I was disappointed (and frustrated) that I did not get to my f2f networking event last Thursday at CILIP due to an M25 traffic jam. This may be why it's taken me so long to get around to writing up last week's activities.
I'm a second career librarian and joined LIANZA while completing my MLIS. I found the face to face events in Wellington region very good for developing contacts. Also the annual conference provided opportunities to meet others and even to get to know people working for the same (large) organisation better.
Later I joined the committee of my special interest group, ITSIG, which gave me closer (mostly phone conference) contact with some key movers and shakers. The direct contacts were very useful when I needed to find out how others had already done something that I needed to do. Especially since I worked at the National Library and we were not exactly encouraged to publicly post our queries on email lists.
Since coming back to Britain I've joined CILIP and had several temporary contracts. The formal publications are my main benefit as I haven't yet been to a regional event although I'd like to. My library contracts are in London, but I commute in from a different region, so that took a while to sort out.
I haven't taken up the benefit of CILIP training as with gaps between my contracts I have no budget to spend. A big change after working for a national library that sent me on courses, organised in-house courses and also had regular talks from staff and international experts.
I would like to gain and maintain professional registration. I had 5 years post MLIS experience by the time I left New Zealand, but LIANZA introduced professional registration just after I left. My MLIS is accredited by CILIP but it seems difficult to qualify to register while I have only sporadic short term contracts (which may be website rather than library work). Probably my best route is to get a permanent role and get started on registration straight away.
I like the look of LIKE: The London Information and Knowledge Exchange. It appears to give more networking opportunities than are available to me with CILIP so I am now taking their RSS feed and will go to an event (although I'm still trying to go to a CILIP one).
I'm not convinced that I need the US-centric The Library Society of the World. I may check out their professional development opportunities a bit more, but the link to an insurance site that bought the domain name for Umbrella 2007 does not bode well for my desire for high quality, current information.
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Thing 6: Online networks
I've slipped further behind so will keep this short.
I find Facebook very useful to keep or get back in touch with family and friends, but not for building work-related networks. I've enjoyed my daughter's photos very much and recently started posting my own as a quick way to share what I've been doing. It's also a good way to write to other family members for whom you don't have an email address.
In the course of my work I've looked at public profiles on LinkedIn, but as a non-member my access was restricted. LinkedIn should prove very useful once I carefully set up my profile. I've had temporary contracts since coming back to Britain from New Zealand so may find that I have a few people to network with. I've resolved that by the end of this week I will be set up on LinkedIn.
LISNPN has some interesting discussion publicly available and would be good if I was a new professional, and may be worthwhile for me to join as a relatively recent returnee to Britain.
Librarians as Teachers - appears to be useful for those who teach. I'll remember this if my next or a future role involves teaching.
CILIP Communities: another one for me to join by the end of the week. Despite joining CILIP when I returned to the UK, I haven't got involved. This looks like something I need to do.
I'm also a member of LIANZA and was on the ITSIG committee that set up a Wiki in 2003. Not exactly a community, but a resource supposed to be edited by the community, but takeup was slow and there have only been 4 edits in 2011. There are some groups on the redeveloped LIANZA website, but it looks as if discussion still takes place in the email lists. I've just signed up to see if more becomes visible.
I personally do not want to use yet another social network from Google. For many years I also have had free limited membership of Friends Reunited, a means of finding people I was at school with and being notified about reunions, but I have not paid to join and do not visit often. I regards it as arms length contact rather than the closer contact of Facebook.
I find Facebook very useful to keep or get back in touch with family and friends, but not for building work-related networks. I've enjoyed my daughter's photos very much and recently started posting my own as a quick way to share what I've been doing. It's also a good way to write to other family members for whom you don't have an email address.
In the course of my work I've looked at public profiles on LinkedIn, but as a non-member my access was restricted. LinkedIn should prove very useful once I carefully set up my profile. I've had temporary contracts since coming back to Britain from New Zealand so may find that I have a few people to network with. I've resolved that by the end of this week I will be set up on LinkedIn.
LISNPN has some interesting discussion publicly available and would be good if I was a new professional, and may be worthwhile for me to join as a relatively recent returnee to Britain.
Librarians as Teachers - appears to be useful for those who teach. I'll remember this if my next or a future role involves teaching.
CILIP Communities: another one for me to join by the end of the week. Despite joining CILIP when I returned to the UK, I haven't got involved. This looks like something I need to do.
I'm also a member of LIANZA and was on the ITSIG committee that set up a Wiki in 2003. Not exactly a community, but a resource supposed to be edited by the community, but takeup was slow and there have only been 4 edits in 2011. There are some groups on the redeveloped LIANZA website, but it looks as if discussion still takes place in the email lists. I've just signed up to see if more becomes visible.
I personally do not want to use yet another social network from Google. For many years I also have had free limited membership of Friends Reunited, a means of finding people I was at school with and being notified about reunions, but I have not paid to join and do not visit often. I regards it as arms length contact rather than the closer contact of Facebook.
