Firstly, an apology. I am afraid that my blog has, in recent months, suffered the same fate of all of my adolescent diaries and been left to gather cobwebs in some long forgotten corner of the spare room. However, today marks the beginning of my virtual resurgence of the blog. I offer no promises though on the regularity of content.
This time of year, when the balance of light and darkness moves and everything appears tinged with an eldritch air, is a time of reflection. After a summer fraught with building works, followed by a busy start to the academic year, we are now half way through the term. As the cycle of the academic year moves towards the end of the first term, we can reflect about what we have done well and what we can do better next time.
I was particularly struck by Miss Julie’s blog post about librarians weeding themselves. If we had to apply the same rules to our profession as we do to our stock, how would we look? I think it is true that we have to constantly reflect on our skills and behaviours and evaluate how we do things.
I am currently going through the process of Chartership and, as such, have been encouraged to analyse myself and my workflows. Why do I do this? Is this the best way of doing this? How can I be more efficient? How can I better serve my institution? How can we make sure that our information service (and that’s what it is, a service with readers as customers) supports the mission of our institution as best as it possibly can? These are all crucial questions to ask. The answers can range from evaluation of workflows to experimenting with changes in some areas. I don’t believe in change for the sake of change, but I do think that we need to be constantly reflecting and evaluating our service and our procedures.
If I ever start to show the signs of a MUSTIE, someone please tell me! Happy Halloween everybody.
Monday 31 October 2011
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Librarianship, Qualifications, Careers
For Things 10 and 11 this week, I am blogging about my route into librarianship and my experiences thus far in the profession. Like most arts graduates, I was unsure of my career path after University. In my naïve and youthful state, I had imagined that it would be perfectly feasible to walk from my graduation ceremony into a publishing house who agreed to publish my first novel right there and then. Or perhaps I’d walk into the editorial office of the Guardian and be swept away on a magic carpet of opening nights, films festivals and cocktail parties.
Reality hit hard soon after I had relocated to Cambridgeshire as I began the inevitable rounds of administrative temping. I found myself in an administrative role in an academic environment, a good job which would have been stable enough to secure my future. And yet. Every time the word ‘library’ was mentioned, I would wonder. Ponder. I remembered my childhood days of “playing” at being a librarian. I confess, I even set up the “Friendly Lending Library” with my own books and made library cards for my readers. Not a family gathering went by without my relentless recruitment of new patrons from amongst the guests. In junior school, I became a pupil librarian. This was back in the day, with catalogue cards and manual issue.
It is odd therefore that as an adult these memories took a while to surface into the basis of a real career. It was when I really started considering what to do with my life that librarianship called to me. I am passionate about connecting the reader to their desired information and helping them to learn the skills to find and use quality resources. I left a permanent well paid administrative post to move into a junior library assistant role and I am extremely glad that I did. I have a grounding of library work at all levels, something that helps me to empathise with junior staff in a way that I suspect would be difficult if I’d not had entry level experience. I have been lucky in my career so far in that I have worked in a diverse variety of libraries in all three parts of the Cambridge tripartite system, before finding my feet in my first professional post.
I decided to begin the Aberystwyth course via distance learning after working for one year as a junior library assistant. I was sure that this was the career for me and I wanted to become more engaged with the LIS sector. I had the opportunity at that point to move into a SCONUL graduate traineeship which helped me to develop myself and to view myself as a professional practitioner. The Aberystwyth course appealed to me for several reasons: it is progressive, it ties together theory and practice, and it is affordable. I was able to apply my learnt knowledge to the workplace in order to see the limitations of theory and the practicalities of librarianship. As a keen Open University student, the distance learning world was not unfamiliar to me and I enjoy setting my own deadlines.
I completed the MSc in Library and Information Science in September 2010.
I am currently working towards my Chartership. The process is already teaching me a lot about reflexion and service evaluation. I have been in my current post as Assistant Librarian managing three collections for just over three years. Let's see what the future will bring.
Reality hit hard soon after I had relocated to Cambridgeshire as I began the inevitable rounds of administrative temping. I found myself in an administrative role in an academic environment, a good job which would have been stable enough to secure my future. And yet. Every time the word ‘library’ was mentioned, I would wonder. Ponder. I remembered my childhood days of “playing” at being a librarian. I confess, I even set up the “Friendly Lending Library” with my own books and made library cards for my readers. Not a family gathering went by without my relentless recruitment of new patrons from amongst the guests. In junior school, I became a pupil librarian. This was back in the day, with catalogue cards and manual issue.
It is odd therefore that as an adult these memories took a while to surface into the basis of a real career. It was when I really started considering what to do with my life that librarianship called to me. I am passionate about connecting the reader to their desired information and helping them to learn the skills to find and use quality resources. I left a permanent well paid administrative post to move into a junior library assistant role and I am extremely glad that I did. I have a grounding of library work at all levels, something that helps me to empathise with junior staff in a way that I suspect would be difficult if I’d not had entry level experience. I have been lucky in my career so far in that I have worked in a diverse variety of libraries in all three parts of the Cambridge tripartite system, before finding my feet in my first professional post.
I decided to begin the Aberystwyth course via distance learning after working for one year as a junior library assistant. I was sure that this was the career for me and I wanted to become more engaged with the LIS sector. I had the opportunity at that point to move into a SCONUL graduate traineeship which helped me to develop myself and to view myself as a professional practitioner. The Aberystwyth course appealed to me for several reasons: it is progressive, it ties together theory and practice, and it is affordable. I was able to apply my learnt knowledge to the workplace in order to see the limitations of theory and the practicalities of librarianship. As a keen Open University student, the distance learning world was not unfamiliar to me and I enjoy setting my own deadlines.
