Google Docs

In grad school, I discovered how useful Google Docs could be for easing the pain of group projects – we were spared wild goose chases through email inboxes for the latest version of a document, and each group member could work on the document on their own schedule, without burdensome meetings.  I particularly like the chat feature, where collaborators can see when others are also working on the document, and discuss things through an IM interface.  At my current job, I use Google Docs both for small projects with one or two colleagues and for larger projects with working groups composed of staff across campus.  Our library also uses Google Docs for an online suggestion box:  We set up a Google Form (one of the document type options), which web site visitors fill out and submit.  Their submissions go into a Google Spreadsheet linked to the form, and several of us are notified via an email alert that the spreadsheet has changed (new suggestion!).  This allows us to collaboratively monitor and respond to suggestions, and also store/track suggestions over time.  Handy.

Wikis

I’m in agreement with the Thing 13 post that suggests wikis for maintaining and sharing documentation like handbooks or technical instructions, as these things tend to change often, and easy updates are a must.  Currently, my colleagues and I use Sharepoint and Confluence wikis for staff “knowledge bases.”  The campus-wide working group I mentioned above also uses a wiki as a venue for our activities outside of in-person meetings:  we work up ideas on wiki pages collaboratively, share links and articles, and store our official documentation.  It has been very helpful as our group’s membership has expanded and activities have ramped up such that email would have been impossible to keep up with had we stuck with that format of sharing information.

Another excellent example of librarians using wikis for good in higher ed:  teach-the-teacher model of bringing information literacy into the classroom, via wiki. Brilliant collaboration between librarians and faculty to build course-specific resources in an easy-to-update format.

A word to the wise about wikis: their success/utility relies on the shared interest of a group.  Just because you build it does not mean they will come, and a wiki by one isn’t really worth it (speaking from experience here, folks).

The Library Routes Project wiki mentioned in Thing 13 intrigues me – I see several cpd23 folks have added links to their Thing 10 posts. I hope to come back to it one day soon.

I need to say how much I love the Common Craft videos – they are seriously golden.  I should send the wiki video to my friends as a strong suggestion for how to plan our annual group camping trip this fall.  Good reminder that these tools are useful outside the office.

Dropbox

I’m relatively new to Dropbox, but it solves a really specific problem for me:  I need a quick and easy way to share large media files, files too large to email to someone.  I haven’t used my account for anything else yet. There is a lot of hullaballoo on my campus among IT staff regarding security concerns with Dropbox, (primarily the desktop client, as opposed to the web version, I think).  Unfortunately, scholars and the rest of the campus community don’t have something exactly comparable available to them through official channels, so until they come up with something, security be damned, I think folks will continue to use it to get ‘er done.

The Pros

Several benefits of social media as a means for professional development are mentioned in the post:

• social media as effective promotional tool (700+ participants in cpd23 gained through social media marketing)
• a way to meet people beyond physical/proximity networks (widening the networking pool)
• encourages collaboration and idea sharing
• fosters development of online communities that can then evolve into real-life experiences and communities
• eases access to connections in other fields/sectors that may otherwise be difficult to make
• presents budget-friendly opportunities for professional development
• “the more you interact with others, the faster your professional network will build.”

I would add that social media can provide a comfortable sandbox for newly-minted professionals or socially anxious/awkward/shy folks, where they can practice interacting with others in a professional context.

The Cons

A possible disadvantage may be the affect on a person’s presence in real world: submersion into online social networks could detract from their availability/engagement in real world networking experiences.  I feel like I’ve seen hints of this where folks at a professional event are thoroughly engaged with their mobile device, but barely aware of what is happening around them – or so it seems.  Are they missing out on real-world network and community-building opportunities?  Maybe.

Another related disadvantage to using social media for network-building is the potential time-sink:  it seems so easy to lose track of time, getting caught up in the “always-on” discussions and activities, that one should be mindful of the challenge at the outset.

My take-aways

Cpd23 has certainly helped widen my networking pool, spurring me to interact with librarians abroad and in fields beyond my own.  Without an assignment or specific purpose, I doubt I would have ventured out like that.  There’s a cultural mindset here where I live that emphasizes very local lifestyle choices.  I think that has permeated my professional tactics, too, by and large.

