Librarianship in the U.S. is often a second career - somehow heading straight for the Masters Degree in Library or Information Science directly after paying for four years at University doesn't hold broad appeal. Library science lacks the $$$ promise of law or business school or the cool factor of doing a PhD in Linguistic Forensics.
Long story short, I graduated university with a degree in psychology and got a job where I could wear suits, stockings and heels to work in a skyscraper in New York City. There were cockroaches, but not at work. I was a recruiter, then an IT trainer and finally systems manager at an entrepreneurial company - a very 90's progression of working hard and harder until I burnt out.
Looking for something less grinding, I found an HR job at The New York Public Library. Actually, there were two jobs on offer, one in recruiting (hiring) and one in employee relations (firing). Went for the job that allowed smiling. Carefully built relations with intelligent and fierce librarians - I was lucky to be at NYPL when the highest level managers had worked there forever. NYPL was not a place where you would ever doubt the value of public libraries or librarians!
Some life happened, with babies, and I moved to a beach town where everyone knew my grandparents. Learned to live with sand in the books. I got bored after a bit and worked for a community organization that provided food and basic support to people in need (migrant workers and long term locals). Wrote cool job training/computer training curriculum and got some big grants. Installed a community IT centre, taught classes and recruited staff and volunteers. Learned a valuable lesson about when to say no to grant money.
Life happened again - this time we ran out of dosh as a family and moved back into the NYC orbit. Deep in the paradisaical suburbs, I needed a calling, a career, a meaningfulness that would offer money and make the world a better place. Of course - Librarianship, in public libraries!
This was a perverse career choice; even in 2005 I thought that 10-15 years might see the decline of public libraries. But perversity is my middle name, so off I went to Syracuse University's Information school as one of the earlier distance learning cohorts.
I enjoyed formal learning as a mature student in a way I never had as an undergraduate. Some trying moments with distance learning group projects and a team member who plagiarized from Wikipedia, but that was real learning. Got a paid weekend librarian job and a work experience gig in public libraries, graduated and was ready to start work.
omg, this is such a saga. Because wanderlust took hold of me and my partner. We wanted to be somewhere other than the Northeast Corridor - the metropolitan blur stretching from Boston to below Washington D.C. With diploma in hand I found promising work in Washington State, near Seattle, but my partner couldn't get a good job there. He did have opportunities in London, so we decided to move to the UK; trading in the certainty of work for the fun of exploring.
If you are curious to know what I thought of UK libraries when I was freshly arrived, please read the 2007 section of this blog. I had a lot to say about volunteers and duplication of efforts.
Earning a librarian position in the UK took patience: school library volunteer work, CILIP membership, completing the ECDL, begging my way into a work experience placement in public libraries, temp work and working as a library assistant.
All the prologue to my fourth career, which I love.
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
When am I?
Google Calendar has been my constant companion for years. More specifically, since the day I decided it didn't matter if Google was watching me from a distance and selling that information at a profit. Really, the earlier you accept Google into your life as your saviour the easier it is.
There were a few tough days when my Calendar disappeared, taking away my grasp of who was where when* But those memories are washed away by the dependable orchestration of my five-calendar family life. Only a few obstacles remain:
1. Choosing colours. It was easy when my boy child's calendar was light blue and my girl child's was pink. Memorable but stupid, like the librarian with the bun and finger over her mouth. Now we're all interesting edgy colours like burnt umber, pea green and goldenrod, and I can't tell at a glance who is who. Ah, for the ease of stereotypes.
2. My work calendar on Outlook is imprisoned behind a firewall. When I am working at a different location I need to manually add that to Google Calendar. Maybe there is an export feature in Outlook I could use, but I don't trust myself to do it often enough to keep the calendars in sync. Ideas?
3.Time zones. I know this sounds esoteric, but just wait until you're trying to figure out how to put those flights to (fill in your international conference destination) into Google Calendar so they show up correctly. You want to board the flight at the correct local time in both countries and know what time you'll be arriving at your destination. And you want it all to work correctly on your (fill in your mobile device) app. If you've figured out how to do this smoothly, please share your knowledge. Meanwhile I'll keep freaking out that I've booked the wrong flight!
