23 and out!

My 6-word story of the CPD experience: 'I came, I thought, I blogged'. I've generally enjoyed working through the programme, I've not given as many glib answers as I'd expected and think I got a fair amount of value out of the experience. I'm not sure it really represents an advance in my immersion within the LIS community (though I am trying to improve at this: come meet me at the Ginformation Professional event!), and I don't think my opinions of any of the topics/areas covered have fundamentally changed. I've reflected at reasonable length on the course recently, so won't repeat myself here.

I've updated my PPDP to reflect some of the weaknesses uncovered by CPD23, and feel I'm working forwards at a decent pace towards filling identified gaps in my experiences. As this was an update, rather than a new document, I can't accurately reflect on the process of compiling the document; I'll admit that evaluation of personal strengths and weaknesses does not come easily to me, but I got it done (which I sometimes don't!). 

And so, just over 15,000 words later, that's CPD23 done! Time to start thinking of my own blog topics!

Career advancement: identifying strengths, applying, interviewing and vulunteering

Part 1: strengths and interests

As suggested by Maria, I have found conducting a SWOT analysis of my strengths and interests to be quite helpful. I did this in preparation for writing out my Chartership PPDP a few months ago, but I think it's still pretty much up-to-date. Generally, it suggests that I like the customer-facing side of library work more than the information-structuring elements, and that I am strong at supporting use of our services both at the desk and 'in the field'. I also, perversely, enjoy statistics and working with spreadsheets to measure service performance. I think I throw myself into all elements of my job, and seem to be seen as a font of knowledge by colleagues (particularly with the technical side of things - in the kingdom of the blind, the man who once spent half an hour on a mac is king...), but definitely favour working on desks and with customers over back-office pursuits; this is unfortunate in some ways, as progression generally means managerial responsibility, and consequently less time (if any) directly customer-facing.

What was my last dose of great satisfaction working in the library? Without doubt an Information Skills session I assisted a professional colleague with. We supported a cohort of Education students who were researching material for their dissertations; it was an unpressurised, constructive academic environment which yielded useful results for the participants, and it felt like my presence made a tangible difference. I'd like that feeling more often. Unfortunately, this was a one-off engagement, and sessions like this do not form part of my standard work.

I'm not sure I love my current job - I definitely like it very much, and think I probably did love it at one point, but... let's just say I'm ready for a change. So I have been applying for jobs...

Part 2: Applying for jobs

I keep a log of skills and experiences for various reasons, but it's definitely helpful when working on job applications. I confess that I don't tend to start from a 'blank page' in terms of applying for jobs - I have a reasonably-expansive pro forma personal statement which I then expand and contract to meet the desired areas in the job specification. I'm not sure this leads to the best possible application, but you can make applying for jobs a full-time occupation in itself if shortcuts like this are not taken...

I always try to address every desirable, as well as essential, criteria given in a job spec; where I don't meet the desired level I try to demonstrate how I am working towards this point and how I would plan to develop this area if appointed. I'm less good at thoroughly reading the job description and ensuring that my description of my current work echoes the language and thematic content of the brief; whilst I try to address the major areas in my personal statement, it makes more sense to cover these in relation to my current employment where possible. I have applied for jobs where I don't meet every essential criteria (and have occasionally got an interview!); the areas where I regularly don't meet job briefs informed to a great extent my goals for Chartership PPDP, which has definitely already aided me in filling some of my previous gaps in experience. Despite recognising it as being necessary, I still feel uncomfortable 'bigging myself up' - I think I present my skills and aptitudes in a measured way, with examples where relevant, but I have definitely read more confident applications. I should probably try to write a more arrogant account of what I can, and do, do - maybe I'll try it out on a job I'm unsure about first though!

My references are relatively current: I generally use my line manager (a given, as most applications stipulate this) and my former dissertation tutor, also using my MCLIP mentor if a third referee is asked for (generally only if the job uses an academic-post application form rather than a support-staff one). I should perhaps switch this up; although my tutor has always given me great references, she hasn't seen me for over a year and perhaps doesn't realise just how great I have become!! My major problems with making this change are that my two references would have the same [work] address, and that using one's mentor seems a little like nepotism. I'd like to know any readers' opinion on this matter (joking! I know no-one reads this rubbish!!! :( )

I've never really found where to use a CV, as every job I apply for asks for its own exhaustive application form to be filled in - what's the CV adding to this? My CV is 2 sides of A4, and I think it's okay, but it's pretty dense with information. I think I could maybe cut back on my employment history (which is patchy due to the whole 20-years-of-full-time-education thing, and quasi-relevant at best) and add in a bit more about transferable skills, abilities and aptitudes - but who's got the time?

