabulous insight into the role of information professionals and librarians in fact-checking and preventing the spread of misinformation. Tracey end by stating “It is vital to prove your continued value, and this is a timely, powerful way to do it. It’s one thing to repeat the old trope ‘People need libraries now more than ever,’ and that is another thing to get out there to prove it”.

It is vital to prove your continued value, and this is a timely, powerful way to do it. It’s one thing to repeat the old trope ‘People need libraries now more than ever,’ and that is another thing to get out there to prove it” – Information Today, May 2017, ‘What’s behind fake news and What you can do about it‘ by Kate Dempsey.

As with all content, we eventually will manage archives for future scrutiny, analysis and fact-checking. We are here to provide accurate, impartial and unbias information for independent research and for the empowerment of our users. This is not always easy, appreciated or even possible, but we professional won’t have it any other way!  It is our standards. So if you get away with half-truths or disinformation – we will eventually catch up with you in time!  I remember telling the attendees at the networking event in Dublin that I would have changed my career by now if I didn’t like being an information professional. I haven’t always had the “luck of the Irish” in my career…but I do feel lucky to do what I do.  Information works for me.

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Emerald – Ireland from the airplane.

Fashion Conscious

Published on by Seema Rampersad8 Comments

I am not an expert, queen or slave to fashion but like most people, I have a keen interest in fashion throughout the ages. Growing up with lots of women and female cousins around me meant that we would chat, admire and pass on hand-me-downs items of clothing. I think that was such a lovely and memorable part of growing up. Again, I repeat that I come from a little island in the Caribbean but we were still in step with fashion trends. Matriarchs in my family have some fabulous photos of classic late 1950’s and 1960’s fashion, and some of these would look just as on trend today! There are two points that I like about this – the sustainability of sharing unwanted clothes with close ones, and the important creative inspiration that fashion archives are for new creations and innovations.

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It is so easy to find historic fashion on the web in various fashion archives. I follow Europeana on Twitter @Eurofashion, and I’m warning you that they frequently share real treasure designs and photos that will give you fashion flashbacks! The special thing about fashion is that it can still seem very fresh in the right context and setting. I am lucky because as I work at the British Library…and we have access to archived fashion books, magazines (Vogue archive) and even dress patterns.

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I have also met many start-up businesses that are using the current research resources to plan and grow their businesses from designing and selling fashion from childrenswear, women’s plus sizes, womenswear and menswear, lingerie, shoes, handbags etc. The fashion opportunities are endless. I have also blogged about fashion along these same lines here in this link in ‘Fashion has nowhere to go but in Circles’ on the Business & IP Centre’s blog.

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Jumpsuit

Customised and seamstress dressmaking was a great aspect of growing up in 1970’s and 1980’s Trinidad. We had fashion shops, markets and shopping malls but it was still special when we would go with our specific designs to seamstresses for these designs to be made uniquely in the fabric, colour and made-to-measure for ourselves. Before the internet, we would get fashion and design ideas from television, film, music videos and American shopping catalogues too – such as JC Penny. I remember a few seamstresses that used their dressmaking skills as a livelihood and business to support their families. Presently, some of my friends are keen dressmakers at home for their own consumption, and have been creating fashion pieces in their spare time to their preferred tastes, which I think is amazing!

One of my favourite customised outfits I remember, and have a photo of, was my first jumpsuit! I was about 7 years old and my lovely grown up neighbour, Radica, took me with her to San Fernando (a city in Southern Trinidad) to get it made. I remember the cotton denim look and the little red berries pattern on the fabric. I loved it! Jumpsuits were initially a world fashion trend in the 1970s (possibly older). However even then, I remember that it was awkward to go to the lavatory in a jumpsuit. Fast forward to the present – and the jumpsuit is back as seen in these Pinterest curated photos. And I am still trying to perfect the art of using a jumpsuit at parties and festivals.

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Jumpsuit for a boat party – Summer 2016.

Continue reading “Fashion Conscious” →

A Passion for Good Social Media in the Digital Age

Published on by Seema RampersadLeave a comment

I just came back from seeing Jim Jarmusch’s film ‘Paterson’ where the sweet character by the same name stated “Life was perfectly fine before smartphones”. Whereby, his equally sweet girlfriend’s response is “But it makes things easier.”

This resonated with me as I recalled older means of communication and how life was about 15 years ago when the internet was not at its’ current maturity. Telephones calls, written letters, snail mail, printed news and tradition media was the norm then. Fast-forward and things have definitely shifted with the exponential growth of social media in the digital age. We now live in a world of citizen news, social networks, digital connections, push media – where we have to be vigilant to distinguish what is trusted content or misinformation. The broadcast model is truly smashed! The smartphone is changing the way we use traditional media, with the young using internet sources and less so by the older population using tradition media such as radio, magazines and newspapers according to this eMarketer graph. The younger crowd are going for Instagram and Snapchat and the older crowd to Facebook and LinkedIn. The share of the market by demographics is a clear indicator of who and how we are using these.

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Source: eMarketer

What about me? It has been about ten years since I started using social media but as a librarian and information profession, it is a skill set that we have been evolving naturally over a long time. We still are excellent at consuming, digesting, regurgitating, classifying, cataloguing and disseminating information for sharing, awareness and future use. Information overload is no big deal for us as we sort the “wheat from the chaff”. Don’t get me wrong! I tend to share a load of rubbish myself. I frequently explain to people that I handle serious, factual and hard-core information – so, social media is lightweight and therefore easy for me. What I try to do with social media is stay informed, self-regulate my content, be respectful and simply entertain you and myself in the process. I love sharing music, foodie stuff, art, photos and lots of fun things.

