Before we moved to our new Hinckley site in September we had to reduce our book stock by a large amount and as withdrawla were done in a bit of a rush before the move there have been some inconsitencies between our catalogue and our physical stock. So it was decided that this week whilst the students are out of college we would do a stock take. I have done stock checks before in previous job roles, but usually not on sucha huge scal and in more of an inventory style. This time i got to use a hand held scanner to scan the accessions of all our books - now this was quite fun to begin with but by the end of day one (and 2164 books under my belt) the novelty had worn off, my arms were aching and I was dog tired.
On day two I thought I wuld learn from my expereince on day one and try it differently - this time instead fo trying to hold heavy artbooks in my hands whilst scanning I utilised the trolley - this was slighlty more comfortable although still gave my arms a work out.
Today I completed the stock take of 6000 items and was vey please with my achivement. Admittedly this is not something I would relsih doing on a regular basis but I enjoyed getting up close and personal with our book stock - I have never really taken the time to really look at what we have and this was the ideal opportunity to look at what we have to offer the students and also at what books haven't been taken out in years I know feel I have a better knowledge of our books and feel I could reccomened books or at least a sleection of books for students if they had a query rather then just relying on the catalogue.
It has felt like a long three days but it is great too look around now and have a sense of achievement that I have scanned just about everything in our Library, as well as feeling confident about advising our students about our books and as an extra bonus I will have wonderfuly toned arms.
Thursday 22 December 2011
Wednesday 14 December 2011
It's beena while!
I realise it has been over a month since I last posted. I think with CPD23 coming to an end I got a bit lazy about posting regularly but I am going to try and blog more and hopefully I will have plenty to blog about.
So over the last month I have been up to various activities. The Library is as busy as ever and I have lots of requests for help with referencing which I am happy to oblige with and it is quite nice that I have carved out a reputation as being some-one the students know they can speak to for help with referencing. I have also been working on my Prezi for blogging and it is nearly complete if you want to see how it is going so far take a look here. All comments are welcome I am still tweaking and trying to add links and images so any helpful hints will also be grratefully recieved. In additon to both of these I have now been given responsibiltiy for the AV equipment at our Hinckley site - including withdrawing all the old stock from Heritage, this was mammoth task but I really enjoyed the challenge and being an organised person I love that I now have a neat spreadsheet that outlines our current stock.
I have had a visit and half day shadowing at King Edward VI College in Nuneaton. This is a sixth form college that does only A-Level subjects, it was great to see a different kind of Library (and study centre) and see the similarities and differences between our Libraries. I picked up some great tips including SurveyMonkey (which I have already put to good use in our Reprographic department) and creating subject lists on the catalogue. I was also able to share what we do in our Library inclduing e-books.
More recently I went to a seminar at the Univerity of Leicester's Media Zoo about i-tunes u and You-Tube Edu - educational resources provided by both sites. They have thier advantages and disadvantages but overall it seems like a great way to share resources amongs educational institutions. Terese Bird who ran the session put her powerpoint on Slideshare so click here if you want to have a look, she also recorded the seminar which you can watch here.
Well thats you all caught up with where I am at currently. I'm enjoying my role in the Library and starting to feel that my contribution to the team is of value and look forward to taking on more challenges, which I will of course keep you updated with.
So over the last month I have been up to various activities. The Library is as busy as ever and I have lots of requests for help with referencing which I am happy to oblige with and it is quite nice that I have carved out a reputation as being some-one the students know they can speak to for help with referencing. I have also been working on my Prezi for blogging and it is nearly complete if you want to see how it is going so far take a look here. All comments are welcome I am still tweaking and trying to add links and images so any helpful hints will also be grratefully recieved. In additon to both of these I have now been given responsibiltiy for the AV equipment at our Hinckley site - including withdrawing all the old stock from Heritage, this was mammoth task but I really enjoyed the challenge and being an organised person I love that I now have a neat spreadsheet that outlines our current stock.
I have had a visit and half day shadowing at King Edward VI College in Nuneaton. This is a sixth form college that does only A-Level subjects, it was great to see a different kind of Library (and study centre) and see the similarities and differences between our Libraries. I picked up some great tips including SurveyMonkey (which I have already put to good use in our Reprographic department) and creating subject lists on the catalogue. I was also able to share what we do in our Library inclduing e-books.
More recently I went to a seminar at the Univerity of Leicester's Media Zoo about i-tunes u and You-Tube Edu - educational resources provided by both sites. They have thier advantages and disadvantages but overall it seems like a great way to share resources amongs educational institutions. Terese Bird who ran the session put her powerpoint on Slideshare so click here if you want to have a look, she also recorded the seminar which you can watch here.
Well thats you all caught up with where I am at currently. I'm enjoying my role in the Library and starting to feel that my contribution to the team is of value and look forward to taking on more challenges, which I will of course keep you updated with.
Thursday 13 October 2011
Volunteering
Whilst I have not volunteered within Libraries, the experiences I have had of Volunteering have always had a positive outcome.
All my volunteering took place whilst I was still at school - At primary school I volunteered with the assisted reading scheme listening and helping younger pupils with thier reading skills (as mentioned in my previous post I was a quick learner and my reading age was higher than my actual age) and I think this was when I had decided I would quite like to be a teacher. Then when I went to High school I was involved in peer mentoring - this wasn't necessarily volunteering as we were all given a new pupil to mentor but I made the most of the opportunity to offer help to my mentee.
However once we had to do work experience at high school and I was placed at a Primary school as requested and I had an awful time - the teachers were lovely and the kids were - well kids but I found them to be quite clingy, all of them wanting my attention all at the same time (on relfection I guess this is becuase I was new in thier environment and so they wanted to get to know me). As a result I was really put off persuing a career in education.
When I was doing my GCSE's a friend of mine was doing a summer playcheme with Menphys and recommended it to me, I was unsure as I had been put off working with children intially and I was wary of the added challenge that all the children had either behavioural, mental or physical issues. I went along to observe and meet a few ofthe children involved and relaised it wwa a really worthy cause and the children were getting so much out of the experience. I volunteered to work on the scheme with 7-11 year olds and had a great time, so when they asked the following year if I would like to volunteer full time for the summer and do both the younger and older age groups I jumped at the chance.
Thos two years restored my faith in my career of wanting to work with children, but not necessarily in teaching and instead I had decided I wanted to work with children and young adult with learning and health difficulties. I was able to use this experience when applying for my first role after leaving Uiniversity (working with adults with health issues) and my first role in a school (Learning Support Assitant) and i will always be grateful the time I spent on the playcheme as I got a lot out of it interms of idenifying my own career goals and in gaining valuable experience in the areas I want to work in,
All my volunteering took place whilst I was still at school - At primary school I volunteered with the assisted reading scheme listening and helping younger pupils with thier reading skills (as mentioned in my previous post I was a quick learner and my reading age was higher than my actual age) and I think this was when I had decided I would quite like to be a teacher. Then when I went to High school I was involved in peer mentoring - this wasn't necessarily volunteering as we were all given a new pupil to mentor but I made the most of the opportunity to offer help to my mentee.
However once we had to do work experience at high school and I was placed at a Primary school as requested and I had an awful time - the teachers were lovely and the kids were - well kids but I found them to be quite clingy, all of them wanting my attention all at the same time (on relfection I guess this is becuase I was new in thier environment and so they wanted to get to know me). As a result I was really put off persuing a career in education.
When I was doing my GCSE's a friend of mine was doing a summer playcheme with Menphys and recommended it to me, I was unsure as I had been put off working with children intially and I was wary of the added challenge that all the children had either behavioural, mental or physical issues. I went along to observe and meet a few ofthe children involved and relaised it wwa a really worthy cause and the children were getting so much out of the experience. I volunteered to work on the scheme with 7-11 year olds and had a great time, so when they asked the following year if I would like to volunteer full time for the summer and do both the younger and older age groups I jumped at the chance.
Thos two years restored my faith in my career of wanting to work with children, but not necessarily in teaching and instead I had decided I wanted to work with children and young adult with learning and health difficulties. I was able to use this experience when applying for my first role after leaving Uiniversity (working with adults with health issues) and my first role in a school (Learning Support Assitant) and i will always be grateful the time I spent on the playcheme as I got a lot out of it interms of idenifying my own career goals and in gaining valuable experience in the areas I want to work in,
Monday 10 October 2011
applications and interviews
I hate having to fill in application forms! I think many of us do - firstly there is the tedious job of filling in all your jobs to date and why you left, then your education, then any training - all of whaich takes ages even if you do know it all by heart. After that you have the complicated task of selling yourself as to why you should get the job, this is the bit that takes me the longest, usually because I write far too much and need to cut down and be more precise. Things are becoming much easier now that there are online application forms as they can be saved and re-used especially for somewhere like a county council where unless you are a teacher the basic application is the same. This has saved me a lot of time and efffort in the past as all the inital details are there you just need to change the "why should YOU get the job" part.
