tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78557939689859085622017-02-15T13:59:40.508+00:0023 Things for Professional Development23 Things for Professional Developmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11087252605554163283noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-84537366638980510912013-01-03T21:27:00.002+00:002013-01-04T15:27:05.068+00:00CPD for the New Year<h3>Happy New Year everyone!</h3><br />Several people have asked us if we plan to "officially" run 23 Things for Professional Development in 2013.&nbsp; The answer is no, unfortunately, although the content will remain online so do feel free to keep working through the Things at your own pace.&nbsp; You're also very welcome to use the #cpd23 hashtag and the other social media groups to coordinate with others if you enjoy the company while working through the programme.<br /><br />So for all those who have caught the online personal and professional development bug, what next?&nbsp; I've gathered a few possibilities here, but please tell us in the comments what you're doing and we'll add them to the main post.<br /><br /><h3>Courses aimed at librarians/information professionals</h3><a href="http://www.academicpkm.org/">Year of productivity</a>: a 23 Things style course for librarians and academic researchers leading to - you've guessed it - improved productivity.<br /><br />(Online) <a href="http://infolitjournalclub.blogspot.co.uk/">Information Literacy Journal Club</a>: does exactly what it says on the tin.<br /><br /><a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/">Library Juice</a>: Online professional development for librarians. There are charges for these, but there's a <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/sponsoralibrarian/">sponsorship programme</a> if you're in need of it.&nbsp; That one on <a href="http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/028-creative.php">creative problem-solving in libraries</a> is looking particularly interesting to me...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.librariesthriving.org/workshops/upcomingseminars">Libraries Thriving</a>: a series of online seminars. <br /><br />Check out what's on offer from your library association or local library group.<br /><br /><h3>Other courses you may find useful</h3><a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED talks</a>: Riveting talks by remarkable people<br /><br />Learn to code with <a href="http://www.codecademy.com/">Codecademy</a> (and many others...)<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course">MOOCs</a> (Massive Open Online Courses) such as those provided via <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">Coursera</a> and <a href="https://www.edx.org/">edX</a>.<br /><br /><h3>Can't find the course you're looking for? </h3><br />Try finding people who blog about the area you're interested in.<br /><br />Still no luck? Why not put one together? From my experience the best approach is to gather a team of like-minded individuals together to brainstorm and to plan out schedules etc, invite people with specific areas of expertise if there are gaps in what you want to achieve, and just get the ball rolling.<br /><br /><h3>Have fun</h3>...and keep blogging so we can see what else is out there! <br /><br /><h4>P.S.&nbsp;</h4><br />We're not responsible for most of the above, so please direct any queries to the contacts provided on the relevant websites.<br /><br /><br /><br />Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-55454620887960516312012-10-27T11:17:00.001+01:002012-11-18T17:02:04.939+00:00Evaluation and certificatesWell done to all who have completed the programme, and good luck to those still working on it! We don't plan to take the content down, so feel free to keep working through it at your own pace.<br /><br />We would greatly value your feedback on the programme, whether or not you actually joined in the blogging.<br /><br />The survey link: <a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cpd23evaluation">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/cpd23evaluation</a><br /><br />Certificates of completion will be available for anyone who completes the programme before Friday 30 November.&nbsp; To apply for a certificate, please fill in the form below.<br /><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="965" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dEVfdFZqX2ZkeVZnWUhHSndPM2VHV3c6MA" width="460">Loading...</iframe>Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-68083986590563823352012-10-08T08:00:00.000+01:002012-10-08T08:00:14.969+01:00Thing 23: What next?The final thing has come around again!<br /><br />Thank you all for following the programme and well done for getting to Thing 23.&nbsp; A short evaluation of the programme is coming soon, but if you're up for a challenge maybe you could come up with a<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/24/fiction.originalwriting"> "6 word story"</a> to sum up how you feel about the programme.<br /><br />Many organisations include some kind of Personal Development Plans (PDP) as part of their staff review/appraisal processes.&nbsp; The idea with these is that you identify some sort of development need, think about how you could fill that gap, and set yourself a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria">SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Limited)</a> objective to help you do it. I've put together a quick <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFaJ7I2ciW3M5f1rWmFcSYOZYQ0e42GHB3QF4N5piao/edit?hl=en_GB">template that can be used for this</a>, but feel free to tweak it to suit yourself or use one of the many other templates available online. <br /><br /><b>The Task:</b><br /><ol><li>For this last thing, we would like you to reflect on the programme in general and on what you want to do next. </li><li>Identify some gaps in your experience, either by looking at requirements for that next job you're aiming for or by conducting a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis">SWOT analysis</a> or personal skills audit.&nbsp; If you are a CILIP member, their new <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/professional-knowledge-and-skills-base/pages/professional%20knowledge%20and%20skills%20base.aspx">Professional Knowledge and Skills Base</a> is worth looking at and I'm sure equivalents exist for other library associations.&nbsp; The <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.com/2011/09/thing-20-library-routes-project.html">Library Routes and Library Day in the Life projects</a> might be helpful here too.</li><li>Think about how you can fill those gaps and put together a Personal Development Plan to do that.&nbsp; You don't have to put the PDP or SWOT analysis on the blog unless you feel comfortable doing that.</li><li>Write about the process of putting the plan together and whether you think this is a useful way to think about your CPD in general.</li><li>Keep blogging and let us know how you get on! </li></ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v07ouU4wEL8/Tod3USTw0TI/AAAAAAAAAcE/ATq5IG9sfXQ/s1600/openroad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v07ouU4wEL8/Tod3USTw0TI/AAAAAAAAAcE/ATq5IG9sfXQ/s400/openroad.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/therefromhere/11080206/lightbox/">Open Road by therefromhere</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-67708476485704825242012-10-01T08:00:00.000+01:002012-10-01T08:41:28.841+01:00<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b>Thing 22: Volunteering to gain experience</b></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b>&nbsp;</b> </span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Have you considered working for free to gain experience? &nbsp;For Thing 22 I reflect on my own experiences of undertaking voluntary work and the potential benefits it can offer for career development.</span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></b><br /><br /><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My story</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XGTMNfGu1Dk/TojZjWfQakI/AAAAAAAAACE/HzZxOKV6RwA/s1600/MS+Office+volunteer.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XGTMNfGu1Dk/TojZjWfQakI/AAAAAAAAACE/HzZxOKV6RwA/s200/MS+Office+volunteer.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Having worked as a library assistant for several years, I finally took the plunge and applied to library school.&nbsp; This meant dropping to part time hours and using a hefty chunk of my savings to study.&nbsp; After graduation,&nbsp; I found myself with more time on my hands and less money in the bank and so&nbsp; began </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">applying for academic librarian posts in earnest.&nbsp; After several unsuccessful applications, I was grateful when my employers offered me my full time hours back.&nbsp; Nevertheless, I respectfully declined their offer even though some of my friends and family thought I was mad.</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Although, my employers were very supportive of my career, I'd pretty much exhausted the limited opportunities to gain the practical hands-on experience I needed to progress to a professional post.&nbsp; Consequently,&nbsp; I found myself in what <a href="http://issuu.com/cdgimpact/docs/autumn_2010_volume_13_no_3">Bronagh McCrudden</a> calls the ‘Experience Catch-22: the rut you can fall into because you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience because you can’t get a job.'&nbsp; I therefore took a bit of a financial gamble and chose to continue working part time and use my free time to gain professional experience through volunteering.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">A colleague kindly used her contacts to help me find my first voluntary post which involved working two afternoons a week upgrading short catalogue records for another local university library.&nbsp; Having looked at the job descriptions for academic librarian posts in my area many&nbsp; required cataloguing experience.&nbsp; I therefore seized the opportunity to prove that I could put what I had learned during my Masters course into practice and fill a crucial gap in my CV.&nbsp; But this was just the beginning.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The benefits of volunteering</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As well as providing an opportunity to gain practical work experience, volunteering can lead to other opportunities to enhance your CV and kick start your professional career.&nbsp; Reflecting on my own experience, I believe that it can afford the following benefits to repay you for giving your time for free:</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Demonstrate transferable skills and experience</span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">One of my colleagues from the library I was volunteering at invited me to join the planning group for a local <a href="http://www.camlibtm.info/about/">Librarian TeachMeet</a>.&nbsp; This allowed me to give something back by drawing on my experience as a former training administrator to help organise the event.&nbsp; Having demonstrated that I had transferable organisational and administrative skills I was later encouraged to take on the secretary role for the regional <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-get-involved/pages/default.aspx">CILIP branch committee</a> which has enabled me to become more actively involved in the wider profession and raise my professional profile.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Increase your confidence</span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">After graduating from library school and finding it hard to get a professional post I began to doubt my abilities.&nbsp; Helping to organise the TeachMeet helped me to regain my confidence.&nbsp; The enthusiasm and support of my fellow organisers also inspired me to give a presentation at the event which is something I doubt I would otherwise have been brave enough to do, especially as the presentations were filmed and uploaded to the wesbite!</span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><i><b>Develop and showcase your skills</b></i></span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">As an inexperienced speaker, preparing the presentation for the TeachMeet took up a lot of my unpaid time and the prospect of standing up in front of fifty people, some of whom might be potential employers, was pretty terrifying.&nbsp; However, knowing that teachng skills are increasingly in demand for academic librarian posts, I saw it as a chance to brush up on and showcase my presentation skills.&nbsp; It also gave me something to point to in the application for my current post to prove that, despite having no previous teaching experience, I have the necessary skills to deliver an information skills session.&nbsp; It has also given me the confidence to prepare my first session which I have to deliver next week (takes deep breath!).</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Extend your professional network and broaden your knowledge of other sectors</span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Through my voluntary work I have met colleagues from a variety of different library and information services which has helped to increase my knowledge and understanding of other sectors.&nbsp; For instance, another of the TeachMeet organisers invited me to blog the discussions live at a symposium exploring patients’ access to and use of online health information.&nbsp; Although I was not paid for my time, I learned how librarians are working with health professionals and technologists to improve the patient experience and gained an insight into an aspect of information work which was completely new to me.&nbsp; This experience will help me to demonstrate ‘a breadth of professional knowledge and understanding of the wider professional context’ which is a key assessment criterion for <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/chartership/pages/chartershipintro.aspx">CILIP Chartership</a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Get your foot in the door</span></i></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that volunteering helped me to progress to my first professional post as an Assistant Librarian within the same university which gave me my first volunteering opportunity.&nbsp; </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">My voluntary work evidently made an impression on my employers as it was the first thing I was asked about at interview.&nbsp; Having some insider knowledge of the university and having met several other librarians working there also made it much easier to prepare my application and to settle into my new role when it proved successful. </span><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">&nbsp;</span></b><br /><br /><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The potential downsides and further advice</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">I strongly believe that volunteering should be a mutually beneficial arrangement.&nbsp; In exchange for their time and commitment, employers should provide volunteers with opportunities to gain valuable work experience and develop their skills.&nbsp; Volunteers should also be recruited as a complement to, not a substitute for, paid and suitably qualified library staff. &nbsp;Although this has been my experience, unfortunately this may not always be the case.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">If you are considering undertaking voluntary work I strongly recommend that you read Bronagh McCrudden’s prize-winning paper from the 2010 New Professionals Conference: <a href="http://issuu.com/cdgimpact/docs/autumn_2010_volume_13_no_3"><i>‘Would you work for free? Unpaid work in the information profession (and how to make it count)’</i></a>. &nbsp;This offers case studies of three volunteers’ positive, and not so positive, experiences and considers the ethics of using volunteers in libraries.&nbsp; It also gives invaluable practical advice on how to make the most of working for free as well as sources of further reading.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Over to you…</span></b></div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Have you undertaken unpaid work to further your career? &nbsp;What was your experience? &nbsp;Is volunteering a good thing, or by working for free are we in danger of devaluing our profession?&nbsp; Tell us what you think.</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;"><b>References</b></span><br /><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">McCrudden, Bronagh (2010).&nbsp; 'Would you work for free?: Unpaid work and how to make it count' in <i>Impact: Journal of the Career Development Group</i>, 13 (3), pp. 57-60 [Online].&nbsp; Available at: <a href="http://issuu.com/cdgimpact/docs/autumn_2010_volume_13_no_3">http://issuu.com/cdgimpact/docs/autumn_2010_volume_13_no_3</a> (Accessed 30 September 2012). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00325520279856214274noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-2114576485993904712012-09-24T09:00:00.000+01:002012-09-24T09:00:02.983+01:00Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Well done for making it so far! After learning so many useful things, we need to think about how to promote all the hard work we do and the abilities and skills we have acquired in our career and life so far.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Part 1: Identifying your strengths; capitalising on your interests</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwO3Zp6CemI/TndJK2iX4bI/AAAAAAAAANM/1UX4K7AlCI8/s1600/Popeye.JPG" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146px" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YwO3Zp6CemI/TndJK2iX4bI/AAAAAAAAANM/1UX4K7AlCI8/s200/Popeye.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">These two really go together. What you like doing is often also what interests you, and vice-versa. In order to identify your strengths, take a good look at yourself, your tasks at work, your career, you life: what do you like to do? What do you dislike? Do you remember the last time you felt that feeling of deep satisfaction after creating, building, completing something? What was it about? What skills do you need to do the things you like? These skills are your strengths; they stem from your interests. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">I am a strong believer in the fact that people are happy when they do something they actually enjoy. As we spend most part of our lives working, a sure way to be happy is to do a job you like (or love, if you are very lucky). A job that allows you to capitalise on your interests and use the skills needed to pursue them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Most cpd-23 participants have found the love of their working life; some are still looking for the true love (a better library; a different work environment; a completely new job); some are uncertain on what to do next. It is important to remember that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">we are changing all the time</b>: our interests change, our skills develop, we discover new things we like which we didn’t even know existed. Make sure that you keep up-to-date with yourself, and if you are unhappy in your current situation, acknowledge what has changed and take action.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Part 2: Applying for a job </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">After identifying your strengths, build a record (a database, a list, an Evernote folder, a piece of paper...) of everything you have done that demonstrates you’ve got the skills stemming from your interests. This will be extremely useful when writing your CV or filling job applications in, as you will be able to select information from a list rather than having to start from a blank page every time, thus risking to forget something. Keep this record up-to-date. Your CV is a living thing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">There is a huge amount of advice on CVs and application forms out there, and it would be really impossible to draw up an exhaustive list. Therefore, what follows is a summary of the things I have learnt from experience, and the advice I have received so far. Some of you have far more experience than me in this field, and I would love to hear your comments.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The first, most important rule, is that no CV is the same. You need to tailor it according to the job you are applying to.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Keep it short and readable: maximum recommended length is 2 pages of an A4 (front and back). You don’t need to put everything on it: select the most appropriate entries according to the job you are applying to. Use bulleted lists and hidden tables to make it visually easier to read.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Job adverts have two main parts: job description, and person specification. The requirements listed under job description must be addressed in the work experience section, where you describe your current job and your career so far. The person specification requirements must be addressed in the space reserved for additional information. If you are using an application form, this is the paragraph that more or less says “tell us why you are applying, plus something you haven’t told us elsewhere”; if you are sending a CV, this type of information must be written in the cover letter. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Try to meet all criteria (essential and desirable) listed in the job description and person specification. Don’t trust employers too much when they say that something is desirable and not essential: if it is listed there, it is important to them. Meeting the essential criteria is...essential (sorry!), and meeting the desirable ones is very, very, very important. Don’t overlook them.</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">If you don’t meet all the criteria, you can still apply and try to make your case (if you don’t even try, you don’t give yourself a chance to be successful) but, if you keep receiving rejections, you should do something about filling those gaps, for example volunteering, on order to acquire all the skills you need. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Make sure your references are relevant. Keep in touch with previous employers and, if your references are getting out-of-date, volunteering or getting involved in other initiatives that get you out there and better known (your professional association, for example) might be a good way to get new references.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Some people might feel awkward about “boasting” about how good they are in their applications. Well, remember that it is not boasting, but making the world aware of what you did, how (amazingly) you did it, and why you are more than willing to do it again for your potential employer. It’s giving you justice and credit for all your hard work and commitment. You are not stealing. You are not lying.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6AGPJuCiwo/TndJVBr-vLI/AAAAAAAAANQ/3OwTWd3jG7s/s1600/Cat+and+lion.JPG" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6AGPJuCiwo/TndJVBr-vLI/AAAAAAAAANQ/3OwTWd3jG7s/s200/Cat+and+lion.JPG" width="169px" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">As I have been one myself</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> some years ago, additional </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">notes for foreign applicants willing to work in the UK. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The so-called European CV is basically unknown in the UK; moreover, its format is quite unreadable for UK standards. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Translate everything in English: employers might be clever and work it out, but they are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">not </b>supposed to know that “bibliothèque municipale” or “biblioteca comunale” mean public library. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">List all your qualifications in their original names but explain what they are: some typical Italian sample formulas are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Laurea” degree (= BA)</i>, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Maturita’ classica” (= diploma of classic studies, involving five-year classes on the following subjects: ...)</i>. </span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">If you can, get somebody living in the UK to proof-read your CV or application. It’s a matter of culture rather than grammar.