Thing Thirteen collaboration on documents

Now this is something I am sort of looking into already.

The problem I have is that we have yet to get our IT department on board to allow permissions for all sorts of things that are basically part of modern life and certainly part of libraries 2.0.

This is not a prority for them at the moment and we are stuck until they can come to our aid in accessing them.

This type of sharing would in fact be very useful for my workplace as the library service staff are spread over several sites and some bob about from site to site as well. I can see that there is a potential for developing data and passing on information as well as collaborating on specific projects with people in another building.

Ho hum that is a big what if so far on this one.

As far as Wikis go, I see that as the same as the social media options, ie not really for me.

Lurking, lurking who's that in the corner?

Reflecting on social media

More contemplation and reflection  - the conclusion is that I am a big square, not least for using the term 'big square'.

I am an inveterate lurker and observer, I choose not to reveal myself too much either in person or in my slight and intermittent interaction with online outlets.

As a previous post said, I am a standard-issue Introvert and am not too clever with the networking and the posting of intelligent, pithy comments.

I have had a look at the blogs of participants not in my sector and while interesting I am not sure where this can lead me, to be honest.

 

thing eleven, mentoring.

I work in a small library and contact with the qualified librarian is not a daily occurrence. however, I am aware from jobs in other arenas that regular interaction with the boss is a matter of workload, structure and personality wherever you are.

Also, there is only one qualified librarian at a time here, so there isn't anyone to be my library mentor who isn't my boss too.

What we do have here is a fabulous team who work together, encourage and support each other through the ups and downs of life in a Further Education Learning and Skills Centre. For example, that is the third name my particular place of work has had since I started here, as we change to reflect the changing use of information by our users and also to accommodate the change in politics, fashion and dare I say vision (blurggh) of the management of the College as a whole.

You really need your colleagues at times like these, and I value and appreciate the input and encouragement the rest of the team have given me over the years.

In an ideal world I would have a big-sister mentor, supportive and critical at the same time; ready to say 'get real' where necessary and 'get your finger out' too. I wonder could I be my own mentor?

Thing 10 - Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

Thing 10 - Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation 

 This part of the  programme reminds me that there is some focus in the 23 Things on the professionally qualified rather than the para-professional or, well, what do you call us? Unqualified? Faceworkers? aka the salt of the earth, the only way a library service is run? Sorry just channelling my own moans and the shameless oily behaviour of certain senior managers I have encountered over the years.

I touched on the difficulties of getting access to the CILIP certification process in an earlier post, which I hope has been improved since I tried for that some years ago. I have achieved a NVQ L3 and ECDL which is as much as my role here requires. Working in a college, the emphasis is more on teaching and supporting roles and some of my colleagues have gone that way, from PGCE to lower learner supporting qualifications. I have resisted this route for me so far as I see myself as a library person rather than a teaching one.But the role has changed to one of supporting the learner/user in their use of the technology and equipment rather than one of signposting towards the actual books. Here I face what many of us do, to persuade a user to look at a book rather than at Wikipedia.

I flirted with a postgraduate qualification last year, getting a place on a distance learning course. But when the reality of perhaps studying for four years when I hope to retire within ten and the amazing cost of the course set in I reluctantly withdrew. I am still looking for my next bit of education/training.

While my children have faced the rising debts associated with higher education I am reluctant to go this way myself, for the reasons above.

I wonder does anyone else have the expertise to advise what they did next? I have had a look at other bloggers' remarks and the relevance of costs of things and funding education does filter through. I haven't found any remarks from non-professionals yet, I will keep looking though.

 

Thing Nine - Evernote

No.

I have had a look at  Thing Eight -  Google Calendar.

I am not sure how this is going to be useful for me personally or for my work needs.

We use our Outlook calendar in work for the team to share and to remind ourselves of both personal and professional commitments. 

Our college has a website and we use Moodle and a Widget to publicise things too. 

I am still trying to get agreement to allow Twitter and Facebook messaging for our Learning Centre needs with no results so far,  I will need to consider how this  could be useful instead.


So no cigar for this one, I'm thinking.

I am back from end of term madness and holidays, very nice thanks for asking. I am now going to attempt to catch up, wish me luck.
I will be avidly lurking and copying admiring my peers and cohorts to see what you have been up to in my absence.

Thing Seven

Thing seven: the real world

Some years back I joined CILIP and looked into certification. It was just starting out and sadly I had to give it up because my then manager who was involved with CILIP left and I couldn't get anyone else interested in my doing the work to assemble the portfolio. I did enjoy reading the journal that came with my annual subscription, but when it became apparent that a combination of things meant that certification was not realistic, I dropped it.
Eventually I was able to get the NVQ level 3 qualification in LIS.

The question of back-up and networking is essential to any sort of CPD at any level, especially at non-qualified levels. There does appear to be much more organisation available these days, not least this one, of course, which is a very good thing.

However, I am the standard-issue library introvert and find real life social gatherings a trial. I am useless at networking, hopeless at small talk and not tactful with people I am not connecting with.

There actually was a meet-up in Cardiff (where I live) for this group. My guilty conscience said "go, you must get involved" etc, etc. But then I thought, I am middle-aged,frumpy, boring female, aforementioned introvert and I completely bottled it.

