Tuesday 18 October 2011

Thing 23: The end, but not as we know it!

This is quite sad. I've really enjoyed doing this "course". I've virtually met so many interesting people and I'm going to miss the contact. I know we all say we'll continue writing our blogs, but will we? Certainly I doubt if I will write so many posts on this blog.

I have a lot to look forward to, however, and my SWOT gives me a lot to think about. Some points from my personal SWOT include:

Strengths
Much greater awareness of web 2.0 resources and software
The use of at least four or five things constantly in my daily work life meaning that I'm more organised and more productive
Willingness to exploit new technologies to show how they can improve our day-to-day working
Willingness to learn, even outside the work environment

Weaknesses
Not keeping on top of new technologies as much as I can, particularly now 23 Things has finished...
Not convinced by my brand, I have two currently, one professional, one not - how can I combine the two and make it look professional like Joeyanne Libraryanne?

Opportunities
The new technologies from 23 Things which were a great opportunity
Learning from other people by reading their blogs
My impending move to New Zealand - this is a BIG opportunity and is taking up a lot of my life currently

Threats
My impending move to New Zealand... I know I've repeated myself, but however much I ask questions from friends/colleagues, read up and rely on past visits, the country is still a relative unknown, particularly with the world of work. I'll be completely out of my "comfort zone" and will be a big change, but I'm up for it!!

So where DO I go from here? Well it's all a bit up in the air, my current job contract finishes next July (and most likely not renewed) and if I'm not in New Zealand by then, I'll be job hunting in the UK, mainly as a stop gap. Perhaps I can get involved with something locally for CILIP which may give me something else to aim for. I've never been a mentor, but I think it might be quite a rewarding thing to do, but starting training and finishing it before I move may be difficult. I have also considered Revalidation of my Chartership, but I think it's getting a bit late in the day to start that too.

In the meantime, I'm also trying to keep up with LIANZA and the job market in NZ. I may do best to see if I can join in with their activities from a distance.

This all seems quite indecisive, but it's difficult in my current position to say right, this is what I will do. It may be that I get to NZ and find I can't get an information post, in which case I'll be falling back on plans B or C... That means re-learning teaching methods and mathematics or doing lots of sewing to get my confidence up!

In the meantime, thanks 23 Things, this has been useful, interesting and I've a lot to take away from this. I won't say it's been easy, but how can I learn if it's all easy. I've had to do a lot of this at home, however, the main frustration I had over this, was the fact we have these fantastic technologies with which to improve our daily work and services, and they're blocked. What I need to do is to continue practising with them to ensure I don't forget them! I certainly will continue to read any blogs which are still updated, I've no end saved in my Google Reader!

As for a 6-word story, I may have to pass on that one, or could I put "Here's to the next 23..." Ooh, that's only five words - how's about that then? :-)

Monday 10 October 2011

Thing 22: Volunteering

What an excellent post by Jo. So what are my own experiences of volunteers and volunteering?

Very much like Jo, after finishing my library qualification I found it hard to find employment. Jobs just didn't seem to exist. I'm possibly also guilty of trying to get my thesis finished and passing, that job applications were the last things on my mind!

A friend of mine worked for BAe (British Aerospace) in Bristol at the time and managed to secure me work experience (voluntary work) in their information centre. I'd never worked in a special library and haven't worked in once since. However, I consider it a valuable experience. I loved the chance to deal with really complex in depth queries, sometimes working with confidential information. It was a very interesting place to work too. At the time they were building the wings for what is now the Airbus A380, all I'll say it, they certainly didn't call it the A380 then, it had just a slightly different codename!!

I'd love the chance to do this sort of work again, but due to my experience since, I think it would take quite a bit of persuasion, not to mention self-promotion to get the job I want in that sector. (Not to self: check Thing 21 again!)

I volunteered years ago to organise the music in my church choir library. I loved that, starting from scratch, but actually knowing I was making the music more accessible in the meantime. I also used to volunteer for the National Trust. Not libraries, but I learned basic budgeting, teamwork and leadership skills, so all in all a positive experience. Certainly in both of these, I felt valued - a great morale booster.

On the other side, I've not had a lot of experience from volunteers. We had a shelver when I worked in a college library, strangely enough, he now volunteers in the public library where I now work. He's been doing this volunteer shelving work for about ten years now, but is very reliable and helpful. Possibly one of the best volunteers you can get. He thrives on the thanks he gets from the library staff.

We also have a lot of volunteer editors for our local history site Herts Memories. We don't see these volunteers much, it's more of an electronic relationship! However, if we organise a local history event, they are often the first to come along to help publicise the sites, or encourage contributions.

If you count work experience as voluntary work, my experience of these has not been so good. Much of the time, they seem to find the work boring... How can work in a library be boring, there's always loads to do??

Currently my authority does not have many volunteers working regularly in the libraries. I know there are authorities which use volunteers on a regular basis and would be interested on how you work with these. What sort of work they do, how often they come in, etc. Plus there's the whole question of training volunteers, how does this get done?

It can certainly be a minefield, the whole volunteering experience, but I personally think it can be a positive experience for all involved.

Saturday 8 October 2011

Thing 21: Job applications and interviews

Over the years I've written so many job applications that I know what I'm doing - mm, OK, I'll believe myself!!

A couple of times recently I've been in the unfortunate position of either being made redundant or nearing the end of a fixed term contract which may or may not be continued. At these times, a list of what I've done has been invaluable.

