Life has gotten so busy lately that I had to take a hiatus from this program - but I'm determined to finish by golly! Much of my time has been spent writing my own 23 Things program. While it has been fun, it is a LOT more behind-the-scenes work than I initially thought it would be.
Thing 22
So, Thing 22 of the 23 Things for Professional Development program discussed volunteering as a means to gain experience in the realm of library work. I have been fortunate to hold jobs in libraries as I worked my way through grad school and have now landed a professional position - so I really haven't "needed" to volunteer. Some of my grad school friends however, have not been so lucky.
I am a huge proponent of seizing networking moments that can help you connect with colleagues and provide a foot in the door so to speak. If volunteering provides that for you, I say go for it! Other ways of getting involved in the profession is to volunteer on organization committees such as those offered from ALA or those offered through your state library association. Again, you are building those connections that you can't put a price tag on.
The post warns against organizations using volunteering in place of paid positions. This is definitely a point of concern, but if you treat volunteerism as something likened to apprenticeship, I think both parties (the organization and the volunteer) will benefit.
Thing 23
For Thing 23, the program requires a bit of reflection. I'm going to use this time to talk a little bit about the 23 Things program I am currently building.
I have personally gone through 1 other 23 things program prior to this one, and both have been beneficial in helping me hone in on my technology skills and my awareness and use of web 2.0 tools. With my current employer, I was given the task of helping to move students and faculty in a more technology, web 2.0, and social media direction. It only seemed natural to build a similar 23 things program that would be self-paced and would have the educational spin of making it applicable to the classroom. The first round of this program is set to begin January 2012 (so soon!) and I am super excited to see how it goes with the pilot group of participants. To my knowledge, no other program has had the classroom spin set to it, nor the benefit of trying the program with others outside of the library setting, so again I'm super excited to see how this progresses. I am working with one of my favorite colleagues on the program: Erin from Tad Overdue. We both have been swamped with to-do lists a mile long... but I think we both are looking forward to getting the pilot up and running.
That's it for now - and since it's turkey day... I'll say Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Showing posts with label cpd23. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cpd23. Show all posts
#CPD23 Thing 21: Pick Me! Pick Me!
As part of this Thing, we are to write about how we promote ourselves on job applications and in interviews. I've been putting this one off just because I continue to find it strange to talk about myself. I don't like doing it .... so cover letters and job interviews are awkward for me. I almost wish that potential employers could walk a week with me in my current job. That would give them a better indication of my personality, my work ethic, my devotion to seeing students succeed, and my cool project ideas I'm involved in. But ... unfortunately that just isn't possible, and I'm forced to find ways to make all of those above points come out in my writing. D.I.F.F.I.C.U.L.T!
I want to first preface that I'm not actively searching for a job. My thoughts here are strictly from past experiences. I will say though, that my husband is actively seeking something better (I'm afraid he'll never be fully satisfied ... but I knew this when I married him). Recently, we had a situation where we were fairly confident that he would be offered a job in Arkansas. Because of this, I started actively seeking something for myself. I won't go through the whole story here, but in the end, I provided the best cover letter and application packet that I've ever done - I interviewed extremely well - and I was offered the job. My husband wasn't offered his. To say that we were confused, frustrated, angry, [enter more words here] would be an understatement.
The good that came from that experience though, is that it helped to boost my confidence a bit. I'm good at what I do - I'm passionate about what I do - and I love collaborating with people to get things done (I can't believe I just typed all of that...).
Identifying You Strengths and Capitalizing on Your Interests
One statement from the cpd blog has stuck with me: "It is important to remember that we are changing all the time: our interests change, our skills develop, we discover new things we like which we didn't even know existed." This is so true! If we aren't developing and rethinking processes, then we're not embracing the profession and eventually, our work will suffer. Part of the change happens with the progression of technology. Other change happens as turn over occurs and new ideas are introduced. The moral of the story is to embrace the change and continually assess what's working and not working. I also feel that life is too short to be doing something you're not enjoying. I'm fortunate enough to be in a profession that I love - but if frustrations of current environments out weigh the positive effect on the academic side of things, perhaps at that point it will be time to move on (I realize I'm being a tad cryptic... just take my word for it).
So, if I am to be identifying my strengths and capitalizing my interests, I need a good system of keeping everything together and easily edited. I just recently went through my yearly performance evaluation, which was a humbling experience. It's nice to know that my efforts are being seen and appreciated (which has been a constant struggle since coming on board). Good things are happening as a part of our library presence on the campus. The trick now is to find a cohesive and interesting way to showcase some of the projects I'm involved in for resume purposes. My blog has a section for presentations/projects which I'm considering adding to my resume somehow. I'm also extremely thankful for my current job opportunity because it has truly given me the chance to boost my resume by doing a little bit of everything.
Job Application Process
The Thing 21 post recommends that we keep a running list of accomplishments so it's easy to add to CV's and resumes later. I like that idea and am considering doing this with Google Docs. I constantly use Gdocs throughout my day, so it would be super easy to type a little bit here and there - making resume writing a cinch. I do think the hardest part of the application process is the darn cover letter! Kudos to my husband who has proofed numerous letters, even when he has no clue what I'm talking about (thanks honey)!
The Interview
I've always said, if you get this far... they like you! Now, you just have to be yourself and show them that they were right. My recent Arkansas interview was the most calm I have ever felt in an interview setting. I actually enjoyed the process. It helped that the people were super duper nice and I felt like I instantly fit in and had known them for years. At the airport when leaving to come back home, one of the committee members actually hugged me goodbye. I was so sad that I had to turn them down. But, I'm happy to still be where I am for the moment, and I'm excited to see my many projects completed and come to fruition.
Only 2 more Things to go!!
I want to first preface that I'm not actively searching for a job. My thoughts here are strictly from past experiences. I will say though, that my husband is actively seeking something better (I'm afraid he'll never be fully satisfied ... but I knew this when I married him). Recently, we had a situation where we were fairly confident that he would be offered a job in Arkansas. Because of this, I started actively seeking something for myself. I won't go through the whole story here, but in the end, I provided the best cover letter and application packet that I've ever done - I interviewed extremely well - and I was offered the job. My husband wasn't offered his. To say that we were confused, frustrated, angry, [enter more words here] would be an understatement.
The good that came from that experience though, is that it helped to boost my confidence a bit. I'm good at what I do - I'm passionate about what I do - and I love collaborating with people to get things done (I can't believe I just typed all of that...).
Identifying You Strengths and Capitalizing on Your Interests
One statement from the cpd blog has stuck with me: "It is important to remember that we are changing all the time: our interests change, our skills develop, we discover new things we like which we didn't even know existed." This is so true! If we aren't developing and rethinking processes, then we're not embracing the profession and eventually, our work will suffer. Part of the change happens with the progression of technology. Other change happens as turn over occurs and new ideas are introduced. The moral of the story is to embrace the change and continually assess what's working and not working. I also feel that life is too short to be doing something you're not enjoying. I'm fortunate enough to be in a profession that I love - but if frustrations of current environments out weigh the positive effect on the academic side of things, perhaps at that point it will be time to move on (I realize I'm being a tad cryptic... just take my word for it).
So, if I am to be identifying my strengths and capitalizing my interests, I need a good system of keeping everything together and easily edited. I just recently went through my yearly performance evaluation, which was a humbling experience. It's nice to know that my efforts are being seen and appreciated (which has been a constant struggle since coming on board). Good things are happening as a part of our library presence on the campus. The trick now is to find a cohesive and interesting way to showcase some of the projects I'm involved in for resume purposes. My blog has a section for presentations/projects which I'm considering adding to my resume somehow. I'm also extremely thankful for my current job opportunity because it has truly given me the chance to boost my resume by doing a little bit of everything.
Job Application Process
The Thing 21 post recommends that we keep a running list of accomplishments so it's easy to add to CV's and resumes later. I like that idea and am considering doing this with Google Docs. I constantly use Gdocs throughout my day, so it would be super easy to type a little bit here and there - making resume writing a cinch. I do think the hardest part of the application process is the darn cover letter! Kudos to my husband who has proofed numerous letters, even when he has no clue what I'm talking about (thanks honey)!
The Interview
I've always said, if you get this far... they like you! Now, you just have to be yourself and show them that they were right. My recent Arkansas interview was the most calm I have ever felt in an interview setting. I actually enjoyed the process. It helped that the people were super duper nice and I felt like I instantly fit in and had known them for years. At the airport when leaving to come back home, one of the committee members actually hugged me goodbye. I was so sad that I had to turn them down. But, I'm happy to still be where I am for the moment, and I'm excited to see my many projects completed and come to fruition.
Only 2 more Things to go!!
#CPD23 Thing 20: My Library Roots
For Thing 20 of the 23 Things for Professional Development program, we're supposed to talk a bit about our roots and how we came to librarianship.
I have always been a library user for as long as I can remember. I remember my mom taking me to summer reading programs and reading gobs and gobs of books in order to win prizes. I remember my mom telling me to put the books away in the car because she wanted to have conversations with me instead of seeing my head in a book. To this day she doesn't like me to read in the car... she'd rather talk.
Fast forward to High School and I was still a voracious reader! I had an amazing English teacher that continued to keep me reading good literature. My favorites were Rebecca (my all-time fav), The Outsiders, Jane Eyre, and The Hobbit.
