Promoting yourself, volunteering and reflection

Well, here we are at the end of CPD23. There have been times that I despaired of completing the course, others when I have been enthused and I have even taken the time to learn a few new skills.

Just a quick post to cover promoting yourself and volunteering. One thing I have learnt is to look at the things you have accomplished in life, not just those things that are definitely library related, and to "rewrite" them for any application that you are preparing. So, what do I mean?

Over the course of 7 years we moved house 10 times, most of those moves were organised and undertaken by me! What skills did I learn? I believe that I honed my negotiation skills, learnt about project management and brushed up my research skills (choosing movers, finding schools, checking curriculum). We went through some hard times due to the lack of work, started our own company where I was secretary, bookkeeper and studied AutoCAD so that I could do some of the drafting. Translate that into library skills: capacity to learn new software, project management skills, people skills (think customer service), financial skills, procedural skills, setting up a database plus I undertook my library qualifications.

I also took the time to volunteer at a not-for-profit as part of my degree, this entailed re-organising the office, writing a procedure manual and continuing the cataloguing of their small library. I enjoyed all of the things that I undertook and I learnt a great deal.

Looking back on where you have come from and how you did it can translate into a really professional looking CV and job application. Life-long learning doesn't just include libraries.

Prezi: I like to move it, move it

This is a tool that I came across a while ago. I haven't had much chance to use it as I had already completed my degree. If you want to impress in a lecture or conference nthen this is the tool that I would use. Just a couple of issues to remember, while it is fun to go round and round on a poster, try to limit the amount of movement and do the movements a little slower. We have all seen and felt the effects of a video with jerky movements!

Catching up

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post. I have looked at Jing, screen capture and podcasting. I haven't had a chance to do much with any of them, though I can see the benefits for library use, particularly when you need to show a series of steps. Maybe this will be implemented for our clients in the future but sometime they just need to be shown by a librarian.

Google docs, wikis, Dropbox, Zotero, Mendeley, CiteULike

Lots of fun stuff!

I have used all of these as part of my University assignments. We are always looking for a way to shortcut the referencing but it all depends on knowing how a reference is supposed to look. I spent the last four subjects doing my reference list from scratch and by hand, I wanted to ensure that I knew the referencing concepts.

The most useful tool I found for collaboration was Google sites. This enabled my colleague and I to upload documents and research, separate sections of the assignments and just generally share our thoughts. Brilliant when you don't live near each other.

Social networking

I now have a number of social networking tools in which I participate. We used to just use a phone or wrote letters. These are also social networking tools, we have just transferred much of it into the digital medium. Is this necessarily a "good" thing? Now if you make a faux pas it can be seen by all who have access to your social networks. I find myself sharing less of consequence on my digital social networks and still keeping my other networks for important conversations.

This does not denigrate those with whom I have networked online, perhaps it shows how careful we have become due to the loss of privacy. Some may see this as no issue, but for me, there is a need to have a private life. I spend time with colleagues and friends both on and off line.

I have found that IM works really well, you can keep track of the conversation if you want, discuss items and also provide links to interesting items. This is a much undervalued resource for study and networking, I could, and have had, a conversation across the globe at odd hours to find out the information required for a research paper.

Overall, I like meeting people, I find that some digital mediums provide opportunities to expand my networks, others have the capacity to make things difficult.

Mentoring

Mentoring is an essential part of learning a new job. It is easier to find your feet quickly if you have other staff members who are prepared to answer questions and provide that essential requirement "help" whenever you need it. I have had official mentors, my university ran a mentoring scheme to help while you studied, providing you with a line into the world of work.

The mentors that have been my most important have been those that I have chosen. They have been prepared to support through difficult times and through fun times. Some of them have provided far more than is expected of a mentor. I have been extremely fortunate.

I have also had opportunities to mentor other people who have asked or have taken on positions that I had already acquired skills in. This includes my own children, I am mentoring them through the process of growing up, learning how to complete school and prepare for the next big adventure. I hope to share lots more time with all of my mentors and mentees.

Catch up! Time found!

Well, despite all my good intentions it has taken a week to get back to this blog. I have, however, kept up with the reading required for the 23 things for Professional Development course.

Discussion about online networks has been interesting. I have always been very aware of a public and private "branding" issue when looking at these. My Facebook profile is tied down very closely, limiting access to only family and friends. This is my private zone.

I have a LinkedIn account and have also joined the LISNPN. The second was as a result of the readings. My LinkedIn account is my public face. It provides basic information on me and extended information on my skills and work.

I have been trying to keep my teenagers aware of the privacy issues with Facebook but that is a whole other story.

