tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35820514099046665542024-03-14T01:06:51.940-07:00Nia's blogNia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-24069638613449346032012-09-17T05:25:00.002-07:002012-09-17T05:25:37.008-07:00Thing 14 - Reference Management Systems<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was airily going to skip over Thing 14 with a smug “I don’t need a reference management system”, but then I read </span><a href="http://thegreenstonelibrarian.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/thing-14-zotero-mendeley-citeulike.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">The Green Stone Librarian’s blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and had a lightbulb moment. Yes, I could use a reference management system to keep track of articles I want to read and those that I have read and want to re-read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But, with Freshers only days away, I’m not going to spend a lot of time downloading and comparing products. </span><a href="http://51stcenturylibrarian.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/thing-14.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">51<sup>st</sup> Century Librarian</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> has done a good job of that. I have downloaded Mendeley on to my computer, and for now will just keep in the back of my mind to put any articles/documents in here for safekeeping. I may even revisit this task in order to record if I’ve used Mendeley, and if so, how I’ve used it. But don’t hold your breath!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-28787060620594894042012-09-11T14:06:00.000-07:002012-09-11T14:06:26.270-07:00Thing 15, Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Much earlier in my
career, I loved conferences. I just couldn't believe that I could go
and stay in nice hotels (some had swimming pools!) and my employer
would pay. I thought of it as a perk – a day or sometimes even
more, off work and would happily go to everything possible. Later I worked for RSC Wales where attending
conferences, seminars and other events happened all too frequently. I
was also involved in organising lots of training and events for Welsh
Video Network, so by the time I came to my present post, I was a bit
burnt out from all the organising, travelling, presenting etc. I know
that I tend to blame my children for all kinds of things, but they
really do put a spoke in the wheels when I want to try and go away
for a night or two. What I'm trying to building up to is the shameful
admission that I have all but given up on conferences and events
recently in the last few years.
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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However, I have made
the effort recently to attend one event which was out of my usual
comfort zone (all 3 hours out of it), because through this CPD23
lark, I realised that I needed to make more efforts to network with
colleagues. And, of course, I really enjoyed it, and got a huge
amount out of the day. So while I don't think I'll ever go back to
those days when I was the first to volunteer to attend any kind of
event, I am committed to attending at least one event a year. And now
that I've stated that publicly here, I'm going to have to keep to it.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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My main advice to
anyone attending a conference is to talk to people. Don't stick to
people from your own institution but mix it up with anyone and
everyone. Think about issues at work you find difficult to solve, or
would like to know more about in other institutions, and ask people
about them.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Organising events can
be great fun but also pretty stressful. Getting the technology right
is one of the major stresses – make sure you have at least half an
hour to test beforehand if you're in an unfamiliar place, and ensure
that technical help to is at hand. Get presentations before the day
and make sure they're on the computer ready to go. Try also to have
someone to help you problem-solve. Often as an organiser, you're in
demand to meet and greet, introduce people to each other, and make
sure presenters have all they need. Having someone else available to
find out why the tea and coffee haven't arrived, or to figure out how
the fancy new light switches work, is a huge help.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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There are so many
events that look interesting that I can't pinpoint any that I think
would be especially useful except maybe the UC&R conference. If
I'm dealing with a specific issue at work, then anything that
addresses, for example measuring impact, will be of interest at that
particular time.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Are there any subjects
on which I feel I could speak? I work in Customer Services, so
anything on the student experience, managing a front-line service
(combined IT and library), how to measure CS – though suspect
anyone who's done Customer Service Excellence would have far more to
say on this than I do; also jobsharing – how it works in real-life
(keep meaning to write a blog post on this one). BUT, “could”
speak is one thing, “would” speak is quite another.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If
you have a burning idea for a great event, now would probably be a
good time to talk about it!</span></span></span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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One thing that has been churning at the back of my mind for a while
now is holding a small, informal conference here in Aberystwyth for
library staff in all sectors. While Aberystwyth may be small, you
can't go anywhere without falling over librarians – the town is
crawling with them. Not only do we have the university and the public
libraries, but also the National Library of Wales, Bronglais Hospital
Library and one of the university's departments is the Department of
Information Studies. We also have CYMAL just down the hill. And of
course, we never get together. So I've had it in mind to suggest a
day where we invite staff from each institution to come together and
present – probably on a common theme such as marketing and
advocacy. Its on my "to do" list as something to explore when I have the time.</div>
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<br /></div>
Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-68058203810825649062012-09-10T05:38:00.001-07:002012-09-10T05:38:18.981-07:00Back to school and CPD23 - Thing 13<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was doing so well, until school holidays interfered. It’s
been hard to shake off that holiday feeling, but with Freshers just round the
corner now, and work pressure piling up, I’m definitely getting back into the
groove. However I’m so behind on 23 Things that I've been avoiding looking at the website and other people's blogs because it just makes me feel bad. Because of
that, I’m going to ever so slightly skim quickly over the next few things to
try and catch up just a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Thing 13. Google Docs, Dropbox and Wikis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because we use sharepoint at work, I don’t have much
experience of using the first 2 tools in any kind of professional capacity.