I have read several things that suggest being introverted is actually useful, and a bit 'sexy' now, at least with those of us involved. This has not trickled down to my own behaviour, I find a lot of people all together a bit of a trial. And I am not sure how to get around that particular hurdle.

I read with interest what Joeyanne Libraryanne - excellent clever name by the way, I am very jealous - has to say about this. Perhaps I can get a strategy from these sorts of books like 'Quiet, the power of introverts ...' by Susan Caine. Up to now I have taken the Popeye option*, should I be facing the fear and doing it anyway? As they say?

* I yam whats  I ams, an  dat's all I yams - or some such.

Postscript
OMG! I just realised that indeed I am part of a real thing, I have been to some of the CLIC (which is Cardiff Libraries in Collaboration) events and enjoyed them a lot! Not such a shrinking violet after all, I will have to reconsider my position.

Thing Six


I am already in (on?) Facebook. I use it for connecting to family and friends from home, we don't have this aspect of modern life available in my place of work. Because it involves me, my family and friends and my life outside of work, I don't intend to use this for my work-face. This is ironic because it is the only bit of the course so far that I am fairly competent at.


I decided to check out Linkedin and have signed up for that. But, how, well, ugly and clunky does it look? It is not very visually impressive and I read that it has issues about password security. However it does have millions of sign-ups and I have given the 23 things group a go.

Still not sure about it.

Thing five

reflective practice in practice.

Hmm.

I feel like I have been thrown into the deep end of the public swimming baths I learned to swim in (for younger readers, this was an outdoor cold water pool ). We learned the term after Easter in the last year of Juniors. Yes kids COLD water in April. In South Wales. That's how boggled I am at the moment. I am currently desperately keeping my head above water and striking for the side to hang on to.

Yes yes I need to kick out and make a bold move for the middle, I do know that. End of metaphor because I am feeling cold and panicky just thinking about this. One last one, when this is over will I have a lovely warm smug feeling? Where is the fluffy towel of achievement?

I have dipped my toe in Twitter, need more kit to make this work for me.

I have some RSS feeds, now this one I have liked from the beginning, just like I have had a revelation in reading the blogs. Just clicking on the Next Blog>> button is great. who knew there were so many wierdies different sorts of people out there? All posting all sorts of things, like the person who went on holiday and not just wrote (in detail) about their every meal, but took a photo too? I mean, that's being seriously interested in food.But still, even when reading the 23 thingers blogs, soo much information.

I read with interest a comment about taking one thing at a time. Now that is advice I should take. I will think on ...

Thing 4

I am well behind for a variety of reasons but will be valiantly catching up - I hope.

I have had to examine Thing 4 from my PC at home because all these types of social media are currently blocked in work, even though most staff are sure of the benefits of reaching current and potential students. I also don't have the sort of mobile phone that does this sort of thing. I am now considering whether my position on these is hopeless posturing and it is time to get real and at least join the second half of the 20th century.
Time to leave that part of my comfort zone and dip a toe in for real.

I have joined up to Twitter and it is so big I am boggled.  I may have to default to getting a book and reading about it, a move that has accompanied me through almost all of my life, when I consider.

Well, I am still mulling thing 3 over. It seems to me that the first three things are totally interconnected, for example I now find I can't change my snarky Blog title to something more touchy-feely, I'm stuck with it, or so it seems. If you can advise me dear blog reader then I will be very grateful as I am still more like a monkey with a typewriter than anything.

On the up side I am battling vertigo to read All of Ned Potters totally brilliant Prezi called 'You aready have a brand!' and it makes me think about what I am about and where I want to go.

I tried Googling myself and found others with the same name but not me, I am a bit miffed but there if you don't enter the raffle you can't win, can you?

Well, I am still behind and trying to catch up.

I have been checking out blogs and am amazed at how complex some people's are. And how adept some are at marketing themselves already, surely some actually have the 23 things in hand now?

I left a weedy comment on Dowling Knitting Librarians blog a she is a knitter too. After I left it I realised I had committed the schoolgirl error of the me-too post. I think I need to check out the comments on other blogs and mug up on accepted etiquette etc.

I am taking part in the 23 things course so that I can see the depths of my ignorance.

I am a 56 year old Learning Assistant* in a Further Education college with students of all ages from 16 onwards.

 I read with interest and dismay that email is becoming old hat and post getting too expensive to use, so we must, even just to maintain the  service to our users, be aware of how people communicate and be able to reach them where they are, not where we think they are.

Now, I am not a gadgety or techy sort of person. Not anything like what is termed an ‘early adopter’. I have got a mobile phone and it is switched on and (usually) has a battery charge. However, it is for me to contact the world not the other way around.  And anyway it lives in my bag which is hung up in the hall at home and put away in my locker in work. Good luck with contacting me; I don’t know what the phone number is anyway. That is the sum of my personal gadgets.

Of course I use computers, I am using one now. I even have an ECDL. I use one every day at work and even at home. Sometimes. I am comfortable being an old-fashioned reading books and writing things down sort .

I am aware  that many others use their devices instead, I still think of them as phones but of course they are well past that point. They are the conduit of whole lives, fragile and precious and pretty much irreplaceable. So if that is where a lot of our users are then I think that we need to be there too. And I need to find out as much as I can about it.

So I am prepared to be amazed.

*  I am on the front line, if people are trying to flatter me they call me a para professional, this means I try to do the fancy stuff while issuing, returning and filling the printer.