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Part 3: Interviews</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">If you are called for an interview, it means that your CV or application were already positively judged by the panel. All your faults and gaps might jump to your mind as soon as you read the invite, but again, you need to give yourself credit for making it to the interview stage of the process, and get some confidence from that. This doesn’t mean that the job is already yours, but you have been given a further chance to shine, so why not making the most of it?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The first, basic rule is: prepare. Or, to use a well-known motto: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Re-read the material on the em</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">ployer; visit their website; r</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">e-read your application form/CV and any job description</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">; p</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">repare for awkward</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> and less-awkward questions.</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Try to get as much help as possible: for example, check if your careers service is offering interview practice of some sort. If you are in the UK, remember that </span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/careers-gateway/pages/careersadvice.aspx"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: blue;">CILIP members are entitled to two sessions with a careers adviser per year, offered by the Careers Group - University of London</span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> – you could use a session to explore interview techniques and ask questions on how to best promote yourself. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">A</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">very </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">useful structure when answeri</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">ng competency-based questions (like “t</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">ell me about a time you found a creative solution to a problem</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">”) is the acronym <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">CAR</b>, which stands for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Context. Action. Results</b>. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTFWB74IQV4/TndJ1YX3zMI/AAAAAAAAANU/xa0ITpH_TXU/s1600/cars.JPG" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xTFWB74IQV4/TndJ1YX3zMI/AAAAAAAAANU/xa0ITpH_TXU/s1600/cars.JPG" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Start by describing the context, i.e. the situation you were in. Then highlight the action(s) you took to address the issue. Finally, explain the results, also specifying what you learnt in the process and, in case, what you would do differently in the future.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Resist the temptation to ramble. Avoid negativity. And remember that if you don’t get on well with the panel, it is unlikely that you will be happy in that workplace. An interview that didn’t go well is not necessarily a huge setback: when you finally land the job you love, it is likely that you will be thinking “thankfully I didn’t get that other one”. &nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Further reading</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">: there is a lot to read on these topics but a very short selection of links I have found useful is here:</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://opencoverletters.com/"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: blue;">Open Cover Letters: anonymous cover letters from hired librarians and archivists</span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> – an amazing website with samples of successful cover letters</span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=1561"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: blue;">What’s the key to a good interview - beyond the usual truisms we all know already?</span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> – a blog post by Ned Potter, aka The Wikiman, and the various comments to it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Summary of tasks</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Answer the questions in Part I and make your own list of activities and interests: from watching the telly to something more work-related. Tell us what you’ve found about yourself: achievements/activities you had forgotten about, things you love to do, what they mean, how you could use them in your working life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Update your “CV database”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 6pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Share any interview tip or experience you found useful in your career.</span></div></div>Maria Giovanna De Simonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05047564106168067735noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-58513303122694883742012-09-17T08:00:00.000+01:002012-09-17T08:00:02.784+01:00Thing 20: The Library Routes Project<i>This post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/thing-20-library-routes-project.html">originally posted by Laura Woods</a> as part of the 2011 programme.</i><br /><br />This Thing is all about library careers.&nbsp; I’m going to talk about the <a href="http://libraryroutesproject.wikkii.com/wiki/Main_Page">Library Routes Project</a>, but recommend that you visit the <a href="http://librarydayinthelife.pbworks.com/w/page/16941198/FrontPage">Library Day in the Life project</a> as well.<br /><br />The Library Routes Project was set up in October 2009, following a lively conversation on my blog about <a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/careers-advice/">how people get into librarianship</a>. As a result of this conversation, Ned Potter (aka thewikiman) and I decided that it would be a good idea to set up a space where people could share these stories, and thus the Library Routes Wiki was born. Now, almost two years on, it has around 180 entries and has been visited over 39,000 times.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7941044@N06/4266714722" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A photograph of a signpost and its shadow." border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zysJ4mYSURQ/ToCaE8hM1RI/AAAAAAAAA8A/-fKVWWIdDrA/s1600/4266714722_27e9919f04_m.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7941044@N06/4266714722">'every which way' by jenny downing on Flickr</a></td></tr></tbody></table>The idea is simple: blog about your <b>library roots</b> (how and why you got into the profession in the first place) and your <b>library routes</b> (the career path you’ve taken so far), and add a link to the great big list on the front page of the wiki. The value of this is twofold: first of all, it is interesting! If you’re a nosy person like me, it’s great to be able to have a look through people’s career histories and reasons for becoming librarians in the first place. Secondly, we think it’s a useful careers resource for people either thinking about careers in librarianship or just starting out on their path.<br /><br />I think the latter is particularly important because a common theme in the stories on the Library Routes wiki is that of not knowing much about what librarianship involved, or even that it existed as a career option; or being discouraged from pursuing a career in libraries by people who had misconceptions about the options available. Like many people, I fell into librarianship after trying my hand at other jobs that I wasn’t really suited to. Once a careers adviser suggested to me that librarianship was something I could actually do for a living, it was like a light bulb going off: why hadn’t I ever thought of it before? Well, the simple reason was that I just didn’t know that it was an option. My only clue as to what librarians did was the ladies I saw stamping books and shelving in my local public library. I suppose at some level I must have been aware that there was probably more to it than that, but I’d never have guessed at the sheer range of jobs available within the information profession. I know from reading the blogs linked from the wiki that mine is a fairly common story: unless you had a close friend or relative who worked in libraries, you probably didn’t have much of an idea of what the profession involved before you joined it. The Library Routes project is intended to shine a much-needed light on the types of jobs and career paths available within the information profession.<br /><br /><b>Things To Do</b><br />The main activity for this Thing is to blog your Roots/Routes, and add a link to the wiki. I know a lot of people did this for Thing 10, so if you’ve already done this stage then the additional activity is to go through some of the links already on the wiki and reflect on how they compare with your own experiences. Do you think your own path was typical or unusual compared to others? Have you got any advice for people at earlier stages in their careers than you, or can you glean some useful tips from other people’s posts?Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-72990358845336399392012-09-10T09:00:00.000+01:002012-09-10T09:00:03.883+01:00How I learned to stop worrying and love CPD <i>This week it's a catch up week and we've invited <a href="http://librarianswithlives.wordpress.com/">Librarians with lives</a> blogger, Jo Wood, to write a guest blog post about fitting professional development in and making the most of the time you have. Over to Jo...</i><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2068/2122754745_13c60e24c5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2068/2122754745_13c60e24c5.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juggling priorities to fit things in? <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedromourapinheiro/2122754745/">Pedro Moura Pinheiro&nbsp;on&nbsp;Flickr</a></td></tr></tbody></table>I used to be really intimidated by the Librariati* and their terrifying ways. Two years ago I set up a blog to try and deal with my feelings of inadequacy and have learned a thing or two about fitting CPD into a busy life along the way.&nbsp;Here are my five tip tips:<br /><br /><ol><li>Find some aspects of CPD that you really, really enjoy and focus on them. For me, it’s blog writing, mentoring Chartership candidates and very occasionally contributing case studies to books. I know I’m really bad at – or simply not interested in *cough* activism *cough* – other aspects of CPD so I leave them to everyone else.&nbsp;</li><li>Every so often, do one thing that really scares you. The comfort zone is all well and good 95% of the time, but occasionally it’s good to really put yourself ‘out there’. Earlier this year I wrote a blog post that I really liked. Just after I published it I spotted a ‘call for speakers’ e-mail. Normally I file these in the ‘I really ought to do something like that’ pile and promptly forget about it. This time I turned the blog post into a speaker proposal. I decided not to pin any hopes on it and decided to treat the experience as a ‘sighter’ for other opportunities down the line. I had written the whole enterprise off and was amazed when I received an e-mail inviting me to speak. I’m used to public speaking, but speaking to my peers is going to be something else.&nbsp;</li><li>Accept your time constraints and learn to say no. Don’t be guilt tripped into something that you really, really don’t want to do. You’ll resent the person that got you into the mess in the first place and every moment you spend doing the thing will make you grind your teeth in frustration. The key is to be polite and slightly vague: ‘Thank you for thinking of me but I have a lot on at the moment’ works pretty well as a get-out phrase.&nbsp;</li><li>It’s better to go to one really good conference than ten average seminars. I don’t get to do much (or, in fact, any) CPD in work time. It’s pretty hard to convince my line manager that an afternoon out of the office attending a seminar on something really librarian-y is worth it. However, a day or two at a proper professional conference – although it generally costs far more – is more likely to impress. I try to attend one major conference a year and get it written into my appraisal targets so that my employer has to fund it!&nbsp;</li><li>Don’t compare yourself to the gods and goddesses of CPD. It’s a waste of time and you’ll never manage to a. Join them without sacrificing something else in your life e.g. watching the Great British Bake-Off or b. Stop being jealous of them. I now regard the hardcore Librariati with great affection, in the same way that you would regard the family dog. I want to pat them on the head indulgently and feed them biscuits. My view on them is: they do it so the rest of us don’t have to.&nbsp;</li></ol><br />The final thing is not to let CPD , or feelings of inadequacy about not doing enough CPD, take over your life. After all, there is more to life than professional development: cake, museums, cross-stitch, cricket, stalking divers, family, friends, enemies, pets, reading books for pleasure, music and board games to name but a few. Keep things in perspective and you’ll get the CPD balance just right.<br /><br />*not a real word, but it's mine and I like it.Jo Alcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08931884326110561205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-65331727088755171242012-09-03T08:00:00.000+01:002012-09-03T08:00:06.796+01:00Thing 19: Catch up week on integrating 'things'<div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilahpops/2203549884/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="Jigsaw-ing by lilahpops, on Flickr" border="0" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2340/2203549884_272e81828c_m.jpg" title="Jigsaw-ing by lilahpops, on Flickr" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fitting pieces together</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License" border="0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.0/80x15.png" style="text-align: left;" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp; by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/lilahpops/" target="_blank">&nbsp;lilahpops</a><a href="http://www.imagecodr.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div></div><br /><br />It's time for a little bit of a breather and some reflection on what you've gained from the programme so far and how you might continue to use what you've learnt. We've covered a number of social media tools (e.g. blogs, RSS feeds, Twitter, LinkedIn) and productivity tools (e.g. Google calendar, Evernote, Google Docs, wikis), as well as considering a number of different elements of our professional development (e.g. personal branding, reflective practice, advocacy, events). You can see a full list of the things we've covered so far <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/schedule-for-cpd23-2012.html">here</a>.<br /><br />The purpose of this week is to look back at your previous posts and consider which elements you have found most useful and how you might integrate them into your working routine. You might already have done this, so feel free to blog about how you have done that if so. Maybe you've started using RSS feeds or Twitter during breaks to catch up on news. Maybe you're using LinkedIn for group discussions on professional topics or to share updates about your professional developments. Perhaps it's a technical solution you have discovered which updates multiple services at once or enables you to manage a number of different things. Or perhaps you haven't had chance to think about integrating anything yet. Now is your chance to review the previous tools and think about how you might continue to use them. Choose one or two (or more if you're feeling ambitious!) and share your thoughts in this week's blog post.Jo Alcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08931884326110561205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-83377605379788161352012-08-27T09:00:00.000+01:002012-08-27T09:00:08.110+01:00Thing 18: Jing / screen capture / podcasts (making and following them)Well done all for making it thus far! We now explore some enhanced ways of visualising data with the help of screen capture tools. We will also take a look at podcasting.<br /><br /><b>1. Jing</b><br /><br />Screen capture tools allow you to make a narrated video showing how to do something on a computer. They record your mouse, and everything you click on and show on your screen. Ever had a conversation over the phone with your parents, trying to explain to them how to open the attachment you sent in your last email? (“Double-click on the attachment icon!” – “There isn’t one!”...): this trick could help you solve this kind of situations and, more importantly, some work-related issues like having to explain over and over again to your users how your library systems work.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zlunjx1Dspk/TkOx82FwS2I/AAAAAAAAAMw/JqdBSxxZnJU/s1600/Jing+logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zlunjx1Dspk/TkOx82FwS2I/AAAAAAAAAMw/JqdBSxxZnJU/s1600/Jing+logo.JPG" /></a></div><br /><br />You can download a free version of Jing at <a href="http://www.techsmith.com/jing/">http://www.techsmith.com/jing/</a>. You will get a “Sun Launcher” button on your screen (top centre for Windows, upper right corner for Mac).<br /><br />Hover over the “sun” and choose Capture. Click and drag to select a portion of your screen., and then release the mouse when you are happy with the image you have selected.<br /><br />From here, you can do two things: 1) take a screen capture or 2) make a video.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jIKBFSJyAoU/TkOymO2idMI/AAAAAAAAAM0/b5OH7T-Tg2Y/s1600/Buttons.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="62" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jIKBFSJyAoU/TkOymO2idMI/AAAAAAAAAM0/b5OH7T-Tg2Y/s320/Buttons.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />The clever feature in Jing is that you can annotate your capture, by inserting a text box, highlighting part of the image, or adding an arrow. Once you are done, click on the Save button.<br /><br />If you choose to record a video, Jing will provide you with an icon to check that you are not on mute and then will give you 3 seconds (!) before the recording starts, so make sure you’ve got a microphone and are ready to go. There is a 5-minute time limit – remember to keep your script short, clear and concise. Click Stop when your are done, and Save.<br /><br />If you are following the cpd23 programme from your work computer only, it is likely that you won’t be allowed to download Jing. In this case, a very good alternative is <a href="http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/">Screencast-o-matic</a>. Its use and features are marvellously explained <a href="http://cam23things.blogspot.com/2011/07/week-3-thing-6-screencasting.html">in this post</a>, written by <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/04076246455643479541">The Book Gryphon</a> for the Cam23 2.0 programme.<br /><br />There is a variety of tools available for screen casting; if you want to explore the topic further, you can also take a look at <a href="http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/">Camtasia</a> and <a href="http://lightshot.skillbrains.com/">Lightshot</a> to name just a few.<br /><br /><b>2. Podcasting</b><br /><br />A podcast is an audio file broadcasted via the Internet. What differentiates it from web streaming is the fact that podcasts are usually part of a series, centrally maintained and regularly updated, which also allows for offline use after downloading. You can subscribe to a series so that it automatically downloads on to your computer and MP3 player. To do this, you need to have <a href="http://www.buzzmaven.com/podcast-software-list.html">podcatching software</a>, such as, for example, iTunes.<br /><br />Podcasts are a good tool to use if you are planning to deliver a series of talks, training updates, or anything that will require delivering your content over time. <br /><br />An example of podcasting for librarians is the <a href="http://arcadiaproject.lib.cam.ac.uk/podcasts.html">arcadia@cambridge</a> seminars series. Careers services are using podcasting too: see for example <a href="http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page795.asp">the amazing series produced by the Careers Group-University of London</a>, which is open-access and free for anyone to download – a great source of professional development-related information.<br /><br />How to make podcasts: the best way to get started is to take a look at <a href="http://www.thepodcasthost.com/podwhating/">Podwhating?</a>, a full course on podcasting provided by Edinburgh Napier University. It took place last year and worked more or less like 23 Things, with blog entries for each task; all the content is still there, and the site features also <a href="http://www.thepodcasthost.com/podwhating/course-instructions/">a wonderful page of course materials</a> that you can access for free. I particularly recommend the guides dedicated to installing and using <a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/">Audacity</a>, the main free software for making podcasts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r0k49wBfp8U/TkOy75fYELI/AAAAAAAAAM4/I-pGi09mMjE/s1600/Aud.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r0k49wBfp8U/TkOy75fYELI/AAAAAAAAAM4/I-pGi09mMjE/s1600/Aud.JPG" /></a></div><br /><b>What next?</b><br /><br />Thing 18 requires a lot of work, especially if you haven’t used these tools before. If you have, let us know what you made of them and how they enhanced your work. If you haven’t, explore them and let us know how you think you could use them. Real examples in the form of screen captures and podcasts are welcome, of course!<br /><br /><br />NB: Post written by Maria Giovanna De SimoneJo Alcockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08931884326110561205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-50096408223661092292012-08-20T08:00:00.000+01:002012-08-20T08:00:05.848+01:00Thing 17: The Medium is the Message- Prezi and Slideshare<i>This post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/thing-17-medium-is-message-prezi-and.html">originally published by Ange Fitzpatrick</a> as part of the 2011 programme.</i><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold;">Prezi- I like to move it, move it</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/myfear/276984491/" target="_blank"><img alt="driving home by myfear, on Flickr" border="0" height="266" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/99/276984491_1b72eb20aa.jpg" title="driving home by myfear, on Flickr" width="400" /></a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" target="_blank"><img align="left" alt="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License" border="0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/2.0/80x15.png" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License" /></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/myfear/" target="_blank">&nbsp;myfear</a><a href="http://www.imagecodr.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></span><br /><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://prezi.com/">Prezi</a> is now a very well known presentation tool and a great alternative to PowerPoint, but like any tool it has to be used well to achieve the best possible results. The unique aspects of Prezi include the ability to zoom, pan and layer levels of information in a way that offers the best viewing experience for the attendee. In an effort to avoid ‘death by PowerPoint’ people often overuse these aspects of the software and the results are as predictable as PowerPoint, albeit with more motion sickness!&nbsp;</span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The main thing to bear in mind when experimenting with Prezi is to step away from a linear presentation style, this will allow you to dance around your subject, drawing commonalities and contrasts from different elements of your topic. There are some great online guides which will help you, and I suggest you have a look a these, but there is no better way to get a grip on Prezi than to get your hands dirty.<br /><br />So rather than walking you through Prezi, I'm going to consider a few general techniques you could use when selling your information and library service. Thinking about how we can exploit the intrinsic qualities of Prezi let’s consider a couple of uses:<br /><br /><b>Dynamic presentations</b><br /><br />The success of this depends on using the functionality of Prezi to tell the story of your argument. Use the fact that you can travel along the canvas with your audience to illustrate the main points of your presentation. Raise a problem, look around it (literally!) , offer solutions and then show the audience how they can take your approach and apply it to their own situations.