Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Thing 23: Reflection - What next?
I've enjoyed the cpd23 Things course. I got a little behind during September because that's the busiest time of year in my workplace but have managed to get back on track. It felt like there was real community spirit with people posting supportive and friendly comments on each other's blogs. People were prepared to share experiences and knowledge - tentatively at first and then it grew to be the norm.
I like the fact that the course has made me try new tools - not just tried a tool once but encouraged me to reflect on it and to keep trialling something until I'm comfortable with how to use it. I've used some of the tools at work and also at home plus I've passed on the info to others and they now use some of the tools for their own purposes.
Reviewing my previous blog posts has helped me create a personal development plan (pdp). This was a good way to make sure that all the things I said I'd do or would like to do in the blog posts are collated and put into action. Hopefully this will help with my revalidation activities. Writing a pdp is a little like the preliminary forms you fill in for an appraisal - what have I done, did it go well, what do I need to do now, how am I going to achieve the goals - no bad thing to help you focus on the future.
I like the fact that the course has made me try new tools - not just tried a tool once but encouraged me to reflect on it and to keep trialling something until I'm comfortable with how to use it. I've used some of the tools at work and also at home plus I've passed on the info to others and they now use some of the tools for their own purposes.
Reviewing my previous blog posts has helped me create a personal development plan (pdp). This was a good way to make sure that all the things I said I'd do or would like to do in the blog posts are collated and put into action. Hopefully this will help with my revalidation activities. Writing a pdp is a little like the preliminary forms you fill in for an appraisal - what have I done, did it go well, what do I need to do now, how am I going to achieve the goals - no bad thing to help you focus on the future.
Monday, 14 November 2011
Thing 22: Volunteering to get experience
Volunteering is a hot political potato at the moment.The Big Society, community-run libraries/volunteer-run libraries etc are high on the agenda in terms of public libraries. I have worked with volunteers in a library where their time, input and skills were invaluable.
In an earlier post I talked about working in a hospice. Hospices do lot of fundraising in order to be able to deliver their important services and quite rightly the money is directed to core services for patients but there are many other important services that rely on volunteers to keep them going - they might be peripheral to the core but they are still important services for those that use them. At the hospice I worked in we had volunteer drivers to transport patients/families, there were gardeners, flower arrangers, people to read to patients etc as well as offer admin support in the office areas. Without these volunteers the hospice would not have been such a vibrant, caring, well run and resourced place. The library also benefited from a bunch of cracking dedicated volunteers - between them they sorted out the loans, shelved books, requested inter-library loan material, checked in periodicals.... Having a small team of volunteers (1 for a couple of hours a day) meant the two professional librarians were able to do skills training, put together search strategies, answer enquiries... and still maintain their sanity. The volunteers had not replaced a full time post - there had never been anymore to employ to more than the two professionals and yet as alwyas the professional roles had expanded to a point where they needed help with some tasks. There are many issues surrounding the use of volunteers in libraries and I'm finding some of the current proposals to use volunteers to save money on full-time staff difficult to support. I think the ideal is that public services (and I'm including hospices here) are properly funded but we all know that money doesn't grow on trees. The volunteers I used to work with really enjoyed their roles but they liked to know that there was someone else there to show them how to do things/take the bulk of the responsibility etc. Volunteers are an excellent addition to a workplace but I think they need to be working in tandem with full time professional staff and surely that gives everyone the best of both worlds.
In an earlier post I talked about working in a hospice. Hospices do lot of fundraising in order to be able to deliver their important services and quite rightly the money is directed to core services for patients but there are many other important services that rely on volunteers to keep them going - they might be peripheral to the core but they are still important services for those that use them. At the hospice I worked in we had volunteer drivers to transport patients/families, there were gardeners, flower arrangers, people to read to patients etc as well as offer admin support in the office areas. Without these volunteers the hospice would not have been such a vibrant, caring, well run and resourced place. The library also benefited from a bunch of cracking dedicated volunteers - between them they sorted out the loans, shelved books, requested inter-library loan material, checked in periodicals.... Having a small team of volunteers (1 for a couple of hours a day) meant the two professional librarians were able to do skills training, put together search strategies, answer enquiries... and still maintain their sanity. The volunteers had not replaced a full time post - there had never been anymore to employ to more than the two professionals and yet as alwyas the professional roles had expanded to a point where they needed help with some tasks. There are many issues surrounding the use of volunteers in libraries and I'm finding some of the current proposals to use volunteers to save money on full-time staff difficult to support. I think the ideal is that public services (and I'm including hospices here) are properly funded but we all know that money doesn't grow on trees. The volunteers I used to work with really enjoyed their roles but they liked to know that there was someone else there to show them how to do things/take the bulk of the responsibility etc. Volunteers are an excellent addition to a workplace but I think they need to be working in tandem with full time professional staff and surely that gives everyone the best of both worlds.
Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview
I made a list of my interests and activities and of course being tidy was top of the list. However, it turns out that I like a good project to work on. I have long suspected this - I do like a tick list of things to be done. My favourite activity is throwing stuff out/eliminating clutter. If I ever leave the library world I think I'd be just at home in the house clearance trade! Other people have asked me to help them clear out their stuff because they need someone to spur them on. The psychology aspect interests me too - why do people gather all this stuff?
Projects and eliminating clutter both transfer to work. I like to have something to work on aside from the on-going user education tasks. A long thin project that makes me learn something new or gains me a new perspective. In particular, I love stock editing at work - it's essential to maintaining a healthy, living collection.
I've been updating my CV lately, not because I'm looking for a new job but so that I can keep track of everything I've done. With the changes to Uni funding in 2012 I thought I should be prepared to move quickly - just in case Liaison Librarians are not seen as value for money.
I also love shopping. This means I can quickly conjure up a book order to spend the last bits (and more) of the budget at the end of the year. What starts as a couple of new editions turns into a supermarket sweep.
One job interview sticks in my mind and it was for a job that I didn't want. I had applied and gone to the interview in order to gain some real-life experience after library school. The interviewer asked the standard question 'why do you want this job?' and my mind went blank apart from one thought that in my head said - 'but I don't want it'. There was a long pause and I couldn't think of anything sensisble to say. I must have said something but it escapes me now. After that I have only gone for jobs that I really wanted - no messing about.
Projects and eliminating clutter both transfer to work. I like to have something to work on aside from the on-going user education tasks. A long thin project that makes me learn something new or gains me a new perspective. In particular, I love stock editing at work - it's essential to maintaining a healthy, living collection.
I've been updating my CV lately, not because I'm looking for a new job but so that I can keep track of everything I've done. With the changes to Uni funding in 2012 I thought I should be prepared to move quickly - just in case Liaison Librarians are not seen as value for money.
I also love shopping. This means I can quickly conjure up a book order to spend the last bits (and more) of the budget at the end of the year. What starts as a couple of new editions turns into a supermarket sweep.
One job interview sticks in my mind and it was for a job that I didn't want. I had applied and gone to the interview in order to gain some real-life experience after library school. The interviewer asked the standard question 'why do you want this job?' and my mind went blank apart from one thought that in my head said - 'but I don't want it'. There was a long pause and I couldn't think of anything sensisble to say. I must have said something but it escapes me now. After that I have only gone for jobs that I really wanted - no messing about.
Thing 20: The Library Routes Project
I've added a link to the Library Routes wiki and have looked at some of the other posts. Seems like a lot of people stumbled upon the profession but once people grab onto that first rung of the ladder they're hooked.
I think my career path has been fairly typical - or rather a bit textbook. Gradutate trainee, Masters, Chartership and now revalidating. I've mostly stuck to academic libraries with the hospice as the exception (although we did a lot of work with the palliative care students from the local Uni). I did a bit of moving around in the beginning to move up a few rungs on the ladder but I think that's ok. I knew I wanted to be a subject librarian but couldn't decide which subject. After dabbling in health, nursing and then drama, I knew health was the one for me.
In terms of advice for people at the early stage of their career, the following are things that have stuck with me over the years:
1. Get stuck in - yes, long stints on the issue desk can be a bit boring but it helps later on. You get customer care training, often gain experience of supervising a team or even just supervising the desk for one evening a week and meet the users in their good and bad guises. People (users and colleagues) can be odd, funny and/or quite cross - and in my experience they don't change so you might as well get to grips with these things early on.
2. Remember that librarians are part of an enormous network. You are bound to keep crossing paths with the same people. You might arrive at a new job miles from home only to spot a name on the staff list that you recognise - in my case I realised I had conversed with them about inter-library loans for many years. When you're starting off there will always be someone who knows someone else that will let you shadow them for the day or visit their library. This is good news for the Charterhsip process and for getting experience in different sectors.
3. Be willing to change. When I started there was a lot of paper - forms, forms and more forms. Now we are a bit sniffy about paper and in some cases have reached e-only. Courses like cpd23 make you think about what's happening now and how you can keep up with the pace of change.
2012 will be an interesting year in academic libraries and so I shall have to see what paths remain open to me in the future.
