Thing 12

Putting the social into social media

This is something I imagine I am not great at! Aside from using facebook, which I guess my use could be labelled as social, I don't think I use social media effectively. I have said previously that I feel the main reason for this is the lack of time and medium on which to do so. I don't have a phone, netbook or ipad that I can use to access the internet whilst on the move, and have very little spare time on my laptop using these kinds of websites. For a lot of people who use social media as part of their job I can see how that is more achievable, as part of their day is dedicated to it, but it's not something that I am required to do at the moment. But maybe I should be...

I think that to begin with I could try to comment more on other people's blogs when I am preparing my own posts, as I do have a look around to get ideas (not being an imaginative person!) and I obviously have views on what other people write about. But this has to be a two way thing, if I attempt to be sociable but noone else does... why bother?

Thing 11: Mentoring

With no 'task' as such to do this (last!) week I just thought I would reflect on my experiences of mentoring. During my final year at high school I mentored a student in the year below me, to help him prepare for his Physics AS Level exams. From this I know how rewarding it can be to mentor, especially when the guidance you have provided yields results. The only people I feel have 'officially' been my mentors were my supervisors and tutors at university who I am still in contact with from time to time, but things have moved on and my work today is very different from the lab work and mathematics I needed guidance with back then. Working at St John's College I talk to a range of different people about my work and where I hope to go next, but I guess I am usually the kind of person who likes to go it alone and doesn't talk about these things perhaps as much as I should. I agree that is definitely based on the thought of wondering if you are good enough to be where you are, and go further. I think I need to think more carefully about this, especially as I have met so many people over the last 12 months who are in positions that I aspire to.

Thing 10

Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

My route into librarianship began through a suggestion from a friend to volunteer in my college library at university. I have always been someone who is not sure what they want to do with their life, and decided to work in the library without thinking that it could lead to something. From there I found out about volunteer programmes in the university library, and spent my summer working there and gaining some invaluable experience. Through my final year I continued to volunteer one afternoon a week and that winter began to research what I would like to do after my graduation. And that lead me to the CILIP accredited traineeships as mentioned, and that's where I stand today. I have had a thoroughly enjoyable year and learnt an awful lot about working in a library, whilst also having the experience of working a full time job! With only three weeks to go I am looking forward to starting my studies again, with Aberystwyth University via distance learning. I hope that some of the theory I learn over the next year will help my work as I continue in a different position at St John's from mid-September. 

After all of this, who knows? I enjoy what I am doing now but I don't know that it's what I want to do for the rest of my life. But I don't think it has to be that anymore, everyone is continually changing jobs nowadays and I feel lucky that working in the information world is quite transferable. Whether changing the library I work in, or moving more into business, administration or archives, I feel there are options are available, and we need to be positive despite the current opportunities being limited in the economic climate! I hope that I will progress to chartership in the future, but we'll see. Things have a habit of just happening...

Things 8 and 9

Google Calendar and Evernote

This thing started off quite quickly as I already use Google Calendar at work. We have a library account to which we all add anything that is going on here, with the different areas of the library colour coded for ease. A copy is printed out every Monday and kept by the issue desk so it is easy to find but the calendar is constantly updated by us throughout the week. Leave is added by all staff, and it is helpful to know whether the Librarian or the Special Collections Librarian are in the building or not. We also use this account for Google Documents, allowing us to publish any important information to there for example staff work rotas (who is working lates this week) and information about work experience students.

Evernote is something I have never encountered and at a first glance I though it must be Endnote! It looks quite an interesting piece of software, and something that would be immensely useful to me. I hope that it is something I will play around with a bit more and possibly use when studying for my Masters from September.

Thing 7

Real-life networks...

My experience in this area is relatively limited (being relatively new to libraries!) but I am a member of two organisations - CILIP and the Cambridge Library Group. My reasons for joining them both probably stemmed from the fact I believed it would 'look good' to be able say I have interests in my career outside of my day to day work. With CILIP this really remains the case, as I have not used my membership wisely. I guess to me it seems quite terrifying and big! The CILIP website was of great help to me in gaining the position I have today (which they accredit) and I do enjoy flicking through their monthly 'CILIP Update' magazine. As a trainee I paid so little for my membership I guess I haven't felt the need to really get involved, which is definitely not a good thing. Maybe this thing should prod me to investigate a bit more.