I completed the MSc in Library and Information Science in September 2010.
I am currently working towards my Chartership. The process is already teaching me a lot about reflexion and service evaluation. I have been in my current post as Assistant Librarian managing three collections for just over three years. Let's see what the future will bring.
Friday 22 July 2011
DREaM Conference Report
The “Developing Research Excellence and Methods” project launch event “Out of the Comfort Zone”, held at the British Library on Tuesday 19th July 2011, highlighted some important issues surrounding Library and Information Science research. As a recipient of a sponsored place at the launch event, I was extremely interested to hear more about the challenges and complexities of LIS research and practice. I would like to give my thanks to TFPL Intelligent Resources , Sue Hill Recruitment and Glen Recruitment for enabling me to attend this conference through their support of sponsored places for new professionals.
Professor Hazel Hall opened the conference by outlining the main aims and goals of the DREaM project. The project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the LIS Research Coalition, aims to develop a formal network of LIS researchers and practitioners in order to build the capability and capacity of LIS research. The goal is to raise the quality and perceived importance of LIS research across disciplines in order to build a foundation for long-term inter-disciplinary research collaborations. The project consists of this launch conference, three workshops throughout the year where cross-discipline research methodologies will be analysed in detail, and a concluding conference in July 2012. Hall spoke of a ‘cadre’ of committed individuals that the project aims to bring together. After the concluding event next year, it is vital that there remains a core group of professionals who are committed to the aims of the project.
Professor Blaise Cronin then gave an insightful and interesting keynote speech on the historical and current problems surrounding LIS research. Collaboration appears to be the key to strengthening confidence. Cronin took us on a history of LIS research and asked whether there really was a Golden Age for our discipline. The problem is that LIS research has for too long been seen by researchers in other disciplines as a hobby, rather than a rigorous and scientific discipline. Take for example the area of information behaviour. This is a logical area in which LIS research should collaborate with educational and cognitive psychological research. Yet the body of LIS research is often overlooked. Cronin asks us to ask why. He suggests various reasons, including the lack of metadata analysis and the weak experimental design of much LIS research. Citation analysis shows whether or not articles are being cited outside the LIS sphere but I would be cautious about drawing too many conclusions from such a figure. After all, information behaviour is an area which is of great interest to practitioners in many fields. A lack of citation figures does not mean than these articles are not being read. Cronin asks us to look at methodologies from other disciplines, for example evidence-based practice, to evaluate their usefulness within LIS research. By using different methodologies, it is possible that the research output will be perceived as more reliable by other disciplines. The ‘One Minute Madness’ session that followed was really interesting as delegates heard about a number of various projects currently taking place in the LIS field.
After an exquisite lunch, we moved into our selected breakout groups . With my focus on developing and maintaining networks, I was fortunate to attend the session ran by Professor Gunilla Widén on the topic of network development in the Nordic countries. Despite their differences, the Nordic countries historically feel a wealth of commonality between them. There are established trends of formal co-operation throughout the Nordic countries, built on common values and willingness by all to develop Nordic competencies and competitiveness. This established collaboration smoothed the path to establishing networks in the LIS sphere. However, there are also problems. A delicate balance has to be maintained between national, Nordic and international interests. Different emphases and different personalities also bring challenges. Yet together they promote the Nordic countries as a whole much more strongly than they could do individually.
For me, the discussion that followed the breakout session was one of the most important parts of the day. One member of our group asked why there was such a gap between research and practice, a question that sparked intense and passionate debate. Some felt that there was little practical relevance in research. Others stated that research was not lofty and irrelevant to practice but instead was crucial to helping practitioners to solve problems. Yet it is true that research output often does not affect organisational practice, a point which was used by some to state that practitioners were thus not engaging with research. I put myself well and truly out of my comfort zone by jumping in and stating that this was often not the case. As a practitioner, but also as a new professional, I certainly engage with LIS research. However, organisational culture and the constraints of practice limit the extent to which research can be implemented. It is important not to assume that, because things are not rapidly changing on the ground, research is not being evaluated by any practitioners. The discussion veered then onto networks. What drives a network after the funding runs dry? I am a part of several networks, including CILIP’s Career Development Group and my area specific German Studies Library Group. I participate in these groups, I give my time to attend events, I am on the committee of CDG in the East of England. I do it because it is valuable professionally. It develops me as a person and as a professional. I am doing something useful and creating a network of practitioners. There is no financial incentive and yet I and my fellow members are committed and enthusiastic enough to establish and build a network.
Dr Dylan Evans gave the closing keynote speech, which was interesting and fascinating. His career spans a number of roles and disciplines, which makes him the perfect candidate to speak about inter-disciplinary collaboration. Collaboration encourages creative thinking as preconceived knowledge and assertions are washed away. In order to become cross collaborative, we must engage with other disciplines and move forward into other spheres.
The two main themes that emerged from the day concerned the need to assess the current situation with LIS research and research methodologies whilst exploring how we can establish a formal network of LIS researchers and practitioners. Discussing the gap between research and practice was a crucial part of the day. Collaboration between researchers and practitioners is the first step to closing this gap within our own profession before we move forwards into cross-discipline collaboration. This is achievable by networking to understand the perspectives and challenges that researchers and practitioners face. I sincerely hope that through the course of this year, the first steps towards this mutual understanding can be taken in order to move forward in establishing a formal LIS network. Research should inform practice but practical problems should also determine the focus of the LIS research landscape to an extent. Understanding each other is the first step towards the formation of a solid permanent network.