Prior to cpd23, my professional use of social media consisted of a sandbox for exploring/learning/practicing for workplace applications (institutional social media accounts for outreach and promo).  I  hope I have established some new habits during this program, expanding my use for more focused professional networking and growth.  I know what I get out of it depends on what I’m willing to put in – joining up doesn’t build my network or foster a sense of community, it is the quality and frequency of my interactions that count.

In that spirit, I did add some new contacts to my LinkedIn and Twitter networks, as the post recommended we do.  I thought maybe I could be strategic and add potential mentors – yes, I’m still chewing on Thing 11.  I’m still looking for mentor ideas, and I found myself browsing  Library Journal’s list of Movers and Shakers 2002-present, where I was surprised to find my former library director listed for 2003! Further consideration brought me to the conclusion that I’m seeking an experienced female librarian, with insight into one or more of the following:

• social justice aspects of librarianship
• higher ed technology
• familiarity with my particular workplace culture

I feel relief at having narrowed the field, and I have a couple of folks in mind to ask.  A small but notable victory. 

Me as wee mentee

Libraries are wonderful, natural venues for informal mentor relationships:  “Hello, I need help!”  “You need help, you say?  I can help you!”  Looking back, I have to say that most of the folks I’ve worked with in libraries over the years have mentored me in some form or fashion, being receptive to my questions, sensitive to my desire to learn/self-improve, and committed to sharing their knowledge freely with me (all traits of librarians-at-heart, whatever the official job title).

I also enjoyed informal mentee relationships with my graduate school professors & advisor.  Perhaps I could have gotten more out of it had I explicitly asked for a mentor at that time.  Miss Scarlet speaks to this opportunity in her post about mentoring:

Your professional life doesn’t start when you take your first library position; it begins in school. Being a student provides you with opportunities you may not necessarily get once you graduate.

I have difficulty pinpointing one individual as Mentor, but one individual does stand out for me.

Before I stepped confidently into my career path, I met someone I now consider an awesome mentor by accident at a party of a mutual friend; she gave me the insight and encouragement (and connections!) to make the leap into an Information Studies graduate program, a future that I’d been contemplating for years.  She’s always game to talk shop, introduce me to her professional connections, and answer my questions candidly.  We’ve also become good friends over the years (she’s been over for dinner at my grandparents’ house!)   I feel forever indebted to her, and as a result, I am compelled to try to give back to my community of librarians and information professionals.

Me as mentor

Since graduating with my Master’s degree 4 years ago, I have made a concerted effort to serve fellow “ischoolers” in mentor-like ways:

• Supervising semester-long student course projects and capstone experiences – Many ischool students work in the library in one capacity or another during their stint at this University, and they often look for projects they can do in their familiar work environment for academic credit.  Avoiding conflict of interest, the students dedicate additional hours outside their assigned work shifts, and usually do something outside their defined job responsiblities (but within their field of study or interest), expanding their skill set and gracing us with some fresh perspective and free labor!  I’ve supervised half a dozen or so of these projects, and look forward to each new experience.
• Supporting job-seekers – I  offer my support to newly-minted librarians when asked to review resumes and interview presentations, serve as a reference, or discuss various aspects of the job-hunt.

• Showing interest in up-and-comers – I make a point to strike up conversations with ischool students I meet in my library and elsewhere, asking about their work, progress, and experience.

Me as mentee, part deux

In retrospect, as a non-lawyer (and non-aspiring-lawyer) in a law school, a mentor would have been helpful in orienting me to the culture and politics of this workplace.  Of course, I’ve gotten some informal guidance from my colleagues over the years, but a more defined point-person would perhaps be more helpful.  Unfortunately, I find myself at a bit of a loss on who to look to as a role model in my immediate vicinity.  I’ve been successful in finding informal mentorship in the wider campus librarian community.  As recommended in Thing 11, some self-reflection is in order:

You should be quite clear about your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about what sort of assistance you would like your mentor to provide.  Such clarity and straightforwardness will lead to a much more productive and successful relationship.