I think my career path has been fairly typical - or rather a bit textbook. Gradutate trainee, Masters, Chartership and now revalidating. I've mostly stuck to academic libraries with the hospice as the exception (although we did a lot of work with the palliative care students from the local Uni). I did a bit of moving around in the beginning to move up a few rungs on the ladder but I think that's ok. I knew I wanted to be a subject librarian but couldn't decide which subject. After dabbling in health, nursing and then drama, I knew health was the one for me.
In terms of advice for people at the early stage of their career, the following are things that have stuck with me over the years:
1. Get stuck in - yes, long stints on the issue desk can be a bit boring but it helps later on. You get customer care training, often gain experience of supervising a team or even just supervising the desk for one evening a week and meet the users in their good and bad guises. People (users and colleagues) can be odd, funny and/or quite cross - and in my experience they don't change so you might as well get to grips with these things early on.
2. Remember that librarians are part of an enormous network. You are bound to keep crossing paths with the same people. You might arrive at a new job miles from home only to spot a name on the staff list that you recognise - in my case I realised I had conversed with them about inter-library loans for many years. When you're starting off there will always be someone who knows someone else that will let you shadow them for the day or visit their library. This is good news for the Charterhsip process and for getting experience in different sectors.
3. Be willing to change. When I started there was a lot of paper - forms, forms and more forms. Now we are a bit sniffy about paper and in some cases have reached e-only. Courses like cpd23 make you think about what's happening now and how you can keep up with the pace of change.
2012 will be an interesting year in academic libraries and so I shall have to see what paths remain open to me in the future.
Thing 19: Catch up week on integrating 'things'
So far, so good....
Blogs - as well as updating my own for 23Things I have been busy reading other peoples' blogs using the Google Reader widget on iGoogle. I need to be brave and start blogging about non-23Things stuff.
Twitter - still using this to keep up to date with library news. Have been following some of the #savelibraries stuff. Had one tweet retweeted to about 800 people! I remain selective about who I follow as I use this for professional and some personal stuff (although the personal friends are also librarians).
iGoogle - using this at work to read personal email (don't tell anyone!) and use iGoogle to read library-related blogs. Has made keeping up to date with new blog posts much easier and is starting to become a useful daily habit.
Evernote - really like this. Have access at home and work but use it mainly for 'notes to self'' so that I can transfer them between the two locations. Beats using flimsy post-it notes. Proving very useful in terms of compiling a Xmas list! Introduced my Dad to Evernote who is using it as a diary with pictures and voice notes - puts my use of Evernote to shame.
Screen capture tools - I continue to experiment with these. I've been using Screenr for a while but I'm trying out Jing to see how it compares.
Prezi - ouch! Still working on this one but it hurts my head. I think I'm too linear in my outlook and I'm finding it difficult to design or follow the freestyle route that Prezi allows. I need more time and thought to get to grips with this one. Looks like a great tool and exciting alternative to PowerPoint but I haven't quite got it yet.
Blogs - as well as updating my own for 23Things I have been busy reading other peoples' blogs using the Google Reader widget on iGoogle. I need to be brave and start blogging about non-23Things stuff.
Twitter - still using this to keep up to date with library news. Have been following some of the #savelibraries stuff. Had one tweet retweeted to about 800 people! I remain selective about who I follow as I use this for professional and some personal stuff (although the personal friends are also librarians).
iGoogle - using this at work to read personal email (don't tell anyone!) and use iGoogle to read library-related blogs. Has made keeping up to date with new blog posts much easier and is starting to become a useful daily habit.
Evernote - really like this. Have access at home and work but use it mainly for 'notes to self'' so that I can transfer them between the two locations. Beats using flimsy post-it notes. Proving very useful in terms of compiling a Xmas list! Introduced my Dad to Evernote who is using it as a diary with pictures and voice notes - puts my use of Evernote to shame.
Screen capture tools - I continue to experiment with these. I've been using Screenr for a while but I'm trying out Jing to see how it compares.
Prezi - ouch! Still working on this one but it hurts my head. I think I'm too linear in my outlook and I'm finding it difficult to design or follow the freestyle route that Prezi allows. I need more time and thought to get to grips with this one. Looks like a great tool and exciting alternative to PowerPoint but I haven't quite got it yet.
Thing 18: Jing, screen capture and podcasts.
I've previously used Screenr to do screen capture at work and so far it's worked well particularly as it was easily accessible at home and work - no need to download anything. However I was interested to see what Jing had to offer. The act of making a screen capture video via Jing was much the same as with Screenr - 5 mins recording time, adjust the recording area to cover the bit of the screen you want, pause/stop etc buttons. Alas when recording a video, Jing seemed to make the screen a bit shaky and slow.
