Thing 13

I have yet to use any of these tools for professional purposes.  My current organization uses a system of shared public drives for staff accessibility and collaboration.  This seems to work pretty well, but the argument for access that isn’t tied to specific machines is legitimate.  Although I do enjoy being able to step away from work stuff, and being able to always get at something can make it difficult to do so. 

I use Google Docs for a few different personal purposes, and appreciate how easy it is to use.  And since my Gmail account is the email address that I use for actual communication, I spend a lot of time at a very easily accessible point.  Most of my Google Docs experience has been solitary, but I have worked on shared documents a teensy bit, with fine results.  I just tried to create a Dropbox account, for the purposes of this blog entry.  I’ve had the unfortunate experiences of 1) a hard drive melting, and 2) losing a shared computer after a bad break-up, so absolutely appreciate the idea of having all files and media stored in a safe, alternative location.  Turns out that on my work machine, administrative permissions are pretty strict, and it didn’t like me trying to install Dropbox.  Maybe another time.  A former colleague exposed me to PBworks (the free version available for librarians), and to me, the wiki concept seems to make the most of this style of online collaboration.  The ability to include active links and documents and text all in one spot is so useful for so much library-related work.

Thing 12

I’ve been participating in this social networking business for some time before the CPD 23 Things program, and will continue to do so post-Things.  This program has encouraged (forced?) me to explore additional tools that I hadn’t been using, and while I won’t keep up with all of them, a few will definitely make it into my regular rotation.  This program has also caused me to comment on the blogs of strangers, which is not something that I’d ever done before. 

If applied in a healthy, honest way, I think, yes, social networking can foster a legitimate sense of community.  If folks are genuine and respectful, and can maintain an awareness of just how public these forums can be, then yes.

Thing 11

On mentoring:

I’ve never had an official mentor, but I have been fortunate throughout my career to work with great colleagues, many of whom have fulfilled that mentor role at one time or another.  The input and perspective of someone who may not only have a longer work history, but also perhaps a just plain different professional experience, can be amazingly valuable.  I find that I rely most on the advice of colleagues during stressful times, which makes me think that  I should work on sharing positive outcomes with these folks, too.  Professional commuication should not just be about what isn’t working, right? 

I’ve had one somewhat formalized experience with mentorship, and that was during my attendance at this year’s Nebraska Library Leadership Institute.  There were about thirty participants from around the state, who were then divided into smaller groups, and each group was assigned two mentors to guide them through the four day workshop.  I was continually inspired and surprised by the intelligence, sensitivity, and perspective of these mentors.  Truly awesome people.  It’s comforting to know that I now have this pool of experts on my side, as well.

Thing 10

I feel like I’ve been really lucky in my career so far.  I’ve worked in diverse library types, in diverse geographic locations, have had some amazing colleagues, and have had some pretty fantastic opportunities.  I am absolutely positive that I’ve chosen the perfect profession for myself, and try to keep that Anais Nin quote in the back of my head at all times – “life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” (or something like that).  I try to continually do things that scare me a bit.   

 

A career in librarianship would probably never have occured to me had it not been for a work-study job that I landed as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa Law Library.  I worked as an assistant in the binding department for over two years, and it was such a great environment.  Aside from hunting down journals, preparing bindery shipments, and completing technical services processing, I was also able to work on some projects for special collections, which seemed to tie in nicely with the art history degree that I was pursuing.  And on the topic of that degree, I knew that more education was in my future, but hadn’t decided in exactly what way yet. 

 

 Two years post-bachelor’s degree, I decided upon library school.  Aside from the positive student work experience, I grew up making weekly visits to my tiny hometown library, and have always loved books.  Not just reading them, but also as physical objects.  Beautiful art books, cookbooks, and just plain stylish old books have all been serious weaknesses of mine for many years now.  I was also drawn to librarianship by the social good that it represents.  Freedom of information!  Access to technology for the masses!  The struggle against censorship!  Like almost every librarian, I imagine, these beliefs are fundamental to my work, and I fully believe that no quality civilization can exist without public libraries.  I’m so proud to be a part of that essential service.  I worked at my first public library while in graduate school, and it was such an eye-opening experience.  I worked the circ desk, and we regularly had lines 10+ people deep, even with a fully staffed desk.  Busybusybusy.  I had my first dealings with folks bathing in the public restroom, and expressing their librarian fantasies to me, and telling me that they shouldn’t pay fines because they already pay taxes.  I was also lucky enough to land an internship abroad for a few months, since my school had a satellite campus in London.  Totally one of the best things I have ever done.  People weren’t too rigorously academic, since most students were in partytime Europe mode, but I did get some experience working with faculty and general reference. 