Documents are kept on Sharepoint and we can control who has access to various
areas. We can also give people either read only or editing rights. I now tend
to keep most of my documents on sharepoint for the following reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">I can access them from anywhere – no more
emailing documents to myself</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Sharing with other people – I’ll email people
the link to sharepoint, rather than emailing the document. It means that if it
gets edited, everyone sees the changes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Security – if my computer crashes, the document
is safe. Our clever computer people can also retrieve old copies of the
document so if someone accidentally deletes information, I can revert to the
previous copy.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">·</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Collaborating – people can collaborate on a
document and it’s much easier than sending the document around and then trying
to incorporate everyone’s changes.</span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have used Google Docs for keeping documents related to the
local Cylch Meithrin (Welsh playgroup). As the committee running the local
playgroup changed every couple of years (or sooner) this was an easy and convenient
way to share documents between committee members. I found it easy enough to use
– I wonder if they still use it or are back to 3 huge box files?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have used Dropbox once to access a file. Someone sent me a
link and I just followed it – didn’t need a password. I haven’t explored it
further as I don’t see a need for it at present, and also I don’t want to
download something I don’t need on to my computer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wikis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t use, and don’t see the need for it. Only ever used Wikipedia
(of course). </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-15424663353108187852012-07-31T02:04:00.001-07:002012-07-31T02:04:10.568-07:00Thing 12 - reflections on social media<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having been congratulating myself on being up-to-date with all things CPD23, I now find myself falling behind once more. I'm off on holiday next week so busy this week getting everything ready. That means no time to look at things 13, 14 or 15 - and by the time I come back from holiday I really should be on 16!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did make a few notes on thing 12 - reflection on social media, and felt really smug about it, seeing as it was supposed to be a free week. Ah well, pride comes before a fall and all that ...</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, having got this far, what’s changed for me?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I’m really, really honest, then this blog is the only big change. I’m hoping to be able to keep it going after 23 Things, but having a topic set every week is giving me an impetus that will not be there once 23 Things has finished. A big dose of self-discipline will be required to continue regularly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Social media can lead to better communication. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, but only if people participate. The huge majority (including myself) seem to prefer lurking in the shadows – happy enough to read other people’s ideas and comments but unwilling to share themselves. Twitter seems to be dominated by a small number of librarians, and also librarians who already know each other and have created their own groups within Twitter. It’s difficult sometimes to know when is appropriate to comment, and when not, especially when the professional and the personal meet.</span></div>
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<i><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It creates a more collaborative working space where people are encouraged to share their ideas</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not yet for me, but I can see that for projects, groups, etc, it would be useful. I'm hoping to join a project with other institutions and it will be interesting to see how much use we make of collaborative working space.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span><i><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It aids in building online communities</span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve blogged about this before, but for me, the main online community is still lis-link (or other mailing lists). The response rate is far better than Twitter or comments on my blog. I’ve also found that one of the big pluses of following CPD23 is renewing contacts with people who I’ve either already met or know of, and I’ve really enjoyed following the blogs of </span></span><a href="http://alyson23things.wordpress.com/"><span style="background: #fdfefa; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alyson Tyler</span></span></a><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> and </span></span><a href="http://thegreenstonelibrarian.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="background: #fdfefa; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sam Oakley</span></span></a><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. I haven’t really made contact with people I’ve never met before. This probably means that I’m not being proactive enough in commenting on other people’s blogs and responding to Tweets.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;">Social networking can also provide easy access to other areas of the profession</span></i><span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;">.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="background: #fdfefa; color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes it can, but I think that to get a clearer idea of other areas of the profession, then visits to other sites is invaluable.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Since beginning 23 Things, I use Twitter a lot more, but am not sure of the benefits. I'm a lot more aware of how I need to improve my networking, and face-to-face works a lot better initially to build relationships - maybe I can then use Twitter etc to keep in touch with people.</span><br />Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-42586651297375430202012-07-16T00:43:00.000-07:002012-07-16T00:43:31.674-07:00Thing 11 - Mentoring<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hmm, not quite sure what’s required here, as I’ve never had
a mentor or been a mentor to someone. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Do I think I’ve missed out by not having a mentor? Not
really. I suppose it does depend a lot on the person who is the mentor, and the
relationship you have with them, but I’ve always been very happy with
discussing issues with colleagues. I was very fortunate in my first job to be
working with people who supported me brilliantly. In my second job, I was a
