This afternoon, Clare crowdsourced potential post topics, having run out of steam (aside here, don't you think 'cloudsourced' would be a good term too??). The suggestion I gave her was the post I had planned to write this evening - some blogs in my reader, under various labels.
Like many, the aggregator I use is Google reader. I did start off with Bloglines, but switched over to Google to simplify things - it was much easier to use one login for everything (good thing, as Bloglines died an untimely death but all of my feeds were in Google by then).
Bear in mind that these are just a few of the blogs that I subscribe to - I literally have hundreds, which is why my feeds constantly seem to be over 1000. These are in no particular order or preference, I am just choosing 3 from each of my labels!
Library related
Librarians Matter, by the ever wonderful Kathryn Greenhill
Libraries Interact - a blog for Australasian libraries
Jenelle
Scrapbooking
Write.Click.Scrapbook - lots of tips and ideas.
Paperclipping.com - love this site. Noell does a paperclipping round table podcast weekly which I bank up and then listen to. There is also one for digital scrapping.
Creating Keepsakes - like the magazine, lots of inspiration here.
Card making
For the love of life - some amazing work here
Daring cardmakers - I so want to make a wobble card
Passionately Artistic - lots of cuttlebug goodness
Peeking into the lives of others
Day to day - also a good craft blog
e - an Aussie living in the US
Attic24 - lovely, lovely stuff. Lots of crochet goodness
Crochet/craft/knitting
Sew ritzy titzy - I SO want to do this challenge - who is up for it??
Creativeyarn
Crochet with Raymond - a cat who crochets?
Hooked on handmade - more on the May challenge
So many more I can share, but think I will call it a night! What are some of your favourite blogs and why?
Monday, 20 June 2011
Post 13 Some of my favourite blogs
Post 12, Choosing a conference committee, part 2
Yesterday I finished my post with the bombshell Jenelle dropped on me, she was moving overseas and would have to withdraw from NLS4. As I said earlier, Jenelle was the ideal choice for Website Coordinator and had also been to NLS1 and NLS2 (NLS2006 had not happened yet) so had lots of insights to share.
Jenelle's withdrawal left a hole in the committee, as I really didn't know anyone else with the skills sets she possessed. Although the need to fill the gap was not critical at this stage, I did need to have something in place fairly soon. I had my lightbulb moment writing a youth strategy (of all things!). I had not long returned from Aurora and met Jill Stephens there. I should say 're-met' Jill :) Jill and I had worked on aliaVIC together a couple of years back and we then lost contact when she resigned from the committee. I offered Jill a place on the NLS4 organising committee and we didn't look back :) She had many great ideas (remember, Web 2 had not quite taken hold back then) and established a wiki for the committee to collaborate in, as well as setting up RSS feeds on the site. Importantly, Jill had the committee take ownership of the website, so no one felt as though they were operating in a vacuum.
Another important part to any NLS, established from previous NLS', is the social program. This was an area that I didn't have a lot of experience in, so needed someone who would be able to pick up the ball and run with it. No better candidate than Gemma! Gemma's excitement when I asked if she was interested still makes me laugh! The first thing I asked her to do was get some preliminary costings for the cocktail party and lunches for the conference to prepare for our initial budget to the ALIA Board. She had figures to me by the end of the week and made her famous (within the committee) comment "Who would have thought food would cost so much???" She was right, catering is one of the biggest expenses with any event.
Tomorrow I'll talk about the Academic program :)
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Post 11 Choosing a conference committee, part 1
With NLS5 approaching, I thought it would be an ideal time to reflect on my choices, as Convenor, for the organising committee for NLS4 in December 2008. There were 2 avenues open to me - one was to put out a call for expressions of interest and the other was to choose committee members based on my personal knowledge of them. As most of you would know, it takes at least 2 years to organise a conference and looking back through my files, I put in my first expression of interest to the ALIA Board in July 2006, with the formal (and much wordier!) bid going to the Board in August 2006, over two years before the actual event. Taking this into account, I felt then (and still do) that knowing a person's qualities ahead of time would be the strength behind the conference's success. Having already been involved in many committees, I had seen first hand what happened when people put their hands up to be involved and then didn't deliver - it put so much more work on the rest of the committee. I wanted to avoid that so, after discussion with the two previous NLS convenors, made the decision to bypass transparency and choose committee members myself. I also wanted to try and have the organising committee cover different sectors, and, being a national conference, have representation from interstate and regional areas.
