Rudaí23 thing#13: Professional institutions

When Irish librarians think of professional associations, we often thing of the main one, the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) as well as some of the bigger UK ones, in particular the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). The Rudaí post for thing 13 was eye-opening with regards to the amount of professional organisations around. My twitter feed definitely needs an update.

Going that one step further

I was a Committee member of the LAICDG for approximately two years and would definitely encourage people to seek out groups that are looking for Committee members. Membership of professional organisations like the LAI are wonderful, and contain many benefits, but becoming a
Committee member takes these advantages and brings them to another level. You learn skills like organising events, working with others as part of a professional group, as well as gaining knowledge of how sub-committees interact and work together with other sub-committees. It also serves as an excellent way of getting to know people in the library world.

The basics

If you’re not quite ready for that step, the first thing to do is join the LAI, which is easier than ever to do and gives you lots of benefits which might be particularly relevant if you’re just starting off as a library professional, or even still in university. Attend as many events as possible (see my previous post about the benefits of attending events) and get to know some of your peers. If there’s a particular area you think you might be interested (and chances are, there’s a LAI group for that!) then get involved. You may not even be working in that particular field, but it could possibly help for you in the future.

The other thing to do is keep in touch with professional bodies further afield. This is most easily done through Twitter. It can keep you in touch with new developments abroad, but also give you ideas as to how professional organisations here in Ireland might develop.

A problem with terms

 

One final point is not to get too hung up on terms like 'professional' when looking at library organisations. A perfect example of this is the wonderful group New Professionals Day Ireland (NPD Ireland) which aims to appeal to both professional and non-professional people alike, whether you're somebody who thinks they may like to work in an information professional role, whether you're studying in the field, or whether you're working in a traditional or non-traditional library or information professional role. It's a great way to 'dip your toe' into the field and see if it's for you, or if you've already made that leap, to attend some wonderfully innovative conferences and talk to your peers as well as people that you wouldn't normally interact with at similar conferences.

Rudaí23 thing#12: A librarian set loose in the real world

What do you think of when you think of library conferences? I started attending conferences soon after I graduated from UCD, and was struck by how varied they are. They range from the intricately organised to the wonderfully loose interpretation of the term 'conference' (we've even had the term 'un-conference' bandied around), from the traditional speaker-and-audience affair to the more collaborative, and even one or two that offer a very fancy meal option. They may seem (to the non librarian/information professional) to be the epitome of all the stereotypes of what librarians are, but I've found them to be (depending on the conference) informative, interesting, radical, sometimes even funny.

Attending a conference

An image from Library Camp 2014

Of course, as with so many things nowadays, there are numerous ways in which to 'attend' a conference. Even if the conference hasn't offered a live stream, chances are you will find you can interact and participate through Twitter or catch up with the slides after everything has finished.

I think there is a lot to say for physically attending a conference, however. Seeing things in a real-world environment is (for me, anyway) a positive, more engaging experience. I tend to interact more with what's said and with the people with whom I'm attending the conference. Even the very act of committing to attending a conference means I make preparations that I have to stick with. I find that I engage more with people in the field and take away points of interest that I may not do if I am checking out live tweets on my phone.

Of course, it can be difficult to get time to attend conferences, especially if you're in a full-time job. And if you're not in a full-time job, it can still be difficult, especially if there is a fee to attend (although many will offer bursaries or reduced fees for unemployed or those still in education). Another issue can be location. That conference in Sheffield may look very attractive, but you will have to add transport costs and time, which may make it somewhat less attractive.

Some practical issues

I tend to come to conferences with my phone, some paper and a pen. I take notes of things that I might want to follow up on during questions (or after the conference). Caroline Rowan’s Rudai post has a great idea that you should take notes of people you meet and what area they are working in. I have that terrible affliction that causes me to immediately forget people’s names even as they are being introduced to me.

An example of tweets during a recent LAICDG conference

On breaks from the conference (and sometimes during the talks), if I have a spare moment I will try and see what’s happening online, share my thoughts and interact with others (either at the conference or those who couldn’t attend).

I'm quite lucky in that I can reasonably expect to attend a conference, providing there is adequate cover in work and that the conference is broadly suited to my career development. I find that I got the most from conferences that I attended where I was required to write up a brief description of the day for a Committee that I was involved with at the time. I have attended conferences since, and while I take brief notes, and usually participate online, I have definitely noticed that my engagement isn't as complete as it was before. Another important aspect of conferences is the opportunity to talk to people that you don't know and don't interact with on a regular basis. This can be difficult to do at the best of times, but it's important to get outside of your comfort zone.

