Thing 23: Making it all work together

TweetDeck to rule the social media world.

Thanks to Rudaí23, it has been a great experience learning about some new social media tools and getting to know how to use more familiar ones more effectively.   These tools can be very powerful ways of engaging with our users and marketing our services if used frequently and judiciously.  With that in mind, the easier it is to do so, the more likely it is that we will keep tweeting and posting and updating.

Flipboard is one of the tools that I got to learn about through the course that I really like and is one that I definitely would like to spend more time exploring as is seems to have lots of different, useful aspects to it.  Because, the social media management aspect of it is mobile rather than desktop based, I chose to use another application to keep up to date with my social media accounts.

Hootsuite is the tool that was looked at in the Thing 23 blog but I had already started using TweetDeck to try and manage my social media accounts and I think I will continue to do so.  It seems to have most of the same functionality as Hootsuite. You can schedule Tweets and it is possible to manage multiple Twitter accounts from its interface as well as linking it with Facebook and LinkedIn.

It also easily allows you to set up columns so that you can search by hashtag, list etc.  This was really useful during the Rudaí chat earlier on in the summer when you could follow the discussion quite easily by setting up a column to follow the chat live.

I also really like the layout, I think it is simple and uncluttered while at the same time allowing you a good overview of what is going on with your social media accounts as regards mentions, retweets, follows etc.

 

Because TweetDeck makes it so straightforward, there really is no excuse for not keeping up to date with social media output!!

Finally, thanks to all the Rudaí23 team who designed, delivered and posted content for the course and were there to support and encourage us during the tough times.  It was not only educational but also interesting and fun and a great way to learn.

Thing 22: Mobile Things

Gum was another mobile app that I had never heard off so was interested to see what it could do.  I tried it on a few books that I have myself and I don’t know what kind of reflection it is on my reading habits but nobody had left any “gums” on my books.  Ok, so not too successful from that point of view.  However, the next day, I was notified of a Gum that someone had added to my book.  So was that a coincidence or was I doing something wrong in not finding original gums.  And the poster disagreed with my review of the book as well!

I can the potential there for public libraries or bookclubs.  If you have a book that people are actively engaging with at one time, then it would be fun and interesting to see what others are saying and build a conversation around a book. 

I think children could really get great fun out of using this app.  They are so used to using their mobile phone to use apps like Snapchat that using Gum could be appealing to them.   The interface is very simple and colourful and leaving a comment is so easy.  And Gum comments can be applied to lots of products so it definitely could be useful as a teaching tool.

Of course, because comments are not moderated, there could be some negatives from this if children are involved.

There are loads of great apps now available to use on your mobile and the lines between what you use for work and what you use in a personal capacity are blurring.  People tweet, instagram, and use facebook personally and professionally.  The main thing is to have fun finding new apps and discovering their potential. 

Thing 20: Presentations

Thing 20: Presenting...

I decided when trying to put together a presentation to use Google Slides as I had never used it before nor to be truthful even heard of it.  

Google really have an amazing suite of products that they have developed for the user.  I found Slides easy to use and it great that you don’t even have to go saving your presentation in a file.  It is all there as you left it the next time you log in.

Presentations are quite difficult to get right.  We all know when we have seen a good one but it is very hard to pull off ourselves.  It is the alchemy of content, speaker, occasion and timing.

With the best will in the world, some people just are not good, engaging speakers while other presenters might have poor content but due to force of personality or charisma can get away with it.

There were some great tips in the blog about doing presentations. 

It is important to know your audience and not get too hung up on the actual slides when giving the presentation.  We have all been at presentations where the speaker has been completely thrown by technical hitches.  Another thing I hate at presentations is when people just read from their slides.  We can all read so reading along with a presentation is just a waste of time.   

Having said all that, standing in a room full of your peers or your managers is a daunting thing and it takes time to feel comfortable giving presentations. It is not something that everybody has a natural talent for but knowing your topic takes some of the stress out of it.  Technical things can always go wrong but if you at least know what you want to say, you should be okay.

<

Thing 21: Creating Infographics

I have used infographs a little bit in work and do find them useful to use when trying to represent a lot of data in a more visually interesting and easy to digest way. 