*Heed the advice of Miss Scarlet who cuts to the chase by showing us the ultimate in technology
There were a few tough days when my Calendar disappeared, taking away my grasp of who was where when* But those memories are washed away by the dependable orchestration of my five-calendar family life. Only a few obstacles remain:
1. Choosing colours. It was easy when my boy child's calendar was light blue and my girl child's was pink. Memorable but stupid, like the librarian with the bun and finger over her mouth. Now we're all interesting edgy colours like burnt umber, pea green and goldenrod, and I can't tell at a glance who is who. Ah, for the ease of stereotypes.
2. My work calendar on Outlook is imprisoned behind a firewall. When I am working at a different location I need to manually add that to Google Calendar. Maybe there is an export feature in Outlook I could use, but I don't trust myself to do it often enough to keep the calendars in sync. Ideas?
3.Time zones. I know this sounds esoteric, but just wait until you're trying to figure out how to put those flights to (fill in your international conference destination) into Google Calendar so they show up correctly. You want to board the flight at the correct local time in both countries and know what time you'll be arriving at your destination. And you want it all to work correctly on your (fill in your mobile device) app. If you've figured out how to do this smoothly, please share your knowledge. Meanwhile I'll keep freaking out that I've booked the wrong flight!
*Heed the advice of Miss Scarlet who cuts to the chase by showing us the ultimate in technology
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Going Local: Networking like Cambridge
Short of time or money? Geographically isolated from similar libraries and obvious peer groups? Want to invest in your local community? Tired of looking at teeny tiny pictures of people?
Try networking locally with people from other types of libraries; academic, special, public and school. You already have something in common to talk about - the council where your work, local restaurants and entertainment, overlapping audiences - so conversation should be easy. The payoff in ideas and energy from working across special interest groups can be tremendous.
To begin, try a pub night or host a reception for library and information workers from two institutions, for example university libraries and public libraries in the same council. Placing invitations on social networks such as LISNPN, Twitter will add special librarians and school librarians in your area to the mix.
With the help of some colleagues I plan to organise a pub night in the autumn for my public library colleagues, library workers from the University down the road, school librarians across the council and any specials librarians we can find. Stay tuned to hear the results. For further resources, London Information and Knowledge Exchange share tips on how they arrange their events at LIKE start your own
This post is dedicated to the generous Cambridge librarians who brought us cpd23 and their great local network which includes academic and public library workers. I'd also like to shout out to the CILIP staff and members who are working hard to build and represent a unified profession. The more we get to know each other locally, the more efficient our advocacy on regional and national levels.
Try networking locally with people from other types of libraries; academic, special, public and school. You already have something in common to talk about - the council where your work, local restaurants and entertainment, overlapping audiences - so conversation should be easy. The payoff in ideas and energy from working across special interest groups can be tremendous.
To begin, try a pub night or host a reception for library and information workers from two institutions, for example university libraries and public libraries in the same council. Placing invitations on social networks such as LISNPN, Twitter will add special librarians and school librarians in your area to the mix.
With the help of some colleagues I plan to organise a pub night in the autumn for my public library colleagues, library workers from the University down the road, school librarians across the council and any specials librarians we can find. Stay tuned to hear the results. For further resources, London Information and Knowledge Exchange share tips on how they arrange their events at LIKE start your own
This post is dedicated to the generous Cambridge librarians who brought us cpd23 and their great local network which includes academic and public library workers. I'd also like to shout out to the CILIP staff and members who are working hard to build and represent a unified profession. The more we get to know each other locally, the more efficient our advocacy on regional and national levels.
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Oh, Dearie Me...a defense of LinkedIn
I'm delighted to have be been introduced to St Evelin's cpd23 blog and am moved to defend LinkedIn. As a former HR person in libraries (stop booing!) and someone who currently teaches introduction to social networks classes in public libraries I have a few things to say.
Privacy on LinkedIn: the nature of privacy concerns seems to be age-linked. While I have a hard time sharing the minutia of my life and personal opinions on social networks, I am more than happy to have people know where I've worked and what type of work I've done. LinkedIn is relaxing precisely because the only information shared there is CV related - no one is asking what my relationship status is, expecting to see photos of me having fun or wanting to hear what entertainment I'm enjoying or not at the current moment. Dry as dust it may be, but LinkedIn is where you can learn about me and my areas of expertise.
Clubbiness: Yes! LinkedIn provides the access to people that a club membership might. But you don't have to go anywhere, learn secret handshakes, make small talk with boring people or any of the rest of it. And everyone is clear what the agenda is, so no need for social smokescreens when what you really want is Access to Information. Perfect for librarians who don't drink gin.