<br /><br />Great techniques for this include:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Using a circular structure to link solutions to problems, allowing you to visit and revisit areas of the screen as you talk.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Zooming in- hiding key points within pictures or other text allows you to expand on arguments without overloading the structure with text.</span></li></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Linking ideas together</b></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://prezi.com/hwkh2-lgkvm_/a-voice-in-the-wilderness-personalised-library-services-in-a-virtual-environment/">A Voice in the Wilderness: Personalised Library Services in a Virtual Environment</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Meg Westbury<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Using one large picture as a background allows you to show detail, the whole picture and the relationships between them.</span><br />Techniques to bear in mind:<br /></span></span></span></span><br /><ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>Choosing a high-quality, interesting, relevant or relaxing picture to compare or contrast to your subject matter- how about a beach scene to mount your 'Beginners Guide to FRBR'?</li><li>Regularly zoom back out to reveal the big picture- hint, use invisible frames.</li><li>Be careful with your colour choices to ensure that your text really stands out against an image heavy background.</li></span></span></span></span></span></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Teaching take-aways</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://prezi.com/jxqmbrrtpkr9/scale-of-the-solar-system-activity/">Scale of the Solar System Activity</a>- Todd Ensign</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Prezi is a great alternative to a hand out, or for getting your message to those who can’t physically attend your talk. If your voice isn’t there to accompany the presentation you will have to be more reliant on text, but you can do this without resorting to those tried, tested and tired PowerPoint bullets!<br /><br />Try these:</span><br /><ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><li>Group your presentation/lesson into manageable chunks based on topic or difficulty using frames. Answers or clues can be hidden as text or pictures within the frames.</li><li>Use arrows to emphasise that the course is moving along, consider zooming out after each few sections so remote users can track their progress- you could also offer a recap here.</li></span></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Presentation preparation</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not everything is best taught using a projector and a laser pointer, welding, for example, but even if you are not teaching welding you can use Prezi to help bring together your non-projection teaching. Simply use the Prezi as a mindmapping space, the different text colours, frames and arrows allowing you to forge connections between disparate parts of your subject.&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By the way, I was wrong about <a href="http://prezi.com/explore/search/?search=welding">welding</a>. As 21 pages of 'how-to weld' Prezis proves. Go have fun!</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Does Prezi&nbsp;mean the end for my PowerPoints?</b><br /><br />Relatively new to prezi is the ability to upload and enhance PowerPoint slides. This gives you an opportunity to remix your existing PowerPoint slides, adding value by connecting them in a way that comes naturally to Prezi, but is impossible to do with PowerPoint.<br /><br /><i>Over&nbsp;to you...</i><br /><br />Take some time to experiment with Prezi and think about what kind of angles it could offer to help you sell your service more effectively. Try creating a take-away teaching course, breathe new life into some PowerPoint slides or create a dynamic induction presentation for new staff or students. <br /><br />A final but important tip about images. Be sure to use&nbsp;high-quality images- .png or convert to .pdf, try<a href="http://www.zamzar.com/"> Zamzar</a> for free conversion. You can achieve&nbsp;variety or uniformity by mounting your images on frames or applying washes or treatments like drop shadows- <a href="http://www.picnik.com/">Picnik</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> will do all this and more, quickly, easily and most importantly: gratis.</span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Extra Credit:</b></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=866">Prezi For The Win? Ten Top Tips To Make a Good One</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Ned Potter <b>Edited 29/09/11: Ned has pointed out that this guide is now out of date. His revised version is here: <a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=1690">The ultimate guide to Prezi.</a></b></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.commhighered.com/2011/03/prezi-powerpoint-alternative.html">Prezi: The PowerPoint Alternative?</a>- Lora Helvie-Mason, Communication &amp; Higher Education Blog</span><br /><br /><h1> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Slideshare: does exactly what it says what it is on the tin</b></span></h1><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/horrigans/5325950997/" target="_blank"><img alt="Got an idea by horrigans, on Flickr" border="0" height="400" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5325950997_04b0003562.jpg" title="Got an idea by horrigans, on Flickr" width="290" /></a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/" target="_blank"><img align="left" alt="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic License" border="0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/2.0/80x15.png" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic License" /></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/horrigans/" target="_blank">&nbsp;horrigans</a><a href="http://www.imagecodr.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Panning back to PowerPoint, let's look at one of its biggest hangouts: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">Slideshare</a>.The difficulty with Slideshare is pinning down exactly what it is: it's an archive, a ready made audience, an inspiration factory and a place to get yourself noticed. Let's try and untangle this one:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Your personal archive- shared</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you do a lot of teaching the chances are you have a lot of PowerPoints&nbsp;knocking around on your machine, your website, your shared servers, your institutional repository, your cutlery drawer... well maybe not your cutlery drawer, but you get the picture. Slideshare gives you an opportunity to host all of your teaching materials in <b>one </b>place, and makes them available in an easily embeddable format for others wishing to share and promote your work.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's a small point, but really worth mentioning. This is not your institutional repository, this is on the open web and can be discovered by a much wider and variable audience. If someone is looking for an inspirational teaching presentation they can cite in an article or use as a great example they are not going&nbsp;to come looking for your work. Put it where it can be easily found.&nbsp;</span></div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Can you think of materials you have produced which could gain a new audience on Slideshare?</i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Inspiration for you</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Okay, so presentations vary from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/steal-this-presentation-5038209">awesome inspiration</a> to terrible, terrible warnings, but if you are a visual person you might find that browsing a handful of good presentations on Slideshare will equal an hour reading how to guides. &nbsp;From individual presentations to browsing the channels e.g. <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet">Pew Internet and American Life Project</a>, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/whitehouse">The White House</a>, or the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/economistintelligenceunit">Economist&nbsp;Intelligence&nbsp;Unit</a>, there is a wide range of excellent slide sets available for you to learn from.</span></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Browse Slideshare in search of the good, the bad and the ugly. Can you find anything that you could draw inspiration from?</i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><b>Shareable teaching products, okay, predictable, but what else? What was that about getting noticed?</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At a very basic level Silideshare is just a way to host PowerPoint presentations and .pdfs. The reason that it mostly contains presentations is only because we have a pretty fixed mindset regarding what PowerPoint can do. If you stop thinking about a room sized audience and start thinking about a panel. One of the most interesting new uses is to sell not just your service but your self. Have a look at this great CV</span></div><div><div id="__ss_2977339" style="width: 425px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0pt 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/andysomm/visual-resume-2977339" target="_blank" title="Visual Resume"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Visual Resume</span></a></b> <br /><div style="padding: 5px 0pt 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/andysomm" target="_blank">Andrew Sommerfeld</a></span> </div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Do you think this could replace (in certain circumstances) your paper CV or resume?</i></span></div><div><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Extra Credit:</b></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://workawesome.com/career/top-10-powerpoint-resume-presentations-on-slideshare/">Top 10 Powerpoint Resume Presentations on SlideShare</a>&nbsp;-Work Awesome</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/steal-this-presentation-5038209">STEAL THIS PRESENTATION!</a> by <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/jessedee">@Jessedee</a></span></div>Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-40783382429009996102012-08-13T08:00:00.000+01:002012-08-13T08:00:06.236+01:00Thing 16: Advocacy, speaking up for the profession and getting published<i>This post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/thing-16-advocacy-speaking-up-for.html">originally published by Lauren Smith</a> as part of the 2011 programme.</i><br /><br />Apologies in advance to international CPD23-ers; this is a fairly UK-centric post, but I hope that those from countries where advocacy has more of a history will be able to provide some useful thoughts and resources to the rest of us! <br /><br /><b>Advocacy and speaking up for the profession</b> <br /><br />Advocacy for libraries has probably been around for as long as libraries have, but recently it's taken a big step-up in the UK. During These Economic Times it's increasingly important for people working in library and information roles to be able to explain and express the value of their service – what it does that benefits users, how it can help non-users, how it can add value to the organisation it's in, and so on, in order to serve as many people as possible, meet their needs as well as possible and crucially, to ensure that we've got enough of a budget to do all the things we need to do. Stakeholders need to understand exactly what it is we do and why what we do is important – they're the ones holding the purse-strings. <br /><br />Perhaps the highest profile advocacy taking place at the moment is public libraries campaigning; there's a busy <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23savelibraries">#savelibraries</a> hashtag on twitter and organisations like <a href="http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress">Voices for the Library</a>, <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/pages/overviewofadvocacy.aspx">CILIP</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43030635058">Campaign for the Book</a>, <a href="http://www.unison.org.uk/localgov/loveyourlibraries.asp">Unison</a> and the <a href="http://www.thewi.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=24427">Women's Institute</a> are all fighting drastic cuts to public library services across the UK. Unfortunately it's very hard for public library staff to campaign for their own sector without risking their jobs, so it's very important for people outside of public libraries (and within, where possible) to shout about the role of public libraries and talk about why they're more relevant than ever. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kf5hQ1_tB6g/TlgLWEjZC4I/AAAAAAAAAb0/N1qA8fKUvIs/s1600/wordle.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kf5hQ1_tB6g/TlgLWEjZC4I/AAAAAAAAAb0/N1qA8fKUvIs/s320/wordle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie Mauger's address to the WI by ijclark on Flickr</td></tr></tbody> </table><br /><br />A lot of the advocacy for public libraries has involved activities that not all of us would be comfortable doing: banner-waving; shouting; marching on parliament; speaking to local and national politicians; giving interviews for tv, radio and newspapers; helping lawyers put together arguments for legal challenges...it's certainly not part of any job description for a librarian<i> I've </i>come across! However, this kind of thing is far more along the lines of activism than advocacy, and shouldn't put people off getting involved with advocacy. If promoting/advocating for your own service isn't in job descriptions yet, it a) blinking well should be and b) probably will be soon...! CILIP have put together some <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/pages/overviewofadvocacy.aspx">advocacy resources</a> for different sectors including special library and information services, schools and further education. There's also a <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/campaigning-toolkit/pages/default.aspx">campaigning toolkit</a> on their website. The American Library Association has absolutely<a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/index.cfm"> tons of advocacy resources</a> that I recommend having a scout around. Some fantastic advocacy came out of the <a href="http://lisnpn.spruz.com/pt/LISNPN-Competition-Winners-Announced/blog.htm">LIS New Professionals Network Advocacy Challenge</a> including <a href="http://intothehobbithole.blogspot.com/2011/04/putting-pieces-together-my-lispn.html">jigaws</a>, <a href="http://maedchenimmond.blogspot.com/2011/03/knit-one-purl-one-advocating-for.html">knitting patterns</a>, and the <a href="http://thatsnotonline.tumblr.com/">That's Not Online! Project</a>. It'd be great to see more of that kind of thing. <a href="http://www.thelibcode.org/">The Lib Code</a> is an advocacy campaign from the Philippines I stumbled across on Tumblr when I was looking for images for this post – they've only very recently had a soft launch, and I think it'll be worth keeping an eye on what they're doing. <br /><br /><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/27358051">The Lib Code [2011]</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user8020467">UP LISSA</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>. <br /><br /><b>Getting published</b> <br /><br />In addition to all the skills you pick up when engaging in advocacy (public speaking, constructing arguments, communicating with different stakeholders, using social media effectively, designing online and print materials etc.), there is the opportunity to write and get published. Keeping a blog about your work lets people know that you're active and people will think of you if they need information, or someone to write an article. For example, the posts I've written for the Voices site and things I've published on my own blog have led to requests for articles from places such as <a href="http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/womens-institute-joins-fight-to-save-libraries">False Economy</a>, <a href="http://blog.livingstreets.org.uk/2011/03/11/libraries-are-at-the-heart-of-our-neighbourhoods">Living Streets</a> and Public Library Journal. It's also worth pitching article ideas to places like The Guardian's Comment is Free – they're keen to hear from people who specialise in particular subjects, and have commissioned pieces by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/18/doncasters-library-closures-catastrophe">me</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/13/internet-age-still-need-libraries">Ian Clark</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/26/google-books-videos">Simon Barron</a> when we've approached them. Emma Cragg and Katie Birkwood approached Guardian Careers, who published their piece on <a href="http://careers.guardian.co.uk/job-of-21st-century-librarian">what it takes to be a 21st century librarian</a>. Publishing within library-related publications helps to keep library and information people up to date with what's going on, and publishing outside of library publications helps to get your message out of the accursed echo-chamber. Both can be very useful, and help to boost your skills and experience. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7f-7DCeB-rw/TlgPKNbyKZI/AAAAAAAAAb4/GQyIAZbpH5Q/s1600/love-libraries.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7f-7DCeB-rw/TlgPKNbyKZI/AAAAAAAAAb4/GQyIAZbpH5Q/s320/love-libraries.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library Love by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/notbrucelee/5982056531/sizes/m/in/photostream/">justgrimes</a> on Flickr</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Things to Do</b> <br /><br />There's plenty you can do to incorporate advocacy into your day-to-day life; the hardest part is working out how. For this Thing: <br /><ul><li>Consider why it's important to advocate for the section of library and information sector that you work for or want to work in.</li><li>Have a think about what advocacy you've been involved in. Give examples so we can pool resources and inspire others to do the same. Or, give an example of some advocacy that you think has been particularly effective – library-related or otherwise.</li><li>If you haven't been involved in advocacy, reflect on what your skills are (or which you want to develop), what you're most passionate about and think about what you might be able to do.</li><li>If you're passionate about public libraries and want to help – let <a href="mailto:contact@voicesforthelibrary.org.uk">Voices for the Library</a> know! We're keen to get more people involved with things like asking organisations and well-known figures for supporting statements, securing sponsorship, liaising with other campaigning bodies and representing us at events.</li><li>If you've got any potential content for <a href="http://thatsnotonline.tumblr.com/">That's Not Online!</a> let Jacqueline know.</li><li>Think about where advocacy fits in with professionalism – maybe comment on Johanna's blog post about <a href="http://johannaboanderson.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/activism-advocacy-and-professional-identity">Activism, Advocacy and Professional Identity</a> or if you can get hold of any, look at some job descriptions and identify where you think the advocacy might fit within the requirements of the roles. <br /><br /></li><li>Publication challenge! A prize for anyone who gets a piece of library advocacy published.</li></ul>23 Things for Professional Developmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11087252605554163283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-5316626347492184622012-08-06T09:00:00.000+01:002012-08-06T09:00:01.587+01:00Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other eventsThis Thing is all about events—conferences, seminars, training days, unconferences, teachmeets, or anything else vaguely organised that brings people together with a more-or-less strongly defined goal of teaching, training, or sharing ideas. We’ll look at why and how best to attend, speak at, and organise events, and hopefully by the end of the Thing you’ll be motivated to get more involved in this important part of professional life. <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Attending</b></span><br />We’ll start with the easiest of the three facets: attending events.<br /><br /><b>Why?</b><br />Hopefully it’s fairly obvious why you might want to attend events. They’re a way to learn about something that you need, or would like, to know about, and/or an opportunity to meet people it would be good to know.<br /><br />Perhaps, in these straightened times, it’s worth noting that a good event will be more than the sum of its parts: you’ll come away feeling more inspired, motivated, or capable than the event the advertising blurb promised. I’ve rarely regretted going to anything, however irrelevant to my work it might have seemed at the time. I’ve definitely regretted not going to things though - it’s best to take the plunge whenever you can.<br /><br />And there’s a huge range of librarianly activity going on out there - from 20-people TeachMeets to the thousands-strong ALA annual conferece. There’s sure to be something that suits you.<br /><br /><b>How?</b><i>&nbsp;</i><br /><i>1. Money</i><br />I’m not going to hide the fact that many events cost money, and that some of them cost a lot of money. Most employers have restrictions on what, if anything, they will pay towards conference attendance, so it can seem impossibly daunting to try and get to some events.<br /><br />There are channels that can help out, though. Your local professional body (I’m coming from the perspective of a CILIP member, but I hope it’s more-or-less the same elsewhere) may be able to help. The CILIP special interest groups and regional branches have some funds of money to help with training, development and conference attendance. Large conferences themselves will often offer bursaries to help people attend. Some of these can seem very specific in focus, or as though they’re designed for the sort of high flyer that you might not imagine yourself to be, but the awarding bodies will want *someone* to get them - so do apply. You might be surprised. (And having taken part in cpd23 will be excellent testimony to your ongoing commitment to your development.)<br /><br /><i>2. Making the most</i><br />Obviously, when you get to an event you want to make the most of the time and money that you’re devoting to it. My best advice is to (try to) relax and enjoy yourself. Don’t view it like a day at school where you have to write down as much as possible in your colour-coordinated folders. Try to take in the big picture of the sessions you attend, and, above all, talk to people. It’s not easy, but remember that they’re probably there to try and meet people to, so by striking up a conversation you’re helping them out, too! And do ask questions of the speakers: when I speak to an audience I like to hear their questions. If nothing else, it shows that they have at least been listening, and that my paper interested them enough to respond.<br /><br />Jo Alcock wrote a great post about preparing for a major conference, which is definitely worth a read:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2010/04/29/conference-advice/">Conference advice</a></li></ul><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Speaking</span></b><br /><br /><b>Why?</b><br />The next step up from just attending an event is to get more formally involved and to speak at it. Speaking to an audience has several benefits for your professional development and your career. By taking the time and trouble to prepare a paper you’re showing that you’re committed enough to want to share your ideas and successes with the rest of the profession. There’s a lot to be said for overtly demonstrating a generous attitude. More selfishly, you’ll be raising your profile. People will be more likely to remember you in the future, whether that’s at a job interview, when looking for committee members, or when looking for someone to write an article or case study. <br /><br /><b>How?</b><br /><i>1. What to speak about</i><br />You may well be wondering what on earth you could speak about. I’m strongly of the opinion that if you’re working in a professional way - evaluating your services and modifying them in the hopes of improving them, you’ve probably got something to speak to others about. Nevermind the fact that you may have done research (for an MA or other reasons), or that you may work in a library or with a collection that are interesting in their own rights.