Professor Hazel Hall opened the conference by outlining the main aims and goals of the DREaM project. The project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the LIS Research Coalition, aims to develop a formal network of LIS researchers and practitioners in order to build the capability and capacity of LIS research. The goal is to raise the quality and perceived importance of LIS research across disciplines in order to build a foundation for long-term inter-disciplinary research collaborations. The project consists of this launch conference, three workshops throughout the year where cross-discipline research methodologies will be analysed in detail, and a concluding conference in July 2012. Hall spoke of a ‘cadre’ of committed individuals that the project aims to bring together. After the concluding event next year, it is vital that there remains a core group of professionals who are committed to the aims of the project.
Professor Blaise Cronin then gave an insightful and interesting keynote speech on the historical and current problems surrounding LIS research. Collaboration appears to be the key to strengthening confidence. Cronin took us on a history of LIS research and asked whether there really was a Golden Age for our discipline. The problem is that LIS research has for too long been seen by researchers in other disciplines as a hobby, rather than a rigorous and scientific discipline. Take for example the area of information behaviour. This is a logical area in which LIS research should collaborate with educational and cognitive psychological research. Yet the body of LIS research is often overlooked. Cronin asks us to ask why. He suggests various reasons, including the lack of metadata analysis and the weak experimental design of much LIS research. Citation analysis shows whether or not articles are being cited outside the LIS sphere but I would be cautious about drawing too many conclusions from such a figure. After all, information behaviour is an area which is of great interest to practitioners in many fields. A lack of citation figures does not mean than these articles are not being read. Cronin asks us to look at methodologies from other disciplines, for example evidence-based practice, to evaluate their usefulness within LIS research. By using different methodologies, it is possible that the research output will be perceived as more reliable by other disciplines. The ‘One Minute Madness’ session that followed was really interesting as delegates heard about a number of various projects currently taking place in the LIS field.
After an exquisite lunch, we moved into our selected breakout groups . With my focus on developing and maintaining networks, I was fortunate to attend the session ran by Professor Gunilla Widén on the topic of network development in the Nordic countries. Despite their differences, the Nordic countries historically feel a wealth of commonality between them. There are established trends of formal co-operation throughout the Nordic countries, built on common values and willingness by all to develop Nordic competencies and competitiveness. This established collaboration smoothed the path to establishing networks in the LIS sphere. However, there are also problems. A delicate balance has to be maintained between national, Nordic and international interests. Different emphases and different personalities also bring challenges. Yet together they promote the Nordic countries as a whole much more strongly than they could do individually.
For me, the discussion that followed the breakout session was one of the most important parts of the day. One member of our group asked why there was such a gap between research and practice, a question that sparked intense and passionate debate. Some felt that there was little practical relevance in research. Others stated that research was not lofty and irrelevant to practice but instead was crucial to helping practitioners to solve problems. Yet it is true that research output often does not affect organisational practice, a point which was used by some to state that practitioners were thus not engaging with research. I put myself well and truly out of my comfort zone by jumping in and stating that this was often not the case. As a practitioner, but also as a new professional, I certainly engage with LIS research. However, organisational culture and the constraints of practice limit the extent to which research can be implemented. It is important not to assume that, because things are not rapidly changing on the ground, research is not being evaluated by any practitioners. The discussion veered then onto networks. What drives a network after the funding runs dry? I am a part of several networks, including CILIP’s Career Development Group and my area specific German Studies Library Group. I participate in these groups, I give my time to attend events, I am on the committee of CDG in the East of England. I do it because it is valuable professionally. It develops me as a person and as a professional. I am doing something useful and creating a network of practitioners. There is no financial incentive and yet I and my fellow members are committed and enthusiastic enough to establish and build a network.
Dr Dylan Evans gave the closing keynote speech, which was interesting and fascinating. His career spans a number of roles and disciplines, which makes him the perfect candidate to speak about inter-disciplinary collaboration. Collaboration encourages creative thinking as preconceived knowledge and assertions are washed away. In order to become cross collaborative, we must engage with other disciplines and move forward into other spheres.
The two main themes that emerged from the day concerned the need to assess the current situation with LIS research and research methodologies whilst exploring how we can establish a formal network of LIS researchers and practitioners. Discussing the gap between research and practice was a crucial part of the day. Collaboration between researchers and practitioners is the first step to closing this gap within our own profession before we move forwards into cross-discipline collaboration. This is achievable by networking to understand the perspectives and challenges that researchers and practitioners face. I sincerely hope that through the course of this year, the first steps towards this mutual understanding can be taken in order to move forward in establishing a formal LIS network. Research should inform practice but practical problems should also determine the focus of the LIS research landscape to an extent. Understanding each other is the first step towards the formation of a solid permanent network.
Thursday 21 July 2011
IRL In 'Better Than Twitter' Shocker
As someone who over the last few years has come to rely heavily on Twitter.com as a networking tool, I was happily surprised to discover last night that IRL can actually be even more fun sometimes!
IRL - or In Real Life - networking is scary, much more difficult that online networking, because we actually have to put ourselves out there. So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I went to the cpd23 Thing 7 tweet-up last night. Walking towards the pub, I'll admit I was nervous.