Usefulness: The value of LinkedIn is not in who you're connected with, but in their connections...your network. Imagine you're interested in duplicating an initiative at The New York Public Library. You search your LinkedIn network for New York Public Library and discover that a second level connection of yours (friend of a friend) works there. You can send her a LinkedIn message saying you're interested in learning about a particular initiative and that you've worked with Estelle (your connection in common). This is completely valid, the LinkedIn member will in no way be offended by your message and will likely introduce you to the correct person to talk to at New York Public Library.
Some recently told me "LinkedIn didn't get me a job" Well, LinkedIn is not an employment service - it doesn't use you, you use it. Most potential employers will check to see if you have a LinkedIn profile, so if you are looking for a job take the time to set up an outline CV on LinkedIn and populate it with a few connections. Unless you're in marketing/PR you won't be expected to have a million connections, and the best ones are those based on real life working relationships. And remember to look up your potential employer and interviewers before heading into an interview...the background information you gain could be valuable!
Changes at LinkedIn: Like Facebook (which once upon a time only accepted members with university email addresses) LinkedIn has diversified over the years. As LinkedIn's popularity has grown, members have started connecting with people that they've never met, rather than following the guidelines of only connecting with people with whom you have worked in the past. This dilutes the value of a LinkedIn introduction, but LinkedIn has tried to offset this by adding newer features like groups and discussions. Thoughts?
Privacy on LinkedIn: the nature of privacy concerns seems to be age-linked. While I have a hard time sharing the minutia of my life and personal opinions on social networks, I am more than happy to have people know where I've worked and what type of work I've done. LinkedIn is relaxing precisely because the only information shared there is CV related - no one is asking what my relationship status is, expecting to see photos of me having fun or wanting to hear what entertainment I'm enjoying or not at the current moment. Dry as dust it may be, but LinkedIn is where you can learn about me and my areas of expertise.
Clubbiness: Yes! LinkedIn provides the access to people that a club membership might. But you don't have to go anywhere, learn secret handshakes, make small talk with boring people or any of the rest of it. And everyone is clear what the agenda is, so no need for social smokescreens when what you really want is Access to Information. Perfect for librarians who don't drink gin.
Usefulness: The value of LinkedIn is not in who you're connected with, but in their connections...your network. Imagine you're interested in duplicating an initiative at The New York Public Library. You search your LinkedIn network for New York Public Library and discover that a second level connection of yours (friend of a friend) works there. You can send her a LinkedIn message saying you're interested in learning about a particular initiative and that you've worked with Estelle (your connection in common). This is completely valid, the LinkedIn member will in no way be offended by your message and will likely introduce you to the correct person to talk to at New York Public Library.
Some recently told me "LinkedIn didn't get me a job" Well, LinkedIn is not an employment service - it doesn't use you, you use it. Most potential employers will check to see if you have a LinkedIn profile, so if you are looking for a job take the time to set up an outline CV on LinkedIn and populate it with a few connections. Unless you're in marketing/PR you won't be expected to have a million connections, and the best ones are those based on real life working relationships. And remember to look up your potential employer and interviewers before heading into an interview...the background information you gain could be valuable!
Changes at LinkedIn: Like Facebook (which once upon a time only accepted members with university email addresses) LinkedIn has diversified over the years. As LinkedIn's popularity has grown, members have started connecting with people that they've never met, rather than following the guidelines of only connecting with people with whom you have worked in the past. This dilutes the value of a LinkedIn introduction, but LinkedIn has tried to offset this by adding newer features like groups and discussions. Thoughts?
Sunday, 17 July 2011
reflective practice
Hurrah! Reflective practice sounded like it was going to be a touchy-feely navel-gazing hyphen-fest, but it just means evaluating your work. That can still be hard as the to-do list beckons.
Evaluating work is necessary to improving performance and decreasing the time it takes to do a piece of work next time. While I find it tricky to set aside hours to evaluate my work in writing, if you do then you'll be ready for:
I've been doing the easy parts and skipping pieces of work that seem to offer little upside (like Pushnote which so many people have had difficulties with).
In general the week by week unveiling of new tasks is incredibly motivating, as is the feeling of being in this cpd23 boat with a lot of other inexperienced sailors.
