Thing 7: Professional Associations and networking

I'm definitely on a roll today (my excuse is that I'm off on holiday and wanted to get these typed before I went). Perhaps getting up early woke up my creative juices...

Over the years, I've actually been a member of a number of professional associations. CILIP has always been at the forefront and I was even a member of the Institute of Information Scientists and  the Library Association before they combined to become CILIP.

I worked in a school library for a while and so joined the School Library Association. I attended a their conference in Sheffield in (I think) 1997. It was the first professional conference I attended and it was such an eye-opener. I was young and full of enthusiasm for my new post. I can remember getting so much out of it and going back full of ideas. I'm sure I found the face-to-face networking easier then! I remember the SLA being a very friendly organisation with lots of resources, courses and relaxed local meetings. If I remember rightly, I was even encouraged to be the main local contact for Somerset, organising meetings and training! Things do change!!

A few years ago, I was awarded a Diploma in Management Studies and that was when I joined the Chartered Management Institute. I possibly could have joined at a higher lever (ie as a Member rather than Associate), but at the time I was not having a great time at work and preferred to keep my membership of the Institute unknown to my manager. Joining as an Associate I didn't need to have my manager to back my qualifications and credentials. I honestly don't remember gaining much from their membership. I received the magazines and duly read them, but I think I really only got anything useful from the small articles at the front of the Management Today. I could have got more out of it, but there was little funding for courses which were general management (and I wasn't employed to be a manager as such, just senior staff providing support and management in the absence of the campus managers). My professional development at the time was based around CILIP training.

I've attended a number of CILIP training events, all of which I've found to be really beneficial and useful. I just wish I had the space to keep hold of all the training notes I received from their courses. I've not been a committee member for any group, I think the problem as been that I've moved around considerably and as soon as I feel brave enough to put myself forward, I end up moving on!

A couple of years ago, I attended a joint conference for ELG and LISE (Librarians in Schools of Education). This actually ended up being the last conference for LISE, who folded not long after. At the conference I agreed with a colleague that we would try to develop some training sites, etc. However, the group had to fold and unfortunately about a month or two later, I found out that my campus was closing and I was going to be made redundant. My enthusiasm to take part and join in was curtailed! I did, however, write a review of the conference for the ELG newsletter.

Now I'm looking elsewhere... As mentioned in my previous post, I'm in the throes of moving to the other side of the world and so in preparation, I have already joined LIANZA the New Zealand equivalent of CILIP as an overseas member. The memorandum of understanding on qualifications signed by Bob McKee at IFLA last year has come at just the right time! (Both Associations are rightly very positive by the news, here's the CILIP view...)

(image taken from the full agreement found on the LIANZA website)

I've been lucky enough to attend a couple of international conferences for library management systems (LMS) or integrated library systems (ILS) as they are often called. The first co-delivering a presentation and the second a poster presentation. I've managed to make some contacts through these.

It may not seem like it from my posts, but I certainly find it difficult to network face-to-face, but giving the presentations has given my something to talk about and introduce myself with. Reading Jo Alcock's post  I'm definitely an introvert. I love giving presentations and teaching (I get a positive kick from them). (I ought to get hold of the book somehow, it's not on our library catalogue!!) I'm determined to get better at the art of networking, my mantra for the past few years has been "it's not what you know, but who you know" and networking is key to this mantra. Contacts can lead to all sorts of things... (I already know a member of LIANZA who just happens to be on their conference organising committee for this year - very useful contact!) We've also got a new library management system at work which is an Australian system, I'm hoping the contacts I've made through that will also help...

My decision to join or not to join is often based on money - that horrible word. We need it to live, but sometimes we just have to prioritise. I had to leave CMI as I felt I wasn't getting enough out of the membership to continue paying them (although they very kindly allowed me to have a year at half the cost when I pleaded poverty!) CILIP has always had to come first. Certainly in my current public library role, Chartership is still considered important and so I needed to keep my CILIP membership alive to retain this. I'm not sure what I will manage to do once I move to New Zealand, but LIANZA will then come at the top of my agenda.

Thing 6: Online Networks

I've been really looking forward to this weeks' things, but now we're here I'm not sure what to say!

I've both Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. I've had a Facebook profile for some time now, it's definitely for play only, although I do try to keep any status updates and information on there as clean and PC as possible. I've also made sure that it's relatively locked down with only my friends being able to see updates, photos, etc.

I created a LinkedIn profile about two years' ago. I've only recently begun to see how it may work. I've found it's take-up quite slow in the UK from my own point of view and to my knowledge it's certainly never been used for professional networking. I've also recently given my profile a proper re-vamp with job descriptions and details brought across from my CV. I currently have few Connections, but since LinkedIn is professional and work based, I don't expect to have that many (compared to my friends on Facebook).