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Endlessly… Content is King.

Now let’s look at the show-stopping current figures for social media platforms. The market research publisher Key Note summarizes “that in the United Kingdom alone, the UK population have become intertwined into the daily lives of many consumers, facilitating what has been described by observers as the digital revolution. Social as a phenomenon is both immediate and ubiquitous, making it a compelling, and potentially viral, marketing platform for both large and small companies”. The figures for users are phenomenal too with Facebook having 1.55 billion users active per month, You Tube 1 billion, Instagram and LinkedIn 400 million each, Twitter had 320 million and Google+ had 300 million (but currently falling off a cliff). There are important and valid reasons for using social media, such as for the following:

  • Communication Tool
  • Customer Engagement
  • Product Development
  • Increase Revenue and Sales
  • Increase Brand Recognition and Credibility
  • Grow an Online Community
  • Be Transparent and Trustworthy
  • Word-of-Mouth Recommendations (such as our likes, comments, feedback)
conversationprism
Source: Wikipedia Brian Solis and JESS3 -theconversationprism.com

Social media makes businesses as smart and connected as the world we live in.  But you might have guessed that my personal favourite uses of social media are for current awareness, news, hot topics (a Knowledge Management term), to connect with people and to stay in touch with family, friends and acquaintances. Some of the regular activities we conduct on smartphones are listed as:

  • Read or send emails 60%
  • Visit social networks 52%
  • Browse websites for personal interests 42%
  • Download apps for free 39%
  • Online banking 38%
  • Watch video clips on sites such as You Tube 35%
  • Purchase goods or services online 34%
  • Download/stream music over the internet 24%
  • Use instant messaging services such as BBM 20%
  • Watch catch-up TV 14%

Source: eMarketer – note ages 15+; in the past 3 months Source: Ipsos MORI, “Tech Tracker: Q3 2015,” Sep 2, 2015.

If you are connected on social media to me – you would know that I am a prolific social media user. I am quite unique (but similar to other business librarians!) in that I have managed information on some HEAVY subjects (as I say…A to Z of subjects) and these are built into my psyche, consciousness and allows me endless mindfulness to share information and knowledge. This uniqueness is enhanced and highlighted as I work at the British Library, whose corporate motto is ‘The World’s Knowledge’. Enough said – there really is no stopping us here. There is enough soul, momentum and forward thinking content to keep us on our toes, fingertips and therefore to share constantly on multiple social media channels.

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Connectivity of Social Media

You may have noticed that I am passionate about life and find immense pleasures in sharing the best of humanity, good work and love that I encounter in my simple life. I would like to proclaim that I am a social media champion. I had spoken seriously at CILIP almost 10 years ago on ‘Strategic Library Services – Global Collaboration and Business Benefits’ on the finer points of using collaborative technologies. I also spoke with a panel of health professionals for Social Media Week 2012 on ‘Collaborating on Cancer’ at City Hall London. I have also been delivering with my colleague Neil Infield our ‘Social Media Masterclass’ Workshop and Webinar at the Business & IP Centre,  where we aim to demonstrate the various social media platforms and give you tips on how to use them effectively to engage customers to increase sales and brand awareness.

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As I conclude, the sheer speed that social media is moving in the world means that you MUST be active in using these to be au fait with all the functionality and features…or you will get left behind. In the short space of time, we have seen Google+’s launch to its current demise, Instagram grow, Twitter fade, Facebook saturate. I am still playing catch-up with Snapchat, What’s Up and whatever else will come our way.

The sheer speed that social media is moving in the world means that you MUST be active in using these to be au fait with all the functionality and features…or you will get left behind. …On Social Media.

Before these media shifts in communication, Sean Williams writes in ‘Connecting in the Social-Media Age’ U-Wire (University of Utah) – “people had to pay for expensive long distance calls. Social media makes it easier to send messages to thousands of people at the same time, all at no cost”. I remember being a foreign student and not being able to call my parents in Trinidad for months on end, and when I relied upon letters by airmail! This is no longer the case. With smartphones in the palm of our hands – the key is in the convenience. It is the game changer.

Social Media – Game Change

There is no letting up in technological advances and we must continue to use these platforms for businesses, but also for social good. Some irresponsible politicians deliberately choose to divide us and appeal to negative attitudes and menial behaviour. We must not let that deter us from all that is good and positive about social media. Personally – I think it will be quite boring if we were to talk about business or politics all the time. We can aim to continue to discuss our connected world, deepen our knowledge on issues and find innovative solutions to real problems. So what are we waiting for…let’s get on with it and have some fun!

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Share the Passion!

Eye-catching Street Art for All

Published on by Seema RampersadLeave a comment

In recent years, there has been an explosion of colour and creativity with eye-catching street art across the globe. I have had an appreciation of this art form for a long time as it is usually thought provoking, skilful and beautiful. This probably stems from seeing the cult hip-hop and rap movie ‘Wild Style’ set in New York in the early 1980s. Do look at the introduction to the film to understand how this stayed with me. Graffiti on underground trains were one of the first types of graffiti street art, tags, murals, stencils etc. When I moved to London there were a few to be seen, but certainly there have been an increase in the visual landscape in parts of London and other parts of the world I have visited recently.