This blog has been resurrected half-heartedly, but I think I've already reflected on that in earlier posts. Instead, I have put some energy into adding to the Twitter feed and been librarianishly pleased to not just be a taker of information but also a giver.
More time spent reading other cpd23 blogs would be useful, as would adding feeds to Google Reader and reading them.
It has been about a month since starting cpd23; I will check in with reflective practice on cpd23 again at month 3.
Evaluating work is necessary to improving performance and decreasing the time it takes to do a piece of work next time. While I find it tricky to set aside hours to evaluate my work in writing, if you do then you'll be ready for:
- your upcoming assessment
- the interview
- handing off projects to other people
- sharing best practices with colleagues
I've been doing the easy parts and skipping pieces of work that seem to offer little upside (like Pushnote which so many people have had difficulties with).
In general the week by week unveiling of new tasks is incredibly motivating, as is the feeling of being in this cpd23 boat with a lot of other inexperienced sailors.
This blog has been resurrected half-heartedly, but I think I've already reflected on that in earlier posts. Instead, I have put some energy into adding to the Twitter feed and been librarianishly pleased to not just be a taker of information but also a giver.
More time spent reading other cpd23 blogs would be useful, as would adding feeds to Google Reader and reading them.
It has been about a month since starting cpd23; I will check in with reflective practice on cpd23 again at month 3.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Tweeps, Eggs and Cartoon Women
Suggestion on Twitter that a good conversation starter is "I think I know you from Twitter". This will be particularly useful when I meet large eggs or cartoon women.
Heading to the Umbrella library conference soon, so I checked to make sure my web presence was up-to-date and correct. New photo for twitter was the first priority. Webcam mug shot but at least it resembles a current, vaguely professional me. Not vacation me with sunglasses and huge smile (unlikely sight at conference) or younger me from 2008 (hey, wasn't that just yesterday?). I also took another look at Linkedin; my profile is bare of recommendations or job details, but the information is correct. My employer doesn't print business cards and making my own would be frowned on, so I will be using LinkedIn to follow up on real life meetings.
tweeps?
I will be meeting face-to-face with people whose #ub11 and #cpd23 tweets I have been reading! This is a breakthrough entirely due to cpd23 encouraging me to tweet. I'd set up Twitter a year ago but I used it only for information gathering via Tweetdeck. Asking on Twitter about whether there were any #cpd23 people got a positive response and now I have a few people to look out for at the conference, which gives me a warm and cozy feeling.
If you've come across amusing library tweeters, please share. @orkneylibrary and @beathigh make me smile.
Heading to the Umbrella library conference soon, so I checked to make sure my web presence was up-to-date and correct. New photo for twitter was the first priority. Webcam mug shot but at least it resembles a current, vaguely professional me. Not vacation me with sunglasses and huge smile (unlikely sight at conference) or younger me from 2008 (hey, wasn't that just yesterday?). I also took another look at Linkedin; my profile is bare of recommendations or job details, but the information is correct. My employer doesn't print business cards and making my own would be frowned on, so I will be using LinkedIn to follow up on real life meetings.
tweeps?
I will be meeting face-to-face with people whose #ub11 and #cpd23 tweets I have been reading! This is a breakthrough entirely due to cpd23 encouraging me to tweet. I'd set up Twitter a year ago but I used it only for information gathering via Tweetdeck. Asking on Twitter about whether there were any #cpd23 people got a positive response and now I have a few people to look out for at the conference, which gives me a warm and cozy feeling.
If you've come across amusing library tweeters, please share. @orkneylibrary and @beathigh make me smile.
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
No digressions!
No time to digress from cpd23. If I don't soldier on I'm afraid I will drop it all together. Sitting in the sun and listening to bands is rightfully taking up all my spare time
Thing 3 is to examine personal brand on the web. Browser searches contain more about my real estate transactions than I'd like, but otherwise nothing too odd or self-contradictory. No dopplegangers to contend with.
Twitter: My twitter account is linked with my full name, so I need to be even more careful than I realized in my tweets. My workplace doesn't endorse professional tweeting on its behalf, but my tweets are read by other library staff. Outcome: boring tweets. Ah well, not sure I could offer any other type...
