Audacity (1/?)

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The Oxford dictionary defines audacity as a willingness to take bold risks. I really like the sound of that.

When I decided to take up library studies, little did I think that I would be asked to regularly travel beyond my comfort zone. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is very necessary in this day and age to grow personally and professionally. It requires commitment, courage and, sometimes, audacity!!

Now, when I am challenged by new technologies, old library stereotypes, nay-sayers and detractors, I call to mind Capt. Kirk and boldly go where I have not gone before!! 🙂

 

 

Return of #blogjune

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It’s the first of June!! That means the start of winter down in the southern hemisphere. It also means that we are half-way through the year! (cue shock “what happened to the last six months?” “Didn’t we just bring in the new year?”)

It also happens to be that time of year when many librarians take to the net and share their views in greater detail as afforded by a blog. #BLOGJUNE

Blogging everyday for a month can be daunting, challenging, exhilarating, nerve-wracking, stimulating, heartening… it all depends on how you choose to look at it!

This will be my second foray and I am cautiously optimistic that I will go the distance this year!

Cheers to all #blogjunners!!!!

To find a mentor or not, that is the question (with apologies to the Bard)

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There are times when I think that I should find someone who could mentor me at the beginning of my journey in the library world. It would be a good idea to have someone guide and help me grow through the first years of working in a library. It is great to be working and putting all the learning into action. But there are times when I feel that there is more that I could be doing to challenge myself. There are so many aspects of library work that interest me, such as reference and copyright. And then one can add trends into the mix, such as digitisation, cloud computing and their implications for libraries. I think that having a mentor would help refine my interests and hone and develop my skills in any of these areas.

Then, I have second thoughts. I only work part-time in a school library. I feel that the hours I have at work are not sufficient to warrant having a mentor. Secondly, I’ve only just finished the Diploma in LIS last year. So should I wait until I have some more experience under my belt before I look for a mentor?

I guess the first step would be for me to find someone to bounce these questions off – and then take it from there.

What would your advice to me be?

Great evening at TAFE LIS alumni event

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This evening was privileged to listen to two passionate people from the industry – Sue Craig, University Librarian at UWS and Dr. Mary Carroll, Associate Course Director at CSU. They were guest speakers at the LISgrads event.

Some background information on LISgrads is essential. This is the brainchild of the teachers at TAFE, Mt. Druitt campus, to encourage graduates of the LIS Certificate and Diploma courses to stay connected with each other and the teachers. We meet about twice a year and it is always a good evening catching up with old friends and meeting new people. These events also keep us informed about industry trends and give us a platform to have discussions about our futures.

Sue Craig spoke about future-proofing our careers in the face of the challenges that libraries face today. She encouraged us to think about our careers in terms of many ladders and not just one. And these ladders need not follow the time honoured tradition of moving upwards only.They might necessitate a move downwards at times. Other instances might need one to get off the ladder altogether before climbing back on again. There might be ladders that would move sideways. Traversing these ladders would need us to be brave, take chances, challenge ourselves, and most important of all, be happy with our choices.

The main message I took away from her talk was to maintain my relevancy in an industry that is undergoing major changes and faces constant questions and comments about its position in the digital age. She also gave concrete tips on how to continue to be pertinent:

  • Keep track of trends – and not just from a general knowledge point of view
  • Identify skill gaps and fill them in
  • Think outside the box
  • Make yourself more visible
  • Network
  • Find a mentor and/or be a mentor

Mary Carroll spoke about further studies and the various options that were available to us post-Diploma. I had an opportunity to speak with her more informally after the talks. I’d been contemplating doing the degree in LIS but did not think it was the right choice given my age (not giving away any secrets here). She put me at ease and assure me that I was the ‘average’ person who went on to do the Bachelors. I could do it at my own pace and plod away and get it all done.

I guess this means that I will have to figure out where I want to be in 7-8 years and start working towards that.

Mental note to self – Step out of comfort zone!!

Halfway there #blogjune

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Today is the middle of the year – well, that is how I see it. It not be entirely accurate but it’s close enough for me.

I have kind of enjoyed blogging for #blogjune. I say ‘kind of’ because it has been quite challenging as well as entertaining. I am having fun exploring other bloggers’ ideas and thoughts, and learning new things – broadening my horizons. The challenge has been to commit to writing everyday. The challenge has been to come up with something to write everyday. i have realised that I will need to take a more deliberate stand on my writing and that will stem from being more organised.

Therefore, the next step for me is going to be to set up a scaffold that will help with the writing process and that, in turn, should lead to a richer #blogjune experience. I don’t want it to be just a box I tick off on my checklist!

Fingers crossed, I can make this work.

LOST IN (CYBER)SPACE!

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Finding something interesting on the net – great!

15083721153_1e3bebf715_zNot keeping track of what was found – 😥

I’ve managed to do this a few times now and it is very frustrating, to say the least. The loss of the link in itself is not something to really mourn –  the time spent trying to find that link, however, can be fruitless, specially when time gap between finding said link and realising it is lost is a few months.

Earlier in the year, I had stumbled across a great blog by a school librarian in India who was doing really great things in the field. I wanted to post a link to his blog here for #blogjune and also contact him to see if he would be interested in participating. I was certain I had saved the link to the blog. I looked here, I looked there and I looked everywhere – that blog is not to be found.

The search did throw up something else that I found interesting. I found the Indian Library Association (ILA) and discovered that it had been established in 1933. I would not have thought that India would have a septuagenarian library association. I am now using the ILA site to try and locate the lost blog. I will persevere and I will find it and I will write a post on it.

Image: Clement127 via Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/clement127/15083721153

All your social media in one place.

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Whilst reading some #blogjune posts I found this great post by Ellen Forsyth.

The post was a short one but asked a very good question – how easy is it for your audience to find all your social media streams. I have to admit it was not something I would have thought of. One does find the ubiquitous FB, Twitter, blog, instagram icons at strategic places on a site’s home page but what if one organisation has many different social media accounts?

Ellen posts examples of how two organisations are making their various social media streams more visible and easily accessible to any online visitors.

  • Tate has a social media directory
  • NASA has more accounts than you could shake a stick at

Inspired by her post I went exploring and found some more examples

  • Smithsonian has a page with all their accounts
  • The Getty doesn’t have as many accounts in comparison to the others

Go and check them out for yourself.

Best thing about the course?

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Last week I was asked the question – which unit did I enjoy the most in the Diploma of LIS?

I found it difficult to answer the question as I had enjoyed all the units we studied. After some consideration, I decided on the ‘promote literature and reading’ unit. That was one of the reasons I signed up to do the Diploma! The unit was divided into two sections: children’s literature and adult literature. We were taught by two very passionate advocates of reading and literacy with many years of library experience between them. It was fun to delve deeper and explore the different genres in adult literature, whilst the children’s section was a real blast! It was interesting to get an understanding of how children acquire language and how much depends on them being exposed to language, whether it be in conversation or being read to.

But the absolute best part was the reading list I walked away with at the end of the unit!!!