Thing 9

Just a short note on Evernote...

I had never used Evernote before, so I visited the website to learn more. I then created an account, and had a go at creating notes, and spent some time getting to know the other features. I can see the usefulness of Evernote. I do wish I had got to know Evernote before planning a recent trip to Dublin, as it would have been a good place to store travel information, and the sightseeing related research I had done beforehand. With this in mind, holiday planning is definitely one thing I would use Evernote for in the future. However, within the immediate future, I’m not sure how often I’ll use Evernote. I'm planning to get a new (more advanced) mobile soon, and I would be able to make more use of Evernote then, as I'll be able use it when I'm out and about.

Thing 9, like many ‘Things’ before it, has introduced me to a new tool. Whilst I’m not using Evernote to its full potential at the moment, at least I am now aware of what it has to offer. I can definitely see myself using Evernote more in the future, and I may well write ‘Thing 9: part 2’ at some point...

Thing 8

Continuing with the catch up, here are my thoughts on Thing 8, or Google Calendar...

I have never utilised Google Calendar before, so Thing 8 provided me with another opportunity to try something new. Setting up the calendar was straight forward, though I think I’ll need more time to explore and make use of further features etc. I created a Google Calendar for personal use; I don’t have a reason to create a calendar for shared use at the moment. For my own personal use, I still think I would find it easier/quicker to look at the actual calendar pinned on my wall when at home, or in my diary when out and about. Having said this, when I have a full-time job and have more things to manage/plan, I can see that it would be useful to be able to access the same calendar, at different locations. I can also see that a shared Google Calendar would be useful for staff members, and/or to highlight library events, opening times etc. So, although I may not use Google Calendar too much to start with, I can see the potential of this particular tool. I am glad that I now know how to use Google Calendar, as I can see myself coming back to it in the future.

Thing 7

Face-to-face networks and professional organisations

The only professional organisation that I am currently a member of is CILIP; I joined a few months after starting the MA. I joined as I could see that it would be useful for professional development, and also to keep up to date with relevant news and information. I started off as a member of two special interest groups, then increased this to four – there were so many potentially interesting groups to choose from! However, I think I’ll eventually reduce this to two again, as they vary in terms of value for money and what they offer/provide.

I have to admit that my actual involvement in CILIP matters/activities and so on, has been limited. I planned to get more involved after the MA, when I would have no essay/dissertation deadlines, and I was settled in a job. I keep putting off further involvement, mainly because I’m currently looking for a job, and as such I don’t know where I’ll be living/working. Once I’m more settled, I hope to have the opportunity to join a group/branch/committee.  I feel that this would enable me to connect to the wider profession, and also develop my skills. Many of the CILIP training courses/conferences have appealed to me in the past, but I’m a little wary of the cost.  I did, however, attend the (CILIP) Career Development Group’s 2010 New Professionals Conference, and I’m really glad that I did. The event was held at Sheffield University – where I was studying at the time – and I was lucky enough to gain a funded place. I helped out during the day, directing delegates, assisting with registration and a workshop etc. I also had the opportunity to attend some of the presentations. The day was inspiring, informative, and it also provided a good opportunity to network. After this experience, I do hope to attend more conferences and events in the future.

I’m not sure if being a member of CILIP has affected my career to any great extent. I think it is too early to tell as, aside from having completed the MA, I’ve not really started my ‘professional’ career. However, I am keen to embark on the CILIP Chartership process once I have gained some experience in a professional role. Obviously when I get to this stage, being a member of CILIP will be of great value. With this in mind, I will continue to be a member of CILIP for the foreseeable future.

I did join the more informal LISNPN (LIS New Professionals Network). I do find the forums/resources etc very interesting/informative, but I've yet to attend a face-to-face event. I suppose one reason for my reluctance to attend events, CILIP or otherwise, is due to living in a (northern) town, and I always have to travel to or via another city, which takes longer and is more expensive. Having said this, I know I should probably make more of an effort to attend face-to-face events, and I'll start to pay more attention to what is going on. I may also join some of the other, more sector specific organisations, as my career progresses.

Thing 6

Continuing with the catch up, here are my thoughts relating to Thing 6: Online networks...

I had knowledge and/or experience of using some of the sites mentioned within the cpd23 blog, and I explored some of those I didn't have much knowledge of, before writing this post. So here are a few of my thoughts...