Although I hate them, because I am a perfectioist I do tend to write a good application because I ensure that my "sell yourself bit" covers every bit of criteria on the job description but also make it clear and concise and give plenty of examples of how I meet those criteria.I also always get someone else to proof read it, because no matter how many times I read it I always miss something and also it helps to get an objectove opinion of how the application comes across. Finally A covering letter is a muct - it is the best way to express why you want the job.
Interviews are even worse for me as I get incredibily nervous. I always prep well before hand so can impress them with my knowledge of the company/ school/ colllege and it shows that I am interested in the job as I made the effort to research it. It seems to me all the jobs that I think I did rubbish at I get but the ones I feel went well tend to be the ones I don't get.
Recently I was interviewed for a learning mentor post and I thought it wnet great - I got on with the students and thought I wals friendly to the pupil panel and professional with the deputy head - but I didn't get the job. In my feedback the deputy head said I interviewed well and I was their first choice but the students thought I was too authoritarian so on balance they couldn't offer me the job. similaly a few years ago I applied for an administration post in London, my intial interview was a telephone interview and having done my research I had decided I didn't really want to move to London so during the interview I wasn't particulalry enthusiastic - I answered the questions honestly but didn't really sell myself like I would do normally. Imagine my suprise when two days letter I had an invite to a second face to face interview, I respectfully declined the offer as I thought it unfair to waste thier time if I wasn't really interested in moving to London. It just goes to show that you don't always come across the way you intend to.
Overall I find the whole process of applying and being interviewed for jobs quite exhausting especially the interview part as once I've accepted the invite to interview I'm anxioux until I hear the result (a bit like exams all over again) but the more expereince I get the better I am at calming myself down and getting through the interview without to many errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmm or welllllllllllllllllllllllllll moments wheere i'm racking my brains for an answer.
Although I hate them, because I am a perfectioist I do tend to write a good application because I ensure that my "sell yourself bit" covers every bit of criteria on the job description but also make it clear and concise and give plenty of examples of how I meet those criteria.I also always get someone else to proof read it, because no matter how many times I read it I always miss something and also it helps to get an objectove opinion of how the application comes across. Finally A covering letter is a muct - it is the best way to express why you want the job.
Interviews are even worse for me as I get incredibily nervous. I always prep well before hand so can impress them with my knowledge of the company/ school/ colllege and it shows that I am interested in the job as I made the effort to research it. It seems to me all the jobs that I think I did rubbish at I get but the ones I feel went well tend to be the ones I don't get.
Recently I was interviewed for a learning mentor post and I thought it wnet great - I got on with the students and thought I wals friendly to the pupil panel and professional with the deputy head - but I didn't get the job. In my feedback the deputy head said I interviewed well and I was their first choice but the students thought I was too authoritarian so on balance they couldn't offer me the job. similaly a few years ago I applied for an administration post in London, my intial interview was a telephone interview and having done my research I had decided I didn't really want to move to London so during the interview I wasn't particulalry enthusiastic - I answered the questions honestly but didn't really sell myself like I would do normally. Imagine my suprise when two days letter I had an invite to a second face to face interview, I respectfully declined the offer as I thought it unfair to waste thier time if I wasn't really interested in moving to London. It just goes to show that you don't always come across the way you intend to.
Overall I find the whole process of applying and being interviewed for jobs quite exhausting especially the interview part as once I've accepted the invite to interview I'm anxioux until I hear the result (a bit like exams all over again) but the more expereince I get the better I am at calming myself down and getting through the interview without to many errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmm or welllllllllllllllllllllllllll moments wheere i'm racking my brains for an answer.
Library routes/ roots
Well this should be a relativley short post as I have only just lain down my roots so to speak. I got into Library work through determination and passion. I always loved books and Libraries as a child - there's nothing like the excitement of being able to go and pick as many books as you like (well that the card will allow) and take them home for free! and as I was a big reader I quickly out grew the books in our primary school ( and the teacher had started to bring books in for me to read!) so joining the library as a child was magical. Then at upper school it became my sancturary I worked after school so liked to crack on with my homework during Lunchtime and I alway retreated to the Library to either use the computers or the books needed for my lessons. It is also where I first discovered Sherlock Holmes so again it holds fond memories.
Like most other blogs I have read I had no idea that there was an option to do a degree in Library or Information studies otherwise I would have been there straight away, as it was I didn't know and so happily did a degree in Sociology and again made extensive use of the Library facilities. My friend worked as a shelf tidier and even though she reccommended me any time a vacancy came up I was never lucky enough to get interviewed, which was just as well really as I already worked in the student shop so would have had very little time to spare.
After University I applied for many jobs and I have been lucky in that all the jobs I have had I have enjoyed and always gained from them and during this time I regularly applied for weekend work in my local Library with no luck so when I finally got the job as graduate trainee at my local collge library I was amased as I thought my lack of experience may have gone against me, however it seems my passion for Libraries was enough to see me through.
My route from now is somewhat undecided - as I have blogged previously I doubt I will pursue a masters degree as I just can't afford it so I think I will just enjoy being a Library Assistant unless someone happens to offer me some funding for the masters.
Like most other blogs I have read I had no idea that there was an option to do a degree in Library or Information studies otherwise I would have been there straight away, as it was I didn't know and so happily did a degree in Sociology and again made extensive use of the Library facilities. My friend worked as a shelf tidier and even though she reccommended me any time a vacancy came up I was never lucky enough to get interviewed, which was just as well really as I already worked in the student shop so would have had very little time to spare.
After University I applied for many jobs and I have been lucky in that all the jobs I have had I have enjoyed and always gained from them and during this time I regularly applied for weekend work in my local Library with no luck so when I finally got the job as graduate trainee at my local collge library I was amased as I thought my lack of experience may have gone against me, however it seems my passion for Libraries was enough to see me through.
My route from now is somewhat undecided - as I have blogged previously I doubt I will pursue a masters degree as I just can't afford it so I think I will just enjoy being a Library Assistant unless someone happens to offer me some funding for the masters.
Thursday 29 September 2011
practiticing with Prezi
So for thing 17 we were to give Prezi a try. I read the article and looked at a few Prezi's and thought they were great. After that thought I sort of filed it away in my head and didn't actually try it out.
However last week I did my first blogging session which went quite well and I did an accompanying powerpoint - which really was just a bigger verion of cue cards for me and held no real useful information. I mentioned to our Librarian that I wanted to do a "how to" guide to pot on our blog/ website for students to look at after the session if they wanted to recap but felt that a powerpoint was a bit boring. The Librarian suggested I try Prezi as it's a bit different, you can still get across all the same information but in a slightly less mundane way. Moreover I had seen the Libray Indution Prezi that our User Education Senior Learning Resources Assistant (UESLRA) put together and was impressed with how much more visual and entertaining it was.
So yesterday I re-read the CPD23 post about Prezi, looked at the tips and watched the 'intro to prezi' video about 5 times but still really struggled to get started. I was sat next to our UESLRA and asked lots of questions and her advice (as was on many a blog) was just have a go and a play around until you feel comfortable. I spent a lot of time on it and by the end of yesterday felt a bit more comfortable about the whole thing, It is hard no to try and follow the power point format of slide after slide but I do like the variation in frames and that I can put my information anywhere then put a path in to link it to the next bit of info.
I still think I need to play a bit more to understand it a bit better - a user guide would have been useful, but I suppose it's difficult to produce a user guide when the way people would use Prezi would vary depending on thier creativity and what they want it for. As my post may suggest I'm still unsure as to whether I like Prezi or not - I certainly like what other people have managed to do with it - I'm just not sure If i'm creative enough to make it work for me.
However last week I did my first blogging session which went quite well and I did an accompanying powerpoint - which really was just a bigger verion of cue cards for me and held no real useful information. I mentioned to our Librarian that I wanted to do a "how to" guide to pot on our blog/ website for students to look at after the session if they wanted to recap but felt that a powerpoint was a bit boring. The Librarian suggested I try Prezi as it's a bit different, you can still get across all the same information but in a slightly less mundane way. Moreover I had seen the Libray Indution Prezi that our User Education Senior Learning Resources Assistant (UESLRA) put together and was impressed with how much more visual and entertaining it was.