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Thing 5: Reflective practice
I'm reflecting on where I've come from, what I decided to do, what has happened so far and how that was in relation to my expectations. I try to reflect each week on the topic but sometimes you need to take a longer look back.
I needed to get more experience in using social media. As well as library roles (electronic, repository, etc) I also do contract website work and many sites are now using social media to direct traffic towards the site.
I started cpd23 as a means of pushing myself into places I wasn't going to go to without an incentive. I enjoy learning but wanted a means of focussing my learning.
Part of learning is linking new understanding to your prior knowledge. Trying out new tools probably means making mistakes and learning from them.
I realised straight away that I don't like publishing my inner thoughts and revealing my identity. Especially when I'm job-hunting as they will probably Google me. On reflection, my future employer does need to be able to work with me so if I keep it fairly professional it will only put off someone that I probably wouldn't have got on with anyway. Hope so!
Some others are much more open than me and have such good ideas and write in an interesting way. How can I make mine more interesting?
I learnt that my top Google result is a very old family history related post. Not what I really want. I'd rather have more recent ones at the top, but don't want to load my list posts with keywords that will be 'popular' at the expense of giving useful contributions. I do need to do something about this although I'm not keen on promoting myself. I prefer promoting my family history society or a library service.
I did decide to be more open about my identity and got my picture up. I'll be at the London cpd23 meet, but am not aware of who I might meet there.
I was already using RSS and it is still my favourite. I'm now following others through Twitter and can see that it is useful to me. I joined an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) one and immediately got other followers (trying to boost their own rankings?).
I'm getting practical experience of other ways of connecting with people. These could be applied to information services. I need to carry on considering my branding and try embedding Twitter into daily use like I already use RSS.
I also need to become faster at doing CDP23 exercises. Perhaps shorter blog posts!
I needed to get more experience in using social media. As well as library roles (electronic, repository, etc) I also do contract website work and many sites are now using social media to direct traffic towards the site.
What I decided to do
I started cpd23 as a means of pushing myself into places I wasn't going to go to without an incentive. I enjoy learning but wanted a means of focussing my learning.
Part of learning is linking new understanding to your prior knowledge. Trying out new tools probably means making mistakes and learning from them.
What have I done and what do I now do differently?
Started this blog
I realised straight away that I don't like publishing my inner thoughts and revealing my identity. Especially when I'm job-hunting as they will probably Google me. On reflection, my future employer does need to be able to work with me so if I keep it fairly professional it will only put off someone that I probably wouldn't have got on with anyway. Hope so!
Looked at other blogs
Some others are much more open than me and have such good ideas and write in an interesting way. How can I make mine more interesting?
Branding
I learnt that my top Google result is a very old family history related post. Not what I really want. I'd rather have more recent ones at the top, but don't want to load my list posts with keywords that will be 'popular' at the expense of giving useful contributions. I do need to do something about this although I'm not keen on promoting myself. I prefer promoting my family history society or a library service.
I did decide to be more open about my identity and got my picture up. I'll be at the London cpd23 meet, but am not aware of who I might meet there.
Twitter, Pushnote
I was already using RSS and it is still my favourite. I'm now following others through Twitter and can see that it is useful to me. I joined an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) one and immediately got other followers (trying to boost their own rankings?).
In conclusion
I'm getting practical experience of other ways of connecting with people. These could be applied to information services. I need to carry on considering my branding and try embedding Twitter into daily use like I already use RSS.
I also need to become faster at doing CDP23 exercises. Perhaps shorter blog posts!
Friday 15 July 2011
Thing 4: first tweets and an app
I've used RSS feeds for a long time - in my Firefox toolbar so that I can scan it without moving off the page I'm on. I like to track news, both here with the BBC and in New Zealand (Stuff and Radio NZ). I also have job feeds as I'm job-hunting, my daughter's blogs and a few other ones.
I've now set up Twitter and tweeted twice and am following some too. More open about my identity - my name seems to show alongside my nickname if I'm not logged in. Hmm.
I've rebranded my blog (the background is of puffins I photographed off Skomer in May). I added the same photo of myself to Facebook and Twitter). I discovered that Twitter cropped the top of my head, so had to reupload a squarer photo. In New Zealand heads are regarded as tapu by Maori and you should not display only part of a head. Nearly 30 years living there has given me a different cultural perspective from the one I grew up with in Britain.
I've also added Pushnote to my browser and boldly given it access to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Perhaps I'll use it tomorrow. I am reminded that I also put Tweetdeck on my PC a couple of months ago when I started exploring social media. Now might be a good time to experiment with it. (Well, tomorrow as it's late)
I think that RSS really is the most useful of these tools so far (into my toolbar). Maybe because it is already embedded in my habits.
I can get my current affairs alongside my library and other blogs all feeding into something that is there without waiting for it to load when I take a break. However, it isn't interactive so I'll have to see how Twitter, etc go, perhaps compared with the interactivity of email lists and Facebook
I've now set up Twitter and tweeted twice and am following some too. More open about my identity - my name seems to show alongside my nickname if I'm not logged in. Hmm.
