"Upskill?" "Free CPD"
"Reflect.. blog"
"Finished!"
(almost - just need to write this post;-)
This programme has given me the incentive to try out several tools, some that I knew of and others I did not. It has also caused me to reflect on my experiences, relationship to the profession, etc. I started CPD23 as a means of filling gaps I had identified in my experience, such as blogging, and an awareness of the lack of recent formal PD, having been contracting.
Although I am blogging, I am still not comfortable making my personal thoughts public. I am much happier publishing information about research, services, etc.
Immediate short term goal: to develop better use of my family history society's library. I may need to further develop my negotiation and marketing skills to achieve this in my existing volunteer role. Longer term I would love a role using my interest and experience in genealogy, but initial investigation shows that it is probably not feasible to earn my living as a genealogist!
I modified my long term aim and have developed a Plan, but do not want to make it public.
Developing the plan involved looking for job adverts and role descriptions. I then identified how I could gain the missing experience and skills and looked for opportunities such as courses and volunteering. I have previously been through the same process in formal annual reviews.
I have enjoyed this course. I have enjoyed reading blogs of some of the other participants but regret missing the face to face and real time networking opportunities. It has given me a real chance for some training when I have a zero training budget (ie only short term contracts). I will certainly be following through some of the things I have learnt. If there is another course, I'll probably be there!
Tuesday 29 November 2011
Thing 22: Volunteering
My first library role was as a volunteer for my local Playcentre that I attended with my children. I hadn't even thought of it as a career step, just something I could and would enjoy doing. It was followed by another role for the regional library, for which I received an honorarium and lost my dining room table to piles of books I'd taken home to prepare and write out catalogue cards (remember the labour required to add another subject heading?).
The roles stood me in good stead when I applied for my first salaried role as a library assistant before starting the MLIS. Probably my experience and qualifications as a Playcentre supervisor working as a volunteer with young children also helped me win the role in a school library with much older children.
Post-qualification, to my surprise, I went into a senior librarian role. Admittedly, alongside my volunteer and library assistant experience I also had an IT background and website management experience when it was not so common.
Playcentre is an organisation of volunteers so the roles did not compete with paid staff and could not devalue the profession. I suppose the small honorarium in my second role was a recognition that the role was important and perhaps counts as paid work. The other regional volunteer librarian was a qualified librarian, also receiving a small honorarium.
I think a volunteer role for a specific project within an organisation that does have paid staff may be a good way to get experience without devaluing our profession in the current economic climate. Volunteering for a charity would not devalue the role of professional staff either unless the charity had many other paid staff.
I am investigating local volunteer opportunities either to get more recent and different face to face library experience as my latest contracts have not been in a library, or for something to move my career in another direction entirely as funding for library services is reduced...
The roles stood me in good stead when I applied for my first salaried role as a library assistant before starting the MLIS. Probably my experience and qualifications as a Playcentre supervisor working as a volunteer with young children also helped me win the role in a school library with much older children.
Post-qualification, to my surprise, I went into a senior librarian role. Admittedly, alongside my volunteer and library assistant experience I also had an IT background and website management experience when it was not so common.
Playcentre is an organisation of volunteers so the roles did not compete with paid staff and could not devalue the profession. I suppose the small honorarium in my second role was a recognition that the role was important and perhaps counts as paid work. The other regional volunteer librarian was a qualified librarian, also receiving a small honorarium.
I think a volunteer role for a specific project within an organisation that does have paid staff may be a good way to get experience without devaluing our profession in the current economic climate. Volunteering for a charity would not devalue the role of professional staff either unless the charity had many other paid staff.
I am investigating local volunteer opportunities either to get more recent and different face to face library experience as my latest contracts have not been in a library, or for something to move my career in another direction entirely as funding for library services is reduced...
Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview
I've done a few job applications and interviews recently as I've been contracting. I took some time off to travel then started to look for a new job at the beginning of the year. My CV is up to date, but I have stepped back to look at whether my activities, interests and priorities have changed.
Throughout the last few months I have spent a lot of time questioning what I want in a job, what skills I have etc before applying for roles. Reviewing my new list of activities/interests that I like/dislike shows me that my priorities may have changed a little. It would be fun to be able to use my interest in researching genealogy in paid work, but I suspect I would need some further qualifications. Something to investigate.
