Save Our Libraries

When is our government, the people we elect to care for this country and its inhabitants, going to realise that libraries are a central feature of communities and that closing them down will be detrimental to society?

It's not like this anymore!!!



It's not just about the books! Libraries offer so much more than just books. Gone are the days when libraries are dark buildings with row upon row of books with a strict librarian glaring over the top of her glasses at any one who dares make a noise, if they ever were the days they happened long before I was around. These days libraries still have row upon row of books but also computers so the 23% of the population who do not have internet access can access it. Not to mention the great many events which are held. Library staff have such a wide range of skills why discard them? A librarian is a font of knowledge, use them wisely.

Look at it now! community.newcastle.gov.uk/libraries

Some of my happiest memories of my childhood were spent in the library, at school we used to go once a week to our local library where the lovely librarian would read to us, when I got a bit older with a better reading ability my mam would take me on a Saturday morning and I had a great time finding new books to get lost in. Now its great, I live opposite my local library so can go almost any time, it was even better when they did free reservations!

My grandma uses the library as a meeting place for the local walkers club, she's made some good friends through that. There's also weight loss groups which meet there, although I suspect that's more to do with the gym which shares the building.

After reading other peoples views on library closures I have been made aware that there are strong links between reading ability and educational achievement, so why put todays youth at a disadvantage? They're already being born into a time where unemployment is the highest it's been for 17 years! Then the government is going to take away opportunities for them to develop outside of a school environment, how does this make sense to people? Yes, the last governement did not fix the deficit but I really don't think that closing libraries is the way for this government to address it.

My local library is awesome, I love it, I would be lost without it!

The Final Thing!

Thing 23 - Reflection, what next?

So the final Thing is finally here and it's time to reflect on what has been done so far and make plans for the future. I think for reflection in the interest of not repeating myself and boring people who have already read yesterdays post it will be best to direct readers to my previous post - Integration I did things a little out of order and ended up doing Thing 19 yesterday.

SWOT analysis
As I've already started Chartership I have a SWOT analysis and PPDP for that, I'm not comfortable showing my PPDP publicly so here is my SWOT analysis:

Strengths
Commitment to professional development
Enthusiasm for my field
Commitment to service improvement
5 years experience in an academic library
MSc Information and Library Management 
Articulate written communicator
Self motivated and can work alone
Competent and practical
Flexible approach to work/learning new tasks
Good interpersonal skills
Can handle responsibility

Weaknesses
Lack of recognised enquiry skills training
No formal teaching qualification or experience
Lack of variety of experience
Fear of public speaking
Underdeveloped critical analytical skills
A small network of contacts

Opportunities
Job cuts create opportunities to volunteer in other departments to gain skills
Networking events for opportunities to expand my network of contacts
CDG opportunities, for example, attending National Council for personal and professional development
Support for personal and professional development

Threats
Current economic climate
Service restructuring
More experienced colleagues
I work mainly after core opening hours (after 5pm) so am less recognisable to senior staff

PPDP
I have found the process of writing a SWOT analysis and developing a PPDP from that to be quite rewarding, having goals and ways to meet those goals is a good approach towards development. My PPDP has also made me think about where I want to go and how I want to get there, I have a development map rather than a plan. I have been able to achieve most of my goals, the ones I haven't are ones which I will work on in the future, while it's important to have a plan it does need to be flexible as situations change regularly.

The Future
My plans for what to do next involve getting my portfolio together to submit for Chartered status, I'm currently working on my personal evaluative statement so will hopefully be ready within the next month or so. After that I will work on completing the goals I have not reached on my PPDP and getting a teaching qualification. I think that I will be inclined to use Prezi when using presentations in interviews as it's nicer to look at and gives a dynamic presentation.

I will continue to develop my use of Prezi and Jing so that when I get the dream job I will already have some useful skills, which will also (hopefully) help me to pick up the next tool that comes along. I will make an effort to keep my online presence cohesive and up to date so that my personal brand will reflect who I currently am rather than who I am when I started CPD23.