So yesterday I re-read the CPD23 post about Prezi, looked at the tips and watched the 'intro to prezi' video about 5 times but still really struggled to get started. I was sat next to our UESLRA and asked lots of questions and her advice (as was on many a blog) was just have a go and a play around until you feel comfortable. I spent a lot of time on it and by the end of yesterday felt a bit more comfortable about the whole thing, It is hard no to try and follow the power point format of slide after slide but I do like the variation in frames and that I can put my information anywhere then put a path in to link it to the next bit of info.
I still think I need to play a bit more to understand it a bit better - a user guide would have been useful, but I suppose it's difficult to produce a user guide when the way people would use Prezi would vary depending on thier creativity and what they want it for. As my post may suggest I'm still unsure as to whether I like Prezi or not - I certainly like what other people have managed to do with it - I'm just not sure If i'm creative enough to make it work for me.
Thursday 1 September 2011
Evaluating Events
Thing 15 is something I can comment on for quite some time but I will try and keep it short and to the point.
Attending events
I have always been a fan of attending events to help with your own professional development, increasing knowledge and networking. In all my jobs up to now I have kept an eye out for releveant, useful events that I can attend, the free ones especially as I knew that my employers would happily send me off to a free event. Those which required funding I made sure I put together a good argument as to why I should attend and how my attending the event would benefit them as well as me and so far I have never not got to go an event that I think is worthwhile. Even from my first day at the Library our librarian made it clear that he expected me to attend as many events and courses as possible and would ensure that the time was avaialble for me to do that and he has been true to his word. So far in the 4 months I have been here I have attended; The CULN Conference, The RSC Learning resources forum, The East Midlands Information Skills Forum, The RSC e-fair, A visit to Northampton College's new Library and the IS oxford Heritage Open day. So far all of these have been free events and I have always walked away armed with more knowledge and useful advice to pass on to my colleagues.
Speaking at events
As I am only just starting out in my career I don't think there will be anyone knocking down my door to speak at any events anytime soon. However to help with my public speaking I have been asked by the Librarian to do some staff straining on the use of our printers, just the basics such as how to enlarge/reduce documents,scan etc as I do one day a week in our reprogrpahics department I am well equiped to give this training. Further to this I volunteered to put together an Information Skills session on Blogging for our HE students which I have been asked to dleiver by their Tutor. Whilst I am delighted to be asked I am also slightly nervous as the last time I had to stand up and present was at Uiniversity, but I will take onboard some of Ned Potters advice to make sure I don't give an annoyng or boring presentation.
Organising Events
Again this is not something I see myself being heavily involved in at the begining of my career but is certainly an area in which I feel I would do well. I was Social Secretary at my Halls fo Residence at University, a role I enjoyed to the full. I am a rather organised (and according to my brother also rather bossy) and so would love the challenge of putting together a big event including contacting speakers,sponsors etc.
In my view participating in events (especially the free ones) are a great way to share knowledge and experice be it as an organiser, speaker or attendee and I will certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for any upcming events I can attend.
Attending events
I have always been a fan of attending events to help with your own professional development, increasing knowledge and networking. In all my jobs up to now I have kept an eye out for releveant, useful events that I can attend, the free ones especially as I knew that my employers would happily send me off to a free event. Those which required funding I made sure I put together a good argument as to why I should attend and how my attending the event would benefit them as well as me and so far I have never not got to go an event that I think is worthwhile. Even from my first day at the Library our librarian made it clear that he expected me to attend as many events and courses as possible and would ensure that the time was avaialble for me to do that and he has been true to his word. So far in the 4 months I have been here I have attended; The CULN Conference, The RSC Learning resources forum, The East Midlands Information Skills Forum, The RSC e-fair, A visit to Northampton College's new Library and the IS oxford Heritage Open day. So far all of these have been free events and I have always walked away armed with more knowledge and useful advice to pass on to my colleagues.
Speaking at events
As I am only just starting out in my career I don't think there will be anyone knocking down my door to speak at any events anytime soon. However to help with my public speaking I have been asked by the Librarian to do some staff straining on the use of our printers, just the basics such as how to enlarge/reduce documents,scan etc as I do one day a week in our reprogrpahics department I am well equiped to give this training. Further to this I volunteered to put together an Information Skills session on Blogging for our HE students which I have been asked to dleiver by their Tutor. Whilst I am delighted to be asked I am also slightly nervous as the last time I had to stand up and present was at Uiniversity, but I will take onboard some of Ned Potters advice to make sure I don't give an annoyng or boring presentation.
Organising Events
Again this is not something I see myself being heavily involved in at the begining of my career but is certainly an area in which I feel I would do well. I was Social Secretary at my Halls fo Residence at University, a role I enjoyed to the full. I am a rather organised (and according to my brother also rather bossy) and so would love the challenge of putting together a big event including contacting speakers,sponsors etc.
In my view participating in events (especially the free ones) are a great way to share knowledge and experice be it as an organiser, speaker or attendee and I will certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for any upcming events I can attend.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Learning more everyday
I have been learning a lot over the last week or so and thought now would be a good time to comment on it.
Last Thursday I attended a rather wet Heritage Open Day in Oxford with our Systems Librarian. As most of what I have learnt about Heritage has been self taught I was looking forward to learning a bit more about the system. I enjoyed being shown all the variants for different parts of the system. We also got given a Handy Heritage user guide which will help me in the areas I don't know as much about.
Once they got on to reports and global chnage/ delete it took a while but I actually started to understand just how much useful information Hertitage actually stores. This week I ran a report to see how many books we have at our Hinckley site and I was really quite proud of myself that I managed to do it (albeit with guidance from our Librarian) I think I could confidently run reports if I knew all the codes (of whcih there are thousands) and as I am a bit of a data lover I would actaully delight in all the different reports I could produce.
This week we have had 'training' on how to use the new RF system for the Hinckley Library. I do like the look of the alarm gates much more than those used for the electromagnetic system we used to use, however the procdeure to issue books is a bit old fashioned. We have a large plastic wallet in which we put in an issue card to block the Radio Frequency when issuing books. What I don't like about this system is it makes it very clear where the secutiry tag is as well as how easy it will be to lose the issue card as it stick out of the top of the wallet.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the equipment we use everyday and feel a bit knowledgeab;e aboutt he systems Libraries use - both for security and for catalouging.
Last Thursday I attended a rather wet Heritage Open Day in Oxford with our Systems Librarian. As most of what I have learnt about Heritage has been self taught I was looking forward to learning a bit more about the system. I enjoyed being shown all the variants for different parts of the system. We also got given a Handy Heritage user guide which will help me in the areas I don't know as much about.
Once they got on to reports and global chnage/ delete it took a while but I actually started to understand just how much useful information Hertitage actually stores. This week I ran a report to see how many books we have at our Hinckley site and I was really quite proud of myself that I managed to do it (albeit with guidance from our Librarian) I think I could confidently run reports if I knew all the codes (of whcih there are thousands) and as I am a bit of a data lover I would actaully delight in all the different reports I could produce.
This week we have had 'training' on how to use the new RF system for the Hinckley Library. I do like the look of the alarm gates much more than those used for the electromagnetic system we used to use, however the procdeure to issue books is a bit old fashioned. We have a large plastic wallet in which we put in an issue card to block the Radio Frequency when issuing books. What I don't like about this system is it makes it very clear where the secutiry tag is as well as how easy it will be to lose the issue card as it stick out of the top of the wallet.
I have enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the equipment we use everyday and feel a bit knowledgeab;e aboutt he systems Libraries use - both for security and for catalouging.
Friday 19 August 2011
13.2
Now that I have had a couple of days to play with google docs and dropbox I can give some proper feedback.
Dropbox - My new best friend :)
I managed to download it at home with no problems. I've been able to add things to dropbox in two ways. Firstly by simply copy and pasting ( if I don't need a copy I can just drag across) a document from my computer into my dropbox. The other way I have put documents in there is by uploading from a different computer. At first this came up with and error message but once I changed to simple upload mode I had no problems. I have also been able to succesfully download from dropbox - I tested this out by uploading a photo from home and dowloading it at work to add to my Blog profile so now all my lovely readers can see what I look like. So far I am quite impressed with dropbox. Later I may try and see what access from a mobile phone is like just to get an idea of how user friendly it is.
