Thing 10 and 11 Routes into Librarianship and Mentoring

I felt I must comment on the Thing 10 notes which state that ‘although there are now undergraduate qualifications in librarianship, most librarians tend to have done their first degree in another subject’ – undergraduate courses have been around for many years, I took one of those courses in Aberystwyth over 30 years ago!  My route into librarianship came about through being regularly taken to the library from the earliest age, to volunteering in my local library as part of a Duke of Edinburgh Award, to a Saturday job in Bath Public Library, to choosing a University course – not terribly exciting but I have never looked back and have enjoyed every minute.  One of my fieldwork placements was in an academic library and I’m sure this helped to secure my first job back in the early 80’s when unemployment was rife.  I will always be grateful to my first boss for giving me a chance.  Having had several jobs in my current institution I currently manage a team of Information (Subject) Librarians and Assistant Librarians who deliver information and services to our four academic faculties.

Now to mentoring – I became involved in being a CILIP Chartership mentor a few years ago when the regulations changed.  I had always been involved supervising chartership candidates and wanted to continue to be involved.  I attended a CILIP mentoring course over 2 days which provided a good introduction into mentoring and some role playing but there is nothing really like mentoring for real and it is something that you learn by doing.  I have now successfully mentored two candidates through to Chartership which has been a huge priviledge.  It is good to be able to give something back to the profession but I also learn such alot from my mentees and it is certainly a two way process.  These relationships would be described as formal mentoring.  In terms of informal mentoring I am involved with this on a daily basis with staff in my team and am very glad that they feel they can use me in this role.  I certainly learn as much from them through the discussions we share about professional issues.  I have never had a formal mentor as such but I learnt alot in my early career by observing and trying to emulate my first line manager.  I will certainly be continuing to mentor chartership candidates and have another two that I am currently working with.

Thing 8 and 9 Google Calendar and Evernote

Having had a quick look at Google calendar I’m not sure I could cope at the moment  with maintaining my filofax calendar (now that’s old fashioned isn’t it!), my work Outlook calendar which can be viewed by others and a Google Calendar.  Maybe when I have a few more of these online ’Things’ linked together Google calendar may come into its own.  I still have to  sign up and download Evernote which looks as if it might be a useful tool so will update this post when I’ve had a look.

Thing 7 Face to face networks and professional organisations

At a relatively early stage in my career as a Law Librarian I joined BIALL and became involved as a committee member of the staff development committee.  This experience provided opportunities for networking, observing committee work and experience in organising visits on behalf of the committee.  I was subsequently elected onto BIALL Council which again provided many learning experiences.  Looking back now I was a very young and relatively inexperienced Law Librarian but at the time I learnt so much by having the opportunity to mix with more experienced professionals.  My interest in staff development probably started whilst I was in BIALL and I have continued that interest throughout my career.

I am a chartered member of CILIP and am a member of the following specialist groups: UC&R Wales, COFHE Wales, CDG and the Information Literacy Group.  I am also a fellow of the HEA.  I use these groups for updating and CPD.

The most useful group that I am involved with at present is a network of senior library staff from other higher education institutions across the UK under the auspices of SCONUL.  The group has an active email discussion list and we meet once a year.  This group is invaluable for benchmarking services and for networking on any topic or issue.  An interesting reflection is that this group came into being outside of any of the online networking or face to face networks that have been discussed in Thing 6 and Thing 7 which in a way is reassuring that more traditional routes to networking are  still just as valuable.

Thing 6 Online Networks

Just returning to cpd23 after a gap and some hols so am trying to catch up again!

My main problem with looking at so many things all at once is that it is difficult to really evaluate each of the online networks properly.  I managed to join LinkedIn but need to return to it to add a profile.  I figured this would take some time to devise properly so did not want to rush into it.  I have not fully worked out the making connections bit yet or how to use the network successfully.  However having received some emails from various colleagues people are finding me and I can see I now have some connections – note to self to try to get my head around how LinkedIn works!