I did take advantage of the mentor program offered through AALL this year, trying to make the most of my first AALL conference experience.  While the person I was matched with is not my “senior,” he is a seasoned AALL member and conference-goer, and I was very relieved to have such a friendly person receptive to inducting a newbie, sharing his thoughts, experience, and time generously.  Since the conference, I’ve not been in direct touch, but we are connected via twitter and Facebook.  In my opinion, this mentor relationship succeeded for the specific purpose in the conference context.  As for our continued relationship, I’ll need to think concretely about what I want, and what I think he can realistically provide.

I guess the strategy of taking opportunities as they present themselves, mentioned in the How to Find a Mentor article, is the best way to characterize my approach to mentorship -  funny how I consider myself such a planner and organizer, and yet, I definitely just “feel my way” on some things.  Becoming more involved in professional organizations and networks (something I’m just starting to do, and thanks in no small part to 23 Things) will hopefully provide me with more mentor/role model options.  I’m feeling a little discombobulated with the realization that I can’t immediately think of role models or prospective mentors!

So, my takeaway from this Thing is a personal challenge to figure out why I might want a formal mentor,  identify role models, and explore  a formal mentor relationship.

How I got here

I’ll admit, after reading through this thing, I’m wondering if I know all the professional training & certification options for US librarians.  My personal experience over the last 19 years has been a fairly organic yet steady upward climb through academic library ranks:

• undergrad student worker shelving books, then
• student office assistant and circulation desk staff, then
• full-time library assistant, then
• IT/Media staff, then
• graduate school (teaching assistant, IT lab staff, digitization tech, various volunteer projects), then
• para-professional job at an academic library, then
• professional librarian position

I figured out about half way through this list that librarianship had found me, that my future was right under my nose, and that was the start of more deliberate steps towards professional growth  (hello grad school!).

What’s next? 

I’ve recently been given a smidge of management responsibility (aside from managing student assistants, which I’ve done periodically over the course of my library career), supervising a 1/2 time employee.  I’m imagining that the next steps must surely involve managing more people and projects, maybe even a department!  But they would have to make a department for me here – currently, I straddle Public, Technical, and Administrative Services, since the organizational chart structure doesn’t quite accommodate my actual job duties neatly.

Thoughts on UK librarianship

Regarding the UK librarian training options described in this thing, I must say the vocabulary differences between the US and UK is confusing me a bit.

Graduate traineeships

“Most UK universities who offer LIS courses want you to have a year’s work experience before you start the course”

Wow, I don’t think most US LIS graduate programs have that kind of prerequisite, at least mine didn’t.  The way it seems to work in my neck of the woods: graduate students get part-time jobs,internships, or volunteer in libraries while pursuing their LIS coursework – sort of a parallel experience, as opposed to the more sequential process in the UK.  A prior traineeship certainly sounds useful for helping one hone or solidify their career goals before investing in a graduate program.

Chartership
So, based on my interpretation of the description provided on the cpd23 blog and review of the 5 steps to Chartership on the CILIP website, this sounds like a really structured and practical way for librarians to get organized, learn networking skills, continue professional development, and learn to market themselves professionally.  I don’t know of a similar over-arching program here in the US.

It sounds good

I really like the idea of Evernote, as I love to collect info (pictures, bookmarks, notes, lists, etc.), but I’m a terrible procrastinator when it comes to organizing.  Evernote seems a possible remedy to that very problem, by giving me organizational tools at the point of capture:  assignment to a “notebook” of my choice, tags, & annotations.  I already use the Notes native iphone app, and bookmarks in my mobile browser, so it’s just a matter of doing these things in a different way.  I also like that it comes with built-in distribution tools, so I can easily send my stuff out over the interwebs via email, facebook, or Twitter.  And perhaps most notably, this tool provides some comfort on the point of device failure, since my Notes are all synced and stored in the cloud.  It sounds like a worthwhile tool, and the price is right (FREE!) But I can’t help but wonder if I’ll remember to use it.