<br /><br /><i>2. Applying</i><br />There are conferences and events on every conceivable subject. Some of them invite speakers based on proposed topics, and who the organisers know in the field. Others invite applications from anyone who’s interested. Some informal events will accept talks from all comers - a great way to ease yourself in gently! Keep your eyes peeled on mailing lists, Twitter and in publications, to see what’s what. I can’t do better in giving advice on writing proposals than this post from Ned Potter:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=1536">Thinking of submitting a paper for the New Professionals Conference? Here’s some unofficial advice.</a></li></ul><i>3. Presentation tips</i><br />There are whole courses out there on public speaking and how to present to an audience, and this post would go on forever if I were to list lots of good advice here. Remember that your audience is there because they want to hear something interesting, not because they want to rubbish the speaker, and you’re more than half-way to success. Then read these two perspectives on how to present, and you’ll see that there’s no ‘right’ way to do it, and you can go with whatever suits you:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/07/giving-a-talk-in-public.html">Giving a talk in public?</a></li><li><a href="http://bethaninfoprof.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/presenting/">Presenting</a></li></ul>This post from Ned Potter is humorously dogmatic, but it does highlight some of the errors commonly made, so you should flick through it and make some mental notes:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=1546">Stop breaking the basic rules of presenting!</a></li></ul>And from my own dogmatic perspective, I’d advise that everyone using a powerpoint presentation learn how to embed fonts in the file. This means that even if the computer used for the presentation doesn’t have the fonts you used to make the slides, the right fonts will still be shown, thus reducing the risk of your slides looking funny and poorly designed when you stand up to speak. Here’s a how-to:<br /><ul><li>&nbsp;<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826832">How to embed fonts in PowerPoint</a></li></ul><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Organising</b></span><br /><br /><b>Why?</b><br />Last, and definitely not least, is organising an event. This is the ultimate events-based way give yourself sleepless nights, hectic days, and to contribute to the profession. <br /><br /><b>How?</b><br />Events come in various flavours. There are some that happen regularly, probably organised by a committee of people from an established organisation. Under this heading I’d put IFLA ALA, SLA and CILIP major conferences, as well as smaller organisations’ annual events. If you volunteer for the appropriate committees then you’ll have opportunities to help with those. Larger conferences also recruit volunteers to help as stewards and back-room people.<br /><br />But there’s room to organise your own thing, as well. Informal events like TeachMeets and LibraryCamp are created by groups of people who just happen to meet and decide that it’s a good idea. There’s no recipe, I’m afraid for how to bring together such people - I’d advise just talking to all and sundry about this great idea you’ve had for an event, and hopefully some of them will volunteer to help out!<br /><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">What to do for this thing</span></b><br />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.<br /><ul><li>What worked and what didn’t work?</li><li>What advice would you give to others, based on your experiences?</li><li>And think about what you’d like to do in the future:</li><ul><li>Are there conferences you’d like to attend?</li><li>Are there topics you think you could talk about? </li><li>Is there a training/networking/sharing need in your area/sector that you could help to meet by organising something?</li><li>If you have a burning idea for a great event, now would probably be a good time to talk about it!</li></ul></ul>Right. That’s the end of my talk. Any questions?Katie Birkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430148493526943528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-62026595173715443412012-07-30T00:30:00.000+01:002012-07-30T00:30:01.393+01:00<h3 dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.14334534209182637"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thing 14: Zotero / Mendeley / CiteULike</span></h3><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I wrote my masters dissertation I typed out my bibliography reference by reference. I worked through the whole text too, slotting in the references, remembering where I’d referenced the same thing twice – the whole 15,000 words of it.</span><br /><div dir="ltr"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="219"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px dotted #aaa; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><img height="427px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/cFQHOMS8uoGzSnVcT1AoXD0vfFIWH_7N9LVIov9roWTyfMxE76ifpxasOPROjuf5ya84IPK98HKWfjRkQk7sBCJu5e45cSmMZRo8779LV_I51ym96ZM" width="272px;" />*</td></tr><tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px dotted #aaa; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/5124103273/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">from quinnanya on flickr</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/5124103273/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t say this in a “we had it tough back in my day, you lot, you don’t know you’re born” sort of way. I say it because I didn’t have any alternative (that I was aware of). &nbsp;It was time consuming and error prone – who would chose that?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are so many tools out there these days that there’s no reason for anyone - &nbsp;student, academic, researcher, would-be librarian &nbsp;– anyone to have to do that anymore. &nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For those of us still in the throes of writing essays, or perhaps writing articles for professional journals, picking one piece of software and running with it makes life a lot easier. But looking beyond our own needs to consider the needs of the library users we support, being aware of a number of different tools is always an advantage (and a big selling point on a CV). Being able to explore the pros and cons of different ways of achieving the same goal helps others decide which is the tool for them.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Managing information in this way, and helping others to do so too demonstrates our worth in a new way, and is a very useful skill. We’re not just there to help people find information, we can help them manage it to more easily achieve their goal. (I’m mostly thinking of these tools in an academic or research environment, but please give me examples their use in public libraries, business &nbsp;information centres – anywhere!)</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are 4 essential elements that you need in any reference management system. The ability to:</span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">import references</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> from a number of difference sources (eg websites, library catalogues, bibliographic databases etc)</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">manage and/or edit</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> the references once they’re in the system, and add manually any references that you cannot find online</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">export references into </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the document that you’re writing, either as a single bibliography, or individually, often called “cite while you write” which generates a list of references.</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">format the bibliography</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> according the referencing style of your choice, and re-format if/when necessary</span></li></ul><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are some other “bells and whistles” which might be nice. The ability to:</span><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">share references</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> with colleagues, supervisors, co-authors</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">attach the text of the article</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to the reference, so you can manage the full-text documents as well as the references</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">find full text of the articles</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in your list of references (particularly relevant in academic libraries)</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">manage your full-text articles</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- perhaps by ensuring that file names are consistent,</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">detect and delete duplicates </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- if an article is important, you may find it more than once - but you don’t want more than one entry in your list of references.</span></li></ul><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are many commercial products out there –</span><a href="http://www.endnote.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Endnote</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,</span><a href="http://www.refman.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Reference Manager</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">,</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.refworks.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">RefWorks</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and</span><a href="http://www.mekentosj.com/papers/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Papers</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> &nbsp;are just 4 examples. Those of us working in higher education may already have access to one or more of these. But there are also some free tools which are available open source, and so accessible to anyone (so long as you’ve got the rights to download software onto your computer!)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s a</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">comparison table in Wikipedia</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> and</span><a href="http://blogs.nature.com/mfenner/2009/03/15/reference-manager-overview"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Martin Fenner produced a useful comparison between 8 different tool.</span></a><br /><a href="http://blogs.nature.com/mfenner/2009/03/15/reference-manager-overview"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Of the many possibles, we’re going to look at 3 free ones: </span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zotero, Mendeley and CiteULike.</span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thing 14a – Zotero –</span><a href="http://www.zotero.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">www.zotero.org</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zotero is an open source product that started life as a plug-in for Mozilla Firefox but in its </span><a href="http://www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-3-0-is-here/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">3.0 version</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is now available as a standalone which is compatible with Chrome and Safari</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide">A useful video which demonstrates Zotero is available from their front page</a>, and rather than re-invent the wheel, I suggest you watch this</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zotero is free, but you can get extra storage space and more flexibility for a monthly subscription if you need it.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think it’s a great, simple to use product which allows easy importing of references from a lot of sources – check if the ones you use regularly are covered:</span><a href="http://www.zotero.org/translators"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.zotero.org/translators</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Zotero also encourages collaboration by providing a social networking element to their site - you can create groups ( private or public) where you can share your reference lists - a bit like </span><a href="http://delicious.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">delicious</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><a href="http://www.zotero.org/translators"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br /><a href="http://www.zotero.org/translators"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thing 14b – Mendeley –</span><a href="http://www.mendeley.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">www.mendeley.com</span></a><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mendeley is another product which requires a download, but this time it’s a desktop feature, rather the forcing you to one particular browser. &nbsp;Like Zotero, there is a free version of Mendeley, but more features and increased storage are available if you chose to subscribe.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s some<a href="http://www.mendeley.com/videos-tutorials/"> great introductory videos available</a>, plus loads of supporting documentation</span><a href="http://www.mendeley.com/getting-started/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the nicest features, is that if you’re starting off with a desktop or folder full of PDFs, there is a “watched folder” feature that you can point Mendeley towards, and it extracts metadata from the PDF files and populates your Mendeley library automatically. This is great if you/your library user has a great morass of files they want to organise retrospectively - and I’ve never seen a room of researchers go quiet so quickly as when you show them this feature, plus the one that renames the files in a tidy and consistent way (really very impressive!)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s also a PDF editor function within Mendeley, so you can “scribble” on the full-text articles (though you can get this functionality without by using</span><a href="http://www.pdf-software.co.uk/?gclid=CKum9_qcyqoCFesLtAodWhYhzg"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">PDF-XChange</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mendeley has the added bonus that when you synch the web version of Mendeley, the PDF (if you’ve attached it) will go into the cloud too, so you can access your full-text articles wherever you are. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The group/social networking function in Mendeley takes things a step further, by allowing you to set up a closed group where collabators can share the full-text articles, not just the references.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mendeley also has a very nice iPad or iPhone app which means you can always keep up with your reading and keep adding to your reference list. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thing 14c– CiteULike</span><a href="http://www.citeulike.org/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.citeulike.org/</span></a><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CiteULike is a like</span><a href="http://www.delicious.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">delicious</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> &nbsp;but for articles rather than websites. So it’s not strictly comparable with zotero and mendeley, but still an interesting tool.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There’s a nice tour of citeulike by Alan Cann :&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s a great site for sharing references (very useful for many academics who work collaboratively). It’s easy to gather references into citeulike using the browser button (similar to the functionality of delicious) and there is a massive bonus that you can upload PDFs to attach to the reference – since there is no desktop element this means you can access your documents and references from any computer, any time. You can share your library of references, or keep them private as you see fit.</div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you chose to make your library public, just like delicious, you can see if anyone else has this paper in their library – ie who is reading what you’re reading. This might give you clues as to who your competition is, or who potential collaborators are.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the big down side (I think) is that there is no cite while you write functionality – you can export the references in a single bibliography, in a range of difference referencing styles, but not add references through a document. (but since I don’t think it’s designed to do this, so not a fair criticism).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thing to do</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For this week’s Thing, I’d like you to explore and play with at least one (or more if you’re feeling enthusiastic and have time) of these tools</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> how could it help you achieve some of your own goals? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How could your new skill help you improve the support you offer your library users?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you’re already using one or several of these tools, please share how you’re using them.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you are running courses, who are they for? What format do these courses take? Does this service help to change perceptions of the library service?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Isla Kuhnnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-54914990659327326742012-07-23T08:00:00.000+01:002012-07-23T08:00:13.129+01:00Thing 13: Google Docs, Wikis and Dropbox<i>This</i> <i>post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/thing-13-google-docs-wikis-and-dropbox.html">originally published by Jennifer Yellin</a> for the 2011 programme.&nbsp; It has been updated to reflect the change from Google Docs to Google Drive.</i><br /><br />In this Thing you will investigate different methods of online collaboration and file-sharing and explore the benefits of using these tools within your library. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pk4I_6T_YNg/TiwW7E0eU_I/AAAAAAAAAEM/KJDT4t13a3c/s1600/Connecting+wires.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pk4I_6T_YNg/TiwW7E0eU_I/AAAAAAAAAEM/KJDT4t13a3c/s200/Connecting+wires.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Collaborating on group projects with colleagues can be a great way to boost your professional development. However, when several people are editing the same document simultaneously this can sometimes lead to the existence of multiple drafts of the same file, which can result in confusion! Tools such as Google Drive, Wikis and Dropbox are designed to enable you to share information and documents more effectively when working with others on a joint project.<br /><br />For this Thing, you will need to have a go at some of the activities below and then blog about any or all of these tools. <br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TlVZ7KzqxrA/TiwXE0mo8pI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/b0vzuu8R0-A/s1600/Google_docs_logo.gif" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TlVZ7KzqxrA/TiwXE0mo8pI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/b0vzuu8R0-A/s1600/Google_docs_logo.gif" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />One of the main purposes of Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) is to allow multiple people to edit the same document, spreadsheet or presentation without creating duplicate copies. Documents can either be uploaded or created from scratch within Google Drive and the fact that everyone can access the file in one place means that it is much simpler to edit and update. This can be very useful for librarians who are collaborating on a project; for example, for this very 23 Things programme we used Google Docs to create a spreadsheet of everybody who has registered to take part. This allows us to store the information in a single location where multiple administrators can edit and update it as necessary.<br /><br /><b>Activity:</b><br />Accessing Google Drive is quite straightforward: simply <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&amp;passive=1209600&amp;continue=http://docs.google.com/&amp;followup=http://docs.google.com/&amp;ltmpl=homepage">login</a> with the same username and password that you would use to access your Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can quickly set one up by clicking <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount">here</a> and completing the online form.<br /><br />Once you have logged in to Google Drive, click ‘Create’ and choose what kind of document you would like to create – such as a spreadsheet, word-processing document or a presentation.<br /><br />Create your document and it will save automatically, or you can force a save by pressing Ctrl+s.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wA1AQZa0clU/UAQpZYd4NbI/AAAAAAAAAdc/0KHsX2llNFQ/s1600/drive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wA1AQZa0clU/UAQpZYd4NbI/AAAAAAAAAdc/0KHsX2llNFQ/s320/drive.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />Now you are ready to share your document, either with a colleague or even with another CPD23 participant if you wish! Click on the ‘Share’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. In the ‘Add People’ box, enter the email address of the person with whom you would like to share the document and decide whether you will allow them to edit the document or just to view it. Click ‘Share’ and this person will now receive an email with a direct link to your document.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PkmedbByMw/TiwaTmYQyHI/AAAAAAAAAEo/OMNoNccDbGQ/s1600/Dropbox%2Blogo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="52" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PkmedbByMw/TiwaTmYQyHI/AAAAAAAAAEo/OMNoNccDbGQ/s200/Dropbox%2Blogo.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Dropbox is a free desktop application which allows you to store your documents online so that you can access them from multiple computers.<br /><br />Like Google Docs, Dropbox can also be used when collaborating with others on a project as it enables easy file-sharing without the need for creating duplicates. For example, one person can drop documents and files into Dropbox and then invite other people to access and edit those files.<br /><div style="text-align: left; width: 425px;"></div><br /><b>Activity</b><br />If you don’t already have a Dropbox account, go to the <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/register">Dropbox website</a> and create one. Once you have created an account, you will be directed to a page that explains how to download Dropbox. <br /><br />After you have downloaded and installed Dropbox, you will have a Dropbox folder on your computer where you can store any files that you want to share with others. You can access these files from any computer by logging into the Dropbox website with your username and password. From here, you can view, download and upload files securely using any web browser.<br /><br /><b>Sharing documents using Dropbox</b><br /><br /><u>Sharing with someone who already has a Dropbox account:</u><br />Create a new folder called CPD23 inside your Dropbox folder, select a file from your computer and paste it into this folder. Now go to the Dropbox website, login if you aren’t already logged in, and click on the tab called ‘Sharing’.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXSyjZDYVmY/TiwXPZvVChI/AAAAAAAAAEc/HF8eLwBhhgM/s1600/Dropbox+Sharing+screenshot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LXSyjZDYVmY/TiwXPZvVChI/AAAAAAAAAEc/HF8eLwBhhgM/s400/Dropbox+Sharing+screenshot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Select the option to share an existing folder, click ‘next’ and then select your CPD23 folder. Enter the email address of someone with whom you wish to share your folder and click ‘share folder’. This will send an email inviting the recipient to view your CPD23 folder via Dropbox. If the recipient is not yet a member of Dropbox, the email will direct them to page asking them to register.<br /><br /><u>Sharing with someone who does not have a Dropbox account:</u><br />Dropbox will also allow you to share single files (but not folders) with people who do not have a Dropbox account. In order to do this, simply copy and paste a file into the folder called ‘Public’ which is already inside the Dropbox folder on your computer. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTr74z2AGFs/TiwXTXSIsAI/AAAAAAAAAEg/zCZXJPfakZ4/s1600/Dropbox+folder+screenshot.