Rudaí23 thing#8: Curator tools and libraries

'Curator tools' is a new term for me, although the more that I investigated the topic, the more I realised that I have used many curator tools in the past. Of the ones that I haven't used, I am at least aware of their existence. That's a start, right?

Flipboard

Have you ever been on a bus, see an article somewhere that you want to read, but your stop is coming up? There are many ways of saving the article and reading it later, but what about a 'magazine' with articles that you may be interested in as well all those ones you saved from earlier? I had never heard of Flipboard before, but the more I investigate it, the more appealing it becomes.

Here's a brief video explaining Flipboard

It's a really nice interface, and seems to be very easy to use. One thing I would say is that despite making essentially a library 'dummy' account, most of the articles are from the Daily Edition and are about US politics. I'm guessing that it will just take a bit of tweaking before it displays all the articles that I want to see.

It may seem so obvious that it's not worth saying, but Flipboard can work for you on a personal level, a professional level, or even for your library. If you can make an online magazine for all your personal interests, then why not one that broadcasts all the amazing things your library is doing? There's an interesting piece by Jan Holmquist that explains this better than I can.

Storify

I really like Storify. I guess you can look at it as a lazy way of telling a story (kind of like a news aggregator site as opposed to investigative journalism) but I think this is missing the point. I used Storify when I was on the Committee of an LAI subgroup and found that it was a great addition to blog posts, and was very well-received by people: it looks nice, people appreciate being included in a 'story' of an event, and it increases people engaging in future events that you hold. It also has the added benefit of notifying you of tweets that you may have missed if you participated in an event (either as an organiser or participant).

Pinterest:

I have never interacted with Pinterest before, despite being well-aware of its existence. For some reason, it makes me think of knitting and photos of cats, but my mind was really opened by actually, y'know, getting some first hand knowledge of it. (It turns out the most popular pins are recipes).

Firstly, it looks great. This shouldn't be surprising, as its primary focus seems to be on images over content. It should be fairly obvious the positives that this would mean to a lot of libraries and cultural institutions.

The obvious appeal means that many, many libraries are using it. You can use it to upload interesting photos from your collection, promote certain books that you think might be of interest to your users, or just interact with other Pinterest users. If you're not visible, how are people supposed to know about the services your library is offering?

Curator tools and you

 

Curator tools like the ones I've mentioned above are fantastic tools to highlight aspects of your library to users, as well as keep up to date with what others in your field are doing. Things like Pinterest and Flipboard work in a similar way to social media networks, but fill a different niche. But like with more traditional social media networks, the key to keeping these things relevant is your interaction with them. If you leave your Pinterest account inactive for a period of time, especially if this account is a professional one for your library, it becomes outdated and will reflect badly on your business. Updating regularly and interacting with other users is essential, but to be honest, after getting to know Pinterest and Flipboard, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Rudaí23 thing#6: A librarian gets all reflective

I think I'll probably always be behind on my Rudaí 23 tasks, so taking a break to go away on holidays probably wasn't the best idea (for completing Rudaí 23, but a great idea in nearly every other aspect).

Having said that, having time to reflect is probably the perfect thing to do at this stage. I can look back over the tasks that I've done, and have a look at how other people have been doing their blogs. Checking out other people's blogs (both those that are doing the Rudaí 23 as well as other librarian related blogs) is very interesting (although it does remind me constantly of how far advanced they all are. Of course, by 'far advanced' I mean actually keeping up with the time frame). It's interesting that despite Rudaí 23's name, this project isn't just an Irish thing: there are so many involved from the UK. It's great reading about their experiences, as well as seeing how the 'differences' they experience sometimes aren't all that different from what librarians in Ireland experience.

A great blog was Anaglow's talking about the radical conferences she was attending. It's a reminder of the difficulties that some in the library world in the UK are experiencing, but also about the radicalism which seems more prevalent there than it is in Ireland. 

I also came across a very interesting entry (in a very interesting blog) that made me question my use of images and that murky (or perhaps not so murky) area of copyright. I won't go into that in too much detail (as I am aware from peeking ahead that it's one of the tasks further down the list) but it is an example of how easy it is to overlook an important aspect of your job because social media is different, right? That brings me on to another blog which deserves praise because of how well written it is, but also its attention to detail in referencing everything that needs to be referenced. 

I'm also seeing a few blogs by people that I went to library school with and haven't seen in a while. It's a reminder that Rudaí 23 isn't just about improving your own abilities but about connecting with people in the library world, whether it's people you haven't seen in a while or people that you've never met before.

Reflection is something that is probably best enjoyed by those who have been keeping up to date with their tasks, so with that in mind, off I go to research my next post. Looking ahead, it looks like things are going to get a little more 'complicated' but also more interesting!