Getting out there (aka Thing 15)

Photo credit - steve greer, Statue in the grounds of Gregynog Hall

Looking Back:
I have attended a few conferences over the years as delegate and speaker.  I also organised a conference some years ago and have supported the organisation of workshops / training events in various roles.
Communication during the organisation of events is absolutely key.  Whether you are a delegate, a speaker or an organiser, you are investing time in the event and that time should not be wasted.  If you waste your own time then more fool you, but then learn from that!!  If your time is wasted by others then that is utterly frustrating.  The only way to deal with that is to communicate.  Ask for more details.  Remind people that you haven't had their response.  Make sure you've given enough information.  Above all, keep patient in your approach.  People respond better to a kind word than a blunt one.  It sounds a little simplistic I suppose but I think the greatest frustrations come about by not having all the information you need in order to move forward.  By not being proactive about it you ARE wasting your own time.

Future Plans:
Ultimately I need to take whatever opportunities are presented to me.  I have a few areas I'd like to develop in order to advance my career.  They don't necessarily fit together though.  So until I can seek out suitable opportunties I am not sure what my next step is going to be.  There are a few areas I'm working on: getting a mentor and training in leadership.  They're still just on the horizon though, so it's going to take some time!  The most important thing is that I AM communicating.  I am asking and I am putting my message across (at least I hope so).

Finally, I would like to go to a Gregynog Colloquium in the future.  I went to one several years ago and co-presented.  It was such a great place to be, interesting and a lovely vibe.  I'll put that on my hopeful list!

Dotting the i's and crossing the t's (aka Thing 14)

Photo credit - zappowbang, The Elements of Style

I used Endnote religiously when I worked as a Research Assistant some 7 or 8 years ago.  I thought it was fantastic.  Especially as it allowed the flexibility or customising styles to create your own.  I'm glad to see these free versions are available as it means students can use themt and feel more confident about their referencing.  Our University has recently undergone a pilot year with a new Harvard Referencing guide and will now go forward into the next academic year with the new guide being used as the style for all students studying courses/modules that require the Harvard style of referencing.  With this development in place there are further discussion taking place regarding styles used for other courses/modules.  With this in mind I hope additional steps will be taken to add the styles used in our institution to the style repositories of the free software so that students are better able to meet the requirements for their coursework.  In our department our tutors support students with referencing.  I realise that many of our students are rusty when it comes to technology, but for those that are a little more confident this free software would be ideal.  Our students struggle with more than just the mechanics of referencing of course.  So our tutors will still be busy with explaining the reason for referencing to students - where/when/why etc.  But I certainly hope to see this progress in the near future.

Add your two pennies worth (aka Thing 13)

We have Sharepoint in work, which is used by some colleagues, but the only use that impacts on me is in it being used to provide access to policy documents and departmental bulletins.  I think it is fair to say that, in our little support team, I am more technology savvy than most, and the suggestion of using collaborative and file-sharing tools would be met with “Why can’t we just…?”.  Indeed, I am the only one in our team that is doing CPD23!  In short, we do not have a need for such tools, as yet.  Until there is an institutionally led directive to use Sharepoint (which there were rumblings of some years ago), or a similar tool, I can not see us changing the way we work.

I can see the benefits of collaborative and file-sharing tools.  I will try to practice these tools so that I can add them to my list of competencies.  But they’re not a high priority for introduction into the working practices of our team.

Photo credit - Beige Alert, Pennies

Keeping it social (aka Thing 12)

This is what my personal twitter network looks like on 15^th August 2011. I used Twitter Mosaic to take the image

I am terrifically interested in social media and the psychology of its use for both professional and personal means.  At the University there are various example of good practice; lecturers connecting with students on individual courses, central units connecting with wider student groups, networking for staff, alumni, students and prospective students alike.  In our team we are exploring the use of social media to reach students; we have a Facebook site and post to the Twitter feed for the whole department.