Jing offered the option to take an image (screenshot) and add a caption. I particularly liked this feature because it's a good way to capture 'quirks' on the online library system. I captured one of those troublesome Athens log in pages that plague some of the online databases ... bonus points for Jing. Of course you can do print screen and add a text box in Word etc but it seemed so much easier in Jing, at least it did until I wanted to link to it. To link to the image capture I had to use yet another website so instead I've just downloaded my image capture and I can send it to people on email. I can see the plus points of Jing but it had a few too many annoying habits that make me reluctant to desert Screenr.
Now for podcasting. I had a go at recording a short podcast using the Audacity software. I simply read out a couple of paragraphs from a book and then was well and truly stumped when it came to editing the file. Suffice to say I simply have a little audio file of me reading aloud - which makes me cringe! I think I need to do some reading up about podcast creation before I have another go. Previously I have listened to some library induction podcasts and the odd thing from tutors at work. I can see podcasts being a useful addition to audio PowerPoints, screencasts etc to help distance learners become familiar with library services - possibly as a way to do a questions and answers session - students pose the question and I give the answer via a podcast.
Jing offered the option to take an image (screenshot) and add a caption. I particularly liked this feature because it's a good way to capture 'quirks' on the online library system. I captured one of those troublesome Athens log in pages that plague some of the online databases ... bonus points for Jing. Of course you can do print screen and add a text box in Word etc but it seemed so much easier in Jing, at least it did until I wanted to link to it. To link to the image capture I had to use yet another website so instead I've just downloaded my image capture and I can send it to people on email. I can see the plus points of Jing but it had a few too many annoying habits that make me reluctant to desert Screenr.
Now for podcasting. I had a go at recording a short podcast using the Audacity software. I simply read out a couple of paragraphs from a book and then was well and truly stumped when it came to editing the file. Suffice to say I simply have a little audio file of me reading aloud - which makes me cringe! I think I need to do some reading up about podcast creation before I have another go. Previously I have listened to some library induction podcasts and the odd thing from tutors at work. I can see podcasts being a useful addition to audio PowerPoints, screencasts etc to help distance learners become familiar with library services - possibly as a way to do a questions and answers session - students pose the question and I give the answer via a podcast.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Thing 17: Medium is the message - Prezi and Slideshare
Prezi looks fantastic and indeed it is fantastic. It's just that my brain couldn't fathom out what Prezi was doing! It all felt a little too freestyle for me - I'm afraid I prefer a linear approach. Still I had a go. I picked the 'explain a subject' template - not quite up to taking the off-piste route yet - and it was easy enough to edit.
I quite like the way you can criss-cross the screen but I did feel slightly sea-sick with all the swirling around. It's not exciting but here's my attempt at Prezi http://prezi.com/4hvtn_xnzfge/library-orientation/. I suspect that with a lot (an awful lot) more practice I could make some good presentations to share with the students.
I often read The Search Principle Blog where presentations/documents are shared using Slideshare. I have been looking forward to the Slideshare task since this course began. I knew it would be useful but I hadn't realised how simple it was - it took seconds to sign up, upload a file and see it shared. I can see this being invaluable. When working offsite I can have all my presentations saved in Slideshare as well as on a USB stick (I'm a big fan of having multiple back up plans when running workshops). I can also link to them on Slideshare rather than keep uploading them to different areas of the virtual learning environment. You can see my 'test' slideshare item at http://www.slideshare.net/kateldavies/search-clinic
I intend to explore Prezi further and I will be adding more things to Slideshare in the current weeks so that I can test it in future training sessions.
I quite like the way you can criss-cross the screen but I did feel slightly sea-sick with all the swirling around. It's not exciting but here's my attempt at Prezi http://prezi.com/4hvtn_xnzfge/library-orientation/. I suspect that with a lot (an awful lot) more practice I could make some good presentations to share with the students.
I often read The Search Principle Blog where presentations/documents are shared using Slideshare. I have been looking forward to the Slideshare task since this course began. I knew it would be useful but I hadn't realised how simple it was - it took seconds to sign up, upload a file and see it shared. I can see this being invaluable. When working offsite I can have all my presentations saved in Slideshare as well as on a USB stick (I'm a big fan of having multiple back up plans when running workshops). I can also link to them on Slideshare rather than keep uploading them to different areas of the virtual learning environment. You can see my 'test' slideshare item at http://www.slideshare.net/kateldavies/search-clinic
I intend to explore Prezi further and I will be adding more things to Slideshare in the current weeks so that I can test it in future training sessions.
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