It is only once you've arrived and started talking to people that you remember how much fun real-life networking can be. Catching up with people, sharing current news, makes all the online networking that we do more real somehow. Face to face networking reminds us about how every other part of our networking life fits together.
I was also at the event last night as a representative of a spcial interest group, namely CDG. I was pleased that I managed to chat to a few people, including new professionals, about the group and the benefits of joining CILIP. The main criticism was that if people can go to events as non-members at only slightly more cost then members, what incentive is there to join? And I'm not sure about that really. Limiting events to members would remove a revenue source and make the group more elitist, but perhaps it would encourage membership. It is a risky strategy. I took the line that if you are a passive CILIP member then it is true that you do not get the most out of your subscription. You need to be actively engaged in order to fully be a part of a professional body. Everything that you experience as a committee member, the positive and the negative times, develop you both personally and professionally. And I think I even convinced one person to consider joining a committee, so my work there was certainly done!
Many thanks to the East of England CILIP branch for organising such a worthwhile event.
IRL - or In Real Life - networking is scary, much more difficult that online networking, because we actually have to put ourselves out there. So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I went to the cpd23 Thing 7 tweet-up last night. Walking towards the pub, I'll admit I was nervous.
It is only once you've arrived and started talking to people that you remember how much fun real-life networking can be. Catching up with people, sharing current news, makes all the online networking that we do more real somehow. Face to face networking reminds us about how every other part of our networking life fits together.
I was also at the event last night as a representative of a spcial interest group, namely CDG. I was pleased that I managed to chat to a few people, including new professionals, about the group and the benefits of joining CILIP. The main criticism was that if people can go to events as non-members at only slightly more cost then members, what incentive is there to join? And I'm not sure about that really. Limiting events to members would remove a revenue source and make the group more elitist, but perhaps it would encourage membership. It is a risky strategy. I took the line that if you are a passive CILIP member then it is true that you do not get the most out of your subscription. You need to be actively engaged in order to fully be a part of a professional body. Everything that you experience as a committee member, the positive and the negative times, develop you both personally and professionally. And I think I even convinced one person to consider joining a committee, so my work there was certainly done!
Many thanks to the East of England CILIP branch for organising such a worthwhile event.
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Online Networks, Networking and Netting an Opportunity
Thinking about online networks for Thing 6 got me thinking about the online networks in which I participate and why I take an active part in these communities. I tweet, I blog, I read and comment on other blogs. I am also an active member of Librarians as Teachers (LAT) and the LIS New Professionals Network (LISNPN) I am on LinkedIn and maintain a current profile. I do this because I enjoy being professionally linked in to the sector, to other professionals, to keep up to date with activity across sectors and to maintain an online profile.
Today I attended the LIS DREaM conference launch at the British Library. In our breakout session, a lively discussion took place on the topic of networking and sustaining collaboration. One of the questions raised concerned motivation: who is motivated to not only contribute to these online networks but also to lead the action in these networks? Any network needs motivated leaders who are able to rouse and inspire other members. Networks tend to come together due to a shared interest or area of expertise. For example, LAT concerns people across sectors involved in information skills teaching whereas LISNPN concerns people from all sectors but only if they happen to be a new professional. Are we able to communicate across sectors and stages of our careers? If we can do this, could we start to move to the next phase of cross-discipline networking?
There are formal and informal networks, online and in the real world. This got me thinking about the other networks that I am involved with, ones that don't happen in the online sphere but rather in the physical space.
I am a member of the Career Development Group committee. CDG is a network of professionals at all stages of their career from all sectors. I am a member of the German Studies Library Group, a group of library and information professionals working in some way with Germanic collections. I am an editor of CULIB, a newsletter for staff at the University of Cambridge . My conclusion is that networks are everywhere. We should not forget that, in this online digital age, not every network to which we belong will have an online space.
Which leads me on nicely to tomorrow night's CPD23 meet-up. We can network with each other in reality as well as online. True, online networking overcomes barriers of travel and cost. However, reality networking is crucial to development and must not be forgotten as an important tool.
Finally, today one delegate asked the conference how a network is expected to survive once there is no longer funding. Answers ranged from strong leadership to formalised sturctures. However, it is my honest opinion that networks do survive without funding, both formally and informally, online and offline. All we need is a group of committed individuals with vision and focus who support and inspire each other.
Today I attended the LIS DREaM conference launch at the British Library. In our breakout session, a lively discussion took place on the topic of networking and sustaining collaboration. One of the questions raised concerned motivation: who is motivated to not only contribute to these online networks but also to lead the action in these networks? Any network needs motivated leaders who are able to rouse and inspire other members. Networks tend to come together due to a shared interest or area of expertise. For example, LAT concerns people across sectors involved in information skills teaching whereas LISNPN concerns people from all sectors but only if they happen to be a new professional. Are we able to communicate across sectors and stages of our careers? If we can do this, could we start to move to the next phase of cross-discipline networking?
There are formal and informal networks, online and in the real world. This got me thinking about the other networks that I am involved with, ones that don't happen in the online sphere but rather in the physical space.
I am a member of the Career Development Group committee. CDG is a network of professionals at all stages of their career from all sectors. I am a member of the German Studies Library Group, a group of library and information professionals working in some way with Germanic collections. I am an editor of CULIB, a newsletter for staff at the University of Cambridge . My conclusion is that networks are everywhere. We should not forget that, in this online digital age, not every network to which we belong will have an online space.