I am a member of ALIA, the Australian version of CILIP. It provides me with the opportunity to network with others in both online and real forums. Whilst I would like to attend more of the programs that are offered it is difficult to balance work and life.

At this stage, I do not require services like Google calendar. my iPhone, Macbook and work email application all provide me with digital calendars. Already I have too many.

Evernote looks interesting, I just need time to test it out. I could see this as extremely useful for studying or researching, something that I don't intend to do for a while, but then it may be another way to keep on top of my CPD. This I will attempt to find time for this week, if I feel that it is useful in other ways, I'll let you know.

Falling behind?!?!?

There is just so much to do to keep up with everything. Continuing professional development requires a commitment of time and also of space to complete, or leave, as required.

My current position entails being at different campuses, not always easy to remember where you need to be and at what time. This makes things more difficult with CPD as there is no place to leave things and know that you can come back to them tomorrow. I am finding that I take a large bag with me to work, it includes a number of things I am reading and information on other things that I need for my job. It means that there is no spot that I can consider as "the space" for doing my professional development.

When I was a student I had my desk at home, and woe betide anyone who disturbed the arrangement. This just doesn't work anymore, not helped by having two teenagers in their last year of secondary education. Lots of things to distract me at the end of the day. Anyway, I have now read the "things" that I haven't kept up with and will check some of them out and then blog.

Things 4 & 5

Thought I would do these two together. Thing 4 was about the use of social media such as Twitter. This was an area in which I had completed some exploration, having been a user of Facebook for quite a while. I also had RSS feeds from some of my favourite sites, just didn't have the time to read the interesting articles! Twitter allowed me to receive feeds from some of the same places but in 140 characters. This gives quick pieces of information that may promote specific articles that are of use, without having to lumber my way through large blocks of text.

Thing 5 is about Reflective practice. I think that this is something that all life-long learners tend to do. We look at what we are learning, think about it, see what we have accomplished well, what we feel we could have done better and identify new strategies or information that we need to use for the next learning curve. The actual writing down of this can become tiresome if it is done for every learning task, but the reflection on our travels is useful across all of our life.

Branding (Part 2)

So, I have had a chance to think about branding.
It is not only personal branding that we need to be aware of, though that is particularly relevant to this week's discussion. As Librarians we need to think about the branding of our libraries, our profession and our role in this ever changing world.
We also need to be aware of the effects of branding on our clientele. Why do we think that they rely on Google search for their answers, most of them know that they should check their sources more thoroughly but Google has created such a "safe" brand that people do not look past the first one or two pages of results.
This is where we, the librarians, come in. We need to ensure that we explain the way that Google works, the intricacies of personalization of search results and the impact that this can have if they are trying to access a non-biased view of their world.

Branding?

What do you mean when you talk about branding? My Google search for my name did give me a nice surprise, my LinkedIn account came up as the top response. Okay, so that means that people can find ME, but then I had to think about my LinkedIn account and whether it provides an accurate representation of ME. Looks like I will have to do some more work on that account.
I am very aware of the blur between personal and professional social media on the Internet, something I have been stressing to my children for a while. "ENSURE that your privacy settings are at the highest", "Make sure that your friends don't tag you in photos that are available to others on the web", I think they may be getting tired of my rants.

Health issues for students (and staff)

One of the things that I have noticed while working in academic libraries is the way in which the majority of students study and write their papers. Whilst occasional "all nighters" will not cause long term problems we do need to keep an eye out for symptoms of sleep deprivation. Students are not the only ones trying to fit too much into an otherwise 24 hour day. Let's think about the long term consequences to not only our own health but also to our ability to perform at our best.

Teamwork myths!

I always knew there was some unreliable information out there on teamwork. Here are some myths and their debunking.

Just a thought!

 Here is something that I found very interesting. I have an undergraduate degree in english and history. Subjects that would not survive if there weren't archival documents. Here, the Internet Archive has decided to store e-books in hard copy. They have provided their reasoning and it is sound practice for more than just e-books, think this through to other areas where a loss of "fidelity" to the original could cause major issues.

Thing 2

Blogs, opinions, useful information. I am quite enjoying this course, it provides me with an excuse to read other people's blogs. What a broad range of librarians are undertaking this course! The major thing that I have noticed is that all of us feel the need to keep ahead, to learn of other ways of keeping in touch with not only our clientele but also with each other.

23 things for professional development

23 things?!

Why is cpd so important?

The book world is changing so rapidly that there is a need for those of us who work in it to undertake cpd, I like to think of that as continuous professional development. If we are not continuously learning and applying new information then we are not going to be capable of supporting our clientele.

This course is just one of the ways in which I intend to keep ahead in my profession.