Part 3 - Interviews

Silence: the reason I go
to pot in interviews...

This is where it all goes wrong for me. Whilst I try to prepare, getting my ducks in a row by organising travel and logistics well in advance, reading job specs again and trying to formulate answers to likely questions, on the day I feel like I babble incoherently. The problem is the silence in room and the expectant faces of the panel - I desperately want to keep talking until they look satisfied, which generally results in me tailing off with something along the lines of "so, um... yeah". Who'd hire that?! I think the 'context, actions, result' framework which Maria mentions provides a useful framework, and would prevent me from doing this so much (it's impossible to stop me waffling entirely!).

No matter how much preparation you do, you can never accurately predict what an interview will consist of. I've found that stressing over this, and over-analysing what may come up, is counter-productive. I now try to check into a nearby hotel the night before an interview (a Travelodge, not the Hilton, but still not a particularly cheap practice): this not only cuts down on travel stress on the day, but also means I'm away from other people who want to know how I'm feeling, if I've prepared etc. - I can shut out the world, do the preparation I feel I need to do and then relax. I think this has yielded broadly better results, but if check-out leads to an awkward gap before the interview it can lead to nervous stewing. Nonetheless, this works pretty well for me.


Part 4 - Volunteering

I'm adding Thing 22 on as an adjunct here as it does not form a full blog post in it's own right. I've not undertaken voluntary work within a library to advance my career; however, I did volunteer in a charity bookshop for about a year, which gave me breadth of experience transferable to library work which I suspect was instrumental in securing me my current role (or at least in getting me an interview). I accept Jo's argument that she was better to refuse full-time library assistant work and get experience elsewhere; however, I took the other route and don't really regret it. I've found that having boots on the ground means you can bully your way into things which are outside your job description and above your pay grade; if I'd stayed in my part-time position I don't think I'd have had half the opportunities I've had at work in the past year.

I've not considered volunteering time to CILIP committees/groups; look through previous posts for reasons why, as I feel that negativity towards one's professional body is not the best thing to continually reiterate! I recognise all the points about widened professional networks and gaining different experience and transferable skills, but at the end of the day I prefer to get paid - I'd rather be a whore than a slag. And on that unfortunate metaphor, I'm done.

Routes, roots and routing 'dead man's shoes'

My journey into librarianship seems, to me, pretty unremarkable; I've previously blogged about it under the title 'A Happy Accident', which should give some clue towards the level of pre-determination which was evident in my first steps on this career path. I'll link this previous post to the Library Routes wiki [done!!] which pretty much covers this Thing; hooray!

Rooting around like a library-related piggy

I took part in round 7 of the 'library day in the life', which I think is really useful as it gives a snapshot of what librarians across the world are doing on a particular day, which leads to a stronger 'warts and all' sense of the job than edited highlights about the profession as a career path. My entry is here and is worth reading only if you have spontaneously lost every sense except sight and can no longer do anything except click on dull hyperlinks (unfortunately, it fell in the middle of summer and there was very little going on...).

These prior posts cover my path so far and my current situation respectively; but what of the future? I've made no particular secret of my seeking a professional post, but this is tough going - there's not that many jobs out there (though there have been more of late) and there's a new cohort of qualified applicants just out of library school, all full of vigour and bleeding-edge library-world knowledge. I've have a few interviews, with varying results - I've got a feeling this will form the greater part of the next Thing, however, so let's save up some self-loathing for then!

My shortest cpd23 post ever? Possibly, but that November 30th deadline is closer than I think!

Reflecting on Reflection on Reflecting on Reflection on Role

(Yes, I hate me too - these blog titles are getting steadily worse)

I'm on the fence about whether to go for breadth or depth when considering this Thing (to reflect back on how CPD23 has integrated into working practice). Essentially, I'm going to re-read each post and make a few notes, then probably just post that!

Professional Networks

I suggested in Thing 1 that I might struggle on keeping up and consistently blogging to a schedule. I haven't done too badly at this; if I hadn't had a month off in August, I would have been pretty much of schedule... I also identified a few aims:

To be better (never was good at setting SMART targets)! To engage to show professional development; to be part of (and contribute towards) something larger; to refresh my ability to write long spiels of random thoughts and make it seem like there was some underlying plan (I'm award-winning in that last area, believe it or not...). One further personal aim: to write a few more straightforward sentences, without using colons and hyphens for awkward pauses or ending a thought on ellipses - that one may take some work...

