Moving onto the rest of Thing 6 this week, although as a quick aside, Karen Blakeman's latest newsletter (here is her blog: http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/) mentioned www.paper.li, which is a brilliantly simple way to read your twitter account! Trawling through twitter can be a bit of a chore, and this turns it into a newspaper that's a much easier read on your screen. I could see it being used to present news and commentary in areas of interest to a wider audience. I'm still investigating it, but you can rename it suitably, and add Editor's comments, publishing weekly, daily, or twice daily.
Back to the Thing!
LISNPN - This is short for the LIS New Professionals Network - so ideal for me. One of the first things that you see on the homepage are the forums - and the most important thing about forums is that they are active! These are - not horrendously so, which is just as well, but it is obviously used by a number of people. I've had a quick look at the download section, which has how-to guides, a couple of which look excellent. Definitely one to keep on my "to be checked regularly list"!
Librarians as Teachers network - This isn't really of use to me at the moment, but I should be providing training in the future, and I will come back to it then, as I have no experience of this! Although started for people doing teaching courses, it's aimed at anyone with an interest in the area, and really that will probably be anyone looked to advance their professional development.
CILIP communities - I'm not a member of CILIP, although the library does have membership. I will probably join next year, as I can definitely see the benefits. There are a lot of CILIP-related posts, and a lot of different groups that you can join which look to be of interest. There don't seem to be that many comments or replies, but those there are do look useful.
Monday, 19 December 2011
Monday, 12 December 2011
Thing 6 - Online networks (Part 1) LinkedIn and Facebook
LinkedIn - I actually set up a LinkedIn account a month or so ago, as a fellow Aberystwyth student sent me an invite. I haven't 100% completed the set-up yet, as I've been exploring it, and waiting until I got to this Thing to go into more detail. LinkedIn is actually quite forward in making suggestions on how you can improve your profile, but I still haven't found a photo that I like - I'll have a look on my computer at home, and see if I can find one. The only other thing to do, really is add more contacts! I sent a few requests, and got one answer back already, so hopefully this will improve!
Facebook - I do have a facebook profile, but that's really for family and friends, so I don't want to get it mixed up with work. I don't use it that much, but it's still handy for keeping in touch with certain people I don't see very often. I could see setting up a facebook page more if you're a public-facing company, but I'm not sure how much use it would be for this library.
I've spent long enough in LinkedIn tonight, so I'll get onto to the rest of this Thing in my next blog post!
Facebook - I do have a facebook profile, but that's really for family and friends, so I don't want to get it mixed up with work. I don't use it that much, but it's still handy for keeping in touch with certain people I don't see very often. I could see setting up a facebook page more if you're a public-facing company, but I'm not sure how much use it would be for this library.
I've spent long enough in LinkedIn tonight, so I'll get onto to the rest of this Thing in my next blog post!
Monday, 5 December 2011
Thing 5 - Reflective Practice
I have been enjoying looking at these Things - some new, some not, whilst getting frustrated by the limitations of work tech. Unfortunately it can be painfully slow, which can make a quick 5 minute task last 20 minutes! I have been fitting my CPD 23 Things into a couple of hours on Monday nights, and have just about successfully managed this.
Things 1 and 2 - Blogging: I'm still not a huge personal fan of this, although I enjoy reading other blogs. There is a lot of useful information out there, and I'm trying to learn how to actively filter it so I don't get swamped!
Thing 3 - Considering my personal brand. This is still ongoing, but at least there aren't any nasty things about me out there. My twitter name is perhaps a little odd, SiobhanWGLib, but not too bad.
Thing 4 - RSS feeds, Twitter, Pushnote. This one has taken me the longest to do, although so far it's the most useful. I'm still getting the hang of RSS feeds, even though I signed up to Google Reader, as when I select, sometimes it adds it to my browser, and I'm not sure why! It's really important if you want to follow a number of blogs and webpages though, to prevent information overload.
I was already on Twitter, and I created a work account, which is very useful, as I am following a number of librarian twitters which post recent news and blogs that I may have missed.
I am unable to download Pushnote at work, but a colleague (Stephen Gregory!) has advised me that he doesn't think it's that worthwhile. I will leave that one unless I hear better opinions about it.
Things 1 and 2 - Blogging: I'm still not a huge personal fan of this, although I enjoy reading other blogs. There is a lot of useful information out there, and I'm trying to learn how to actively filter it so I don't get swamped!
Thing 3 - Considering my personal brand. This is still ongoing, but at least there aren't any nasty things about me out there. My twitter name is perhaps a little odd, SiobhanWGLib, but not too bad.