So as you can see, my love for books carried me through my adolescent, pre-teen, and teen years - but it never crossed my mind that I might want to be a librarian one day.
It wasn't until I was married and was working as a substitute teacher that the seed was planted in my mind. I subbed for an entire week for a middle school library - and essentially, that's what I thought I wanted to do. I was searching at the time. You see, I have 120+ credit hours towards a piano performance degree. In reality, I was a senior recital and a conducting class short of that degree when I realized one day that I was tired of waking up nervous. I was tired of the out-of-control feeling that everyday brought because of the pressure of performing (both solo and collaboratively). Health concerns also played a part in my decision to "quit" (I hate using that word) - I was suffering from severe debilitating tension headaches. I was planning a wedding by myself with my husband-to-be away in Connecticut for his Masters degree. In short, it was too much for 1 person to handle all at once and I just shut down. I crawled into a hole ... and just.... shut down.
My wedding was a bright point amidst the craziness. I was able to marry my best friend, and shortly after tying the knot, we moved to Indiana for him to start his Doctorate at IU. That's where the substitute teaching began. I was still in a very fragile state - not really knowing what direction I wanted to go in life... but that week in the library sparked something within me.
It wasn't until a year later that I decided to tell my husband about my idea. Part of me kept it to myself for so long because I was scared. I knew I would have to finish my undergrad degree somehow in order to begin the Masters in Library Science. I didn't want to finish in music (I hadn't touched a piano for a year - which later turned into 3 years), and I was afraid of the time it would take to finish in a different area.
Long story short, I found an adult ed program that would allow me to finish in 2 years. I began that journey in 2006, finished in 2008, and started my Masters degree that same Fall. I was fortunate enough to get my foot in the door as a Page with a public library while finishing the undergrad degree. This led to higher positions... and now after completing my Masters, I am working as a College Librarian for a community business college.
While my initial thought of going the school library media route didn't come to fruition, I am pleased with my Academic track and hope to one day be in a traditional University setting as a Reference and Instruction Librarian.
As part of this "thing," I have added this post to the Library Routes Project. More 23 Things to come (we're almost done!).
Edited to add:
I have also completed two Library Day in the Life rounds. Fun times!
I have always been a library user for as long as I can remember. I remember my mom taking me to summer reading programs and reading gobs and gobs of books in order to win prizes. I remember my mom telling me to put the books away in the car because she wanted to have conversations with me instead of seeing my head in a book. To this day she doesn't like me to read in the car... she'd rather talk.
Fast forward to High School and I was still a voracious reader! I had an amazing English teacher that continued to keep me reading good literature. My favorites were Rebecca (my all-time fav), The Outsiders, Jane Eyre, and The Hobbit.
So as you can see, my love for books carried me through my adolescent, pre-teen, and teen years - but it never crossed my mind that I might want to be a librarian one day.
It wasn't until I was married and was working as a substitute teacher that the seed was planted in my mind. I subbed for an entire week for a middle school library - and essentially, that's what I thought I wanted to do. I was searching at the time. You see, I have 120+ credit hours towards a piano performance degree. In reality, I was a senior recital and a conducting class short of that degree when I realized one day that I was tired of waking up nervous. I was tired of the out-of-control feeling that everyday brought because of the pressure of performing (both solo and collaboratively). Health concerns also played a part in my decision to "quit" (I hate using that word) - I was suffering from severe debilitating tension headaches. I was planning a wedding by myself with my husband-to-be away in Connecticut for his Masters degree. In short, it was too much for 1 person to handle all at once and I just shut down. I crawled into a hole ... and just.... shut down.
My wedding was a bright point amidst the craziness. I was able to marry my best friend, and shortly after tying the knot, we moved to Indiana for him to start his Doctorate at IU. That's where the substitute teaching began. I was still in a very fragile state - not really knowing what direction I wanted to go in life... but that week in the library sparked something within me.
It wasn't until a year later that I decided to tell my husband about my idea. Part of me kept it to myself for so long because I was scared. I knew I would have to finish my undergrad degree somehow in order to begin the Masters in Library Science. I didn't want to finish in music (I hadn't touched a piano for a year - which later turned into 3 years), and I was afraid of the time it would take to finish in a different area.
Long story short, I found an adult ed program that would allow me to finish in 2 years. I began that journey in 2006, finished in 2008, and started my Masters degree that same Fall. I was fortunate enough to get my foot in the door as a Page with a public library while finishing the undergrad degree. This led to higher positions... and now after completing my Masters, I am working as a College Librarian for a community business college.
While my initial thought of going the school library media route didn't come to fruition, I am pleased with my Academic track and hope to one day be in a traditional University setting as a Reference and Instruction Librarian.
As part of this "thing," I have added this post to the Library Routes Project. More 23 Things to come (we're almost done!).
Edited to add:
I have also completed two Library Day in the Life rounds. Fun times!
#CPD23 Thing 17&19: Showcasing Your Expertise and Reflection
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| Creative Commons License by o5com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/o5com/5220980010/ |
Prezi
My first encounter with prezi left me a little sea sick after sitting through the presentation. Prezi's key feature is its zoom capability, allowing a presenter to highlight important aspects of a presentation. If done well, this is a highly effective tool! If done poorly, you might be a little green afterwards (zooming overkill anyone?).
I have dappled with prezi, but the blank canvas and somewhat intermediate learning curve leaves me frustrated every time I attempt to create a presentation with it. You also have to map out your entire presentation beforehand in order to have the cool ending picture show up correctly. Oftentimes, I just don't have that kind of time.
Aside from the above criticisms, I have been able to use prezi to present with for the new student orientation where I work. The assistant librarian created it (and did a stellar job!), and we have collaborated to present the material together.
One idea that I'm intrigued by from the original Thing 17 post is the idea of using Prezi to take the place of a presentation/classroom handout. In looking at the example, I'm still not quite sure how this is fully used as a handout replacement, but I'm planning to investigate this further.
One other idea/revelation that I've had comes after seeing THIS prezi. I'm considering an attempt to turn my monthly reports into an interactive presentation. The only downside is that my Dean has voiced a comment to me, saying that he prefers to have a printable document. Perhaps I could create a simple word file that lists the points within the presentation. Either way, doing the report in the form of a prezi might help me to showcase content, eliminating my wordiness tendency ...
**pondering further
Slideshare
Now onto a tool that I use frequently. Slideshare allows you to upload your presentations and pdf documents, making it very easy to share with others. Ways I've used slideshare:
- I teach an information literacy course and use Google Sites to keep assignments handy for students. All of my weekly lessons have been uploaded to slideshare and embedded on the course website.
- I have used slideshare in conjunction with bit.ly (shortened url's) to give students continual access to my one-shot classroom instruction session information. You can see an example here from a business plan instruction session.
- Similarly, I uploaded my recent professional presentation (a pecha kucha) and provided the link in the form of a QR code within my closing slide. Those interested were able to grab the link in order to have my references.
My most favorite ...
- I love gaining inspiration and techniques from other presenters. It keeps ideas fresh and I am able to find new ways of showcasing information within slide presentations - priceless!
Thing 19: Reflection Thoughts So Far ...
I really have enjoyed the program so far. While I have already been using many of the items discussed throughout the program, I have gleaned new ideas and uses for many of the tools. I am also developing my own version of the 23 Things program for our faculty. Some of the posts so far have been beneficial to finding new ideas for web 2.0 technologies. Since my program will be faculty/higher-ed based, the focus has been shifted from a personal productivity program to a participatory classroom program. It has been super fun to work on and I can't wait for it to go live in a little over 12 weeks (eeek...lots more work to do!).
More 23 Things to come...
#CPD23 Thing 18: Capture...Screen Capture That Is
As I'm getting caught up with my 23 Things program, Thing 17 has apparently been postponed...so I'm jumping to Thing 18 - screen capturing.
There were several options discussed in the post for this Thing, but one I use daily is Jing. I never knew how many screenshots I took in a day, until Jing made it easier for me. I use Jing screenshots along with their edit menu options (circling, arrow pointing, and text) to:
-Send how-to instructions to students via e-mail.
-Send a linked screenshot to a chat reference student to make sure we're both on the same page.
-Add screenshots to how-to flyers for the LRC
Really, the possibilities are endless (example below)!
I have also used Jing to create screencast tutorial videos. I started with Jing until I found out that it doesn't upload to YouTube (unless you have the paid version). If you don't need that perk though, it's a great tool to use with a manageable learning curve. I am so very thankful that my IT department allowed me to download this software option - I'd be lost without it!
Now, while the original 18th Thing mentioned Screencast-O-Matic as an alternative, I have found Screenr to be a great option for screencasts with YouTube upload. In looking at Screencast-O-Matic though, I'm intrigued by the 15 minute time option.
Tips I've learned while doing screencasting:
-Because I'm cheap and don't want to buy the software, I've been bound by 5 minute tutorials. As such, it is absolutely necessary to have a written script for recording.
-I had an accidental run once where my audio didn't come through the screencast, but the video was captured. It actually worked very well to be able to show the captured video in full screen mode, and re-record the audio on top of it. MUCH smoother!
I have wanted to try recording the video in segments and uploading to iMovie to add zooms, along with more editing options. I haven't tried this yet, but may consider that in the future.