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Cult Film ‘Wild Style’.

Graffiti and street art are not a new phenomenon. As with ancient civilisations, humans were writing on walls to decorate them, convey messages and for pure art. In Pompeii, we have seen evidence that graffiti was written on the walls in what would have been a bustling city. In the brothels, there were graphic drawings on the walls on the types of services that were available. There are parts of the world where art must have been drawn on walls or caves with primitive instruments.

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Graffiti in Pompeii.

In recent years, there have been real stories of how street art has moved from a covert hobby to a legitimate art form. Whilst researching the topic I found the article ‘The Law of Banksy: Who owns Street Art’ in University of Chicago Law Review by Peter N Salib, who goes into the details of street art for its social value and benefits to the community. He also discusses the financial and commercial value of street art to communities. The rights of property and creative intellectual property rights of the artists are explained in depth.

Banksy is a world-renowned artist, and so he has been keen to give voice to a world that is at times – unfair, corrupt and downright self-destructive. I love it when he collaborates anonymously and supports causes that make me think, shakes up the status quo, or that which is simply sublime. I have only seen a couple of his works close up. One of those was in Tottenham, where the artwork on the wall was removed and sold off for a large profit. I guess that is just the way of the world.

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Banksy’s ‘No Ball Games’ Street Art before it was removed in Tottenham.

There are many street artists doing this across the world as you may have noticed on social media. The Berlin Wall and Belfast have been galleries for fabulous street art and graffiti – that have changed the narrative of their recent darker past. I haven’t visited these two cities but their street art culture is very much an attraction and a valid reason for me to want to visit these cities one day.

The Berlin Wall and Belfast have been galleries for fabulous street art and graffiti – that have changed the narrative of their recent darker past. …On global street art.

I particularly like the German street artist Alias too, as a few years ago we had one of his thought-provoking calendars. I actually got excited at the beginning of each month to see what he had to offer as we turned the page each month in the calendar. To see if his art has the same affect on you – see his website for some of his street art!

The best way to see street art is to get out and take a walk. If you would like an informed guide, tours are available in clusters of London. A couple of years ago Rachel Kolsky, of Go London Tours, gave members of SLA Europe a walking tour of the East End of London. It was an added benefit to stumble across all the street art near Brick Lane. You can see the photos here on SLA Europe’s Flickr account.

Ramones in New York.
Angel in Rome.
Upmarket in Venice.
Wall of a Power Station in Trinidad.

In Hoxton, Shoreditch and Dalston in London – I usually have to glance at the magnificent artwork as I drive through the city. However, I have been specifically on my own walks to look and photograph street art. The whole creative energy and regeneration of the area has taken place for over a period of 16 years. I have seen changes from edgy rundown buildings to current hip venues and offices. The hoarding boards come in handy to create street art, but there are also many building walls with street art in a concentrated area.

Kingsland High Road.
Old Street.
Shoreditch.
Kingsland High Road.

There are many other remarkable areas of street art – such as Camden, Hackney, Islington, along the River Lea, and even closer than close, in my neighbourhood in Walthamstow!

In my neighbourhood, there has been a gradual increase in the number of street art visible around our corner. It is a fact that Walthamstow has seen a lot of regeneration, and the dreaded gentrification (which I am all for!). But also the new street art has created genuine community interest and pride in our environment. Wood Street Walls (Twitter @woodstreetwalls)  is based in my area and have worked with local businesses and buildings to add community colour, statements, beautification and identity with the local area. I can now walk five minutes to see some amazing artwork outside on walls of local pubs, cafes, shop shutters, parks etc.

Hoe Street, Walthamstow.
Salvation Army wall on Ruby Road, Walthamstow.
Event Venue & Pub on Hoe Street, Walthamstow.
Pub on Forest Road, Walthamstow.

As with most art forms, the community has been great in supporting artists. However funding and space for art works is still lacking, and therefore artists still require the assistance for local and central government. Street Art is fine if the walls are approved but artist also want a space for their art and therefore local authorities should be able to facilitate affordable artist spaces and studios. A couple of business engagement aspects I like are the crowdsourcing campaign by Wood Street Wall for the residents to ‘Pick Their Pattern’ of an image of William Morris that they wished to be painted on a wall near the William Morris Gallery. And campaigns that ran to crowdfund for specific art projects.

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Completed William Morris crowdsourced ‘Pick a Pattern’.

If you are without these in your environment – you can get a copy of the book ‘London Graffiti and Street Art’ by Joe Epstein. It contains great photographs of street art across London, but also some inspirational and admirable quotes from street artists and what their art means to them.

One fabulous quote in this book by artist Zaki Dee 163 – The Chrome Angelz/The Others is: “Having been born in London, and grown up here in the 70’s and 80’s, through the 90’s, I was lucky enough to have been involved in, arguably, the three biggest movements of the last 40 or 50 years. From Punk and New Wave, into Hip Hop, through to the House/Rave scenes – and it’s no coincidence that London was at the forefront of all these subs-cultures when they first exploded onto these shores. After all this time, the UK graff scene is still going strong, and in London you can see some of the best work this country has to offer.”

It is fantastic and uplifting to see street art in clusters, isolated or even in the most unexpected places. They are a joy to behold! And just to keep us hooked…street art changes over time, and so it is worth going back occasionally to see new displays that are freely available to us all.