solo librarian in a city where I knew no-one. Yet the network of librarians
there was great and before very long I was spending at least 2 lunch-hours a
week with other librarians on campus to discuss issues. The University where I
work now has a mentoring programme that I could access, but at present, I don’t
feel the need for this. Since I job-share, I already have someone on hand to
discuss problems, to reflect on issues, and to support (or sometimes to argue
against) any decisions I might make.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">I would be more than happy to be a mentor if I was asked. We do have a mentoring scheme at the university, and training is provided for mentors, which I expect would be useful not just for official mentors, but anyone who has a role in supporting and/or managing other members of staff.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-72071465118126071292012-07-05T02:52:00.000-07:002012-07-05T03:12:22.078-07:00Thing 10 - CPD and other things<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.48cm;">I'm warning you now, this is a bit of a monster post</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 0.48cm;">It's 17 years (gulp!) since I
qualified as a librarian. I fell into it completely by accident. I'd
just graduated in Welsh and had applied unsuccessfully for a number
of jobs – one of which was in a library. In the interview I was
told about the MLib (as it was then) course at DILS (now DIS) at
Aberystwyth University, and since I seemed to be virtually
unemployable as I was, I persuaded my poor parents to put me through
yet another year in Higher Education.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I remember very little of the course by now. A quarter of it was
dedicated to management, a quarter to reference tools, and I remember
one session on teaching us to use card catalogues. How useful was it?
Well, I've hardly used a card catalogue in my life, and for the first
5-6 years in my profession, the information on management was
completely superfluous. My first job was on a reference desk, so that
bit came in slightly useful, but I think I learnt more in a month on
the job than I did in a year of studying it at masters level. I also
managed to submit my dissertation within the year.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course, the course would have offered me so much more if I'd
worked in a library for a period of six months to a year beforehand.
I'm envious of our library graduate trainees as they get an unique
opportunity to explore nearly all aspects of library work, and gain a
far greater understanding of the workflows and the interactions
between teams in the library. To be fair, the year I studied seemed
to be a year of transition from paper-based materials to huge
computerised databases, and the year I started working was when the
institution I worked in suscribed to their first bibliographic
database – remember BIDS? - but it did mean that lots of what I'd
learnt about were out-of-date almost immediately.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I did finally get a job where I spent morning in a sectional library
and afternoons on the reference desk in the main university library.
This was great as I got the opportunity to learn to do a little of
everything in the sectional library, while I really enjoyed (and
still do) working on the reference desk.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Opportunities for promotion or advancement were few and far between
where I was, so I moved to Leeds and ran the Education Library at the
School of Education, University of Leeds. I've never wanted to be
pigeonholed in library work – I never wanted to be just a
cataloguer or reference librarian or desk manager, but rather have
opportunities to do different things, and being a Solo Librarian at
the School of Education Library provided me again with this. The
library was part of the academic department, rather than the
University Library, so this gave me an insight into how academic
departments worked, especially as I was kindly invited onto all the
Advisory Groups covering policy, research and teaching. I also got a
gentle introduction into management, as I was mentored by one of the
lecturers and also received a great deal of support and advice from
other librarians on the campus.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After a few years I joined RSC Wales – no, not a Shakespearean
acting troupe but the <a href="http://www.jiscrsc.ac.uk/wales">JISC
Regional Support Centre</a> for FE. My work here was to support
library staff, and later teaching staff, in FE in using ILT. Again
this was extremely varied, and challenging. However it was also a
fabulous opportunity and all the RSC staff were expected to attend
various national conferences and training events, as well as our own
events.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Family life interrupted and after 4 years I gave up my job. That
lasted 12 months, before I went back to work part-time for the <a href="http://www.wvn.ac.uk/">Welsh
Video Network</a> as a Learning and Teaching Advisor. After the RSC,
it was a relief to be only working with one technology, and by
working alongside an ex-PGCE lecturer, I learnt a huge amount about
creating effective lesson plans and reinforcing learning. We also had
lots of fun arranging events – my favorite was probably a “Question
Time” type event involving 4 AMs (Assembly Members in Welsh Senate)
and a number of FE Colleges.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The travelling was getting too much with 3 small children (Oh, the
irony, when I was promoting videoconferencing!) so when a full-time
job came up as Customer Services Manager in the University Library I
jumped at the opportunity, but only after persuading a colleague to
apply with me as a job-share. We fortunately were offered the post
and nearly 5 years later, we're still here.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
During those years I'd done quite a bit of CPD, from a translating
diploma, to a <a href="http://www.online.sheffcol.ac.uk/index.cfm?pid=96dd63e2-eccb-4a62-96d9-b89f561b71f4">LeTTOL</a>
course, and attended a huge number (during my RSC time especially) of
conferences. In my present role, I need to focus far more on generic
management skills. The <a href="http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/">JISC
infoNet</a> resources and courses have been really useful, and if you
haven't seen them, then they are worth a look. I would find the
management aspect of my MLib course of far more interest and value
now then I did at the time.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Apart from formal qualifications and courses, I should make far more
of an effort to keep up with current literature, and attend more
conferences – but again, it's hard to fit everything in.</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I can see from looking back at the CPD23 post that my route has not
been straightforward. I did start an attempt at Chartering but only
half-heartedly as I was never convinced of the benefits, and I can
honestly say that not Chartering has never hindered me.