Integration

Thing 19 - reflecting on what's been covered so far and how I have integrated the Things into my work flow

Reflection
I am now a regular user of Twitter, I have found that to follow trends and people more effectively I have had to download Twitter to my phone as this is the quickest and easiest way for me to access Twitter. I now monitor who I follow to unfollow the people who post random nonsense to better control what I can see in my feed.

I am much more confident at blogging and make more of an effort to follow blogs, this is useful for current awareness in areas I am interested in. I find Ned Potter's blog to be particularly informative, and from comments I have read on other posts so do a lot of other people.

As far as events go I think I am still more comfortable attending them I feel like I lack enough experience to consider presenting at one although I often man a stand at events and this is building my confidence.

Volunteering is something which I will consider, I am fortunate that my employer is willing to let me volunteer for events which are usually staffed by a different department, this has allowed me to work at open days and events like Mini Umbrella. I will continue to actively participate in CILIP SIGs to improve more professional skills like networking and liaising.

I have already identified my strengths and ways to improve my weaknesses as part of the many job applications I have made so I was already happy with Thing 21. Although it never hurts to revisit it!

One drawback I find from CPD23 is that it could have been split into 2 sections, one which was aimed at people at the start of their career and were looking for ways to gain skills to advance in the field, and another aimed at people who were already at a higher level and wanted to increase their awareness of what was available to them. I have managed to create development opportunities as best I can and have managed to volunteer for library events and provide training after developing a training checklist, but, there is only so much I can do and I worry that if I push too much then the answer might become 'no'. There are Things which I won't get the chance to use as part of my job if I don't advance soon such as Prezi and Jing, even the personal brand would be more advanteous to those in a professional post, although it is useful to consider at this point. Thing 20 on library roots/routes was interesting and gave me things to consider for advancing in the field.

Integration
Twitter has been the most integrated Thing as it was something which I had not liked to use previously. I quite often check it out on my breaks now if something I want to follow is happening.  I will continue to attend events and volunteer for CDG and UC&RG. I have considered my personal brand and changed my online presence to reflect this. I have used RSS feeds to set up alerts for new jobs so I can be more aware of them and save time.

Podcasts and Jing

Thing 18 - Jing/ screen capture/ podcasts (making and following them)
Anything that makes a persons job easier has my vote and if you can put a video online demonstrating services so that users aren't tied to staffed hours for help this seems like a really good thing. In a 24/7 society where users want access to everything at all times it is necessary to adapt service provision, sometimes this even means getting to make a video.

I haven't made a video type guide but I have used them, I find the ones associated with software to be the most useful, like the ones used in Prezi, as they point and explain what an icon is or does so it's easy to follow. Even something as simple as 'click here' can speed things up, I completely relate to the example given in this Thing, I am forever trying to explain Hotmail to my dad and sending something as an attachment proved to be quite difficult to a man who struggles with technology (and has no patience to learn!), it's usually an interesting experience.

Prezi

Thing 17 - dynamic presentation using Prezi

I have spent the last 2 hours playing with Prezi and have created a presentation, as I don't do presentations as part of my job I created a personal one about a holiday I took earlier this year.

You can view it here - http://prezi.com/lw1ave6dcx8u/barcelona-2011/

I can see the benefits because after all of the courses and presentations I have attended I am sick of the sight of Powerpoint, it serves a useful function but it's time for a change. The only problem I found with Prezi is that I felt ill after I'd looked at a few of the example slides, care must be taken to use the path function with moderation.

Evernote - finally!

Thing 9 - Evernote - finally accomplished

For those of you who have read my earlier posts you will know that the computers at work did not want to let me download Evernote, even though a colleague assured me that they should as they have downloaded onto other work computers, maybe it's just me?

I have finally gotten round to sorting it out at home, as of 15 minutes ago I am proud to say I have had use of Evernote! And here is my first note -

I've still got a lot of playing around to do but so far I have made my first note and synced it to my phone. I love to do lists and having one I can access anywhere is definitely a benefit for me. I am still exploring the functions but loving it so far.

A little side note...

A little sidenote proclaiming the benefits of CPD23 while I wait for Evernote to download so I can complete Thing 9.

Having a reflective think while waiting for something usually proves interesting I think. What I was thinking about while waiting for this download is how useful blogging is, when you find someone worth following it is a great means of current awareness and doing CPD23 has increased my confidence in blogging, it's something I had never done before and not something I had thought about starting. Ok so I just got the 'Welcome to Evernote' screen and am off to explore the joy? of Evernote.