Festivals and the Living is Easy

Published on by Seema Rampersad2 Comments

I have just returned from the International Festival of Business 2016 in Liverpool. This was an amazing opportunity for the Business and IP Centre to coordinate business advice clinics with regional Business & IP Centres in the network in the ‘Business Advisor Lounge’ at the newly opened National Exhibition Centre. The centre officially opened the same day as my visit by Queen Elizabeth II HRH, and I was told by colleagues that there was a lot of excitement having such a high profile respected world leader visit earlier that same day.

I was quite happy to go back to Liverpool again after visiting Anfield Football Stadium on the outskirts of Liverpool for a Euro 2000 football qualifier with Wales against Italy in 1998, as the Welsh Millennium Stadium was under construction. I didn’t see much of the city then, but I recently went back to for work for the day to Liverpool Centre Library to meet their staff at the Business & IP Centre Liverpool.  As a city, Liverpool has benefited in regeneration from a lot of investment in the public realm, and it looks shiny and fabulous on the two sunny days I was there. There is old architecture mixed with the new, Beatles tributes everywhere, the Mersey River, Albert Docks and attractive pedestrianised shopping areas. It is definitely a city worth visiting!

Liverpool

 

The International Festival of Business had a few highlights for me:

  • The Business & IP Centre held an Inspiring Entrepreneurs event on ‘Going Global’ with an excellent panel of entrepreneurs with some practical insight and tips for taking your business global.
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers had a stall at the festival to the theme ‘The Next Chapter’ as it was in my full view all day – and kept reminding me of my time working for them. When I worked at PwC, there was a good-hearted joke that you can go anywhere in the world and still encounter a PwC experience or meet someone with a connection with them!
  • The UK Trade and Investment and HSBC both had massive presence in the exhibition space for attracting inward investment, advice for exporting and creating business connections. Whilst I was there, the theme for the festival last week was ‘Energy and Environment’.  It was interesting to see the innovative productions on display and the eco-friendly and green initiatives.

As I was working in the Business Advice Lounge to give information to businesses – I was unable to attend other events on simultaneously. However, it was a brilliant opportunity to collaborate with our partners in Business & IP Centre Sheffield and with The Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

I have just told you a brief review on a serious business festival, but I am going to use this opportunity to write about the Summer music and arts festivals bloom in the United Kingdom. My childhood friends would remember that I love music, dancing, listening to the radio, going to live concerts and shows. It was this very same vice that was one of the attractions for me coming to London in the first place to study. Think of the heady 1980’s with Live Aid and MTV that were broadcast across the globe – Trinidad & Tobago never missed a thing! And so I was seduced by this global pop culture.

Walthamstow Garden Party.

Festivals are big business and ubiquitous in the last 12 years. This summer, I saw many festival articles, poster advertisements in the London Underground and promoted on the radio. There are a few articles on the industry that have caught my eyes. The Guardian Newspaper informs that the industry attracts foreign visitors and that overseas visitors spent £852 a visit.  The article also refers to an industry report ‘The Real Cost of Festivals’ by Parcelhero and states that 40% of British went to one festival and we collectively spent £2.1 Billion Pounds.

There is always excitement in who is going to headline the main stage at Glastonbury to rock out the crowd, and it seems that the line up of artistes is crucial in this competitive market. The line-up and offerings must be attractive to sustain its clientele.

Coachella, the biggest festival in the world, sells 198,000 tickets and pulls in $84 million for the Californian event. The UK’s largest festival – Glastonbury – has a turnover of £37m but sees profits of just £86,000: less than 50p per ticket.

Source: ‘The Real Cost of Festivals’ by Parcelhero.

At work, I also have access to the Mintel market intelligence reports that I used to research the industry. Mintel’s ‘Music Festivals’ which states that festivals and concerts have been the fastest growing area of leisure spending over the last five years to 2015.  There is also a fun and informative article by a member of staff on The IPO’s blog on Festivals.

Locally, I have participated in the Walthamstow Garden Party, a community festival which is hosted by the Barbican Centre in London. The Barbican with the local council and community groups ( arts, artists, craft-makers and businesses) coordinate the festival. They all have been successful  in delivering a fine show with headliners such as Tiken Jah Fakoly, Femi Kuti, The Brand New Heavies and The Asian Dub Foundation (due July 2016).

As the Fundraising and Events Chair at The Lloyd Park Centre – we have hosted the Mini-Garden Party offering as a family friendly space. The garden party is great for showcasing the newly award winning park redevelopments (including the skate park and William Morris Gallery), ‘Useful and Beautiful’ creative local arts and crafts, fitness groups, real food market, poetry, music, DJs, disco and many other businesses. Personally, I think it has been successful with visitor numbers at 30000 per annum. The organisers have given the opportunity for the Barbican, Waltham Forest Council and local groups to collaborate, and get to know each other better to put on a fantastic community festival which is open and free for all. Yes…I said free!

Jazz FM’s Love Supreme Festival.

Love Supreme Festival is held in Glynde and is hosted by Jazz FM.  The name is inspired by John Coltrane’s ‘Love Supreme’. Glynde is not to be confused with Glyndebourne that is famous for opera but you do have to pass through there to get to the festival.  This festival is aimed at the family friendly market and is in a very scenic field in Sussex. I have been a fan of Jazz FM for a while, as my ex-colleagues will tell you. Three years ago I tried the station’s competition for festival tickets for fun …and I actually won two free camping tickets!! There was no way I couldn’t go! I ended up going with two friends and our children.