Google Docs - not so friendly
I like the fact that I don't have to remember to save the document as google docs does it automatically, which comes in handy as I am quite bad at saving I go from one extreme to the other (either saving after every line I type or not saving for ages then losing lots of work). However the problems arise when two people are viewing the document at the same time, well there isn't a problem if you are just viewing but if you are both editing it is frustrating. Myself and our systems librarian decided to give it a try earlier today - we are both at different sites so a great opprotunity to test it out. Whilst I was editing, my colleague started to write to say she could see me editing, the issue here is there is only one cursor so her message appeared in the middle of the text as I was trying to edit. We both agreed it wasn't great if more than one person is editing at the same time but would make for a good immediate communications tool (much like a "chat" facility) if it wasn't for the one cursor issue.
On the whole if you know you aren't likely to be accessing the document at the same time it is a really simple and easy way to share documents with a group, but if more than one person is editing at a time it becomes confusing (especially as you have to fight for control of the cursor and therefore the ability to edit anything) I think it would be better if there was a faciltiy to "lock" the document whilst you edit - still allow others to view the document but not edit until you exit. This where wiki's have the advantage to a degree as each person has to take thier turn in adding to the document (or thats how it comes acroos oin the video on the Thing 13 blog).
Online Storage - the way forward
I can see all three online tools having thier uses especially as more and more content is going online. I think its useful to use things like google docs and Drop box almost as online storage as they accessible form anywhere. This would have beeen handy when we had a powecut a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't use computers and we thought "aha we can use the laptops because they are battery powered" - but then came the realisation that no electricty = no servers too so we couldn't access any of our work. Dropbox would have been an ideal alternaive because as it is online it doesn't matter how or where you access it and the only electricty needed is that to power the device through which you access it (be that plugged in battery run).
Dropbox - My new best friend :)
I managed to download it at home with no problems. I've been able to add things to dropbox in two ways. Firstly by simply copy and pasting ( if I don't need a copy I can just drag across) a document from my computer into my dropbox. The other way I have put documents in there is by uploading from a different computer. At first this came up with and error message but once I changed to simple upload mode I had no problems. I have also been able to succesfully download from dropbox - I tested this out by uploading a photo from home and dowloading it at work to add to my Blog profile so now all my lovely readers can see what I look like. So far I am quite impressed with dropbox. Later I may try and see what access from a mobile phone is like just to get an idea of how user friendly it is.
Google Docs - not so friendly
I like the fact that I don't have to remember to save the document as google docs does it automatically, which comes in handy as I am quite bad at saving I go from one extreme to the other (either saving after every line I type or not saving for ages then losing lots of work). However the problems arise when two people are viewing the document at the same time, well there isn't a problem if you are just viewing but if you are both editing it is frustrating. Myself and our systems librarian decided to give it a try earlier today - we are both at different sites so a great opprotunity to test it out. Whilst I was editing, my colleague started to write to say she could see me editing, the issue here is there is only one cursor so her message appeared in the middle of the text as I was trying to edit. We both agreed it wasn't great if more than one person is editing at the same time but would make for a good immediate communications tool (much like a "chat" facility) if it wasn't for the one cursor issue.
On the whole if you know you aren't likely to be accessing the document at the same time it is a really simple and easy way to share documents with a group, but if more than one person is editing at a time it becomes confusing (especially as you have to fight for control of the cursor and therefore the ability to edit anything) I think it would be better if there was a faciltiy to "lock" the document whilst you edit - still allow others to view the document but not edit until you exit. This where wiki's have the advantage to a degree as each person has to take thier turn in adding to the document (or thats how it comes acroos oin the video on the Thing 13 blog).
Online Storage - the way forward
I can see all three online tools having thier uses especially as more and more content is going online. I think its useful to use things like google docs and Drop box almost as online storage as they accessible form anywhere. This would have beeen handy when we had a powecut a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't use computers and we thought "aha we can use the laptops because they are battery powered" - but then came the realisation that no electricty = no servers too so we couldn't access any of our work. Dropbox would have been an ideal alternaive because as it is online it doesn't matter how or where you access it and the only electricty needed is that to power the device through which you access it (be that plugged in battery run).
Monday 15 August 2011
Thing 13.1
Well so far I have created a document in google docs and just waiting to see how it works (I have added a colleague with editing rights so we will see if she can indeed edit). I have used something similar call Sky Drive in hotmail as myself and two firends are trying to plan a hen do for another friend and it seemed the easiest way in which we could all access and edit the documents. BUT we have had a few issues with it 1) if one person is in the document then no one else can view it 2) after editing it creates a new draft which does get rather confusing. If I have any success with google docs I may suggest we switch to it as will make things a lot easier.
I can also see how this could come in handy in the work environment too. Currently we have two methods of sharing documents 1) via our college extranet, which means all college staff can have access to and edit our documents and 2)we have a shared network space. Both of these have similar problems to the skydrive so google docs could be a useful alterntive.
I haven't been able to set up dropbox at work as I need administration rights to dowload it, however I have registered and will try again later at home. I heard about dropbox at the RSC-em e-fair and think it is great. I think it will be really handy for documents that I need to access both at home and at work for example the other day I wanted to add my CV to Linked-In but that is on my computer at home so will need to either do it at home or forward it myself via attachment in an email that I can open at work. So it will be very handy to have certain documnets always available. In addition to this I think that dropbox is mobile device freindly so if you take a picture on your mobile that you might want to use later it can simply be put into the drop-box.
I watched the clip on Wiki's and undertand how they work (this would have been a handy video to show to students when I tried to explain why Wikipedia is not a reliable source for info). However if everyone has to sign up simply to view and edit the page then it would be just as simple to use google docs.
Thats my views for now but will write again when I've made some progress with google docs and dropbox.
I can also see how this could come in handy in the work environment too. Currently we have two methods of sharing documents 1) via our college extranet, which means all college staff can have access to and edit our documents and 2)we have a shared network space. Both of these have similar problems to the skydrive so google docs could be a useful alterntive.
I haven't been able to set up dropbox at work as I need administration rights to dowload it, however I have registered and will try again later at home. I heard about dropbox at the RSC-em e-fair and think it is great. I think it will be really handy for documents that I need to access both at home and at work for example the other day I wanted to add my CV to Linked-In but that is on my computer at home so will need to either do it at home or forward it myself via attachment in an email that I can open at work. So it will be very handy to have certain documnets always available. In addition to this I think that dropbox is mobile device freindly so if you take a picture on your mobile that you might want to use later it can simply be put into the drop-box.
I watched the clip on Wiki's and undertand how they work (this would have been a handy video to show to students when I tried to explain why Wikipedia is not a reliable source for info). However if everyone has to sign up simply to view and edit the page then it would be just as simple to use google docs.
Thats my views for now but will write again when I've made some progress with google docs and dropbox.
Friday 12 August 2011
Library Love
whilst browsing the new LIS New professionals Network I came across the follwing question in one of the forums "How far would you travel for a job opportunity?" my inital thoughts have always been that I would be reluctant to move for a job, mainly because I have to consider my husband who works in outdoor education so I can't just up sticks for a job and either a) leave him behind or b)expect him to find a new job.
Having said that my coleagues and I went to visit Northampton College's new Library and I fell in love with it! it is a great space and learning environment, but then a 5 million investment was a big help, as is the fact that they have a prinipal who understands that the library is key to a successful college. Our new Hinckley library is half the size of our current one (which is already small as libraries go) and I think we are all somewhat reserved about how the new library is going to wok out. Furthermore they seem to be really on top of what they want their Library to offer and push to make sure thier facilities are used and are user firendly.
The later in the day I was doing job searches as I like to keep an eye on what vacacnies are available, salaries and what skills are in he job description (to make sure I get plenty of the right experience during my traineeship) and came across a full time position at Northamptonshire central Library (a rare thing indeed) I seriously considered applying for the position. The biggest issue for me was that I can't drive - I have tried and failed 3 times and just need to pluck up the courage to try again - but this means relying on public transport. Up to now I have never really had a problem with using public transport, however it would mean a train + bus commute of around and hr and a half a day, which I felt was just a bit too much on top of a full days work.
Having looked around since then I realise that full time Library positions are rare and some compromises are going to have to be made. I would comfortably be able to travel and hour each way everyday without it impacting too much on my work or home life and to be quite honest I will gladly travel for that amount of time if I knew I was going into a job I loved, and additonaly its time that I can spend reading :)
Having said that my coleagues and I went to visit Northampton College's new Library and I fell in love with it! it is a great space and learning environment, but then a 5 million investment was a big help, as is the fact that they have a prinipal who understands that the library is key to a successful college. Our new Hinckley library is half the size of our current one (which is already small as libraries go) and I think we are all somewhat reserved about how the new library is going to wok out. Furthermore they seem to be really on top of what they want their Library to offer and push to make sure thier facilities are used and are user firendly.
