Thursday, October 27, 2011

CPD23 Thing 23

So long, goodbye...

This has been an enjoyable exercise. I took it on at not a great time for me -- during the midst of an ILS change. And I'll get it finished, before the NLC deadline at least! I have learned a lot, which was my main goal. I have found out new things which I may use again. Just today a discussion on using podcasting or videocasting as a training tool came up and I was able to point to Screen-o-matic and Zing. So I am very glad I have taken the time to work through this. Glad that I could sometimes ignore it for a while and take time to catch up and especially glad it is not something I am running.

This particular continuing education program has focus on developing things for you professionally. The aspect of library work that I see myself still needing to work on is management. I have attended various workshops through OPL and they have been useful. And I have read library management books, even tried to work through some. Although finding the time for that reading is difficult (especially when I have the latest Ruth Rendell to read).

But having something designed for library managers in particular would be great. Often in libraries staff are promoted or hired with little or no management training. It is not something most of us like to deal with but if we take the time to work on it, it will be pay off in the long run. And it is something I will continue working on as I know I need to improve in this area.

I will continue to look for learning opportunities, whether they are online learning ones like this, webinars, books or workshops. What would be a good goal is to take some time and blog about the webinars, books and workshops so I can really reflect on what I am learning. So perhaps that is what I can do to keep this blog going, even without a "23 things" program to follow.

Thanks to the organizers of the CPD23 program and to the Nebraska Library Commission for their Learning 2.0 programs. They have been great, and I'll continue to try and participate.




CPD23 Thing 22

Volunteering

Volunteers are often vital to a library, particularly in our current economic times. It is hard to find time to volunteer -- especially if you have a full time job and family demands. But volunteering can be rewarding. It is a great way to gain experience, as the original post pointed out. I sometime wonder what would have happened if I had volunteered at the OPL when we first moved to Omaha? Would I have gotten a job here faster, would I be in my current position, who knows? I never did volunteer as I was convinced they would not want someone who had a library degree.

I volunteered for a time at our local zoo, helping to re-establish their library. But after the birth of my second child it became more and more difficult to find the time I needed to devote to the project and I quit. And I volunteer at my children's school -- I work at the biannual book fairs and work with the school librarian (although I wish I could do more there). I find it interesting to see how other libraries work and try to bring what expertise I do have to help, if needed or perhaps educate someone on the the resources available at OPL.

Which brings me to a point that Jamie LaRue made many years ago   -- that librarians need to volunteer with various organizations in their community. In order for our community to know about us and what we have to offer we need to get out there. And one really good way to do that is to volunteer. So what you volunteer for does not necessarily  have to have a library component but when do volunteer you should ALWAYS look for opportunities to promote the library. In other words, volunteering is another form of advocacy.


Monday, October 24, 2011

CPD23 Thing 21

Self-Promotion to get the Promotion

Self-promotion is hard to do, even when applying for a job. You have to find a way to honestly inform others about your abilities and why you should get the job and at the same time not sound too good to be true. Although I am not a big on  boasting I have enough confidence and experience in certain work abilities to say, yes, I am good at cataloging. I can also say that I am very analytical and that I enjoy a challenge but I can also be flexible and work well on a team. I try to keep up with thing in the world around me, both those that apply to by particular sector of libraries and the world as a whole and how they might be used in my work or by my library.

I find it a bit harder to fit some of my personal interests, such a cooking, into my professional life. I do enjoy baking and sharing the treats with others in my office but I don't see that having a place on a resume or cover letter. Although I might mention it in an interview, depending on the question.

I have been on both sides of interviews of late. My main tip for those interviewing is to make sure you answer the question fully. If you do not have a copy of the questions, then take notes while the question is asked and make sure you answer all parts.

From personal experience be careful what you say about previous employers in an interview. When I first started interviewing for positions in Omaha I had not had many job interviews and I interviewed for an academic position. It was an all day interview -- with separate interviews with various staff members or groups of staff members. There was also a lunch with some of the staff and at that I made the mistake of spending time talking about all the bad things about my previous employer -- having to go from working 35 hours a week to working 40 for the same pay can make you bitter. In hindsight that was a terrible thing to do -- would you hire someone who complained about their previous employer? Of course not! There may have been many reasons why you left or are interested in leaving  and even it is or was a toxic work place be careful what you say.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

CPD23 Thing 20

Routt's Library Roots & Routes
(How could I resist? For the record the first one is pronounced row-t and the last is roo-t, just like the second)

I blogged some about my education and career in Thing 10 but didn't explain much about how I came to libraries. My roots go back a generation -- my mother was a librarian. She was first an art librarian and then a library director at an Architecture school. She came to library work after we moved to Australia -- she did secretarial work and started working at Parahan College in the Art Library and doing her library degree at RMIT. Later she was hired for a department library at RMIT in the Architecture school which also included building, interior design and landscape architecture.

Both my parents worked so I spent a certain amount of time at both their work places. At my mother's work, occasionally I made myself useful -- I recall tipping in pages of plates in art books (so student's wouldn't rip them out), doing some checking in (with cards), date stamping check out cards and shelving at Parahan. At RMIT I was older and I recall helping to inventory the collection more than once (I was able to stand on the cabinets and get to the top shelves more easily). I think I even got paid on occasion.