Thing 4 - RSS feeds, Twitter, Pushnote. This one has taken me the longest to do, although so far it's the most useful. I'm still getting the hang of RSS feeds, even though I signed up to Google Reader, as when I select, sometimes it adds it to my browser, and I'm not sure why! It's really important if you want to follow a number of blogs and webpages though, to prevent information overload.
I was already on Twitter, and I created a work account, which is very useful, as I am following a number of librarian twitters which post recent news and blogs that I may have missed.
I am unable to download Pushnote at work, but a colleague (Stephen Gregory!) has advised me that he doesn't think it's that worthwhile. I will leave that one unless I hear better opinions about it.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Thing 4 again!
I have finally sorted out how to add Twitter to my blog - it was very simple (once I worked out what it was) - the original template didn't allow the design to be changed, and as soon as I did, it all updated very nicely! A bit odd that the default isn't fully functional, but it's finally sorted.
So now I can move on to RSS feeds. I decided to use Google reader, as this was most convenient. I am really impressed - it is hard to keep track of different webpages, checking for updates, and so on, and I can see this will be of great use. It would be nice if it could be ordered into different subjects, but it's still a good idea.
As for Pushnote, I can't download that at work, so I'll have to leave it, perhaps, to try at home. I do use Stumbleupon at home, and it sounds similar.
So now I can move on to RSS feeds. I decided to use Google reader, as this was most convenient. I am really impressed - it is hard to keep track of different webpages, checking for updates, and so on, and I can see this will be of great use. It would be nice if it could be ordered into different subjects, but it's still a good idea.
As for Pushnote, I can't download that at work, so I'll have to leave it, perhaps, to try at home. I do use Stumbleupon at home, and it sounds similar.
Monday, 21 November 2011
CLIC Social Media Conference
I attended the CLIC Social Media Conference last Wednesday, which was ideal as many CPD23 Things were discussed, as well as one person actually giving a talk on CPD23 Things. It was nice to meet other librarians, who were all either using social media, or trying to learn about it.
I heard about Twapperkeeper, which allows the archiving of hashtagged tweets from Twitter. This doesn't sound that useful, until you realise how popular tweeting is getting at conferences - there were loads of tweets flying around actually during talks, which explained the constant buzz of mobile phones. I did tweet a couple of comments myself, and they are good as aide-memoires, when looking back, although they may be a little distracting during the talk itself if you're not that good at multi-tasking.
I decided to use Twapperkeeper, and found that someone else had already set up an archive, but unfortunately it only dates from about 4pm on the date of the conference, which is a little unfortunate as I know there were loads of tweets before then! I can still use Twitter's search for this though, as it's less than a week old.
I've just checked and I'm sure there were more tweets on the day, but perhaps they hadn't hashtagged them? In any case, it was a good conference, and I did make a few notes on the programme!
The first couple of talks were overviews by Mandy Powell and Emma Harrison on how they use Social Media in their lives, and how useful it is to them. I found it really interesting that something that looks really complicated can be quite easy, such as Emma linking her Twitter account to her LinkedIn account. Mind you, I've yet to work out how to add it to blogger, but I'm sure I'll sort something out! Once it's done, it then automatically updates, making you look terribly efficient.
Emma noted that the twitter accounts of all the Uni of Glamorgan librarians are named after their position, so it can be passed on to the next person to get the post. They also had beautiful professional black and white photos done for their avatars. For now, I'm sticking with my cat!
The remaining talks were shorter, but we still managed to over-run by half an hour, and it didn't drag at all! I could certainly see how an organisation can make good use of Twitter in particular (can you see a pattern? Everyone loved Twitter!), but it's necessary to keep it focussed so it remains useful and relevant. There was some mention of Facebook, but many people prefer to keep this personal. Organisations can set up pages, but these are probably better for general announcements.
LinkedIn is a good way to make connections, although there wasn't too much discussion of it. I'm still setting mine up!
There was a short demo of the CU Virtual Librarian Service, which looks amazing, even though it doesn't really apply to my own position.
There was a little time left at the end to have a quick tour of Trevithick library, which is very compact, yet somehow spacious. It's very modern and up-to-date, and was renovated with the help of sponsoring companies, who have placed tasteful ads around the library. They really just look like art posters, with the name of the company noticeable, but not distracting.
All told, a very well-attended, professionally useful and genuinely interesting conference!
I heard about Twapperkeeper, which allows the archiving of hashtagged tweets from Twitter. This doesn't sound that useful, until you realise how popular tweeting is getting at conferences - there were loads of tweets flying around actually during talks, which explained the constant buzz of mobile phones. I did tweet a couple of comments myself, and they are good as aide-memoires, when looking back, although they may be a little distracting during the talk itself if you're not that good at multi-tasking.