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I believe the benefits of a good Graduate Trainee programme are
unsurpassed for a thorough grounding in all (or at least most)
aspects of library work, and can see that it would have helped me
enormously over the years.
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="line-height: 0.48cm; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As for formal masters or undergraduate degrees in librarianship –
I'm not convinved that my degree gave me the best skills for the job,
but I don't know how things have changed over the years. I do know
that these academic departments don't seem to be concentrating their
research on issues that I find all important in librarianship these
days – impact being one of the main ones, and if anyone wants to
prove me wrong and point me in the direction of research in impact or
value of academic libraries, I'd be grateful.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It's been a bit of a ramble, so if you've got this far, thanks for
reading. I'll try not to be so long-winded next time.</div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-34827894317401241092012-07-03T01:03:00.000-07:002012-07-03T01:03:55.979-07:00Thing 9 - EvernoteThing 9<br />
I like the idea of Evernote, and from looking at other people's posts, I can see that there's a lot of good reviews. I've downloaded it now onto my computer, and will do so on my phone as well. I can see where being able to save anything from my computer, phone or any other device will be useful for me, but I haven't used it yet, and feel that I need some time to play with it before I can use it effectively. In reality, this time will never happen, so either I won't use it, or I'll start using it haphazardly and take a very long time to get to grips with it. Maybe I'll try and find someone who works with me who uses it, and sit down with them to look at it in more detail.<br />
Although, since I spend so much of my time trying to organise myself, maybe I should prioritise anything that might help<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Christine Sexton has written on "</span><a href="http://cicsdir.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/think-before-you-post.html" style="background-color: white;">Think before you post</a><span style="background-color: white;">" on her blog "</span><span style="background-color: white;">From a Distance..." which is, as usual, very interesting and informative.</span>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-75232885945490384732012-06-29T03:33:00.001-07:002012-06-29T03:37:12.554-07:00Calendar - Thing 8<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Google Calendars</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We already use Outlook
Exchange calendars at work, and all in the department can view each
other's calendars. It's fantastic for arranging meetings as you can
check the best times for each attendee. We use calendar invitations
to schedule one-off meetings and also to enter regular meetings in
staff calendars. We've got extra exchange calendars set up for leave
and for various rotas such as desk rotas. All this is integrated with
personal calendars so it's easy to see what's on. I can also view my
calendar on my mobile phone which is a huge benefit, and access and use it over the web.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I love the reminders and also often put tasks in so I use it for time management as well. What isn't so great is the reminders that I constantly get telling me that a task is now a number of hours overdue - either I'm inefficient or hoplessly optimistic about what I can get done in a set amount of time.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We all have to be careful about the information on display in our calendars. Anything confidential or relating to a person needs to be made private or worded in a way that the person or subject is unindentifiable.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We also use sharepoint
calendars to book rooms and cars – again everyone has access and
can see at a glance when a meeting room is available. It's quick and easy to use - which is not something I often say about Sharepoint!</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
What this means is that
as an individual I don't see a need for google calendars specifically, but am absolutely sold on the idea of shared calendars.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-14896180675076593652012-06-25T05:40:00.001-07:002012-06-25T05:40:08.347-07:00Self-service kiosks<span style="font-family: inherit;">A request for information rather than a post specifically to do with 23 Things this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We're look at implementing self-service kiosks in our libraries and possibly other heavily used university spaces. This
would be a user-friendly, streamlined service to offer our customers and would
extend the self service provision we can offer in different locations where we
have not been able to directly offer services before. The kind of services that might be offered could be:</span><br />
<br />
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</div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Check/Renew library loans</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Pay fines online</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Check Library PIN</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Check library catalogue</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Buy printing credit online</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Check printing credit</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">See which computer rooms are free</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Set up wireless</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Set up printers</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Check password</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Register MAC address</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Change password</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Register firewall holes</span></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -18pt;">Student record/timetable</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div>