When I was thinking about careers I was so NOT going to be a librarian. In high school I wanted to be a criminologist. I went to a liberal arts college with a Great Books program and decided that criminology wasn't quite for me but history would be fascinating to study. So I did a MA in history -- and concentrated on crime (women in Victorian Britain, particularly those that murder their husbands).

While doing my MA I worked out that academia, and particularly history, could be pretty unpleasant for someone who prefers to avoid conflict. I enjoyed doing research a great deal, I was okay at writing but rather scared of the idea of teaching. Therefore going on to do a Ph.D. did not seem like a good idea. A friend from college was doing an archival program at Drexel and told me about her experience.

It seemed like a good option for me too as it would use my love of history and research. I took as many archives courses as I possibly could in library school, but it soon became clear that archival work might not be easy to obtain. From the core courses I found that I rather enjoyed the minutiae of cataloging -- much more so than that of reference work. So I ended up taking many cataloging related courses as well. In library school I was sure I'd go to work in an academic library -- after all that is where my mother had been and my husband was doing his Ph.D. so it would seem fitting to be at an academic library if I couldn't find archival work.

My first professional position, however, was in cataloging although it was working for an outsourcing company (it was not-for-profit, with mostly clients in public libraries or schools). Then we moved to Omaha, where, after a period of unemployment and then a stint as temp worker (where I eventually was an executive secretary on long term assignment), I was surprised and pleased to be able to obtain employment in archives for a few years. I loved working with the hands on material (I am allergic to dust, so health wise this was not the best career for me), doing historical research again -- and I loved attempting to bring order out of chaos. I did not love other aspects of the work  -- contract work, low pay with few benefits and a hostile work environment.

Although the public library was a huge change in many ways the permanent position with better pay and benefits helped ease the transition, but more importantly the other staff were welcoming and the work environment pleasant. My way here was not straight -- there were detours and stopovers but I am pleased to be in working as the technical services manager in a medium-sized public library.


Friday, September 30, 2011

CPD23 Thing 17

Prezentations

This was an interesting and timely thing for me. I have a presentation to present next week at NLA (on RDA) so I decided I would actually try to use Prezi to construct my presentation. I believe that this was used by a keynote speaker at a conference last year, and although I found it a little hard to follow at times it was also pretty engaging.

It was a very interesting exercise. I came to this with a pretty open mind about what I was going to do and now reflecting on what I created it, it is pretty much still a Power Point presentation but the way it was constructed was much less linear. And I was working in a more confined space, as I used a template -- which really made me narrow my focus and words (I also was trying to take to heart we learned earlier about presenting).

I started with a template, as I am not very good at layout with a blank canvas (I need structure -- I can play with the structure but I prefer to have a framework first). The template provided boxes to fill in. The hardest part was working out how to clear some of the existing text. The tutorials provided were very useful and once I started working with it, it worked pretty well.

My presentation (on RDA) can be found here: http://prezi.com/cf1h0ckmpcni/lets-talk-about-rda/

It is all text. No images (I couldn't think of any good ones) and no video (uh, really doesn't apply unless there were some RDA presentation but then we'd all be asleep). I did experiment with putting in a web link but couldn't easily find a way to make it active so I took that out.

There are some interesting tools that I found later that I would consider using at another time, such as the timeline. I also appreciated being able to change the color on the template easily, which I did. I will be interested to see how well this works for my presentation next week.

This is a tool that I will use again. I am not overly fond of Power Point and although Prezi forces me to think in ways I don't normally I found it an useful way to think about presenting.


CPD23 Thing 19

Catching my breath


Whew! What a blessing to have time to catch my breath and reflect, even though this is still late. Work has been so busy that I have not felt that I have had time to work on CPD23.

Which is a pity. I have found that I have greatly enjoyed learning about things, reflecting on them, perhaps trying something out and then writing about it. Some of the things have been ones I have used before, such as Google Calendar, but I learned new ways to use it. Some I have never heard of, such as Zotero or Zing (hmm, why is the Z so appealing in a name?) which offer some interesting possibilities.

What has probably been the biggest influence, so far, though was Thing 3. I had not really considered how I was presenting myself in my blog or through Twitter which are the accounts I use to professionally rather than personally/professionally (as with Facebook). In fact I came into this being rather resistant to the idea of a personal brand. And I still consider that a rather silly or overly corporate idea. However, I have come to realize the importance of considering your online presence. This goes beyond concerns of privacy or being careful what you do in your personal life that gets online to concerns of consistency and professionalism. So I spent some time tweaking and integrating my Twitter and Blog accounts. They do not look exactly the same but I have used similar red backgrounds and have a link to my Twitter feed on my blog. I know that this concept is one I'll keep in mind for the future.

Looking ahead Prezi might be something I'll look into and use for my presentation in October. And I have just realized that we'll be wrapping up soon. But maybe there will also be something to continue. I certainly hope so.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

CPD23 Thing 18

Beyond Print Screen

The past few weeks I have been immersed with our new ILS but I wish I had known about things such as Zing and Screen-cast-omatic. I have had to do a few documents to let staff know how to do things in the new system and I can see how Zing or Screen-cast-omatic would have helped immensely in order to show how to use things.

