I still feel quite early on in my career but some tips I've picked up along the way:
- Get as much experience of a variety of sectors as you can
- Current (and currant) awareness
Thursday 6 October 2011
Thing 20: The Library Routes Project
I blogged about how I got here in Thing 10 so won't bore you with it again here. I have had a look at soem of the other Library Routes on the Wiki and have to say it does look as if most of us didn't know we could do it as a career! Their is a good mix of how people ended up in library work but from several of the posts I've seen most have gone on to a postgraduate qualification in LIS whereas I'm going the other way doing an undergraduate course trying to decide which postgraduate course to do later...or as I think of it, when I properly grow up!
I still feel quite early on in my career but some tips I've picked up along the way:
I still feel quite early on in my career but some tips I've picked up along the way:
Thing 19: Catch up week on integrating 'things'
I know I've jumped the gun and missed out "Thing 18" but it's soemthing that really interests me and I wanted to be able to spend a considerable amount of time before I blogged about it. I promise to come back to it however.
This week is supposed to be about looking back and reflecting on what I've done so far. Also looking at integrating some of the tools. I suppose in a way I have done this with many of them already as I was using them but have learnt lot about Evernote, Mendeley and others which I hadn't previously used. For work I use Skype a lot, amd I use it to keep in touch with a variety of groups. I recently found an add on for Skype that allows me to record a call and save it in Evernote. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but think this could be a lifesaver!
I've also fallen behind a lot on the blog front and spent a lot of my time catching up. However, I've enjoyed blogging and feel my writing is coming along. I tend to blog for work and have been blogging about Prezi and conferences I have attended. I would like my work blog to be more work focused and use this blog to discuss new tools, events, training all sorts. So I'm not going to end this when the "Things" end, instead I plan to carry on using it as my reflective space. I'm interested to see how my writing style changes too, any luck it will improve!
This week is supposed to be about looking back and reflecting on what I've done so far. Also looking at integrating some of the tools. I suppose in a way I have done this with many of them already as I was using them but have learnt lot about Evernote, Mendeley and others which I hadn't previously used. For work I use Skype a lot, amd I use it to keep in touch with a variety of groups. I recently found an add on for Skype that allows me to record a call and save it in Evernote. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but think this could be a lifesaver!
I've also fallen behind a lot on the blog front and spent a lot of my time catching up. However, I've enjoyed blogging and feel my writing is coming along. I tend to blog for work and have been blogging about Prezi and conferences I have attended. I would like my work blog to be more work focused and use this blog to discuss new tools, events, training all sorts. So I'm not going to end this when the "Things" end, instead I plan to carry on using it as my reflective space. I'm interested to see how my writing style changes too, any luck it will improve!
Thing 17: The Medium is the Message- Prezi and Slideshare
I recently took part in a Prezi webinar (they take place every Thursday from what I recall) and did a blog post for work here. I quite like the Prezi style and recently came across an excellent example by a friend at Aberystwyth University here so can see how it would be useful in a library setting. In my blog post I talk about the pro and cons of using one type of presentation software, not all organisations will have access to Prezi, but should it come to it I would really like to try Prezi instead of Powerpoint for a a change if nothing else.
I also browse Slideshare and must admit had never opened an account until recently. What did make me open an account was this presentation on putting together a business case for social media presence.
Having the account means I can now save my favourites and follow all those people I see at conferences and events. Again, I don't do many (if any) presentations but should the time come I'll be sharing my work via Slideshare.
I think it would work as something to expand upon my CV but not replace it entirely. One of the great things about web 2.0 is the ease of sharing and they are great places to get the CV up there to share so it can be seen. It would also work well being able to expand on aspects of it, e.g. if I do ever do any presentations I can link to them so they can be seen by prospective employers.
I also browse Slideshare and must admit had never opened an account until recently. What did make me open an account was this presentation on putting together a business case for social media presence.
Having the account means I can now save my favourites and follow all those people I see at conferences and events. Again, I don't do many (if any) presentations but should the time come I'll be sharing my work via Slideshare.
I think it would work as something to expand upon my CV but not replace it entirely. One of the great things about web 2.0 is the ease of sharing and they are great places to get the CV up there to share so it can be seen. It would also work well being able to expand on aspects of it, e.g. if I do ever do any presentations I can link to them so they can be seen by prospective employers.
Thing 16: Advocacy, speaking up for the profession and getting published
I think advocacy is a very important part of being a professional especially as it about convincing those outside of our libraries sphere that we do/provide helps so many people and that the skills of our community are important to us.
In my previous role I worked with all sectors of libraries and happily advocated on behalf of each one. I was fortunate enough to be part of many library campaigns and promotions including "Happy Days" and "Fancy that" and this year will be promoting a 2 weeks library festival. In my current role I tend to work closer with FE libraries and some HE libraries. This hasn't stopped my advocacy band wagon and I have helped in the development of various library promotional films (see this YouTube channel for more or visit http://library.wales.org/ )
Libraries are important but its the highly skilled, approachable and friendly staff that really make the difference! I follow the work of Voices for the Library and I'm so impressed by what these people have achieved, it goes to show how important libraries are to a whole range of people.