The later in the day I was doing job searches as I like to keep an eye on what vacacnies are available, salaries and what skills are in he job description (to make sure I get plenty of the right experience during my traineeship) and came across a full time position at Northamptonshire central Library (a rare thing indeed) I seriously considered applying for the position. The biggest issue for me was that I can't drive - I have tried and failed 3 times and just need to pluck up the courage to try again - but this means relying on public transport. Up to now I have never really had a problem with using public transport, however it would mean a train + bus commute of around and hr and a half a day, which I felt was just a bit too much on top of a full days work.
Having looked around since then I realise that full time Library positions are rare and some compromises are going to have to be made. I would comfortably be able to travel and hour each way everyday without it impacting too much on my work or home life and to be quite honest I will gladly travel for that amount of time if I knew I was going into a job I loved, and additonaly its time that I can spend reading :)
Thursday 11 August 2011
Thing 11 Mentors and Mentees
I have done some mentoring as part of a previous role as a Learning Support Assistant. The mentoring role varied dependent on the student some students needed support with homework whereas others needed help with behavioural problems. It was a great way to have a rapport with the students and I felt good knowing that I was providing support to someone.
Now this is going to sound either cheesy or very arrogant by I also consider myself as a mentor to my friends (I even earnt the name 'Grandma' amongst my small group of friends). I am currently providing wedding advice to a couple of my friends getting marrried next year, who are having a tough time with it. I am always available to listen to their troubles and offer advice, and they all do the same for me. As I have said in a previous post I like to know that what I do makes a difference which is why a mentoring position is one I comit to whole-heartedly.
I am also quite happy to be the mentee and often turn to my colleagues for advice and support especially when satrting a new job or later on when taking on a new task. I am quite a self-sufficient person and see no shame in asking for help, in my experience its much better to admit you don't have a clue and ask for tips than the awful feeling of struggling and not being quite sure about what you are doing. I've never really had a proper mentor but have had quite a few accidental or unofficial mentors usually someone I connect with and they unintentially influence the choices I make in the workplace.
I think it is a great idea to ask someone to be and official mentor, and not something that would naturally occur to me to do, however I don't think that you should depend soley on one mentor but be willing to learn from everyone you cross paths with, whether it be a good experience or not. To me life is one big learning curve.
Now this is going to sound either cheesy or very arrogant by I also consider myself as a mentor to my friends (I even earnt the name 'Grandma' amongst my small group of friends). I am currently providing wedding advice to a couple of my friends getting marrried next year, who are having a tough time with it. I am always available to listen to their troubles and offer advice, and they all do the same for me. As I have said in a previous post I like to know that what I do makes a difference which is why a mentoring position is one I comit to whole-heartedly.
I am also quite happy to be the mentee and often turn to my colleagues for advice and support especially when satrting a new job or later on when taking on a new task. I am quite a self-sufficient person and see no shame in asking for help, in my experience its much better to admit you don't have a clue and ask for tips than the awful feeling of struggling and not being quite sure about what you are doing. I've never really had a proper mentor but have had quite a few accidental or unofficial mentors usually someone I connect with and they unintentially influence the choices I make in the workplace.
I think it is a great idea to ask someone to be and official mentor, and not something that would naturally occur to me to do, however I don't think that you should depend soley on one mentor but be willing to learn from everyone you cross paths with, whether it be a good experience or not. To me life is one big learning curve.
Monday 8 August 2011
Its been a While
I'm surprised at how long it has been since I last posted! but work has been mega busy with withdrawing, reclassifying, packing ready for a move to a new Library as well as spending half my time helping out with our reprographics department.
I have got so much to catch up on, I am aware that I have still not got round to adding a photo of myself (all the ones I have are a bit outdated) or sorting out my LinkedIn profile or even managing my twitter account. However hoepfully all that will change once I get my new phone with internet access (yep thats how behind the times I am) as I will be able to keep on top of things when travelling around rather than trying to remember to do it when I get home.
For now I am going to bypass blogging Google calendar I have added it to my account but Iam not yet using it (again hopefully this will change with the new phone) and Evernote as although I read the entry on the CPD23 blog I didn't really get how to use it. Which brings me to thing 10!
I have given a lot of thought as to what I want to do. My ideal role would be either a school Librarian or a Librarian in a Public Library. Both of these positions are few and far between in my local area and so considering this the costs of doing a Masters in Library management woouldn't benefit me for quite some time (unless I chose to move which is a whole other post altogether), I do see the merits of it and if I was in a position in which I could afford to do a long distance course I would jump at the chance but at the moment I don't think it is essential for what I would like to do. having read the CPD23blog and being a frequesnt visitor to the CILIP site I think the route that would best suit me would be to work towards a slightly more senior role such as that of Senior Learning Resource Assistant and then work towards certification as this is something that I feel I can achieve alongside my other life goals.
I have got so much to catch up on, I am aware that I have still not got round to adding a photo of myself (all the ones I have are a bit outdated) or sorting out my LinkedIn profile or even managing my twitter account. However hoepfully all that will change once I get my new phone with internet access (yep thats how behind the times I am) as I will be able to keep on top of things when travelling around rather than trying to remember to do it when I get home.
For now I am going to bypass blogging Google calendar I have added it to my account but Iam not yet using it (again hopefully this will change with the new phone) and Evernote as although I read the entry on the CPD23 blog I didn't really get how to use it. Which brings me to thing 10!
I have given a lot of thought as to what I want to do. My ideal role would be either a school Librarian or a Librarian in a Public Library. Both of these positions are few and far between in my local area and so considering this the costs of doing a Masters in Library management woouldn't benefit me for quite some time (unless I chose to move which is a whole other post altogether), I do see the merits of it and if I was in a position in which I could afford to do a long distance course I would jump at the chance but at the moment I don't think it is essential for what I would like to do. having read the CPD23blog and being a frequesnt visitor to the CILIP site I think the route that would best suit me would be to work towards a slightly more senior role such as that of Senior Learning Resource Assistant and then work towards certification as this is something that I feel I can achieve alongside my other life goals.
Monday 25 July 2011
Social Networking
Well I have got quite a bit of catching up to do after some well earned time off. I'm well seasoned in the art of soical networking and have done it from quite a young age begining with MSN and Yahoo Chat where I chatted with freinds from school and got to know other poeple. Then at Univeristy the Facebook phenomena was taking of so I have been using it for many years as a way to stay in touch with friends and organise social events. I am also an administrator for our college facebook page - although so far I havent done anything with that yet. I did sign up with twitter but must admit I have negelcted it somewhat as I don't usually feel there is anything worth stating but I do enjoy following others and one benefit of joinging was that my husband also decided to join and its a great space for him to advertise his storytelling business.
I did join LinkedIn a while ago but have still to work on my profile and get that up to scratch and it was good to look at the examples shown on the blog to give an idea how professional it can look. I also joined LISNPN earlier this year when it was pointed out to me by a colleague and I quite like it as a fourm it is good to read some of the discussion boards and see other peoples views, I do contribute to some discussions.
As a way to meet new people I am a big fan of social networking - in fact it is how I met my husband. I realised that once I graduated from univeristy and was settled into a job I didn't meet so many new people and that social networking is a great way to conect to people that you might not ever meet. Similarly it is a great way to get your name out there and get to know others that have shared your expericences.
I did join LinkedIn a while ago but have still to work on my profile and get that up to scratch and it was good to look at the examples shown on the blog to give an idea how professional it can look. I also joined LISNPN earlier this year when it was pointed out to me by a colleague and I quite like it as a fourm it is good to read some of the discussion boards and see other peoples views, I do contribute to some discussions.
As a way to meet new people I am a big fan of social networking - in fact it is how I met my husband. I realised that once I graduated from univeristy and was settled into a job I didn't meet so many new people and that social networking is a great way to conect to people that you might not ever meet. Similarly it is a great way to get your name out there and get to know others that have shared your expericences.
Thursday 7 July 2011
I-pads and Institutes
Today I went to an introudction to the Pacific Institute which was supposed to de-mystesize the process somewhat. It didn't de-mistfy me that much but I have a general idea now what it is supposed to do. Basically it is training for staff to help the college achieve Investment In Excellence and from what I gather it is all about thinking about how you do things, reflecting and using that to change the way you work. Now I'm not pooh-poohing it just yet but if I get on the training (you have to be selected) I will be interested to see how it alters my way of life (especially as the 'facilitators' themselves have confessed there is a need for a refresher course as once away from the training room for a few weeks people go back to their old habits).