Which leads me on nicely to tomorrow night's CPD23 meet-up. We can network with each other in reality as well as online. True, online networking overcomes barriers of travel and cost. However, reality networking is crucial to development and must not be forgotten as an important tool.
Finally, today one delegate asked the conference how a network is expected to survive once there is no longer funding. Answers ranged from strong leadership to formalised sturctures. However, it is my honest opinion that networks do survive without funding, both formally and informally, online and offline. All we need is a group of committed individuals with vision and focus who support and inspire each other.
Monday 18 July 2011
RSS and All That Jazz
This week in the cpd23 programme, we are covering Thing 4: current awareness.
I really don't have much to say about this one. I actively use Twitter.com in order to keep up to date professionally and I also follow some celebrity-type people. The debate as to whether a Twitter presence should be purely professional or whether it should show our rounded personalities has been had many times and will probably continue to be a topic of hot debate. For me, I walk a middle line. I tend to keep things professional but I am not averse to having an exchange with a fellow professional about their cat's odd habits. Twitter is primarily a way to keep up with breaking news and events within our profession.
RSS feeds have been a staple part of my professional life for many years now, although I tend not to use them for websites of personal interest as I enjoy browsing in my leisure time. Professionally, the amount of sites, journals and blogs that I try to keep up to date with would only be possible through RSS feeds. It is a great invention. We can pull everything together into one reader. We can even categorise our reader to make it even more useful. And yet, I still have 400 unread items in my RSS reader. Whilst it is indispensable to have the technology to gather everything in one place, there is still the problem of having the time to sit down and read everything!
Pushnote is something to which I'll return at a later date.
I really don't have much to say about this one. I actively use Twitter.com in order to keep up to date professionally and I also follow some celebrity-type people. The debate as to whether a Twitter presence should be purely professional or whether it should show our rounded personalities has been had many times and will probably continue to be a topic of hot debate. For me, I walk a middle line. I tend to keep things professional but I am not averse to having an exchange with a fellow professional about their cat's odd habits. Twitter is primarily a way to keep up with breaking news and events within our profession.
RSS feeds have been a staple part of my professional life for many years now, although I tend not to use them for websites of personal interest as I enjoy browsing in my leisure time. Professionally, the amount of sites, journals and blogs that I try to keep up to date with would only be possible through RSS feeds. It is a great invention. We can pull everything together into one reader. We can even categorise our reader to make it even more useful. And yet, I still have 400 unread items in my RSS reader. Whilst it is indispensable to have the technology to gather everything in one place, there is still the problem of having the time to sit down and read everything!
Pushnote is something to which I'll return at a later date.
Wednesday 6 July 2011
I no haz Brand, I haz a presence
The concept of "brand" to me conjures up many things, none of which I would like to apply to me as a person. I have an online presence, an online space. Whilst I understand the concept of having a stable "brand identity" across all platforms used, I can't say that I feel it is necessary.
We are all people who have at least two sides to our personalities: our professional self and our personal self. Some of us are mothers or fathers, we are all someone's son or daughter, we could be a Brown Owl or a hockey coach. We all have different interests and different obsessions. We watch television programmes, we consider ourselves to have a political position, we read books, we travel to different places, we like different colours - I could go on. The point is that we are all different multi-faceted people who cannot be reduced down to a brand which attempts to encapsulate our entire personalities in two or three concepts. And I do not want to be. Of course we have to be careful and mindful when we post anything online. We can do this whilst retaining our complex individuality.
I have an online presence, yes. But a brand? I don't think I have got a brand. My blog's template represents my love of inky colours, however it also represents the fact that only these colours were available in this template on Blogger. My twitter name was chosen because I really like the name Lottie although no one calls me that in the "real" world despite my attempts to encourage people to use it a few years ago. It never caught on - it just sounded odd in reality. My various professional profiles all tend to say the same things about my professional interests. My Facebook is my only truly personal space online where I shed my professional skin and communicate solely with friends. My cat however is mentioned everywhere as it is impossible for me to separate any facet of myself from his presence (he would get grumpy and pull a LoL-cat pose...)
So essentially these are my feelings about brands. In theory, I can see why it is a helpful idea. Yet the reduction of the complex individual to a couple of specific traits troubles me. I'll stick with my online presence.
We are all people who have at least two sides to our personalities: our professional self and our personal self. Some of us are mothers or fathers, we are all someone's son or daughter, we could be a Brown Owl or a hockey coach. We all have different interests and different obsessions. We watch television programmes, we consider ourselves to have a political position, we read books, we travel to different places, we like different colours - I could go on. The point is that we are all different multi-faceted people who cannot be reduced down to a brand which attempts to encapsulate our entire personalities in two or three concepts. And I do not want to be. Of course we have to be careful and mindful when we post anything online. We can do this whilst retaining our complex individuality.
I have an online presence, yes. But a brand? I don't think I have got a brand. My blog's template represents my love of inky colours, however it also represents the fact that only these colours were available in this template on Blogger. My twitter name was chosen because I really like the name Lottie although no one calls me that in the "real" world despite my attempts to encourage people to use it a few years ago. It never caught on - it just sounded odd in reality. My various professional profiles all tend to say the same things about my professional interests. My Facebook is my only truly personal space online where I shed my professional skin and communicate solely with friends. My cat however is mentioned everywhere as it is impossible for me to separate any facet of myself from his presence (he would get grumpy and pull a LoL-cat pose...)