Has anyone else implemented a similar service? I'd be very grateful if you could get in touch and let me know exactly what services you've been able to implement. Please either comment below or email me at <a href="mailto:nrj@aber.ac.uk">nrj@aber.ac.uk</a> . I'll post results up on this blog if I get enough responses.</div>
<div>
Thanks</div>
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-12436369211692479442012-06-22T03:04:00.000-07:002012-06-22T03:04:17.213-07:00<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Professional
organisations and real-life networks</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm really getting behind now - blame school sports day, fun night and a sudden, compulsive need for clothes shopping.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is going to be a
short post, partly because of lack of time, but mostly because I'm not a member of any professional
organisations for a number of reasons:</div>
<ul>
<li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
cost – that's
probably the main reason,</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
limited benefits –
for geographic reasons more than anything else. It takes about 2.5
hours to get from where I am to places where events, training and
meetings usually happen. There were 7 events or groups listed on
this blog and the nearest is Cardiff which is, yes 2.5hours away.</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Lack of time – I
work part-time because I have other commitments. It makes it very
difficult then to do additional activies</div>
</li>
<li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Priorities - also,
I'm not looking to advance in my career right now, so there isn't
that additional motivation to make myself more visible, and collect
things to put on a CV.</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We did attempt to get
an information group of librarians involved in managing Customer
Services in HE libraries together, but it didn't happen for a number
of reasons but that would be something I would find useful.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've just looked over
the above and realised that I sound like a miserable loner, burying
myself in my little corner of the world – which I'm not, really!
I'd love to be able to discuss some of the issues at work with people
in other institutions, but opportunities to do that face-to-face are
rare.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It also highlight just
how important online networks are to those of us who are
geographically isolated, or not able to participate in real-life
networks for whatever reason.</div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-67148102628047847622012-06-14T03:12:00.001-07:002012-06-14T03:12:45.517-07:00Thing 6 - online networksThing 6 – Online
networks<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
LinkedIn – I have a
profile and a few connections so I've ticked the box, but it's not
something that I feel comfortable with. Mostly I think that's because
I'm not actively looking at getting another job at the moment so
there isn't that extra incentive to market myself, but it's also
because the interface is pretty awful and I can't see the point of
it. Perhaps it's the same as updating your CV – despite all the
best intentions, I never actually do it until I am applying for jobs
and I also can't be bothered to be using LinkedIn right now. I also
find it boring compared to other social media experiences, and I
really, really hate the way that Aberystwyth University is
automatically located in Shrewsbury! Do they not realise how
unbelievably insulting that is - why oh why can't they sort that out?
OK, rant over, but you can see I'm not the biggest fan of LinkedIn.
It's definitely not the office, but more of one of those sad dives just
off campus where a few lonely people congregate while everyone else
is having far more fun somewhere else.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
Facebook</div>
I love Fb for staying
in touch with friends and family. I'm also a member of a few closed
groups (children's football teams) and that's a wonderful way of
sharing information and photos. My biggest worry with Fb is the
privacy agenda. Despite shutting down my profile to be viewable by
only friends I still worry about this. When I got my latest
smartphone I was horrified to see all my Fb friends (some of whom I
haven't seen or spoken to for 20 years or so) added to my contacts
with mobile phone numbers and email addresses for many of them added
as well – very scary!<br />
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm a bit of a lurker
of Fb. I use it mostly for reminders of friends birthdays and quick
checks every now and again of what's happening. I hardly ever post
anything there myself. Most of my “real” friends are on Fb so it
feels much more like a community than LinkedIn, or Twitter (which is
almost exclusively professional contacts).... and there's a half hour gap
between this half of the sentence and the first half because I got
sucked into the black hole of Fb and have only just reappeared.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Despite joining a few
library groups, I don't think of Fb as a way of connecting with other
librarians or information professionals and I'm happy with that.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
LISPN and Librarians as
Teachers – I'm no longer a new professional, unfortuantely and I
don't teach at the moment either, so just to keep things managable,
I'm not going to join any of those groups.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
CILIP – I'm not a
member, and that's partly because of geography. I now live in a
remote part of Wales and travelling anywhere takes forever. This
means that getting to CILIP meetings and training etc is very
difficult (add 3 children to the mix and it gets even worse). When I
worked in Leeds I found CILIP's predecessor (what was it called?)
really useful. I regularly went to meetings of the Solo Librarians
Group and UC&R. I also used to go to Chartership meetings in a
pub after work – not surprisingly I never got around to chartering.