As this would be a small, relatively small budget conference, I wanted to keep the committee fairly contained and have a limited number of positions. These were:
Treasurer/Trade
Marketing Coordinator
Melbourne Ambassador
Website Coordinator
Social Program Coordinator
Academic Program Coordinator
Because financials are so important and managing a budget critical, I wanted to have someone who already had experience in this. Kevin Dudeney had previously managed the budget for neXt and was able to put together an interim budget for me to supply to the Board with little effort (or so it seemed to me!). Kevin had also dealt with trade and sponsorship which made him an invaluable asset in this regard as we were able to work out compromises which still gave delegates a good program without impacting too much on the budget. It is not commonly known (but should be) that without sponsors costs would be so much higher for delegates. As NLS4 was primarily aimed at new graduates, based on the assumption of being low income earners, keeping costs lower was even more critical.
When managing a budget, reaching the budgeted number of earlybird delegates is essential (as is budgeting an achievable amount) so marketing becomes imperative and I wanted someone personable who could write well and investigate the multitude of promotional opportunities available to us. Ruth Barton, who was the first Coordinator, unfortunately had to withdraw from the committee and was replaced by Andrew Finegan who, as Librarian Idol, was more than able to rise to the challenge. I met Andrew at NLS2006 and loved the way he handled himself during a debate that was part of the program.
Trevor Mackay was an ideal choice to promote beautiful Melbourne to potential delegates, he knew Melbourne inside and out, a critical factor for this role. Importantly, I knew Trevor had the 'stick-to-itness' that I needed.
As the website was going to be our main source of communication, the Website Coordinator had to be techie, to say the least and who better than our own Victorian techie, Jenelle :) I was on aliaVIC with Jenelle and she was also a brilliant convenor and always followed through. Who better for the Website Coordinator role? Early in 2007, Jenelle dropped a bombshell on me - she was moving to the US to live and would have to withdraw from NLS4!
I'll talk more about my choices tomorrow :)
Post 10 - A fun meme :)
Again courtesy of Fiona, here is a fun meme to kick start the week.
What’s in a name meme…
1. Your real name:
Tania
2. Your Gangsta name:
(first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)
Tanizzle(please!)
3. Your Detective name:
(fave color and fave animal)
Blue Cat (my cat is black :) )
4. Your Soap Opera name:
(your middle name and street you live on)
Tania Hogan
5. Your Star Wars name:
(For your new first name: first 3 letters of your 1st name + first 2 letters of your surname; For your new last name: first 2 letters of your mother’s maiden name + first 3 letters of the city you were born)
Tankr Azfoo
6. Your Superhero name:
(your 2nd favorite colour, and favourite drink).
Purple Tea
7. Your Iraqi name:
(2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your mother’s maiden name, 3rd letter of your father’s middle name, 1st letter of a sibling’s first name, and last letter of your mother’s middle name)
Aetzala
(hmmmm, not bad)
8. Your Witness Protection name:
(parents’ middle names)
Assunta Frank
9. Your Goth name:
(“Black”, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Gypsy
10. Your Ninja name:
(First two letters of your first name added with “ruto”)
Taruto
11. Your Pirate name:
(Your middle name after the word Captain)
Captain Tania
Post 9 June card challenge - Days 8 to 10
Day 8 was making a card using no less than 3 buttons. Having sewn for most of my adult life, I have no shortage of buttons in my house. I have so many that I once organised them by colour because it took me so long to find a few that matched. I am always glad to use buttons on my layouts or my cards for this reason :) My love of buttons started at a very young age when I used to go through my mother's button tin and admire the colours all mixed together. I still love walking past rows and rows of buttons in Spotlight, all organised by colour..... For this card I chose contrasting coloured buttons in varying sizes and placed them randomly on my cardstock. When I was happy with the placement, I glued them down and then drew in the stems and leaves. I'd like to make more like this.
