Thing 21 and Thing 22

As we're nearing the end of the programme work life is becoming busy, so I'm putting both of these together.
It's a timely reminder to maintain the "info for cv" document that I have by updating it now as I'm learning new skills both at work and over the summer (including this little project!).  Thank you for jogging my memory.
Life is a little busy at the moment, but I've found that volunteering has brought me new skills (and the confidence to use them in different settings) which I've been able to transfer into my work.  However, that was a while back in a very different economic climate,  I would now look very hard at any volunteering description to make certain that it complements the main business of the organisation and doesn't undermine the need for qualified (and remunerated) staff.

Thing 20 - Library Routes

Having previously commented about how I got here in Thing 10, I used this time to have a better look around the Library Routes project.  I've not contributed to a wiki before, so took this opportunity to see how it works.  On reflection the only thing I can say is that I'm incredibly lucky that, having worked in so many sectors I can still be interacting daily with users and learn new things ( no pun intended).  Our profession is so varied and constantly evolving that there is absolutely no chance that what I'm paid to do each day becomes tedious or mind numbingly boring.  You can take your career in lots of different directions just by being open to possibilities and transferring skills from one sector to another can be really useful.

Thing 16 - Advocacy

I like the distinction between activism and advocacy and have now had the chance to have a good look at the useful collection of various advocacy tools - something which I always felt I should get around to.  (These "things" are great for giving you space (and impetus and guidance) to get round to doing what you always thought you should do!)
On the smaller end of the spectrum (probably more akin to marketing/promotion though) there is also the creation of networks within your organisation, those people with whom you interact daily and who can be very powerful advocates for your cause in these hard financial times.  If they're using your services (and valuing them) they may be persuaded to add weight to your arguments and demonstrate how useful you are to the organisation, and more importantly what would happen if they were to loose your services.
And of course, the more dialogue that goes on between libraries and their users the better the service will be, so everybody wins.
I'm not that great at public speaking etc, but having the stats and messages from reliable sources is useful; I'm sure there are better people out there to give the message eloquently and more professionally than I can.   However, now I've thought a little about it I'll be in a better position to state the case if necessary and of course publicise the various campaigns to interested people.

Thing 14 - keeping it together (referencing)

I appreciate this topic being in cpd23, as it's very timely coming at the start of the new academic year.
Firefox is my default browser at home where I tend to do most of my research, so a browser add-on seemed appropriate.
Remarkably easy to install and use, I like the variety of sources that you can add (useful in this brave new multi-modal world of learning) as well as the note facility.  As I'm starting a course of study this will make life much easier than previous efforts at citing and bibliographies, invariably using well thumbed cards.
I'll probably check out Mendeley so I can comment knowledgeably on both to students who may want to try out other referencing software.

I also liked the search function of Citulike, picking up a nice feel for what people are reading in my specialism.  However, on the prinicple that I will only need, and manage to use, one tool I decided not to sign up to this one, but to go back to it periodically and do a couple of searches to see what topics are being added.

Thing 13, Working together

In common with many other bloggers in this enterprise, at work we have access to our internal drives which means we can all work together on projects; at the moment I'm not collaborating on any project with others outside my organisation.  Also, like many others I can't download any software at work.  With these factors in mind I decided to have a look at Googledocs.

I found it remarkably straightforward to use ( I already have a google account) although getting used to "downloading" rather than just "saving" when I was working on the documents at home was a little unexpected (I was in my own little world and hadn't realised which version I was working on!) and some of the formatting was a little odd.  For my own cpd this will definitely reduce the amount of emailing documents to myself so I can access them during lunch.  I also liked the ease with which you could share information with others (without them having to download or sign up for anything) and the control that you have over the information.  I'm a little concerned about the number of google application that I'm beginning to use now - I may need to explore other options just to be on the safe side.

The only wiki I've used (with caution and usually in library information sessions as an example of "care needs to be taken") is Wikipedia, but I can see the potential of joint working with this one.  I did like the Library Routes project and may contribute my own, though it will only be of historical value as so much has changed since I entered the profession!

Thing 8 - too much organisation?

Google Calendar.

I like this calendar a great deal, it was easy to sign up to, easy to use and is flexible enough to be able to share anyone's calendar, not just those in your organisation.  In fact it does everything I could want from an online calendar, but there is a problem.

I don't think I actually need it right now.  At work we use Microsoft Outlook, so can co-ordinate and view other's calendars, and I do have remote access at home, so can check up on shift patterns when my memory (all too frequently) fails me. I also have an old fashioned paper diary which I still find easier to take to meetings where having online access is difficult.  At home a wall calendar tries to keep track of the household's comings and goings.  That seems more than enough to keep up to date at one time.
The only thing that I feel I'll miss out on is having it on my igoogle page, a very useful visual reminder.

However, it's good to know about other options and I'd definitely consider it if Outlook wasn't available to me.

Thing 2 Investigate some other blogs

Really impressed by the work that people have put into their blogs. 

Already done a couple of new things with this first active foray into this area.  I used Delicious to find some blogs to read, as there are so many I decided to concentrate this time on ones in the UK and working in my sector.  I enjoyed reading other people’s blogs and eventually managed to pluck up courage to post a comment on one. (May be I’ll be a bit braver next time, as I found myself starting to add a comment then deleting it quickly as it didn’t really seem to add anything to the discussion – hopefully as the “things” progress I’ll be able to reflect on the tools with more validity).

I also investigated how to customise my own blog as I started with a very basic one just to get going.   (It is still a work in progress and I hope Thing 3 may help with how I decide what to include and how that will affect people’s perceptions of my online presence.)

Beginning to catch up – but there are “2 things” to do this week, so I’d better get a move on.