Infographics are being increasingly used by companies and newspapers to get information out to the public.  I suppose what they have over Excel or Powerpoint is that they can look a little bit more fun and colourful but also very professional without you having to do a lot of work to make it so.

Piktochart is the infographic web tool that I have used, albeit not the pro version.  While the free version only has a limited number of templates, I find that there  is still enough of a variety of templates to use to adapt to most of the data presentation needs I have.  

And if you are very adventurous or very creative, you can do a complete  infograph from scratch.  Lots of the pictures and symbols are a bit Americanised but at least there are lots of choices.  It also allows great freedom when it comes to colours, fonts and the movement of the boxes in the templates so you can really create what you want to with a little bit of imagination. 

Infographs can also be inserted into Facebook or Twitter feeds as well so that can be a good way of getting information across to your intended audience.

Below is an infograph inspired by the Rugby World Cup.

Thing 19: The Legal Side of Things

Legally Blonde...

A very interesting and informative blog which gave a great synopsis of the issues surrounding copyright and the ever evolving challenges facing legislators and producers and users of content. 

  

Although from working in libraries I was aware of the issues surrounding the copyright of printed material, I had not given much thought to copyright as it relates to images and photographs.  I haven’t used many images in my blog posts, mainly because of the difficulty of getting them to work.  At the time, that was very frustrating buy maybe on reflection, it’s been a good thing as I haven’t been unknowingly infringing on the creators rights. I realise I simply do not know enough about how to attribute correctly and would have been wary of doing using too many images or graphics.  The onus is on me though to go and properly inform myself and the Rudaí blog has given me some great places to start. 

The whole area of intellectual property rights is another area that I need to learn more about.  We sign away all kinds of things in contracts without thinking how they could apply in real world situations.  While understandable that an employer would have intellectual ownership of content created during work, it’s easy to see all kinds of grey areas and potential problems that could arise.

Again, knowing your rights and also your responsibilities is paramount.  As they say, ignorance is no defence.    Sharing content is great to but you do need to think about making sure your your own contributions are acknowledged.   

Hope I have attributed my image below correctly.  I will need to work like that little bee to get up to speed on copyright issues. 

Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Thing 18: Communicating Through Photographs

Flickr and Instagram

Of all the Web 2.0 tools, Flicker and Instagram have the most immediate appeal to me.   Who doesn’t like looking at photographs especially when some of the photographs are as interesting and professional as anything you might see in a coffee table art book?

Flickr has an awesome catalogue of pictures and is doing something really important by hosting so many images.  It will be an amazing record of our planet and how our lives are lived.

For a long time, I had Instagram pegged as the go to app of the terminally vain and vacuous or for young kids, mainly girls, who were experimenting with their image but I have seen the light.

So yes while, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian might be fighting it out to have the most Instagram followers by virtue of how much skin they are willing to expose, there are lots of really interesting Instagram feeds out there to balance the scale.

I like the layout of Instagram a lot.  It is really clean and uncluttered looking.  It lets the pictures speak for themselves.   And the comments in the side are fairly contained and not too distracting. 

Instagram is a great way to document a library event.  The visual always appeals to people and it’s a great way of communicating and showcasing what the library has to offer.

As long as the photographs are good and visually interesting, it looks great.  Instagram also allows you to use lots of text with the post if that was something that was needed.   People are even writing short stories around their Instagram pictures. 

My library does not have an Instagram account yet but definitely something to think about for the future as it seems to be one of the social media tools whose influence is growing.   

Thing 17: Reflective Practice

Learning from doing.

Reflective Practice is not something that I have up until now being consciously doing as part of my working life.

The Rudai blog has been great at making me think about using tools or platforms that I might not have been otherwise aware of before now and reflective practice is another concept that could prove really useful. 

I have never kept a work journal nor am I particularly good about keeping notes when I attend workshops or, as I have already confessed in one of the earlier blogs, conferences.  I just never seem to get around to organising notes or reflecting back too deeply on what I have learned.  A mistake I know!

