1. Helen Else, Isla Kuhn, Deborah Lepley, Leanne Kendrick, Laura Wilkes
CAN DO CAFÉ An innovative way to facilitate change & empower library staff
Helen Else,  Isla Kuhn, Deborah Lepley,
Leanne Kendrick, Laura Wilkes

2. Why try something different?
Recognised the need for a new way of offering CPD:
Low cost
Local
Open to everyone
Opportunity to learn new skills
Professional discussion & knowledge sharing
Increasing confidence in Knowledge Management
Mention that our traditional trainers meeting wasn’t working
Wanted to try something fresh
Everyone welcome
Help us with KM

3. What is a Can Do Café?
Not just a group of librarians chatting! A Peer Assist in action –knowledge management in action
Here we can explain the format of the day
Life imitating Art ….. “TeachMeets” and “Share your Story”

4. Can Do Café – Anti-Toolbox
Flexible space
Intimate space
Hashtag – allows for tweeting & external involvement
Use KM tools & techniques – try things out!
Knowledge Café
Peer Assist
Share your story – encourage contributions
Method of collating & sharing beyond the session
Method of evaluating & gaining ideas for future cafes
Make clear that there is no “right” way – this is how we did it, but you can make it your own!

5. But most importantly…..
You need CAKE!

6. Evaluation is important …..
This type of event provides an opportunity to meet and discuss issues with colleagues and share experiences in an informal setting.
I couldn’t speak highly enough of this session; I feel I got a lot out of the day and a lot of food for thought as well as a great chance to network and speak with staff from other LKS libraries. All the scheduled items were great.
I think the option to attend and learn practical solutions is excellent, even better if you get involved and contribute. 
The café was also helpful as a way of discussing new ideas/best practice with regional colleagues – as we mostly work in small teams, I feel this is a valuable way of learning about others’ experiences (and sharing our own).

7. The ‘What makes a good library website
The ‘What makes a good library website?’ was very informative and what we learned from this will be implemented in the next few weeks as Colchester Library creates a website.

8. Everything was brilliant, I just wish I’d brought something along to present with.
I found the  ‘The conference poster on how to design a conference poster’ session very helpful. 
We used this to design our poster for the Midlands and East Health Libraries Summer Conference and were awarded fourth place.  We have also used this and the ‘Using Canva to make social media graphics’ for guidance when the library has been asked to design posters for the new QI faculty workstream. So far it has helped us design two posters advertising the need for QI in the trust. This has contributed towards the library becoming involved with the QI faculty.

9. Specifically, the session on statistics helped me to think about different ways of presenting statistics so that they are clearer and more interesting for library users. We are planning to experiment with using infographics, e.g. to summarise key data from our Annual Report, and hope this will make our documents more engaging.
If you have the opportunity to participate in a Peer Assist I would recommend it. Sharing an issue with colleagues and obtaining different perspectives is invaluable. The challenge you present is probably not just your challenges, colleagues may be going through it at the same time or have already addressed this and learnt from the experience and have an action plan.

10. But what stops staff attending?
Mainly:
Location / date / short staffed
But also:
Content / is it aimed at me?
Plus some myths to dispel:
“I find the format a bit off putting - the idea that everyone has to present.”
“I am a little apprehensive in attending the cafe as the details appears to be aimed at higher level staff,  I have been given the impression that a lot of the content is something to bring back to the work place to implement, but of course lower bands are limited to what we can do”.

11. Outcomes Cafes have evolved depending on needs
E.g. added a 20 minute “how to tweet session” after feedback / Tried a Peer Assist for the first time
A supportive environment to learn new things
Knowledge Management / Share your story
Adapted for West Midlands
Sally Hernando Award

13. #candocafe – Join the Twitter conversation

14. Questions? #candocafe Helen Else Isla Kuhn Deborah Lepley
    
@helse28
Isla Kuhn
   
@ilk21
Deborah Lepley
   
@DebsL72
#candocafe