1/10 Firstly, I’m sad not to be meeting you all in Edinburgh as planned, but thanks to @fifimcq, @lsmyth2 & @LisaKalayji for the Twitter Plan B! I’m based @ICCLiverpool, where I lead research on the practice & value of cultural work in public policy contexts. #BSAemot2020

2/10 The @ahrcpress-funded #InstrumentalValues study (2017-19) explored professional #ethics in multi-disciplinary cultural work, including #museums working in #health & social #care settings & #prison #library services – my presentation will focus on the latter. #BSAemot2020

3/10 Case studies were developed following #ethnographic fieldwork with a range of prison library services in England, including interviews with staff, volunteers and collaborating organisations, supplemented by engagement with the wider professional community. #BSAemot2020

4/10 The first key finding relates to #collaborative complexity and its impact on emotional #resilience in the sector, with library services & projects supported by a range of cross-sector external organisations and volunteers, with varying degrees of success. #BSAemot2020

5/10 Navigating the prison regime presents the most significant professional & ethical challenge for library staff, requiring a high degree of work assimilation across prison processes & procedures and tenacious promotion of libraries’ unique value to that system. #BSAemot2020

6/10 The unique offer of #prison #libraries relating to #books & #reading involves high levels of emotional labour, providing both immediate distractions from disruptive & harmful behaviours and more rehabilitative, transformational interventions for prisoners. #BSAemot2020

7/10 Although valued as a set of generic occupational principles, codes of #ethics for #library sectors have little practical relevance in highly restricted prison contexts. A virtues-based approach became more useful for understanding situated ethics & values. #BSAemot2020

8/10 Care emerged as a defining shared value for #prison #librarians and collaborators, including #care for one another and the prison community, and also practising carefully as women (mostly) in morally challenging custodial environments. #BSAemot2020

9/10 This care was very kindly extended to me when ‘in the field’, causing careful consideration of the role of academic cultural policy researchers, and our ethical responsibilities in narrating the social value of such important but demanding cultural work. #BSAemot2020

10/10 Next steps for the research include developing a more responsive training programme on professional ethics for GLAM professionals working in social care settings, based on the empirical evidence collected so far. Thank you for following the #BSAemot2020 symposium!