Day 9. Make a card using glitter. This was a challenge for me, as I tend not to use a lot of glitter on anything, one due to laziness in getting the glitter out and two because I end up wearing a lot of it! The glitter is very hard to see in this picture, but I used a new Kaszazz flourish stamp in the bottom left hand corner with some pearlescent glitter. It was a lovely, understated effect. I used the wrong glue though, and the glitter brushed off, so I will have to revisit this one :) The base card was a pale pink, but I stamped a flourish background in a darker, pearlescent pink ink to give it some more interest.
Day 10. Make a card in a shape that is not a square or a rectangle. The hardest part of this challenge was actually deciding on what to do - I had so many different ideas. I ended up going with a telescoping circles card that I learned at a Creative Memories workshop a few years ago. The variation I added to what I learned was using scalloped circles rather than plain circles. I used my Spellbinders nestabilities to cut out 5 circles, 4 of which were in varying sizes, half an inch apart (aside here - I am very much a metric girl, but when scrapbooking, making cards or talking about a baby's weight/person's height, I can't instantly visualise anything unless it is in imperial measurements, not sure why...). See below for a photo of the card opened in all its telescopic glory.
Post 8 On multi tasking
The other week, on Twitter, someone asked how people with children managed to get everything done and still stay sane. It made me think about how I am managing being at home with 4 children. Granted, 2 of those children can look after themselves, but they are part of the household, and, as such, require me to still be their mother :) I am home at the moment and thought I would be able to fit even more into an already busy schedule, having gained more hours during the day through not being at work and not travelling. I am not quite sure it worked out that way....
I try to be organised so that everything flows as smoothly as it possibly can. I try to find short cuts that I can live with, that won't compromise the way I believe things should be done. Where possible, I simplify things as much as I can and try to declutter (my biggest challenge). I recently completed a 6 or 7 week declutter challenge where we had to focus on one area a week and totally revamp and declutter said area. It did mean I had to find time to work through these tasks, but now that I have done them, it is so much easier to sustain and keep things tidy.
I try to take time out to relax - it doesn't always work (ironically, sometimes giving up that time calms me more, as my overwhelming to do list gets an extra special attack :)). I watch very little TV but try to make time to play catch up my favourite TV shows when I can. Jenelle frequently blogs about getting dinner ready in a record amount of time - I must have a chat to her more about this....
I read somewhere that we need to say no to things more, that juggling too much in our lives means being overwhelmed and stressed. I think that is over simplistic. Working out what I can do and how I manage this takes away stress and yet is still a juggle, just a more efficient one.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Post 7 June card challenge - days 4 to 7
The final four cards for the first week of the June card challenge.
Day 4. Make a card using no less than 3 ribbons. I cut the heart out of the top layer using my cricut. I stuck ribbon scraps onto the base card so that they showed through the cut out heart when I adhered that layer to the card. I used a white gel pen to do the faux stitching around the base card and the heart layer.
Day 5. Use a die cut. This was my second attempt at this challenge. It took forever to make the first card, which I never really liked, then I made this one in about 5 minutes without even thinking about it! I cut the butterfly out using my cricut and stuck it on the left flap of a gatefold card. The gatefold ends up being 4x4. I love pink and brown together! There are some glitter dots scattered across the patterned paper.
Day 6. Make a card using flowers. The flowers were hand cut from images I stamped (the same stamp set I used for the sympathy card for post 6) - the large and small flowers were both cut twice and then layered over each other. I used a script background stamp to add some interest to the flowers and edged the flowers with dimensional glitter gel. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder to impress a design on the front of the card.
Day 7. Make a card using the colours red, white and black. I like the way this card turned out. Simple but effective. The bird is made using a Stampin' Up punch. Post 6 June card challenge - Days 1 to 3
So to add to an already full schedule, I decided I would take part in a June card challenge, put together by the lovely Katherine from Scrap Everything. This post will have my contributions for the first 3 days (mainly because blogger is playing up!) 