First impressions

I’ve futzed with Evernote for ~30 minutes, and I have some frustrations: The iphone app has some wonky delay in the “pushability” of the buttons, like it is frozen.  I end up banging on my iphone screen with my finger until something happens.  This is probably due to my older generation iphone + lack of any recent updates to the apps or OS.  My other frustration is with the web clipper feature, which I initially thought was one of the best things going for Evernote.  On my iphone, I apparently have to email the clipping to my Evernote account from within my mobile browser, via  my unique Evernote email address which I saved to my contacts.  Rigamarole?  Sounds like it to me.  I read that older versions of Evernote had a built in web browser, where you could clip and save web content seamlessly.  I guess the Evernote folks didn’t want to the burden of keeping a browser feature current, letting folks rely on their native mobile browser functionality instead.  This makes sense, it just seems inconvenient to me at this point.  Maybe I won’t mind it if I actually develop an Evernote habit, which remains questionable.

“Collect, organize, share” – sounds familiar

I can’t help but think of Zotero and Mendeley here, and the similarities and differences between these tools. Evernote is a pile or big-bucket manager; the others have a scholarly focus, as citation/reference managers.  So, can I push Evernote content easily to Zotero or Mendeley?  I’ll have to try this when we get to Thing 14!  Hmmm, should I make a note in Evernote?  Can I set a reminder on it?

Action item:

My goal for this Thing will be to use Evernote for the next week, as much as I can, and then write my observations on whether I think is it worthwhile as a comment on this post.   I installed the web clipper plugin for Firefox on my work pc, in an attempt to use that feature more.

As for work applications of Google Calendar, I have a few thoughts on that:

A couple of weeks ago, I ventured so far as push my online conference schedule to my personal Google Calendar, putting it neatly in my hand on my mobile device – handy!  I felt triumphant.  Alas, after a few near misses, I discovered a time-zone switch happened in the Google Calendar appointments, and being loathe to troubleshoot the problem, I ended up using my printed schedule instead.  Good ol’ paper – predictable, reliable, lovable.

I’m nearly frothing at the bit to use Google Calendars in our Library Hours and Student Training web pages, since currently I manually update html tables in my capacity as the library webmaster.  The code4lib article and blog post about how libraries are using Google Calendar (both provided in the original Thing 8 post)  are excellent starting points for me.  It makes sense for us to streamline this process with Google, since we’re using Google accounts for other library public services operations (chat reference IM account, Google forms for patron feedback).  I expect editing a Google Calendar will be one-million times easier for non-web-authoring staff who manage this kind of information than it is for them to edit html pages in a web editor or send me word documents that I have to cut and paste into html.  Ack!

We are also currently experimenting with the Google api to see if we can build a room reservation system, based on Google Calendar.  Wish us luck!

So, I often ask myself, is it unhealthy to expect so much from Google, to look at it as a catch-all problem solver?  In my job, I struggle to manage widely varied and distributed systems, sites, applications, etc. It is wrong to bliss out on the possibility of consolidating lots of things into one familiar application/interface? Should we be putting all our eggs in one basket?

Upping my game

This was my first time attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries, the only formal professional organization I belong to currently (thanks to employer-paid membership dues).  While I have previously taken advantage of online training they provided, I was really grateful to finally put faces with names, interact with my colleagues in a new environment, and take advantage of the mentoring program.  Having a designated mentor was a huge relief to me, as I tend to feel vulnerable flying solo in crowds.  Lucky for me, my mentor was easy going, super nice, and he actually voluntarily hung out with me every day at the conference!  I know time is precious, so I felt this was really generous on his part.  After reading Jo Alcock’s post, I’m feeling less pressure to perform, and more hopeful that I can harness my natural skills effectively.  I’m adding  the book she reviewed to my reading list.

Coming off  the conference, I’m feeling that “rush” of inspiration I’ve read about, confidently stepping up my participation.  In addition to following  list-serv discussions and taking online trainings (my typical MO, lurk-ish), I signed up for a committee in the Computing Services Special Interest Section, and I’m working with a colleague to write an article for the Association newsletter.  I’m even feeling motivated to propose a session or activity for next year’s conference (building on the newsletter article, or maybe something fun based on geo-caching).

