Thing 4

Thing 3

To get straight to the point...

When I google my name alone somewhere far down the page appears my LinkedIn profile, but my name must be relatively common as I am definitely not a singer! Adding 'library' to the search definitely helps, with my appearance on the St John's College library and the Cambridge graduate trainees website, CATALOG, popping up as well. However, this blog does not appear and neither does my facebook page (although that is likely to be because of my security settings, I don't want the whole world to see photos of me lying on the beach). I have spent a great deal of time on my LinkedIn profile, so I am pleased that it is easy for people to find that, and likewise with the blogs I have written for the CATALOG website. I feel that everything that appears gives a positive view of my position at the moment, although maybe does not give me a 'personal brand' as such. This could be shown more through my blog here, which to be honest at the moment is pretty boring! This is something I could work on to improve my image and maybe give an idea of the person I am to those reading. So far my LinkedIn photo is probably the only easy to find page that gives an idea of my personality! It would also be great if my blog could appear in the top listings in a google search, and this is something I need to work on.

Thing 2

Getting two 'things' done in the space of an hour is quite speedy, but the time seemed right...

I find it amazing how many people have blogged, and how much detail they have gone into. I have to admit to being fascinated by my fellow trainee's blog, the library shelf elf (a very imaginative name, unlike mine!). Otherwise I did go down the list of blogs picking out one's I liked the name of, for example:

• Library Cat
• The Library Monkey
• The Library Bee

...which of course despite having brilliant, animal themed, names, had made some interesting points. I also find it fascinating that so many people from so many places and backgrounds are all taking part.

I look forward to reading more, and getting ideas for what I can talk about :-). Physicists aren't well renowned for stimulating conversation...

23 things...

Hello,

My name is Rachel and although you can see I have already blogged before, it can hardly be said that I do so frequently! Last week I registered to take part in Cambridge's 23 Things for Professional Development. I have heard so much about this scheme in my ten months here as Graduate Trainee Librarian at St John's College, Cambridge, and so it is quite exciting to actually get started on it! I realise I am rather late in beginning, there are just never enough hours in the day, but I plan to catch up in the next couple of days.

I am probably going to repeat things said elsewhere on this page, but anyhow. I am just coming to the end of my time as a trainee at John's, and from September will be studying for a masters in Library and Information Sciences at Aberystwyth by distance learning. So currently I am on a job search! From being here I decided that I did not want to return to being a student (having done that for 4 years was quite enough), I love actually having a job and feeling I am doing something with my life. I hope to finish my MA at relative speed, so allowing me to progress from whatever position I get starting in August (fingers crossed).

I hope cdp23 will help me to learn more about areas of social media and ways to use the internet that I have not come across yet. There are definitely a few 'things' that I have not heard of. One other advantage could be actually reminding me to blog! I seem to have no difficulty doing this for our trainee's CATALOG website...

Life

The last week or so has been a cold one, and experiencing Cambridge in the snow has been beautiful! The temperatures in the library have been a little chillier than one can cope with, and the aim has been to see how many layers I can wear and still move...

As time gets further through my traineeship I have begun to think about more pressing matters, such as what will I be doing come August. Gaining a place on a LIS Masters course has been achieved however there is the subject of how I will fund this, and my living costs, throughout the two year period. Jobs are not so easy to come by from my research, so it could be a case of thinking outside the box! I've been immensely lucky this year, I have learnt so much so far and I'm only a little over half way through. I hope the skills I've picked up on the way will be useful in the coming months as I begin the tedious process of applications again.

Joe Brearley

January has been quite a busy month so far in the library; there has been a lot of biographical work to be getting on with. Recently I have been working through a book about Joe Brearley, ‘the man who taught Harold Pinter’, who was a Johnian and beforehand had a very tiny entry in the ‘Register of Twentieth Century Johnians’. Thanks to the book, ‘Fortune’s Fool’ I have managed to bulk out his record significantly, with his whole career history and details of his travels. He was a fascinating person, and his life around the time of the Second World War was riveting to read about. Although the book is fairly hefty it was relatively easy to browse, and I spent a few hours earlier this week reading the letters to friends and family and the various bits he wrote before he died. I felt very happy as I updated the Register with my newfound information, and I hope more people will be interested to read of him and his life.

This week Rebecca (Butler Project Associate) and I had great fun attending a Zumba class. One of the craziest things I’ve done in a while, I did feel it was a great workout! Looking forward to going next week, though along with step it does leave me feeling a little exhausted by mid week! I’m looking forward to my day off tomorrow, which will hopefully involve a small lie in. The rest of this weekend involves going to Evensong in the College, along with my grandparents and cousin which I am quite excited about as I hear the music is amazing. I am also expecting to enjoy some tasty food at the Galleria restaurant by the river; they have excellent reviews so I am hoping for something enjoyable!

A New Year

Hello All

After such a long time of no blogging I've decided to start a fresh. This week has seen me writing various pieces for the CATALOG website and it's got me in the mood for thinking and typing.

It's been a busy one, in fact the last three weeks since I arrived back in Cambridge have all been productive, despite there being various days spent outside of the library. Together I worked with the other trainees to produce a poster for the libraries@cambridge conference last week, spending a day of my leave before Christmas putting everything together. I've also spent three days up at the Innovation Centre in Cambridge helping Allen, the Lower Library Cataloguer, work through many boxes of books donated to the library. I found this fascinating and would love to get involved with it more, which I have been promised! I've also been working on a project with Fiona in the Biographical Office locating all the past Overseas Visiting Scholars of the College. It's only these last few days I've managed to get on with the general work load and it's quite pleasing to see my 'To do' list shrink a little!

Other than that it's been back to normal, meeting up with friends (and family) for lunches and coffe, going to step aerobics (yay!) and generally trying to get all those bits and pieces done around the house that you just leave until you really have to do them. I've also had the excitement of receiving offers from both Northumbria and Aberystwyth to study with them by distance learning. Now just to see where the rest of this year takes me and what I'll end up doing from August... a little scary thought.