I decided to use Twapperkeeper, and found that someone else had already set up an archive, but unfortunately it only dates from about 4pm on the date of the conference, which is a little unfortunate as I know there were loads of tweets before then! I can still use Twitter's search for this though, as it's less than a week old.
I've just checked and I'm sure there were more tweets on the day, but perhaps they hadn't hashtagged them? In any case, it was a good conference, and I did make a few notes on the programme!
The first couple of talks were overviews by Mandy Powell and Emma Harrison on how they use Social Media in their lives, and how useful it is to them. I found it really interesting that something that looks really complicated can be quite easy, such as Emma linking her Twitter account to her LinkedIn account. Mind you, I've yet to work out how to add it to blogger, but I'm sure I'll sort something out! Once it's done, it then automatically updates, making you look terribly efficient.
Emma noted that the twitter accounts of all the Uni of Glamorgan librarians are named after their position, so it can be passed on to the next person to get the post. They also had beautiful professional black and white photos done for their avatars. For now, I'm sticking with my cat!
The remaining talks were shorter, but we still managed to over-run by half an hour, and it didn't drag at all! I could certainly see how an organisation can make good use of Twitter in particular (can you see a pattern? Everyone loved Twitter!), but it's necessary to keep it focussed so it remains useful and relevant. There was some mention of Facebook, but many people prefer to keep this personal. Organisations can set up pages, but these are probably better for general announcements.
LinkedIn is a good way to make connections, although there wasn't too much discussion of it. I'm still setting mine up!
There was a short demo of the CU Virtual Librarian Service, which looks amazing, even though it doesn't really apply to my own position.
There was a little time left at the end to have a quick tour of Trevithick library, which is very compact, yet somehow spacious. It's very modern and up-to-date, and was renovated with the help of sponsoring companies, who have placed tasteful ads around the library. They really just look like art posters, with the name of the company noticeable, but not distracting.
All told, a very well-attended, professionally useful and genuinely interesting conference!
CPD23 The continuing saga!
I have noticed that Stephen Gregory has added his twitter feed to his blog, and I'm trying to work out how to do it myself, but no luck yet! I also explored Twapperkeeper, mentioned at last week's CLIC Social Media Conference, and can see how useful it is, although it depends on people tweeting what's actually happening at the time. I did a little of this, but it's a bit difficult, and requires multi-tasking to pay attention to the talk and use your smartphone to twitter a short description, comment or question.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
WHELF - Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum
The WHELF (Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum) Annual Report for 2010 - 2011 is now available: http://whelf.wordpress.com/annual-reports/.
This year's report, covering the period August 2010 to July 2011, gives more evidence of how the happy cooperation between Welsh academic libraries can achieve impressive results for students, staff and others, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty and financial strain.
Sharing information resources has always been one of WHELF's ambitions, but the conclusion of a deal with Oxford University Press on electronic periodicals is a big step forward for researchers in Wales, and opens the way to similar deals with other major publishers in future. Similarly, helping students to discriminate in their use of information has long been a concern of librarians, but the new Welsh Information Literacy Project, admired throughout the UK and beyond, has done pioneering work on integrating such skills in teaching and learning. A third example is digitisation, where again it is possible to achieve far more collaboratively on an all-Wales scale than would be conceivable through individual, competing activity.
[Andrew Green, Chair of WHELF]
This year's report, covering the period August 2010 to July 2011, gives more evidence of how the happy cooperation between Welsh academic libraries can achieve impressive results for students, staff and others, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty and financial strain.
Sharing information resources has always been one of WHELF's ambitions, but the conclusion of a deal with Oxford University Press on electronic periodicals is a big step forward for researchers in Wales, and opens the way to similar deals with other major publishers in future. Similarly, helping students to discriminate in their use of information has long been a concern of librarians, but the new Welsh Information Literacy Project, admired throughout the UK and beyond, has done pioneering work on integrating such skills in teaching and learning. A third example is digitisation, where again it is possible to achieve far more collaboratively on an all-Wales scale than would be conceivable through individual, competing activity.
[Andrew Green, Chair of WHELF]
Monday, 14 November 2011
Thing 4 - Current Awareness - continued
It looked like I needed to set up a google account to access the RSS feeds as I can't download software at work, so I decided to delete my Tumblr blog and move over here with everyone else! To be fair, this is easier to use than Tumblr. I haven't had time to look at RSS feeds yet though, so that will have to wait until next week as it's nearly 7pm.