For Love Supreme, I normally pitch a tent (glamping is too expensive for me!) with the help of my dear friends. This is my third year there and I am looking forward to the Funky Sensation Party on the Friday night. It is nice to be there in the inaugural night when campers are settling in before the busyness of the next two days. It is pure pleasure to see people filling in the Arena tent and dancing to Jazz, Soul and Hip Hop (correct me if I am wrong please). People dancing, the energy and movement remind me of Trinidadian Fetes or Parties where everyone just want to dance!

People dancing, the energy and movement remind me of Trinidadian Fetes or Parties where everyone just want to dance! …on Love Supreme Festival

I have been listening to Jazz for a few years before the digital age. Listening to radio stations on apps and digital broadcasting will enlighten jazz lovers to the biographies of the artistes, history of the song and allows you to share your (impulsive) experiences on social media. This is a very powerful immersive experience, so I am constantly trying to resist sharing songs – but have little control as you may noticed. I am sure you have experienced this too. I have written about this user experience in a blog post for work ‘Rock Stars to Classical Orchestras’ at the British Library. I think this must make me a fan, groupie or in this case – a ‘Jazzhead’. I am already trying to coordinate and organise which acts I am looking forward to seeing at which stage in the festival and at what time, so that I can see and not miss them! 

Feel it in your heart and feel it in your soul
Let the music take control
We’re going to party, limin’, fiesta, forever…

‘All Night Long’ by Lionel Ritchie.

One point that I would like to make is that festivals are fabulous outlets for businesses. I love all the various international food stalls being a foodie, fashion stalls, bookshops, coffee shops, bars etc. I understand there is going to be a new beauty salon and banquet style dining on offer this year. This must be a great opportunity for businesses with so many festivals in the United Kingdom. I would like to try another festival another time such as Glastonbury, Latitude and Womad. Womad is extra special to me as The British Library has recorded it for over 30 years.

Soon I will be there, lost in the music and experience with good friends (especially in the chaotic times of Brexit!). I hope you will forgive me for this self-indulgence.  It is one of my guiltiest pleasures and so I must try to behave. My only wish is that we’ll have some sunshine there.

On the beat with Community Action

Published on by Seema Rampersad2 Comments

It takes a Village to raise a Child – African Proverb

I was born and grew up in a village in Trinidad but I was certainly no country bumpkin! The village, Dow Village, was smallish in size but mighty in activity and life.

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Diwali Street Scene in Trinidad

We were very busy with several multi-cultural, multi-religious, traditional and modern activities, events and celebrations. As I look back at those early childhood years of village life on a Caribbean Island, I realise that we had a special community energy and participation in many aspects. We had bazaars and raffles to raise funds for various initiatives towards sports days, construction of buildings, treatment for unwell villagers, the Temple’s fund, local schools, re-enactment of Ramlila, Diwali Celebrations, Christmas, Eid-al-Fitr, Holi (Phagwah), street and house parties, and other events (please let me know if I forgot any!).  Some of the activities we held would entail selling fresh food, tea parties, Bar-B-Ques, Curry-Qs, playing games, and various entertainment ranging from sound systems to live music (such as tassa drums, Indian Orchestral to local Rock Bands). The village then was busy with life – it never felt boring or backwards.

Residents left their doors unlocked and gates open with low crime levels. Everybody knew everybody and it was used to our advantage – to build our community, to watch out for each other, to have pride in our neighbourhood.   There were bad points occasionally with fallouts but generally my village has stood the test of time. Up to now, I love my neighbours in Dow Village and I am sure that they love me too. We experienced everything from life to death and we can still touch base with each other wherever we are in the world with modern technology. Some of us may have left our villages for the wider world but David Rudder and Carl Jacobs sing in the Calypso ‘Trini to De Bone’:

“There’s no place like home some people say
Though some have to leave to make their way
But in their hearts I know their destiny
To come home and big up dey country” – Trini to De Bone.

I came to study in London over twenty-five years ago and lived in Hornsey and Tottenham initially. I used to hang out in Holloway, Highbury, Stoke Newington and Islington. It was interesting from the offset to experience so many cultures, tribes, languages and communities in North London. These ranged from North Londoners, Cockneys, Post-Punks, Irish, Greek Cypriots, Turkish, Kurdish, Nigerians, West Indians and lots more other ethnicities. It was a new melting pot for me to take in.

I eventually ended up in Walthamstow and was sceptical to move to East London as I had grown used to North and North East London. However, the timing was right again. Walthamstow still had affordable family homes, green spaces, and convenient travel links and a community feel about it. Moving to live here was a very good decision in the long term, and so the community story continues.

Walthamstow was recorded c. 1075 as Wilcumestowe (“the Place of Welcome”) and in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wilcumestou. It does lie geographically on the edges of London and was a route between London and Waltham Abbey. Today that welcoming community spirit is still alive and kicking in Walthamstow. There are many remarkable things about the town and a few of them include:

  • The famous Walthamstow Market which is renowned for being the longest street market in Europe. I understand it has changed over the years but you can still get great bargains.
  • William Morris Gallery in gorgeous Lloyd Park, which was once the home of William Morris, world renowned designer, craftsman, poet, writer and socialist. His creations, ethos and influence are still relevant and inspiring today.
  • The Village area has old buildings and quaint houses which make you wonder about the past and the people who lived there. There lies too the Vestry House Museum which has permanent and temporary exhibitions, a community room and beautiful garden. I have been on guided walks with Joanne Moncrieff‘s Westminster Walks, who tells you all the facts about the buildings and area to bring them alive.
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Storytelling by Mike at the Walthamstow Garden Party, The Lloyd Park Centre.