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HTr74z2AGFs/TiwXTXSIsAI/AAAAAAAAAEg/zCZXJPfakZ4/s400/Dropbox+folder+screenshot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Next, navigate to your Public folder via your account on the Dropbox website, right-click on the file you want and select ‘Copy public link’. This will give you a URL which links to your file and you can then paste this, for example, into emails or blog posts in order to share it with others. If you wish, you can paste this link into your blog post for Thing 13!<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iOTuL_hkcEM/TiwoL8U3TPI/AAAAAAAAAFM/I3je0r5SBYE/s1600/Wikis+logo.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iOTuL_hkcEM/TiwoL8U3TPI/AAAAAAAAAFM/I3je0r5SBYE/s1600/Wikis+logo.png" /></a></div><br /><br />A Wiki is a public or private web page which allows multiple people to contribute to its content. The most obvious example of a Wiki is <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/">Wikipedia</a>, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit.<br /><br />Wikis can be a great collaborative tool for library staff and may be particularly useful when creating documents such as library resource guides, student handbooks or teaching materials. Wikis can be used to store information which is useful to all staff members, while at the same time allowing all staff members to edit and update this information. I personally have found a Wiki to be quite useful for recording updates to the <a href="http://www.catalog.group.cam.ac.uk/">website</a> which I jointly maintain with the other graduate trainees in Cambridge. The Wiki enables us to keep a record of the changes that each of us has made to the website, as well as the work which still needs to be done. We also use it to store all our HTML instructions, as well as the weekly rota.<br /><br />One excellent example of librarians using a Wiki as a collaborative tool is the <a href="http://librarydayinthelife.pbworks.com/w/page/16941198/FrontPage">Library Day in the Life Project</a>, which is a semi-annual event organised by Bobbi Newman (<a href="http://librarianbyday.net/">Librarian by Day</a>). Librarians from all around the world add their blog URLs to a shared Wiki and then write blog posts about their working day. The Wiki acts as a central location from which to access all of these blog posts and as such it becomes a really informative web page which offers an insight into the wide variety of careers that exist within the field of librarianship.<br /><br />Another good example of a Wiki is the <a href="http://libraryroutesproject.wikkii.com/wiki/Main_Page">Library Routes Project</a> set up by <a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/">Ned Potter</a> and <a href="http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/">Laura Woods</a>. This Wiki was set up in October 2009 to bring together the thoughts of Information Professionals on how they got to where they are today, and why they initially chose to work in libraries. As more and more people have contributed, this Wiki has quickly become a valuable career’s resource for those thinking about joining the library profession.<br /><br />If you’re still unsure about how Wikis can be useful, check out this<a href="http://youtu.be/-dnL00TdmLY"> 'Wikis in Plain English' video</a>.<br /><br /><b>Optional Activity</b><br />If you are interested in setting up your own Wiki, the basic edition of <a href="http://pbworks.com/content/edu-librarians">PBWorks</a> provides a free platform for librarians. Alternatively, you could try <a href="http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a>, which uses the same software as Wikipedia.<br /><br /><b>Suggestions for your Thing 13 blog post</b><br />You could write about your first impressions of any or all of these tools, or you could explore their potential uses within your library. If you are already using one or more of them, you could write about the kinds of projects for which they have been useful. If you wish, you could also compare and contrast the value of each of these different tools and consider how they could be used to further your own professional development.<br /><br />Don’t forget to visit other CPD23 blogs and share your insights with other CPD23 participants!23 Things for Professional Developmenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11087252605554163283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-13578188593975735402012-07-16T08:00:00.000+01:002012-07-16T08:00:05.707+01:00Thing 12: Putting the social into social media<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qx-ioDYtOV8/T_qLUE_udEI/AAAAAAAAAKo/9G-sBH3d6Sg/s1600/Web+Wizzard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" sca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qx-ioDYtOV8/T_qLUE_udEI/AAAAAAAAAKo/9G-sBH3d6Sg/s1600/Web+Wizzard.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">This week is a quiet catch up week so you can all take a deep breath and relax! This is a chance for those still trying to complete previous Things to do so, but it also gives everyone a chance to pause and reflect for a moment (putting into practice the skills you all learnt in </span><a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/thing-5-reflective-practice.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thing 5</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Information professionals are turning more and more towards social media as a way of advancing their professional knowledge and networks. The initial run of CPD23 had nearly 100 registered participants before the programme started, rising to nearly 800. This was all achieved through promotion of the programme on social media, demonstrating the reach that it can have.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Using social media for professional development has been the subject of many recent articles and debates. In an article in CILIP’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Update</i> magazine, Debby Raven gave a brief rundown of the advantages of information professionals using social media for professional&nbsp;development:</span></div><ul style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Social networking can lead to better communication</i>. This can be with either people you already know, for example from events or work, or with people that you would never normally have a chance to meet. I’ve ‘met’ people on Twitter who I’ll probably never meet in real life, mainly because they live all over the world. Without social media it’s difficult to think how I could have made these connections</span></div></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It creates a more collaborative working space where people are encouraged to share their ideas</i>. Many participants made contact with each other as a result of taking part in the programme last year and there’s no telling what exciting projects have happened as a result!</span></div></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It aids in building online communities</i>. Whatever you particular passion is, both inside and outside the profession, there will be an online community devoted to it. Using social media to form communities was highlighted by Things <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/thing-6-online-networks.html">6</a> and <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/thing-7-real-life-networks.html">7</a> of CPD23. Many real life meet-ups were organised by participants, taking an online community into the real world</span></div></li><li><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Social networking can also provide easy access to other areas of the profession</i>. I work in an academic library and as a result my real life contacts tend to be from similar professional backgrounds.&nbsp; Using social media has helped me to make contact with people in a variety of different sectors. This could have been a hassle in the real world, but social media has made it a much more informal process</span></div></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By being part of an enthusiastic online community, information professionals can help to advance their own development. It’s important to remember though that social media is just that, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">social</i> network. There’s a danger that people will start to use these sites merely as a way to push out information and forget that they’re designed to help us interact. One piece of advice that I would give is that you will get as much out of social media as you put in. If you’re involved in a community then you will benefit from it a lot more than by just sitting on the side-lines. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNNmOZBB8hM/T_qOz07hhgI/AAAAAAAAAK0/KzBziL4tGkw/s1600/socialmediadimsum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" sca="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jNNmOZBB8hM/T_qOz07hhgI/AAAAAAAAAK0/KzBziL4tGkw/s1600/socialmediadimsum.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">With that in mind, here’s this week’s task: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">reflect on how you put the social into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i> social media use</b>. Do you interact with people or do you lurk? Do you tend to stay within the comfort zone of your own sector or do you actively look for people who work in different areas of the profession? If you’re a bit reluctant to get involved, why do you think this is? Remember, there are no right or wrong answers to these questions - it’s all down to the individual! If anyone needs a bit of prompting, then try having a look at the blog of a CPD23 participant who is in a different sector to you. It could be a sector that you have an interest in or one that you maybe aspire to work in one day. Comment on one of their posts or maybe ask a question about their work. You never know what it might lead to….</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reference: <i>Opportunities not to be missed</i>&nbsp;/ Debby Raven in <i>CILIP Update</i>, July 2011, pg. 43-45.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Photo credits:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/webwizzard/3931165508/in/photostream">Floating network</a> / WebWizzard</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/info_grrl/5084891145/">Social media dim sum</a> / The Daring Libarian</div>Claire Sewellhttps://plus.google.com/112231682354777647297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-14126297150247800072012-07-12T10:46:00.000+01:002012-07-12T10:46:19.109+01:00Another networking opportunity<span style="font-size: large;">Cardiff, 24th July</span><br />The brilliantly pro-active <a href="http://kris-library.blogspot.co.uk/">Kristine</a> is organising another informal networking evening in Cardiff, on the evening of Tuesday 24 July.&nbsp; It's open to everyone who works in libraries, and is taking place <i><b><a href="http://www.milgilounge.com/">in a yurt</a></b></i>.<br /><br /><a href="http://kris-library.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/cardiff-cliccpd23-meet-up.html">Full details are over on Kristine's blog</a>.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_raw_lin_son/200160750/" target="_blank"><img alt="Yurt in Moonlight, Kyrgyzstan by dwrawlinson, on Flickr" border="0" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/66/200160750_29df89ad90_m.jpg" title="Yurt in Moonlight, Kyrgyzstan by dwrawlinson, on Flickr" /></a><br />Cardiff librarians meet in yurts. Not this one, though. <br /><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/" target="_blank"><img align="left" alt="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License" border="0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.0/80x15.png" title="Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License" /></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/dave_raw_lin_son/" target="_blank">&nbsp;dwrawlinson</a><a href="http://www.imagecodr.org/" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div><br /><br />As ever, if you want to organise an event for cpd23 participants and other local library folk in your area, do let us know and we'll help to publicise it.Katie Birkwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16430148493526943528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-53598921353789348532012-07-09T08:00:00.000+01:002012-07-16T07:42:04.292+01:00Thing 11: Mentoring<span id="internal-source-marker_0.8205943362716398" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>This post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/thing-11-mentoring.html">originally published by Meg Westbury</a> as part of the 2011 programme.</i> </span><br /><br /><span id="internal-source-marker_0.8205943362716398" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Welcome to Thing 11, where I discuss an often overlooked -- but quite important -- part of professional development: having a mentor. &nbsp;By ‘mentor,’ I mean someone who takes an active interest in your career either by sharing advice and knowledge or by facilitating professional opportunities. &nbsp;A mentor is an advisor who is usually more senior than you (ideally by 5 to 15 years), but does not have to be, and you can seek one out at any time of your career. &nbsp;Everyone should have a mentor, but circumstances often prevent many of us from having one.&nbsp; </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A bit of personal sharing</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have been lucky thus far in my career to have had two very good mentors, one formal and one informal. &nbsp;These mentors have provided advice about my career path, explained the political workings of a new work place, provided professional opportunities, and have been a sounding board when I had hard decisions to make. &nbsp;Though busy people, they took an active interest in my work, and my career benefited tremendously from them. &nbsp;In return, these mentors learned from me about new technology developments in the field and (they said) were inspired to try new lines of research by my enthusiasm. &nbsp;The mentoring relationship has been so critical for me that I would encourage everyone to seek one out, no matter where you are on your career path.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My formal mentor was someone I explicitly </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">asked</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> to be my mentor -- something that admittedly was scary to do. &nbsp;However, as many writers about mentoring in librarianship have noted, reaching out like that is tremendously rewarding (and it was). &nbsp;Before asking, I was worried my mentor wouldn't have time or, worse, wouldn't see me as worthy of being mentored. &nbsp;Upon asking, I discovered that she was actually flattered and thrilled to be asked, as it validated her role as a leader in the library world and gave her a chance to give back to the librarian community.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My informal mentor was not someone I asked explicitly to be in a mentoring relationship with me, but someone I chose to consult a lot and to emulate early in my career ('What would so-and-so do in this situation?' was something I would constantly ask myself). &nbsp;Having a role model to aspire to gave my career path a clearer trajectory and, even though she likely would not call me a 'mentee' per se, she did indeed mentor me as I often sought after her advice.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Qualities of a good mentor -- and of a good mentee</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If you </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">do</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ask someone explicitly to be your mentor -- highly recommended -- you should choose someone you feel comfortable with and would like to learn from. &nbsp;It's imperative to be clear about what you would like from the relationship -- career advice, sounding board, professional opportunities -- and then to ask about such things in particular. &nbsp;A mentor/mentee relationship needs to be cultivated like any other. &nbsp;Remember that your mentor is giving his/her time and energy so make sure to reciprocate accordingly with gratitude and offers to share information from your perspective and experience.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What sorts of qualities should a mentor have? &nbsp;Not everyone is cut out to be a mentor. &nbsp;For starters, you should look for someone self-aware, respectful, and empathetic, with a strong sense of collegiality. &nbsp;After all, you're asking someone to help you, so that person should enjoy helping and understand the need to help colleagues network and find professional opportunities.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As a mentee,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> your </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">role is not to accept the advice and assistance of a mentor passively, but to try to give back in terms of gratitude, professional sharing, and enthusiasm. &nbsp;You should be quite clear about your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about what sort of assistance you would like your mentor to provide. &nbsp;Such clarity and straightforwardness will lead to a much more productive and successful relationship.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.srtm.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Mentor_Mentee-200x300.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.srtm.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Mentor_Mentee-200x300.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Conclusion</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In short, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">do</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> try to find a mentor. &nbsp;At any stage of your career, reaching out to people you admire and seeking their counsel is immensely rewarding and beneficial. &nbsp;You will find that if you cultivate a good mentor, it is likely that one day in the future you will in turn ‘pay it forward’ and generously give of your time to a fellow librarian seeking advice and traction in this rapidly changing world of librarianship. &nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Further reading</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The literature on mentoring in and out of librarianship is voluminous. &nbsp;It is not possible here to give a complete resource list, but a few good starting places online include:</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LIScareer.com</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mentoring page: </span><a href="http://www.liscareer.com/mentoring.htm"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.liscareer.com/mentoring.htm</span></a><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How to Find a Mentor</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://learnthat.com/2007/12/how-to-find-a-mentor/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://learnthat.com/2007/12/how-to-find-a-mentor/</span></a></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effective Mentoring</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333300; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">doi: 10.1177/0340035209105672</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333300; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">IFLA Journal June 2009 vol. 35 no. 2171-182</span><br /><a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.150.5840&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.150.5840&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf</span></a><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sharing program: The Big-Boy Boomeroo of mentoring</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Carrye Syma and Cynthia Henry</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">C&amp;RL News March 2009, pp 178-180</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://library.ttu.edu/about/facility/face/entries/social_sciences/PDF/Syma.pdf"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://library.ttu.edu/about/facility/face/entries/social_sciences/PDF/Syma.pdf</span></a></span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Revitalizing a Mentoring Program for Academic Librarians</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Diana Farmer, Marcia Stockham, and Alice Trussell</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">College and Research Libraries, July 2009, pp 8-24</span><br /><a href="http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2097/1242/3/Farmer_etal09.pdf"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2097/1242/3/Farmer_etal09.pdf</span></a>Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-19518514151423138552012-07-02T08:00:00.000+01:002012-07-02T08:00:03.919+01:00Thing 10 - Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation<div style="text-align: justify;"><i>This post was <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/thing-10-graduate-traineeships-masters.html">first published by Charlotte Smith</a> as part of the 2011 programme and has been slightly adapted for 2012</i>. <i>The main change is to the task at the end, which asks for a consideration of qualifications in librarianship. Library routes/roots will be considered in more detail in Thing 20.</i><br /><br />This week we will be discussing routes into librarianship. This post will mainly focus on the training and qualifications available to librarians in the UK. We are interested in hearing how this differs for other parts of the information sector and in other parts of the world!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Graduate traineeships</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although there are now undergraduate qualifications in librarianship, most librarians tend to have done their first degree in another subject, and then go on to a Masters in Library and Information Studies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most UK universities who offer LIS courses want you to have a year’s work experience before you start the course. Some people get this experience by working as library assistants but there are now an increasing number of graduate traineeships in the UK. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Graduate traineeships are usually 12 month long posts which start in August or September and are aimed at&nbsp;recent graduates who are thinking about going into librarianship. There are many different types of institution that offer these positions, amongst them are schools, universities, businesses and law firms.&nbsp; <a href="http://cilipgradops.camp9.org/">CILIP</a> have a good directory of traineeships in the UK. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every traineeship position is different but a lot of institutions offer training and a programme of visits to other libraries. Traineeships not only provide recent graduates with relevant library experience but can also help them decide whether the career is really right for them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you would like to know more details about&nbsp;an individual&nbsp;traineeship programme in the UK then I would recommend looking at <a href="http://www.catalog.group.cam.ac.uk/">Catalog</a>. This website documents the traineeship programme in Cambridge and is maintained by the trainees themselves. There are many more types of traineeships out there though so have a look at the <a href="http://cilipgradops.camp9.org/">CILIP</a> website and see which one looks good for you!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1f4T9w48nI/Ti1_VMB5gYI/AAAAAAAAABs/rnMVcwi8FRg/s1600/Oxford%252520photo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1f4T9w48nI/Ti1_VMB5gYI/AAAAAAAAABs/rnMVcwi8FRg/s320/Oxford%252520photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The 2010-2011 Cambridge Graduate Trainee Librarians on a visit to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Masters degrees</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The next step for most people is to complete a CILIP accredited course. It is becoming more and more necessary for holders of professional library positions in the UK to have or to be working towards a qualification in librarianship. A list of CILIP accredited courses can be found on their <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/accreditation/Pages/default.aspx./">website</a> It is useful to note at this stage that graduate level qualifications from the USA, Canada, Australia and the EU member states are accepted by CILIP in the UK.