We're in the process of completely upping sticks and moving to the other side of the world and both of us have already been asked by prospective employers if we have LinkedIn profiles. It's a brilliant way of sharing your CV internationally without having to worry about an email and attachment getting lost in the ether. LinkedIn also has good security, in that people outside your network cannot see a thing, apart from your name and current job role. I'm still really learning how to use LinkedIn, but I'm certainly hooked.

I do agree with Reid Hoffman. The whole front-end to LinkedIn is considerably more professional than Facebook and I treat them as such.

As for Google+, I've not had an invitation to join, so I assume I'm not at the top of Google's priorities! I have a friend in the States who just seems to have had no end of problems with the site. I've also seen all Phil Bradley's reviews on his blog. Phil has added a large number of images and reviews on searching, etc. It's good to see what they have to offer, but really do we have time for yet another networking site. Particularly when sites such as Facebook are so established. Certainly at the moment, I can't see it taking over the world, like Google seems to have with many other web-type things, even if it does have those lovely bright Google colours that intice you to go further...

(image taken from Phil Bradley's weblog)

As for the librarian-based communities/networks, I'm a member on the CILIP site, but haven't used the CILIP communities before. I'll have a look and comment at a later date. I intended to join Johanna's Librarians as Teachers as I used to work with Johanna (my claim to fame) and think she's an inspiration with so much energy! I also felt it was an excellent group, as many librarians, particularly in academic and education libraries do a large amount of teaching (and many, unlike me, have never trained to teach.) The trouble was, that was as far as I got and completely forgot about it until mentioned in this Thing. I will endeavour to check them out again.

I've never considered LISNPN, I assumed it was for new professionals and really didn't think I'd get much from it. Perhaps I'm looking at it the wrong way, I can join in and offer some of my experience to new professionals. I've been qualified for 20 years and Chartered five years later and having worked in a number of different sectors, I have some experience to offer. I'll definitely give it a look.

So going back to my first paragraph, I've managed to write/type quite a bit! I've certainly learned about new communities/networking sites which may be useful. I've even been reflective (go steady!) with my comments about LISNPN. Let's keep going...

Thing 5: Reflections (Musings) of a librarian

I've taken a while to comment on this "Thing". One excuse, I've moved locations and job role and I've less time to get on a PC at work and secondly, I've been reflecting on what I've covered (yes honestly!)

I think I should have written down my thoughts during the week, so I could turn them into some mind-blowing amazing post, but I haven't, and so this is written relying on my memory! (Bad idea, but I'll give it a go!) I think I may base this on Helen's 23 Things post from yesterday, as the structure is clear and helpful.

Thing 1  As I've probably mentioned far too many times, I already have another blog on the go, although this one now seems to be the most frequently updated. It took me a while to decide to publish the first blog. Lots of questions, mainly around have I got time for this and also will people really want to read what I write, is my writing up to standard, etc, etc. These all seem quite negative thoughts. I don't think I'm a negative person, but perhaps my thoughts and reflections tend to the negative side?

Thing 2  I like to comment on posts if I find them interesting, although many times, I'd like to just say Me too or I like this, but as usual, my fingers get carried away and I type too much!


Thing 3  Personal brand, like Helen and possibly like many people I'm still umming and ahhing about the amount of personal information I've made available online.However, I'm quite happy to create things like this blog, create accounts with Twitter, etc. Possibly my main concern is that I haven't given my brand much thought (or not as much as I should have done!) I think it needs to be more consistent across different applications. Although I have another blog, I think it's still possible to access that via this blog and I really need to make sure I'm relatively careful on there (although a part of me still says that's my hobby and not work and so they shouldn't be compared.) Same with anything I say on Facebook...

Thing 4  This is still the one I'm getting used to or trying to use effectively... Google Reader is a great way of combining all the blogs I follow, although one blog updates frequently and it's sometimes difficult to keep up to date with it. One plea I have is that I wish blog titles were more obvious about the content, rather than decidedly obscure... I've yet to see I use for Pushnote (sorry to all those who love it!) As for Twitter, well at the moment I'm just a lurker really. I don't feel I have lots to say (apart from when writing these posts!!) and follow lots of "people" on Twitter. It is however I great way of finding out information and keeping up with news if you follow the right accounts. I certainly read tweets everyday even if I don't tweet myself. It's a start!

I'm the only member of staff at work taking part in this (to my knowledge) and so don't really get the chance to discuss things in the way I may do with other participants, but it has given me the chance to suggest possible ways of promoting our services.

I'm looking forward positively... Fingers crossed!

Thing 4.1: Pushnote

It seemed easier to title this 4.1 as a sort of sub-heading to the rest of Thing 4.