So essentially these are my feelings about brands. In theory, I can see why it is a helpful idea. Yet the reduction of the complex individual to a couple of specific traits troubles me. I'll stick with my online presence.
Monday 20 June 2011
CPD23 - Things 1 and 2: why take part?
Why am I taking part in cpd23? Well, there are many answers to that question. After the success of cam23 last year, where we all learned about new tools and developed our links with some really interesting people, I am keen to see the same success again but with a specific focus on continuing professional development.
CPD is something that we should all do and that we should all make time for. It is our responsibility, no one else’s. If we engage with the profession, we get so much more out of our careers and we see how far we can develop if we push ourselves. The sense of community last summer was incredible, an entire online blogging presence comprised of Cambridge librarians who all know the issues we face. This summer, I hope we can retain the sense of community by having a CPD focus with people from all over the world! The one thing that unites us all is our genuine desire to develop ourselves professionally. I hope that this will shine through.
I myself am a New Professional (capital N, capital P!) I am also New Professionals Support Officer for the eastern region (via CILIP’s Career Development Group) – look out for our great events (shameless plug!) I am currently working towards Chartership and as such I am leaping on to CPD opportunities! I hope that we will get a real sense of community through diversity during cpd23 - by engaging with the profession through CPD, we enrich the profession itself and develop ourselves in the process.
Blogging is definitely more interesting and rewarding when we engage with the blogs of others. I sense that my blogroll is going to get a whole lot longer this summer!
CPD is something that we should all do and that we should all make time for. It is our responsibility, no one else’s. If we engage with the profession, we get so much more out of our careers and we see how far we can develop if we push ourselves. The sense of community last summer was incredible, an entire online blogging presence comprised of Cambridge librarians who all know the issues we face. This summer, I hope we can retain the sense of community by having a CPD focus with people from all over the world! The one thing that unites us all is our genuine desire to develop ourselves professionally. I hope that this will shine through.
I myself am a New Professional (capital N, capital P!) I am also New Professionals Support Officer for the eastern region (via CILIP’s Career Development Group) – look out for our great events (shameless plug!) I am currently working towards Chartership and as such I am leaping on to CPD opportunities! I hope that we will get a real sense of community through diversity during cpd23 - by engaging with the profession through CPD, we enrich the profession itself and develop ourselves in the process.
Blogging is definitely more interesting and rewarding when we engage with the blogs of others. I sense that my blogroll is going to get a whole lot longer this summer!
DREaMing of Research Methodologies
Finding out that I’d been selected to receive a sponsored place at the LIS DREaM launch conference on July 19th 2011 got me thinking about research methodologies within library and information science research. I have always been aware of the core methodologies used through interaction with research articles and yet it was only through my MSc dissertation that I came to understand the limitations of current research methodologies.
My dissertation supervisor gave me a clear choice when it came to planning my research project: quantitative or qualitative. Do I want to find out how many people do something in order to have some hard data or conversely do I want to find out why people act in the ways that they do? Well, really, don’t we need to know both? In a time of financial austerity, it becomes increasingly important to the profession as a whole that LIS research is used to prove our worth and value to society. This is tricky with libraries though; their primary value is not financial. A librarian changes lives in many ways, from the schoolchild who can find a new world of books in the local public library to the student being shown a vitally important subject database for the first time. This value is hard to capture and pin down in hard financial data, but we need to do it in order to justify ourselves in our post-recession society.
We need to start to think about our services in different ways. We need to become marketers. If we can find different methodologies to use within our research, we can begin to pin down the qualitative aspects of the profession and quantify them. We need to look to the methodologies of other disciplines and be creative. If a librarian helps a child to read and gives her a space in which to do her homework quietly, a link must be made between that librarian’s help and that child’s educational record. An investigation into the level of library resource use (both physically and virtually) of a group of final year undergraduates and their respective final degree classifications could provide some highly useful information.
The DREaM project also aims to develop a formal network of UK-based LIS researchers. So many of us now are finding relevant and interesting papers through retweets on Twitter; research information is being disseminated amongst so many informal channels that it can be difficult to know where to look for accredited LIS researchers. Hopefully a network will give all LIS practitioners a starting place to begin looking at professional research.
Attending a conference launch event based around the development of research excellence and methods has made me more determined than ever to think more creatively about the methodologies that we could apply to LIS research. We need to make the link between social and financial value more and more explicit at this point in time. For me certainly, I’m not entirely comfortable with valuing what we do in financial terms, but to some it is vital as a measure of need. We must all of us step out of our comfort zone!
My dissertation supervisor gave me a clear choice when it came to planning my research project: quantitative or qualitative. Do I want to find out how many people do something in order to have some hard data or conversely do I want to find out why people act in the ways that they do? Well, really, don’t we need to know both? In a time of financial austerity, it becomes increasingly important to the profession as a whole that LIS research is used to prove our worth and value to society. This is tricky with libraries though; their primary value is not financial. A librarian changes lives in many ways, from the schoolchild who can find a new world of books in the local public library to the student being shown a vitally important subject database for the first time. This value is hard to capture and pin down in hard financial data, but we need to do it in order to justify ourselves in our post-recession society.
We need to start to think about our services in different ways. We need to become marketers. If we can find different methodologies to use within our research, we can begin to pin down the qualitative aspects of the profession and quantify them. We need to look to the methodologies of other disciplines and be creative. If a librarian helps a child to read and gives her a space in which to do her homework quietly, a link must be made between that librarian’s help and that child’s educational record. An investigation into the level of library resource use (both physically and virtually) of a group of final year undergraduates and their respective final degree classifications could provide some highly useful information.