Day 1. Make a square card for a male. The card is a 4x4 card blank (so definitely a square!) with the blue panel made up of coordinating strips placed on a strip of card on the diagonal and then trimmed to size. The red scalloped border was made with an EK Success border punch (love them!). Faux stitching completed the card.
Day 2. Make a sympathy card. I created the patterned on the coloured card using a flower stamp and versamark, which creates a tone on tone effect. I then punched out a circle from the pink and brown section and used my Kaszazz dragonfly stamp and punch to place the dragonfly in the centre of the cut out.
Day 3. Make a card using the colours blue and brown. This was was harder for me to get my head around, because I couldn't narrow down my ideas enough to start making the card. I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. The scalloped edge is done using a Martha Stewart border punch. The cute little owl is paper pieced using the Stampin' Up punch. I used a white gel pen to free hand a border on the outer edge.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Post 5 Se7en meme
Memes - I love them! I love doing them and I love reading friends' postings! This meme was taken from Fiona, our very own bun toting librarian :)
Seven things that scare me:
1.Sharks
2.Heights
3.Losing my family
4.Being on a ship in case it sinks (as 1 above)
5.Inequity
6.Favouritism
7.Racism
Seven things I like:
1.My children
2.My husband
3.My family
4.My job
5.Photos
6.My friends
7.Living in Melbourne
Seven random facts about me:
1.I joined ALIA as a student in 2001
2.I have 2 laptops
3.I have very small fingers and wrists
4.I love shoes :)
5.I have recently started watching Glee
6.I used to bite my fingernails till I was 13
7.I used to work for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SEC)
Seven things I want to do before I die:
1.Have lots of grandkids
2.OK, am stumped now
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Seven things I can do well:
1.Listen
2.Make cards
3.Scrapbook
4.Make lasagne
5.Seven things at once :)
6.Over commit!
7.Spell
Seven things I can’t do but wish I could:
1.Drive a manual
2.Run
3.Give up eating chocolate
4.Know Photoshop inside out
5.Take REALLY good photos
6.Build a computer
7.Speak a third language
Seven phrases I’m known to use:
1.Bugger
2.Fruit
3.Nonsense
4.You'll cop it
5.Hang five
6.oh dear
7.I don't think so!
And that, I have to say, was much harder than I thought!
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Post 4 - Library and Information Week 2011
Another Library and Information Week has been and gone. Being home on maternity leave, I wasn't able to do anything for work, mainly because I wasn't there :-) Lots of ideas though, always lots of ideas.
Soooo, being a good advocate for reading to babies, here is my contribution to making Australia a reading nation.
Friday, 3 June 2011
Post 3 Something for me (cont)
Back in January, as part of the 12 days of Christmas blogging challenge, I did a post on a healthy balance in life, outlining what I wanted to achieve this year. Let's see how on track I am so far....
1. I will continue to avoid buying items for my scrapbooking stash so I can use what I have faster (this has been in place for almost 3 years and nothing seems to have depleted...)
this is still on track
2. I will make all my Christmas cards again this year.
again on track. I have designed one and am making 5 a month
3. I will experiment and make a step card that will fit in a standard size envelope.
Accomplished!
4. I will finish my December Daily album (I really just have to get photos together).
Accomplished
5. I will continue with Project 365 for myself and Anthony.
Ongoing. I have monthly photo challenges that I email to some friends of things to take photos of. It is a great sharing and learning exercise. That reminds me that I need to email out yesterday and today's theme...
6. I will finish crocheting my granny stripe blanket.
er, ongoing still.
7. I will unpick some jumpers that I no longer want and reuse the wool.
Yet to do
8. I will finish scrapbooking Project 365 for 2009-2010.
Still ongoing. Am going to an all day scrapbooking crop next Saturday and hope to make a huge indent into this.
9. I will host some more crafternoons, as I am a little housebound right now (first Twitter one scheduled for Jan 16, yay).
I have scheduled one scrapbooking day a month till August with some friends.