I am still a bit wary of Facebook at the moment so have decided not to join until I fully understand all the privacy issues.

I had a quick look at LISNPN and have noted this online network as potentially being useful to my CILIP Mentees but one network at a time is probably all that I can cope with joining myself at the moment.  The Librarians as Teachers network looks a useful source of information and one that I might potentially join at some point.

I discovered that I had previously joined CILIP Communities but have not really made use of it.  In looking around in the CILIP Members blog landscape I found  a post which led to a very relevant article about the use of ipads for roving enquiry support which we are currently planning ourselves at Glamorgan.  I will probably return to CILIP Communities more regularly from now on.

Thing 5 Reflective Practice

I should be at the end of week 6 and I am just starting week 4 so note to self is to learn to set aside and prioritise time better.

Having considered blogging, personal branding, Twitter and Google Reader for RSS feeds all in a very short period of time the experience has been somewhat mind blowing but in a good sort of way.  I have been eager to learn and the experience of engaging with these tools has been invaluable.  Some handholding has been needed and I am very grateful to a colleague for sharing her time and expertise with me.

I have enjoyed blogging although writing does not come easily to me.  I still haven’t resolved the problem of not being able to comment on other people’s blogs which has been frustrating and the number of blogs just within cpd23 is huge so it is difficult to know where to start.  I will need to find a way of being selective and will need to find a few good blogs to concentrate on if I am to have any hope of making use of the tool for professional purposes.

I am glad that I read the background reading on personal branding as it was certainly something that I had not considered before.   It was rather an eye opener to realise that without even trying we all have an online footprint and rather worrying at the same time to find out how much information about ourselves is easily available online.  As mentioned in my post about branding I don’t think that it is something I am going to spend any time on.  I will just continue to be myself both online and face to face and hopefully my reputation will stay intact.

I’m pleased that I have joined Twitter and understand why people say that you need to be part of it to understand it.  At the moment I feel that I am in the process of trying to understand it and with this tool in particular I feel I have a lot more to learn.  I have literally just dipped my toes into the water but I am hoping that the more I try to engage with it the easier it will become.  It also needs to become part of my routine so that I regularly check my account.  I have learnt that everything is very momentary and you need to be ready to contribute and not think too much about it which is hard for a naturally reflective person!  Unless I get into a routine I can see that any useful current awareness aspect of using Twitter will be lost.

I have always wanted to get organised with RSS feeds etc so this was a great opportunity to experiment with Goggle Reader.  I have only subscribed to a few bogs at the moment but am looking forward to signing up to some journals in an attempt to keep myself up to date.  This is another tool where there is a whole lot more to learn and I can see the necessity in trying to get to grips with tagging and folders etc in order to try to keep organised in the face of so much new information.   I will need to factor in some time to go back over each tool to look at it in more depth.

 I have learnt that I am more comfortable with a guide or something printed out in front of me to help me get to grips with anything new.  I found myself immediately looking for some sort of help or guide for Google Reader when there was nothing obvious on the screen.  I guess this is down to my natural learning style of wanting a step by step guide rather than just being left to play around with something however I am learning to do this a bit more effectively now!

The tools we have looked at so far have opened up a whole new set of resources to me for gathering information and keeping up to date.  I am going to need to learn how to organise and store any useful bits of information I glean from Twitter and from my feeds for future reference.

Thing 4 Current Awareness

Desperately trying to catch up – being offline at home for 5 days has played havoc with my cpd23 progress.  Hours at work have been taken up with appraisals and ensuring other project work is progressing so no time for social networking.