The Cambridge Library Group has been of more use to me whilst I have been a trainee, giving me the opportunity to expand on the number of libraries I have visiting. In the past 6 months I have been to the  Archive and Conservation Laboratory at the Sedgwick Museum's Brighton Building, the Radzinowicz Library of Criminology, the Fitzwilliam Museum libraries and the Needham Research Institute all thanks to my membership of this group. I have also spoken to some interesting people working in business and public libraries, and it has given me a chance to meet up with a few of the other trainees on a more regular basis.

I had a little explore of some of the informal organisations listed, beginning with The Library Society of the World. It confused me a little though as all the posts on the front page were rather dated! I had a further explore of the LIS New Professional Network, which as I have already mentioned in Thing 6 I found quite interesting to read what people were discussing, and thought about making my own comments. I also think the downloadable resources are a great idea, and enjoyed looking at 'how to use twitter' and reviews of various LIS master courses (even if it is too late to change my mind now!).

What I would love to find would be an organisation for scientific librarians - reading and getting to know other professionals who are doing something I would be keen to go into would be useful. Maybe it would give me some more ideas of where my career could go.

Exhibition: Johnians in the Physical Sciences

Over the last two weeks I have been working on getting my exhibition all set up in our designated area of the library here at St John's, between the Working Library and the Old Library. I thought it would be good to show a sample of the final product in photos! If you'd like to see more of the exhibition go to the College Library website for details about our opening times.

 

The Penumbra Shadowing Scheme

Visiting the Judge Business School (JBS) library on Wednesday was a fascinating experience for me, in complete contrast to my day to day work at St John’s College. When we were first contacted about the Penumbra scheme back in March, visiting JBS stood out as an option to me - from a little research I quickly appreciated how much they promoted e-resources and social media to help their students. Through the ‘23 Things for Professional Development’ programme I have learnt a lot more about the use of Twitter, Facebook and other online mediums within a library setting and I hoped that the staff at JBS would be able to show me how they apply these ideas.

Prior to my arrival in the JBS Information Centre the team at JBS kindly drew up an itinerary for my afternoon, covering a wide range of areas. To begin with Claudia (Information & Library Assistant) gave me a tour of the building, highlighting their plans to gradually reduce the number of printed journals as more and more become available online. The main reason for doing so is to create more study areas for the students, as I was assured that during term time the mezzanine area gets very crowded! I found the area a bright and airy environment, and I am sure a comfortable place to work. The small (but growing) DVD collection was highlighted to me and finally we took a look at the rather terrifying (but very colourful) twin-screen Bloomberg terminals, showing one of the world’s leading financial databases.

Next I spent some time with Meg (Projects Officer) looking at all the different aspects of their website. Set up using an online blogging website, the Information and Library Services website is colourful and interesting to explore. With various blogs on the left hand side, the team spends a great deal of time putting them together and selecting eye-catching images to accompany them. Meg emphasised how important they find it to ensure the blogs are about relevant and fun topics, steering clear of simply blogging opening times! The grey ribbon along the top lists the five key things that students may want to do when using the website, and in the centre of the page you can see meebo, an online messaging service which allows students to speak to staff in real time .

With Claudia again I spent some time looking through the slides placed on the plasma screened situated both outside and inside the library. Aside from giving useful information, the team also pick out some key business and finance facts and figures for users’ interest. I also had a look at the Microsoft Access database they keep to record all enquiries, time spent on them and their replies. I found this a particularly interesting idea, especially due to my experience with this database software with the Biographical Office, and can definitely see the use when receiving the same enquiry again.

Moving onto social media with Sarah (Information & Library Assistant) allowed me to come to grips with the use of Twitter, and since this I have spent some time placing my Twitter feed onto my blog. I am also going to try and tweet a little more about what I have been up to! We also explored how they use Pinterest to show a very visual pin board of e-books, new books, funny quotes and numerous infographics on subjects from plagiarism and business to how to study. Ange (Deputy Information & Library Services Manager) told me some more about how she creates infographics, and what their aim is. I found them colourful and amusing, and a great way to get across statistics in a very engaging way. This lead on to us discussing how JBS aims to personalise their customer service, and finally a review of the afternoon. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and went away seeing in action one way in which libraries can adapt in this technology driven world. The fact that the staff at JBS strive to know the names and faces of all the students they provide for, and the way they deal with individual research enquiries, showed me how personalising your service to cater for each and every student makes you so much more accessible.

I would like to say thank you to Claudia, Meg, Sarah, Ange and Nataliya for all the time they put in to showing me around their library, it was an enlightening experience!