10. I will experiment more with PhotoShop.
Done and ongoing. Looooove PhotoShop!
All in all not a bad effort, considering I forgot about this!
Post 2 - Blog every day of June
Day 2 and lots and lots of thoughts going around in my head.
Something I do daily is check Facebook and my Twitterstream continuously - so much easier to do with my iTouch and Windows 7 phone (love that phone!) than it was when I had to keep checking a computer to keep up to date. I find my PLN (personal learning network) on Twitter invaluable. I have purposely kept my followers (and those I follow) to a small number (although I think I have gone over 100 now) so that I can easily keep track of tweets as they appear. Following too many people means I lose sight of many of the threads of conversation that are happening simultaneously.
I love the Twittelator app for my iTouch - I actually prefer to use it over twitter.com because it loads where I finished reading the last time I used it, as opposed to the Twitter site, which loads at the most recent tweet, meaning I may need to scroll down pages of tweets to pick up where I left off. Twittelator also colours my tweets green and any replies to my tweets are brown - love it! I wish Twitter would do that - I thought it may have been a feature in the 'new Twitter', however I haven't been able to find it if that is the case.
I do vet those that ask to follow me - they need to be directly associated, somehow, with others in my PLN or be involved in the library industry (apart from Master Chef :) ). If I approve someone following me, then I follow them. I see no point in having followers that can see my tweets and I can't see their's. Likewise, if I follow someone, then I like them to follow me. I regularly compare the two lists and think seriously about removing those I follow that don't follow me.
So what are the benefits, for me, of having a PLN?
I love how, the more I use Twitter, the more creative ways I find that people are using it.
So, how does Twitter benefit you?
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Post 1 - Blog every day of June
Today saw the start of another blogging challenge from my Twitter PLN - blog every day in June. The last time I attempted this was to blog the 12 days of Christmas - something I did manage to achieve. As my blogging is sporadic (and indeed stopped after the 12 days of Christmas effort), I considered paticipating in this challenge and decided against it. However, after being 'encouraged' by Gemma, I thought I would start and see if this would give me the impetus to continue blogging after June ends. Someone tweeted earlier today that there were 58 bloggers taking part - it may be more now. It's an awesome effort and make being part of my PLN more real somehow.
So what am I doing in June? I am also taking part in a card making challenge which involves making a card according to preset criteria every day in June (today's was a square card for a male). As well as this, I need to catch up on my twitter mystery a month post (been so long that I don't remember the hash tag for it, but I have still been reading!), finish co-writing a paper and continue with sessional work at Curtin University and Victoria University. I took on the card making challenge as a way to try and force a little me time during June. My days are so full that I need something to put me into a different head space.
Am I over committed?? Nah, there is no such thing! :)
Thursday, 6 January 2011
12 days of Christmas - Post 12 Wrap up 2001-2010
Final post for the 12 days of Christmas Twitter challenge. Many of the participants have contributed a blog post during this challenge wrapping up 2010, either professionally, personally or both. I had this on the agenda for my final post, then had a change of heart and thought I would blog about one or two professional highlights that occurred each year over the past 10 years.
- 2001 - Commenced at Charles Sturt University for the Bachelor of Arts (Library and Information Science). I had just missed out on enrolling in 1999 to start in 2000 so completed an elective in 2000 just before I had another baby.
- 2002 - Learned cataloguing :-)
- 2003 - Got my first Dean's Award for Academic Excellence.
- 2004 - Started my first professional role as a Children's Librarian, even though I was not yet qualified.
- 2005 - Presented my first conference paper at neXt 2005: ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conference.
- 2006 - Graduated with Distinction from CSU.
- 2007 - Attended the Aurora Institute courtesy of the ALIA Aurora Scholarship and the State Library of Victoria.
- 2008 - Commenced a new role with Yarra Plenty Regional Library and convened the 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium in Melbourne (NLS4).
- 2009 - Presented a paper at IFLA on issues impacting on the recruitment of school leavers to the library profession with Gill Hallam. Gill is a wonderful advocate for the profession, someone I admire and look up to.