Pushnote:  I've done it, I've installed it at home, since I can't use anything else but IE at work. My thoughts... Erm, I have to say, I can't really work out how to use it. Perhaps I'm just being a bit dim or not with it, but what does "Troll" mean?? It doesn't seem to be very intuitive. I can get a feed of sites which are recommended. These all seem to be recommendations to news sites, which I consider personal preference. It took me ages to work out how to recommend a page.

To be honest I really don't think I'll be using this. Trying to remember to log in to follow all these different sites and social media tools is going to get time-consuming. I'm already concerned that I spend far too much time on the PC/laptop as it is.

Nope, I'll give this one a miss (and probably remove the add-on from Firefox as well.) Perhaps the hype may bring it to the fore in a few months time, but for now, it's going on the back-burner as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry cpd23, this is a miss!

Tweets, RSS and Pushnote

Well this Thing has caused me no end of difficulties. I've moved jobs at work and although I work for the same authority, I now have less access to a PC and completely different demands on my time. Much of my "research" and looking around now has to take place at home.

Twitter: I've had an account on Twitter for some time, but it took Thing 4 to encourage me to make my first tweet. Funnily enough, that was it, nothing since! I can sort of see the use for Twitter in certain information environments, but for a public authority librarian unless you have access to it all the time to see responses to tweets, it really does not work. I think there is quite a difference between what everyone has access to in their work environment, but from my experience, public authority PCs are considerably more locked down than a university PC. One blog post from another participant (now comes the problem, I can't remember who and didn't follow them!) thoughts echoed my opinions aobve. Twitter is something which you need to be constantly plugged into and it just isn't possible in some work environments.

RSS feeds: I've been using Google Reader for some time, so this is not a new thing for me. One of the original posts I ever subscribed too was Phil Bradley's blog I mainly subscribe to sewing blogs for ideas with sewing, but I'm now beginning to feel the need to subscribe to other "library" or professional feeds to get the juices going. I might even be enthused to write more on this blog apart from about the Things. What I'm finding now is that I have to make sure I spend at least an hour each day to check Google Reader, otherwise I have so many posts, it's impossible to keep on top of. Has anyone else found a way to keep on top of these? I have to say, it's almost become second nature to log into email, and then log into Google Reader. It's a nightmare if I've been away for a while!!

Pushnote: I've not even looked at this. I certainly can't use it at work and it sort of seems to be another version of Delicious in some ways. Useful websites can be saved in "public" folders in Delicious. We're considering using Delicious on our public PCs to make useful websites available to the public.

This has been a slightly negative post this time, but I think already the differences between embracing web 2.0 technology in different sectors is beginning to show, and we're only three weeks into the 23 things...

Thing 4: Now comes the problem...

I was hoping that I could contribute to this blog while at work, as it's CPD, etc. Already, I'm experiencing a problem with this...

I work for a local authority and we just don't have access to all these social networking sites at work. Twitter is a no-no, Facebook isn't really encouraged and I certainly cannot access my gmail email, which I use for this blog. Pushnote will be impossible, we only have Internet Explorer and cannot download any software.

Does anyone else experience this problem? How can we convince our IT departments, managers, etc that this is professional development for work and we'd like to be able to learn this while at work?

Any suggestions??

Internet Presence

Here we are all blogging about our online brand and Internet presence, when many friends of mine actually say they are trying to reduce their online presence. The Internet has made them too famous! On the other hand, I blatantly use it to contact people, possibly be nosy and more recently through blogging, share my thoughts.

I have accounts with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, etc, etc. They seem to be all over the place. Some I keep updated, others, I just don't use. Unfortunately, there is only a certain amount of these sites I am allowed to use whilst at work, and other hobbies keep me from my laptop at other times.

I've been looking around various other blogs on the cpd23 delicious list and follow some. I've picked sites out at random. I think many head to their own library type or country, but I'm lucky to have had a mix of experience, so I pick things at random. I'm more likely to follow someone doing a different job to me, so I can try to gain some understanding of what their job entails, or even how it differs in a different country.

Perhaps I ought to be using my last couple of days in my current job to be making sure my online brand is consistent, following some of the suggestions from LibWig.

Thing 3: My Brand

Oops! At the beginning of my last post, I was asking if anyone knew how to combine blogs, as it seemed lots of people were putting everything on the same blog. Now, I hate to say it, I'm seriously considering moving one to a different provider! Will I ever make my mind up?