The DREaM project also aims to develop a formal network of UK-based LIS researchers. So many of us now are finding relevant and interesting papers through retweets on Twitter; research information is being disseminated amongst so many informal channels that it can be difficult to know where to look for accredited LIS researchers. Hopefully a network will give all LIS practitioners a starting place to begin looking at professional research.
Attending a conference launch event based around the development of research excellence and methods has made me more determined than ever to think more creatively about the methodologies that we could apply to LIS research. We need to make the link between social and financial value more and more explicit at this point in time. For me certainly, I’m not entirely comfortable with valuing what we do in financial terms, but to some it is vital as a measure of need. We must all of us step out of our comfort zone!
Tuesday 7 June 2011
NPID2011
The New Professionals Information Day held at Ridgmount Street on June 3rd 2011 was an interesting and useful day, at the very least because it gave me the chance to look around CILIP’s London office. I picked up hints and tips from Alex Wilson-Campbell’s useful CV and interviewing workshop. I found out about new ways to get involved professionally. I met a group of people who value CPD as highly as I do, I learnt about sponsorship places for conferences, and I had the opportunity to network with lots of new faces. I can even cross some people off my “know on Twitter but not met in person” list.
This blog is going to be reflective; its purpose is to make me into a more reflective practitioner. Therefore this entry will not be a chronological description of events but rather an explanation of why I found the sessions as valuable as I did. The theme of the day was one of professional development and professional engagement. I think that these two processes definitely feed into each other; to develop ourselves professionally, we must be engaged with our profession. The more that we put into our professional body by volunteering and getting involved, the more we get from those membership subs. The central problem lies in trying to convince others of the value of such engagement.
Bethan’s session on getting involved allowed us to investigate in groups the type of engagement activity that we are involved in, why we do it, and what barriers we face. It was interesting for me to see that many people were not formally professionally engaged (quite a few delegates were not CILIP members), but they were engaging with the profession via social media and other grass-roots groups such as LIKE and LISNPN. I am a passionate advocate of Twitter but I am also passionate in my support of professional bodies such as CILIP. If we are not all CILIP members, advocacy becomes an even harder task. Trying to convince people of the benefits of CILIP membership transported me back to some of the barriers to development that I often encounter. If the profession is not valued by its practitioners, who will value what we do? Lack of value and lack of support are two huge barriers to development.
The other strand of Bethan’s session focussed on these barriers to engagement and development. Fear, financial pressures, location, employers: all these and more were named as barriers to professional engagement. Yet the overriding barrier was motivation: why should I put the time into this? This answer? Because it benefits us individually and as a profession. Through this event alone, I feel part of a new network of newly met professionals. We can build these networks together to develop ourselves, ultimately to improve our employability. Also, it is quite fun.
The other hugely inspirational part of the day centred on Maria Cotera’s session. She developed herself by just saying yes to things: yes I will join your committee! She works with librarians from all over the world. She travels in order to understand the ways in which libraries and library services in other parts of the world function. She helped to bring knowledge to African women to stop the spread of HIV. She works with IFLA to promote the rights of women throughout the world. She told us about her work with the African Prisons Project
The day was an experience that I would definitely recommend to any new professionals, whether you’re just starting your library course or going through the Chartership process. The networking opportunities allowed me to make new contacts and the motto of the day was truly inspirational: just say yes! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sponsored conference place application to write.
This blog is going to be reflective; its purpose is to make me into a more reflective practitioner. Therefore this entry will not be a chronological description of events but rather an explanation of why I found the sessions as valuable as I did. The theme of the day was one of professional development and professional engagement. I think that these two processes definitely feed into each other; to develop ourselves professionally, we must be engaged with our profession. The more that we put into our professional body by volunteering and getting involved, the more we get from those membership subs. The central problem lies in trying to convince others of the value of such engagement.
Bethan’s session on getting involved allowed us to investigate in groups the type of engagement activity that we are involved in, why we do it, and what barriers we face. It was interesting for me to see that many people were not formally professionally engaged (quite a few delegates were not CILIP members), but they were engaging with the profession via social media and other grass-roots groups such as LIKE and LISNPN. I am a passionate advocate of Twitter but I am also passionate in my support of professional bodies such as CILIP. If we are not all CILIP members, advocacy becomes an even harder task. Trying to convince people of the benefits of CILIP membership transported me back to some of the barriers to development that I often encounter. If the profession is not valued by its practitioners, who will value what we do? Lack of value and lack of support are two huge barriers to development.
The other strand of Bethan’s session focussed on these barriers to engagement and development. Fear, financial pressures, location, employers: all these and more were named as barriers to professional engagement. Yet the overriding barrier was motivation: why should I put the time into this? This answer? Because it benefits us individually and as a profession. Through this event alone, I feel part of a new network of newly met professionals. We can build these networks together to develop ourselves, ultimately to improve our employability. Also, it is quite fun.
The other hugely inspirational part of the day centred on Maria Cotera’s session. She developed herself by just saying yes to things: yes I will join your committee! She works with librarians from all over the world. She travels in order to understand the ways in which libraries and library services in other parts of the world function. She helped to bring knowledge to African women to stop the spread of HIV. She works with IFLA to promote the rights of women throughout the world. She told us about her work with the African Prisons Project
The day was an experience that I would definitely recommend to any new professionals, whether you’re just starting your library course or going through the Chartership process. The networking opportunities allowed me to make new contacts and the motto of the day was truly inspirational: just say yes! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a sponsored conference place application to write.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Committee-d to CPD?