But more excitingly our college has borrowed 6 i-Pads from JISC to trial and 'play with' in the library. I was a little sceptical at first as from feedback I've heard i-pads aren't that great and you need a lot of apps to be able to do anything. I had a play today and I quite liked it. Its my first real 'go' on a tablet - although I do have a touch screen phone and we have touch screen computers in the library (which aren't very sensitive and take forever to do anything). I found the interface really easy to use and it was suprisingly easy to type using the on screen keyboard - it is a shame it is only in a notes facility though.
I was able to do quite a bit by accessing the wifi through safari (although I didn't know this is what safari was until I pressed the app) - I went to the college website and was able to access e-books through athens. I liked that i could do everything with my fingers - make texts bigger, cut, paste etc.
Overall I really liked the i-pad but i still think it is very expensive for what it is. You can access the internet (thorugh wifif) on an i-pod touch and dowload apps. You don't have an 'office' package availble on an i-pad unless you download a similar app, moreover there are no usb ports so you have to rely heavily on cloud style technology to save your work in an accessible way. I would like to try other tablets by different compnaies to see if they match up to the i-pad, but for useability I would stick to using a netbook as they are similarly small, have basic operating syetems and the ability to plug in a usb for 3G connectivity if wifi isn't available.
There is an interestinf project that has been run by JISC relating to using mobile devices in the learning envrionment fi you are interested read it here http://wiki.rscwmsystems.org.uk/images/c/c2/LJMM.pdf I found it quite interesting and highlighted some key uses for mobile technology.
Monday 4 July 2011
Thing 4 part 2
I got round to signing up to twitter this evening. it was a pretty quick and easy process. I took some advice from other blogs I had read about being consistent with your branding so you are easily identifiable on various social networking sites. It took a little while to get a name I wanted but was pleased to settle with @sam_phillips84.
I designed my page with a similar colour scheme to my blog with an orange background and pink text again to help build a consistency across my online presence. I still haven't uploaded a picture as I don't have an up-to-date photo.
I also didn't get round to exploring pushnote - but I will leave that for another night now.
I have resisted joining twitter for quite sometime but was quite delighted when after posting on Facebook people started following me pretty quickly. I was also quite chuffed at being able to follow Stephen Fry who I do quite admire.
I designed my page with a similar colour scheme to my blog with an orange background and pink text again to help build a consistency across my online presence. I still haven't uploaded a picture as I don't have an up-to-date photo.
I also didn't get round to exploring pushnote - but I will leave that for another night now.
I have resisted joining twitter for quite sometime but was quite delighted when after posting on Facebook people started following me pretty quickly. I was also quite chuffed at being able to follow Stephen Fry who I do quite admire.
Thing 4
So far today the only thing I have been able to do is sign up for RSS feeds with google reader as I can't access twitter on the College network. I do find this quite frustrating in an era when a lot of networking is boosted by social netwokring sites (just thing of how many things 'go - viral') colleges and schools still feel the need to block them as they are seen as a distraction. What frustrates me more is students can actually access these sites using the wifi facilities on thier mohile phones or thier own devices, so actually we are only hindering ourselves by not being able to update our facebok page or post twitter updates unless we do it on our own devices (again using the wifi).
With that rant over I will endevaour to sign up to twitter later on tonight at home. I will also have alook at pushnote as I am a firefox user at home.
Other thing I need to do include - add a profile picture and include more pictures in my posts - I imagine they are rather boring being just plain text.
With that rant over I will endevaour to sign up to twitter later on tonight at home. I will also have alook at pushnote as I am a firefox user at home.
Other thing I need to do include - add a profile picture and include more pictures in my posts - I imagine they are rather boring being just plain text.
Friday 1 July 2011
Being proactive
Today is all about being proactive.
One of the things on my PPDP is a project to promote our Library and develop a good marketing strategy, more specifically our Librarian wants to give our library a brand. Having not had much marketing experience beyond sticking up posters and handing out flyers at Univbersity this is a new and exciting challenge for me.
Due to my lack of experierence I thought I would make the use of the resources available to me in the library. One such resource was this e-book Light their fire; using internal marketing to ignite employee performance and wow your customers it is a very interesting read as to how once you get your employees to believe in yor brand then your customers will too using loads of great examples. It seems there are a couple of key things to help your success - you need to win over your employees (or in our case the tutors) who will then sell your brand/product to the customers (the students) if they love it the students will love it. Another good thing is great communication and consitency if you push the message long enough and hard enough poeple will begin to take notice.
It's been an eye opener - whilst those things seem obvious when you know them when you see the examples of how they work it really makes sense. Next challenge though -getting Tutors/ Staff on board and loving the library. There is a bit of a spilt in our college- some tutors 'get' the library - they understand that we have great reosurces, the staff are helpful and its a good learning space. Other Staff don't ever come in or give student the impression that its a dull and 'quiet only' space, or they don't have clue what we stock we have and just say to students "oh the library will have it" having never made an order for the book or ever checking the catalogue - thus giving the students the impression we don't stock what they want and we are 'useless' and they never bother coming back.
Stage 1 then needs to be getting tutors on board (which also includes improving communication) any tips? we do have staff devlopment week coming up but staff never sign up to learn more about the library - I was thinking maybe bribing them with drinks and bisuits? then sell the space to them.
Stage 2 will be promotion,promotion, promotion - on moodle, on facebook, on twitter, on posters on the new screens in our new build college - students won't be able to get round the fact that we have a library and they should come and use it.
Stage 3 Inductions - a lot of students have them (and hopefully more if we get staff loving the library too), make the Inductions fun and interesting so that the students know that the library isn't a stuffy silent study area but infact a place to come and enjoy the environment.
Thats as far as I have got for now. If any one wants to pass on any tips for gettting more people to love the library as much as us please comment.
One of the things on my PPDP is a project to promote our Library and develop a good marketing strategy, more specifically our Librarian wants to give our library a brand. Having not had much marketing experience beyond sticking up posters and handing out flyers at Univbersity this is a new and exciting challenge for me.
Due to my lack of experierence I thought I would make the use of the resources available to me in the library. One such resource was this e-book Light their fire; using internal marketing to ignite employee performance and wow your customers it is a very interesting read as to how once you get your employees to believe in yor brand then your customers will too using loads of great examples. It seems there are a couple of key things to help your success - you need to win over your employees (or in our case the tutors) who will then sell your brand/product to the customers (the students) if they love it the students will love it. Another good thing is great communication and consitency if you push the message long enough and hard enough poeple will begin to take notice.
It's been an eye opener - whilst those things seem obvious when you know them when you see the examples of how they work it really makes sense. Next challenge though -getting Tutors/ Staff on board and loving the library. There is a bit of a spilt in our college- some tutors 'get' the library - they understand that we have great reosurces, the staff are helpful and its a good learning space. Other Staff don't ever come in or give student the impression that its a dull and 'quiet only' space, or they don't have clue what we stock we have and just say to students "oh the library will have it" having never made an order for the book or ever checking the catalogue - thus giving the students the impression we don't stock what they want and we are 'useless' and they never bother coming back.
Stage 1 then needs to be getting tutors on board (which also includes improving communication) any tips? we do have staff devlopment week coming up but staff never sign up to learn more about the library - I was thinking maybe bribing them with drinks and bisuits? then sell the space to them.
Stage 2 will be promotion,promotion, promotion - on moodle, on facebook, on twitter, on posters on the new screens in our new build college - students won't be able to get round the fact that we have a library and they should come and use it.
Stage 3 Inductions - a lot of students have them (and hopefully more if we get staff loving the library too), make the Inductions fun and interesting so that the students know that the library isn't a stuffy silent study area but infact a place to come and enjoy the environment.
Thats as far as I have got for now. If any one wants to pass on any tips for gettting more people to love the library as much as us please comment.
Thursday 30 June 2011
A little more certainty
So further to my last blog I have now established my Personal Professional Devleopment Plan with the Librarian and Systems Librarian.
It was a very positive meeting and I feel a lot better now that I have a clearer direction in mind and I am even a little excited again now that I am to be given some projects. I get on well with our new sytems Librairan and she is very enthusiatic for me to do well which helps to bouy my confidence somewhat.
I am particularly looking forward to the opportuiny to job shadow in some other libraries as it would be great to see the variety of positions out there. I was also quite pleased that I will be given at least one project (to brand and market the library - eeks I struggled to brand myslef!) and the Systems Librarian is hoping that towards the end of my traineeship she can convince the librarian to give me responsiblity for cataloughing and classifying a small sunject area - which would be a fab opportunity and really give me hands the on experience of a librarian.