- 2010 - Acted for almost a year as Operations Manager at Yarra Plenty, an exceptional professional development opportunity.
12 days of Christmas - Post 11 Something for me
Reading many of the posts for the 12 days of Christmas, as well as posts on Twitter, has made me aware of the need to have a healthy balance in life (as I won't really be 'working' this year, I can't quite say 'work/life balance').
I thought I would follow Kate's craft meme, also followed by Tony, to reinforce things I want (would like) to achieve this year).
- I will continue to avoid buying items for my scrapbooking stash so I can use what I have faster (this has been in place for almost 3 years and nothing seems to have depleted...)
- I will make all my Christmas cards again this year.
- I will experiment and make a step card that will fit in a standard size envelope.
- I will finish my December Daily album (I really just have to get photos together).
- I will continue with Project 365 for myself and Anthony.
- I will finish crocheting my granny stripe blanket.
- I will unpick some jumpers that I no longer want and reuse the wool.
- I will finish scrapbooking Project 365 for 2009-2010.
- I will host some more crafternoons, as I am a little housebound right now (first Twitter one scheduled for Jan 16, yay).
- I will experiment more with Photoshop.
Now I am kind of bound to do these.....
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
12 days of Christmas - Post 10 On recruiting to the profession
An issue that is very dear to my heart is that of using well thought out and meaningful work experience programs for secondary school students as a way to recruit more to the profession. There has been a lot of concern expressed internationally about the future of the library and information services profession; there are quite a number of factors that are contributing to an uncertain future. These include: recruitment and retention, changing skill sets and declining numbers of people choosing librarianship as a career. Library professional bodies, such as ALIA and ALA ,have encouraged considerable research into these problems so we can attempt to better understand issues of sustainability, however one area that has not been explored in any depth is the topic of why LIS studies are not perceived, let alone promoted, as a good first professional qualification for school leavers.
There needs to be some sort of development of effective career pathways which will require integrated relationships between the schools, vocational education and higher education sectors, along with employers and professional associations. I think there's quite a bit of scope for the LIS profession to develop career models that might be representative for other areas of employment.
There isn't much in the way of professional literature that examines the uptake of librarianship as a first qualification by school leavers, which is what made me take on a research study of the issues impacting on recruitment of young people. In particular, I like to look at opportunities for inspiring and motivating students through well structured and stimulating work experience programs. This topic is relevant to all librarians who are interested in the future of the LIS profession. After all, we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our profession.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
12 days of Christmas - Post 9 - Tips for first time conference attendees
In 2007 I was fortunate enough to be on the organising committee for ALIA07, the ALIA National Library and Technicians Conference 2007. My portfolio was Marketing and Promotions Coordinator, a position I found challenging and rewarding. One of pages I put together for the website was tips for first time conference attendees. With ALIA Information Online approaching, I thought it would be fitting to repost the information here.
Planning before the conference
Plan what presentations you will see in advance by reading the abstracts that are supplied by the conference organisers. Some sessions may require advance booking due to limited numbers, so book in early if you are interested.
Only book for events or tours that you know you are interested in and will attend. It will undermine your credibility if your name is there and you don’t turn up.
Send some emails to the ALIA lists (eg libtec, aliaVIC, aliaNEWGRADS) to see how many others are attending from your state, where the best accommodation might be or the best way to get around the city where the conference is to be held. You may even find a potential room mate!
Attend the first timer’s dinner, if there is one being held.
Before you start
Take comfortable shoes – you will be doing a lot of walking and standing.
Take a bottle of water – air conditioning can make conference venues very dry.
As a mini survival kit, take some aspirin in case you get caught with a headache, and some band aids in case of blisters.
Trade vendors often have giveaways and promotional material regarding new products, so make sure you take a bag that can accommodate your goodies.
Conferences are excellent networking opportunities – handing out business cards is much more professional than writing your details on scrap paper. If you do not have any supplied by your employer, they can be made quite simply using programs such as Microsoft Publisher.