Local networking

As I mentioned in Thing 6, I’m not a natural networker, so it takes deliberate effort to get out of my comfort zone.  In the last couple of years, I have made efforts to network locally, by getting involved on my campus:

• Library Directors’ Award Committee -  I served 2 years on  a university system-wide committee charged with selecting recipients for an award recognizing faculty for innovation in the use of university Library services.  That committee was a great starting point, as I  got to know fellow librarians here on my campus and at other campuses in Texas.  I also learned about some very cool things faculty were doing to bring library resources, services, and librarians themselves into the classroom.  I was green, but the seasoned folks were great with guidance and advice.
• Digital Preservation Working Group – a couple of years ago, a colleague started an informal semester brown-bag lunch meetup for folks working with digital archives on campus.  This was a great way to share what we’ve all been up to, share tips or resources, etc.  Since then, the group size has doubled, I helped set up a wiki and a list-serv, and we’re beginning to formalize our structure so that we can take action on some particular issues.

My hens, Camilla and Merci

On a sidenote, I think it worth mentioning that I’ve also enjoyed my recent membership in the Austin Backyard Poultry Meetup group.  This local network of chicken enthusiasts gave me the courage to start a new venture in my backyard.  They have a robust online community, with tons of helpful resources for the newly initiated, and I’m proud to say I went to my first face-to-face meetup this past weekend.  Granted, I didn’t talk much or linger long, but I figure every small step is getting me closer to being comfortable networking.

Still Shopping

Since grad school, I have felt this pang of obligation to join the American Library Association, and how about  a couple more professional organizations, for good measure?  They flesh out that resume nicely!  But there is something inherently insincere about that reasoning, so I never took action.  Call me kooky, but I feel that if I’m paying dues I should have a vested interest in the organization.  To be honest, I haven’t spent the time to sit down and find one that resonates with me.  I don’t think it is just my spendthrift tendencies, but also a desire to be a committed member, to get something out of it more than just the reference on a resume.  ALA is the go-to org, but it is sooo huge.  There are several divisions of ALA that interest me, and hopefully I’ll investigate them more fully soon:

• Library and Information Technology Association (LITA
• Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
• GLBT Round Table
• Social Responsibilities Round Table

AALL has a Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section, too.  I’m still considering the Special Libraries Association.   And  as I mentioned in Thing 6, I’m curious about LISNPN.

So how do folks figure out which to choose?  Is it a crapshoot?  Serendipity?  Do you follow your colleagues’ lead?  Is it about following the herd, or trying to branch out?  As you can probably tell, I have difficulty making choices when faced with too many options, fearing I won’t choose best.

I’m a Digital Resources Librarian in an academic law library, and I’m participating in the Library Day in the Life project for the first time.

Today, I’m back in the office, unpacking my brain after conferencing in Philadelphia at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting, and trying to get back on task with my regularly-scheduled program.

9-10am – reviewed and responded to email, made my daily must-do list.

10-11:30am – daily must-do’s:  library website updates, schedule library social media posts for next couple of days, complete my Annual Enrollment for insurance benefits, catch up on digital asset management working group tasks; distribute souvenirs and share impressions of Philly with colleagues.

11-12pm – review projects in progress to be completed by start of Fall semester (just weeks away!!):  update and place print order for new service brochures; distribute revised floor maps; prepare new web exhibits for publication.

12-1pm – lunch with a colleague at the new Student Activity Center on campus.  Alas, I already indulged in Chick-fil-a during a layover on my way home from Philly.  Settled for tacos instead.

1-2:30pm – meet with library software developer to discuss status of & next steps for projects in progress:  new room scheduling system, Justices of Texas digital collection migration/redesign, library liaison database development.

2:30-3pm – completed online evaluations of conference programming.

3-5pm – explore BePress Digital Commons as a potential digital asset management solution, reviewing online documentation and law schools already using it. Talk a colleague through process of extracting and merging pages in PDFs.

5-6pm – catch up on Google Reader & Twitter (all for professional purposes, of course!); on-demand update of website content.

I have a confession:  whenever the topic of networking comes up, I get squirmy.  I’m not naturally a networker (only child who enjoyed solitary activities such as reading, drawing, and exploring the “woods” near my home, my parents prodding me to go find friends to play with…).  As an adult interested in a professional career, I *finally* realized how important networking is.  I’ve gotten better, but I have to deliberately try, as it isn’t my instinct.