There are two community initiatives that I actively contribute to: The Lloyd Park Centre charity and the Poets’ Corner Residents Associations. Since 2004 at The Lloyd Park Centre, I have been a Management Committee and Fundraising and Events Group member. After many years thinking of helping in a local charity, the timing was right to start. I was inspired to get involved when I heard that this organisation was formed by volunteers in the 1980’s and still depended on community participation in its constitution, operation and strategic direction. It is also the lifetime commitment of inspiring Pauline Thomas MBE. The organisation’s history and commitment over the years is very admirable. In my time there, it has moved from portable cabins to an environmentally purpose-built designed building, and its financial turnover has doubled. I have seen it grow from strength to strength in offering children and family services such as day care, holiday clubs, baby clinics, Dad’s Club, Twins Club, Grandparents support, Autism support, outreach and a franchise of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Mobile Library to a deprived community.

I have volunteered consistently for all these years and have been very ‘hands on’ in attending regular meetings, helping when and where I can with my skills, knowledge and most of all…my time. Committee meetings are not so daunting as you are briefed and guided by the other committee members who are already there. As time goes by, I have learnt from the organisation and challenged myself to activities that I wasn’t aware I could do – for example, I cooked for 200 people in their kitchen for a fundraiser! Generally I plan, organise and run events in my own time and all other activities that a local busy charity requires. I have to hone in on my organisational skills as this is not my day job and from my use of social media – you can see what I get up too! As with everything, nothing stays the same and the organisation is constantly evolving, improving and taking on new challenges.

I am proud that when I worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers I won a financial award for volunteering as part of their Community Affairs programme (Hello David!). They have a long history of Corporate Social Responsibility. I also have won the charity’s Volunteer and Fundraiser award a few times. However, it means a lot more than that to me. Over the years, my volunteering was a team effort to raise money and my goals really were to give support, help as much as I can and to be engaged in an organisation that has made a huge contribution to the local community and families for over 30 years. The last 12 years have been fun, satisfying and helped me developed outside of my day job and profession. It has relit that community flame that I had as a child in Trinidad.

Child is the Father of Man – William Wordsworth

I was made redundant about four years ago when I needed to re-focus my energies and give back to the place where I live once again. Luckily I had the time to volunteer in my neighbourhood residents associations when we were planning our London 2012 ‘Milimpics’ street party. We have our own Poets’ Corner blog and social media channels that have been going since 2012. We have since rebranded to Poets’ Corner E17, as there are streets named after Poets and we are on a corner. We have been constantly engaged in transformational regeneration initiatives that are happening on our doorsteps!

We are also very keen to support local businesses and love our high street. I have seen derelict shops being taken over as pop-up shops to permanent retail outlets. In the last few months – there are several new high street shops emerging such as coffee shops, art shop, craft beer, chocolate shop, giftware, Italian deli and hairdressers. Local venues Ye Olde Rose and Crown, The Bell Pub and Mirth Marvel Maud are used as meeting social places and also are at the heart of the nightlife. The last five years have been amazing, heart-warming, social and definitely local.

 

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Little Free Library Project – in Poets’ Corner.

We have continued the spirit of London 2012 Olympics with many activities including an annual street party simultaneous as the national Big Lunch celebrations, spring cleaning (which has made me obsessive about dumped rubbish and litter!), crime-watching, Halloween Party, Puppet Show and fabulous Christmas Carolling on the street. We have also taken part in the magnificent E17 Art Trail which has made us work collaboratively to display Estate Agents boards as ‘Poets for Sale’ with poems in our front gardens. For the 2015 project, we created ‘I want to tell you a story…’ stories on places on Walthamstow. Residents Barry and Lesley Coidan have been the driving force for a lot of these initiatives and deserve special recognition and appreciation. Before I forget to mention – we also have two Little Free Libraries in the neighbourhood, which started in Walthamstow for the United Kingdom (original idea is from the USA).

poets-for-sale

 

Why am I telling you this? I enjoy taking part in community events. I also think there is a special energy that I have been lucky to experience in my homeland of Trinidad many years ago, and here now in Walthamstow. It is very fulfilling and reassuring that we have neighbours and people in the community that we can rely on, pull together and to contribute to our society on wider urban issues, such as crime prevention, sustainability, environment, economy, culture, festivities and general awesomeness.  You just have to remember the terrible London riots of 2011 to recall what it is like when neighbourhoods fall apart and communities are at threat when you take your eyes of the ball.

I don’t have my own business but if I did – it would be based on the arts, crafts or food in the community. Volunteering has made me certain about that and myself. With Utopian and socially ethical views, I would feel compelled to consider where I live, the people it is going to affect, how we can work together to make our part of the world better for ourselves but also for my immediate neighbours.

Anyway, I really love taking part in the fun, and all the exciting energy and buzz of Walthamstow. We are celebrating our next Brazilian theme street party soon in tuned to the Brazil 2016 Olympics. And so the beat goes on, and on.