I have looked at the demos for both products and prefer Screen-cast-omatic -- it is simpler and more straightforward. Zing seems to be trying a bit too hard. But I would have to actually use both tools and see which I preferred.

A few thoughts about using such products. First, is the need to work out carefully what you are going to be presenting. I am used to communicating by writing but not so used to communicating by video. It requires some differences in thinking, in planning and presentation. Second, I wonder what is required by others to view these screen casts. It is implied, but not directly stated, that they do not need to download the products. I hope not. Third, is there a time limit on how long your screen cast can be?

Screen casting is a great development for online teaching. We have used it in the past to help our patrons learn how to search, place holds and such. I hope we will continue to do so in the future. We have not made such use of podcasting but I know that some libraries do so. Or they use podcasts like a little radio show or blog post.

We still tend to operate very much in the written word I wonder how long it will take us to begin to operate more in the spoken words and dynamic visuals?





CPD23 Thing 16

On Being a Library Advocate

It is very hard to be an effective advocate for libraries. Most librarians and library staff are pretty happy to tell others about what we do and the services we have to offer. I know that I have often embarrassed my family by chatting about our databases when talking with others. Databases are one of the most underused library resources and so hard to get people to use but they can be so valuable.

However, we cannot just promote library services to people. No matter how great they are. The existence of libraries all over is threatened. Many question whether we need them. Those of us who work in libraries need to determine for ourselves how important the library is and whether we are willing to speak up and be heard.

We can participate in activities such as writing letters or email messages and sending them to federal, state and city officials. In Nebraska we have a Legislative Day where library staff are encouraged to take their local senators to lunch and educate them about the library. There is also a national legislative day and action that can be taken on that level.

We can go to the city council hearings and speak up. We can encourage our patrons to go to those hearings, tell their stories, and write their representatives.  We can encourage them to join Friends of  the Library groups and encourage those groups to be advocates. We have to be willing to put ourselves out there and encourage others to do the same.





CPD23 Thing 15

Even Introverts Can Enjoy Conferences

I have been a frequent conference goer from ALA and PLA to our local state library association's annual conferences. I have also been a conference presenter both in  large and small venues.

First, conference attendance. I generally enjoy conferences -- whether there are interesting sessions to attend, vendors to browse, speakers to listen to, tables to staff, committee meetings to sit through, colleagues to catch up with. I also end up totally drained by the end of the conference. I love the ideas and the energy but all that interaction with others -- honestly, it gives me a headache. So I find ways to rest up and restore -- if I can I room by myself just so I can get some alone time. Otherwise I might sit somewhere in a crowded room and try to isolate myself (pouring intently over the conference program often helps to keep others at bay).

I have always gotten something out of a conference. I may not get something out of every session I attend but overall attending is worthwhile. Sometimes I attend because I have committee meetings I have to go to but generally it is because of the sessions offered. On reflection some of those sessions, even the ones that haven't been directly related to my job, have been pretty worth while. I still remember a session given by the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library about Friends and Foundation groups at PLA nearly 4 years ago. It was a very well done presentation, very engaging and entertaining, yet informative. My library director had asked me to go to that one and I am glad I did. And many keynote sessions I have attended have been really interesting whether hearing from a Google staffer on how to search and it's algorithm or Mary Pipher talk about immigrant populations in Nebraska.

I started presenting at NLA annual conferences a number of years ago. That first year I was rather terrified. I was part of a panel and I read what I had written. I am sure it was not very engaging. Since then, I have become comfortable in this small setting, where I often know at least some of the participants. I  have been pretty good at coming up with conference sessions for TSRT to sponsor at NLA. Last year was one of the few years I didn't present. But I am back in the saddle again and will be working on a RDA panel presentation for NLA in October.

What I have found far more daunting and don't really care to go do again, is presenting at PLA. For the past two years I was part of a group of presenters that presented Dangerous Ideas at PLA. In Minneapolis we were in the conference center's auditorium -- it is a big space. When it was my turn to speak I couldn't really see the audience. I did not have a large part to play but did my part okay. I have a soft voice and am not very experienced with microphones so I may not always have been heard. Last year's PLA was in Portland and we were again in a large space, a ballroom, or two. I put together a powerpoint slide show that told a story (about passive aggressiveness in a library) -- I used images with a little text and had notes to speak from. I did better than the last time, but I know that I was hard to hear at times. I started with a joke (My name is Deirdre and I am non-confrontational passive aggressive), at least it got a laugh.

But I am really not comfortable in front of such a large group. I do well with the NLA audience. I can talk on a subject I have some knowledge and perhaps expertise with and not need a script (or a microphone). I am glad I have done the presentations at PLA -- it is good to know that I can do them but also good to know that I don't want to do it again. Like going down the enclosed slide at Coco-Keys.

Monday, August 29, 2011

CPD23 Thing 14

Social Bibliography

As I work in a public library we don't tend to have a huge need for bibliographic software, although I wish I had these options when I was in grad school!

I found all 3 products interesting -- they each have different features and offer different things to the user. However, I am not sure that anyone would use all 3 products -- maybe two but not all three. I found it particularly interesting that all 3 include a social aspect. That is not something I would have expected to be desired or included with bibliographic citation software.