There is a growing acceptance for online communication in our society now, and certainly here at the University.  For many it is a simpler way of getting access to the information that they would otherwise have to cross campus for.  This makes it even more important to get the message right(please also see the points made in my post about over-reliance on technology).  People using online methods to find what they want can often jump from item to item or scan quickly without checking details.  This certainly explains why queries can end up going to the wrong recipients.  I dare say there can be other reasons too, but I am aware of people clicking on the first link to contact someone, without checking that their business is in the area they need.  At least with Facebook and Twitter people are voluntarily signing up for something and therefore selecting a business they want.  There is a better chance that by putting yourself out there on these platforms you are reaching people that want to be reached.  Our students can also sign up for RSS feeds for our site.  This also suggests that we are then reaching an audience that wants to hear from us.

Facebook and Twitter do allow for a more social approach though.  I do not subscribe to the idea that social media allows for a casual approach, but a little more chatty and humorous perhaps.  Professionalism is key in my opinion.  We don’t need to “get down with the kids” to reach them; just be approachable.  Using social media means that we are accessible for those that respond well to the structures provided by the particular social media platform in question.  Not everyone finds navigating a website a straightforward experience.  Social media platforms provide an alternative.

We’re not on Google+ yet.  That is too new to commit to just yet.  Needless to say I don’t mind trying it out until it shows how useful it will be for work!

Take me under your wing (aka Thing 11)

A mentor is exactly what I need.  I have a wide range of skills and a great desire to use my talents, but really need some guidance.  I'm lucky to have a number of positive people around me; colleagues encourage me, friends inflate my ego.  I need more though.  I need someone who will chisel away at my uncertainty and help me to focus on what will take me forward.

There are a few mentoring schemes in the University here, designed to help professionals in higher education.  Hopefully I can join one of the schemes and find someone who will take me under their wing.  If the scheme is not a go-er then I'll consider who I can ask for non-formal mentoring.  I've got to try!

Photo credit - Andy-Beal, Guardian Angel

Mis-shelved (aka Thing 10)

This Thing has me feeling really very out of place.  But then this is the Librarianship focused bit.  Time for me to reflect then on why I am doing this!

Step 1: Look back at my initial thoughts - Thing 1... Ah yes, I said I wasn't sure what I would get out of this Thing.

Step 2: Consider what I can get out of it - Learn from what is relevant and apply principles to my own situation.

Ok, but I would like to gain accreditation for what I do, despite the fact that I don't fit into the sector roles.  So what do I do?  I work damn hard, that's what!  But there isn't accreditation for that - a Certification of Damn Hard Workery is called for!  In lieu of such accreditation I shall keep plugging away.

Linkedin has enabled me to tap into the wider Administration / Business / Public Sector world through all of the groups on there.  I also receive bulletins from Public Service Management Wales, which can be quite interesting.

Whatever line of work I'm in, whatever my opportunities to move forward, the most constructive thing I can do is take some focus from this.  I'm checking whether I fit into the CILIP accreditations, but in the meantime, and regardless of whether I fit, I can still develop my portfolio and plan my professional development.  I've thought about this before and downloaded templates but then forgot about them.  So first things first, TIME MANAGEMENT - make time to plan and reflect.  It doesn't need to take much of my time to jot down items to include.  With my annual appraisal coming up in just over a week I need to reflect and recount salient points.  Last year I told myself I would make notes throughout the year to make the lead up to the appraisal less taxing.  But those plans never come to anything do they?  Ahem!!!  Well actually it's about time they did!

CILIP use a portfolio and so shall I.  I don't know if it will ever be seen by another living soul, but that's not the point.  The point is to add focus to my professional development.  If CILIP accrediation is a possibility then at least I'll be prepared for it.

Returning to Things 6 & 7

I just felt I had to update you on this business of networking.  I had been feeling a bit low about it all yesterday when I did my post about face-to-face networking.  I just didn't feel I had an in-road for any of the professional networks.  I thought I had explored all possibilties and had only limited options.  But I hadn't given up...

Today - eureka!  I was reading an internal newsletter and found out about the CILIP Information Literacy Group - perfect!  Information Literacy is a big interest of mine.  Better still - the group is free the join.  I have made contact and hope to hear from them soon.

Finding this group is almost evidence of Information Literacy at work - "An information literate person would also understand that, in addition to purposive searching, information can be acquired by browsing, scanning and monitoring information sources."

I'm feeling quite excited now.  I will, of course, keep you posted!