As for podcasting (the 2nd item mentioned in Thing 18), I haven't created my own podcasts, but I have been an avid podcast listener for a few years now. My favorite podcasts include:
-Adventures in Library Instruction
-Podcacher
-T is for Training
More 23 Things to come ...
There were several options discussed in the post for this Thing, but one I use daily is Jing. I never knew how many screenshots I took in a day, until Jing made it easier for me. I use Jing screenshots along with their edit menu options (circling, arrow pointing, and text) to:
-Send how-to instructions to students via e-mail.
-Send a linked screenshot to a chat reference student to make sure we're both on the same page.
-Add screenshots to how-to flyers for the LRC
Really, the possibilities are endless (example below)!
Now, while the original 18th Thing mentioned Screencast-O-Matic as an alternative, I have found Screenr to be a great option for screencasts with YouTube upload. In looking at Screencast-O-Matic though, I'm intrigued by the 15 minute time option.
Tips I've learned while doing screencasting:
-Because I'm cheap and don't want to buy the software, I've been bound by 5 minute tutorials. As such, it is absolutely necessary to have a written script for recording.
-I had an accidental run once where my audio didn't come through the screencast, but the video was captured. It actually worked very well to be able to show the captured video in full screen mode, and re-record the audio on top of it. MUCH smoother!
I have wanted to try recording the video in segments and uploading to iMovie to add zooms, along with more editing options. I haven't tried this yet, but may consider that in the future.
As for podcasting (the 2nd item mentioned in Thing 18), I haven't created my own podcasts, but I have been an avid podcast listener for a few years now. My favorite podcasts include:
-Adventures in Library Instruction
-Podcacher
-T is for Training
More 23 Things to come ...
#CPD23 Thing 16: Advocacy and Why Libraries Really Do Matter ...
**Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own, and not those of my employer.**
More 23 Things - this time Thing 16.
ad·vo·ca·cy (noun)
The act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending -- dictionary.com
I feel as if every day I am advocating in some way, shape, or form - or at least trying to. Most days, it feels like an uphill battle, but I press on ... I'll give you a bit of background:
The campus where I work has struggled to see the importance of our Learning Resource Center (the name for my library). Much of my frustration that you will feel within this post, stems from the fact that the leadership's opinion of the library and what we are there to do is based very much on perception. For instance, if we are seen sitting at our desks looking at the computer (which is how I can be found during most of my work day), the perception is that we are sitting with nothing to do, perhaps playing on Facebook (which I rarely open), desperately waiting for someone to come in and ask a question. Now, if I were to list for you my daily activities and the projects that I'm currently working on, I might lose all of my readers due to the massively long post length. I won't do that...but take my word for it, I'm not slacking at my desk! On the contrary, I am very much involved in projects that benefit our organization as a whole (not just my campus), and I am implementing two amazing programs that are sure to be a big hit once they are said and done.
I give all of this background information not to complain, but rather to indicate that I am constantly trying to find new ways of promoting my library services and resources to both our student population, and our faculty and staff (so if you have ideas, please let me know in the comment area). My hope is for the staff in particular, to somehow miraculously have a light bulb moment that instantly shows agreement of our importance. To be honest, I don't see this happening, but I can rest easy in knowing that those that matter (academics), know and understand what we're trying to do for the students of my campus. Many of the students are already showing great improvement due to our classroom instruction sessions and the information literacy course that I teach.
But - is it enough to stop fighting and accept that some people just aren't going to get on board with what we're trying to do? Where is the line crossed where advocacy turns into nagging? I'm not sure what those answers are, but I do know that we are making a difference in the lives of the students we see day in and day out, and I continue to preach that message. We are building faculty relationships, albeit slowly, and assisting with curriculum enhancement. We are providing professional development opportunities that far exceed what has been done before. We are instructing students to think critically about information sources, with hopes of seeing better research. We are helping students to become APA pros! We are embedding ourselves into classrooms in order to increase student retention and boost confidence in school work. We are assisting students in a virtual environment by way of our chat reference service ... Do the staff see this? No. And it's partly because they see and perceive what they want to see. I won't get into the for-profit mindset, but you can imagine where I would take this post if I let myself.
Just know, that at the core of what I am trying to accomplish on my campus, I am continuing to have a student-centered mindset. I work as if I am working for the students. They are the one's that appreciate and see what we are trying to do, and I am so thankful for those that continue to use our services, many of which we now know by name. Every teachable moment is a joy and helps me remember my focus.
So, when thing 16 asked for thoughts on our involvement in larger advocacy circles, I must be honest - I'm not sure I have much else left in me aside from what I'm already doing at my place of work. While I am passionate about the direction that libraries are taking and the technology opportunities that are present, I just don't have much more energy left to put forth within a larger environment - for now.
Stay tuned ... more cpd23 to come (on a lighter note for sure).
More 23 Things - this time Thing 16.
ad·vo·ca·cy (noun)
The act of pleading for, supporting, or recommending -- dictionary.com
I feel as if every day I am advocating in some way, shape, or form - or at least trying to. Most days, it feels like an uphill battle, but I press on ... I'll give you a bit of background:
The campus where I work has struggled to see the importance of our Learning Resource Center (the name for my library). Much of my frustration that you will feel within this post, stems from the fact that the leadership's opinion of the library and what we are there to do is based very much on perception. For instance, if we are seen sitting at our desks looking at the computer (which is how I can be found during most of my work day), the perception is that we are sitting with nothing to do, perhaps playing on Facebook (which I rarely open), desperately waiting for someone to come in and ask a question. Now, if I were to list for you my daily activities and the projects that I'm currently working on, I might lose all of my readers due to the massively long post length. I won't do that...but take my word for it, I'm not slacking at my desk! On the contrary, I am very much involved in projects that benefit our organization as a whole (not just my campus), and I am implementing two amazing programs that are sure to be a big hit once they are said and done.
I give all of this background information not to complain, but rather to indicate that I am constantly trying to find new ways of promoting my library services and resources to both our student population, and our faculty and staff (so if you have ideas, please let me know in the comment area). My hope is for the staff in particular, to somehow miraculously have a light bulb moment that instantly shows agreement of our importance. To be honest, I don't see this happening, but I can rest easy in knowing that those that matter (academics), know and understand what we're trying to do for the students of my campus. Many of the students are already showing great improvement due to our classroom instruction sessions and the information literacy course that I teach.
But - is it enough to stop fighting and accept that some people just aren't going to get on board with what we're trying to do? Where is the line crossed where advocacy turns into nagging? I'm not sure what those answers are, but I do know that we are making a difference in the lives of the students we see day in and day out, and I continue to preach that message. We are building faculty relationships, albeit slowly, and assisting with curriculum enhancement. We are providing professional development opportunities that far exceed what has been done before. We are instructing students to think critically about information sources, with hopes of seeing better research. We are helping students to become APA pros! We are embedding ourselves into classrooms in order to increase student retention and boost confidence in school work. We are assisting students in a virtual environment by way of our chat reference service ... Do the staff see this? No. And it's partly because they see and perceive what they want to see. I won't get into the for-profit mindset, but you can imagine where I would take this post if I let myself.
Just know, that at the core of what I am trying to accomplish on my campus, I am continuing to have a student-centered mindset. I work as if I am working for the students. They are the one's that appreciate and see what we are trying to do, and I am so thankful for those that continue to use our services, many of which we now know by name. Every teachable moment is a joy and helps me remember my focus.
So, when thing 16 asked for thoughts on our involvement in larger advocacy circles, I must be honest - I'm not sure I have much else left in me aside from what I'm already doing at my place of work. While I am passionate about the direction that libraries are taking and the technology opportunities that are present, I just don't have much more energy left to put forth within a larger environment - for now.
Stay tuned ... more cpd23 to come (on a lighter note for sure).
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#CPD23 Thing 15: The Benefits of Conferences as Professional Development
I had the privilege of attending one ALA conference so far (Chicago 2008), and it was the highlight of my library conference experience so far. I went with 2 gals from school while we were in our last year of the MLS degree, and we had a blast! It was the year of Neil Gaiman...so how could you NOT have a blast?! As the picture suggests (and that's not me :D), the line for Gaiman was super long, snaking its way out and around the exhibit hall. There were meetups with twitter friends and the LSW group met one night at Giordano's. The sessions I attended were very good as well. Many big names covering all the hot topics - it was a librarian's utopia! Much of what I enjoyed though, was the being able to network with other librarians - sharing ideas of what's working and what's not.
I have also had the opportunity to attend my State's library conference for about 4 straight years. I am especially excited about the upcoming conference in November because ... I'm presenting! I will be presenting with one of my favorite colleagues, Erin of tad_overdue. We are both super excited, and it's my first chance to give back to my profession with a bit of what has worked for us tech-wise in the classroom.
As for further conferences, I just picked up on The Digital Media and Learning Conference. It looks like it will be a very beneficial conference...and I plan to follow via Twitter. Additionally, there's Computers in Libraries that I would love to one day attend. I see librarians online that attend one conference here...another conference there... turn around and there at another one somewhere else 2 months later. I wonder where the funding comes from and the leniency of employers. I so very much wish that I could attend every conference of my liking... but I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon. Where's the balance? So readers, if you're out there, how have you handled conferences in the past?