I guess it shows how social media has really influence all aspects of our lives and work that it is even in our bibliographies and scholarly references. The level of social media seems to really vary with each product. Zotero has groups and forums which are a bit more old school discussion groups although it does allow you to create a profile which is definitely a more common social media aspect these days.

On the other hand, Mendeley, clear was created with contemporary social media in mind. The collaborative aspects of Mendeley are emphasized in its introductory video and a selling point for how it is different than Zotero (which is refers to as being a source of your information). The bibliographic generation aspects are not highlighted.

CiteULike seems the simplest of all of the software/apps under consideration and that also seems to have been the intent of the designer. It definitely has appropriate social aspects and ease of pulling your articles together although it is not so clear how easy it is to put together a bibliography.

Of the 3 Zotero appeals most to me -- but that probably has to do with how I am most familiar with using this type of app, creating bibliographies for papers. I also want to get my professor spouse to take a look at these, I'd be interested to hear his take and what he'd prefer.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

CPD23 Thing 13

Cloud Collaboration

This week's things are all ones I am at least somewhat familiar with and two of them I have used extensively and mainly professionally.

Google Docs: I use this all the time. I use it it take notes during meetings or at conferences. I have a netbook computer that I take to such events and have found that it is wonderful to be able to type my notes as they happen rather than to try and decipher them later. And it makes it easy to share them after doing a quick clean-up. I love using Google Docs this way. I appreciate that I can make the notes on my netbook but still access them on my work or how computer. One difficulty is if there is no wireless access at the event. This is not usually a problem if at a national or state-wide conference or at a public library in the US, but at an academic library or elsewhere you are not guaranteed access.

Another difficulty comes when you try and share with people. If you aren't trying to make it secure and willing to just share the link it works just fine. However, if you want to keep it secure those who do not have a Google account can have difficulties logging in and accessing the documents. When I was on the NLA board we were able to set up and use Google Docs to share the written reports. This was much easier than sending email attachments or bringing printed copies to meeting. It took a bit for everyone to learn how to upload their documents and access them but we eventually got it up and running. I have been trying to get this set up with another board I am on but they do not seem to be as technological adept as librarians.

I have used Google Docs to collaborate on a project only occasionally. Usually it has been to share things I have completed. An exception was for a PLA presentation -- we did work together on the document, sometimes during a conference call. And when it came time for the presentation I had my material in Google Docs and on a jump drive, just to be sure I had it!

Wikis: I have been using wikis for a few years now. I remember when I first learned about them and how to use the collaboratively. They seem to have become just a part of working life -- although I tend to use them to look up what others have done and do not post to them. I have thought about setting up a wiki for a departmental manual but have not gotten past the thought. Currently I am leaning toward setting up a LibGuide instead.

Dropbox: This is one I have not really used, although I do have an account. My brother invited me to use it and I set up an account but I have not put in anything. I am thinking that I'll mainly use it for photograph sharing. It seems like it would be similar to use as Google Docs.

I appreciate the programs that allow sharing of materials, working collaboratively and not being tied to a particular computer or a jump drive or needing to download software.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

CPD23 Thing 12

On Being a Social Butterfly, or Not

Social media is a great way for introverts to be social. We can interact on our own terms. We can lurk, listen, and perhaps participate. When we really don't want to deal with others we don't have to do so and don't have to feel bad about not attending some event.

Social media allows you to set your terms. Will I check in with FB/Twitter/LinkedIn, every day? Once a week? Will I post or just comment on others' posts? It is all up to you. You decide what works for you. If you want every place you go to appear as you check in on your chosen social media sites, that's your choice. If you'd rather everyone didn't know where you were at every minute of the day, then you don't do that. You have options and you have choices. You are very much in control.

Social media can help you feel a little less isolated. This can be true of professionally (as well as personally, of course). Having a frustrating time with something (perhaps a vendor)? -- Post it on your social media site and often you'll get comments of support. See an interesting article? -- Share it with others (there can never be too much information about RDA). Want to celebrate? Ask a question? You can do this through social media and your contacts.

The downside is that perhaps your group is not there the moment you want them to be so they may not respond. Or it may take them a while to respond. But usually someone makes some kind of response. Sometimes it can start an exchange with lots of different people involved, and you can really see the social in social media.

I have seen colleagues use social media in interesting ways. One colleague has posted on FB to collect ideas from the "hive mind" for names of new programs. It is great to see the non-library folks chime with suggestion too. Sometimes it is just to ask a question, even a reference one -- and if others are there they might post a response.

The drawback here is that although you can do things on your own terms and schedule, so can everyone else so if you need an immediate answer you may be out of luck but if you can collect answers over time you might get some great thoughts.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

CPD23 Thing 11

T-t-teach, teach me

Mentoring is so important in libraries. Library school only teaches you so much. And you don't need to go to library school to work in a library. Either way, you learn a great deal on the job. So it is important to have people you can trust to help guide you. People you can seek out for advice.

I have never set up a formal mentoring relationship, although I have seriously considered asking an informal mentor to be a formal one. It has been easier at a large library to find a mentor -- when I worked at the historical society I was the only librarian/archivist, I had to constantly explain what I was doing to others. But at OPL, my first supervisor stepped in and filled a mentor role. She is the one who got me involved with the Technical Services Roundtable of NLA -- she encouraged me to take on the job of editing the TSRT newsletter which was way out of my comfort zone.