I'm really pleased things are coming together for me here now. I think it helps now that we have the new Systems Librarian as it helps our Librarian to share the load and free up their time more in order to get involved and focus on staff progression. I certainly think once I have had the oportunity to visit a few Libraries I can get a feel of where I would like to work which will help to confirm what route I want to take in terms of qualifications.
It was a very positive meeting and I feel a lot better now that I have a clearer direction in mind and I am even a little excited again now that I am to be given some projects. I get on well with our new sytems Librairan and she is very enthusiatic for me to do well which helps to bouy my confidence somewhat.
I am particularly looking forward to the opportuiny to job shadow in some other libraries as it would be great to see the variety of positions out there. I was also quite pleased that I will be given at least one project (to brand and market the library - eeks I struggled to brand myslef!) and the Systems Librarian is hoping that towards the end of my traineeship she can convince the librarian to give me responsiblity for cataloughing and classifying a small sunject area - which would be a fab opportunity and really give me hands the on experience of a librarian.
I'm really pleased things are coming together for me here now. I think it helps now that we have the new Systems Librarian as it helps our Librarian to share the load and free up their time more in order to get involved and focus on staff progression. I certainly think once I have had the oportunity to visit a few Libraries I can get a feel of where I would like to work which will help to confirm what route I want to take in terms of qualifications.
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Where to go from here
So I am trying to post every day I am at work for reflection purposes and for advice. Today is more about the advice (mostly becuase not much has been happening at work today).
I having some what of a crisis of confidence in my current career path. The situation is this - I have laways loeved libraries and have been trying for years to get a position in a library so to have finally entered into the environment I so craved is a wonderful suprise.
But here my dillema also begins, being a graduate trinee - the clock is clicking down to March whereby my contract ends. Naturally I am anxious to get as much out of the experience as I possibly can to put me in good stead for my next job (which will hopefully be within a library), however my collagues have been draging thier feet with this - as keen as I am to learn and as happy as they are to show me what they are doing there is no structured training plan in place. Supposedly this is to be remmidied next week and I shall start a proper schedule of training working my way through all the tasks involved in running a library.
So with this in place my next worry is reagrding my future - do I do an MA in Liibrary Management or similar? which I would love to do but really can't afford - I would definatley need to work to do either distance learning or a part-time course, but even then with a mortgage to pay off and living costs going up I don't have a spare few grand to invest in my future ( I know there are student loans and bursary's out there but I would like to avoid getting into more debt - that's my Dad's influence!). The other option is to work as a Learning Resource Assistant and see if my employer would contribute towards the cost of the MA.
Now here comes the biggest problem - both these options rely on me getting another job in a library and whilst I will have experience on my side this time there are simply fewer vacancies available and a lot of the LRA posts advertised are part -time and I can't apply for librarians positions without the qualifications which puts me in a bit of a difficult loop.
So potential readers any advice on where I can find a full time well paid library position please get in touch, or alternatively sharing your won expereince may help to ease my concerns.
I having some what of a crisis of confidence in my current career path. The situation is this - I have laways loeved libraries and have been trying for years to get a position in a library so to have finally entered into the environment I so craved is a wonderful suprise.
But here my dillema also begins, being a graduate trinee - the clock is clicking down to March whereby my contract ends. Naturally I am anxious to get as much out of the experience as I possibly can to put me in good stead for my next job (which will hopefully be within a library), however my collagues have been draging thier feet with this - as keen as I am to learn and as happy as they are to show me what they are doing there is no structured training plan in place. Supposedly this is to be remmidied next week and I shall start a proper schedule of training working my way through all the tasks involved in running a library.
So with this in place my next worry is reagrding my future - do I do an MA in Liibrary Management or similar? which I would love to do but really can't afford - I would definatley need to work to do either distance learning or a part-time course, but even then with a mortgage to pay off and living costs going up I don't have a spare few grand to invest in my future ( I know there are student loans and bursary's out there but I would like to avoid getting into more debt - that's my Dad's influence!). The other option is to work as a Learning Resource Assistant and see if my employer would contribute towards the cost of the MA.
Now here comes the biggest problem - both these options rely on me getting another job in a library and whilst I will have experience on my side this time there are simply fewer vacancies available and a lot of the LRA posts advertised are part -time and I can't apply for librarians positions without the qualifications which puts me in a bit of a difficult loop.
So potential readers any advice on where I can find a full time well paid library position please get in touch, or alternatively sharing your won expereince may help to ease my concerns.
Monday 27 June 2011
Sam Phillips - The Brand!
Thing 3 is a wonderrful one - especially as it covers some of the things I raised in my last blog about remaining professional and being aware of what you are putting out there.
I havent yet thought of a perosnal brand but have come to the conclusion that I am a little to firendly and over zealous in my blogs - I give away far too much information about myself. Now I don't see this as a bad thing, I am comfortable with who I am and am thus happy to be myself. However having read the blog on thing 3 I do understand the need to have a professional face and for this to be consistent - Imagine being in an interview and they say "so tell us about yourself" and you respond with "I can burp the alphabet" or "I'm really grumpy on monday mornings" it may be true but it isn't something you want to advertise in a professional capacity. Therefore with all this in mind I am still going to be me but try to ensure that my blogs are relevant and helpful in a professional manner.
I did google myself in both my married and maiden name but after searching the fist 3 pages in google found nothing relating to me - I did find out there is an Amrican actress with the same name though. This is both good an bad - it means that so far as I know unless any detailed reserach is done my personal information is secured. Unfortunaltey it also means I have very little online presence- if i can't be found how will people know about me? so any tips on how to remedy this will help. I do have facebook, and now a blog, the next step will be twitter so maybe my online presence will grow during the duration of 23 things.
You may have noticed (those who have read my blog before) I have changed my background and colour scheme - I wanted something that reflected me a bit more and that is why I picked the orange background and pink titles, I am quite an optomistic and happy person and this background represent this without being too over the top. I have also editied my personal info page and cut out anything I felt was irrelevant or didn't feel I would expose in an interview.
Another realisation I came to was that all my email addresses start with sambird84@ which is my maiden name so it may well be worth changing that for future networking to prevent confusion.
If I had to describe myself I would say I'm a good listener, organised, friendly and really helpful. So considering this I am going to adopt the slogan of a well known superstore that I worked in as a teenager and become - Samantha Phillips - always happy to help (is that alowed? or will people still think I work there?)
maybe a better one would be Samantha Phillips - Will do the best to achieve success. Yes I do quite like that.
So remember me -Samantha Phillips - will do the best to achieve success.
I havent yet thought of a perosnal brand but have come to the conclusion that I am a little to firendly and over zealous in my blogs - I give away far too much information about myself. Now I don't see this as a bad thing, I am comfortable with who I am and am thus happy to be myself. However having read the blog on thing 3 I do understand the need to have a professional face and for this to be consistent - Imagine being in an interview and they say "so tell us about yourself" and you respond with "I can burp the alphabet" or "I'm really grumpy on monday mornings" it may be true but it isn't something you want to advertise in a professional capacity. Therefore with all this in mind I am still going to be me but try to ensure that my blogs are relevant and helpful in a professional manner.
I did google myself in both my married and maiden name but after searching the fist 3 pages in google found nothing relating to me - I did find out there is an Amrican actress with the same name though. This is both good an bad - it means that so far as I know unless any detailed reserach is done my personal information is secured. Unfortunaltey it also means I have very little online presence- if i can't be found how will people know about me? so any tips on how to remedy this will help. I do have facebook, and now a blog, the next step will be twitter so maybe my online presence will grow during the duration of 23 things.
You may have noticed (those who have read my blog before) I have changed my background and colour scheme - I wanted something that reflected me a bit more and that is why I picked the orange background and pink titles, I am quite an optomistic and happy person and this background represent this without being too over the top. I have also editied my personal info page and cut out anything I felt was irrelevant or didn't feel I would expose in an interview.
Another realisation I came to was that all my email addresses start with sambird84@ which is my maiden name so it may well be worth changing that for future networking to prevent confusion.
If I had to describe myself I would say I'm a good listener, organised, friendly and really helpful. So considering this I am going to adopt the slogan of a well known superstore that I worked in as a teenager and become - Samantha Phillips - always happy to help (is that alowed? or will people still think I work there?)
maybe a better one would be Samantha Phillips - Will do the best to achieve success. Yes I do quite like that.
So remember me -Samantha Phillips - will do the best to achieve success.
Friday 24 June 2011
comments, compliments and complaints
As promised in blog entry two I looked at more blogs last night and was brave anough to comment on two who had similar concerns to me (like what to blog about, what are people thinking when they read my blog etc).