I always try to prepare well for interviews and had to give a presentation with slides at a recent one, resulting in even more preparation. I have added the list of questions from Wikiman to my set of interview preparation guides ready for my next interview. I am also taking on board the advice to address the criteria behind the question and to act as though the panel has not read your CV.
Throughout the last few months I have spent a lot of time questioning what I want in a job, what skills I have etc before applying for roles. Reviewing my new list of activities/interests that I like/dislike shows me that my priorities may have changed a little. It would be fun to be able to use my interest in researching genealogy in paid work, but I suspect I would need some further qualifications. Something to investigate.
I am able to get shortlisted for a fair proportion of my applications but don't seem to do so well in the interview. Admittedly not everyone interviewed can get the job and the job market is a bit tight. Also my experience over the last 4 years, since I left a permanent job in New Zealand, has gaps between contracts and I would also now perfer a permanent role.
I always try to prepare well for interviews and had to give a presentation with slides at a recent one, resulting in even more preparation. I have added the list of questions from Wikiman to my set of interview preparation guides ready for my next interview. I am also taking on board the advice to address the criteria behind the question and to act as though the panel has not read your CV.
Monday 28 November 2011
Thing 20: The Library Routes Project
I've added a link to my Thing 10: experiences as a librarian so far to the Library Routes project wiki, but will change it to this page. I enjoyed reading about the variety of other routes and backgrounds other people have taken to become a librarian.
I don't think I really said why I became a librarian in Thing 10. Briefly, every family at Playcentre in New Zealand helps to run the early childhood education centre and a few months after I started the librarian's eldest child was moving on to school. As a child I had organised my books so perhaps I'd always wanted to run a library and so I took it on.
I enjoyed the role, encouraging parents to read about their role in their children's education as well as encouraging everyone to read to the children (not difficult). When I moved on to look after the regional library together with a qualified librarian, I moved through other roles in my own Playcentre, including Information officer and Education officer.
I enjoyed helping other people and the roles seemed quite different from my previous career as a very technical computer programmer so I decided to try to get a job as a library assistant and was fortunate to get a school library role where my Computer Science background was viewed as helpful for maintaining the LMS and the library network. After a while I wanted to learn how to catalogue 'properly' so enrolled part time for the MLIS.
For more on my career see Thing 10: experiences as a librarian so far.
I don't think I really said why I became a librarian in Thing 10. Briefly, every family at Playcentre in New Zealand helps to run the early childhood education centre and a few months after I started the librarian's eldest child was moving on to school. As a child I had organised my books so perhaps I'd always wanted to run a library and so I took it on.
I enjoyed the role, encouraging parents to read about their role in their children's education as well as encouraging everyone to read to the children (not difficult). When I moved on to look after the regional library together with a qualified librarian, I moved through other roles in my own Playcentre, including Information officer and Education officer.
I enjoyed helping other people and the roles seemed quite different from my previous career as a very technical computer programmer so I decided to try to get a job as a library assistant and was fortunate to get a school library role where my Computer Science background was viewed as helpful for maintaining the LMS and the library network. After a while I wanted to learn how to catalogue 'properly' so enrolled part time for the MLIS.
For more on my career see Thing 10: experiences as a librarian so far.
Sunday 27 November 2011
Thing 17: Prezi etc
Some Prezi examples look like a good idea, eg as a learning object to be used independently. I like the way it can all be seen and navigation can move in a different order if necessary. It would save having that moment in a Powerpoint presentation when I try to remember where to find the slide I want to return to.
I've never been a fan of the flying objects school of death-by-Powerpoint and actually find the zooming around makes me feel a bit car- (or sea-) sick.
With that in mind I've created my first Prezi, Winter storage. I'm afraid it is linear as I haven't yet thought of a more complex example.
I've been inspired by many Slideshare presentations in the past as a quick way of learning some basic information about topics I'm interested in.
I thought the resume was an interesting idea, but am not keen to try it myself. For my roles I think it would never totally replace the paper version. Agencies wouldn't like it (won't store in their system) and I really need a basic text CV to draw on for the application processes that require me to rewrite my CV into an online form.