She also encouraged me to apply to and wrote a recommendation for me to attend the Nebraska Library Leadership Institute. When she retired and I inherited her job duties I followed many of her practices and procedures -- it provided a great foundation as I learned so many new things and was a new manager. She taught me how to nurture the staff you supervise -- encourage them to try new things and stretch beyond their usual roles.

Since that time I have turned to other experienced managers within our library system for advice. I talk with these people about our shared experiences on a variety of matters. Sometimes I am listening to them, sometimes they are listening to me. Sometime we commiserate and sometimes we celebrate. It helps a great deal to have others to talk to when needed.

The Nebraska Library Leadership Institute also provided mentors. Each group had 2 mentors and 6 mentees. The mentors had to be silent through most of the program, but they were always available. Since the program they are people we could have gone to as a formal mentor, although I never did that.

In the last few years I have been surprised to find that others have put me in the role of mentor. I have been able to provide advice from interviewing (having been both an interviewer and interviewee many times) to how to handle a given situation. I have been contacted by those interested in library school or those at library school who are interested cataloging or perhaps other things. This has included someone from another state wondering how to move from an academic setting to public library cataloging.

I have been surprised because I don't feel that I know enough. I know I don't have all the answers. And that is true of all mentors but the idea that others view me as someone who does have some of the answer is still surprising. I am wondering when I moved from someone with lots of questions and seeking lots of answers to someone with some of the answers.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

CPD23 Thing 10

Talkin' about my education...

I've been lucky enough to have had an international (albeit Anglophone) education. I went to school in Melbourne, Australia (which means my US history and geography are spotty and I use British or Australian words at times). I returned to the US for college at a true liberal arts school which provided me with a very broad background. I then went to Canada for graduate school. I started with history -- Victorian British history and after it became clear that I was not going to be a history professor I began investigating archives.

I went to library school at the University of Toronto and specialized in archives. Along the way I learned that I had an aptitude for cataloging so I began to take cataloging courses too. The U of T program is a 2-year, accredited degree. When I was finishing we were able to choose between getting a Masters of Library Information Science or just plain MLS degree (I chose the latter).

... and my career
When I was doing my degree I was also able to work a few library jobs in other university departments. First I worked at a job I created in the philosophy department (where my husband was a graduate student) -- setting up their departmental library using bibliographic software, Endnote, as a kind of catalog. I did lots wrong but I got things started there. Then I was a graduate library assistant at the Criminology Library. I learned so much here -- from shelf reading (which I love to do), how to tattle-tape and how to be a great boss from the library director. I even got to do a bit of reference work.

After that I started working full time. I was lucky enough to get a cataloging job right out of library school. In fact I never attended my library school graduation because I was working. I worked for an outsourcing outfit in Kitchner, Ontario : Library Services Center (which was then called the Ontario Library Services Center). I couldn't believe that anyone would pay me to catalog when I knew so little.

I learned so much. How to work as part of a team, what cataloging for an audience meant, what a corporate author really meant, how to catalog a wide variety of materials, how to cope when you have to start working 40 hours a week for the same pay of 35 because the company is in dire financial straits, how to catalog in an online system (which was the new Horizon which made my life easier years later) and how to work in an open office environment. I also managed to screw up my right hand with RSI (thank goodness for the Canadian health care system which made it possible to treat that even when poor) so I have learned to be very careful with ergonomics and how to mouse with my left hand.

We left Ontario for Omaha in the mid-90s when my husband was hired as a professor at Creighton University. I struggled to find work when we first moved here. I did interviews for the few job openings I found -- my lack of a car or a drivers license hampered my search a bit. After 6 months out of work I turned to temp work. I temped for about a year and eventually was offered a job as an archivist at the Union Pacific Museum.

This was a contract position but it was archives. The museum at that time was located in the Durham Museum in downtown Omaha -- a restored Art Deco train station. While I was there Union Pacific completed it's takeover of Southern Pacific which meant a huge amount of material for the UP Museum. I worked extensively with SP archives. And I learned that working with photographic materials is very different than print but wonderful.

I dealt with a wide variety of materials from corporate memos and records to silver tea sets and publicity stills and station plans and blueprints. I worked with train fans who wanted to plans or photos of all the SP stations, those who wanted to know what colors to paint their trains; researchers who knew something about history and trains and those who knew nothing (do you have an aerial, color shot of the Golden Spike?, Uh, no.). At this early stage of online commerce I saw first hand how putting a buy online with a credit card increased our photo sales incredibly. I also learned how to put together displays, something I had never, ever done before.

But this was a contract position -- no benefits and little chance of anything changing so I was still looking for a permanent job. I found one at the Douglas County Historical Society as the Librarian/Archivist. Here I learned so much about Omaha history and genealogical work. I didn't do as much cataloging as I would have liked but I did manage to help the society to a new membership/cataloging database, PastPresent.

I left for a variety of reasons, including low pay and few benefits. I interviewed 3 times with the Omaha Public Library -- for a serials cataloger position , an adult reference librarian position and finally a cataloger and reference librarian position. After the city had a job hiring freeze I eventually started in January of 2002.