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most courses are quite similar in structure and contain core course on cataloguing, classification, IT systems and management. Courses are offered both full time and part time by most institutions. The distance learning courses at Aberystwyth, the Robert Gordon University and Northumbria University are becoming increasingly popular as there is the opportunity to continue working whilst you study.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e0zVxzq1nqk/Ti2AK3nFNKI/AAAAAAAAABw/V1zbO3ldWfs/s1600/85660431_bff01cbd6c%255B1%255D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e0zVxzq1nqk/Ti2AK3nFNKI/AAAAAAAAABw/V1zbO3ldWfs/s320/85660431_bff01cbd6c%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><br /><b>Chartership</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most librarians go on to Chartership after completing a qualification accredited by CILIP. Some professional posts require their applicants to be chartered but most people look at Chartership as a way to continue their professional development. You have to be a member of CILIP to undertake the programme. Chartership is a portfolio based qualification where you collect evidence of you professional development. Another important part of the programme is finding a mentor, (a concept which will be discussed more fully in the next Thing!) See the <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/chartership/Pages/chartershipintro.aspx">CILIP</a> website for more information. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Certification</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Certification is another CILIP qualification. It is open to anyone at any level who has had a minimum of 2 years work experience in the sector. You do not need to have completed an accredited course by CILIP and so in this way it is a different route to Chartership for people who might have had a different library career. The qualification is portfolio based and like Chartership is based round critically evaluating yourself and the job that you do. Again the <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/certification/pages/default.aspx">CILIP</a> website has a lot more information about how to join the Certification programme. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>What next?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For this week’s 'Thing' I would like you to consider the various qualifications that are appropriate for your role (not necessarily specific to librarianship).&nbsp; You may wish to discuss a qualification you have already undertaken, one you might look at next, or why you feel specific qualifications are useful (or not) as preparation or as continuing professional development.&nbsp; I apologise that this blog post has been rather UK focused and therefore I would love it if our international colleagues out there would blog about their experiences in their countries so we can learn more about routes in librarianship on a global level.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r0K4Gro-ngo/Ti2AmkmCi0I/AAAAAAAAAB4/ansZh5p8Zpo/s1600/1463780754_0c10b18385.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r0K4Gro-ngo/Ti2AmkmCi0I/AAAAAAAAAB4/ansZh5p8Zpo/s320/1463780754_0c10b18385.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div>Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-57860824472580602862012-06-25T12:52:00.001+01:002012-06-25T12:52:21.098+01:00CPD in your later career<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lIjSJ89KzCA/T-hO2FOts_I/AAAAAAAAE78/qdLx7iCkY9o/s1600/autumn%2Bcomposition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lIjSJ89KzCA/T-hO2FOts_I/AAAAAAAAE78/qdLx7iCkY9o/s200/autumn%2Bcomposition.jpg" width="200" /></a>This is a "catch up" week, with no new Things. Therefore you are getting a between-things reflection: what does CPD mean when you are no longer a New Thing, but an Older Thing? What does CPD mean, later on in your career?<br />This will vary depending on how you think about your career. I do still want my career to develop (so that's the perspective I'm writing from), but at 59 (argh), some things are different from when I was a new professional. By the way, I'm really interested to know if there are any more "experienced" CPD23ers out there, so please do add your comments if there are!<br />Some things are the same. Virtual networks, face-to-face networks, getting involved, learning from people you work with, reading, doing ... these are things which are useful, lifelong. I've been trying to think what is most different for my CPD as a "later career" person and here are some points.<br /><ul><li><b>Doing CPD outside the Library and information field.</b> If your career has a definite upwards or sideways path, you will end up needing to do your CPD in some other field, such as management, marketing, or e-learning. This means getting to know about a whole new set of qualifications, associations, networks, journals etc. If you are from a library/information background, then I think you are at an advantage in terms of finding out what these are (we have skills). Actually getting into the networks etc. may be more difficult, because (in my experience) not every profession is so into sharing and networking as librarians are. At that point you may have to make hard choices about whether you have the time to stay involved in library networks, or just devote your energies to ones which are more relevant to your current job. <br /></li><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d8UiTniYvs/T-hPWN7ScnI/AAAAAAAAE8I/pOHXkkbK92Q/s1600/red%2Boak%2Bleaves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0d8UiTniYvs/T-hPWN7ScnI/AAAAAAAAE8I/pOHXkkbK92Q/s200/red%2Boak%2Bleaves.jpg" width="200" /></a><li><b>Making sure you don't slide into unconcious incompetence</b>. Ages ago I learnt about the "4 stages of comptence"; <i>unconscious incompetence</i> (you don't even realise you are rubbish at X), <i>conscious incompetence</i> (you realise you are rubbish, but it still doesn't stop you being rubbish); <i>conscious competence</i> (if you really concentrate, you stop being rubbish at X); <i>unconscious competence</i> (you are brilliant at X without even having to think about it). The danger is that, because you aren't thinking about it, you unwittingly slide round into unconscious incompetence again. If X is a practical skill (e.g. searching Google; using the finance system) then it is easier for you to spot problems, and to set up mechanisms to keep yourself updated. <br />However for important but more intangible things like "managing", "negotiating" or "teaching" it is easy to slip into comfortable habits. Those around you may find your mildly incompetent habits comfortable too, or at least not so uncomfortable that they are going to tackle you about them, even in a staff review. So it's important to force yourself to review these broader and more challenging areas of confidence: for doing things like this CPD23, by signing up for courses that help you self-evaluate, by starting a peer-review scheme, or simply having some good friends who are also willing to be critical friends. <br /></li><li><b>Being able to tap into your own history.</b> By this I mean your own experiences, previous networks, and so on. Sometimes you can get a head start on doing new things, by remembering when you tackled a similar thing in the past and obviously the older you get, the more experience you have to draw on. </li><li><b>Continuing to make your job part of your CPD</b>. In other words: going for new and different opportunities that will force you to reassess what you are doing and learn new things.&nbsp;</li><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CBd77496Dis/T-hPwF11RnI/AAAAAAAAE8U/W4d6c0Q_0ik/s1600/squash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CBd77496Dis/T-hPwF11RnI/AAAAAAAAE8U/W4d6c0Q_0ik/s200/squash.jpg" width="200" /></a><li><b>Being aware that your idea of CPD may change over time</b>. Eva Hornung researched the ways in which one person librarians (OPLs) in Ireland experience CPD, for her PhD (OPLs are people who are the only professional librarian in an organisation and she's an OPL librarian herself). She found there were 5 ways in which people conceived of CPD: <b>Upskilling </b>for the sake of the organisation/library service (a service orientation); <b>Developing as a professional librarian</b> (an LIS profession orientation); <b>Helping you to do all the jobs an OPL does</b> (OPL orientation); <b>To do things in a better way </b>when you come back to the workplace (personal orientation) and <b>To develop as a human being</b> (lifelong learning orientation). Eva explains this in a powerpoint <a href="http://www.libraryassociation.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/EHornung-CPD-for-solo-librarians.ppt" target="_blank">here</a> and she also wrote an article which you can find <a href="http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/Mar_12_Leabharlann_21_1.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> (reference is: Hornung, E. (2012) "One- Person librarians and Continuing Professional Development: how the LAI [Library Association of Ireland] can make a difference." <i>An Leabharlann: The Irish Library</i>, 21 (1), 15-19.) <br />I am a bit biased as I supervised her PhD, but I think these categories apply more widely, and I've found them useful when examining what I want to do and why I want to do it. I can identify with all those categories, but at some points of my career I was more focused on "upskilling" and "Developing as a professional", and I think over time the lifelong learning orientation has taken over more. <br />I'd be interested to know if other people find this an interesting approach.<br /></li></ul><i>Autumnal pictures by me. My CP23 blog is <a href="http://sheilawebbercpd23.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a> and my main (Information Literacy) blog is <a href="http://information-literacy.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a></i>Sheila Webberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09929764583069948543noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-13346139238868806872012-06-25T10:33:00.001+01:002012-06-25T10:33:51.863+01:00Taking a break...Feedback from last year's programme suggested that more breaks during the programme would be welcome. There are no new things this week, just some time to catch up, reflect, network, go on holidays... See you next Monday!Niamh Tumeltyhttps://plus.google.com/118032598437076183739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-70800562092927752952012-06-18T10:00:00.000+01:002012-06-18T10:00:05.860+01:00Thing 9: Evernote<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>And following on with the organising theme we come to Evernote.</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The problem:</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">You want to be able to make comments on webpages and archive them along with your own notes so that everything is all in the one place and easy to access.&nbsp;</span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The problem-solvers:</b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Evernote allows you to take notes on webpages and archive them for later consultation.&nbsp; Your notes can have file attachments and be sorted into folders, tagged, annotated etc.&nbsp; There is a paid version as well as a&nbsp; free version (limited to 60 MB/month and there is a usage bar so that you can keep track).</span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><b>How to use Evernote:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;">1. Go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.evernote.com/">http://www.evernote.com&nbsp;</a>and have a look at their&nbsp;<a href="http://www.evernote.com/about/getting_started/">Getting started</a>&nbsp;pages.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-98Q4rUTambk/TfoVRen0d-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/lcUXrumFems/s1600/welcome.bmp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-98Q4rUTambk/TfoVRen0d-I/AAAAAAAAAE8/lcUXrumFems/s320/welcome.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a>2. Sign up for an account (you will need to get the confirmation number from an e-mail they will send you) and get to the welcome page.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mziyrpqAh0M/Tfod1uuWRgI/AAAAAAAAAFI/yIcy0Ac4b7U/s1600/allnotes.bmp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mziyrpqAh0M/Tfod1uuWRgI/AAAAAAAAAFI/yIcy0Ac4b7U/s320/allnotes.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">3.&nbsp; Download Evernote according to their&nbsp;<b>Getting Started</b>&nbsp;pages and follow their instructions and sign in to your account.&nbsp; You can create a note by clicking on&nbsp;<b>New Note</b>.&nbsp; You can add URLs and tags and decide which folder to put it in.&nbsp; It saves it automatically and it appears in the central panel, which you organise to view by date created, updated or title.&nbsp;</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hwrJh4OzWBQ/Tfoip7XVQEI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/5AB2a1ZpHR8/s1600/picture.bmp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hwrJh4OzWBQ/Tfoip7XVQEI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/5AB2a1ZpHR8/s320/picture.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">4. Evernote is not just for making notes but can be used for archiving pictures from your computer or webpages or photographs taken during conferences to save you having to take notes all the time.&nbsp; All you have to do is to click&nbsp;<b>New Note</b>&nbsp;again and click and drag a photograph from the web or your computer etc. and drop it into your new note (or you can copy and paste if you prefer).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">5. You can use the&nbsp;<b>View&nbsp;</b>and&nbsp;<b>Edit&nbsp;</b>drop down menus to alter how you view your information and the&nbsp;<b>Usage</b>&nbsp;button along the top tells you about your monthly use.&nbsp; The&nbsp;<b>File&nbsp;</b>menu also allows you to organise your notes and attach files etc.&nbsp; Evernote for Windows or Mac will automatically synchronize your notes with Evernote on the Web every few minutes, but you can manually sync any time by clicking the&nbsp;<b>Sync</b>&nbsp;button.&nbsp; (This means that changes you make to your Evernote account on different appliances i.e. computers, phones or mobile devices will all synchronise to keep your account up to date).</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_M7KrqHna8/Tfojlzcj3zI/AAAAAAAAAFU/tyOk4Bz-cL0/s1600/Evernote.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m_M7KrqHna8/Tfojlzcj3zI/AAAAAAAAAFU/tyOk4Bz-cL0/s1600/Evernote.png" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">6. You can also save web content, which involves installing the Web Clipper (a quick and easy process which adds the Evernote button to your Internet browser).&nbsp; All you need to do it to highlight the information you want to save and click on the&nbsp;<b>Evernote</b>&nbsp;button.&nbsp; I highlighted a BBC article, clicked on the elephant, added tags when prompted and went to my Evernote page to find it had been filed with my other notes:</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ELCoHMUyQo/TfokSxVPDsI/AAAAAAAAAFY/cB4nCXsaP3A/s1600/web+clip.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1ELCoHMUyQo/TfokSxVPDsI/AAAAAAAAAFY/cB4nCXsaP3A/s320/web+clip.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This is a really useful tool for bringing together everything that you look at on the web as well as drawing together photos, notes and text from various sources to one location, easily accessible from a variety of devices.<b><br /></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This year I have used Evernote for a lot of group work since we can all sign in and sync our work. &nbsp;We have found that Evernote is a much more flexible tool than Google Docs.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>A bit more:</b></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Have a play around with folders, tags, searching and how to integrate Evernote with Facebook and Twitter.</div></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17257394480801830214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-70274194802685820472012-06-18T01:24:00.000+01:002012-06-18T01:24:00.284+01:00Thing 8: Google Calendar<br /><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">Following on from last week's focus on networks, we will now have a look at organising tools to keep you sane and on top of everything!</span></h3><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jjMES1QO6Mo/TilFuKJCmEI/AAAAAAAAAJA/mMXrSwjmB1k/s1600/Juggling_Work-749450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jjMES1QO6Mo/TilFuKJCmEI/AAAAAAAAAJA/mMXrSwjmB1k/s1600/Juggling_Work-749450.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Ever feel like this?</div></td></tr></tbody></table><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">The problem:</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">You need a calendar, which can be accessed from any computer and can be shared with other people.&nbsp;</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">The problem-solver:</span></h3><h3> <span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Google Calendar is a free web-based calendar which can be shared with other people and accessed from anywhere with Internet connection. Events can be added quickly and viewed by day, week or month. It can also be integrated with other Google services, such as iGoogle, and embedded in web pages and blogs.</span></h3><h3> <span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;</span></h3><h3> <span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">A lot of institutions already have Google Calendar on their web pages to keep their staff, students and followers up to date.&nbsp; Libraries such as the Cambridge University Library (UL), are using Google Calendar to publicise opening hours and events.</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small;">How to use:</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">1. To create a Google Calendar, go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/">http://www.google.com/calendar/</a>.</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">2. Log in with your Google ID (or get one&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Faccounts%2FManageAccount&amp;followup=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Faccounts%2FManageAccount">here</a>&nbsp;and get the benefits of Gmail, iGoogle and more!).</span></h3><h3> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">3. Your new Google Calendar will look like this.</span></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlkLzZbQ3a8/TfDJXc3LVDI/AAAAAAAAAAU/ZzS9SYedCp4/s1600/shot1.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RlkLzZbQ3a8/TfDJXc3LVDI/AAAAAAAAAAU/ZzS9SYedCp4/s320/shot1.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Before you add any events to your calendar, go to the left of the screen and select&nbsp;<b>Settings</b>&nbsp;under&nbsp;<b>My Calendar</b>&nbsp;and then click on the&nbsp;<b>General</b>&nbsp;tab.</span><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp; In this&nbsp;<b>General</b>&nbsp;section you can change the&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;">time and date formats<b>,&nbsp;</b>plus have a mini icon of your local weather displayed and choose whether to show weekends etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">4. Click on&nbsp;<b>Save.</b></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Df3vPJlRYdg/TfDJjLa5w1I/AAAAAAAAAAY/gU9yXcHFcgo/s1600/shot2.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Df3vPJlRYdg/TfDJjLa5w1I/AAAAAAAAAAY/gU9yXcHFcgo/s320/shot2.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>How to add events:</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">1.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">To add an event, click on&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Create event&nbsp;</b></span><span style="font-size: small;">on the left of the calendar<b>&nbsp;</b>(</span><span style="font-size: small;">you can also select&nbsp;<b>Quick add</b>&nbsp;or highlight a date on the calendar (probably the easiest)).</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. Fill in the boxes for your event and add duration, location and whether you want to have a reminder at some point before the event.</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yop8_HhcQlM/TfDJsLleK6I/AAAAAAAAAAc/SgZQ2Axushg/s1600/shot3.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yop8_HhcQlM/TfDJsLleK6I/AAAAAAAAAAc/SgZQ2Axushg/s320/shot3.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">3. Click on&nbsp;<b>Save</b>&nbsp;and you will be taken back to the calendar with your new event visible!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Optional extras</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #000a00;">How to share your calendar with someone else:</span></b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Under the&nbsp;<b>My calendars</b>&nbsp;section on the left side of your calendar home page, click on the drop down menu next to your e-mail address and select&nbsp;<b>Share this calendar.</b>&nbsp;</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. You will be taken to the&nbsp;<b>Share this calendar&nbsp;</b>section.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Type in the e-mail address of the person you would like to share your calendar with and their details will appear automatically underneath (note: this person must also have a Google Calendar too otherwise you won't be able to share it!).</span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qujcre1SvSI/TfDJ2H2pSyI/AAAAAAAAAAg/aw5rXIgT-Mg/s1600/shot4.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qujcre1SvSI/TfDJ2H2pSyI/AAAAAAAAAAg/aw5rXIgT-Mg/s320/shot4.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">4. Set the&nbsp;<b>Permission settings</b>&nbsp;you would like this person to have.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">5. Click on&nbsp;<b>Save.<span style="color: #000a00;"></span></b></span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>If you have an iGoogle page then add your Google calendar to it:</b></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Go to your&nbsp;<b>iGoogle</b>&nbsp;page.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. Click on&nbsp;<b>Add Gadgets.<span style="color: #000a00;"><br /></span></b></span><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">3. In the&nbsp;<b>Search for gadgets</b>&nbsp;box on the right of the screen, type in&nbsp;<b>Google Calendar.</b></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zze6BfbUV64/ThHE-IqqTVI/AAAAAAAAAHY/UlB5zt1rZuc/s1600/shot5.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zze6BfbUV64/ThHE-IqqTVI/AAAAAAAAAHY/UlB5zt1rZuc/s320/shot5.bmp" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">4. You want the first on the list - click on&nbsp;<b>Add it now.</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">5. Click on&nbsp;<b>Back to iGoogle&nbsp;</b>and your calendar will be displayed!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /><span style="color: #000a00;">Further reading</span></b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;">A blog on how libraries are using Google Calendar:<br /><a href="http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/2010/04/libraries-and-google-calender.html">http://musingsaboutlibrarianship.blogspot.com/2010/04/libraries-and-google-calender.html</a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #000a00; font-size: small;"><br />Using Google calendar to manage library web site hours:&nbsp;<a href="http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/46">http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/46</a></span></div></div>Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17257394480801830214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-13135635997842172092012-06-11T10:00:00.000+01:002012-06-11T10:17:07.823+01:00Thing 7: real-life networks<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Welcome to Thing 7! It’s time to talk about professional organisations and real-life networks: what they do, what the benefits are, and how and why you can get involved.<br /><br /><b>What is a professional organisation?</b><br />Well, they come in all different shapes and sizes! But at heart a professional organisation is a group of people joined by a common profession, which serves some purpose towards the furthering of that profession.<br /><br />They may be an official, subscription-based organisation such as <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/">CILIP</a>, <a href="http://www.ala.org/">ALA</a> or <a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/">ARA</a>, or they might be more informal, such as <a href="http://www.lisnpn.spruz.com/">LISNPN</a> or <a href="http://www.likenews.org.uk/">LIKE</a>.<br /><br /><b>What do they do?</b><br />All sorts of things! Professional organisations will do some or all of the following:<br /><br />1. Provide opportunities for networking.