I've made steps in the contribution and participation areas (though perhaps more through Chartership concerns than CPD), and have developed my writing muscles thorough blogging and, latterly, producing reports and articles for an internal newsletter; my sentence construction, however, is an unwieldy as ever, with whole paragraphs frequently structures as a single sentence with 6-8 sub-clauses, asides and parenthetical comments. You know what, though? F**k it, I like writing like this; it's my style and I'm keeping it! [Professional DL would like to highlight to potential employers that he is entirely malleable to institutional needs]

I have done less well at keeping up with the neighbours. I have read lots of CPD23 articles, but I've not consistently followed anyone's progress through the course (actually, of those I discussed in this Thing only 3 are continuing, and have similarly fallen behind). In some ways I think that's better though: I'm getting a larger variety of viewpoints by dipping in and out of the all-participant RSS feed, which also develops my network of vaguely-recognised infopros at IRL events! At the recent Library Camp I made a quick-and-dirty nameplate which utilised by Dogeared branding, but no-one particularly engaged with this, suggesting that my online branding has been less effective than I hoped; however, I was hardly a social-butterfly on that day (more a grumpy, slightly-misanthropic moth with tinnitus) so perhaps that had something to do with it! Staying with professional events, I still can't shake the feeling that CILIP is a body which lives in a distant castle and takes a tithe of my income in return for some ephemeral promise of protection, in a modern-day echo of the feudal system (this could also be portrayed using a mobster allegory; take your choice). There have been a few events which they have offered, either in 'that London' or locally, which might have been worthwhile, but the costs involved with them, and the lack of guarantee they'd be worthwhile, has meant I've stuck to events like Library Camp, outside the umbrella of CILIP and thus that bit freer.

In terms of social networks, I go through sporadic phases of tweeting still, but mostly I just lurk these days - I can't say hand on heart I feel part of the community. I keep meaning to get back to using LinkedIn more, as the groups have proven pretty good and provide interesting discussions on topics which interest me, but it's always just that bit too far down my list of priorities for me to properly engage. And whilst I had high hopes for Google+ being the ideal platform, combining the desirable features of the other networks, it's potential hasn't followed through as far as I'm concerned - I don't know of anyone who uses it as their primary online network, and it just doesn't seem to get to where I want it to be. In terms of professional networks, I'm still not engaged with LISNPN in any meaningful way (though I do occasionally click through to blogs as I follow their RSS), and haven't really felt the poorer for it; it feels like, as a profession, we do a lot of communicating but don't really achieve either consensus or tangible outcomes.

Finally, I pondered at the time of Thing 4 whether it was worth maintaining RSS feeds from US librarians - I still have these, but can't remember the last time I actually clicked through and read an article; maybe it's time to ditch and switch to more local bloggers (even if this will lead to duplicated coverage of events).

Personal Development

I haven't really focused on improving my reflective practice skills; it's still in the back of my mind, and I can think in this way a little longer than I could before I go sulky and give up, but its never going to come naturally to me. I've got better at reflecting on events, though never quickly enough to make blogging about them worthwhile; I missed the bus on Library Camp for example - though I wrote this up as a report for work, which fulfilled a reflective function... maybe I'm doing better at this than I thought!

I'm grinding along with Chartership activities, slowing gaining experience to tick boxes on my PPDP goals (which are still not in final-draft state, but are pretty close...). It's been a busy last month, but I've gained quite a lot of useful experience inside and outside of work, particularly as I supported a few timetabled information-skills sessions in the last fortnight. I've got another mentor meeting tentatively scheduled for the next few weeks (a date has yet to be locked down; possibly something to correct!) and feel positive about this relationship, as I did before.

Applications and tools

Pushnote and Evernote fulfil much the same function in my book; I've sporadically used Evernote to make notes since Thing x, but it hasn't really integrated my process in terms of professional practice. Pushnote, as I think was the case for pretty much everyone, just didn't do enough or add functionality I really wanted; I recently uninstalled the shortcut from Chrome and do not miss it. I identified in my initial post that Evernote's functionality was limited by constraints on what IS would allow at work; this is slightly circumvented now as Chrome is on pretty much every PC I use day-to-day and there are less restrictions in plug-ins etc (how Chrome got to be installed, against their wishes, we won't dwell on!). My main problem with Evernote is that it allows to to 'clip' and make notes but is sufficiently unobtrusive that I then forget about everything I've captured and go about my business without actually reading this content - this problem is more with me than the software, but as we've established, I externalise my faults!