The split position, 20 hours reference and 20 hours cataloging, was a new one for OPL. I rather enjoyed it. I worked the main reference desk -- handling calls of all types most mornings and came downstairs to the oasis of quiet in the afternoon. I cataloged adult nonfiction. I worked evenings and weekends but it wasn't bad. When the cataloging department manager retired I became first the interim manger and eventually the manager of the new Technical Services department. It was a combination of the acquisitions and cataloging departments which have shared spaced in the basement of the downtown library for many years but didn't become one department until more recently.

Since I have been manager the department has gone through not only the merger but also the building of shared facility with our local community college, Metro Community College. This meant a shared ILS which has been a challenging experience at times (sharing catalog records has been the easiest part). We also have worked to meet the challenge of 48 hours turnaround (that means 48 hours from when we receive the materials until they get out to our patrons) and preparing an opening day collection for a renovated library branch in under 2 months. We also worked on an opening collection for a brand new library branch in another shared facility with Omaha Public Schools. Now we are working on changing from the Horizon ILS (by Sirsi-Dynix) to Millennium (by III) -- hoping to go live by the end of month.

But I really I love my job. I greatly enjoy the work I do. I enjoy the challenges I encounter. Sure, it is not all wonderful all the time but I generally have a high rate of job satisfaction. I don't know what the future will bring but I always trust that things work out eventually.

CPD23 Thing 9

Evernote

I had never heard of this program before CPD23 but it looks very promising. I had fun playing around with it and can see how I can use it to feed my recipe addiction.

One aspect I like is how easy it is to copy from a webpage -- something that I do (especially with recipes; why is it so hard to print from a blog -- love the recipe blogs which allow you to print just the recipe) -- and to then have a nicely formatted and printable page (and findable too).

I can also see how I can use it for cataloging. Just yesterday I had to find a PDF online to catalog. I was able to find it, use Evernote to copy the first page and then have the link saved and know what it was about so if I wasn't able to finish my catalog record I could go back and find it later. This is better than bookmarking, in my opinion.

I can also see how it could be fabulous to use with a tablet device. One of the criticisms I have heard about such devices is that it is hard to take notes and sometimes if you lose rights to a digital book then you loose your notes. I presume that you could use Evernote to store your notes instead. It might be a bit of a pain to have to use a secondary system but it is better than losing your notes!

This will be a program that I'll continue to make use of and probably find new and different ways to use. I know I'll use to when updating and working on LibGuides too.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

CPD23 Thing 8

Getting Organized

I have used Google Calendar for my family calendar for a few months now. I have known about it longer and wanted something online that both my husband I could get to. I try to keep it up-to-date although have been a bit behind lately. But it is a great way to put in recurring meetings and kids' activities.

Only problem is husband doesn't really use it. Sigh.

But I like it. I like that it will send me email reminders about things if i set them up. I would like to be able to do a bit more as a family calendar (or any kind of shared calendar) where you could perhaps color code entries based on who was doing them.

I would also like to be able to set up different calendars for different things. I'd love to have a project management calendar in Google. In fact just last week I went looking on the web for different kinds of project management calendars and was disappointed in what I found. I haven't seen a way I can have different Google calendars going at the same time so I keep my Outlook calendar at work for my things at work (and if it ain't on my Outlook calendar it ain't happening) and my personal life on Google.

I want to keep them separate as there is no need for work to know about my personal life and although I enter some stuff on my Outlook calendar and mark them private I am seeing some sense to just keeping two different calendars. I am also considering whether I can change my PDA (yes I have one, old-fashioned as I am) to the Google Calendar rather than Outlook.

The thing that was new for me in this activity was iGoogle. I have seen and used similar personalized pages with gadgets and add-ons (NetVibes is one) but I must admit that I rather like iGoogle. The only problem seems to be that if I don't set it as my homepage then it doesn't save the settings. At work I don't want it as my homepage. At home that's different and I will set it as my homepage and can hopefully save some settings and gadgets.

Yet again Google has a good product but it is not quite perfect.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

CPD23 Thing 7

Networking and Professional Organizations

I hate networking. I am an introvert. I am cataloger (at heart). I am terrible at small talk and schmoozing at parties. I am dreading next week when I have 3 full days of training followed by a wedding on Friday night. Don't expect much of me on Saturday.

I do, however, quite like Professional Organizations and am pretty involved with them on a state and national level. Even if the meetings and conferences take a lot out of me.

At the state level I am involved with the Nebraska Library Association and more particularly, the Technical Services Round Table of NLA. I am currently Past Chair of TSRT which means I served as Chair last year and the Vice-Chair/Chair elect the year before. After two years of duties I am enjoying this year where all I had to do was find candidates to run for office (although that was a bit of a task). Previously, I edited the newsletter, when we had one, and then became the Communications Director for a while (but didn't do much).

This has been a lovely little niche for me in NLA. I have made excellent contacts with catalogers across Nebraska. At the state level it often matters less whether we are in academic, public or special libraries but we can have a common dialogue about cataloging issues. This has been particularly true with all RDA.

Although it is not a professional organization, participating in the 2nd Nebraska Library Leadership Institute way back in 2005, was a great way as a new professional to get to know library staff across Nebraska. When I served on the NLA board as TSRT chair last year it was a lot easier for me as I knew people from my NLLI experience. I have kept in contact with many of my NLLI cohorts and enjoy seeing who else has gone through this wonderful program. Thanks to our Regional Library Systems for having this every two years.

