Day 1 A year in reflection #blog12daysxmas

2013 has been a big year professionally; in January the Mill Park Digital Hub started, being launched officially in May by the then Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy.  I continued to tutor in library studies for Charles Sturt University, Curtin University and Victoria University and even squeezed in a professional literature review.  I was named co-winner of the ALIA Victorian Favourite Librarian Award and took on a project role with ALIA, coordinating a return on investment project on special libraries.  The Health Libraries report, Worth Every Cent and More has just been released, with separate reports on Law, Government and Corporate sectors to follow. 

All of these were big learning curves for me, involving a lot of research and people/change management.  The biggest learning curve came with the development of the Mill Park Maker Space.  I applied for a small internal grant with very little lead up time and had to learn about maker spaces and their applicability to public libraries very quickly.  I was successful in obtaining the grant and the Mill Park Maker Space was officially launched in November, with over 200 official guests.

The biggest thing for me, for 2013 however, would have to be handing in my resignation at Yarra Plenty Regional Library, where I have spent an awesome 5 1/2 years immersed in innovation and creativity.