Success!

Today I heard from one of the first people that I did a one to one training session with, that she has passed her course. She is very grateful for the help I provided. Feel very pleased and reassured that I can make a difference.

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

Taking a few spare moments to catch up on what is happening in CPD23. Being a very mature person who has done her training and now many years work experience this subject is perhaps less relevant to me but I have to confess that despite 3 starts I have never yet completed my chartership. Why have I failed to submit? Time is a factor but also lack of confidence that anything I have done is valuable,  though my library 'customers' have often told me how helpful I have been to them, a lack of interest from fellow colleagues when I have needed motivation and encouragement, a mentoring relationship that didn't work out. However I am now working in what I believe is a supportive environment and aim to get it done - eventually and certainly in time for me to collect my pension!

Life intervenes

Am very aware that I haven't taken much notice of CPD23 for the past few weeks as various family issues have intervened. Have some time spare today so will look to see what is happening and what everyone else is up to.

Other social media

There was a lot of discussion for social media task of CPD23 of Linkedin but I have just remembered that I also have a profile on Researchgate and Menderley and wonder if anyone else is using these tools

I do reflect

On Friday I did my first presentation to a  group of staff using a Powerpoint presentation that is used service wide. I did the presentation to 2 groups and reflected how it is  that you can do the same presentation to two groups of people carrying out the same work and yet get two very different reactions and how these affect the way you present. Is it possible to not to react to audience reaction?

I have reflected and feel quite down. Everyone else seems so up and so more tecchy savvy than me - I know I need to try new things as it is the only way to learn (particularly on the Storify task from last week) - nothing bad can happen, I can always delete things and its only for 'fun' and not a work thing but I feel reluctant. I will reflect further.

Twittered!

Have posted my first tweet - though I don't really know what to say. Can chat away on facebook very easily but want to keep blog and twitter for professional things and not yet sure of how to express myself. But I am very impressed that I have got my twitter feed on to the blog - nothing to do with skill on my part but the due to the magic of google.

Change

Today marks 3 months since I started my job in the NHS in a healthcare library. I knew that I was starting at a time of great change and it does seem fairly relentless. I am trying to keep up with various news feeds to understand more about the organisation and today the Department of Health has launched a new information strategy http://informationstrategy.dh.gov.uk/.  I think this in the long term will  impact the way that we work within the Library but may also present new opportunities for us to support patient care - the reason for our being.

Not found on Google

Because of a common name, not having published anything and not ever sat on a CILIP group comittee I think I am virtually impossible to find on Google. The fact that I have never published anything or sat on a group comittee is more of a concern than not being found on Google. My linkedin profile is also fairly down the list but as I am not in the job market at the moment this is also not a great concern of mine. And I still can't think of anything to twitter about so my brand at the moment is anonymous librarian.

A brand?

I think I will need to think quite a lot about my brand - probably the last time I described myself like that was when I was putting an advert in the personal columns (Cuddly caring xx year old seeks caring chauffeur - I couldn't drive then!) In a mystery shopping exercise I was once described as  having an excellent smile so perhaps I should be looking for pictures of smiles. I think most people would describe as being a 'people person' which I know is a cliche but it is the part of my library career that I enjoy the most talking to people and helping them and has been the consistent part of my working life. So how do I represent that?
I use facebook for socialising and love that I can keep up with people that I wouldn't normally get to see but keep it for friends rather than professional contacts. I have a linkedin account so perhaps need to make more of that. I also have a twitter account but have never thought of anything to tweet but am happy to follow people. I have not tried to google myself so will try that and will be back when I have thought

So have started the blog and looked at a couple of others which are more colourful than mine - something I need to explore. But I  thought I could experiment with putting links into libraries that I have worked in.
Bracknell Forest where I started my library life and met some great people http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/librariesgeneralinformation
Royal Holloway University of London - I always felt so privileged to be able to work here http://www.rhul.ac.uk/library/home.aspx
Prince Consort's Library where I met lots of interesting characters including Prince Philip but no direct link to its webpage because of security http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Consort%27s_Library
and finally the Healthcare Library where I have worked since February and which is encouraging me to re-engage with the Library profession http://www.hantshealthcarelibrary.nhs.uk/libraries.asp

The Beginning

Well here I go. I am not a new professional having gained my MA in Information Management in 2001. I have worked in public libraries, in the academic sector, in a specialist military library and have recently taken up a post in the NHS working in a healthcare library. I feel that I need to reinvigorate my interests in professional matters and CPD23 seems a good way of encouraging me - who knows I might even complete my Chartership.