#Thing22 - Reflective Post


This module was all about becoming an "Engaged Professional" and as someone who has been somewhat "disengaged" over the past number of years, it was a stark reminder to me that the library profession and indeed, the concept of libraries themselves, is something that is the responsibility of all of us and if we don't actively participate and advocate then it is to our own detriment.


The "Things" involved in this module certainly helped me to point my thoughts towards how this advocacy can be achieved


- thinking outside the box, and using new mediums such as podcasts can certainly help - both for circulating information AND non-direct marketing of libraries
- having a strategic plan in place so that your advocay is consistent and focussed on a particular message that will gain you the most support
- Getting your users INVOLVED!
- Using your vast networks and contacts as a librarian to support you, get ideas from, stop reinventing the wheel and use the experience of those who have done it all before
- Focus on what you need to advocate for and how - one step at a time.


It is easy to fall into routine and habit in libraries, and not realise that society is moving past you and will outgrow you if you don't stay engaged and listen and be aware (mea culpa!). I sincerely hope that this final module of Rudai 23 has shaken me out of my apathy and I look forward to increasing my engagement in the future.

#Thing21 - Professional Bodies


Firstly, I have to confess that as I am approaching the deadline for the end of the Rudai 23 Series, this thing has been a bit more rushed that I would like, but I will continue to investigate in the future.
I also have to confess that prior to this I was somehow unaware of the "My Library, By Right" campaign, which I am now up to speed on thanks to following them on twitter, but also mostly by scavenging their website and informing myself of what's going on.
I think it's a great campaign and so many of the ideas they are using / coming up with are easily translated to ourselves across the water.
If we want libraries to survive we need to get our users involved and make them feel ownership of them. And also remind them of what they will miss out on if they are not around!
I will defintely be keeping a close eye on all of CILIP's advocacy campaigns - for ideas big and small!

#Thing20

I took a few of the suggested exercises and summarised my thoughts on them below:

Exercise 1: Name three detrimental effects to a local community when a public library is closed.

- It excludes people from accessing a wealth of information that would only become the resource of the privileged and the few

- The library has become such a great place for community groups of all disciplines to get together and work together, would be sorely missed for that if it were closed

- One less avenue for the community to inspire and assist young people in the community.

Exercise 3: Name three ways in which you can demonstrate the impact and value of the library service that you work in or use.

My library is in the private sector but it assists with background research for those dealing with client teams, helps with current awareness of staff in knowing changes to the law and trends in their discipline, maintains online resources and up to date key materials for staff.

Exercise 6: In your opinion what are the three best features of the My Library, By Right Campaign and why?

- Public awareness

- Messaging is on point - the My Library, By Right slogan gives people ownership of their library and makes them a part of it's campaign

- active engagement by encouraging people to contact their local representatives.

Exercise 8: Choose an area of library practice that you feels requires debate.

- The upgrade of public library buildings - too many inconsistencies in the quality of library buildings around the country - should be more cohesion and consistency to make the library space a more inviting space for everybody, everywhere.

 

#Thing19 – Podcasts

 

First of all I am very grateful to this “Thing” for introducing me to the wonderful Irish History Podcast - http://irishhistorypodcast.ie/ which is the Podcast I chose to download and review and now I am hooked!

Prior to this my experience of Podcasts was limited to the worldwide sensation that was the “Serial” podcast – which I mostly chanced upon as it was a watercooler topic in the workplace and also I was training for my first ever 5k and so it was something to listen to whilst I plodded around on dark cold nights. However, once it was over I never really expanded my inquiries into the world of podcasts much and especially not as a tool that librarians or academics would use. However, I downloaded the Soundcloud app (on android – a very straightforward experience) and I also use the Castbox app – again a very straightforward tool although searching for what you want on it can be a little tricky occasionally. I immediately got stuck into the Famine series of podcasts and apart from fulfilling my own deep interest in Irish history I tried to be conscious of how podcasts could help me as a librarian. These are just a few of the things that occurred to me:

 