Linkedin: The browser searches revealed that my Linkedin account was too secure! I've opened it up to appear on public searches for my name. As this is the social network I am most comfortable with, I am going to spend time fleshing out my profile. I also need an updated picture across all my social networks. If my twitter feed is going to be professional, I could attach it to Linkedin.
Facebook: aside from my postings on group pages I've been keeping security tight. Vigilance is the byword for my personal/family social network.
Blog: this blog is almost invisible, i.e. not read and not obviously linked to my full name. I will endeavor to keep it so by maintaining it as a Chartership/CPD blog. If this was a Jasper Fforde novel the characters would have plenty of spare time to sit in the sun and listen to bands :-)
Thing 3 is to examine personal brand on the web. Browser searches contain more about my real estate transactions than I'd like, but otherwise nothing too odd or self-contradictory. No dopplegangers to contend with.
Twitter: My twitter account is linked with my full name, so I need to be even more careful than I realized in my tweets. My workplace doesn't endorse professional tweeting on its behalf, but my tweets are read by other library staff. Outcome: boring tweets. Ah well, not sure I could offer any other type...
Linkedin: The browser searches revealed that my Linkedin account was too secure! I've opened it up to appear on public searches for my name. As this is the social network I am most comfortable with, I am going to spend time fleshing out my profile. I also need an updated picture across all my social networks. If my twitter feed is going to be professional, I could attach it to Linkedin.
Facebook: aside from my postings on group pages I've been keeping security tight. Vigilance is the byword for my personal/family social network.
Blog: this blog is almost invisible, i.e. not read and not obviously linked to my full name. I will endeavor to keep it so by maintaining it as a Chartership/CPD blog. If this was a Jasper Fforde novel the characters would have plenty of spare time to sit in the sun and listen to bands :-)
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Thing 2
Wandering the blogs:
I garnered a folk festival recommendation that I'll follow up on 025.431
I asked an obvious question and received an obvious answer from laurens23things
Skimmed some useful notes on using social media with young people - morals and methods - which I intend to revisit at socialyouth
Thought about the number of blogs with book backgrounds vs. the number with grass backgrounds
Skeletons popped out of closets to hassle me - delicious tags; I remember why I abandoned them now. The old gmail account that I run this blog from; why is Google trying to ration my accounts and only let me log into one at a time? RSS feeds...haven't looked at my account in a year so it was a time capsule. Now we're creating all these cpd23 blogs, more detrius...time to think about the next Thing.
I garnered a folk festival recommendation that I'll follow up on 025.431
I asked an obvious question and received an obvious answer from laurens23things
Skimmed some useful notes on using social media with young people - morals and methods - which I intend to revisit at socialyouth
Thought about the number of blogs with book backgrounds vs. the number with grass backgrounds
Skeletons popped out of closets to hassle me - delicious tags; I remember why I abandoned them now. The old gmail account that I run this blog from; why is Google trying to ration my accounts and only let me log into one at a time? RSS feeds...haven't looked at my account in a year so it was a time capsule. Now we're creating all these cpd23 blogs, more detrius...time to think about the next Thing.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Chartership and cpd23
Q: why am I resurrecting this corpse?
A: I've been a librarian in London public libraries for a few years and have decided to work towards Chartership.
For those of you outside the U.K., Chartership is a professional qualification earned by practicing librarians. Chartership used to be a ticket to the big bucks, but as jobs are de-professionalizing and operational areas merging it is more about the activity than a financial payoff. Blogging is one approach to the reflective writing requirement of Chartership and also the first task in the online course 23 Things for Professional Development that I've begun.
I have some questions about blogging
1. Can I write interestingly and analytically about my library life without causing trouble?
2. Isn't blogging old-fashioned?
The corpse is re-animated and will move in an unpredictable fashion. Next time: anecdotes about author events
A: I've been a librarian in London public libraries for a few years and have decided to work towards Chartership.
For those of you outside the U.K., Chartership is a professional qualification earned by practicing librarians. Chartership used to be a ticket to the big bucks, but as jobs are de-professionalizing and operational areas merging it is more about the activity than a financial payoff. Blogging is one approach to the reflective writing requirement of Chartership and also the first task in the online course 23 Things for Professional Development that I've begun.
I have some questions about blogging
1. Can I write interestingly and analytically about my library life without causing trouble?
2. Isn't blogging old-fashioned?
The corpse is re-animated and will move in an unpredictable fashion. Next time: anecdotes about author events
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