Having read the recommended reading from the CPD23 Blog I began to think about my profile and the blogs I write. One was intended for CPD23 only and I thought that I'd probably never touch it after finishing this summer, but somehow, I think I could be wrong on that. My other blog was created first and relates to my hobby. The name of that doesn't really encourage musings about my professional life which this one does. For those who are getting nosy, here is my other blog... Nikki's Stitches

I think the design of my two blogs is similar, they were relatively clear displays which I like, but I changed them slightly to use fonts which I use on everything I create. Since I have two blogs using the same provider, my profile is linked, I've had to update my profile to combine details about my work and hobby. I'll be brave and ask you to tell me what you think of my blog and the design I've used, not to mention my writing style.

I have searched my name a couple of times on Google before now, just out of interest mainly. I don't use my full name on hardly anything, but thought out of interest I'd search that too. With my full name, very little was there, except a phone book entry from 2003! Worryingly enough it had my address at the time. I'm hoping I've moved on since then and can't be traced. My results for my nickname are the standard ones for many, I should think. Top of the list, my LinkedIn page, of which I am aware does not follow my brand and doesn't read as well as I'd like. Other pages seem to be other profile sites which, from what I gather, get information from LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. There are a couple of nice links on, relating to a presentation at an international conference and a review of a conference which I attended. I also found a link to a website which I created sometime ago, which Google still has cached.

I think the main thing to change at the moment is my LinkedIn page, I'm hoping my other presence on the Internet reflects me and who I am. I know how I'd like to come across, but whether I actually present that image on here, it would be interesting. As I mentioned earlier, I'm brave, I can take your comments!

Librarian fantasies

Already, I'm considering combining my two blogs into one - anyone know how to do that?

I originally planned to keep work and my hobby separate, but one post is making me think otherwise! I regularly follow a blog by a fellow sewer http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/ The latest post entitled "Libraries. Where shhh happens" has opened a lot of comments from librarians and sewers alike.

Strangely, all the sewers seem to have a fantasy of being a librarian and using a date stamp. No date stamps within HCC, we have receipts for our members printed out from the RFID kiosks, but I have to admit, many still wish we had date stamps, since the receipts get lost! I don't want to spoil the fantasies of these sewers, in fact it makes me feel somehow warm inside to think of the support they're giving us. (Even though most of them admitted to having either expired tickets or overdue fines, they seemed to be full of praise for libraries.)

Not to mention the latest praise from Sue Perkins on Just a Minute.

"Now, Nicholas I don't want to teach you to suck eggs but what I find in my local library are books, mainly for people to take away to borrow. They can open the doors, present a card and then leave with nuggets of literature bound in plastic so nare a spill should tarnish their incredible cover.  For those who have tunnel vision, there are also volumes that will allow them to read at some distance.  My grandmother used to love a Catherine Cookson from a library.  She would mount it at the end of her long hallway and still, with those uncataracted eyes, she would be able to make out even the most nugatory of vowels.  It is an incredible place of learning.  We must fight to make sure that no government removes these accessible institutions which gave those... (MASSIVE CHEERING)... Save the Libraries!" Sue Perkins, Just A Minute (Radio Four, 14.30 to 15.30)

Text courtesy of http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/

I think this image and text describes it all really

Ray Maclean

Having a look around...

I've been having a look around some of the other blogs, it's interesting to see the different types of people registered. Some are serious and experienced bloggers, some just starting out, but it's good to see one thing bringing us all together.

I'm full of hope with how much I shall learn from doing this over the summer, but I'm also hoping I can make contacts. I've always been told "it's not what you know, it's who you know". I'm a firm believer in this and if anything can come from our blogging this summer is getting to know people around the world who are wanting to learn more. But I'm also hoping I'll learn a lot about how libraries in other sectors work and how the role of staff in these places differs from my own.

Here's to the next few weeks! Joining in the blogging, getting to know people and in my own case, getting to know a new set of work colleagues as I move locations in my current job.

Thing 1: starting out

This is actually my second blog, but I'm still quite new to the art. My main blog was set up to record my dressmaking hobby, I only created this a couple of months ago. In some ways I wish I'd used another blog writing software such as Wordpress, but I had a Google account and I could use this to go directly to Blogger - simples!

Although I like to think I'm reasonably in the know about web 2.0 and library 2.0, I felt there was still a lot to learn and this seemed the perfect way to learn. I'm not one for sitting in the session and learning, I like to learn individually onlne, and this fits the bill perfectly.

I'm currently working in a public library where access to some web 2.0 stuff is a complete no-no, so I'm hoping that blogging is OK! In the next few months I'm emmigrating to New Zealand, so I'm hoping what I learn here I can take with me to show that I am up to date in my knowledge.

Here's to the next few months of blogging, oh with a two week holiday in the middle!

Joining the merry throng

This is my second blog, set up mainly to do with work and my own professional development. I can't guarantee how often this will be updated.

My other blog illustrates the sewing and needlework I do for a hobby. That's more likely to be updated!

So watch this space...