I am also active in ALA in ALCTS. This came about by accident. A few years ago I was able to attend one of the Library of Congress's Working Group on Bibliographic Control sessions that was held in Chicago (only a hour away by plane so I could fly in and out the same day). I was angered by the lack of input from and consideration give to public libraries. So I posted on the AUTOCAT listserv. To my surprise the ALCTS president elect, Pamela Bluh, contacted me and asked if I would be willing to serve on the ALCTS Membership Committee, specifically to see what ways ALCTS could be doing more with public librarians in technical services. I served a two-year term.

Now I am on the ALCTS Planning Committee (as a virtual member) which means I am working on long-term planning for ALCTS. As a virtual member I have not attended ALA Annual or Mid-Winter since being on this committee but I make sure to keep on email, ALA Connect and try to attend the virtual meetings when at all possible. I know that public libraries are not well represented in this part of ALA so I try to do what I can. I have not made many personal contacts at this level but that is okay.

All in all I have found the professional organizations have helped me to network in a less painful fashion. I have made valuable contacts that have helped me in my job. I know people I can call to ask for help with a variety of issues. And there are people who contact me for help with a variety of issues. This is particularly important in Technical Services where so often you are the only one in your institution who understands or cares about certain things so it is good to have others who speak a common language.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

CPD23 Thing 6

Virtual Networks

I am a regular Facebook user. I like it; I can use it on my terms (in other words ignore it for days or weeks and check in when I like, as often as I like). I can just read what others post or post constantly myself. I have used it to connect to my far-flung family and friends. And reconnected with some friends from high school and college.

Although I did start using Facebook because of a library colleague and originally had mainly library land friends it soon became a way for me to share life with my family and then my friends. I regard my FB account as largely personal, although I will often post things that are library and work related.

I do not really use it to network professionally. I did like the CPD23 fan page. My library uses Facebook to promote the library (with separate pages for kids, teens and general library).

I do not use LinkedIn and have been thinking about why don't. First of all, it would another online presence to maintain (with another user name and password to remember!). Second, it just isn't fun. At this stage if I am going to be doing things beyond my regular job duties it needs to have some element of fun and LinkedIn does not appear to have that. If I were job seeking I would have a different feeling about it and I can see that it has real utility in the job world and professionally.

I would rather continue to use Twitter and perhaps this blog to promote my professional face. I am considering posting non-library cont ed posts, such as about what we are going through to change ILSes.

I use ALA Connect (the ALA version of CLIP communities) sporadically. I am a virtual member of an ALA committee (ALCTS Planning) and we use ALA Connect to work on documents (our new chair has been posting documents for us to review for the past week!) and share information. I don't use ALA Connect as much as I could or should. Although there are networking capabilities set up in ALA Connect I haven't found many people use it that way (or I do not know the people using it that way).

I have been interested to hear about Google+ and took a quick look at it the other day -- but that it is by invitation only (the same way that Google has done with other things it has started) so I was only able to look at the demo pages. It could be interesting to use. I do like how it seems to enable you to separate out family, friends and work people. It seems to have gotten fairly positive reviews and I'll watch it with interest.

I am all in favor of online, virtual networking but it needs to have fun mixed in with it to get people using it. And we need to find ways to balance personal with professional.



Wednesday, July 13, 2011

CPD23 Thing 5

Reflective Practice

When I first read this thing I thought, hey, no problem, I am pretty reflective. But, on further reading and reflection, I realized that most of my reflection comes before I start. Such as before beginning this task. I read Thing 5 yesterday and reread it again today, going a little deeper, looking at links. In between I have been thinking about what I first read and how I would respond. And that has changed after rereading.

I do reflect on what I have dome, especially when I feel I have done something wrong or could have done it better. But that reflection is usually not that productive as it tends to be negative rather than thinking about how to do it better. Although I try to learn from my mistakes I tend to be hard on myself about my mistakes.

Learning from what we have done well or rather, stopping to realize that we have done it well and recording that for the future is also important. For instance, we have had to close 3 branches in the past 5 years for renovations but we have not stopped to write down what has gone well, or not gone so well, with those procedures. So each time it feels like a new thing we are doing and we forget what steps we need to take.

Or we are in the midst of changing to a new ILS and I would love to have a checklist somewhere of what you need to do as a library to prepare for this. I will try and take some time after we are done to work out went well and what didn't go well. A colleague at another library did this for a presentation at a conference and I found it helpful as a listener, I wonder if she found it helpful herself.

Taking the time after a project has been completed to say what worked and what didn't work is very hard to do. After all you've put in all this time and worked hard for months and are just glad to be done. But it is important to stop and take the time, while it is still fresh in your mind, to be reflective.

I don't know if I'll be able to do that but if I could spend some of the time after as well as before a project reflecting I believe it would be a benefit to me and my work.

Monday, July 11, 2011

CPD23 Thing 4

How Do I Keep Up?