 

I pursued a Museum Studies certificate along with my master’s degree, since I was torn between work with the public and work with an art library of some sort.  I was offered a museum internship as I finished up my library coursework, so ended up in Los Angeles.  Another awesome experience.  I began working here as a temporary circ assistant, while going through the months looooong public librarian application process with the city of L.A., and was amazed to have them create an Assistant Librarian job for me.  My work focused on special collections, and it was so much fun to work with fashion sketches and old knitting and sewing patterns and decades of Vogues and all of the other inspiring materials contained in that archive.  I was promoted to Head Librarian in short order, and that was a serious learning experience.  The shift from librarian to manager was a huge challenge.  Sometimes it was fun to be The Boss, but a lot of the time, I really missed plain old library work.  After several great years in L.A., it seemed like time to settle down someplace more affordable, so I picked up and moved to Austin.  This turned out to be a bit of a disaster.  A really fun city, but a bad economic time to make such a leap, and not a lot of opportunity for a non-UT grad there.  After over a year of trying to find a decent job with no luck, I cast a wider geographic net for my job search, and was eventually offered a position with Omaha Public Library.  And I absolutely love it.  I get to work with adults, I get to work in a branch that is truly a community center, and I get to see the direct impact that my work has on people.  It’s more rewarding than I would have ever imagined. 

 

Where do I go from here?  My crazy life path has taught me that you can only plan so much.  After moving so frequently in the recent past, I plan on sticking with my current library for the next few years, at the least, and becoming anchored in my community.  I really love public librarianship, and imagine that I will stick with this field for the foreseeable future. 

Thing 9

Assignment for Thing 9: Evernote.  I already have a del.ici.ous account, and don’t really want to manage multiple tools that repeat essentially the same functions.  Evernote is definitely prettier than del.ici.ous though, and I’m a fan of their charming little elephant logo.  It also appears to offer more robust functionality, but is it worth migrating all of my bookmarks?  Not convinced yet.  I’m content with just being able to bookmark something, and don’t necessarily feel compelled to augment that action with notes.  Although I did just buy an iPhone, so maybe I’ll investigate the available app.

Thing 8

The assignment for Thing 8 was to create a Google calendar.  Beyond that,  there were no specified tasks as to what sort of feedback we were to provide, so I don’t have much to say on this one.  I have a Google calendar, but haven’t been able to get it to sync up nicely with my Outlook calendar, so I’m happy to stick with that one.  My Outlook calendar is LOADED, and I would be utterly lost without it. 

My Nancy Pearl finally has a home.

Thing 7

I have had the opportunity to be involved with multiple professional organizations throughout my library career, at both national and state levels.  My first memberships were with the Special Library Association and the American Library Association.  I have been lucky enough to attend several annual conferences, and each has been awesome.  Not that every single session attended was mind-blowing, but the overall experiences were just so inspiring.  It’s always great to hear how others innovate or find solutions to problems, and fun to think about how to apply those concepts to real life at my library.  

At the state level, I’m currently a member of the Nebraska Library Association. This is the first time that I’ve been active with a statewide organization, and the differences are pretty much what you’d expect.  It’s smaller, so you get to know people pretty quickly.  I’ve also become an active member of a roundtable for the first time, this one.  Since I’m new to the state, and am fairly ambitious, this seemed like a good way to 1) meet more people, and 2) enhance my resume.  So far, that’s seemed accurate!  I’ve met a lot of great librarians across the state, and know that these relationships will just continue to develop. 

Involvement with national organizations has helped me to develop a truly broad understanding of the library world.  That perspective is so valuable.  The breadth of library types and activities is just staggering sometimes.  One of the things that I love about the profession.  I’ve been really lucky to have supportive bosses who are keen on professional development, and know that my career is far richer for that.  I can’t imagine why any librarian would NOT be a member of at least one professional organization.

Thing 6

I have profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Of these, I find Facebook to be the most useful for authentic networking.  I share both personal and professional information with librarian friends across the country on Facebook, and think that a balance between these two types of info makes for the most meaning.  It’s so much more interesting and rewarding to have relationships where you can connect not only through professional interests, but also discover personal commonalities.  You know, like actually KNOW people, beyond that they love their library work.  I haven’t used Google+ too much at this point, but after the amount of time I spend on Facebook, I find that I’m a bit social networked-out.  I have never been a huge fan of LinkedIn.  Part of it may be the design, as I don’t find it too appealing, and I think part of it is also its purpose.  Something about my perceived intent of the site makes it seem kind of business-smarmy to me.  It seems superficial.  Maybe I just haven’t seen any quality profiles?

Thing 5

The first thing that I’ve learned is that keeping up with all of this is HARD.  But I do know that falling behind (in general, not just in posting my Things in a timely fashion) has the potential to be far more detrimental.  We librarians must stay on top of all of these tools!  The great thing about this project is that it forces me to engage with other information professionals, which is something that I tend to neglect.  Existing in a librarian vacuum is not the way it should be!  Now that I’ve gotten into better networking habits, I think that I’ll be able to continue on this path.