It's a little disconcerting to know that whatever I say is then out there in the ether for anyone to read, imagine if i'm having a bad day or don't agree with how things are done at work and I decide in the moment to blog about it - what if some-one from my work then reads the blog? I know I need to be a reposnsible blogger and really shouldn't write about anything I don't want anyone to read but sometimes my fingers run away with me.
In a way it could work out well - I mean if I am unsure about something and blog about it then at least I have the support and advice of other bloggers. I do think that you have to be balanced too its all good and well to come on and rave about new technology or great courses but if this is supposed to be reflective development you need to blog about the not so great stuff too so that when you do reflect you can consider what you need to improve either about yourself or in your workplace.
so with that in mind I intent to blog as I would speak (does that make sense) in that if it is something I would say to a colleague or family member it can go on here, however if it is something I would think twice about saying then i will keep that to myself.
It's a little disconcerting to know that whatever I say is then out there in the ether for anyone to read, imagine if i'm having a bad day or don't agree with how things are done at work and I decide in the moment to blog about it - what if some-one from my work then reads the blog? I know I need to be a reposnsible blogger and really shouldn't write about anything I don't want anyone to read but sometimes my fingers run away with me.
In a way it could work out well - I mean if I am unsure about something and blog about it then at least I have the support and advice of other bloggers. I do think that you have to be balanced too its all good and well to come on and rave about new technology or great courses but if this is supposed to be reflective development you need to blog about the not so great stuff too so that when you do reflect you can consider what you need to improve either about yourself or in your workplace.
so with that in mind I intent to blog as I would speak (does that make sense) in that if it is something I would say to a colleague or family member it can go on here, however if it is something I would think twice about saying then i will keep that to myself.
Thursday 23 June 2011
e-Fair
I spent the whole day today at the RSC (regional support centre) east Midlands e-fair. It was a brilliant day, I was able to find out so much just from networking on top of the great information given to use during the break-out sessions.
Being quite new to my post my knowledge of libraries is limited to what I have learnt in the last two months and my own experiences of university and public libraries so the networking session was a real eye opener to me. I have been educated in the Shibbloeth Vs athens conundrum as authentication portals and ease of use ( we use athens at our college).
I also found out about Drop-box - which is similar to cloud technology in that you download the software to your devices and then you can load documents, pictures etc into your drop-box and then you can access the drop-box from anywhere at any time.
There was a very interesting debate in learning providers using facebook as a tool to assist students with their learning. A lot of people agreed it is a great resource to connect with students but there are a lot of issues surrounding privacy and 'acceptable use'. We apparently have a facebook page for our library but whenever I search for it on facebook I only manage to find it as a place but no group. We also have a web page and a blog but I am unsure as to how well known and therefor used by staff and students in our college. I am a firm believer in using social networking to encourage students in their work. I don't advocate being 'friends' with your students but I see no harm in creating a group where we can post helpful tips and advice and students can ask questions and receive answers.
My last session of the day looked at students using their own devices in their learning again a very informative session and got me thinking about how we could make our library more interactive for our students. They can already access moodle and the library catalogue through our wifi but I think we could push this more and encourage students to use their devices to make full use of the resource available to them in the library.
Overall it was a great day, definitley worth going to and I would highly recommend it to others. I have previously been to an RSC meeting and information skills forum both of which have been beneficial to me and I have always walked away with ideas to implement in my own library.
sorry it has bee a mammoth post today (and I've been really restrained) but it makes sense that when you want to blog about something you're passionate about to express that passion.
Being quite new to my post my knowledge of libraries is limited to what I have learnt in the last two months and my own experiences of university and public libraries so the networking session was a real eye opener to me. I have been educated in the Shibbloeth Vs athens conundrum as authentication portals and ease of use ( we use athens at our college).
I also found out about Drop-box - which is similar to cloud technology in that you download the software to your devices and then you can load documents, pictures etc into your drop-box and then you can access the drop-box from anywhere at any time.
There was a very interesting debate in learning providers using facebook as a tool to assist students with their learning. A lot of people agreed it is a great resource to connect with students but there are a lot of issues surrounding privacy and 'acceptable use'. We apparently have a facebook page for our library but whenever I search for it on facebook I only manage to find it as a place but no group. We also have a web page and a blog but I am unsure as to how well known and therefor used by staff and students in our college. I am a firm believer in using social networking to encourage students in their work. I don't advocate being 'friends' with your students but I see no harm in creating a group where we can post helpful tips and advice and students can ask questions and receive answers.
My last session of the day looked at students using their own devices in their learning again a very informative session and got me thinking about how we could make our library more interactive for our students. They can already access moodle and the library catalogue through our wifi but I think we could push this more and encourage students to use their devices to make full use of the resource available to them in the library.
Overall it was a great day, definitley worth going to and I would highly recommend it to others. I have previously been to an RSC meeting and information skills forum both of which have been beneficial to me and I have always walked away with ideas to implement in my own library.
sorry it has bee a mammoth post today (and I've been really restrained) but it makes sense that when you want to blog about something you're passionate about to express that passion.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
2 days in a row!
I'm back again -mainly because I realised yesterday I was a day late doing thing 1 and so thing 2 was posted by the time I got in from work, but also if i remember to post daily then it will come in handy when I'm looking back to have record of the high's and low's of my traineeship.
I spent a good hour yesterday reading through people's blogs and I was amazed at the mixture of people blogging - from beginer to hardened pro's. I've yet to leave any comments - simply because I'm usure as what to say. I was however pleased to log on this evening to discover that some-one had read my blog and taken the time to comment it is lovely to already be recieveing support and so I endeavour over the next couple of days to read more blogs and have the confidence to post a comment.
I am at the RSC e-fair at the East Midlands Conference Centre at Nottingham University tomorrow. So if I have time I shall post about that tommorow. I'm looking forward to having a chance to network and go to a few workshops and pick up some useful info.
Thanks for reading.
I spent a good hour yesterday reading through people's blogs and I was amazed at the mixture of people blogging - from beginer to hardened pro's. I've yet to leave any comments - simply because I'm usure as what to say. I was however pleased to log on this evening to discover that some-one had read my blog and taken the time to comment it is lovely to already be recieveing support and so I endeavour over the next couple of days to read more blogs and have the confidence to post a comment.
I am at the RSC e-fair at the East Midlands Conference Centre at Nottingham University tomorrow. So if I have time I shall post about that tommorow. I'm looking forward to having a chance to network and go to a few workshops and pick up some useful info.
Thanks for reading.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
Getting Started
Our college Librarian pointed us in the direction of cpd 23 and after having a look through it I thought it was definitley worth a go. It's been a long time since I've done any blogging and I'm even too lazy to update my facebook status regularly, so I'm hoping now that I have a focus for my blogging I may come to enjoy it again.
I am currently a Graduate Trainee (albeit 5 years graduated!) in the Library at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. I did my degree in Sociology but have always had an interest in books and have wanted to work in a library for many years so I have just started on the ladder of librarianship career-wise, but hopefully through my experiences at the college and the new things I am hoping to learn from cpd23 it will help me to develop a greater knowledge of library work.
I'm intrigued about Thing 2 and considering your personal brand as it makes me think of last years apprentice and "Stuart Bragg - the brand" which used to make me cringe but I suppose he has a point you need to have confidence in yourself and your skills in order to promote yourself and be successful in your career. I am also interested in Thing 4 - RSS feeds I know little about, Twitter I have managed to avoid so far and Pushnote I have never heard of. Generally I am looking forward to all the 'Things' and actually getting a little bit excited at the opportunity to network and learn some new (much needed) skills.
So that's it for thing one. I welcome any comments, advice or suggestions for ways to improve. I will be back again for thing 2.
I am currently a Graduate Trainee (albeit 5 years graduated!) in the Library at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. I did my degree in Sociology but have always had an interest in books and have wanted to work in a library for many years so I have just started on the ladder of librarianship career-wise, but hopefully through my experiences at the college and the new things I am hoping to learn from cpd23 it will help me to develop a greater knowledge of library work.
I'm intrigued about Thing 2 and considering your personal brand as it makes me think of last years apprentice and "Stuart Bragg - the brand" which used to make me cringe but I suppose he has a point you need to have confidence in yourself and your skills in order to promote yourself and be successful in your career. I am also interested in Thing 4 - RSS feeds I know little about, Twitter I have managed to avoid so far and Pushnote I have never heard of. Generally I am looking forward to all the 'Things' and actually getting a little bit excited at the opportunity to network and learn some new (much needed) skills.
So that's it for thing one. I welcome any comments, advice or suggestions for ways to improve. I will be back again for thing 2.
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