Keeping up to date and on top of things always seems so hard to do, particularly since the advent of the Internet, Google and instant knowledge. I have used Twitter for a while and partly use it as news source. I follow various Twitter accounts of things that interest me from professional to personal, although few of my friends or colleagues use Twitter. I follow some mainstream media, some Library news sources and some fun news sources. I have often found Twitter to be a good way to keep very current and check it once a day at work. I rarely check it at home.

RSS Feeds have been more problematic. I have learned about them a few years ago and have used RSS Feeds on and off. My problem is the having to check in part. I do like the Google Reader better than other I have used. One because it is not yet another username/password to forget; and two because it only keeps things as unread for a short while so when you do check in months later you are not overwhelmed by the quantity of what you haven't read.

I did set up a Pushnote account but have yet to see a lot of utility here. The main stumbling blocks seems to be that there aren't that many people using it. And you can only search for people by username or email address. I tried searching for CPD23 and got nothing. I'll experiment and try rating some sites and see how it goes but so far I am not seeing how useful it is.

A service I find useful for keeping up is Tabbloid which allows you to have a RSS Feeds in a PDF document deliver to email once a week. I have in that RSS Feed a bunch of library (okay, cataloging) related blogs. I can scan through them quickly, click on those that I want to read more about and I am done. I find this easier to do than remembering to check into Google Reader. You can even print out the PDF if you need to take it off line to read.

As I am US based I also find useful the email enewsletters from Library Journal and the Wednesday afternoon email from American Libraries Direct -- both are good ways to keep up on what is going in US libraries at least, and often offer a bit of humor. Which is always a good thing!

And I do still use Listserv -- AUTOCAT is very active and can be draining to use at times but also a good source of information (I do a digest so I get only one message a day and can scan through it and then delete or follow up as need be). A few others a a bit less active and easier to keep up with.

Lastly, conversing with others is always a good way to learn new things and has the added advantage of the personal touch.

CPD23 Thing 3

Branding Doesn't Have to Be Painful

I will admit that I was not looking forward to this thing. I hate the idea of the personal brand and the whole elevator speech. But I felt that what was being presented in this thing made a lot of sense.

I did the Google Search and given my rather unusual name everything that came up was for me. And most of it was professional -- there is some extra-curricular activity as I am a long-time board member with a social justice group. I don't go around promoting my involvement at work but I don't hide it either. I was pleased that my Facebook did not show up as I have that pretty tightly locked down. I do tend to mix professional and personal with more emphasis on personal on FB and I will probably keep it that way.

However, this blog and my Twitter account are things that I have kept generally professional. I have only used this blog for online continuing education and I have tended to use my Twitter account only for library-related tweets (although initially I set it up for my mother's benefit she never quite got the hang of it and for at least the past year or two it has been only work-related tweets).

After reading the post about branding I have been thinking about trying to make these two accounts more alike and ways to be more professional. I have tended to use my middle names and my personal email rather than my work email for these accounts but I should change that. I will work on making these accounts less anonymous and more about me as a professional librarian.

The only thing I am leery about is keeping things private but that tends to be hard to do anyhow so I'll work on a balance between private and professional. But this thing has certainly got me thinking and I'll work on developing my online professional persona more as time allows.

Friday, June 24, 2011

CPD23 Thing 2

Reading Blogs
Oh what fun! This was my favorite part of running a 23 things program for our library -- reading what people had to say. There I learned how much people loved library work.

And I am getting that feeling again. A lot of us are a bit nervous, not quite sure what we'll might be learning but also willing to try something new.

I picked out a few catalogers to look at their blogs: Blogging Cataloging and Dark Side of the Catalog (what a great name!), both are from the UK and new to blogging. And both seem to be off to a great start. I will go back to their posts to see their takes on what we do.

Then I found some fellow Nebraskans, some by accident and some by design. It is nice to know that they too are doing this project along with me. It is good to know who to turn to for advice or commiseration!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

CPD23 Thing 1

Why, Where, What, Which and How
So, why am I doing this course? Basically, I like learning new things. I helped to set up and run a 23 things for my library a few years ago and have taken part in some of the continuing "things" that the Nebraska Library Commission has offered since -- as can be seen by the earlier posts in this blog. I look forward to learning not just new technologies but those that can be applied to my work.

Where am I in my career? I have worked at the same public library for about nine years now -- the longest I have worked anywhere. I am in the position I want to be in -- managing tech services. I love the challenge of my work. This is an exciting time to be in tech services as we go through many changes. Added to that at my library where are in the throes of changing ILS. This is going to be such a fun summer! I am not quite sure where I want my career to go -- I'll see where things take me.

What do I hope to learn? About things I don't know about or how to use things I have not used.

Which? I have taken the opportunity to look through the calendar and there are some interesting topics. I must admit I am not thrilled about the idea of branding for next week, but I am willing to listen and learn and will try not to prejudge. I use some online tools a lot, particularly google docs but have not used some of the presentation ones mentioned and look forward to learning more about using those.

How? I also would like to learn more about how to blog well. I can write okay but I wonder if that is best way to be blogging. I have had this blog for a while but only used for these type of learning things. I have started a few others -- one a personal for sharing recipes with my family and another where I have tried reviewing cookbooks for the library. The main problem I have had with the latter is finding the time to do that regularly. I just cannot fit it into my work day so it has to be done at home and it hasn't gotten done.

Overall I am looking forward to doing some different things and learning about some new things over the next few weeks.