LinkedIn

So, I’m really late to the LinkedIn party, but I signed up during our Thing 3 activities, assuming that my professional self could only benefit from this.  I’m s-l-o-w-l-y building a network there, but I feel a little out of sorts on it, as the interface is unfamiliar (need to get my sea legs, so to speak).  I’m glad the cpd23 folks rustled up some “models” for us to look at.  Obviously, I’ll need to spend some time fleshing out my profile with a succinct summary, skill set, and impressive list of groups.  And I want to check out the How are people really using LinkedIn? article Helen mentioned on the cpd23 blog, but I think I’ll have to get to that later.  I expect I’ll have some homework building my LinkedIn network after the AALL annual meeting this weekend, as I’m sure to meet new folks I’ll want to stay connected with.

Other professional online networks

NING -  I joined the Law Libraries and Librarians network on ning a couple of years ago, and found it rather disappointing, due to the sparse activity (seemingly dominated by the same few folks).  Perhaps it was just bad timing, for a couple of reasons (speculating here):

1. the network was established before Facebook and LinkedIn began to dominate
2. ning changed to a fee-based service not long after I joined

When the fee-based service was announced, there was a relative flurry of  discussion about whether to keep  this particular network going or not.  Even though it seems to have passed its prime in terms of being vibrantly active (the 700+ members just don’t appear actively represented), it still persists today.  This suggests that an online network doesn’t have to be large, growing, or super-active  to be considered worthwhile to its members.  And it must be just as aggravating to relocate to another network as moving in real life!  Considering that, it makes me think there must be tons of small, niche-y, quirky online networks are there out there, all serving their particular community just fine.  BTW, in an effort to be tidy, I officially “moved out” recently by deleting my profile at ning – no need to leave remnants where I’m no longer lurking.

AALLnet & list-servs - In an alternative effort to stay connected to the academic law library community, I subscribe to some AALL special interest section list-servs.  Recently, however, AALL announced that they are migrating all their SIS discussion lists to a network site, starting August 1.  I’m not sure what this will look like, but it is interesting to note the shift to a site with more networking features.

Speaking of list-servs, a couple of weeks ago, Thing 4 got me thinking about the popularity and role of list-servs, what with all this feed reading and  facebooking and tweeting going on.  I posed this question on twitter and Facebook to see what people thought:

“curious what others think about list-servs as current awareness tools – outdated in age of twitter and rss? i still rely on them #cpd23″ 

I fully expected cpd23 folks to respond, but alas, nada.  Surprisingly, I did get a few friend and family responses, all of which expressed a solid, continued interest in/reliance on them.  There was also a general tone of ignorance or dismissal of RSS & Twitter as channels for substantive information.  I guess the take-away is that different tools fill different roles for online  networking and info-sharing.  Or, I guess put more simply, different strokes for different folks.

Facebook

I’ve been a member since 2008 (at family behest), and I’ve taken the profersonal approach there, although it is mostly friends and family interaction happening.  So I would agree with the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, when he said: “Facebook is the backyard BBQ; LinkedIn is the office.”  Even though it is a more casual network for me, I’m still fairly cautious about what I post, who I’m friends with, and my privacy settings (see my rant below).  I have my friends organized in lists so that I can tighten my privacy settings for some.

<rant>I have to say all the flack about privacy settings in FB gets my shackles up – I don’t like feeling like I need to monitor my account all the time to make sure I’m in control of my information.</rant>

I also have some minimal experience with our Library’s Facebook page, in my role as one of the coordinators of our social media outreach efforts.  My colleague has been the primary manager of it, but I’ve been contributing weekly posts, and monitoring it a bit for feedback and insights.  Perhaps I’ll get a chance to learn more in this arena by taking on more responsibilities, as she just took a job elsewhere, and will be leaving us soon. *sigh*   More homework for later:   read the case study on libraries using Facebook by Jane Seckerhere.

I am grateful for this Thing, as it has given me an Aha! moment:  Find professional orgs on FB & LinkedIn, like & join, as a taste-test.  I’ve been remiss about joining up as a dues-paying member for most of the standard ones, for whatever 12 excuses I can think of (guess I haven’t felt like I NEEDED them yet…).  But this is great, because I’ll get teasers, and perhaps be enticed.  Not that I’m implying that the social network presence is a full stand-in for the membership experience, but it’s closer than I’ve gotten thus far.