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I do feel guilty about
this as I know that CILIP is what it's members make it, so if it's
not meeting my needs, I have the opportunity to do something about it
if I want to get involved. Again, it's a matter of time and
priorities.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm a bit worried
looking back over this post that I'm stuck in a slight rut – using
the same social networks that I've always used. Since starting 23
Things I am using Twitter a lot more, and also RSS feeds. I would
like to get more involved with CILIP but have given myself too much
to do in the past and regretted it, so CILIP will have to wait for
now. Managing these online network and chosing the best one for me right now is more important than trying to keep up with all of them.</div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-60886878535688112672012-06-11T07:49:00.002-07:002012-06-11T07:49:53.984-07:00Mirror, mirror on the wall ...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thing 5<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and I’m starting to fall
behind, so I’m hoping to catch up with things 5 and 6 this week.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reflective practice is something I do quite a lot of anyway.
I’m always reviewing what I’ve done and how I could have done it better. One of
the advantages of job-sharing is that there is an opportunity to update and
reflect with my colleague at least once a week, and this face-to-face
discussion is often invaluable in helping me to understand why things have
happened the way they have, and how to improve things the next time. Also,
discussions on operational plans, or just working out our to-do-lists can leave
me feeling more in control and with more understanding of how to fulfil tasks
and manage my workload.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Looking more particularly on 23 Things …<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blogs. I really enjoy reading other people’s blogs and I’m
trying to leave comments whenever I read something that resonates with me. It’s
reassuring to know that other people are grappling with the same problems or
facing the same issues as ourselves. It’s also extremely enlightening to have a
snapshot of other people’s professional lives and see what they are doing
day-to-day. If there is a risk to all of this, it’s the time spent browsing various
blogs. As for blogging myself, I started out very enthusiastically but time (and
half-term) have made it difficult for me to blog regularly. I find it valuable
to record my activities and thoughts (reflective practice I guess?), but I’m
not sure that others find it so useful., but the beauty about blogging is that
it doesn’t necessarily have to be for other people. Having said that, the first
things I do when I log into my blog is check my stats. I want to carry on blogging,
but I need to be realistic about the time it takes. Once 23 Things is over, I
may need to recognise that once a fortnight is as much as I can manage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Twitter. I’m tweeting more but not sure if this of the
benefit to myself or anyone else. It might be raising my profile, and it gives
me a feeling of being part of a community when I join in a discussion. As for
following other people, I’ve found some useful links now and again but I’m
aware that I’m missing stuff so can’t rely on it as a failsafe tool for getting
information – possibly this is my fault and I need to get to grips with tools
to manage tweets. Again it helps to feel part of a community, and it helps to
have a finger on the pulse when it comes to current issues. However a lot of
the information is superficial and I have concerns as using it as a
representation of the entire library community. It seems to be dominated by a
few very frequent tweeters, so not sure if it representative of the community
as a whole. Although it’s used, and often praised, as a way of following
discussions and presentations at conferences, I haven’t found it at all helpful
in that context. I’d much rather read a longer, more considered report on a
blog. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, it’s easy to use, and I love its immediacy. I can
access it from my smartphone, otherwise use would be infrequent at best. It is
definitely my tool of choice when looking for breaking news, such as
information on the floods at the weekend, especially when I’m not at my desk. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Storify. I wasn’t too impressed with Storify at first, but I’ve
now succeeded in identifying an use for it, and am looking forward to going
back and playing with it again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Personal Branding. I find it really interesting not just for
me, but also for the institution that I work for, and my husband’s business. Personally I still need to get my blog and twitter account to match and
update automatically. My blog is improving my online presence (I hope anyway),
and there doesn’t seem to be anything bad out there. I could do more to promote
myself, but again it’s lack of time and it’s not on the top of my priority list
at present.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This blog post has become far too long and taken up too much
time (yet again) so I’m leaving it at this for today. I just want to add that
in all of this, the biggest benefit and motivator is engaging with other
people, and that’s why I want to continue tweeting and blogging after 23
Things.<o:p></o:p></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-51248558158815867442012-05-28T08:33:00.001-07:002012-05-28T08:33:56.566-07:00Making sense of user surveys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One thing that occupies an awful lot of time here is creating surveys, collating results, using those results to inform decision making and giving feedback to our customers on those results. A colleague of mine came up with a really great idea for providing a quick, visual feedback method. Customers were asked what they would like to see less of, and what they would like to see more of, and this is how she displayed the results:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcidVuHD4XP2m7ZPSmvjlbgP4M2DiqOhaV2DLVwrxF8hZ7klUWBIU4ZUY5PkdHVTwRhENUTF3JDOoai6YFGF2NiI13T6Tu5m6TpaPSZIbcl-YriC-5JRlbImc-P-NKpUXDNOZZGbfu9Fw/s1600/Less.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcidVuHD4XP2m7ZPSmvjlbgP4M2DiqOhaV2DLVwrxF8hZ7klUWBIU4ZUY5PkdHVTwRhENUTF3JDOoai6YFGF2NiI13T6Tu5m6TpaPSZIbcl-YriC-5JRlbImc-P-NKpUXDNOZZGbfu9Fw/s320/Less.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WEKv8N3fk25e3HPIObdhi2475NP_lICVGey1v4xUys2RfnPgrWFrIjSObwBy4voxGJbKAm9XC3fivp3EaenWnBVQJrzxIPuIfneiWsvuLeXO3KObMA7hHs_4WxWMkUfSDrcH4XAIxVI/s1600/More.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-WEKv8N3fk25e3HPIObdhi2475NP_lICVGey1v4xUys2RfnPgrWFrIjSObwBy4voxGJbKAm9XC3fivp3EaenWnBVQJrzxIPuIfneiWsvuLeXO3KObMA7hHs_4WxWMkUfSDrcH4XAIxVI/s320/More.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Interesting to see the overlap between the two - zoning is the issue that really divides people!<br />