There is a lot to gain from writing notes or a journal when you do certain things.  If you take the time to reflect on what went well, what worked, what got a good response and also the things that did not work so well, then you can make positive changes for the next time you have to do it and keep reflecting and keep refining.   This type of reflection would be particularly useful after giving classes or tours or even after a session on the Reference Desk.   There is huge value in writing down our thoughts and clearly articulating them to ourselves.  The very act of writing our thoughts in a journal should make us more aware of what we are doing and means that our thoughts have much more of a chance of enduring and therefore making an impact on future actions than if we just think them in our heads.  And it should not be only about changing things.   It is also important to keep track of what worked and what went well.

Reflective practice requires us to use our critical thinking skills on ourselves and our actions and sometimes that can prove challenging and maybe a little bit uncomfortable if we have to reflect on things that did not go the way we wanted.  It is important that we value the time spent thinking about work and use it positively because it is all about learning and, ultimately, hopefully improving how we approach certain tasks and taking some out of the stress out of our working lives.  

Thing 16: Collaboration Tools

Collaborating positively...

Collaboration tools are really useful examples of how cloud based sharing can be used to facilitate collaboration and communication.

Although, I have never had to use Google Docs myself for work or otherwise, I can see how it has the potential to make working together so much easier for groups of students or colleagues.  

The fact that you can now work on and edit documents together at the same time without the old fashioned e-mailing back and forth is a great break through.   

Google Docs can make working together a truly collaborative process.  Not only can people work together in real time and from any location on the same document but you can also leave comments in the comments box or in the margins for others in the group who may be working on it later. 

When it works, it is a great way of working together on reports or projects.  The other side of all this collaboration is the need for moderation.  I have never worked on a collaborative Google Doc myself but I can easily see the potential for conflict arising over the final edits if there are strong personalities with opposing opinion about what should go in and what should be left out!   

Doodle was something totally new to me before reading the blog but it also looks like a really useful and time saving application to use for scheduling meetings.

Because, I work with a relatively small group of people and everybody is based in the same building, old fashioned e-mail works just fine for us when we need to arrange meetings.  However, if you working in a much bigger, more dispersed organisation, it could save loads of time on making arrangements.  The poll option for scheduling meetings would be really great if you were working on a big project where people are working in different organisations and different time zones and need to arrange the most suitable time to meet either virtually or in a particular place.  Organisations like NGO’s with offices and projects in different countries would really benefit from using the tool.  And the fact that Doodle integrates with Outlook, Google Calendar or iCloud makes the whole process even more seamless for the end user.

Both of these tools make it easier to communicate and collaborate and anything that can help people save time or take some of the stress out of working with and relying on others can only be a very positive thing.

Thing 15: Advocacy

Advocating for the profession.

Although advocacy for libraries is not something new, with the recent economic downturn and the increasing competitiveness for limited resources, it has become more important than ever.

Everybody working in the library and information sector needs to be able to show the value and importance of their service to their users, organisations or the wider societal benefits.

Advocacy is not a one off campaign. It needs to be embedded into our day to day work.  We should be always advocating, demonstrating how many people benefit from our services, how varied and diverse those services are, how our organisations benefit, what added value a library and information service brings, how the wider public benefits. 

We need to ensure that our stakeholders understand the value that we bring to the table and the importance of what we do so that funds continue to be made available.

Every interaction we have every day, with a student or with a member of the public is an opportunity to promote the important jobs libraries and librarians do. Ok, so it’s not in a showy, banner waving, loudspeaker hailing type of way but can be very effective as well. 

With a general election coming in the next few months, now is the time to make our voices heard in the political arena. With all the wannabe politicians knocking on our doors, engage with them and find out their views on providing funding for public services like libraries and make them aware of the issues.

There are lots of advocacy awareness campaigns being done in the UK and its really interesting to see their approach.

Being so upfront about the value of our work might not be something that comes naturally to everybody but it is important to take every opportunity that comes our way to demonstrate the important contribution that librarians make in our organisations. 

Thing 14: Augmented Reality

I can see the future..

I had never really heard the term Augmented Reality before reading the Rudai blog and had certainly never heard of the two applications Layar and Aurasma. I had a vague notion of the concept but had never wondered what the technical term for it was.

My closest brush with augmented reality was when I was used the Word Lens app.  This app translates text from one language to another.  It is a really useful app to have on your phone when travelling abroad and not familiar with the local language.