I've rebranded my blog (the background is of puffins I photographed off Skomer in May). I added the same photo of myself to Facebook and Twitter). I discovered that Twitter cropped the top of my head, so had to reupload a squarer photo. In New Zealand heads are regarded as tapu by Maori and you should not display only part of a head. Nearly 30 years living there has given me a different cultural perspective from the one I grew up with in Britain.
I've also added Pushnote to my browser and boldly given it access to my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Perhaps I'll use it tomorrow. I am reminded that I also put Tweetdeck on my PC a couple of months ago when I started exploring social media. Now might be a good time to experiment with it. (Well, tomorrow as it's late)
I think that RSS really is the most useful of these tools so far (into my toolbar). Maybe because it is already embedded in my habits.
I can get my current affairs alongside my library and other blogs all feeding into something that is there without waiting for it to load when I take a break. However, it isn't interactive so I'll have to see how Twitter, etc go, perhaps compared with the interactivity of email lists and Facebook
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Thing 3: branding or... bye-bye bluebell?
Vanity check
Googling myself doesn't really demonstrate my current CV profile:
"A background in libraries and IT, including managing electronic resources and proactive website management."
The first page of results for my (unique) name are family history related. Boring. But I guess that's ok, especially if I wanted to be a local studies librarian (don't think I'm qualified for this) or to showcase my research skills (fine).Why is the first result an archived 2002 email where I replied to someone else's post? Because the thread was about the Queen Mother? Not one I am particularly proud of.
There's a lot I can learn about Google's ranking algorithm just by studying these 10 results. An opportunity to upgrade my SEO skills as a spinoff?
All 8 list archive posts are dated 2000-2005, yet I last posted in May to one of the lists. Perhaps those older posts have been most frequently viewed because they have such valuable content ;-) and boosted their Google rank. The other two are on a family history society's website, so less surprising and ok.
The top of the 2nd results page reveals that I was on a LIANZA SIG committee. Something work related at last.
None of my profiles are public - no Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc., hence no embarrassing details visible (I did find myself in Worldcat though via Pipl). Google reveals that the rest of my family are rather more open with their profiles.
As I'm job-hunting, and it's a while since my last temp library contract, I'm looking at other job options, so should do more to make myself and my professional qualities visible. Perhaps LinedIn, etc. Something to work on this week.
Name
I have been coy about my surname in my blog, and will change that if I can steel myself to do so. I was wary about hanging out my washing in public as I explore ideas, especially as I'm job-hunting at the moment.
Photo
Well, I think my bluebell photo looks pretty, but it won't identify me when people meet me. Will find a photo of myself.
Professional/personal identity
I think I'd already decided that they are merged as there's no way I can hide my family history list posts from potential employers and they've been visible for years. I've only added two work contacts to Facebook so far but have nothing against it.
Visual brand
Colours. My blog colour was chosen to go with the bluebells whereas really I'd prefer a warmer tone. That's what comes of creating the blog quickly. I think I'm about to rebrand.
Next steps
I've learnt that I need to be a bit more open, risk a little...
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Thing 2: other blogs
Well, I'm already behind on my cpd23 schedule but I have been busy brushing up my Excel 2007 skills instead. Vlookup or macro anyone? Now I just need a collection to develop, with associated statistics.. or something unrelated to library and information services.
There are now far more participants than when I started Thing 2. I've looked at several other cpd23 blogs, especially checking out the New Zealanders, "U" and unemployed. I was disappointed to find that the only NZ one tagged national was a bit odd and didn't seem to be being developed (in Wordpress). I was at the National Library of New Zealand for 5 years, although I've been in the UK for 4 years now. Oh well. I'll try it again in a couple of weeks. Other NZ ones were interesting to remind me of the NZ library environment.
Exploring other blogs, I've now found tags for unemployed and volunteer, so have asked for mine to have these tags so that my blog can be found. My voluntary library is a small family history society library I've recently taken on. The collection needs better access and use.
I realised I'm a bit wary of posting publicly. It's the same on Facebook - where I'm amazed at how much some people do say. Maybe it's because I've been involved with websites since 1998 and although they go away, there's often traces of them in places like the Internet Archive.
Now on to Thing 3, although I'll keep exploring and following other blogs.
There are now far more participants than when I started Thing 2. I've looked at several other cpd23 blogs, especially checking out the New Zealanders, "U" and unemployed. I was disappointed to find that the only NZ one tagged national was a bit odd and didn't seem to be being developed (in Wordpress). I was at the National Library of New Zealand for 5 years, although I've been in the UK for 4 years now. Oh well. I'll try it again in a couple of weeks. Other NZ ones were interesting to remind me of the NZ library environment.
Exploring other blogs, I've now found tags for unemployed and volunteer, so have asked for mine to have these tags so that my blog can be found. My voluntary library is a small family history society library I've recently taken on. The collection needs better access and use.
I realised I'm a bit wary of posting publicly. It's the same on Facebook - where I'm amazed at how much some people do say. Maybe it's because I've been involved with websites since 1998 and although they go away, there's often traces of them in places like the Internet Archive.
Now on to Thing 3, although I'll keep exploring and following other blogs.
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