
Posts Tagged ‘work’

#CPD Things 21 & 22: Giving to Get

October 10, 2011

The whole question of library jobs and library job interviews is one I’m seriously considering right now,because I’d like to transition from my information professional job into a mix of part-time library work and part time information work. After 14 years, I need a change, but library work doesn’t pay as well as information work, so it can only be a partial change at this point.

In considering the kind of work I would both be good a (and thus of value to my employers) and would enjoy, I’ve been gravitating toward academic libraries. I prefer working with slightly older people and I get along best with the 20-30 age group that is usually in those libraries. My knowledge of English would be a real asset as would my command of computer applications, social media, cataloging skills, and history of teaching college-age students, and my ability to think on my feet and learn quickly wouldn’t hurt.

The big thing I’m missing, which is a must in an academic library, is knowledge of the Aleph (Ex Libris) system.

Which is where volunteering comes in. This summer I volunteered to create and catalog a music collection in a public library, which gave me an opportunity to learn issues involved in cataloging special collections, music, keywords, quick searches for information to add to the records, and a very thorough intro to the proclivities of the Agron system. Lots of that can carry over to Aleph, but it’s not enough.

Last week I had my pre-semester meeting with my faculty. She was joking with me that I work too hard and ought to take time off, read a book. “I don’t read books, I catalog them,” I said, and when she laughed, I told her that I was serious, that I spent my summer vacation cataloging and that I wanted to apply for academic jobs but have neither the certificate (well, duh — that’s why I’m in school) nor that one crucial qualification.

Long story short, my schedule was rearranged so at the end of this school year I’ll be able to have my government certification as a librarian (and spend the last year getting the information certificate) and they are arranging for me to volunteer, with supervision, in an academic library, so that within a few months I can start applying for jobs and be able to say that I have the proper qualifications or as near enough as does not matter.

Volunteering works — it’s often the only way to get the experience needed to get a job, And tooting your own horn, in a  modest fashion, works wonders, too.

By this time next year I expect I’ll have at least a part time library job, mainly due to volunteering. And I’ll blog about it when I do.

 

 

 

#cpd23 Thing 18: Can you see me now?

September 21, 2011

I use Team Viewer to remotely share screens at work. We use it partially for real-time collaboration and partially because there are people in our company who must have been born in Missouri — they have to see things for themselves.

Then there are the customers who ask, for time 768,298, how to create a PDF or how to get a number from one sheet in Excel to another. I have written directions I send out, but some of my customers have trouble following the directions. Tools like Jing or Quick Screen Share could help. My main problem would be that I would have to keep a clean install of the programs I’d be demonstrating, because if I used my customized-to-death applications they would find it confusing. (But my Word doesn’t look like that!) It’s a fine line to navigate, explaining things people with no computer confidence but not talking down to them and still getting them to be able to run the screencast and follow the instructions.

I use Audible all the time, but not for podcasting. As I said in the Thing on presenting, I hate my voice. OK, no. I don’t. I just hate having to listen to the sound of my own voice, so I don’t plan to podcast unless someone pays me very, very well. (Anyone interested?) When I use Audible for is digitizing my audio collection. Tracks get split in the silliest ways and have to be reassembled. I love me my Audible, but I don’t want to be in it myself.

So,what does the jury say?

Screen sharing gets a big thumbs up.

Screen casting is a maybe, but I’d start with temporary casts before I record casts for repeated us.

Audible gets two thumbs up, but neither is pointed to podcasting.

 
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