In my previous role I worked with all sectors of libraries and happily advocated on behalf of each one. I was fortunate enough to be part of many library campaigns and promotions including "Happy Days" and "Fancy that" and this year will be promoting a 2 weeks library festival. In my current role I tend to work closer with FE libraries and some HE libraries. This hasn't stopped my advocacy band wagon and I have helped in the development of various library promotional films (see this YouTube channel for more or visit http://library.wales.org/ )
Libraries are important but its the highly skilled, approachable and friendly staff that really make the difference! I follow the work of Voices for the Library and I'm so impressed by what these people have achieved, it goes to show how important libraries are to a whole range of people.
Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events
Don’t worry - we’re not now asking you to organise a conference. Instead, think about your experiences attending/speaking and/or organising professional events.
I am very lucky with the jobs I've been in recently that I have been able to attend a large variety of events and organise my own. In terms of events I've attended the one of the things that makes or breaks it for me is the surroundings. You can have the best speaker in the world but if the room is too hot/cold, big or small I find it hard to get enthusiastic about what they are discussing. So getting the environment right, shortly followed by the catering, is very important. Based on my experiences you have more of a chance talking with people over coffee breaks than at any other time, have a walk around and I always try and introduce myself to at least one person I haven't met before. If I can I try and chat with the speakers, they often have more to say on a subject than what they could fit into their presentation!
Since 2007 I have attended the CILIP Wales, Libraries, Archives and Museums Conference and plan on attending for as long as I can! I find it interesting each year and a great chance to meet up with library colleagues from all over the country. I would at some point like to attend one of the larger conferences like LILAC or Umbrella too. But this is just attending, I'm not a confident public speaker and the thought of presenting on a subject in front of my peers fills me with dread!
As I said before I've been lucky in my recent jobs to be able to help organise events and at the moment I'm leading on organising a series of online webinars as well as a conference event for next year. The online webinars are an excellent way to reach people all over Wales (and beyond!) without the expense of travel, time away from the office etc. These webinars can be simple and effective ways to meet the needs of a variety of people without major hassle and expense. Although their are still many considerations when organising an online event (i.e. technical support, welcoming participants, feedback) their are a lot more to larger face to face events. I'm looking forward to leading on these over the next year, if a little nervous!
I am very lucky with the jobs I've been in recently that I have been able to attend a large variety of events and organise my own. In terms of events I've attended the one of the things that makes or breaks it for me is the surroundings. You can have the best speaker in the world but if the room is too hot/cold, big or small I find it hard to get enthusiastic about what they are discussing. So getting the environment right, shortly followed by the catering, is very important. Based on my experiences you have more of a chance talking with people over coffee breaks than at any other time, have a walk around and I always try and introduce myself to at least one person I haven't met before. If I can I try and chat with the speakers, they often have more to say on a subject than what they could fit into their presentation!
Since 2007 I have attended the CILIP Wales, Libraries, Archives and Museums Conference and plan on attending for as long as I can! I find it interesting each year and a great chance to meet up with library colleagues from all over the country. I would at some point like to attend one of the larger conferences like LILAC or Umbrella too. But this is just attending, I'm not a confident public speaker and the thought of presenting on a subject in front of my peers fills me with dread!
As I said before I've been lucky in my recent jobs to be able to help organise events and at the moment I'm leading on organising a series of online webinars as well as a conference event for next year. The online webinars are an excellent way to reach people all over Wales (and beyond!) without the expense of travel, time away from the office etc. These webinars can be simple and effective ways to meet the needs of a variety of people without major hassle and expense. Although their are still many considerations when organising an online event (i.e. technical support, welcoming participants, feedback) their are a lot more to larger face to face events. I'm looking forward to leading on these over the next year, if a little nervous!
Thing 14: Zotero / Mendeley / citeulike
For this 'thing' I tried using Mendeley. I picked this one out of the list because I had heard it mentioned by colleagues before although never used it personally.
I've found it quite useful in organising my PDFs, especially on the variety of topics I'm interested in but I have separate folders set up on the computer for these topics anyway, where I keep all these notes/documents etc. However I can see how it would be useful for students and especially like the app for the iPhone. It could also be useful for library to keep records of printed guides/documents for individual subjects so can see its uses (I would be interested to hear if anyone has done this?).
To be honest I've had it loaded on the laptop for a while now and don't seem to use it all that often so not entirely sure it's all that useful to me. Although it could be one of those tools the more I use it the more use it will be.
I've found it quite useful in organising my PDFs, especially on the variety of topics I'm interested in but I have separate folders set up on the computer for these topics anyway, where I keep all these notes/documents etc. However I can see how it would be useful for students and especially like the app for the iPhone. It could also be useful for library to keep records of printed guides/documents for individual subjects so can see its uses (I would be interested to hear if anyone has done this?).
To be honest I've had it loaded on the laptop for a while now and don't seem to use it all that often so not entirely sure it's all that useful to me. Although it could be one of those tools the more I use it the more use it will be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)