• A great way to do research when approaching centenaries etc of historical events and you are wondering how your library may contribute / participate etc to events surrounding that – because you can listen as you go, you won’t get bogged down in reams of paper and books whilst trying to sort out themes and issues pertaining to said event
• Alternatively, if there is not a podcast already out there on the topic, your library could use all that paper-based research to produce a podcast and thereby make it more accessible to a wider range of people who may have an interest in the topic
• The hard work has already been done in grouping topics together, identifying key issues, putting things that fit together into one episode etc – you could reflect all of those things in a physical exhibition in the library
• A worthwhile podcast created by your library could be a great way to advertise your library and your exhibitions / research materials to a wider audience
• And of course they are a terrific resource to point any of your visually impaired library users to – we would all do well to be aware of what’s available out there.

As for the Famine series itself  - I loved it. Very informative, narrated at a nice pace, great use of sound effects - particularly liked the "Famine tour" through Dublin. And adequate number of episodes to leave you fulfilled but not overwhelmed. 5 star rating from me!

Thing 18 – Reflective Practice ( on Things 14-17)

 

So Thing 14 was a task I readily dipped into, as I am a lover of lists – particularly the act of ticking items off.  Nothing beats that satisfaction! However, I have a habit of making my lists AFTER half the tasks have already been completed,  which defeats the purpose entirely and doesn’t improve the timeliness of completion – I think my travels on this Rudai 23 journey are a case in point!

So I enjoyed trying out Evernote – and road tested it with some projects that typically arise in my current job, like following the Budget to Finance Bill process from start to finish. As you can imagine this process has many strands, and we have different tasks to complete at each stage and different sets of information we need to keep track of.  For that reason I particularly liked the enhanced features that make this more than a “list”. Being able to attach files and clip webpages meant that I was able to keep everything I needed together in one space, and decreased my chances of overlooking any tasks etc. Also, really handy as a reminder tool, as when you need to repeat the project you can go back and reproduce the same list of tasks and tweak them to the current year/project as required. It’s definitely a tool I will use again, so thanks Rudai 23 for introducing me to it properly!

I also tried out Feedly as I monitor a lot of websites and do use RSS feeds – a lot of the sites I follow are slightly messy to begin with so I think I may need to tweak this a bit better in order to get it working efficiently for me – it’s a tool that I think requires a bit of trial and error. I also tried out Remember the Milk, but having used the enhanced functionalities of Evernote, I just preferred Evernote, and would probably stick with it.

 

For Thing 15 we needed to consider how to evaluate information and Wikipedia was discussed as an example. I am a huge fan of Wikipedia, particularly when researching something you are absolutely clueless about. However, I am also aware that being clueless leaves you open to getting “ bad information”. That is why I generally use Wikipedia as a starting point – something that gives me a synopsis but also points me to citations/sources and back up material etc, that can be used for the “real” research. Of course that’s much easier when the Wikipedia passage is well referenced and the citations are complete so I tried out the Citation Hunt Tool. It really showed me how difficult it actually can be to validate everything that you might read in a Wikipedia article (or online in general!) so it was informative to get to grips with the process and to try and understand exactly what kind of validation is required in order to be 100% confident of accuracy. I can’t say that I caught the Wikipedia editing bug (!) a lot of hard work! But the exercise has definitely made me appreciate the resource all the more!

 

My digital footprint is something that I have always been conscious of, but part of engaging with more apps and online tools means expanding that footprint so I make it a policy to limit myself to only those that I really need and also to take the time to analyse and set the privacy settings according to my needs. No more information that is required in order to use the tool to its utmost or to my exact needs. It is a good to take the time to review these every so often though, as privacy policies are ever changing and you might find that the app you depended on 3 years ago, is little used and defunct now. I actually think it would be worthwhile setting a  review reminder every six months or so, just to make sure that you are controlling your Digital footprint effectively.

 

When it comes to Sharing work I’m afraid I have to admit to being the beneficiary moreso than the sharer! I use Slideshare regularly, particularly for downloading webcasts and their slides. Perhaps time to think about giving a little back!