So while Word Lens is one straightforward example of augmented reality, after reading up about it and seeing the ways that some libraries and other organisations , musicians, medical professionals and even surfers have put it to use to practical effect, I have to say that I am really impressed with the possibilities.  There are an astonishing number of ways that this technology could be put to use to enhance services and improve users’ interactions in a library setting.

In academic libraries, there are lots of areas where AR could be used to enhance the user experience.

It could be really useful to use with literacy training, providing information for students with different languages, to help students find their way around the library environment.

At the moment, because of dodgy Wi-Fi coverage and lack of familiarity with the technology, it might take some work to get mass buy-in in using it but as smartphones get even better and Wi-Fi coverage becomes fully embedded, the possibility of creating added content in different library services is huge. 

Some of the AR apps have been a little bit gimmicky. QSR codes have just never taken off in a big way.  We have tried it in our library and the interest and use from students is very low.  However, there are loads of really impressive AR apps out there and the way companies and organisations have used them to boost their business have been really inventive.  Definitely, something to keep an eye on for the future.

Thing 13: Professional Organisations

The benefits of membership.

For several reasons, I haven’t, up to now become a member of any of the professional library associations. 

Cost was definitely one of the factors and the feeling that it was somehow only for the more senior members of staff.

However, I can see the benefits for staff at any level joining and becoming active in the professional library associations.

If you are looking to change or move jobs, the access to the information and resources of these organisations could prove invaluable. It also shows prospective employers that you are serious about your career and your professional development.

They are a great place to network, share ideas and knowledge, develop and broaden your network and become more actively involved in your profession.  It is an investment in your own career and future. 

And you can’t really place a price on that! 

Thing 12: Attending Conferences

Networking and Learning

The last conference that I attended was the Academic and Special Libraries Conference held last February in Dublin. The theme of the conference was inspiration, collaboration and transformation.

I was only able to attend the conference on the second day but nevertheless found the experience both enjoyable and valuable in terms of learning about some of the thinking currently going on in the library world and some of the different collaborations that have taken place between libraries and other departments in their universities or institutions.

In terms of the practicalities of being able to go to the conference, we were alerted about the upcoming AS&L conference and expressions of interest in attending were sought.  Then, it just came down to the practicalities of how many wanted to go, on what days and the need to keep our own library staffed as well.  The fact that my library is only an hour from Dublin makes it straightforward to go for the day.  We have a budget for Staff Training and Development and all conferences and away days are funded out of that.

At the conference, I met a mixture of new people and old.  As everyone has said, most people working in libraries are enthusiastic and friendly and make it easy to drop into conversations.

I like to get meet people that I have worked with before just to have a quick catch up but it is also nice to get to meet people for the first time.  At the conference, I was amazed at all the different special libraries that are staffed.  Because, I have worked for a long time in academic libraries, I forget that there are libraries in so many companies and government departments and other organisations.

I didn’t really approach the conference as a networking opportunity and maybe this is what I should change in hindsight.  While I spoke to lots of different people, I didn’t take down their names or formalise contact with them by swapping information. Do people do that?

I totally agree about the need to make notes on conferences.  I always find most of the talks so interesting but never make detailed notes at the time and then you forgot the substance of what they were about.

The next conference I attend, I will definitely keep try to keep better notes and be more mindful of the people that I talk to.

Thing 11: Reflective Practice

Reflecting on how far behind I am..

I can’t believe but I am delighted to be at just about the half way point of the course.

It has been challenging and enjoyable and sometimes frustrating – Thing 9 comes to mind - but very rewarding in different ways.

I started this course just before I went on holidays for a few weeks.   I enjoyed the break but it has meant that I really feel like I have been trying to play catch up since I started in earnest with the tasks.

It is a little bit alarming to feel always (more than) slightly behind what everyone else is doing and seeing a new task being posted when you are 4 or 5 tasks behind.

Approaching the tasks and writing the blog posts, I definitely could use a little bit more structure.  Procrastination is very definitely a good friend of mine and bouts of activity followed by lulls is probably not the best way to keep on track or to keep myself motivated. 

As for completing the blogs themselves, I also definitely fall into the trap of writing and rewriting and editing but ending back up with basically the same post anyway but lots of time wasted.

I do try to keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be perfect and it is better to just write but it is hard to leave clumsy phrasing or half expressed thoughts on your blog no matter how few people are reading it.

