Thing Four: Current Awareness.

Twitter.

As mentioned in my last fascinating posting, I already had a twitter account (@hipporebecca ) before starting cpd23.

I never used to understand the idea behind Twitter, I thought it was basically lots of Facebook statuses without any of the other information you get from that site. Then about three years ago my colleague alerted me to the fact that I could discover the inner workings of Z List celebrities’ minds and I became more interested! As the protests against library closures began in earnest last year I began to see the power and usefulness of those 140 characters.

I use Twitter in a really inconsistent way- from looking inquisitively through notices about CILIP’s stance on volunteers to congratulating welsh rugby players on the birth of their children. I wouldn’t say that I use Twitter in a very professional way but cpd has encouraged me to make contact with others doing the course.  I’m sure as I continue to browse blogs and see more postings in participant’s side bars then I will be able to continue my online networking skills accordingly. I have only recently started owning a smart phone and have not been able to take part in live tweeting at conferences and events yet but I can see the advantages. My friend did it through Boring 2011 and received a tweet from Simon from Going Live’s Trevor and Simon. And so the circle back round to my obsession with Z List celebrities closes!

Will it be useful for work?

The RCN already has a twitter account which is run by our communications team but the library has been talking about getting one for itself. We are going to be refurbished next year and I thought this account from the perspective of a  US school library was a brilliant way of explaining what is happening and why. I have suggested us having a similar account here so watch this space!  

(I found out about the Mary Idema Pew Library from one of the many blogs and websites I was directed to through cpd23. If anyone can let me know which one I would really appreciate the information so I can cite it like a true librarian!)

RSS Feeds.

My interest in Google Reader had been piqued by the number of blogs mentioning it when I was doing Thing Two. I set myself up with an account and initially added cpd blogs that I enjoyed. However, I realised that there wasn’t really a point to this as the cpd website already has its blog feed. So I stopped doing this and instead added my favoured websites from cpd’s recommended reading (Phil Bradley and Wikiman (which in turn led me to The Library Marketing Toolkit.) As cpd continues, I’m hoping my use of Google Reader will ensure that the sites that I’m finding most informative won’t be forgotten about as I move onto the next thing.

Will it be useful for work?

The Library, Archive and information Services have a wiki where staff can add information that they have found out relating to our jobs. Hopefully, the information discovered after the web has been filtered through Google Reader, will make me a regular contributor to this.

Storify.

I was interested in this resource but unfortunately it can not be supported on Internet Explorer. This means that I can’t access it at work (and presumably neither can any school or public librarians doing this?) I could have used it to show how the recent RCN Congress was reported across different medias. At the RCN we already have a communications team who are doing this.  I think Storify could be a useful tool for libraries in smaller organisations to illustrate the information they can access and integrate themselves further into their company. I also liked the look of Scoop It for this potential purpose.

This week’s photo has been inspired by the sunny weather here in London. Here is a photo of me outside Margate Library last year. Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.....!

Thing 3 Proper: Considering my personal brand.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together

I have chosen to link cpd23 to my work account and have included it in my objectives for 2012-13. This was because I thought it would be beneficial to focus on the new area of librarianship that I am currently exploring. Having seen the number of blogs of people who had to drop out of last year’s course then I think it is probably a good idea to have the impetus of my end of year review to finish this myself! However, this does mean that I could be slightly limited by what I can say.

In the last blog post I mentioned that I would try to have my twitter account rolling alongside this blog but I have decided that that would not be a good idea. As an evangelical librarian many of my tweets are about libraries, but they also include random conversations with friends as well as retweets of remarkably mundane things that celebrities have said. I also have a fondness for retweeting @librarianclock who enjoys exclaiming statements such as “by jove, it’s gin o’clock’ at 5.30pm everyday. This is sadly something which jars with the RCN’s policy on alcohol (they are correct- it is very bad for your liver!)

I am quite lucky in a way when it comes to having an online presence because I have such a boring name. I keep my facebook account strictly personal (although seeing as my personality is as a librarian I am a member of certain related groups on there) and the improbability of tracking me down (linked with high privacy settings) means that prospective employers should never be able to find too many photographs of me enjoying gin o’clock!

When I Google “’Rebecca Jones’ library’ my linked in account  is the fourth option but there are more hits for a Dr Rebecca Jones who is an award winning school librarian and (understandably) far more important to search engines than me!

My usual name online is hipporebecca (you’ll never guess what I collect!) Searching for this online takes you straight to my twitter account but you also see much more of my personality- from my ebay. Google Plus and Amnesty accounts through to my obsession with music. Although I have done this before, I was surprised to see just how often random jokes between friends on twitter are popping up as a search result.  Worryingly, the result at the bottom of page one links to a page where I’m rated on ‘Hot Tweeters.’ I guess another advantage of using my work account to do CPD23 is that I don’t dare click through and see how I’m rated!

I decided to call this blog ‘Bex Without Spex’ rather than hipporebecca because I wanted it to be more professional (although I don’t know if I’ll be continuing this blog once I finish CPD) and, more importantly, my work colleagues thought that it was a better name. I suppose it shows my continuing interest in the image and stereotypes of the profession. It also makes me feel like a bad rapper when I ever I say my blog name in my head, but that’s by the by!

