Thing 19 - Integrating things

I think I should retitle this as "Things to do" as my list of things to look into once the 23 steps has finished seems to be getting rather long. Looking at my daily routine, I now blog and tweet on a regular basis but hope to extend this further - ie blog about more things and follow more people on twitter.

Although I subscribed to a load of RSS Feeds, I keep forgetting to check them! I get regular updates from Linkedin but plan to contribute to some of the discussions. I also hope to use and get more involved in some of the online networks in general.

I was fairly involved in professional activities and professional development before though may need to look at organising something in the future for a challenge. I also need to get more involved in advocacy, probably the easiest way is to sign up for helping with "Voices for the Library".

I can't see myself using Pushnote or the citation references. I'm also happy using a paper diary and Outlook rather than switch to using Google calendar. I could see myself using Google Docs for work and home. I also plan to contribute to the Library Day in the Life and Library Routes Project wikis. I didn't have much success in downloading Evernote but one of my work colleagues who is also signed up for the 23 Steps says it's very useful and I should have another go in downloading it.

I can see myself using Jing in the future, the audio aspect would be particularly useful for work with our visually impaired clients in mind. Podcasts are also useful for this group and we tend to use quite a few of these on our website already. Another thing to do on my list is to investigate the Podwhating course further as I felt I needed to take more time on this to do a proper job.

Thing 18 - Jing and Podcasts continued

Thought I'll have a go at the audio side of Jing but have a big snag - I don't possess a microphone anywhere. Have looked in my son's bedroom to see if he has anything but have come back empty handed. This aspect would have been more useful for my work as it's audio rather than visual as our clients are visually impaired.

Will have a look at the online Podcast course mentioned and have a go at downloading Audacity at a later date.

Thing 19 - First attempt at Jing - Map for my son's school taxi

I've never used any of these tools before so thought I'll experiment with Jing first. Wasn't sure what to try so thought I'll start with map instructions for my son's taxi driver to pick 8 children up from Grantham to Spalding. The only thing was I thought the text was too big for the map so didn't use it. Also will play with the audio side and see if I can post some audio instructions.

It took me a while to download this and get to grips on how to use it so ran out of time tonight. Will see if I can have a better attempt at this.

Thing 16 Advocacy

I haven't had too much experience of advocacy as far as libraries are concerned, my experience has been more to do with Autism - particularly with writing letters to my local MP and Council. The nearest thing I've come to in advocating our Services is when we went into consultation last year and our Team worked together to put forward our arguments in why we shouldn't have any cuts in our Staff and the detrimental effects that this would have to the Service and the users. I find it difficult to differentiate between advocating our services and promoting our services.

I follow Voices for the library on twitter and plan to contact them and get involved in their campaigns. I did visit one of my local libraries one Saturday when there was suppose to have been various protests going on against the cuts with the hope that there may be a few people holding banners at the door but unfortunately it was business as normal in rural Lincolnshire.

The only work I've had published so far has been this blog and some articles in library-related publications, particularly the CSG Quarterly Newsletter. I'm planning to contribute to the East Midlands Branch Newsletter and the 2 wikis - Library Day in the Life project and Library Routes Project in the near future as these are things that I can realistically do. It's important to publish in non-library publications though else I'm just writing to an already converted audience. I'm going to have to put a bit more thought into this.

Thing 15 contd - Organising events

Realised afterwards that I published Thing 15 last night only half finished! I inadvertently pressed the enter button instead of save.

I would like the challenge of organising an event though not sure what I would do. I could do something with the East Midlands Branch such as organise a visit to a library though would need to get my thinking cap on which library I would choose. I could aim higher and organise a visit to my work place for a site tour and also hire one of our meeting rooms where we could get some appropriate speakers in to talk about various topics on visual impairment such as organising reading groups for the VI, producing books in alternative format or looking at e-books. We could also organise a stand to have information about the different services we offer ie Talking Book Service and demonstrations on the players or access technology.

Perhaps on second thoughts I should begin small and start with organising a visit for my own Team!

Thing 15 - Attending etc etc at Seminars etc etc

I've finally taken the plunge and went running after well over a year's rest much to my dog's delight. I only did about 3 miles round the local wood and had a few "blackberry" stops on the way but I've got the bug again and hopefully will keep this up.

Attending
Back to thing 15, I've attended a few conferences and events in the past including Umbrella (for one day) but it has become more difficult recently due to finance and lack of staff. I recommend taking advantage of any free places being offered, I managed to attend the Libraries Change Lives Award last year this way. I had to write a piece afterwards for the CSG Newsletter but it's a good opportunity for professional development. I also try and volunteer myself to help out on the RNIB Stand where possible as it's a good chance to network with fellow professionals and, in some case, our customers.

I've become more involved with the East Midlands CILIP Branch as the visits and the AGM's have been free or a nominal fee charged and some have also involved a workshop. For example, the visit to Worksop Library also included a workshop on portfolios and chartering/revalidation. Although it's always abit daunting to start with, it's quite nice to see familiar faces as you start going to a few events and it's also a good chance to talk to people that are in a different sector to yourself. I also recommend checking out your Special Group's AGM. This year's CSG AGM incorporated a workshop on Public Libraries and Social Justice.

Presenting
I've never spoken at a Conference before and haven't really considered it. I'm not sure if I feel comfortable doing this though I did do a Train the trainers course several years ago and enjoyed presenting in front of the rest of the class. I think I'll be too worried about the question and answer session afterwards that I won't be able to answer the questions! Maybe this is something I ought to think about in the future.

Thing 14 - Zotero, Mendeley and Citeulike

Just tried to tweet the world that I've now reached Thing 14 but twitter is over capacity. I'm not the only one without a social life on a Saturday night then! Been distracted last week with Leeds/Reading Festival along with Spa F1 so have managed to get myself behind again. Some entertaining moments from Reading include Bring On The Horizon, Crystal Castles and The National but honestly really does anyone seriously like The Vaccines?

I was also one that had to manually type out my bibliography at the end of my dissertation and essays though I don't remember it being too much of a chore. It was satisfying in a way that it meant that I had nearly finished an essay!

I haven't got Firefox so didn't look at Zotero. As I'm in a job where I don't have to write reports etc or help students/lecturers with their research, I didn't experiment with the others much except just to read abit about them to get an overview. I didn't have any previous knowledge of these tools available so I've taken something away from Thing 14.