It’s going to be even harder (am I already making excuses for myself) to keep on track now that we are coming in to a really busy time of the academic year but this catch up week is going to be a great help in getting up to speed (hopefully)!

Thing 10: Live Streaming

Looking down the barrel of Periscope

I was behind starting this Thing so I missed the Rudai 23 Hangout on Air but I have used Hangouts once or twice myself so am a little bit familiar with the application.

I decided to take the option of looking at the Periscope application from Twitter.   I had never heard of it before reading about it on the Rudai blog but since then, I have actually had it mentioned to me by a couple of people so its reach is definitely spreading.  It is quite a new tool but I think the fact that it is used in conjunction with Twitter will mean that it has huge potential for mass use.

Having downloaded the app to my phone and played around with it a little bit, it is very easy to use and join in the broadcasting fun.

There is obvious potential in using it as a marketing tool and the fact that the broadcasts can be played later means that it could also be a useful way of broadcasting conferences or seminars.

It is definitely a great way of allows its users to be “present” at events that otherwise just would not be possible.

So yes, Periscope is a useful, easy to use, interesting tool.  However, it is also easy to see how it could be used in not so positive ways. Now anybody going to a concert or a sports event can effectively broadcast a feed live to whoever has the app and wants to view it. Because the technology is so new, privacy and piracy laws will need to catch up.

The other query I would have about it is how much of your data plan would be used with substantial use. Maybe that’s not a concern for people with “all you can eat” data plans but those on fixed data plans might have more of an issue with cost.

Thing 9: Video

Trials in Screencasting

This Thing is one I approached with definite trepidation.

All the previous Things had been a little bit familiar to me and it was great just being able to build on your knowledge of what they are capable of doing and thinking of ways that they could potentially be incorporated into a library setting.

However, Thing 9 proved to be a bit of trial for me. I was definitely outside my comfort  zone with this one. Despite looking at lots of screen casts on YouTube, I had never really thought about the mechanics of making them.  

I spent loads of time trying to get Screencast-o-Matic to load on my PC to no avail. Very frustrating and I still don’t know if it was me or the software or a firewall or something else.

I then decided that if I was ever going to get this Thing finished, I would move onto plan B and use Jing.  I got that downloaded and completed a recording but then couldn’t load the result into YouTube.  All in all, very frustrating and time consuming.

I then went back to Screencast-o-Matic and tried downloading onto a different PC. I got it successfully downloaded this time and completed a recording.  Unfortunately, due to not having a mic, I was not able to add sound to my recording but I did add in some music from YouTube.

   

Despite all the frustrations of getting the screen capture program to work, they will be extremely useful to use as part of an information training program, showing students how to use library resources. 

Here is my first attempt at a screencast!

Thing 8: Curation Tools

Tools to appeal to Visual Learners.

These are three very interesting, and in the case of Flipboard and Pinterest, very visually striking tools.

Pinterest, I had used a little bit but had always dismissed it as little more than a glorified picture scrapbook.  Pretty to look at if you wanted ideas on how to organise your closet or get a steer on what colour jacket would go with what dress.  Delving a little deeper into what it has to offer though, I think I might have been a little harsh.  There are far more useful pins in it than I had realised and it could be a really useful way to engage with students, especially those who find it easier to learn in a visual way.

Of course, it is also a great resource when looking for new and interesting ways of displaying and promoting library material.

Flipboard is a tool that I had looked at a few years ago and enjoyed using it for a while but just gradually got out of the habit of looking at it frequently.

It is a lovely, visually appealing tool to look at with slick typography and glossy photographs.  There are topics for everyone to get aggregated news on. If finding “news” items on Kate Middleton is your wish, well you can. Of course, it follows that quantity of sources does not equal quality but I suppose it all depends on what you are looking for.

It is great way of following topics or particular news sources.  Building up your own magazine of stories that you can read later when you have the time is so easy.

I also like the Daily Edition feature where you can check out the top news stories of the day.

Of course, it can be very easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of articles that are being aggregated for you but I suppose you either have to narrowly focus your topics or become adept at being able to filter the useful news items from the not so useful.