So should I be worried about not having a personal brand online? I’ve been very impressed, reading the cpd23 reading list and other blogs, how seriously some librarians are being- from having consistency in logos across all online platforms to printing business cards for conferences. I don’t think that approach would suit my real life personality or work ethic. I left my previous job because I didn’t want to be pigeonholed- either as someone who only worked in public libraries or only worked with children- and am using this course and the online resources to explore my transferable skills. I am happy to cross reference the different aspects of myself. Feel free to follow me on twitter- I’ve started to follow people on this course (although mostly I just copy what my friend @nicololosaurus does)  and I might refer people on twitter over here if there’s anything (perish the thought!) that can’t be expressed in 140 characters. I think I would like to use these platforms to gain skills and knowledge and then just force my personality on people who are [un]lucky enough to meet me in real life.

My one constant- here is another photo of myself outside a library – this time in Cozumel, Mexico.

Tangent before Thing 3: branding

Three was a ‘thing’ that I knew would interest me when I signed up to cpd23 as I have always been interested in the image of the profession. The dissertation for my MA was about ‘the image of librarians in films as viewed by students, potential librarians and librarians.’ As a result of researching that I noticed that in general the public views librarians in the stereotypical way of buns, glasses, twinsets etc while (at the time- shockingly this dissertation was written 11 years ago!) the librarians who were writing about image seemed to (mostly) be coming from an ‘I’m crazy me’ angle. Luckily, judging from the blogs I’ve been reading for cpd23, librarians have calmed down a lot since then!

Image has continued to be an important issue in librarianship. People argue about the brand of ‘library,’ worrying that having a name associated with dusty books means that people won’t realise how much libraries have evolved and so stop using them. Personally, I feel that part of the problem is that the profession gets so bogged down discussing this issue internally that it forgets to market itself externally.  I don’t think muggles care if they are going to a ‘library’ or ‘learning hub’ or ‘idea store.’ What they wonder is why no-one bothered to tell them that there are free computer classes/ e-books/ rhymetimes/ information literacy courses/ homework help sessions (delete as applicable and then add all the extra services you offer) as well as free books.

Personally, I like the word ‘library’ as at least the public have some perception of what we mean and offer.  They get angry when councils, universities, companies etc remove them as a cost cutting exercise because they know that a service was being offered to them. It is difficult to have a campaign against the closure of something when you have to explain what that thing was doing while it was open (“basically.... it was the library.”) I view our role as information professionals, to build upon this image and market our new services, rather than knocking down the brand and starting again from scratch.

Well, that was a bit of a tangent before looking at my own, personal brand!

Here I am with a brand of library I have yet to work in- a mobile library in Hong Kong. My slightly nervous grin is due to the fact that a security guard is running behind my photographer telling us off for trespassing (I think that's what he was saying!)

Thing 2: Investigating Other Blogs

This was a task I enjoyed doing- I'm good at being nosy!

One of the best examples I read was the 'Overcoming the Online Fear' post http://teaandscone.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/overcoming-the-online-fear-thing-2/#comments which talks about the value of social media and 'putting yourself out there.' and the benefits of this for librarianship. 'People on the outside are encouraged by the openness in the profession and feel welcomed and encouraged to join '

It has been really interesting to see the wide range of people taking part in Cpd23- at all stages of the profession, from all areas of the profession, and many different places around the world. So far, I've mostly just been reading posts taken from the side bar of the Cpd23 website but I've noticed that quite a few bloggers have been linking to more established blogs by people in the information world. So- moving on to reading these has been added to my 'things to do' list.

I also need to start to 'pimp' my blog- add my twitter account to it etc. However, I think I'll wait until after 'Thing Four' to do that.

One question though- am I the only librarian who doesn't like cats?!

Today's photo is taken from Caye Caulker in Belize - a holiday of a lifetime. Whoever is lucky enough to work here has the perfect job. Although maybe they think the same about me working in Central London surrounded by world famous shops, museums and bars?!

Starting cpd23

So... here I am blogging!

This blog has been started so that  I can participate in cpd23 2012- an online course for librarians. information professionals and various other job titles. (http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/ )

I graduated from University of Northumbria in Newcastle (UNN) in 2001 and chartered in 2008. For most of my life in the library world I have worked in public libraries- in Leeds and Wandsworth (London.) I am (worryingly) passionate about the role of public libraries in the community.

However,  I decided that I needed experience in other forms of libraries. So, after volunteering at the Women's Library for a year, I started working as an Information Assistant for the RCN. This is very different to my previous roles as it is in a specialist healthcare library and includes more 'traditional' library skills such as database searching.

If you've not done so already, please sign the petition against the planned closure of the Women's Library http://www.thepetitionsite.com/925/128/986/save-the-womens-library-at-london-metropolitan-university/ 

I am hoping that cpd23 will enable me to continue exploring the library world and help to develop my library knowledge and skills. More importantly, it has given me the excuse (through this blog) to display some of the photos of me posing with libraries around the world. This was inspired by the Sad Librarians page for Gateshead libraries ( http://www.asaplive.com/your-local-library/sad-librarians- ) where the staff exhibit photos of themselves outside public libraries while on holiday, and other librarians then holiday in Gateshead to pose outside their libraries!

In honour of this new blog, here is a picture of me outside Liverpool Central Library- due to reopen in 2013.