Thing 6 – Online Networks

A few thoughts on online networks……..

LinkedIn -  I’ve registered, filled out a few details and I’m still a little bit unsure about how LinkedIn works. To tinkle around a bit I added a photo – but I’m sure that there’s a lot more to do. I’ve joined the CPD23 group however I’m not convinced that I’ll be using it the site to network much although I can see the benefits of having my CV and details online.

LISNPN-  So far so good, there seem to be some interesting discussions on the forum. The blog seems pretty informative and there are lots of links to nice resources. I realise that I have to interact more with other members if I’m going to get more out of it.

Facebook -I’ve decided that I’d like to keep my Facebook account private and use it for personal reasons only. No biggie.

Ta da……thing six done (kind of)…….

 

 

Thing #5 – Reflective Practice

My relationship with reflective writing has not been a long one. Until very recently I felt very uncomfortable with the style and felt it a real challenge to get anything down on paper. This started to change when I began work in the NHS. As part of the appraisal and development process of the Knowledge and Skills Framework most staff have to keep a portfolio of evidence which shows that you are meeting the requirements of your post. Part of this evidence can be made up of reflective accounts. After going to training sessions or meetings I use a Word template  which helps me write-up what I  enjoy about an event, what I have learnt and what I will then put into practice.

Writing reflectively for the KSF portfolio  gave me some really good practice for the large amount of reflective writing undertook as part of the chartership process (which I have just completed – yipee!!). Writing the personal statement was tough and for me it took quite a few attempts, however I really do think it was of a great benefit. Reflecting on your work really helps you get ordered. You can see your achievements, your failures, what you have learnt along the way and finally where you want to be. It’s also really great for writing things for CVs and preparing for interviews as it helps uncover many skills you never knew you had.

My one tip on reflective writing is just to do it regularly. If you go to a meeting or a training session write it up in a reflective style afterwards before you feed back to your team, rather than reeling off bullet points, you might discover you learnt more than you realise….

Thing #4

1. Twitter – I probably don’t really use this in the correct way – I follow many people but can’t really remember the last time I tweeted myself. Bad Alex.

I already follow quite a few library peeps and groups, however I plan to make it my quest to follow more…and do some tweeting with the tag CPD23#. Work wise I think twitter is a really smart way of making announcements,  promoting events and sharing news. I really like the way that @LISNPN shares any job vacancies that they find.

So if you want to follow me I’m @kean83 – ask me a question, can’t promise that I’ll be able answer it though…..

2. RSS Feeds – I already use RSS Feeds quite widely. I have a google reader account which I find pretty indispensable. I subscribe to journal tables of contents, LIS blogs, news feeds and I also do all my personal blog reading here. I’ve just added ALL ( Thanks Aneesa! ) of the CPD23 blogs to the reader which is a little frightening as now my reader always says 1000+ new entries!

3. Pushnote – I have to admit I hadn’t heard of Pushnote until I started CPD23. I am still a little unclear about what it actually does. I’m at work at the moment so will report back when I’m at home and can download the plugin to my chrome browser……..until then…I’m off to do some shelving…..

Now for something completley different…….

As it’s a Friday I think it would be nice to write about something fun before I move on to thing 4.  So I’ve decided to talk a wee bit about Pinterest.

Pinterest is an online tool that allows you to save and categorize your favourite images from around the web. The idea is that you have your own personal pinboard on which you can gather lots of beautiful things that you can share with other people (people you know or may not know – there is a social networking side to this). People use it for saving recipes to planning weddings or decorating their homes.  The aim is that all images should link back to the original source therefore trying to respect the intellectual property of the owners of the image. Librarians will like that they have a whole page devoted to copyright….

Back before I moved into the glamorous world of NHS libraries I worked as a library assistant at London College of fashion. It was here I learnt what an important part of the design process it was to collate and collect inspiration for people who work or study in the creative industries. This nifty little tool can do just that. It simply sits in the bookmark bar of your web browser and you click it when you see an image that you like.

To request an invite visit http://pinterest.com/

Thing #2 and thing #3 (eek!)

Right,  I’m already running rather behind with my CPD23 tasks, I blame a lovely sunny birthday weekend and all the things that came with it.

This week there are no more excuses as  it is time to talk about the other CPD23 blogs I’ve read. To begin with I have to say that I was amazed and a little overwhelmed about the sheer number of blogs to look through. To ease the information overload I first headed to the blogs with the tags health/medical. Here I really enjoyed the following:

• Neko and her dreams of horses
• (the) health informaticist
• passionatemedicallibrarian

It was then time to move outside of my comfort zone and spread my wings a little. In doing so I discovered the following lovely blogs:

• Chic Library
• Love Libraries
• Dunpling in a hanky

It’s been fun reading through other peoples blogs seeing what their jobs are and why they’re taking part in CPD23. It’s also made me feel a tad bit better about being soooo behind as I can see there’s a lot of us trying to catch up!

OK, onto Thing #3……My brand….

At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to write for this section however after a moments thought I soon realised that the URL I used for this blog when I started it many years ago was actually a made up word. As an avid user of Google Reader myself I knew that if some crazy person decided to follow this blog my URL wasn’t going to be a great identifier. So I changed the URL to libraryalex and the rest is history. The rest of my branding ideas are focussed on keep the blog fun, informative and colourful – lets hope it works!

Everything is free now………

If anybody gets around to reading this blog more than once they’ll come to realise that I’m a sucker for anything free. At the moment I’m in love a little with the iPhone App Instagram. You can check it out and download it here.

 

Thing #1

I’m a little slow off the mark but I thought this year I’d have a go at the CPD23 online programme. Although I’m nearing the finish line with my Chartership I thought this would be a good chance to discover and have a go at using some new technologies and learn about new ways of working. I may even get a wee bit better at networking, you never know…….

I’ll be trying to update the blog as regulary as possible. As well as writing about CPD23 activities I’ll be writing about my favourite online tools/sites and trying to reflect upon my working life as a NHS Librarian in North London.