When I was checking it out, I also felt that the news stories were mainly coming from American publications and that could leave a very one sided take on what is going on in the world.

I definitely think that this could be a really useful tool to use with students in information training sessions.  It’s a great way for them to start thinking about how to pull sources together when working on assignments in certain areas.  The immediacy of the information could be really useful to them.

 The concept behind Storify is really interesting and I look forward to investigating how it works and where it could potentially be useful in a library setting.  

Thing 7: Podcasts

Thing 7: Podcasts

I love, love, love podcasts. I listen to them loads in my own life.

I can honestly say that they have accompanied me on hundreds of kilometres of walking. In fact, sometimes the only thing that has made me go out walking in the evenings is the thought of finishing listening to some podcast that I have started.

 

There are podcasts for any and every subject you are interested in and I love listening to Catch Up podcasts as well. You don’t need to listen to all of a radio programme – just download the segment of the show that interests you.  All the radio stations provide podcasts of their shows and it’s a great way of keeping up to date with what is going on in the world.

 

And no matter what your niche interest is, there is bound to be a podcast to cater to it. Interested in sport, film, music, wine, falling further down the rabbit hole of just what is going on in Game of Thrones, you will find a podcast that is right for you.

 

I had not listened to library podcasts up to this but it’s not surprising that there are ones dedicated to our profession. I listened to some of the Circulating Ideas podcasts and quite enjoyed them. While their experiences might not be exactly the same as ours, it is interesting to learn what is going on in libraries in another country. Also as new technologies seem to break through in the US faster, you never know what new advance you could hear about before it makes it way over here.

  

I can understand the static nature of podcasts mean they are not for everyone and in an academic library where I work, I don’t think the medium is particularly appealing to students. However, I suppose it all depends on the people that you are targeting and the nature of the information being imparted as to how easily it can be incorporated into a library situation. 

 

Strangely, I never got into the Serial podcast. Listened to the first two episodes but just never became too engaged by it.  One I really enjoy is the New Yorker fiction podcast. It is a monthly podcast where authors read a story by another author that was published in the New Yorker magazine and talk about why they picked it and other general musings. Some really great pairings on it - Roddy Doyle being read by Dave Eggers or Roddy Doyle reading Maeve Brennan.

 

Despite my love of podcasts, I think I will hold off on recording one of my own.  Listening to me talking and stuttering through a recording is probably not something the world really needs right now.

Thing 6: Reflective Practice

Thing 6: Reflective Practice.

Rudai 23 has been a really interesting learning experience for me so far. The reason that I started the course was to learn new things and I can definitely say that that has happened.  In fact it has shown me how much more upskilling I need to do to in the area of social media and developing a professional brand but that’s all part of the fun and the challenge.

The blogs by the other participants have been really interesting to read and it is great to see how much we all have in common in regard to our enthusiasm for our profession. Regardless of how we ended up in libraries, everyone seems to really like what they are doing and are inspired and motivated by different  aspects of their job.

I still have loads of work to do to develop my own professional brand and to integrate social media into my professional life which is not something I had really been doing up to now.  I have been a bit of a Luddite when it comes to social media and the Rudai 23 community have really opened my eyes to how much is going on in this area in relation to libraries.  Despite my wariness, I just need to fully get on board with this trend and start tweeting, commenting on blogs, joining groups, lists and communities and embrace the opportunities for learning and networking that they provide.

I have now joined Linkedin and signed up for a new Twitter account to use for professional purposes but still have loads of work to do on them.

Having and maintaining a blog is also a bit of a novelty and I would like to be able to put in the time in learning how to add graphics and photos and make it look a bit nicer and less text heavy.

So loads of work still to do but at least I know what direction I should be going in!

Thing 5: Online Networks

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Using my own personal social network accounts in a professional way to network with colleagues is not something I have done up to now.  I never realised quite how much active library discussion, sharing and shaping was been conducted over social media platforms. It is a great way to network and share ideas both nationally and internationally. I had not been aware of the lists on Twitter before now so will have to spend some time looking at them and deciding which ones to join.

Facebook is not a platform I use but I am a big fan of Twitter and really love the immediacy of it, seeing what the trends are on any given day, following the hashtags that are of interest to me and following people and groups that I find interesting.