<br />
We're also able to combine the Welsh and English feedback in one document, and hopefully portray some of the complexities of trying to provide a service to people with very diverse needs and expectations.<br />
<br />Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-22331981363257548892012-05-26T00:04:00.000-07:002012-05-26T00:56:08.387-07:00Twittering away<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I have
had a Twitter account since 3</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">rd</span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Feb
2009 but never used it much. However, 19 out of my 122 tweets have
been sent since I signed up for 23 things on 10</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">th</span></span><span style="color: black;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">May,
so already having a positive effect on my tweeting. I can see this
becoming addictive. I’ve looked over all my old tweets, and while
at the time I agonised over sending them, I can see know that they're
fine, so maybe I don't need to be so worried about it. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">I've
also been checking up on Twitter a lot more often which means that I
can follow conversations rather than just dip into random tweets.
I've also edited the people I'm following and need to remember to do
this regularly. I've found some more people to follow, and have come
across some interesting tweets and links to blogs and other websites.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">My main issue with Twitter is information overload and
t<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">he more you follow the worse it gets. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">It's a bit like walking past the tv and hearing a random quote (this morning it was "Charlene - the last surviving woman ...."), only with Twitter, you have around 30 channels going at once and it can be very difficult at times to make sense of it.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">When I tweeted a request for information, I got no replies
at all. I suspect that this is the problem with Twitter – people
don't, in fact can't, follow all the tweets, so much of what is on
there goes unnoticed. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">When I put a request
for information on the lis-link mailing list, I got around 6
responses so if I compare the 2, the mailing list wins hands-down for
gathering information. However Twitter is better for following trends
and keeping up-to-date with conversations. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One
thing I want to do is find out how to manage Twitter better. I have
used TweetDeck in the past but need to go back and explore this and
other tools.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've
been using RSS feeds in Google Reader for some time, and am pretty
happy with how this works. I've updated the feeds and like another
participant, would like to explore other RSS feed handlers apart from
Google Reader. This is probably the most valuable way, for me, of
keeping up-to-date. I keep intending to set up feeds from various
journals, but haven't been able to do thiss yet.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Storify
– this wascompletely new to me. I didn't get on at all well with it
to begin with, and at the moment can't see when I would use it.</span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So,
a big thumbs up to Twitter and RSS feeds, and I'll keep subscribing
to mailing lists as well.</span></span></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-90621956076410580002012-05-21T03:06:00.001-07:002012-05-21T03:06:42.420-07:00Day-to-day stuff<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve always intended that this blog would reflect my working
life as well as my progress in 23 Things, so while I’m sorting out my week to
come, I thought I’d share my plans for the week.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’re holding a Customer Services Team meeting Wednesday
morning so I need to prepare for that. The content of the session is already
decided – feedback on survey data; sharing on upcoming projects including
proximity cards (replacing all staff and student cards this year), possible
refurbishment and upgrading of library on another campus, ILL changes, printer
changes; and latest on project to investigate procurement or development of new
service desk software across support departments. We’ll also be looking at
developments in creating a new Strategic Plan for Information Services and how
this will affect the development of our operational plans.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem will be fitting everything in, and getting
survey data in a meaningful state before the meeting.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m working on the new service desk software project across
support departments in the whole university so I need to put in some work on
this including going over information sent to me by colleagues in other
universities, and sending information to one of the vendors. Also need to
decide how much resources we’re going to be deploying on this project in the
next few weeks as it’s a busy period for all staff with lots going on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also have various catch-up meetings with individual staff
and a Customer Services Manager meeting which is held fortnightly and is
extremely useful to keep everyone informed of what’s happening.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hopefully by the end of the week, we’ll be further forward
with operational and strategic plans, and everyone in the team will have a
clear idea of what our priorities are going to be over the next few months. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now just need to go through emails and notes of meetings last