Stay tuned for CPD 23 Thing 16 ... I'm almost caught up!
#CPD23 Thing 14: Managing the Sea of Information
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| Creative Commons License by Walt Stoneburner |
Since becoming a librarian within higher ed, I have had the opportunity to teach an Information Literacy course each quarter, and I have shown Zotero to students during the last few weeks of the course. It has been a bit frustrating because my institution uses internet explorer like it's the greatest browser of all time - [sigh... that's a post for another day], and I found out that portable Firefox won't work for student accounts (so my bringing in flash drives with portable Firefox and Zotero installed didn't work either unless I was logged in as myself). Since that fiasco, I have been using diigo with great success. While it has nothing to do with citing sources, it does help keep research organized.
So back to my initial comment about Zotero being a tool for personal use...
As I was reading the post for this "thing," one comment stuck with me. Isla Kuhn stated, "managing information ..., and helping others to do so too demonstrates our worth in a new way, and is a very useful skill. We’re not just there to help people find information, we can help them manage it to more easily achieve their goal." This key point is something I haven't thought of before, but Kuhn is absolutely right! The tools that we use personally, can surely benefit the library population, be it students or patrons, in a significant way. Helping people manage the information they find is just as important as helping them to find the credible information in the first place (and by doing so, we boost our resumes with new skill sets and tools to boot).
So far during this post, I have discussed Zotero, but there were two other citation organization tools that were discussed for this "thing." Mendeley is one that I have looked into in the past, but I never wanted to download it to give it a try. Zotero has worked so well for me that I haven't wanted to dive into something different (if it 'aint broke...don't fix it). But, this "thing" has me digging deeper to find pros and cons of using Mendeley over Zotero.
*Jennifer Vinopal of Library Sphere sees Mendeley as being beneficial due to the academic networking options available. Additionally, the citation cross-referencing features provides a collaborative research atmosphere, in my mind similar to what delicious created with collaborative bookmarking.
*Jodi Schneider wrote in 2009 with hopes that Mendeley would eventually integrate with Zotero. It seems Mendeley heard the plea and the desktop application now offers the ability to import your Zotero library. Schneider also mentioned the 1 point that has always made me hesitate to move solely to this platform - Mendeley really only provides a way to organize pdf files. I'm not sure this is enough for my research endeavors.
*Aaron Tay of Musings of Librarianship also provided an excellent write-up comparing EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, and Wizfolio. Excellent post I tell you...excellent!
Perhaps this exploration is the push I have needed to give Mendeley a real try. I have it downloaded and will give it an honest trial run...but I still must say that Zotero is so easy! It's easy to learn, easy to teach (even with the hiccups I mentioned above), and easy to use all the way around.
The last citation tool discussed was CiteULike. Kuhn describes this tool as being similar to delicious, but with "articles, rather than websites." While this seems like a good option, especially for my students, I find the interface to be clunky. There's no bookmarklet (to my knowledge) which would make it easy to import items into the CiteULike library, but because it is web-based with no download necessary, it would be easy to access your library at any time, on any computer. I suppose there are pros and cons to every system.
For now, I'm still leaning towards Zotero. I'd like to hear from you too - what's your favorite citation tool?
#CPD23 Thing 13: Tools for Collaboration
I am so excited for this post - in part because it cannot come at a more opportune time than this! There are several projects and committees that I am a part of with other librarian colleagues cross-campus. Because we are not physically in the same city, we rely heavily on chat and e-mail for communication. Sometimes it becomes difficult, but we're making strides to continue finding new ways to better collaborate with each other.
I have had the opportunity to work with a fantastic group of librarians to co-lead an APA revision committee. Without getting too detailed in the "why" of the committee (it's a bit of a long story, and one I'm happy to share if you ask), just know that there were many many painstakingly long hours/days/weeks/months that we poured over our campus documents - tweaking them to be more user friendly and in line with APA 6th edition style. We also launched a brand spanking new APA Research Guide that I am super duper bodaciously proud of. There is still one more legal resources are that we're tweaking, but it's complete and will be launched to the information literacy courses next week.
I saw all of this background info to give you a picture of how online collaborative tools could have helped us along this process. My co-leader and I did get creative with screenshot links sent via chat by way of Jing (I just love Jing!), but when working on the paper documents, it would have been interesting to see how well Google Docs could have worked - or even drop box for that matter.
I have, however, had the opportunity to suggest Google Docs to a newly formed Research Society (The sexy librarian research society to be exact) that a select few librarians from various campuses in my organization are a part of. We're hoping to use Google Docs for suggestions and revisions of publication material, and potentially Zotero for group article source collaboration.
So now that you have some background of where I'm coming from...I'll get right to the specifics of the tools being discussed for this week's Thing 13 as part of the 23 Things for Professional Development program.
Google Docs
I have been an avid Google Docs user for quite some time. Oftentimes, a flashdrive just takes to long to locate or pop into a computer, and Google Docs allows me to keep my documents handy on any computer, at any time, and it also syncs to my droid phone! My husband has collaborated on a resume document with me too and it worked extremely well! I was able to see, real time, his edits, making it a much faster process than e-mailing the same document back and forth umpteen gazillion times.
Some people are leery of cloud computing and privacy - and that's a valid argument. I just like the convenience of having my documents readily available. And not all documents are uploaded or created in Google Docs... but I do keep my information literacy course material handy, as well as a few other work documents.
The following video does a great job of showing the basics of getting started with Google Docs:
Dropbox
I have used dropbox off and on for a while now too. Recently, it has been super useful when transferring documents between work and home. It's a simple drag and drop to dropbox, it syncs with ease, and when I get home...my document appears like magic!
One aspect of dropbox that I haven't tried is the sharing feature of folders for collaboration purposes. I have however noticed the individual file link that has come in handy a few times.... but for the most part, I have used dropbox as a personal tool.
Wikis
The last portion of Thing 13 talks about wikis. I must say...I'm not a huge fan of wikis. I find them to be somewhat clunky, and the hierarchy of how the information is inputted doesn't make sense to me. I would much rather use Google Sites as a website and archive for documents and information. Google Sites also has a wiki template that works well. I have however edited an existing wiki with ease... but I have nearly pulled my hair out when trying to create one from scratch. I'd rather code a website (lol).
In conclusion, if you can't tell... I am a huge fan of Google Docs, and it will most likely continue to be my number 1 go-to source for collaboration purposes.
Stay tuned for Thing 14 ...
I have had the opportunity to work with a fantastic group of librarians to co-lead an APA revision committee. Without getting too detailed in the "why" of the committee (it's a bit of a long story, and one I'm happy to share if you ask), just know that there were many many painstakingly long hours/days/weeks/months that we poured over our campus documents - tweaking them to be more user friendly and in line with APA 6th edition style. We also launched a brand spanking new APA Research Guide that I am super duper bodaciously proud of. There is still one more legal resources are that we're tweaking, but it's complete and will be launched to the information literacy courses next week.
I saw all of this background info to give you a picture of how online collaborative tools could have helped us along this process. My co-leader and I did get creative with screenshot links sent via chat by way of Jing (I just love Jing!), but when working on the paper documents, it would have been interesting to see how well Google Docs could have worked - or even drop box for that matter.
I have, however, had the opportunity to suggest Google Docs to a newly formed Research Society (The sexy librarian research society to be exact) that a select few librarians from various campuses in my organization are a part of. We're hoping to use Google Docs for suggestions and revisions of publication material, and potentially Zotero for group article source collaboration.
So now that you have some background of where I'm coming from...I'll get right to the specifics of the tools being discussed for this week's Thing 13 as part of the 23 Things for Professional Development program.
Google Docs
I have been an avid Google Docs user for quite some time. Oftentimes, a flashdrive just takes to long to locate or pop into a computer, and Google Docs allows me to keep my documents handy on any computer, at any time, and it also syncs to my droid phone! My husband has collaborated on a resume document with me too and it worked extremely well! I was able to see, real time, his edits, making it a much faster process than e-mailing the same document back and forth umpteen gazillion times.
Some people are leery of cloud computing and privacy - and that's a valid argument. I just like the convenience of having my documents readily available. And not all documents are uploaded or created in Google Docs... but I do keep my information literacy course material handy, as well as a few other work documents.
The following video does a great job of showing the basics of getting started with Google Docs:
Dropbox
I have used dropbox off and on for a while now too. Recently, it has been super useful when transferring documents between work and home. It's a simple drag and drop to dropbox, it syncs with ease, and when I get home...my document appears like magic!
One aspect of dropbox that I haven't tried is the sharing feature of folders for collaboration purposes. I have however noticed the individual file link that has come in handy a few times.... but for the most part, I have used dropbox as a personal tool.
Wikis
The last portion of Thing 13 talks about wikis. I must say...I'm not a huge fan of wikis. I find them to be somewhat clunky, and the hierarchy of how the information is inputted doesn't make sense to me. I would much rather use Google Sites as a website and archive for documents and information. Google Sites also has a wiki template that works well. I have however edited an existing wiki with ease... but I have nearly pulled my hair out when trying to create one from scratch. I'd rather code a website (lol).
In conclusion, if you can't tell... I am a huge fan of Google Docs, and it will most likely continue to be my number 1 go-to source for collaboration purposes.