I first came across LinkedIn when studying Librarianship. At the time, I could see it was a popular network, and I realised it would be worth signing up. I planned to do this when I had more time (I was busy with essays, the dissertation and so on) and/or when I had a post-qualification job. I do have more time now, in that I don't have to spend evenings and weekends studying (although job applications take up a lot of this time instead), but I don't yet have a library/information job. I do work as library assistant, but only part-time after reducing my hours to do the MA. For the majority of the time, I do a non-library related admin job. With this in mind, I'm not really sure how useful LinkedIn would be for me at this time. That is not to say that don't appreciate how useful it may be in the future. I explored the site via the profiles highlighted on the cpd23 blog. This was the first time I had actually explored LinkedIn, and I do like the look of it. When I start to do more work in the library/information sectors, and I (hopefully) start to progress in my career, I'm sure I will actively engage with this online network.

Facebook is one of the online networks that I have used before. I only joined Facebook when I started the MA course. Students on the course used Facebook to communicate, and so I thought it would be useful for me too. I have continued to use Facebook in a mainly 'professional' capacity. For example, other people include relevant and useful library-related information and links to information, and this adds to my current awareness. On another note, Facebook enables me to stay up to date with other things. I mentioned in my last post that I am now following a local museum project on Twitter - I also read the latest news and progress on their Facebook page. Also, it is a convenient way to keep in touch with the lovely people I met whilsy studying Librarianship, many of whom are now working as librarians. Reading back over this paragraph, I realise that I mainly use Facebook to stay up to date with news and information, as opposed to networking. Being more aware of this now, I will look at how I can extend my use of Facebook to networking in the future.

I remember becoming aware of LISNPN when helping out at the (CILIP) Career Development Group's New Professionals Conference in 2010. I have visited the site frequently since then. I read anything that attracts my interest within the forums (though I've not posted myself), and it is useful to see what events will be taking place. The network does provide the opportunity to engage with other new professionals wherever they may be based. The network seems to me to be a place to share information, offer and seek advice, and share experiences and perspectives. Though I'm not studying to be or working as a new professional at the moment, I think the site will be of value to me over the coming years.

I had not heard of the Librarians as Teachers Network before beginning Thing 6. As I don't have a job that involves teaching, it is not useful to me at this time. As time is short at the moment, I've not had chance to look at this network, so I can't say anything about it really. However, now that I do know about it, I will keep it in mind for the future.

I am a member of CILIP, and I do visit and read blogs via the CILIP blogs landscape section of the site. However, I don't know too much about the CILIP Communities beyond the blogs. I find it is of great value to read the blogs; through doing so, I am able to learn more and engage with the wider profession. I will make the effort to sign up to CILIP Communities, and explore this online network further.

So overall, I can see that online networks, including the ones mentioned above, have the potential to be very useful ('useful' being a word I seem to have repeated through this post!). Thing 6 has alerted me to networks I had little or no knowledge of previously, and has encouraged me to actively engage more with networks I am familiar with. I think I will explore online networks - particularly LinkedIn - again in the future, so another post on the topic may well appear at some point.

Thing 5

Continuing with the big catch up, here is a little look at Thing 5 - reflective practice. This post will be fairly short, as my views about reflective practice are quite decided - I think it is an extemely valuable thing to do.

I was mainly introduced to reflective practice during the MA Librarianship course. I had done a little bit of reflection before. When undertaking creative writing modules at A Level and during my degree, I had to provide commentaries; I was required to consider what was good/not so good, and how things could be improved. I also did a group teaching session as part of my degree, and each member had to submit a reflective report. Reflective writing was something I had always found useful; it enabled me to recognise how I could progress. Part of the assessment for the MA management module - that spanned the full academic year - was to keep a journal. We discussed a management topic or topics within each entry, and related this to our own experiences. I had worked in the museum and library sectors for over two years prior to starting the MA, and I found that the journal assessment enabled me to link the theory that I was learning to my experiences at work. By reflecting, I was able to look at situations from different angles, and consider how I might act in my future roles. I think the act of actually writing things down often provided extra clarity, and the whole process furthered my understanding of management and more general LIS issues. Thus, reflective practice is something I hope to continue with throughout my career. If you have read my previous posts, you will be aware that I am doing voluntary work in order to build on and develop my skills. I decided to keep a record of everything I was doing within each session, mainly so I could remember things when filling in job applications. So, far this has mainly consisted of multiple lists of activities that I have undertaken, but Thing 5 has reminded me of the value of reflective writing, and I will be developing the lists into more in-depth reflection.

