Archive for the 'learning' Category

Day 28

Published on 28 June 2010 in experiment, writing, learning and blogging. 3 Comments

#blogeverydayofjune is almost over. It’s been quite a month, hasn’t it?

I am amazed by everyone’s commitment to the exercise - and impressed by the amount of writing, commenting and all round connecting that we’ve all being doing. I don’t think it matters if you haven’t managed to blog every single day. Life trumps blogging, as the saying goes.

For me personally it’s been worthwhile in that:

  • I’ve gotten back into blogging (and hopefully will be able to keep this up once June’s over)
  • I’ve gotten to know many colleagues better
  • I’ve learned a lot and have a few topics to ponder and learn more about

What have you gained from this exercise?

I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do once this is over - I do like to challenge myself - and perhaps I might do something different this time. I like Erin’s idea generating challenge:

Here is the deal: every Wednesday and Sunday for the next 6 weeks, I will post a creative journal prompt and a picture of what I did.  All you need to do is turn up with your own journal (a stack of plain A4 sheets clipped together is fine), a tool to write with and if you want to art journal along with me (yay), use whatever supplies you like- crayons, magazines, paint, ink.

I think Erin starts this Wednesday.

I’m not sure how I’ll share anything I create out of this, but I’ll worry about that when I actually have something I’d like to share.

How I Found My Mojo (or, Day 9)

Published on 9 June 2010 in anniversary, learning and blogging. 8 Comments

While looking over this blog trying to find Walt Crawford’s comment about my beliefs about superstardom and worthiness, I realised that this blog has just passed its fifth anniversary!

My very first blog post was on 7 June 2005. I am therefore a couple of days late acknowledging this fact. (What can I say, I have a surplus of topics to blog about at the moment…)

It’s quite interesting looking over this blog as it’s obvious that my interests have changed somewhat over time. I’m sure this is something to be expected.

I actually started blogging because I had been given a task at work - or rather, a question to answer for my boss at the time - can the library use a blog? Would you believe me if I told you that my immediate answer to him was “No! Blogs are a fad and we have no business blogging.” (Really. I admit it. That was what I said.) Luckily for me, he just smiled and told me that it was fine if that was true, but could I actually spend some time looking at them, and them show him why we couldn’t use them.

This is where my habit of rejecting The Popular sometimes clouds my judgement. At the time, blogs were kind of popular and all The Cool Kids were blogging. I was probably not using the web as much as I do nowadays, but I was definitely aware of blogs, and they were not for me. Why not? They just weren’t, okay?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I decided that if I was going to answer my boss’s question in more than a half-arsed way, I’d better seriously look into this. I don’t know why I thought I should be blogging myself. I can’t remember when I decided I wasn’t going to just read and watch, but that I would have to DO as well.

Sitting on a book

One thing lead to another. I started blogging. Then I started another blog. Found the libloggers/bibliobloggers/library bloggers, whatever you want to call them. I found RSS - back then Bloglines was all the rage. (Does anyone still use it?) I made myself a wiki. And another. Flickr - shiny stuff! Started a couple of Wikipedia entries. LibraryThing. del.icio.us. Played. More blogs. Twitter (in 2006. Back then no one wanted to play).

And it was good.

Of out all that, My then Place of Work got a library blog; in fact we were one of the first university libraries in Oz to start blogging. Blogging helped me make lots of connections and friendships with library people all around the world. I wrote not one, but two conference papers the first time I went to a conference. My learning accelerated. (I sometimes wonder why my university education hasn’t been as memorable.) My self confidence and motivation also grew. My mojo*, in danger of being lost by not having enough exposure to the outside world, was found.

Moral of the story?

Blogging is good. Let’s all blog! Blogging helps you learn. Don’t let your prejudices get in the way. (Feel free to suggest more.)

Will I be blogging in another five years? I don’t know, but if I’m not blogging, I hope I’m continuing to do things that force me to learn and think.

[Photo added because a) I want some sort of illustration to go with this post, b) I wish I was enjoying the European summer at the moment (this is from 2008 when we went to Europe), and c) it shows me sitting on a book. Photo taken in the foyer of the British Library.]

*Mojo defined here as spice, zest for life (and profession).

Ten things from VALA2010

Published on 16 February 2010 in 2010, VALA, conference, connecting, librarianship and learning. 1 Comment

VALA2010: great conference.

Stuff I am pondering:

We in libraries need to learn from other organisations. What can we learn about the organisation of our service points from Apple stores, say? How does the Louvre make its amazing collections available to its visitors?

Our library websites need major overhauls - and we need to think about them from the perspective of the user. Do we understand how people are using the web? Do librarians really know best when it comes to the presentation of information on the web? (Users don’t have to be taught how to use Amazon.com.)

Stop trying to recreate the card catalogue online, already! For me this point also relates to the fact that we need to be out there playing and working in all the new online environments and communities. There is so much we could be learning, and adapting to our libraries.

We need to anticipate and influence change. Grasp the opportunities, dont resist!

On a related note, are libraries are organisations moving fast enough? Is the committee really always the best way to get things done?

Conference goers

What I enjoyed:

The Twitter chatter throughout the conference. Hooray for the hashtag!

Meeting up with lots of people I had only interacted with online prior to this.

Delivering a paper with Suelibrarian. (Just realised this was my sixth paper!)

Being connected via iPhone. This made the entire conference a lot more interactive for me.

Making new friends.