<br />One of the easiest ways to get started with professional networking is to join a professional organisation or group. The three professional benefits outlined by Helen in <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/thing-6-online-networks.html">Thing 6</a> apply just as much to face-to-face networking as they do to online networking. Connecting with people through a professional organisation can help to advance your knowledge and career – as well as being a great way to meet new people and make friends! There will usually be networking opportunities available at all events – even if it’s just the chance to have a chat over lunch, make the most of it!<br /><br />Find it difficult to approach people face-to-face? You’re not the only one! Most people find it difficult to start a conversation. I’d recommend <a href="http://www.joeyanne.co.uk/2011/05/20/networking-for-introverts/" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">this post</a> on Jo Alcock’s blog for some advice about how to get started.<br /><br />There are some chances this week for you to get involved with organisations in your area, practice networking – or just find out more about what’s going on! Meet-ups have been arranged in various places around the country – <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/meet-other-cpd23-participants.html" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">see here for a list</a>.<br /><br />2. Provide opportunities for training and development<br /><br />Many organisations will run official training courses. These will usually be tailored to meet the needs of their members, and may be part of a professional development framework. They will also often run conferences, which are a great way to develop yourself, and meet new contacts and friends.<br /><br />As well as these formal training opportunities, professional organisations give you opportunities to develop your skills in other ways, such as learning informally from other members. You can also gain skills and experience from volunteering for a position within the organisation: you could join a committee; write for the newsletter/blog; organise events; get involved in a mentoring scheme. For instance, you might need to gain experience of handling finances and budgets – a committee treasurer position is a great way to do this.<br /><br />3. Provide structured professional development and qualifications<br /><br />Many professional organisations will have a structured professional development path. This may include accrediting or validating courses, including the professional qualification courses. In the UK, this is done by CILIP (libraries) and ARA (archives &amp; records management). ALA does the same for library courses in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.<br /><br />They may also run Continuing Professional Development (CPD) schemes, resulting in a qualification, such as CILIP <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/certification/Pages/default.aspx" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">Certification</a> and <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/chartership/Pages/chartershipintro.aspx" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">Chartership</a>&nbsp;and <a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/training/registration-scheme.html" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">ARA Registration</a>.<br /><br />4. Have formal publications<br /><br />These can range from peer-reviewed journals to magazines and newsletters, to blogs and podcasts. These provide you not only with the chance to learn from the content, but also to contribute!<br /><br />Associations may also run award schemes, provide advocacy and support, sponsor places at conferences, run current awareness and careers services – and much more! If your organisation isn’t providing the support or activities you need, why not contact them? You might be able to start something that will benefit you – and others!<br /><br /><b>Why should you get involved?</b><br />Being a member of a professional organisation gives you great opportunities, and the chance to benefit yourself and the profession. It can demonstrate that you are committed to the profession, and to your own personal and professional development. Membership gives you opportunities to help others, by sharing your knowledge and expertise, taking on a formal role on a committee, or taking part in a mentoring scheme. If the association is one which charges dues, these will help the association to continue their activities, and provide training and support to its members.<br /><br /><b>So, what organisations are there?</b><br />I can’t possibly supply an exhaustive list – if that’s what you’re looking for, IFLA publishes a ‘<a href="http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/ifla-publications-series-142-143" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">World Guide to Library, Archive and Information Science Associations</a>’. If that’s a bit rich for your pocket, try a library! (<a href="http://copac.ac.uk/search?rn=1&amp;cid=142495448" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">Copac</a>, <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/610832044" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">WorldCat</a>). The following is a selection of some of the organisations – and, if I’ve missed your favourite, why not leave a comment, or blog about it?<br /><br />When you’re looking at organisations, remember that they will usually have sub-divisions – called special interest groups, chapters, caucuses, divisions, round tables, groups, committees, units - just about anything you can think of! For many people, these specialist/regional groups will be their main point of contact with the organisation, so it’s always worth checking out sub-groups when you’re deciding whether an organisation is right for you. You will usually get membership to one or more of these groups as part of your membership of the organisation, and can add more for a small fee.<br /><br /><b>Membership organisations</b>:<br />All of the following charge membership fees, usually on a sliding scale depending on your salary, and often with great deals for student members. You might even be able to get your workplace to pay for your membership, or claim the tax back on your tax return as a ’professional expense’. If none of them fit your budget, why not have a look at some of the free, informal associations? You also often don’t need to be a member to attend events, so if you’re thinking about joining, why not go along to a few events, and get a feel for the organisation?<br /><b><i>&nbsp;</i></b></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Library/info organisations</i></b>:<br />UK/Ireland:<br /><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-weight: bold;">CILIP</a>: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the UK’s professional body for library and information workers. CILIP provides a wide range of support and activities, including <a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/pages/qualifications-.aspx">professional qualifications</a>.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">CILIP isn't all about CILIP HQ in London! One of the great benefits of CILIP membership are the &nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/pages/default.aspx" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Special Interest Groups</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/regional-branches/pages/default.aspx" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Regional Branches</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, which provide training, networking opportunities, and chances to gain&nbsp;experience&nbsp;by working with committees.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">ARA</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: the Archives &amp; Records Association supports archivists, archive conservators, and records managers in the UK and Ireland. Sections include </span></span><a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/si-dsg/section-for-data-standards.html" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">data standards</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/si-new-professionals/section-for-new-professionals.html" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">new professionals</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, and they run the </span></span><a href="http://www.archives.org.uk/training/registration-scheme.html" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Registration scheme</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, for formal CPD.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sla.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">SLA</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The School Libraries Association (not to be confused with the Special Library Association!) supports, and promotes the value of , school libraries and librarians. They also run awards, courses, and provide online resources.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.irms.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">IMRS</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The Information and Records Management Society welcomes as members ‘all those who work in or are concerned with records or information management, regardless of their professional or organisational status or qualifications’. They run a bulletin, training, and a conference.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.aslib.com/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">ASLIB</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The Association for Information Management provides training, along with an impressive portfolio of publications. Members are not necessarily librarians, with ASLIB’s portfolio being aimed at ‘people who manage information and knowledge in organizations’</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.biall.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">BIALL</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians represents legal information professionals and suppliers. They provide information and support for those interested in/already pursuing a career in legal information work, including a ‘how do I?’ wiki, publications, and conferences.</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: #fdfefa; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.libraryassociation.ie./">Library Association of Ireland</a>:&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">the LAI is the professional body representing libraries and librarianship in Ireland, with <a href="http://www.libraryassociation.ie/publications/">publications</a>, <a href="http://www.libraryassociation.ie/sections-and-groups/">special interest sections and groups</a>, and support for <a href="http://www.libraryassociation.ie/education-committee-cpd/">CPD</a>.</span></span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.arlis.org.uk/index.php">Art Libraries Society, ARLIS</a>: ARLIS is&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: justify;">the professional organisation for people involved in providing library and information services and documenting resources in the visual arts. They run conferences, events and awards, and have resources including publications.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Worldwide:</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ifla.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">IFLA</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: With around 1600 members in 150 countries, the International Federation of Library Associations is truly an international organisation. Most library associations are members of IFLA, and you can also join as a personal member. IFLA publishes internationally-renowned guidelines and reports, and has relationships with other world bodies such as UNESCO, the UN, and the World Trade Organisation. They have a wonderfully diverse range of </span></span><a href="http://www.ifla.org/en/activities-and-groups" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">special interest groups and sections</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sla.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">SLA</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: the Special Libraries Association is based in the US, but has chapters all over the world, including a very active </span></span><a href="http://www.sla-europe.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">European Chapter</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. The divisions and caucuses provide support for professionals in a wide variety of fields and areas of interest – including a baseball caucus! Members don’t just come from special libraries, and many cite networking opportunities as one of their main reasons for joining.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ala.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">ALA</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: the American Library Association also has members all over the world. They accredit US, Canadian, and Puerto Rican library courses, and run 2 big conferences every year: ALA Midwinter and ALA Annual – featuring book cart rallies!</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.aiip.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">AIIP</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: the Association of Independent Information Professionals represents and supports independent information professionals worldwide, with e-learning tools, publications, conferences, and special deals with vendors. The association is also open to those who are considering going independent or starting their own business.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www2.archivists.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">SAA</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The Society of American Archivists account for many of the different names for sub-sections! With committees, sub-committees, sections, roundtables, student groups, and task forces, there are plenty of opportunities for involvement in a number of areas.</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333;"><br /><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Non-library/info organisations</i></b><br /><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Many information professionals are also members of professional organisations outside the LIS sphere. These are a great way to gain skills and contacts from other professions, and widen your viewpoint.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">HEA</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: Librarians who do a lot of teaching may wish to become members of the Higher Education Academy, which provides resources and support for teachers in the HE sector. Edith Speller has written a <a href="http://lisnewprofs.com/fhea/">case study</a> about the benefits she's felt from being a member of the HEA.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The </span></span><a href="http://www.managers.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Chartered Management Institute</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> provides managers and leaders with opportunities for online learning, networking, and structured CPD.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">CIM: the </span></span><a href="http://www.cim.co.uk/home.aspx" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Chartered Institute for Marketing</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;With levels of membership that cover novice to fellow, they also offer the chance to become a chartered marketer.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">If you’re working/supporting users in a particular field, you might like to see if membership of their professional body is open to you, perhaps as an affiliate member.</span></span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Informal organisations</i></b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">:</span></span><br /><a href="http://thelsw.org/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">The Library Society of the World</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> describe themselves as ‘a world-spanning group of library professionals and library advocates, dedicated to furthering the role of librarians, archivists, information professionals, and information educators through communication and collaboration. The LSW is about people, not buildings (although some of us think architecture is sexy). It’s about friendship, not organization. It’s about creating and fostering opportunities, not building barriers and divisions.’ They have </span></span><a href="http://thelsw.org/about/free-professional-development/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">professional development material</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, a set of </span></span><a href="http://thelsw.org/about/advocacy/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">priorities</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> that will chime with even the most jaded info pro, and a distinguished list of ‘</span></span><a href="http://librarysociety.pbworks.com/w/page/17025826/Shovers-and-Makers" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Shovers and Makers</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">’.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.lisnpn.spruz.com/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">LISNPN</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The LIS New Professionals Network started online (and was mentioned in Thing 6 by Helen as such), but has graduated to face-to-face events. Open to anyone with an interest in being or supporting new professionals, the network has discussion forums, resources, and recently ran an advocacy competition.</span></span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.likenews.org.uk/" style="color: #3366cc; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">LIKE</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: The London Information and Knowledge Exchange meet monthly to ‘share stories, learn and exchange knowledge in an informal and relaxed setting.’. They run a variety of events – the next is the LIKE Ideas half-day conference, on the 'business of social media'.</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/likenorth">LIKENorth</a>:&nbsp; <span style="background-color: white; color: black; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">&nbsp;Leeds &amp; Yorkshire Information and Knowledge Exchange, bringing the LIKE principles of informal knowledge exchange and networking to the North!&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/" style="color: #3366cc; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Hack Library School</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">: By, for, and about library school students, Hack Library School is another group that started out online. Hack Library School also now has face-to-face meet-ups, including a 'conversation&nbsp;starter' and 'Hack Library School/Library BoingBoing' meetup at this year's ALA Annual in Anaheim.</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><br /><b style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">What now?</b><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Absorbed all that? Good! Your task for this week’s Thing is to consider your experiences with professional organisations, and blog about it! What involvement have you had? How has it affected your career? What have you learned? Why are/aren’t you a member? Extra credit for investigating a new organisation or group!</span></span></span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Thanks to all those who suggested organisations for inclusion in this post</i></span></div>Bethan Ruddockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12493828188084443255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-63393036859964755112012-06-04T09:00:00.000+01:002012-06-04T09:00:04.413+01:00Thing 6: Online networks<br /><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Welcome to Week 5, and Thing 6, which is all about online (or social) networks and communities.&nbsp; These have completely revolutionised how we network and make connections with others.&nbsp; If you've already completed Thing 4, and joined&nbsp;<a href="http://www.twitter.com/">Twitter</a>, congratulations!&nbsp; That's an online network too.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you're not sure about what online (or social) networking actually is, or what it entails, go over to YouTube and take a look at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc">this brief introductory video</a>.&nbsp; It's from 2007, making it positively prehistoric in online networking terms, but it does hit all the main points!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are so many online networks out there.&nbsp; They fulfil different purposes, they have different raison d’êtres, and they attract all kinds of people with common interests and goals.&nbsp; Selecting just a few for Thing 6 was pretty difficult!&nbsp; So what we're going to do is look at the two 'big wigs' of the online networking world, that's&nbsp;<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>, both of which have become pretty much synonymous with online networking, and both of which are well-known and established.&nbsp; And then we're going to look at three other online networks (<a href="http://www.lisnpn.spruz.com/">LISNPN</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://latnetwork.spruz.com/">LATnetwork</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://communities.cilip.org.uk/">CILIP communities</a>) which have been designed specifically for librarians and information professionals.&nbsp; The list is absolutely and in no way at all definitive or comprehensive, and you don't have to explore all of them.&nbsp; Also, if there are others that you use or recommend, please feel free to blog about those instead!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why network online?</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There are lots of advantages to engaging in professional online networking, but I think that, in general, they all fall under one or more of the following three headings:</span></div><ol style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Becoming&nbsp;<b>better known</b>, and more visible in your fields of interest and expertise, by joining in with conversations and sharing information.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Becoming&nbsp;<b>better connected</b>, with people whom you might otherwise never actually get to meet.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Becoming&nbsp;<b>better equipped</b>, gaining knowledge and information from others, and staying up to date with the trends and ideas in your profession.</span></li></ol><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But before we get going, a quick word of advice!&nbsp; Please note that it's really, absolutely and completely&nbsp;<b>NOT</b>&nbsp;necessary for you to sign up to any, or all, of these online networks.&nbsp; If you're not a member of them, and would like to keep it that way, that's perfectly fine.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a></b></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab147/CountryMumma/linkedin-128.png?t=1276694051" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab147/CountryMumma/linkedin-128.png?t=1276694051" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">LinkedIn is the world's largest&nbsp;<i>professional</i>&nbsp;network, with over 100 million members. &nbsp;There are lots of librarians and information professionals using LinkedIn, and it's an excellent way of building and organising your professional relationships.&nbsp; And, importantly, bearing&nbsp;<a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/thing-3-consider-your-personal-brand.html">Thing 3</a>&nbsp;in mind<b>,&nbsp;</b>LinkedIn profiles tend to rise to the top in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a>&nbsp;searches, so a well-maintained and constructed profile can be a really beneficial tool for the development of your online brand.&nbsp; LinkedIn can be a useful way to introduce others to your professional experience and expertise.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Although you'll need a LinkedIn account to explore it fully, it is possible to have a look at some profiles and see how it&nbsp;<i>could</i>&nbsp;be used.&nbsp; To do this, go to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/">home page</a>, and type a name into the boxes that say 'Search for someone by name'.&nbsp; This will let you see the kind of information that people put onto their profiles.