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.....!