week to list other things that have cropped up and need to be done and I can get going.<o:p></o:p></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-42156586662968937292012-05-17T06:02:00.001-07:002012-05-17T06:02:34.337-07:00Branding myself<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Been </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">musing over this personal brand issue for days now. At first I did think it was a bit self-indulgent, and a bit too managed. I was under the illusion that surely I didn’t need to plan my web presence, it would just evolves naturally. However then a colleague remarked that my description on Twitter is “pretty sad” and I had to agree, though I still haven’t got round to changing it. I also read some blogs about how I already have an online brand whether I like it or not, and therefore ensuring that I’m aware of this and managing it for my own purposes is pretty important. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve no intention at all of blathering on about my home life – even I don’t find it interesting – and all though some unimportant details may slip by my internal censor, I’m positive that my online presence, on this blog at least, will be purely professional. I want to be able to engage with other people who deal with the same issues as myself (and can I just thank all those who’ve left comments on this blog – it’s so encouraging), and for this to happen I need to be able to project who I am and what I do in order for others to be able to find me. That also is why I use my own name and own photo on all my social networking sites. I WANT people to be able to recognise me and know who I am. Using my own name and the same picture keeps consistency across different social networks as well so people will know that I am the same person as Nia08 on Twitter. I’m also thinking about changing my photo as the one currently on my blog was taken at a Christmas party and I’m not sure whether that’s the impression that I want to give although I do look very happy!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also want this blog to reflect my views, and not those of the organisation for which I work, so I had better make that clear as well right at the start. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve also taken to heart the comments on </span><a href="http://davefleet.com/2010/05/ruin-build-personal-brand/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://davefleet.com/2010/05/ruin-build-personal-brand/</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> on the importance of not being negative, so no posts on how unbelievably busy I am, or how colleagues are annoying, or why I’m not being paid enough, for example. I’m hoping to write more about my day-to-day job so I’ve kept the title as general as possible and not restrict it to just 23 Things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And that’s it really. If I have time enough, I’d like to put an unique background on this blog and on my Twitter page. Also I really need to change my descriptions to something a bit more meaningful, but that will have to wait.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-60258679989645741522012-05-10T02:06:00.000-07:002012-05-10T02:06:23.507-07:00A grand tour of blogs<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I've been reading more blogs this week than I've ever done before. I'm so impressed with the titles that some people have given their blog. I’ve been wracking my brain for something witty and descriptive but to no avail. However since Phil Bradley calls his blog “</span><a href="http://www.philbradley.typepad.com/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Phil Bradley’s weblog</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">”, and that doesn’t do too badly for followers, then “Nia’s blog” will have to do for now. If inspiration strikes, I’ll change it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just had a quick skim through and so far lots of people have got about as far as I have, which is putting up their first post. I suspect that a lot of us share the same fear about putting our thoughts up in public. It’s reassuring to read a post by </span><a href="http://adelveintheshelves.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A Delve in the Shelves</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> about the fears about blogging publicly and how it gets easier after time. I’ve even left a comment on the blog which is a first for me, as I’m more of a lurker usually.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I follow Christine Sexton’s blog, </span><a href="http://cicsdir.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">From a Distance</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, regularly as I worked in a converged service and she always has interesting and timely entries that help me keep up with issues and developments on the IT side of things.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I also dip into </span><a href="http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Meredith Farkas’ blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> when I have time as she’s such an interesting writer, and writes about a range of things. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I’ve been looking for a blog written by senior managers in academic libraries in order to find out what activities they’re involved in, and what issues are concerning them both short and long term. I can’t find anything that meets my needs, so if anyone can recommend something, please let me know ….</span></div>Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-12875690808367854002012-05-09T02:26:00.001-07:002012-05-09T02:26:56.389-07:00Just realised that in Delicious, I'm listed as being in UK: England! For a proud Welsh woman based in Abersytwyth, this is disastrous. I can't find a way to change it in Blogger can anyone help?Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3582051409904666554.post-30304002990736248862012-05-08T05:42:00.001-07:002012-05-08T05:42:54.846-07:00I've created this post for the <a href="http://cpd23.blogspot.co.uk/">"23 Things for Professional Development"</a> programme which I'm hoping to follow over the next few months. I'm also hoping I'll use to describe some of my activity as a Customer Services manager, and to reflect on any issues that I'll be working on.<br />
<br />
At the end of this, I'm hoping not only to have updated my knowledge about web2.0 technologies, but also to have had the opportunity to think about and engage more in discussion about what's happening in libraries and HE.Nia Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01195869883439532085noreply@blogger.com0