Google Calendar is really useful for me; I now have four calendars, which allow me to track job applications, professional events, day-to-day engagements and the dog's pills and treatments(!) individually or together. This makes it easy to quickly find details about an event I went to in May or work out why I've booked off a long weekend in mid-November (Skyrim's coming out!). Again, I'd like to emphasise the additional functionality which the Labs plug-ins allow for (though I wish more of Google's API offerings would link up and make a cohesive whole; things in G-world do sometimes feel like a never-ending beta). I'm also not totally convinced about the new style of layouts which pull Google products together, particularly in Blogger and Docs.

I've softened up on my attitude to reference-management software somewhat, but still don't use it myself; a colleague showed me what's probably the best way to handle Refworks, which was to introduce to whilst recognising that it would work for some people and not for others - no hard sell, just a 'this is it, this is what it does, use it or not - your choice'.

Conclusion

So, that covers the majority of the content of Things 1-14; it seems a little pointless to go beyond this point, as I'm unlikely to have changed my viewpoint much in the forthnight since I wrote Thing 15 onwards! I think CPD23 tasks have made a sizeable impact in the areas discussed above, and will continue to resonate in my practice; for example, I've found Jing to be quite useful when dealing with 'live chat' queries on our virtual reference desk, showing rather than explaining. This blog entry took far too long to write, and would probably edit down somewhat if I wasn't keen to get home; I finished work an hour ago, but have a CPD/wait-for-traffic-to-die-down hour most days; another development during this summer of personal growth! On the plus side, this probably can be cut-and-pasted for Thing 23!

Sound and vision

This Thing covers screen-capture and podcasting; I've chosen to focus on their use as instructional tools for use by information professionals as this would be the purpose I would primarily use them as.

I quite like screen-capture as a method of instruction, and sometimes use it in lieu of slides when discussing processes and theories. I have used Jing (without the sound components it allows for) in a recent presentation, which went okay (aside from the .swf file format resulting in the PC I was using questioning whether I believed the file to be safe upon opening it), and quite liked it. The 'sun' interface was effective and relatively unobtrusive (though I chose to remove it from my start-up programs as I won't use it that often), and though I didn't feel the need to utilise the cloud storage system which comes bundled in with the Jing account I can see that it represents a useful feature. Jing is currently being used to create screen-caps at work, and my colleagues have have reactions ranging from the positive to 'meh' (when compared to functionality from paid-for rivals), so I imagine it is likely to be something I continue using in the future.

Podcasts, then. We currently have (well-promoted) podcast tours of our libraries which have had very poor take-up (and which were comically out of date when they were checked before the beginning of the academic year), which seems to suggest that this medium is not immediately desirable for users. I'm unconvinced that walk-throughs of databases etc. are well-served by the medium either; you may as well include video too and provide a fuller explanatory resource. Whilst they remain an interesting potential tool, I'm unsure exactly what niche they fill in terms of information skills development and library usage.

I'm quite keen on listening to podcasts (though the audio quality of some non-radio ones is frankly pretty shocking; 'Squeecast', a geek-oriented 'round-table' discussion, sounded like a badly-recorded phone conversation the last time I tried it - I lasted less then 5 minutes). I feel quite strongly that the smaller the number of concurrent voices included (with an ideal of 2-4) the better; this avoids confusion as to who is speaking, but also allows the podcast as a whole to 'gel' and seem less like an argument with participants forced to talk over each other to get their opinions heard. As may be suggested by this preference, I tend to opt for unscripted, 'as-live' podcasts over strongly-planned, point-by-point recitations of scripts - if you're going to do that, for my mind, you may as well just write it down and be done with it. From this, I would suggest that lecture-style content is more suited to delivery via podcast (and iTunes U) than seminars or larger symposia discussions.

