Jing

I have used wink, camtasia, captivate and articulate to generate flash / pod cast type content for the library web site over the past few years. All of these programs record screen activity as frames which can be edited. However when I imported a jing file that I created into Camtasia it was not split into seperate frames but kept as one video piece in .avi format. While the software works to record screen activity it has to be well planned out and executed as the editing options are not great, in fact wink - a much older but free product seems to be more flexible on the editing side even if the interface is a little clinky.

Advocacy and speaking up for the profession - getting published : Things to do

I am not an active advocate. I do however support organisations that engage in advocacy. The LAI and IFLA are both very strong in this area and I feel represent my interests better than I could. I think that any time that I interact in a professional capacity with anyone (student or staff) outside of the library team I am engaging in advocacy of the library, it's staff, librarianship as a profession, and it's services. With today's climate, it is easy for senior managers to see library services as a passive thing that can be cut, or not maintained to the same level without having any major impact, so by helping the profile of the library we are really helping our users and making a case for our services.

On the plus side I have managed to get an article published in library hi-tech news about the implementation of the open source researcher suite here, but I suppose that's more advocacy of open source software than anything else. I will probably do so again, but I need to find a topic. Maybe when 23 things is finished I'll give it another go.

Attending, presenting and organising seminars, conference and other events

I have attended, presented and orgaised many events since I qualified. The longest presentation that I had to give was at IUG in San Francsico where I did an hour about z39.50 and the millennium library system. I have to say that an hour was a long time for what is essentially a very dry topic, but I did well enough that the organisers would have me speak again.

Additionally I have spoken at conferences or seminars on average once a year since qualifying. I now try to make sure that i have a colourful presentation, and that most of the content is included in it, as this saves your audience from frantically taking notes while you are talking. I always plan to be about 20% short on time, as someone else always runs over, or there are lots of questions.

The largest event that I have been involved in organising is the Annual Joint Conference of the LAI and CiLIP Ireland. I was involved as the secretary for two years and learnt alot about the expertise of members and the selection of speakers, as well as the practical aspects such as timetabling, and seeking sponsorship. I admire anyone involved in organising this conference as it takes a substantial commitment in time and energy on the part of every one (all volunteers) to pull it off.

Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike

I have had the zotero add on in my fire fox browser for a few years nowe, and of course I am guilty of not really revisiting it that often. I use endnote web and ref works mostly, but suppose that zotero could be used too. It was so long since I looked at it properly that I had forgotten that there is a word add on too... so I have corrected my error and downloaded it. I have to say though that I still don't find it very intuitive, but perhaps that's because i am used to using the commercial ones.

I tried to download Mendeley, but ran it problems with our proxy server - again. So I guess I know now that this is not an option for our library patrons on campus.

Cite u like isn't really a bibliography tool, but I think that is could be useful if I was conducting research and needed to gather articles together, rather than having a large selection of them just sitting on my desk in print, this might help narrow the relevant titles down, the tags would hopefully be useful for that. Of course I was delighted to find an article by yours truly there already. Good for the ego~!!!

Google Docs, Wikis and Dropbox

I think that Google Docs is a great idea, and I can see applications for it for working on documents with a group that are geographically dispersed, and think that it might be a good thing for the IOTI systems librarians to utlise to work on documents together. I'm not sure if it has all the functionality that the microsoft products do - but then again how many of us use all the functions anyway. I have shared some docuaments with colleagues, created some forms that feed into spread sheets and set up notifications for when content is added to them. Very handy.

I have previously used docs to upload files to a web site which is used as the library's staff wiki and staff manual online, and to archive presentations that I have given at conferences and seminars. It is handy to be able to acccess them without having to log onto work to do so.

I tried to set up dropbox, but it kept flickering back to the connection screen before I was finished inputting the proxy details, on my work pc. I have successfully set it up on my moblie phone, and think that I should maybe back up the text of my Masters to it... mmmm have to think about that one over the weekend. I figured out at the end that this was a problem with the proxy web server and the firewall.

We are currently moving our staff manual from a printed and pdf format to a google sites wiki. I love the fact that it is searchable, and hopefully more user friendly than a huge A4 folder.

Putting the social into social media

I have been a user of facebook, twitter and linked in before 23 things began, and will continue to be afterwards. I find it useful not just for social networking but also for current awareness. I follow actual libraries and fellow professionals, and find it a great way to keep up with what's happening out there, often finding inspiration from their activities for our own library.

I have to admit though that I am very circumspect about what I put up on my account, as I keep it open to the world - being that it reflects my professional identity and not my private one. I try to make sure that I keep it relatively professional, with a little of my personality thrown in to aleviate boredom.

CPD23 has in some way's made contact with people that I wouldn't normally, but it just seems to be from the point of view of following each other's progress rather than anything social...

I thnk that social networking can help foster a sense of community... it was used successfully to organise out twenty year secondary school reunion, reunting people who had lost contact over the years. It also lets me stay in contact with friends overseas who would otherwise be lost, and only be contacted occassionally.

Mentoring

I have been lucky in my career to have had two very good informal mentors. I just don't feel comfortable approaching people to do this formally - must be part of my Irish psyche. The first mentor I had was before I qualified and they encouraged me to do so and gave very sound advice about courses to take, and first steps into professional life including applying for the ALAI. This relationship has continued over the years, with encouragement to write for professional journals being the latest step along this road. My second mentor has come to light as a result of being employed professionally. they have encouraged me to develop my technical skills, present at conference and seminars, participate in the LAI, and again to write professionally.

I have to confess that without the influence of both of these mentors I would not have achieved half of what I have so far.

I'm not sure if I could fill that role myself, but then again I have never tried so I couldn't say for sure.

Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees and Chartership

So this is thing 10...
Many moons ago I was a Graduate trainee in UCD, and had the lovely job of preparing journals records for migration from blcmp to talis, augmented by temporary binding of serials, and eventually creation of order records for acquisitions. While I learnt a lot and got experience that I would never have received if I was working on a public service counter, I don't think that I will ever recover from the technical delight that was pegasus mail...

Subsequent to my qualifiation as a librarian I have also completed the Associateship of the Library Association of Ireland. This can be considered similar to chartership in the UK. It was a long enough process and quite a detailed process, btu worth it in the end.

And now I am hopefully at the end stage of writing my disseration for my Masters... If I could just get myself to sit down and finish it :)

I suppose this shows that I am trying to develop myself and my career, but I don't really think about it consciously at all, it just happens - ahhh the beauty of synergy...

I am an accidental librarian, in that I never pined to be a librarian, nor did I have a devastating need to do so. I ended up in the professional by process of elimination more than anything else. I am now a long serving member of the library staff, in the role of systems librarian, and I will probably continue in this role for the forseeable future. HOwever this may change with the inclusion of our institute in the alliance to create the Technological University of Dublin, all I can say is watch this space...