So in the spirit of cpd23, here is a mini reflection (I have limited time at the moment due to work and job applications) on the process so far...

I have learnt a lot about the different tools that will enable me to engage more with other people who are interested in/ work in the library and information sectors, and with the wider profession in general. The process gave me the push to start a blog; I've wanted to do this for a while, but kept putting it off. I'm glad I've had a go at creating and managing a blog, as it is something that I may be required to do in a future job role. I also realised that having my own blog will encourage reflective practice, and I plan to start another blog when I have completed the cpd23 process. Also, I have started to consider my personal brand more. This was something I'd not thought about too much before cpd23. I think I have made some progress in this area, but there is more work to do, and it is due to cpd23 that I recognise this. Again, the cpd23 process encouraged me to look at how Twitter, RSS etc could enhance my current awareness. This is something I was aware of, but felt I was missing out on. Although I still need to improve in this area, at least I'm thinking about it now, and I'm aiming to make more of an effort with Twitter etc.

So, that is my take on reflective practice. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to exlpore the reflective process during the MA. I would definitely encourage others to have a go at reflective writing.

Thing 4

This post is extremely late due to a combination of working (two part-time jobs over six days), volunteering, preparing for a presentation, ECDL course, and so on. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with the other 'Things' over the next few weeks....

So, back to Thing 4: Current awareness - Twitter, RSS and Pushnote.

In general, I think that my level of current awareness is good, however, I could engage more with Twitter, and utilise RSS and Pushnote.

In terms of Twitter, I do already have an account. I created this last autumn after finishing my MA. The MA was intensive, and I went from learning and talking about libraries all the time, to just working in a library one day a week. After a break, I started to feel removed from the library world, especially as I didn't have a full-time library job. Thus, I decided to join Twitter as another way of staying up to date with library news. I also felt it would help me to stay connected to the wider profession. Despite good intentions, however, I've not utilised Twitter to its full potential. I read but I don't actively engage. I am very aware of this; I often think that I am missing out on being part of this big LIS online community. I'd not done much about this in the past, though. The main reason is feeling that I don't have anything interesting to say at this time. Not being able to secure a professional, or even a non-professional library/information job, has affected my confidence a bit. This has in turn made me reluctant to join in discussions. I'm no longer an LIS student, nor a professional (in an employed sense), so I'm not too sure where I fit in the library world in general, and also in terms of the online communities, if that makes sense. Also it does seem like a conversation that has been going on for ages, and I worry that I'm too far out of the Twitter loop, but I suppose it is never too late to learn etc. I am determined to give Twitter a go though; I don't want to miss out, and I think it will be really useful.

After looking again at Twitter for Thing 4, I added a profile photo and biog - which I avoided before - so some (slow) progress has been made! I also decided to follow a local museum project (@PeoplesMuseum), so that I can stay up to date with the progress of a new museum/archives centre that is being created in the town where I live, so I'm already finding Twitter useful! I already follow various CILIP and library related things, and I'll expand on this. I've still not tweeted, but I'll make a conscious effort to do this soon. The amount of space in this post dedicated to Twitter is relatively long because it is something I really hope to engage with.

RSS is something I knew about, and had explored when doing the ECDL course, but not really used to any great extent. I've now had a look in more detail as part of Thing 4, and can see how useful it will be. I signed up to Google Reader, and have subscribed to a few feeds to start with. I'm sure I will build on this, and subscribe to more things in the future. There is so much information, so many interesting and useful things to read online, that utilising RSS will undoubtedly be of great use to me.

I've not tried Pushnote as I don't think I have the right browser. I intend to find out more about Pushnote, and I'll look to see if the browser situation changes in the future.

Overall, I think Thing 4 - one of the 'things' I was most looking forward to - has made me more aware of current awareness via Twitter and RSS. I think it has encouraged me to engage with and utilise these very useful things.

Thing 3

I have to admit personal brand is not something I've thought too much about in the past. I've been trying to decide why this may be. I think it is mainly due to the fact that I have only recently started to actively use Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc - places where a considered personal brand can be constructed and demonstrated through profiles, names and visual aspects etc.