LISNPN

Out of the three library/info professional networks mentioned, the LIS New Professionals Network is the one that appealed to me most, as I’m 4 years into my “professional” career and I still feel like a “newbie.”  But, I will have to add this to my homework pile – no time at the moment, and I don’t want to fall too far behind.

Google+

I was just invited to join Google+, and just today created my profile.  But who knows when I’ll get a chance to really sit down with it, since it seems I already have trouble keeping up with my current social networks and this program!  I tend to be a late adopter, so I’m used to waiting for others to suss out the problems and write handy guides first.

image from @christing-O- on Flickr

I’m grateful for this week’s 23 Things for Professional Development reflection assignment.  I needed a breather, time to stop and think.

What have I been doing? Let’s see:

• I Joined cpd23
• I breathed new life into my professional website, by blogging regularly and finessing my online brand, per Thing 3.
• I started participating, instead of just lurking, by posting blog comments & tweets.
• I chose a focus for my twitter  activities: mostly library-centric, with a bit of local & art news thrown in.
• I finessed my twitter-to-facebook push (selective now, with #fb tag, employing the Selective Twitter status application, a strategy mentioned in this Mashable article).

What did I learn?  A ton.  But here are the first things that came to mind:

• There are lots of library folks out there with great ideas, and similar challenges – I’m not alone!
• I’m pleasantly surprised to realize I’m not as inept as I usually think I am when operating in my own “bubble.”
• A little bit of reading & writing every day or so is doable.
• There are more ways than I realized  to stay connected to an online community (e.g. #libchat!).
• To appreciate the potential of twitter more.
• That it’s ok to have a little fun, show a little humor & personality in my professional online persona, and that there are actually details about myself I’m interested in sharing.
• Illustrations make blog posts more fun to read, but finding the right illustrations is time-consuming!  I have more appreciation now for those well-illustrated posts.

What did Ienjoy? The thrill of discovery!  But in more specific terms…

• Discovering new blogs: reading others’ writings, experiences, different perspectives on topics relevant to my interests.
• Seeing the playfulness in others (professionalism doesn’t have to be so stuffy!).
• Seeing the range of jobs/roles that folks have in libraries, in the US & abroad.
• International similarities & differences in perspective on librarianship, librararies, professional development.
• This program:  The structure!  The schedule!  The format!
• The camaraderie!

What worked well?  Smooth sailing so far!

• The pace of the program (more than one thing a week would be too much, but this pace seems just challenging enough).
• Improving my professional connections:  my blog/site has already proven more useful in my professional networking,  just in the few weeks I’ve been involved in this program – folks found me/my online brand!

What, if anything, went wrong?  Not much to complain about so far.

• Minor technical challenges – unable to change my WordPress username to be consistent with my branding, and some blogs won’t let me use another “handle” when posting comments.  Hence, I’m “melnamo” in various places…
• Related to that first point, I’m trying to stop getting too hung up on the quirks of the technology.

What would you change?  Low on change at the moment.

Well, I started down one road with a different blog for this program, and I changed my mind about that right quick.  Other than that, I have no regrets thus far, and can’t think of anything I would like to change.  Maybe on the next round of reflections.

What (potential) impact could this have in your workplace?  Return on investment:

• I’ll be better at blogging, and interacting in online conversations, presumably valuable to our library’s social media efforts and general web presence.
• I’ll have concrete examples and personal experience to back up my fantastic ideas!
• I may just become a renowned web librarian, and my reputation will garner me much respect in my workplace. *wishful thinking here*

What can you practically apply from the experience you’ve had? Putting my new tools to use:

• I plan to practice my new twitter skills at the upcoming AALL conference, maximizing my participation & multi-tasking as I’m able.

• I could try to take our library’s social media outreach efforts to the next level, beyond our current 1-way communication, by commenting on blogs in the capacity as a library representative, or by participating in tweet-ups with our institutional twitter account.

Wow, I started this post thinking I wouldn’t have enough to say!  That’s plenty, for now.