The great thing about Twitter from a corporate point of view is that it you can really shape your online presence and show a different side to your organisation. Be informative but also fun, friendly and approachable and hopefully followers will respond to that.

Some Irish institutions have really used their Twitter feeds to show their human side. Organisations like An Garda Siochana and Aer Rianta use their accounts to disseminate information but they also have a little fun as well.

I love using Twitter in a personal capacity but I think to use it professionally, I would have to set up a separate account and look at the ramifications of that.  What other library professionals might find interesting would not be so appreciated by family and friends and vice versa. Reading through some of the blogs, that seems to be an issue lots of people have and there are lots of multiple twitter account holders and tweeters out there.

The lists facility on Twitter was not something I was aware of so I will have to spend some time looking at them and deciding which ones to join.

I don’t know too much about Tweetdeck but will look into that as a way of managing multiple twitter accounts.

  

Thing 4

The scope of the Google universe is so far reaching, it is almost scary.

I had been “guided” into setting up a google+ account a while ago but had not really used it too much or spent time exploring the features.

Google+ does what lots of what other social media platforms do and I can see there is huge potential in using the features like Circles and Hangouts but it has just never caught the global imagination in the way other platforms have and it just feels like there is not a critical mass of people using the network.

It does not have the reach and immediate recognition factor that Facebook and Twitter have. I have never heard anyone say I will add you to my Google+ circles or anyone ask me am I on Google+.

In my own contacts on gmail, very few of them have set up the Google+ account so again, I feel that it would be hard to really use it actively.

I did however use the hangout feature and it is pretty straightforward and easy to use. I didn’t try the Video Chat yet.

The scope of what can be done using the features is huge and definitely worth taking the time to really explore how they could best used in a workplace or personal setting.

Google photos  also looks very interesting. I had never looked at that feature before and it seems like a really useful and interesting  way to work with photos.   

Thing 3 Linkedin

I had been aware of Linkedin but had never really delved into the mechanics of what it could do as a social networking tool.

I had seen so many patchy profiles withe the empty grey photo box that it never really caught my attention.

However, now having joined it and created a profile, I can see the massive potential it has for networking with colleagues and keeping up to date with what is going on in your chosen field.

It is a little bit scary the amount of information that you can put out there for the whole world to see and I think that you need to very carefully evaluate exactly how you present yourself.

In common with other social networking tools, I think it is also important to keep updating with relevant information. A lot of the profiles to be started and then abandoned.

Of course, it is also very interesting to see what fellow library professionals are doing and involved in and provides motivation and inspiration for your own career.

The appeal of libraries

Thing 2: My First Blog Post

Confession time!  I didn’t grow up with a burning ambition to be a librarian.  It was not a job or an environment that was really in my orbit when I was growing up.  We didn’t have a school library or a local library in my area so my exposure to the world of libraries was pretty limited until I went to college.   As you can imagine, the floors of the UCD Belfield library were quite overwhelming.  Many, many years later I still remember the kindness and reassurance shown by the librarian to the bunch of overwhelmed first years she was showing around on the library tour!! 

Once I left college with an Arts degree, one of the first jobs I got was working in a public library.  I really loved the variety of working in a busy environment that was a vital part of community life in a rural town. I worked mainly in the children’s section and to see the interest of young people in learning and reading was really inspiring.

 After 18 happy months in public libraries, my next job was in an academic library where my eyes were really opened to the value of the library in the academic environment.  Working with passionate colleges who were really interested in developing a top class library service and putting the library to the forefront of academic life really made me aware of the possibilities of libraries as a career.  Also this was just at the start of the internet era so the whole area of how information was stored and retrieved was changing and developing so there was a real sense of interesting times ahead. 

I have worked in a few academic libraries since then and that sense of the ever changing is what I love about working in libraries.  Nothing ever remains static.  Every day there are different challenges, every year there are new students and new courses.  The information resources available change and evolve; the method of delivering information develops and advances.  And libraries are at the forefront of the information age.  The first time I ever heard the term Twitter was at a library conference well before it hit the mainstream. 

Over my time working in libraries, I think the reach and recognition of the importance of libraries in public and academic life has only grown and expanded. It has been a very interesting, varied and rewarding career for me and one I would not hesitate to recommend to others