I have been meaning to join Twitter for a year after hearing Rebecca Davies, University Librarian at Aberystwyth give a talk about her use of Twitter at the WHELF/HEWIT Gregynog Colloquium in June 2010.  Rebecca was so convincing about how useful Twitter was to her I was determined to give it try – well only as determined as waiting a year to do it!  I managed the basics of signing up using the cpd23 notes so am grateful for the push to get me to do it.  With a bit of trial and error I also worked out how to find people to follow then before I knew it a colleague had retweeted my first tweet and I was immediately overwhelmed with activity.  This was a bit disconcerting at first and gave me the feeling of not being in control anymore.  Finally managed to load up a photo of the right size after several attempts and to write a profile.  I am slowing getting into Twitter mode but I am not in the habit of looking at it regularly enough yet and am still a little baffled with all the Twitter speak.  However I am quite pleased I have been brave enough to post some tweets and I even got into a conversation with someone so I did feel I was getting somewhere then!  I’m not sure yet about how to make the most of it in a professional sense and need to find some good accounts to follow for current awareness.  

Flushed with success I signed up to Google Reader and managed to sign up for some feeds which seemed to work.  I found the whole screen quite confusing and needed a colleague to kindly talk me through it.  Having just returned to it today I’m having to refresh my memory about what to do so things are not automatic for me as yet.  I have found having feeds in one place however a real bonus and can appreciate that I have been missing out on a lot.

Have decided to leave pushnote for now so that I can try to catch up.

Thing 3: Online presence

Having spent some time rambling on the Ceredigion coast path on Saturday in the beautiful sunshine I have been envigorated to try a post for Thing 3. 

I have to be honest and admit that I had never really considered the idea of a personal brand before taking part in cpd23.  It has been interesting to look at the recommended reading and at some of the blog posts on the topic and it has certainly made me think.  I had also never thought of searching my own name on Google.    Having done this I found that I get a mention on the first page due to an article I have written which is mentioned on my CV page of my Institution so this was ok.  However I was bit disconcerted to see my photo as one of 7 images displayed for my name.  I had never considered my photo being an 'image' that anyone else might want to find or use!  More disconcerting was to find the site 192.com which provides all the results for Ann Cross UK - personal details using the UK electoral roll and company director data.  I would never consider not being on the electoral roll but the fact that I could find my full address and telephone number online that easily did rather concern me.  I also discovered that 25 other professionals on Linkedin have the same name so I am not as unique as I might have thought.  Page 4 of Google turned up a presentation I gave at the UC&R/CoFHE joint conference in 2010 again this was part of my professional work so did not worry me.  

I  consider myself an individual without a ‘brand’  and I will not attempt to create one.  Whilst reading on the topic the words that struck me most were being genuine, honest and authentic and I intend to continue to be myself both online and face to face.  Hopefully if I can manage that my reputation will stay intact.

Thing 2: Explore other blogs

I have spent an interesting few hours trying to get to grips with blogs and blogging.  I've looked at a number of blogs, have managed to post some comments successfully and others not so successfully and have discovered that the process of making a comment can be different in different blogs.  I guess this must be water off a ducks back to those familiar with blogging but for us newbies everything is a challenge!  I am amazed at the huge variety of blogs that are part of cpd23 but why should I be surprised as they reflect the people behind them and we are all individuals

Thing 1 Blogging

I have just managed to set up this blog to start my ramblings which is quite an achievement in itself!

I have supported and encouraged my team to explore social networking over the last few years from a theoretical position ie believing that there is value in the medium but not ever having engaged with it myself.  cpd23 offered a great opportunity to have a go myself in an environment where I can ask simple and straightforward questions and not feel stupid about doing so.  I understand how our academics feel about not wanting to admit what they don't know and being afraid to ask questions.  Hopefully I may get some new insights through my own experience about how best to support and encourage our less confident and more technophobic academics.  I also hope to be able to learn by doing and by the end of the course to feel more knowledgeable and enthused by the possibilities of the new technologies.

The process of setting up this blog has already involved a number of discussions and several simple questions being asked so I am really grateful to my colleagues for being so supportive and trust that they will continue to be happy to answer my most basic of questions as we progress.