I've got an old spreadsheet which has details of ALL the jobs I've done since I started work, including the part-time shop work while I was at school. (This may seem a tad over the top, but I learnt a lot about customer service skills and basic till use from that experience - so I dare anyone to mock it!) The only thing I haven't done with this spreadsheet is to include a brief description of my role and duties, this is still all in my head. So this may be a good time to create that database or Evernote folder with details which Maria suggests. I've also got a list of all the training I've done and conferences I've attended. My qualifications so far are mainly in my head, but I can easily check my certificates. Perhaps this is NOT the best way to record them! I have got a brief resume on LinkedIn, so I can turn to that if I get stuck too. :-)

The concrete details are the easy bit. The difficult bit is remembering my strengths. Every job application I do, I get my partner to read through. He is excellent at this and questions such as "why haven't in included that?" or "what about this" are getting less and less as I pick up skills. I read a job application, description and person spec thoroughly before starting any application, ticking off the essentials and desirables as I go, writing notes in the margins where something relates to my experience. I have at times used the exact wording in their descriptions to really plug the fact that I know what the job entails and I've got the skills to do it.

Application forms can sometimes be problematic, particularly if they have fixed word lengths on an online form and state that a covering letter will not be accepted. As you can probably tell from my posts, I can talk for England, but can I reduce the number of words by cutting out the rubbish - no I cannot!! My Masters thesis took ages to go through and cut out what was surplus to requirements!!

My downfall has always been interviews. About 18 months ago, I was applying for jobs left right and centre and I think my interview rate was about 85% or higher, but could I get a job - nope! I like Palely Loitering's comment from her friend “It’s not you, it’s them”. You can also tell if it's not been a good interview. I can't put my finger on what it is, there's just something which says it was not good. We also need to remember that going to an interview is not just about them finding out about you, but also you finding out about them. It's a two-way process and if your potential employer can't grasp that, then they are doing the process all wrong. Presentations are all very well, but I like the chance to chat to possible colleagues in a staff room or informal meeting. You can pick up a lot from faces, comments, etc in those situations.

I would be interested if there's anyone reading this about the length of a CV... In the UK here two sides of A4 is the maximum and then you bulk it out with a covering letter. I've recently been given a CV template for jobs in New Zealand and 2 sides just won't fill it. It goes on for pages and pages! Are there any Kiwis here who can help me??

My final word goes back to the detail and keeping a record. There are so many tools online to help us keep out details up to date for that moment in time, we really have no excuse. You may be ecstatically happy in your job, but they could come back to you tomorrow and say sorry we're closing down and you'll be made redundant. We all hope it won't happen to us, but sorry, it can, believe me, it can, so I recommend you keep that CV and database ready for that possible moment in time. Our job includes organising information in a way that it can be easily retrieved, so we should be excellent at organising our own information...

Thursday 6 October 2011

Thing 20: Roots and routes

Well I blogged quite thoroughly about my roots in librarianship in Thing 10. I've put a link to my blog on the Library Routes project site now. That wasn't without it's frustrations, someone else was trying to edit the page at the same time and it caused me endless frustration trying to save the page!! 'Tis done though!

Like Laura on CPD23 I'm a nosy so-and-so and have enjoyed reading through all the posts about roots. I've also been looking through other responses to Thing 20. Like many I didn't decide upon libraries for a career until the first choice of career fell apart and then discovered librarianship, not really knowing that it was a professional career for which you could get qualifications.

A lot of us seem to have a fondness for books, although I'm not sure if this will be as important in the future with so much technology around. Maybe a fondness for reading, but books to me mean a tangible object made of paper - no Kindle for me if I can help it, I can't rescue it if it falls in the bath!!

Looking around a lot seem to have come from more of a humanities/arts background. I know when I did my Masters that I was a minority having a science background. Being the show-off I am, I quite like that!!

There's also quite a lot of us, who somehow "fell" into libraries, Auntie Daniel, Laura's CDLC, and the Hobbit Hole, basically by helping out or doing some work for someone, or myself by doing some quiz in the university library during my final year of my undergrad course!

I certainly agree with Palely Loitering, I honestly don't think that going straight into a librarianship degree at at undergraduate level is best. I think we can bring so much more to the profession from our previous experiences and knowledge, ie Jan Learns 2.0 is using her teaching background, very much as I do given the chance to deliver training sessions.

I don't think careers advisers (possibly along with 90% of the population) know what a librarian does, but then our profession is so varied and different depending on the sector we work in, how can they?? As the Hobbit Hole suggests, we do need to market ourselves at careers fairs, but in doing this we need to make sure we have a representative from the major sectors to give a fuller picture.

So yes, I think all in all my route into the world of librarianship has been typical. My recommendation to anyone entering the career is get some experience behind you before doing the qualification. It makes so much more sense. I am lucky to have worked in both a public library, an academic library and even three weeks voluntary work in a special library before I did my MA and it broadened my mind considerably. I actually enjoyed going back to uni to do the Masters. For me personally, studying for the qualification there gave me the chance to discuss experiences with my peers, which I certainly wouldn't have got if ACLIP had been around then.

I think Paulamarie sums up the profession in her last few paragraphs, illustrating what a rewarding career we actually have the privilege to work in. Libraries are certainly not on their way out, we'll just be working in a different way. There will always be a need for organising information in a way in which it can be found when the certain person asks that certain question. I know from experience that many have not a clue how to search and cannot find the information they need. Who can show them how to do this?? Yep, it's us, those with hair in a bun, glasses, twinset and two piece... (And don't get me started on the image...)