Networking in a small world

Published on by Seema Rampersad1 Comment

One of the best aspects of working in Business Information is that both information suppliers and professional organisations are generous and committed to helping clients and members to network and get to know each other.  I have been fortunate to be going to these events across London for more than twenty years, and relish seeing old friends and making new acquaintances.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the City Information Group was a professional association that hosted networking and social events across London in fabulous locations.  Some of the memorable events were held at The Dorchester Hotel, The Conservatory at the Barbican, an Art Gallery in Bermondsey and the Dover Street Arts Club (Yes my friends, I still remember the quail eggs canapés and potent wine).  Most of these events were sponsored by information and online services providers. So it was a very cost effective way for me to network, discuss interesting topics and purely for having some fun (I see nothing wrong with that!).  Most of all, I still see myself as a tourist in London and so enjoy going to new venues.  Sadly, the City Information Group no longer exists.

I have been a member of SLA Europe for 14 years and they are great at arranging networking events, educational seminars and tours across London. I get so much value for money from my membership, and honestly, I am not just saying that because I am their Membership Chair.  SLA Europe are always hosting events that are on the cusp of the information profession and industry SLA_Europe Logosector, such as ‘The Future of News’, ‘Tweeting while you work’, ‘The Evolving Value of Information Management’ etc.  Their programme of events over the years has been exceptional for networking and for visiting interesting buildings such as Dow Jones at their News Room, Nomura Bank on the Thames riverside and the quirky Barber Surgeon’s Hall in the city. Some of these venues shown on SLA Europe’s Flickr account are private offices or corporate venues to hire, and therefore they would not normally be open to the public.  There have been many more fun and interesting events over the years but I can’t remember them all. Along my same train of thought, here is a handy recent SLA Europe event review written by Vicky Sculfor with Top Five Tips for Networking.

“We are shifting from people who manage collections to people who manage connections.” – Deb Schwarz. SLA.

Timely too, is a relevant article and quote above from Deb Schwarz in SLA headquarters’ journal ‘The Connected Librarian – More than Social Media’, Information Outlook, March-April 2016. Deb evaluated from her colleagues that the “guide to the future of our profession” are:

  1. The connected librarian is about building and strengthening relationships, both within and outside the profession as well as personal and virtual.
  2. The connected librarian creates and maintains a linkage to time—past, present, and future.
  3. The connected librarian links people to increasingly diverse types and voluminous amounts of information.

Bureau Van Dijk (BvD), an online provider for business intelligence and company data, host two parties a year for their clients, often in museums. I try to make sure that these are in my diary! Some of these museums have been so remarkable, that I want to mention them specially:

  • Imperial War Museum (IWM) – covers conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. The IWM was renovated recently and it was special to be there in 2014 on the 100th anniversary of the first world war.

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    A V1 Doodle Bug hanging over the BvD party at the Imperial War Museum
  • Hunterian Museum at The Royal College Of Surgeons – has unrivalled collections of human and non-human anatomical and pathological specimens, models, instruments, painting and sculptures that reveal the art and science of surgery from the 17th century to the present day. This was the most surreal venue to network! Where you are surrounded by thousands of glass medical specimens whilst mingling and drinking canapés! The display meant I could not manage to eat in there but it is a must to see, if you like that sort of thing.

    Crocodile and egg from Hunterian Collection2
    Hunterian Museum
  • The Natural History Museum– has 80 million specimens spanning billions of years.  It is always amusing and enchanting regardless of the time of year or how many times you go.  In 1995, I went behind the scenes on a private tour with a Brazilian Marine Biologist relative who was visiting London. We were shown extinct specimens that are inaccessible to the public.
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The Natural History Museum
  • Wallace Collection – has unsurpassed displays of French 18th-century painting, furniture and porcelain with superb Old Master paintings. Earlier this year, we were impressed by the grandeur and exquisite French styled rooms and artefacts of a bygone era.  It really is special, educational and heartwarming that we still have these treasures in museums for our collective history.
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Selfie with Colleagues in the Boudoir at the Wallace Collection

As I conclude, Librarians and informational professionals are one of the most connected professionals.  Long before the Internet and LinkedIn, we have relied on our network for career development, to share information and knowledge.  As professionals, we are still active face-to-face as well as tuned in virtually, and use this interconnected and interoperable network in an increasingly small world. Be it in search of good, sad or bad news and information – we are able to rely on our network to find, provide and support each other to show that we can help or that we care.  Some sceptics may disagree.  One thing is for sure – Librarians are certainly not boring!

For these reasons, I am a staunch believer in the idea of Six Degrees of Separation where people are linked in the connectivity of a modern but also digital world. I once helped to host a seminar entitled ‘Creating Connections’, where we demonstrated that people are linked from high official positions to people in the most remote places on Earth! But seriously, you can read more on this idea as there is much written on it in books and on the Internet.

When I need to extol the benefits of my profession – I always say that these social person-to-person networking events are a great opportunity for personal development and for business.  Networking is a dedicated and fun time where reconnections and new connections with people are made with great camaraderie in quirky, grand and historic buildings, usually with food and drink.

I hope I have convinced you. What are you waiting for?

Make way for more Women

Published on by Seema Rampersad3 Comments

 

InternationalWomensDay-portrait

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2016, I am already pleased to see that there has been a lot of media (especially social media) coverage on this special occasion, which also falls in Women’s History Month.  The theme for this year is ‘Pledge for Parity’ which sets the tone for us to call for more equal opportunities for women everywhere.