Stay tuned for Thing 14 ...
#CPD23 Thing 12: Social Media for Professional Development
Thing 12 for the 23 Things for Professional Development program discusses social media as a means for professional development. The post asks several questions, but there's one that I will attempt to answer below:
*Are there any other advantages to social networking in the context of professional development?
Thing 12 discusses the idea that social networking can build communities of people that may not have been possible pre-interactive technology. I have experienced this via twitter and Facebook. I have "attended" conferences that I couldn't physically attend, just by following the designated hashtag on Twitter. Via Facebook, I have able to connect with librarian groups and pages as well. In reality, librarians have overrun my social networking profiles so that any time I open one, I get a whole slew of information that is immediately useful to my job or research interests. This is professional development at its best!
The next question asked whether I see any disadvantages to social networking as a professional development too. Because it has been such an important tool for me, I've not seen any negatives to jumping into social media!
I truly feel that social networking has provided an amazing tool for professionals of all fields to be able to connect, share ideas, and get super fast information on a variety of topics. The networking opportunities are tripled due to the nature of the online interactive technology, and for new professionals, this is huge!
Here's to many more years of online communities!
*Are there any other advantages to social networking in the context of professional development?
Thing 12 discusses the idea that social networking can build communities of people that may not have been possible pre-interactive technology. I have experienced this via twitter and Facebook. I have "attended" conferences that I couldn't physically attend, just by following the designated hashtag on Twitter. Via Facebook, I have able to connect with librarian groups and pages as well. In reality, librarians have overrun my social networking profiles so that any time I open one, I get a whole slew of information that is immediately useful to my job or research interests. This is professional development at its best!
The next question asked whether I see any disadvantages to social networking as a professional development too. Because it has been such an important tool for me, I've not seen any negatives to jumping into social media!
I truly feel that social networking has provided an amazing tool for professionals of all fields to be able to connect, share ideas, and get super fast information on a variety of topics. The networking opportunities are tripled due to the nature of the online interactive technology, and for new professionals, this is huge!
Here's to many more years of online communities!
#CPD23 Thing 11: Mentoring
I'm a bit behind again, but it shouldn't be too hard to catch up. This post is all about thing 11 as part of 23 Things for Professional Development. The topic of mentoring couldn't have come at a more opportune time. I've been thinking a lot about mentoring lately because of two pretty cool items that have come across my plate recently.
Cool Item #1
A colleague of mine sent along an e-mail regarding ACRL's mentoring program. I have been putting off renewing my ALA membership, but when I saw this come through, I immediately started thinking about renewing and tacking on the ACRL membership as well. Sadly, I think I've procrastinated too long and have missed the deadline of August 8th to sign up to be a mentor, but I'll have this to look forward to for next year perhaps. It's a bit daunting, but would be a good way to give back to the profession.
Cool Item #2
A small group of fantabulous librarians that I work with have banded together to create a Research Society. The premise of this group is to encourage one another along the journey of research, whether for publishing or presentation purposes. Many of us are looking to be published down the line, and this group will help in terms of proof-reading, offering suggestions, etc... We're just getting it started, and none of us have a ton of time to devote to it yet, but it's a great idea that I'm hoping takes off! This group of colleagues will provide a mentoring opportunity for each of us, which after reading the cpd post for this thing is super important. Being able to have a solid sounding board for ideas, but also a place where we are all comfortable to share our thoughts and go out on a limb, never to be made fun of, will be nice. I'm excited about this opportunity!
Hopefully I can get the next 2 things completed in the coming days and I'll be all caught up again. Thanks for reading!
Cool Item #1
A colleague of mine sent along an e-mail regarding ACRL's mentoring program. I have been putting off renewing my ALA membership, but when I saw this come through, I immediately started thinking about renewing and tacking on the ACRL membership as well. Sadly, I think I've procrastinated too long and have missed the deadline of August 8th to sign up to be a mentor, but I'll have this to look forward to for next year perhaps. It's a bit daunting, but would be a good way to give back to the profession.
Cool Item #2
A small group of fantabulous librarians that I work with have banded together to create a Research Society. The premise of this group is to encourage one another along the journey of research, whether for publishing or presentation purposes. Many of us are looking to be published down the line, and this group will help in terms of proof-reading, offering suggestions, etc... We're just getting it started, and none of us have a ton of time to devote to it yet, but it's a great idea that I'm hoping takes off! This group of colleagues will provide a mentoring opportunity for each of us, which after reading the cpd post for this thing is super important. Being able to have a solid sounding board for ideas, but also a place where we are all comfortable to share our thoughts and go out on a limb, never to be made fun of, will be nice. I'm excited about this opportunity!
Hopefully I can get the next 2 things completed in the coming days and I'll be all caught up again. Thanks for reading!
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#CPD23 Thing 10: Routes To Librarianship
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Ah...another reflective post. The 10th 'thing,' as part of the 23 Things for Professional Development program, covers a UK program by the name of CILIP - Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. From what I can understand, CILIP enables those interested in librarianship to get their feet wet with a training program of sorts, enabling them to gain real-world experience before making the decision to pursue the coveted MLS degree. To my knowledge, the United States doesn't have such a program, so I am going to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about my experiences with librarianship, and how I've gotten to where I am now. I'm still on a journey, but it's good to look back and reflect on where I've come from.
When my husband and I first moved to Indiana, it was during a time that I was really searching for what I wanted to do with my life. We had just gotten married, and I had just made the decision to not finish my degree in Piano Performance. Long-story-short ... I was tired of waking up every morning with uncontrollable nerves due to having to perform. So, the move to Indiana was a fresh start for both of us. My husband was beginning a doctoral degree with the IU School of Music, and I was starting fresh as well. During the year that we stayed in Bloomington, I worked as a substitute teacher and afterschool care worker for a number of schools within the system. One week, I had the opportunity to substitute "teach" for a library! I absolutely loved seeing the kids so excited about reading and information, and this planted seed had me thinking I wanted to start on a school library media track. I kept this hush hush for 2 years (even from the hubs)...
After a year, my husband won a position with an orchestra in the northern part of Indiana - so we moved. We spent a year where I did nothing but teach piano. It was rewarding...but I continued to keep the library idea in the back of my mind.
After a year (do you see a trend?!), my husband started talking about wanting to finish his Doctoral degree that was started when we first moved to Indiana, so we made the decision to move an hour and a half south for him to finish with Ball State. Because of the move, I couldn't take my piano students with me, so I was unemployed for quite a while, until I finally got up the nerve to say something about this whole library idea. Keep in mind, I didn't have a bachelor's degree due to the decision to not continue in piano performance (I was a senior recital and a conducting class shy of finishing)...so the hesitancy really was due to not knowing what I would do to finish that initial degree. My husband was (and continues to be) extremely supportive and has always been my biggest fan... so he was all for me wanting to finish and start fresh. He never once questioned my decision (he's truly the best).
So now, I had to decide what to do about the bachelor's degree, and I landed on finishing with Anderson University in their Adult Education Organizational Leadership program. It was the degree that would allow me to finish quickly, enabling me to move right into the MLS. I hated every second of that degree...but it has actually come in handy for much of what I'm currently doing ... but we'll get to that.
So are you wondering yet where the whole library experience comes into play? It's coming I promise!
While going through the Org Leadership program, I was able to land a job as a Page. While this type of entry-level position may not seem impressive on the surface, I gained valuable experience in this job. I learned a great deal about the library collection and was also occasionally allowed to assist patrons in accessing materials and utilizing the library’s resources.
At the first opportunity, I applied for a Reference Assistant position. This allowed me to work more closely with the community, providing customer service through general library OPAC searches and online database searching. As a Reference Assistant, every patron question became an opportunity to improve my research skills, and also to develop my own reference style. This early experience of assisting patrons in their search for information motivated me to continue pursuing my bachelor's degree, working towards a Master of Library Science degree, and ultimately a career as a librarian.
In search of a full-time position, I accepted employment with a different library system about 45 minutes away. This eventually led to an Adult Services Manager position where one of my many responsibilities was establishing and enforcing circulation policies and patron service procedures. I was also responsible for collection development and acquisitions. Once I assessed the collection that included fiction, non-fiction, reference, and audio/video sources, weeding and modernizing the reference collection became my top priority. I gathered and analyzed monthly circulation statistics in order to determine the needs of the library community. Additionally, I maintained records of inter-library loan requests in order to further monitor the demands of the patrons. Balancing community needs with budgetary constraints was a constant struggle, but provided me with great experience. During this time is when I also began my MLS degree, working full time and going to school full time. I was a busy busy gal!
Along with my vision for customer service and reference, I also have a keen interest in technology, particularly technology that advances libraries into the digital age. Libraries are creating an online presence with Web 2.0 applications and interactive library websites. They are establishing digital resource collections that move beyond the physical library walls. Because of my interest and abilities in technology, I was asked to assume the Information Technology Manager position with the same library system. This new position gave me experience dealing with a wide variety of computer technology issues, developing and maintaining the library website, and performing monthly circulation statistical analysis. I also enjoyed the opportunity to teach computer classes, as well as one-on-one instructional sessions. Included among the topics for instruction were Facebook privacy and other social media platforms, digital photography, and Microsoft Office applications.