&nbsp; I asked my Twitter followers if any of them had full, exciting or sexy profile pages, and couple of people volunteered their profiles, which are all great examples of best practice:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jamesmullan"><span style="font-family: inherit;">James Mullan</span></a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/nicolafranklin">Nicola Franklin</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/emmaillingworth">Emma Illingworth</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/katie-flanagan/1b/471/bba">Katie Flanagan</a></span></li></ul><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Getting an account on LinkedIn is very straightforward.&nbsp; You can easily register from the home page, and for more guidance, take a look at this&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT3JVUGUzM&amp;feature=related">video</a>. As it's a professional network, you'll probably want your profile to match your CV or resume, so make sure that the photograph you use is suitable and that the tagline is appropriate.&nbsp; And then you can begin to make connections with people in your networks and with other librarians and information professionals!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the most useful features of LinkedIn is the groups, which are, unfortunately, only accessible to members of LinkedIn.&nbsp; These are a good way to expand your network and connect with other professionals based on common interests or goals.&nbsp; Obviously, the first group you'll want to join is the 23 Things for Professional Development group!&nbsp; To do this, go to the 'Groups' tab, and search for '23 Things', then click 'Join' to become a member.&nbsp; If you like, explore other groups too.&nbsp; Here are some relevant ones:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">CILIP</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">BIALL</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Sue Hill Recruitment Network</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Special Libraries Association</span></li></ul><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is plenty of advice online about how to use LinkedIn successfully, and how to get the most out of your membership (see, for example, Sharlyn Lauby's articles on optimising your profile,&nbsp;<a href="http://mashable.com/2009/11/09/linkedin-tips/">here</a>). &nbsp;And if you like, take a look at this article by Charlie White, packed full of infographics:&nbsp;<i><a href="http://mashable.com/2011/07/09/linkedin-infographic/">How are people really using LinkedIn?</a></i></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab147/CountryMumma/facebook-128.png?t=1276693930" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab147/CountryMumma/facebook-128.png?t=1276693930" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The world's leading social network, with over&nbsp;<a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22">900 million members</a>, Facebook is most popularly used to socialise with friends and family, and to share news and photos.&nbsp; Most people wouldn't think about using Facebook in a professional capacity.&nbsp; However, it has become a powerful marketing tool and an excellent way to build more professional relationships.&nbsp; After all, there are 900 million people out there to build them with!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you're not on Facebook, it's easy to sign up from the home page and create a profile.&nbsp; A word of warning, though: Facebook's privacy policy and its stance on intellectual property have been criticised widely (and rightly so).&nbsp; You may wish, therefore, to take a look at these policies in more detail before signing up, and they can be found&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/policy.php">here</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While individuals on Facebook have 'profiles', to which they add personal information, organisations and institutions have 'pages', which can have multiple owners and have a slightly different functionality.&nbsp; (There are also 'groups', but the less said about those, the better).&nbsp; Your primary concern will clearly be to become a fan of 23 Things for Professional Development!&nbsp; To find our fan page, simply do a search for us in the box at the top, and then click 'Like' to become a fan.&nbsp; This means that information posted on this fan page will appear in your news feed on your Facebook home page.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Other pages (all of which can be viewed, with or without Facebook membership) that you might be interested in are:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/alalibrary">ALA</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/CILIP/119527011399432">CILIP</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/voicesforthelibrary?sk=wall">Voices for the Library</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Orkney-Library-Archive/185386170641">Orkney Library &amp; Archives</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/britishlibrary">The British Library</a></span></li></ul><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>And then three more, just for librarians and info pros:</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>3.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.lisnpn.spruz.com/">LISNPN</a></b>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://lisnpn.spruz.com/gfile/%21-%2175r4%21-%21GKEJDH%21-%21zrzor45%21-%21HJJLNHDD-JQSI-HGFL-OLPK-EFSPKNOMPHGN/big_201042112132068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://lisnpn.spruz.com/gfile/%21-%2175r4%21-%21GKEJDH%21-%21zrzor45%21-%21HJJLNHDD-JQSI-HGFL-OLPK-EFSPKNOMPHGN/big_201042112132068.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Image from LISNPN</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">LISNPN is an online network for new professionals in the library and information sector.&nbsp; Anyone in the sector can join the network, and at the moment there are over 900 members from 34 countries!&nbsp; You&nbsp;<i>definitely</i>&nbsp;don't have to have a professional qualification, you&nbsp;<i>definitely</i>&nbsp;don't have to be young, and the definition of 'new' that is employed by LISNPN is very loose indeed!&nbsp; So although the network is designed for prople who have joined the profession in the last decade or so, more experienced professionals are also very welcome.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">LISNPN has all kinds of stuff on it, and it's really member-driven, so if there's anything that network members want to see, they can make it happen.&nbsp; It includes forums and blog posts, interviews, resources and reviews, and there have been (face-to-face!) meet ups and a brilliant advocacy competition since the site was launched just over a year ago.&nbsp; To find out more, check out this&nbsp;<a href="http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/lisnpn/">blog post</a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="http://thewikiman.org/blog/">Ned Potter</a>&nbsp;(aka&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/theREALwikiman">@theREALwikiman</a>) about the future of LISNPN.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's a very friendly, and very user-friendly site, so to sign up, just enter your email address and password in the boxes to the left of the page, and follow the instructions.&nbsp; You'll get a profile with a picture and space for a brief biography, and there's also the opportunity to add 'friends'.&nbsp; Once your profile is up and running, go to the "Just joined LISNPN?" thread on the message board, and introduce yourself!</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>4.&nbsp;<a href="http://latnetwork.spruz.com/">Librarians as Teachers network</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://hornytimetraveler.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/doris-day-teachers-pet3.jpg?w=470&amp;h=492" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://hornytimetraveler.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/doris-day-teachers-pet3.jpg?w=470&amp;h=492" width="305" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Image from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.teachersmonthly.com/">Teachers Monthly</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The LAT network was set up in order to offer support to librarians and information professionals who do a lot of teaching as part of their jobs, and/or for those who are taking formal teaching qualifications.&nbsp; Its key aims are to gather and pool knowledge and expertise, and to provide a space to share ideas and thoughts. For more information about the site's origins and purposes, have a look at this&nbsp;<a href="http://johannaboanderson.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/librarians-as-teachers-calling-all-students-practitioners-and-wise-owls/">blog post</a>&nbsp;from one of the founders, Johanna Anderson (aka&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/jo_bo_anderson">@Jo_Bo_Anderson</a>).</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The site includes lots of information, about upcoming events, advice on organising (lib)TeachMeets and there's a forum which includes threads on book recommendations and just general teaching ideas.&nbsp; It's also really easy to sign up and get a profile: just click 'Register' and enter your details there.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>5.&nbsp;<a href="http://communities.cilip.org.uk/">CILIP communities</a></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/SiteCollectionImages/communities_brand.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cilip.org.uk/SiteCollectionImages/communities_brand.gif" /></a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">CILIP communities is an online network for all librarians and information professionals to share information<b>&nbsp;</b>and make connections with each other.&nbsp; Although a lot of the content is restricted to people who are CILIP members, there is a great deal of material on there which is open access, including links to the whole CILIP blog landscape.&nbsp; And just FYI: CILIP stands for Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals, and it's a UK-based library association.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you are a CILIP member, it's very easy to sign up, to get a profile and then add contacts.&nbsp; In the top right hand corner of the screen, there's a 'Log In' link, which takes you through to the registration page.&nbsp; If you're not a CILIP member, then you can sign up with a Guest account, and this will allow you to take part in discussions on the forums, and to organise and coordinate the information you receive from CILIP.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And if you're a member of another country's library association, have a look to see if they have any equivalent communities or forums.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What to do now!</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">To complete this Thing, blog about your experiences with these sites.&nbsp; Which do you think are the most useful, and why?&nbsp; If you already use these sites, how do you use them, and what have you got out of them?&nbsp; If you don't want to use sites like these for online networking, why not?&nbsp; And do you agree with the founder of LinkedIn,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/2009/06/incentive2innovate-reid-hoffman.html">Reid Hoffman</a>, when he said: "Facebook is the backyard BBQ; LinkedIn is the office"? Do you think that sites like <a href="https://plus.google.com/">Google+</a> and <a href="http://pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a> offer added value for social networking?&nbsp;</span></div>Helen Murphyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13254226104437680746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855793968985908562.post-69507704577873592082012-05-28T00:00:00.000+01:002012-05-28T08:44:03.630+01:00Thing 5 - Reflective Practice<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64mDJE5pHKc/T7-KobR4HsI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/FDyJXfa_dhM/s1600/reflection.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Water with reflection of colours" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64mDJE5pHKc/T7-KobR4HsI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/FDyJXfa_dhM/s1600/reflection.jpg" title="Reflection of Hope" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkaia/126094248/" target="_blank">Reflection of Hope by ecotist on Flickr</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Thing 5 already? Yes indeed! Thing 5 is <b>Reflective Practice</b>. As you’ve been working through ‘the things’ you may have learnt how to use some new tools or had a refresher on the tools that you use already. You may have been encouraged to restart abandoned blogs or join Twitter with a clearer understanding of your online presence and what you want people to know about you. You may have taken steps to get some more current awareness on the go by setting up some RSS feeds. Whatever you have got out of 23 things for professional development so far take a bit of time this week to reflect. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>What is reflec</b><b>tive practice?</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">This post is by no means an in depth piece defining and examining the theories of reflective practice, but more of an introduction to how to get going with it yourself. If you do want a more in depth look into reflective practice I’ve included some references at the end of post. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I see reflective practice as an important part of not only our professional, but personal development. It provides an opportunity to <b>review the experiences we have, learni</b><b>ng from them and app</b><b>lying what we have learnt.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>How do I become a reflective practitioner?</b><br />Everyone will have their own style and preferred process of reflective practice, this is just one idea for you to consider based on the already existing models out there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m all for simplicity so these models appeal to me most:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿ <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ_yxLejWVY/T7-mWxK-b4I/AAAAAAAAB54/LI08JcfUivA/s1600/pdr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" qba="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yQ_yxLejWVY/T7-mWxK-b4I/AAAAAAAAB54/LI08JcfUivA/s200/pdr.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Greenaway 1995</span></td></tr></tbody></table>﻿</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ig7ZpGlNBgw/T7-mYxTwWPI/AAAAAAAAB6A/wz7SlwBNPLs/s1600/what+so+what+now+what.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" qba="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ig7ZpGlNBgw/T7-mYxTwWPI/AAAAAAAAB6A/wz7SlwBNPLs/s200/what+so+what+now+what.bmp" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Borton 1970</span></td></tr></tbody></table>﻿﻿ <br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">You’ll find a model that works for you, it might be that you adapt an already existing one like these examples.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">I go through the following three steps when I’m embarking on a bit of reflective writing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Recall it:</b> this could be an event you’ve participated in, a project group you’ve been part of, a workshop you’ve delivered, an enquiry you’ve responded to…</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Evaluate it: </b>Take some time to consider these questions</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What did you learn?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What did you enjoy?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What worked well?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What, if anything, went wrong?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What would you change?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">What (potential) impact could this have in your workplace?</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Apply it: </b>Take some action. What can you practically apply from the experience you’ve had? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Tools for reflective practice</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-av1MIieNgns/T7-NCwMp7rI/AAAAAAAAB5k/B2VF-Rofq0E/s1600/sewing+tool+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-av1MIieNgns/T7-NCwMp7rI/AAAAAAAAB5k/B2VF-Rofq0E/s1600/sewing+tool+box.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/levanahpix/5382532103/" target="_blank">sewing tool box by levanah on Flickr</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">There are a variety of tools available to you for your reflective practice activities. Just as the process of reflective practice may vary from person to person, the tools used may also differ.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">As you’re participating in the 23 things, Thing 1, a blog, is a perfect tool for communicating the evaluating part of the reflective practice process. Blogs are a great way to share your thoughts. The reason me and my colleague <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sarahjison">@sarahjison</a> set up our blog (<a href="http://librariansontheloose.wordpress.com/">Librariansontheloose</a>) was to give us a space to reflect on and evaluate&nbsp;when I was working towards&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cilip.org.uk/jobs-careers/qualifications/cilip-qualifications/chartership/Pages/chartershipintro.aspx">CILIP chartership</a>. Now I am chartered I'm in the habit of going through this reflective process and having the blog still remains a good way of doing that.There are of course more tools including drawing, audio-visual, podcasting.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Are there any difficulties in becoming a reflective practitioner?</b><br />Yes! The most common seems to be <b>time</b>. We all have busy lives, so being realistic about what you can reflect on is important. If you are able to factor it into your everyday work activities, great. If not, be selective.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Reflective writing</b> can also be a challenge, but resources to address this are plentiful online. If you’re an information professional based in the UK keep an eye out for reflective writing workshops organised by the Career Development Group, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). If you’re based in another country see if your professional body organises any similar events or put it to your employer as an opportunity for your professional development.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes the most difficult part of being a successful reflective practitioner is the <b>application of what you’ve learnt</b>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVRxtObW0ZQ/T7-OJ6OrKuI/AAAAAAAAB5s/4BI9MXWBrN8/s1600/paperchain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVRxtObW0ZQ/T7-OJ6OrKuI/AAAAAAAAB5s/4BI9MXWBrN8/s1600/paperchain.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/slipstreamjc/1438301947/" target="_blank">paper chain/ find a way to wear <br />the journal by SlipStreamJC on flickr</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Why should I bother with reflective practice?</b>Being a reflective practitioner does have its challenges, but it also has its rewards. Amongst other things being a reflective practitioner can…</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-size: small;">Help you be more objective about experiences</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Give you more control over your learning and development</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Help you demonstrate you are active and responsive</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">Give you a better understanding of your work</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">So, there we go, a whistlestop introduction to reflective practice. Give it a try. Have a think about your approach to reflective practice. If you’ve any tips or resource to share, please do. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Want to know more? Try these…</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Books/Theses</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bolton, G (2001) Reflective Practice: writing and professional development, Paul Chapman.<br />Borton, T (1970) Reach, Touch, and Teach: Student Concerns and Process Education, McGraw-Hill.<br />Boud D, Keogh R and Walker D (1985) Reflection<i>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflection-Turning-Experience-into-Learning/dp/0850388643/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1309998710&amp;sr=8-3">Turning Experience into Learning</a></i>, Routledge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Schön, D (1983) <i><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflective-Practitioner-Professionals-Think-Action/dp/1857423194/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1309998752&amp;sr=1-1">The Reflective Practitioner</a></i>, How Professionals Think In Action, Basic Books.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Greenaway, R (1995) <a href="http://reviewing.co.uk/research/ple_abs.htm">Powerful Learning Experiences in Management Learning and Development</a>: A study of the experiences of managers attending residential development training courses at the Brathay Hall Trust (1988-9). The University of Lancaster, Centre for the Study of Management Learning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Blogs</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">A wonderful blog post from a 23 things participant, Elaine Andrew, about attending a reflective writing workshop.<b>&nbsp;</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Random musings of a librarian, almost<br /><a href="http://almostlibrarian.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/reflective-writing-workshop/">Reflective writing workshop</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another fantastic blog post giving an insight into the difficulties of reflective practice from another 23 things participant!</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Nataliafay. Librarian. Human.</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://nataliafay.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/getting-out-of-the-reflective-practice-rut/">Getting out of the reflective practice rut</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is from a teaching/education perspective, but still relevant to us as information professionals</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Thoughts on learning processes and other musings </b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://ii-learning.blogspot.com/2011/02/understanding-reflective-practice.html">Understanding Reflective Practice</a></b><b>&nbsp;</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Presentations</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A lovely introduction to reflective practice from Toby Adams</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/tobyadams/lo1-the-purpose-of-reflective-practice">The Purpose of Reflective Practice</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Another good introduction to reflective practice from Sarah Stewart</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/sarahs/journaling-and-reflective-practice-presentation">Journaling as a tool for reflective practice</a></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><b>*Images of reflective practice models</b><a href="http://firstclass.ultraversity.net/%7Eian.tindal/rm/modeloverview.html"><br />Greenaway</a> (1995)</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">[Accessed 25/05/2012]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://firstclass.ultraversity.net/%7Eian.tindal/rm/modeloverview.html">Borton</a> (1970)</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">[Accessed 25/05/2012]</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: bold;">Images</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The images in the post are available for use from Flickr under the Creative Commons Licence.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkaia/126094248/" target="_blank">Reflection of Hope - ecotist</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/levanahpix/5382532103/" target="_blank">Sewing tool box - levanah</a></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/slipstreamjc/1438301947/" target="_blank">paper chain/find a way to wear the journal - SlipStreamJC</a></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></div>Emmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14316107437411450974noreply@blogger.com0
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