Volunteering

Thing 22 - Volunteering to get experience

I have not yet been in a position where I can volunteer the way it described in Thing 22, the need to be able to provide for myself has meant that I need to earn money, volunteering is not a luxury I can afford. This does not mean that I am against volunteering, given the opportunity I would love to gain more skills and develop my experience outside of my customer support experience, I would love to work in Content Services, working on e-resources and cataloguing. Opportunities for extra hours do come up in that team from time to time but due to the hours they would conflict with my current post so are not something that I can do.

It is important to realise that volunteering does not just mean working a job for free, it can also be joining a SIG. I joined the Career Development Group a little over a year ago, so far the benefits have far outweighed the costs, I have made contacts, gained skills such as networking and liaising (not possible in my current post) and get to be a part of something. The only downside of this is that I have to take holiday to attend the meetings as they take place during my shift, which I don't like doing as I run out of holiday for doing things that I would like to do for fun rather than professional development.

I have also joined University, College and Research Group as my university rep. This has been useful for current awareness although I feel completely out of my depth! I have only attended one meeting so far and at the regional round up session where people talk about what is new at their instituition I had no idea how QR codes are used in libraries, I vaguely remember reading an article about it and not really understanding what QR code was! Needless to say after that meeting I went and read up on QR codes and now know they are a way store information, ways this has been applied in libraries include: floorplans, catalogue entries and audio tours, all of these can be accessed via a QR code. I have a feeling that a lot of reading will take place as a result of my membership of UC&R! This will be great for my current awareness.

I think that if you can't afford to volunteer then joining a SIG is the best way to develop skills and knowledge. Networking and liaising skills are important management skills and not ones I could develop much in my current post so CDG has been very useful. Having a direction for current awareness is useful and cuts down on the amount of reading to do, or adds to it? Not really sure how that one works.

Identify your strengths, capitalise on those interests!

Thing 21- Identifying your strengths; capitalising on your interests

Thing 21 is about getting yourself in a position to be better at applying for jobs and performing in interviews by using your work and your personal skills to develop a strengths database. At work I have a competencies file where I log and reflect on things I have learnt or done, this is a really handy thing to have, it lives on my desk and so is always accessible. I regularly update my CV as I am in the process of job hunting, desperate to reach the dream goal of being a subject specialist. While this is specifically work-related I think it's also important to use examples from life to show you are a well-rounded person and can transfer skills. So for questions along the lines of how have you developed it doesn't have to be about a work task, in one successful interview I used an example of completing an art project at school, practicing until you get better and asking for help from an experienced person are good things to do, regardless of what they were applied to.

Strengths

• team player - I like working with people, a lot more can be accomplished by a team
• experience - I have 5 years working in a customer-focused team
• education - I am qualified to MSc level
• computer skills - experience of using MS Office, journal databases and internet
• enthusiasm - I am working in the field which I am interested in
• report writing skills - how do you get through a degree and a masters without picking this up?
• organisation skills - I live on my own, I have to be organised or the bills wouldn't get paid and I would have no place to live
• plus a whole lot more...

Interests

• reading - I cannot read enough, fantasy is my current interest between Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews my life is complete
• films - I love films, this is something which I have used to build friendships at work, getting to meet new people in the process, and such a simple thing to achieve
• dogs - I love dogs, definitely a dog person here

My strengths easily apply to job applications, my interests not so much. I am a person who would much rather get on with the people I work with so my interest in films and dogs usually form the basis of many conversations, while not a necessary job skill they keep me entertained on my lunch break! The last time I got that awesome feeling of finishing something great was a book I read. In the spirit of this Thing the last time I got that feeling of completion at work was when I finished updating the Welcome Desk manual and designed a training checklist to go with it.

I don't really dislike my job, my job is fine, not what I want to spend the rest of my life doing as I want to be a subject specialist and I'm not there yet but certainly not a bad job. The only thing I dislike about it is the hours I work, as I work afternoons and evenings it makes it difficult to have a life through the week as my friends tend to work traditional office hours.