So now, enter yet another move when I landed my current position. I am currently working as the campus librarian for a career college in northern Indiana. My job changes daily due to the nature of being a solo librarian with 1 assistant. If you're interested, you can read the exhaustive list of my job duties below:
* Faculty liaison to the Business, Criminal Justice and Nursing & Allied Health program departments
* Curriculum liaison and subject specialist for the Project Management and Gaming & Interactive Media programs, as well as the Computer/Keyboarding subject area
* Collection Development and Acquisitions for new Learning Resource Center materials
* Cataloging of new library materials
* Providing reference assistance to students and faculty, both online (via online chat reference service and email) and on ground
* Overseeing Interlibrary Loan processes and procedures
* Promoting information literacy through classroom library instruction sessions
* Developing workshops that contribute to success in the students’ coursework
* Member of the ILS Search Committee, Library Website Committee, and co-leader of the APA Guide Committee
* Managing and training a team of 1 assistant librarian and 4 work study students
* Maintaining monthly, quarterly, and annual circulation, reference and classroom instruction statistics
* Social Media coordinator for the Fort Wayne campus
* Staff and Faculty trainer for web 2.0 technologies
* Curriculum liaison and subject specialist for the Project Management and Gaming & Interactive Media programs, as well as the Computer/Keyboarding subject area
* Collection Development and Acquisitions for new Learning Resource Center materials
* Cataloging of new library materials
* Providing reference assistance to students and faculty, both online (via online chat reference service and email) and on ground
* Overseeing Interlibrary Loan processes and procedures
* Promoting information literacy through classroom library instruction sessions
* Developing workshops that contribute to success in the students’ coursework
* Member of the ILS Search Committee, Library Website Committee, and co-leader of the APA Guide Committee
* Managing and training a team of 1 assistant librarian and 4 work study students
* Maintaining monthly, quarterly, and annual circulation, reference and classroom instruction statistics
* Social Media coordinator for the Fort Wayne campus
* Staff and Faculty trainer for web 2.0 technologies
In addition to what's above, I teach 3 sections of an Information Literacy course to students on ground, and online. It's a bit baffling to think that I haven't gone crazy yet with everything on my plate - but it has been a rewarding experience! It has truly enabled me to work within every realm of librarianship, and despite the frustrations, I'm grateful for the opportunity.
I'm not sure where I'm headed at the moment, but the journey has been fun and educational. Here's to a great many more years in the library world!
#CPD23 Thing 9: Evernote for Productivity
A prime example for how I've used Evernote in the past is for my recipe collection. I don't have a lot stored in my account yet, but as I try new recipes and they become ones that I know I'll use again, I add them.
Since I don't use Evernote a lot, I decided to peruse the web a bit to find how others are using the tool. Here's what I found ...
- This post and really like the idea of using Evernote as an "office cleaner." The author describes how a simple text document is used when a phone call comes through, or when new ideas need to be written down (you know the one's you have when you're super duper busy and don't have time to deal with it at the moment). By doing this, you create a digital to-do list of sorts. Evernote, then, can help take it to the next level in that these impromptu notes become synced and fully accessible anywhere, anytime. Brilliant!
- The same post goes on to say that Evernote would be great as a research tool and an "always-accessible idea file." I've kind of been looking for this without even knowing it! With the constant information overload these days, I'm always finding information that can be used for blog posts, newsletters, projects, coursework, and potential publishing research. Evernote could very well be my ticket to better organizing this material.
- Lifehacker did a post that reminded me of the simple fact that Evernote notes and web clip data are searchable. Granted, you can do a CTRL+F within a document to find certain words, but it's good to know that Evernote has the same capabilities. Taking it a step further, Evernote can OCR your handwritten notes that are scanned into the application as an image. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities - and it's a must-have options that will help keep all those notes retrievable (I know there are times when I tag a bookmark but still have trouble finding it!). And speaking of tagging - yep... Evernote does that well too.
- One other use for Evernote that I'm pretty sure I've heard of from someone...but can't remember who... is to take pictures of Business Cards. Remember that the data is searchable, so when the card is scanned, you no longer have to keep the card in hand AND you now have a searchable document in the cloud. Pretty nifty!
#CPD23 Thing 8: Google Calendar
I will first tell you a little bit about my history with Gcal - my first Google calendar entry happened on February 19, 2008. This was right around the time that I finally let go of my very first e-mail account made with yahoo. Part of what I like about online calendars is the ability to go back in time, reliving the memories from the calendar entries. You can see an example of this in the image screenshot shown from the weekend of my very first ALA conference in Chicago. I had mapped out all of the sessions I wanted to attend and was able to sync them to my phone (a blackberry at the time). My husband is the same way, and likes reminiscing when looking back at his yahoo calendar (I have just recently convinced him to make the switch to Google - partly because he is now a droid user.). His Yale years hold many good memories, and he has been hesitant to make the switch in fear of losing those date entries. But, he finally got fed up with yahoo and has been learning all about the tools that Google provides.
For me, Google calendar (really, all things Google) has enabled me to have a fully synced life. With my droid revolution, I'm able to sync my google calendar, tasks, e-mail, docs, reader, and google plus accounts with ease. Further uses include:
*Public calendar options for embedding
When I built the website for the North Madison County Public Library system, I chose Google calendar as the event calendar for the site. The coding was easily customizable and patrons were able to "subscribe" to the event calendar by adding the public calendar to their personal account. Additionally, the color coding options that Google provided made it easy to view events for certain departments at a glance.
*Public calendar options for subscribingAfter my husband switched over to Google, I was able to help him make his calendar public, in order to share it with me. The public link was then added to my own calendar account, with the option to hide the calendar from view when not in use. We have a unique situation where we are very much coming and going at opposite times As such, it has been nice to view his calendar to see when he's tied up with something I shouldn't disturb.
I have also found that Wunderground.com provides an ical option for weather locations. I love this feature since it gives more detailed weather descriptions than the built in weather option Google gives you.
*OutlookI haven't been successful in finding a streamlined process for integrating Google calendar with Outlook, but I have a pretty good workaround. I have my work e-mail forwarded to my Gmail account and am using filters to place these forwarded e-mails in a work folder. After doing this, any outlook meeting request sent to my work e-mail is automatically added to both outlook and Google calendar. I have also added all of my individual calendars to outlook through the internet calendar option. It gets a little cluttered, but seems to be the option that is working best for me for now.
*New FeaturesIn an effort to continue with the collaboration options that Google provides through many of its tools, Gcal has now integrated appointment slots. I'm in the process of building a website for my husband. As a music teacher, has has wanted a system that would allow students to sign up for lesson times with ease. Using Google calendar will enable him to set appointment times, students will then be able to grab those appointments, and it will automatically update his personal calendar. The only downside is that the students will need to have a google account, but shouldn't everyone have a google account?!
The possibilities really are endless with Google calendar and I would love to hear how others are utilizing this great tool!
#CPD23 Thing 7: Professional Organizations
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I have been a member of ALA for 3 straight years now, and during that time, have had the opportunity to attend the annual ALA conference in Chicago (year 2008). It was a great experience - in part because of the networking options it opened up. Also, as I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been active in the Library Society of the World (LSW) for many years now.
One area I would like to consider joining is ACRL, a subdivision of ALA that focuses on research in an academic setting. I am most intrigued by the mentoring program being offered, and am seriously considering applying since I am now teaching an Information Literacy course.
Additionally, myself and a few of my colleagues that are interested the mentoring program have partnered to form a research society (yes... we're calling it a research society) with the intent to gain feedback on pieces being written for potential publication purposes. I am so thankful to be able to work with such a great group of people - there is trust amongst us, and we know that we will have nothing but support from each other in whatever we pursue.
Finally, I know listservs weren't mentioned in the original cpd23 thing 7 posting, but I feel that listservs are also a way to network and gain feedback from peers. I am a member of a handful of listservs (I don't always keep up with them the way I have in the past due to information overload), and below are a few of my favorites:
-Information Literacy Instruction Discussion (ili-l)
-College Libraries Section (collib-l)
-Library and Information Technology (lita-l)
-Reference Librarianship (LIBREF-l)
That's it for today, but stay tuned for tomorrow's Thing 8 post!
#CPD23 Thing 6: Online Networking
I have been neglecting CPD23 due to participating in the Library Day in the Life project, but I'm glad I chose to participate again. I always learn new things about myself by going through the discipline of blogging regularly (something I haven't been very good at over the years).
At any rate, I'm behind on my "things." Thing 6 is all about networking online. I wrote during Thing 3 about the Library Society of the World (LSW). This amazing group of people have helped me to build a network of librarians for both my Friend Feed, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus accounts. If you haven't checked out the Friend Feed room for the LSW, do it! Do it now! You won't regret it!
CPD's thing 6 write-up by Helen Murphy discusses the reasons and advantages as to why we should be networking online. Murphy concludes that reasons fall under 3 general areas including:
-Becoming Better Known
-Becoming Better Connected
-Becoming Better Equipped
I tend to agree with these categories, and from personal experience, each social network that I am a part of each play a key roll in the above areas. Through each network, I have been able to make a name for myself (I'm still working on this area ... ), I've become connected with talented people in the library world, and have become better equipped to do my job by gleaning information from my networks. The digital age is GREAT!