The library and information playing field is fairly even and predominantly in favour of female professionals, but apparently men still hold senior roles. I have no personal battles with equality in my profession and employment otherwise. However, it may not be so rosy in other lines of work and in life in general. Although we have progressed in many ways over the years, the gender inequality statistics (World Economic Forum) show the facts, barriers, struggles, prejudices, stresses, glass-ceilings and rocky-paths are still here today.

Self-worth and self-belief are integral to understanding my intentions for joining the conversation on here.  This stems from having great female role models that I have been fortunate enough to have in my early life in Trinidad. Some of these women include my mother, who is definitely a role model for her gentle, philosophical and giving nature. In the Caribbean growing up with my late sister, aunties, cousins, neighbours and schoolgirls was very formative and played a big part in the early stages of ‘The Sisterhood’. I also went to an all-girl secondary convent school established by the Holy Faith Sisters for seven years, where we had strong and intelligent teachers and nuns to educate us.  We were encouraged to do well, to achieve and to aim high in our future endeavours, before we developed into young women.  It might all be in hindsight and viewed with maturity, but this willingness for all of us to progress has made me, not just want the best for myself, but also for my friends and family. There was no easy way to get where we are today, and it feels even better when we are all achieving and progressing well. This is my reason for using Madeleine Albright’s quote below – a gentle reminder.

‘There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women’.

– Madeleine Albright. American Politician and Diplomat.

At university many moons ago, we were asked to do a social history matrix, and coincidently, I was in the group that focussed on feminism from the 1800s to the early 1990s.  This project made us research feminism from the industrial revolution, through the Women’s Liberation Movement, and right up to the modern late 20th century.  I enjoyed researching British feminism then, and learnt a lot about Emmeline Pankhurst, and her contemporaries in the Suffragette Movement.  These women were some of our feminist pioneers, and they paved the way for huge leaps in women’s equality and opportunities not just in the United Kingdom, but across the globe.

One of the great reasons for working in libraries and information centres is that we help all types of people regardless of gender, age, colour, geography, hierarchy, etc. We must be inclusive as well as diverse in subject and access. We are an open door in a physical and virtual space for interaction, services and knowledge-sharing. I have no ‘hang ups’ with anyone on this basic service level -all that is essential is mutual respect and understanding. These are the core principles and foundation for collaboration, progression and advancement for any business, and also is essential for advanced societies.

In my work at the British Library’s Business & IP Centre, women make up a large amount of our customers. They are mainly using the Centre to research, learn, create, start and grow their own businesses. Women (and their business partners) are literally “doing it for themselves” – finding independence by owning their own businesses. They may be working extra-hard in the day-job initially but more than likely, are having to manage and balance a home-life and any other commitments. The same goes to male entrepreneurs too. All startups require flexibility and an extra dose of harmony, especially if you are in a relationship or have a family. I have heard many real stories by successful entrepreneurs where family plays a big part in supporting or defining a successful business.

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Another British Library rich resource that was launched a few years ago is the feminist Sisterhood and After archive. I have spent a few hours listening to real poignant stories of the Women’s Liberation Movement covering heavy topics such as abortion, working conditions, childbirth, education, equality, rights, sex, love etc. This is a great educational tool, and a fascinating archive for generations to come. In the library’s conference centre, I have also attended some feminist talks which were enlightening, funny and inspiring due to their historic nature and the personal stories told by real women activists.

This week also sees the return of the Women of the World  festival in London’s Southbank Centre. I attended about five years ago to see the great Annie Lennox (what a heroine and champion!), Emile Sande and Katy B in concert.  During the concert, Annie reminded us of some of the scary facts about the work that still needs to be done for women and girls across the globe. She also sweetly coerced us to declare loud and clear that “We are feminists!”. There is no doubt about it. Even if I wasn’t sure then, I said “I am a feminist!”. I saw her point in asking us together to be transparent and advocates on this serious issue.

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In our ‘first world’, life may not be so difficult as some of the stories we hear of in the less developed countries of the world, but our struggles are slightly bearable due to the opportunities available to us.

I had the benefit of attending the last Precious Awards founded by the inspirational Foluke Akinlose. It was admirable to see women and men of colour recognised in their various roles in all fields of life. Attending and nominated for their outstanding levels of achievement ranging from law, corporations, entrepreneurs, self-employed, artists, engineers and charities.  The speaker from Barclays Bank gave us some facts on the level of success for women, but also mentioned that it is even harder for women of colour to achieve in the United Kingdom. However, the great benefit of the Precious Awards ceremony was to recognise these women and men who are able to make their own luck, take destiny in their own hands and even better…break down the barriers for a successful pathway. Foluke mentioned that these winners will also be fabulous role models and an inspiration for younger generations to follow.

For International Women’s Day 2016, I haven’t planned or organised an event, as I have had in the past. I will be keeping track of community events in Walthamstow Central Library which I think will be very engaging. I will also be attending a fun talk and comedy night at a local pub Ye Olde Rose and Crown where the funds are going to support the End to FGM.  As usual, I will be secretly happy, pleased and connected online and spiritually to all the celebrations across the world.  I know that women and girls will come together to celebrate, demonstrate, protest, voice concerns, laugh, and most of all – support each other in what at times can be a cruel and unequal world as together we pledge for parity.