I tend to use Twitter/Facebook etc for work/professional (interest) related reasons anyway; to keep up-to-date with what is happening in library/information/archives/museum sectors, at local. regional and national levels. As such, I have never used a nickname or anthing like that; I have always used my full name, first/last name, intitials, or a combination. This could be more consistaent, however, and in future I think I will try to inlcude both my first name and surname, as this may be more easily identifiable. The one thing did feel the need to change over a year ago, was my email address. When I constructed my first email address, I was a young teen, and this was reflected in the address! I decided to go for something more grown-up - initials and surname.

My visual brand (not that I really have one yet), is something I would like to consider more. I'm starting to get to grips with the technical aspects of blogs; I just chose a basic template to begin with, but I think I'll start to experiment a bit more. I'll try to continue this across to other online profiles etc too, and when I decide to get business cards, I'll consider the visual side of my personal brand. I have included a photograph on this blog, though I generally don't enjoy putting my photograph online! The photograph I chose for this blog was one that I had recently send to accompany a short article based on my MA Librarianship dissertation, and so there is some continuity there already.

After considering my personal brand for a bit, I did a Google search using my first and last name - my name is not overly common, but a few other people with my name did show in the results.The first thing to show up was my name and adress on 192.com (an address website). My Twitter account came up, even though I've hardly used it so far. A link to flyer for a library event at which I'm going to be giving a presentation came up. Related to this, two links to the SINTO website were displayed in the results (a comment announcing a prize I was jointly awarded for my MA Librarianship dissertation, and a PDF version of the dissertation itself). There was also a link to the archives of a JISCMail list I'd posted a comment on previously, when seeking respondants for my dissertation questionnaire. That's about all that came up; there was nothing that I wouldn't want an employer to know about. I searched via Bing and Yahoo too, just to compare. A few of the same things came up though not as many; I added 'library' to my name, but still Google returned the most relevant results.

I am now much more aware of the whole concept of personal brands. I can see the benefits, and feel much more comfortable with the whole thing. I still have a long way to go in terms of establishing my own personal brand, but I think it is something I will think about again and develop further during the cpd23 programme.

Thing 2

Today I finally registered for the cpd23 programme  - if you read my last post you'll know I started this process a little late, and I have some catching up to do. I started to investigate other blogs, though I've not yet visited as many as I'd like. I even posted a comment, which is a first for me, and I'm sure I will continue to actively partcipate like this as I get around to visiting more blogs. I do generally read blogs (it is just the commenting bit that is relatively new), and I frequently find them interesting and useful. I think investigating blogs as part of the cpd23 process has encouraged me to read the blogs of librarians working in other sectors. This is particularly useful as I'm undertaking voluntary work in sectors I've not previously worked in (health/academic libraries), so reading about the experiences of library staff working in these sectors will help me to develop my understanding further. Also, just the experience of creating a blog has been interesting, as it is something I've never done before. Overall, I'm really glad that I've learnt more about blogs, as I'm sure this knowledge will be useful in the future. Thing 2 has definitely encouraged me to participate more, and this is something I hope to do more of over the coming weeks.

Thing 1

I'm possibly a few days late starting this whole thing. I did worry that it was too late, but in the end I felt I should stop deliberating and give it a go - after all, better late than never! I'm a new blogger - so if this starts off boring and rambling, bear with me and hopefully I'll improve as I go along!

So, a bit about me and why I decided to (finally) join in:

I completed a MA Librarianship course at the University of Sheffield in September 2010. I've been applying for professional librarian jobs ever since, but I've not yet been successful. In the meantime, I'm working as part-time Library Assistant in a public library; I have worked there for 3 years 8 months, and I do really love my job! I also have a part-time admin job in another department within the same Local Authority. I also fit in voluntary work around my jobs; I volunteer in various libraries, including an academic and hospital library. These roles are giving me the opportunity to communicate with and learn from experienced librarians, and are enabling me to gain the professional experience that so many posts require.

Though I am becoming more and more involved with libraries based in my local area, I do feel like I need to engage with online communities more; I tend to read and observe things, rather than actively participate. I hope that taking part in cpd23 will provide me with the opportunity to change this. Also, I feel like there is definitely room to develop my knowledge/skills in the areas of social media and technology etc. With this in mind, the things I am most looking forward to are:

Thing 4 (week 3) - Current awareness
Thing 6 (week 5) - Online Networks

And as I'm still job hunting, I think Thing 22 (week 15 - Promoting yourself in job applications...) will also be really useful.

In general, the whole cpd23 programme will prompt reflection, and this is something I am looking forward to. Reflective writing was part of the MA course that I did; I found it to be a valuable experience then, and it is something I hope to continue with throughout my career.