Thing 6 specifically discusses LinkedIn and Facebook as the mega social networks. My thoughts are below:
LinkedIn
I don't remember exactly when I joined LinkedIn, but it's been a place for me to keep my resume (when I remember to update it), and to also find other librarians. When I have looked for jobs, I have searched LinkedIn for positions that are similar to what I'm applying for. This gives me a starting point to be able to get a feel for the type of position I may be entering into (VERY helpful!).
I am a member of groups on LinkedIn as well, but I don't stay very active with them. Groups include ALA, ASIS&T, LSW, Webjunction, and Librarians in For-Profit Educational Institutions.
Facebook
I have been an avid Facebook user for many years now, and have enjoyed networking with professionals, friends, and family. I'm even the Facebook administrator for my campus' Facebook page, so I'm heavily utilizing this tool for information and networking purposes.
Google +
I've joined this network already and have built a librarian network of 100+, but I'm forgetting to use it. There really needs to be a streamlined process for updating all of the sites you want to use all at once, as well as for reading and keeping up with posts from multiple networks. There are workarounds, but they need mega improvements.
The other sites mentioned in thing 6's post were sites that I'm not familiar with. I will be investigating them further to decide if they have a place in my networked world.
So how are you using online networks? Are they working for you? What are you gaining from them?
Stay tuned for thing 7, 8, 9 and 10 this week (man I have a lot of writing to do!).
At any rate, I'm behind on my "things." Thing 6 is all about networking online. I wrote during Thing 3 about the Library Society of the World (LSW). This amazing group of people have helped me to build a network of librarians for both my Friend Feed, Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus accounts. If you haven't checked out the Friend Feed room for the LSW, do it! Do it now! You won't regret it!
CPD's thing 6 write-up by Helen Murphy discusses the reasons and advantages as to why we should be networking online. Murphy concludes that reasons fall under 3 general areas including:
-Becoming Better Known
-Becoming Better Connected
-Becoming Better Equipped
I tend to agree with these categories, and from personal experience, each social network that I am a part of each play a key roll in the above areas. Through each network, I have been able to make a name for myself (I'm still working on this area ... ), I've become connected with talented people in the library world, and have become better equipped to do my job by gleaning information from my networks. The digital age is GREAT!
Thing 6 specifically discusses LinkedIn and Facebook as the mega social networks. My thoughts are below:
I don't remember exactly when I joined LinkedIn, but it's been a place for me to keep my resume (when I remember to update it), and to also find other librarians. When I have looked for jobs, I have searched LinkedIn for positions that are similar to what I'm applying for. This gives me a starting point to be able to get a feel for the type of position I may be entering into (VERY helpful!).
I am a member of groups on LinkedIn as well, but I don't stay very active with them. Groups include ALA, ASIS&T, LSW, Webjunction, and Librarians in For-Profit Educational Institutions.
I have been an avid Facebook user for many years now, and have enjoyed networking with professionals, friends, and family. I'm even the Facebook administrator for my campus' Facebook page, so I'm heavily utilizing this tool for information and networking purposes.
Google +
I've joined this network already and have built a librarian network of 100+, but I'm forgetting to use it. There really needs to be a streamlined process for updating all of the sites you want to use all at once, as well as for reading and keeping up with posts from multiple networks. There are workarounds, but they need mega improvements.
The other sites mentioned in thing 6's post were sites that I'm not familiar with. I will be investigating them further to decide if they have a place in my networked world.
So how are you using online networks? Are they working for you? What are you gaining from them?
Stay tuned for thing 7, 8, 9 and 10 this week (man I have a lot of writing to do!).
#CPD23 Thing 5: I Think, Therefore I Am
Creative Commons License http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubina/1497679352/
This week's assignment is all about reflection. Programs such as 23 Things for Professional Development truly are beneficial for all of us, in part because of the reflection aspect. So often we jump into web 2.0 tools without really knowing the usefulness of the tool up front (maybe not all of us, but I know I've been guilty myself). It's kind of like the public library motto that I adopted as IT manager that stated something along the lines of, the purpose of adopting new technologies is to directly benefit the community at large. In other words, if you're adopting just for the sake of doing or having the cool thing on the market, you're doing a disservice to your community.
With that in mind, the 23 things program has been a good ride so far, enabling me to really step back and see my online presence in a new light. Because I am in an industry that is heavily focused on technology, and because I have grown up in the digital age (although my first computer in my home came about during my Junior year of High School), I have a pretty hefty digital presence. That's all fine, well, and good... but what am I doing with it? I would like to think that it has helped me to build a professional network, and to some degree it has...but I'm needing to step it up a bit (although I'm still not sure what direction to take).
Thing 3 has been the week that has hit home the most. I wrote about my personal branding that week, in terms of what I was already doing. Since that week, I have made a slew of changes to this blog and have begun thinking about the possibility of a personal domain. So far, I have:
* Very loosely designed a logo that reflects my title/username/online presence. I've thought long and hard about whether to change my brand to something more accurate, but this is what I've made a name with, so it's staying for now.
* Completely moved my non-library posts over to a 2nd blog. Read if you want, but my thinking is that this personal area will be what family and friends will want to keep up with. They don't care much about library stuff, and those of you reading here won't care much about recipes, travels, and the rotten Dit dog.
* Added additional pages to the blog, displaying them in link form just above my posts
* Gone on an embedding joy ride on the curriculum vitae and instructional presentations/projects pages. And for that matter, I have...
* Added the curriculum vitae and instructional presentations/projects pages.
The above are an effort to display a professional portfolio of sorts, in hopes that future employers will be able see my work and thoughts on librarianship as a whole. I'm pretty pleased with the direction this has taken, and I do hope you will comment and let me know what you like or don't like about the current format.
From here, I'm looking forward to the remainder of the 23 Things program, and the design of my own program design for faculty development.
With that in mind, the 23 things program has been a good ride so far, enabling me to really step back and see my online presence in a new light. Because I am in an industry that is heavily focused on technology, and because I have grown up in the digital age (although my first computer in my home came about during my Junior year of High School), I have a pretty hefty digital presence. That's all fine, well, and good... but what am I doing with it? I would like to think that it has helped me to build a professional network, and to some degree it has...but I'm needing to step it up a bit (although I'm still not sure what direction to take).
Thing 3 has been the week that has hit home the most. I wrote about my personal branding that week, in terms of what I was already doing. Since that week, I have made a slew of changes to this blog and have begun thinking about the possibility of a personal domain. So far, I have:
* Very loosely designed a logo that reflects my title/username/online presence. I've thought long and hard about whether to change my brand to something more accurate, but this is what I've made a name with, so it's staying for now.
* Completely moved my non-library posts over to a 2nd blog. Read if you want, but my thinking is that this personal area will be what family and friends will want to keep up with. They don't care much about library stuff, and those of you reading here won't care much about recipes, travels, and the rotten Dit dog.
* Added additional pages to the blog, displaying them in link form just above my posts
* Gone on an embedding joy ride on the curriculum vitae and instructional presentations/projects pages. And for that matter, I have...
* Added the curriculum vitae and instructional presentations/projects pages.
The above are an effort to display a professional portfolio of sorts, in hopes that future employers will be able see my work and thoughts on librarianship as a whole. I'm pretty pleased with the direction this has taken, and I do hope you will comment and let me know what you like or don't like about the current format.
From here, I'm looking forward to the remainder of the 23 Things program, and the design of my own program design for faculty development.
#CPD23 Thing 4: Thoughts on Twitter, RSS Feeds, and Pushnote
Thing 4 for the 23 Things for Professional Development program discusses Twitter, RSS feeds, and Pushnote in detail. Below is my narrative on each service and how I'm currently using them.
Twitter:
I have been using Twitter for a few years now and have come to truly love it as a full blown networking tool. Most, if not all of the people I follow are librarians or educators, making it a tool that I use daily and have learned so much from. As of this post, I have made 3,818 tweets, following 292 people and have 394 followers. That's a bunch of tweets being flown around!
When I first joined twitter, I solely used the twitter website for all of my twitter needs, but as I joined more social networks and became more active on each, I quickly learned that I would need to branch outside of twitter.com. Doing so would allow me to receive my notifications and update feeds across multiple platforms if needed. This has helped tremendously to bridge the gap between each networking tool. A few of my favorite cross platform applications over the years have been:
To finish up the Twitter section of this post, I wanted to share a few of my favorite Twitter hashtags:
RSS feeds (otherwise known as really simple syndication feeds) are part of
the second portion of Thing 4. I have been using RSS feeds for many many years now, originally with Bloglines. Yet again, I had the same instance at work where I was trying to access library ideas and couldn't due to internet filters, so I made the switch to Google Reader and haven't looked back! Google Reader makes it so easy to stay connected with your feeds, whether via computer, or by mobile phone (in my case, the droid revolution). I have many different folders in my Google Reader account, and here are just a few highlights:
And an honorable mention Lifehacker for good measure. To view more of my favorite reads, you can visit the Good Reads section of my site.
Pushnote:
I must be honest, I don't really see this tool as something I will use in the future. With Google Reader's "share" and "like" options, and my new-found love of diigo, I just don't see me using this much.
So that's it for now. I'll need to get going on Thing 5 for this week so stay tuned!