After thinking about the possibility of Chartering for a while, I am finally registering this week. As yet, it’s all quiet on the mentor front. This lack of a mentor started me thinking about motivation during the initial stages and what I expect to get out of the Chartership process as a whole.
Chartership for me means several things. It is a badge of professionalism, a standard which is recognised by others in the profession as the mark of professional competence. With enough time and advocacy, let’s hope others outside our profession will also begin to appreciate the significance of Chartership. It is a process through which I will learn to reflect on my experiences and to develop my skills in the areas of leadership and management. It allows me to extend my knowledge of the library and information profession beyond the sector in which I work. It lets me see the different issues facing each sector of the profession and also explore the common issues that unite us all. I believe that this process will allow me to become an active, confident and competent member of our profession with the skills to nurture and mentor the next generation of library and information professionals. Which brings me back to mentors. And support.
Jennie’s Chartership blog raises some interesting questions about support structures within the workplace. It got me thinking about other support structures that exist within our professional landscape. Which got me thinking about CILIP. I really believe that if I just read Update every month and passively consumed CILIP’s email updates, I would seriously review my membership status. The fact that CILIP is becoming a more high profile player in the area of advocacy would perhaps make me think twice. However, I think that the best way to really get the most out of membership of our professional body, as well as getting the most out of our professional selves, is to join a committee.
I joined the Career Development Group’s East of England committee as an ordinary member last year and have been New Professionals Support Officer since January. I am enjoying this role so much that in fact it is one of the factors that has prompted me to go for Chartership. Being part of a committee where everyone around you is as committed to CPD as you are is so empowering. No one needs convincing that what we’re doing is a positive benefit to both our own development and the development of our members. I regularly deal with new professionals via email and via LISNPN ; it is great to feel a part of this network of new professionals. The committee is comprised of people at all stages of their career and from different sectors of the profession within the Eastern region. Committee meetings make me realise how we have different issues facing each sector. Yet certain issues such as funding or user engagement and advocacy really do affect everyone.
I started this blog post talking about support structures for Chartership and I think that committee membership is a rewarding option for anyone thinking about going through this process. I am committed to CPD and it is so refreshing to meet with a group of people who are all as committed as I am – if not more! It gives me something to aim for once I’m Chartered.
Chartership for me means several things. It is a badge of professionalism, a standard which is recognised by others in the profession as the mark of professional competence. With enough time and advocacy, let’s hope others outside our profession will also begin to appreciate the significance of Chartership. It is a process through which I will learn to reflect on my experiences and to develop my skills in the areas of leadership and management. It allows me to extend my knowledge of the library and information profession beyond the sector in which I work. It lets me see the different issues facing each sector of the profession and also explore the common issues that unite us all. I believe that this process will allow me to become an active, confident and competent member of our profession with the skills to nurture and mentor the next generation of library and information professionals. Which brings me back to mentors. And support.
Jennie’s Chartership blog raises some interesting questions about support structures within the workplace. It got me thinking about other support structures that exist within our professional landscape. Which got me thinking about CILIP. I really believe that if I just read Update every month and passively consumed CILIP’s email updates, I would seriously review my membership status. The fact that CILIP is becoming a more high profile player in the area of advocacy would perhaps make me think twice. However, I think that the best way to really get the most out of membership of our professional body, as well as getting the most out of our professional selves, is to join a committee.
I joined the Career Development Group’s East of England committee as an ordinary member last year and have been New Professionals Support Officer since January. I am enjoying this role so much that in fact it is one of the factors that has prompted me to go for Chartership. Being part of a committee where everyone around you is as committed to CPD as you are is so empowering. No one needs convincing that what we’re doing is a positive benefit to both our own development and the development of our members. I regularly deal with new professionals via email and via LISNPN ; it is great to feel a part of this network of new professionals. The committee is comprised of people at all stages of their career and from different sectors of the profession within the Eastern region. Committee meetings make me realise how we have different issues facing each sector. Yet certain issues such as funding or user engagement and advocacy really do affect everyone.
I started this blog post talking about support structures for Chartership and I think that committee membership is a rewarding option for anyone thinking about going through this process. I am committed to CPD and it is so refreshing to meet with a group of people who are all as committed as I am – if not more! It gives me something to aim for once I’m Chartered.
Thursday 19 May 2011
The return of the Blog-I
After a hiatus of several months, it is my great pleasure to announce (drum roll please) that this blog is back and it means business. Well, library business. I admit, after the end of Cam23 last year, I rather lost my way through the blogosphere as other events took hold. After a flu-ey Christmas and a fraught term and a half, I am finally finding some time again to stop and critically reflect on my professional development and workflows. Why do I do what I do, and how do I know when to change? I know, it all sounds very self involved, doesn’t it! I think that the hardest part of blogging regularly is to get over the feeling that one's being very self-obsessed. The Blog-I has returned.
With the advent of cpd23 on the horizon, now seems like the perfect time for me to start blogging again. I am also about to take the step of registering for Chartership, so reflexion and evaluation are the two skills that I need to develop - what better medium is there than through blogging?! So, with a new look and a new focus on CPD and reflexion, this blog once again takes its metaphorical passport and sets out on the high seas for adventures galore throughout the blogosphere. Perhaps I’ll see you there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)