If I have something worthwhile to share in future I'll add it to Slideshare. Unless, that is, I've used Prezi!
I've never been a fan of the flying objects school of death-by-Powerpoint and actually find the zooming around makes me feel a bit car- (or sea-) sick.
With that in mind I've created my first Prezi, Winter storage. I'm afraid it is linear as I haven't yet thought of a more complex example.
I've been inspired by many Slideshare presentations in the past as a quick way of learning some basic information about topics I'm interested in.
I thought the resume was an interesting idea, but am not keen to try it myself. For my roles I think it would never totally replace the paper version. Agencies wouldn't like it (won't store in their system) and I really need a basic text CV to draw on for the application processes that require me to rewrite my CV into an online form.
If I have something worthwhile to share in future I'll add it to Slideshare. Unless, that is, I've used Prezi!
Thing 19: Catch up on integrating
This is a good time to reflect on my earlier posts, although as I've had a couple of non-librarian contracts I am not reflecting after using the tools for work, apart from considering them for my volunteer role.
I am now using LinkedIn and find it useful for keeping in touch with former colleagues and possible job opportunities. To increase its value as a marketing tool I need to add detail about each role to illustrate my skills. I sometimes follow alerts from LinkedIn groups in my email. I continue to use Facebook for friends and family and also pick up CILIP group posts.
Branding: After a brief experiment for this course I am not Tweeting. I thought about deactivating my Twitter account since it is high in search results for my name and is not really wanted as part of my image at present. LinkedIn at no. 4 is just below Twitter at 3, so I would like them reversed. A disadvantage of deactivating is that I then couldn't follow others in Twitter. I will certainly consider blogging and tweeting for any future information related roles I am in.
I still read RSS feeds on a daily basis - but I was doing that before this course. I read a few more blog articles and tweets too but continue to get some information from email lists
I am now using LinkedIn and find it useful for keeping in touch with former colleagues and possible job opportunities. To increase its value as a marketing tool I need to add detail about each role to illustrate my skills. I sometimes follow alerts from LinkedIn groups in my email. I continue to use Facebook for friends and family and also pick up CILIP group posts.
Branding: After a brief experiment for this course I am not Tweeting. I thought about deactivating my Twitter account since it is high in search results for my name and is not really wanted as part of my image at present. LinkedIn at no. 4 is just below Twitter at 3, so I would like them reversed. A disadvantage of deactivating is that I then couldn't follow others in Twitter. I will certainly consider blogging and tweeting for any future information related roles I am in.
I still read RSS feeds on a daily basis - but I was doing that before this course. I read a few more blog articles and tweets too but continue to get some information from email lists
Saturday 26 November 2011
Thing 18: Jing / screen capture/ Audacity / podcasts
I can see I'll have to smooth my mouse movements to capture video using Jing. I've had a few attempts which I'm not keen to publish! The mouse movements are improving.
Jing would be very useful for a short training video to demostrate how to use a database or piece of software. In order to produce something adequate it is going to be essential for me to write a script and to practise a few times to eliminate non-essential mouse movements.
Using Jing as image capture software, I like the ability to add texboxes, highlighting and arrows. I usually capture screenshots for presentations as it gives certainty that there is something visible rather than relying only on live internet connections. Jing makes annotating the screenshots really easy and I will definitely be using it in future.
I have already used Audacity to edit/manage format changes of sound files. Today I used it to record a short podcast about this course. I need a script or to practise in the same way as I normally prepare to give a presentation. I am not yet ready to publish my podcasts!
Jing would be very useful for a short training video to demostrate how to use a database or piece of software. In order to produce something adequate it is going to be essential for me to write a script and to practise a few times to eliminate non-essential mouse movements.
Using Jing as image capture software, I like the ability to add texboxes, highlighting and arrows. I usually capture screenshots for presentations as it gives certainty that there is something visible rather than relying only on live internet connections. Jing makes annotating the screenshots really easy and I will definitely be using it in future.
I have already used Audacity to edit/manage format changes of sound files. Today I used it to record a short podcast about this course. I need a script or to practise in the same way as I normally prepare to give a presentation. I am not yet ready to publish my podcasts!
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