Twitter:
I have been using Twitter for a few years now and have come to truly love it as a full blown networking tool. Most, if not all of the people I follow are librarians or educators, making it a tool that I use daily and have learned so much from. As of this post, I have made 3,818 tweets, following 292 people and have 394 followers. That's a bunch of tweets being flown around!When I first joined twitter, I solely used the twitter website for all of my twitter needs, but as I joined more social networks and became more active on each, I quickly learned that I would need to branch outside of twitter.com. Doing so would allow me to receive my notifications and update feeds across multiple platforms if needed. This has helped tremendously to bridge the gap between each networking tool. A few of my favorite cross platform applications over the years have been:
- Yoono
This was the first application that I tried, in part because my place of employment blocked social networking at the time (Did I just admit that I found a work around?). For any current or future employers, I truly was trying to find a way to stay on the up-and-up with the library profession, gaining new ideas during the process. Yoono grabs all of your social networks into one browser extension (I'm an avid Firefox user), along with multiple chat clients. It was a bit clunky during the time I used it, so hopefully that has since been improved upon. - TweetDeck
I love TweetDeck's interface that allows you to see your twitter stream, your friends lists, your replies, DM's, and searches (both hashtag and friends) all in one simple columned view. For some it can be a bit of information overload, but it worked well for me to be able to see everything at a glance. Additionally, you can pull your Facebook newsfeed, Google Buzz, and Foursquare accounts into it giving each of them column views as well. There are computer desktop options for all platforms, Android (my favorite!) and iPhone apps, and a web version as well. - Seesmic
Seesmic is very similar to TweetDeck with a column view and multiple platform options. I have been using this one (the web version) for a good 6 months now while on my home computer! I like that I don't have to download anything and for the most part, it really does the job well. I may go back to my downloaded TweetDeck desktop application, but for now, it works. - HootSuite
This option allows for scheduling future posts, which really comes in handy for work. I am the social network coordinator for my campus and scheduling Facebook posts has been a Godsend! This will allow you to see your twitter stream as well, making it a very good option for multiple social networking applications.
To finish up the Twitter section of this post, I wanted to share a few of my favorite Twitter hashtags:
- #cpd23 - The official hashtag for the 23 Things for Professional Development program
- #geocaching - The hashtag for the fun high tech hide and go seek game
- #ala11 - This was ALA New Orlean's official hashtag for the annual conference
- #libday7 - Coming up, this hashtag will cover the library Day in the Life project
RSS feeds (otherwise known as really simple syndication feeds) are part of
the second portion of Thing 4. I have been using RSS feeds for many many years now, originally with Bloglines. Yet again, I had the same instance at work where I was trying to access library ideas and couldn't due to internet filters, so I made the switch to Google Reader and haven't looked back! Google Reader makes it so easy to stay connected with your feeds, whether via computer, or by mobile phone (in my case, the droid revolution). I have many different folders in my Google Reader account, and here are just a few highlights:- Library
- Books
- Collection Development
- Information Literacy
- Tech
- Photography
- Knitting
- Food
And an honorable mention Lifehacker for good measure. To view more of my favorite reads, you can visit the Good Reads section of my site.
Pushnote:
I must be honest, I don't really see this tool as something I will use in the future. With Google Reader's "share" and "like" options, and my new-found love of diigo, I just don't see me using this much.
So that's it for now. I'll need to get going on Thing 5 for this week so stay tuned!
CPD 23 Thing 3: Personal Branding
Beccalovesbooks - I remember the day I created an e-mail account with that phrase. I had no idea at the time though that it would morph into being my "brand" for every social platform I joined, and prophetic into my librarian career.
I was working on my undergrad degree in piano performance at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and remember sitting in the basement computer lab of my dorm the night I created my online entity. I needed to get away from my former e-mail alias, sweet_beccalee (although I'm not sure beccalovesbooks is much better), and beccalovesbooks is what I came up with. So, in creating this new account around the year 2001, it was as if I had a predisposition to my library career...but of course at the time, librarianship wasn't even on my radar, and I was most certainly one of the idiots that thought we of the profession became a librarian because we love books. **shakes head at my own stupidity**
Fast forward to years later where I now have identities on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger, FriendFeed, Ravelry, Flickr and probably more that I can't remember...all with this new handle and with a new found sense of what librarianship really is about (it's not all books people!). In fact, doing a simple google search of my name with the word librarian behind it (beccalovesbooks librarian) brings up pages of search results where people have retweeted information of mine, as well as providing access to some of my online identities. For now I'm ok with this, but privacy concerns are also a key topic. All of this is to say that I have begun to make a name for myself in the library community, mostly with thanks to the Library Society of the World (LSW for short).
*********LSW Plug*********
I don't remember the exact time frame that the LSW came about (I think I joined around 2008), but since the original gathering, there have been many branches and avenues of the LSW that have morphed. From this original site, the LSW is said to be:
So I guess for me, branding just sort of happened. I hope to continue finding my "voice" and I'm really enjoying the reflection aspect of this CPD23 Program.
I was working on my undergrad degree in piano performance at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and remember sitting in the basement computer lab of my dorm the night I created my online entity. I needed to get away from my former e-mail alias, sweet_beccalee (although I'm not sure beccalovesbooks is much better), and beccalovesbooks is what I came up with. So, in creating this new account around the year 2001, it was as if I had a predisposition to my library career...but of course at the time, librarianship wasn't even on my radar, and I was most certainly one of the idiots that thought we of the profession became a librarian because we love books. **shakes head at my own stupidity**
Fast forward to years later where I now have identities on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger, FriendFeed, Ravelry, Flickr and probably more that I can't remember...all with this new handle and with a new found sense of what librarianship really is about (it's not all books people!). In fact, doing a simple google search of my name with the word librarian behind it (beccalovesbooks librarian) brings up pages of search results where people have retweeted information of mine, as well as providing access to some of my online identities. For now I'm ok with this, but privacy concerns are also a key topic. All of this is to say that I have begun to make a name for myself in the library community, mostly with thanks to the Library Society of the World (LSW for short).
*********LSW Plug*********
I don't remember the exact time frame that the LSW came about (I think I joined around 2008), but since the original gathering, there have been many branches and avenues of the LSW that have morphed. From this original site, the LSW is said to be:
"A world-spanning group of library professionals and library advocates, dedicated to furthering the role of librarians, archivists, information professionals, and information educators through communication and collaboration. The LSW is about people, not buildings (although some of us think architecture is sexy). It's about friendship, not organization. It's about creating and fostering opportunities, not building barriers and divisions."
It truly is a fantastic free organization that I have learned so much from, and I've met a lot of amazing people along the way. If you're interested in joining this group of people, take a look at the following links:
*********End of LSW Plug*********
It truly is a fantastic free organization that I have learned so much from, and I've met a lot of amazing people along the way. If you're interested in joining this group of people, take a look at the following links:
- The Official LSW Site
- Meebo Chat Room - last log-in March 2011 as of this post
- FriendFeed Group - run as fast as you can to join this...it's where all the action is!
- Good Reads Group - this one has great potential, but hasn't really taken off
*********End of LSW Plug*********
So I guess for me, branding just sort of happened. I hope to continue finding my "voice" and I'm really enjoying the reflection aspect of this CPD23 Program.
CPD23 Thing 2: Meet The Other Participants
As part of the 23 Things for Professional Development program, Thing 2 requires all participants to write about the networking and blog perusing that has been done this week. Many of the participants were not bloggers before cpd23 began, so it has been fun to see others in the library profession (and those in other areas too) jumping on the 2.0 bandwagon. I'm hoping for all of us that this program will open up networking opportunities that will be beneficial to our careers within librarianship.
A few blogs that I visited are below:
I am already excited by what I'm reading from others, and I am hopeful that this program will give me fresh ideas that I can use for implementation purposes. Also, if you're interested in other good library reads, I have a list of good reads here on the blog. There's a whole slew of bloggers that will keep you reading and thinking for hours!
A few blogs that I visited are below:
- Raptorunner in Cyberspace
I loved the comment this participant made that stated: "I have developed information-overload-induced ADD, and thought this program might be brief enough for me to absorb in small doses." Exactly!
- Melanie of Librarianinanutshell
Melanie has a goal with this 23 Things program to "be more organized & focused in [her] work and goals, and active in [her] professional community; not just a conference-goer, but a presenter, a publisher, a participator." She continues by saying: "I want to be a leader in my library, improving user services through innovative and effective uses of technology. And of course, I am keen on keeping my work fresh and exciting, by exploring new things, improving my skills, & building on my accomplishments."
These thoughts are exactly in line with my goals as a new member of this professional community of people. I have a presentation lined up for this year, and hope to work on a publication in the coming year as well.
Additionally, Melanie mentioned in her Thing 2 post that she is hoping to stay connected through this program with people outside of her normal library niche. Brilliant!
- Cathy from Cathy | Library
Cathy is looking at the 23 Things program as being a way to go from “that’s cool, I should do that” to “hey, look at what I did.” I really like that thinking...it's exactly my way of thinking about my own version of 23 Things that I want to implement for the faculty and staff where I work.
I am already excited by what I'm reading from others, and I am hopeful that this program will give me fresh ideas that I can use for implementation purposes. Also, if you're interested in other good library reads, I have a list of good reads here on the blog. There's a whole slew of bloggers that will keep you reading and thinking for hours!
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