Slides and swings

My stance prior to Thing 17

This may sound heretical, but I don't much like Prezi. I accept that its non-linear, scaleable and animated nature allows for more flexible usage, but I've never actually seen it implemented in a situation which called for non-linear, scaleable presentation, rendering it more like a Powerpoint presentation with the added disadvantage of giving viewers a nauseous headache. Slideshare is something I have a little more time for, but still tend not to engage with. It allows for more comfortable embedding in a web page and can provide a quick and attractive way to deploy snippets of information on a topic; however, they can be a bit dull and difficult to read if more than a bullet-point's worth of data is included on each slide, which limits their usefulness for larger topics. 

So; I don't like large flexible canvases and I don't like smaller, focused slides. Not easy to please! I think that I have slide fatigue. I don't get on well with visual and written data being presented together, and prefer to make my own connections and construct my own mental models from written data when given the choice, so will always take a somewhat hostile approach to this type of presentation tool. Nonetheless, I should have a go, so with this in mind I've decided to make a Prezi about some of my Library Camp experiences.

After trying Prezi

Prezi is... fun. I really enjoyed making my presentation, and think that it looks so much better than a Powerpoint with the same data ever would. I'm not evangelically converted or anything; it seemed to take about 3 times as long to complete as it would've in Powerpoint (although admittedly I was learning as I went along, and would probably be able to pull things together more quickly next time around), it didn't quite do everything I wanted it to do, and a few times I struggled to lock onto text I wanted to change, particularly when it had been rotated. Those are pretty minor gripes though, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone based on this experience. Indeed, several people asked what I was doing as I made the presentation, and now plan to have a play with it themselves. So yeah, two legs good, four legs bad...

The 3 A's: Advocacy, Activism, Articles

Advocacy

I like to think that I do my bit for library advocacy, correcting people when they inevitably go to the twinsetted, hair-in-a-bun, shushing archetype, gently explaining the additional services that a modern library offers (especially when it is staffed with dedicated, well-trained professionals who are confident that they will still have a job next week). I had a stand-up argument with a local councillor at a wedding recently; she was adamant that staffing local libraries with switched-on volunteers instead of 'lazy, bare-minimum' paid staff would, far from being detrimental, help the local community's access to information. I restrained myself from head butting the mother-in-law of the bride, but still regret that we had had this conversation toward the end of the evening, when the demon drink (gin ftw!) had curtailed by debating skillz. Sadly, I am never wholly eloquent in defending public libraries, even when sober; I feel something of a fraud when I do it, because [shock horror] I'm not actually a user of them. The simple fact is that I can get all the resources I require from the library I work in, as well as all the tertiary benefits which public libraries also offer. Others are not so fortunate, but I don't feel comfortable speaking for them. Ultimately, the facilities we are currently in danger of losing (or have already lost) may never be replaced - the time for action is now, but I feel inert.

Activism

It's not for me (I'm too reserved to proactively prosthelytise), but good on those who do it. I'm not sure how much of an effect standing around outside libraries with placards or staging a sit-in does, but it does grab some media attention and thus give the cause a little in the way of publicity oxygen. Johanna's article raises excellent points about the merits of advocating, the tangible difference it can make for people and that it does not have to adversely affect your 'day job', but ultimately I simply do not have the energy needed to effectively advocate for public libraries, particularly given my lapsed use of them.

I suppose that attending events outside of the profession and pitching for ways in which the library can contribute is a (weak) form of activism; in this vein, I recently attending a symposium on Student Writing in Transition, focused on school/FE to HE transitions, the academic skills which are required at HE level and the transitional support offered to incoming students. This was mainly attended by academics and learning development-focused support staff (though there were a few other librarians there, and induction falls within the remit of a Libraries and Learning Resources team here at NTU); hardly an escape from the echo chamber, but I did manage to talk to a few people about our front-line experiences with the level of student academic skills and transferable information literacies, and how library services can further support development in these areas.

Articles

This does not concern articles per se, but it does reflect professional writing so may merit inclusion here. A chance encounter with this blog by a third party led to my line manager's boss becoming aware of its existence and browsing its contents (looking for reasons to fire me, no doubt!). She noticed that I was soon to attend Library Camp and asked me to take some notes on what I learnt and engaged with on the day to inform an exercise which she was completing looking at what other information services were doing. I duly produced précis reports of the sessions I attended and broad-strokes comments about the themes and foci of the day (which will eventually become blog posts themselves, but there's a certain amount of re-editing to do there!), which were presented during the horizon-scanning reporting session and generally well-received. In short, what began as futile screaming into the void has yielded a tangible benefit and increased my professional visibility in the workplace. Was this a positive thing? We'll have to wait and see...