Thing 4 - Current Awareness - Twitter continued
I’ve really been enjoying using twitter, even though I’ve set up a new work account and am only following a few people. It’s excellent for short, instantaneous updates, well before news items or articles can appear. I kept an eye on Occupy Cardiff last week, and even though not much was tweeted, I was able to see a few photos in the afternoon well before they appeared elsewhere. I’m still not sure really what to post, as it’s a work account! I’m watching other similar accounts to see what they post, as I don’t just want to have boring retweets!
I’d better get off Twitter now, and have a look at RSS feeds and Pushnote.
I’d better get off Twitter now, and have a look at RSS feeds and Pushnote.
Thing 4 - Current Awareness (Twitter)
I have started with Twitter, and hope to look at the other aspects of the thing next week. I do have a personal twitter account, but decided to set up one for work. As I’ve done it before it was simple enough, but I carefully chose who to add. I stuck to more professional interests, although I did add Stephen Fry as I believe that it’s compulsory.
I can certainly see how it can be useful, and I’ve used hashtags and searches before - just not professionally! I have seen some conferences that used this functionality and it can almost feel like you’re there in some ways, as you get little updates. I’ve followed a number of organisations, plus Phil Bradley and Karen Blakeman, of course.
I can certainly see how it can be useful, and I’ve used hashtags and searches before - just not professionally! I have seen some conferences that used this functionality and it can almost feel like you’re there in some ways, as you get little updates. I’ve followed a number of organisations, plus Phil Bradley and Karen Blakeman, of course.
Thing 3 - Online presence!
I did look at this thing last week, but didn’t really have time to blog about it. My name doesn’t come up with anything about me except for my google ID, which is locked down. There is a journalist with my name, but she seems to be the decent sort, so I don’t mind her coming up.
I also checked the images, and none of me come up, although my google ID pic (of my kitten) does pop up halfway down, plus a photo of someone who I have friended on google.
I have a facebook, but I’m glad to see that it doesn’t come up with my page, just a few other people with the same name. One of them really had better consider her online image as the page comes up with a large full length photo, right beside which are her activities and interests, number one of which is “Making a Twat of myself”! Even more shockingly, she admits to being a JLS fan. :P
I did notice that the term “librarily” is unfortunately linked with a swearword in the top results, so I may not keep this blog for that long! It’ll do me for now while I’m completing the 23 things, though.
I also checked the images, and none of me come up, although my google ID pic (of my kitten) does pop up halfway down, plus a photo of someone who I have friended on google.
I have a facebook, but I’m glad to see that it doesn’t come up with my page, just a few other people with the same name. One of them really had better consider her online image as the page comes up with a large full length photo, right beside which are her activities and interests, number one of which is “Making a Twat of myself”! Even more shockingly, she admits to being a JLS fan. :P
I did notice that the term “librarily” is unfortunately linked with a swearword in the top results, so I may not keep this blog for that long! It’ll do me for now while I’m completing the 23 things, though.
CPD23 - Thing2 - Explore other blogs
CPD23 - Thing2
I have had a look at some other blogs, including colleagues (although they’re all new so there’s not much there yet!), and there is a lot of useful information. I already know about a few of them, such as Phil Bradley (http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/) and Karen Blakeman (http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/). They are full of useful information. I’m still nosing around other blogs, but it’s hard keeping track of them all! I think looking at RSA feeds soon will be of great use for this. Thing 1 - A blog! Starting out with CPD23 Things
Thing 1 - A blog! Starting out with CPD23 Things
I’m taking part in the CPD23 things for professional development, oddly enough. It was suggested by a colleague, although I had heard a little about it elsewhere. Once we were given permission to do it at work, though, I didn’t really have any excuse not to! I’m in my first year of the Aberystwyth Masters Degree in Information and Library studies, and this sort of activity is ideal.I have had a blog previously, but never really got into the habit of regularly updating it. I mainly used it to follow other people and groups of interest, and posted elsewhere. It seemed difficult to come up with something interesting to say everyday, plus, you never know who will be reading it!
A professional (ish) blog though, is actually a good idea, if part of its purpose is to keep track of your own activities. This makes it truer to the old style of diaries. They could be very interesting, or very dull, but as an aide-memoire they’re an excellent idea.
My new CPD23 Things Blog!
I got fed up of being all on my own on Tumblr, so here I am! Also, I had to cave to the almighty Google to be able to set up RSS feeds, so I figured I might as well set up a blogger account too.
I'll post my previous blog posts from Tumblr here.
I'll post my previous blog posts from Tumblr here.
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