Room temperatures can vary, so try to wear something layered which will allow you to adjust your clothing in accordance with the room comfort level, for example, wearing a short sleeved shirt with a light jacket over the top.
If you are an interstater, remember to do some research about the host city – make the most of this opportunity to visit another city!
Develop some questions to help you break the ice. For example:
*Which presentations are you particularly interested in?
*Have you heard any of these presenters before?
*Are you from Sydney?
*Do you work in a library?
Prepare some good questions to help you liaise with the trade at the venue. For example:
*Are you showcasing anything new this year?
*Can you demonstrate something about this product for me?
At the venue
Turn your mobile phone off or switch it to silent/vibrate mode.
Familiarise yourself with the layout of the conference venue. Find out the way rooms are numbered or named (in the case of concurrent sessions), where the toilets are located and whether there are any water fountains available.
Most conferences provide lanyards for delegate identification – slip some business cards at the back so you always have them with you, even when you are waiting in queues.
Network with the trade vendors, asking some well thought out questions.
Make sure that your name tag is visible to all, not hiding under a jacket or behind your hair. You want people to be able to refer to you by name, which will help them remember you more.
Network with as many people as you can – this is where the business cards will come in very handy!
Fill in the conference evaluation form – it is the way the organising committee can make the conference even better the next time around.
During presentations
A plenary session is usually one attended by all delegates. By attending the plenary, you will have something in common to talk about with the rest of the delegates.
Take plenty of notes. This will help if you need to write up a report for work or study, or if you want to write an article for submission to a journal.
Ensure you know where your next session is going to be held, so you don’t waste time trying to get there.
Try to arrive at the presentation a little early, especially if you need certain seating for a reason, for example to see more clearly or hear better.
If you do arrive late, don’t stress, just take the plunge and sit down! You won’t be the first to be late!
Don’t be hesitant in asking questions. You are among colleagues and friends.
It is common practice to identify yourself, your library, or your place of study prior to asking your question.
The trade exhibition
Make sure that you visit the ALIA stand to meet with local liaison officers and National Office representatives, and learn about the work of our professional association.
Business cards come in handy here. Many booths have competitions where entry is by placing a business card in for a prize draw. You can also hand them out for information to be sent to you at a later date.
If something from one of the exhibitors really attracts your attention, write some brief information on one of their business cards as a prompt for after the conference.
Ask the questions that you have prepared earlier (see above). Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t know anything about a product/vendor – this is their opportunity to inform you!
Even if you are familiar with the trade exhibitors, take the opportunity to see if there is something new on the market that you can learn about.
Remember to thank the vendors – their participation enhances your conference experience and professional knowledge and will also encourage them to continue supporting conferences.
Networking and Social Events
You will be in a lot of queues (tea breaks, lunches, even the restrooms!) so make the most of these opportunities to network with people.
Remember, if you have business cards, bring them with you because they are a useful tool for networking.
If you’re a first timer, try to get accommodation from those recommended by the Committee. This will give you more opportunities to network.
Use the elists to find contacts from your area.
Remember that networking is not only about talking about work-related topics.
If you can, set up dinner groups – gathering around a meal is a great networking opportunity.
Try to attend events that are organised for all delegates, such as the conference dinner or cocktail party. These are designed to bring all delegates together in a fun atmosphere.
Always be positive – try not to put a negative slant to the conversation. You could be talking to a prospective employer!
12 days of Christmas - Post 8 On documenting life and more challenges
Today @polyxena invited me to a challenge to read a mystery book a month as recommended by Tara Moss. I have been quite slack in my reading since starting work in the library industry, which is a shame as I was so addicted to reading. January's book is Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express which I have reserved at my local library. I used to own almost all Agatha Christie's works, but got rid of them a few years ago in an attempt to declutter.
@polyxena and I are not quite sure how the Tara Moss challenge works (it isn't very clear) but we have undertaken to read the book recommended regardless of whether we get to use our registration to the site or not. @bonitoclub, @katejf and @mt77 have also jumped on board. Not sure whether listening to @polyxena is a wise thing - the last time I did this I became addicted to Cityville...... :-) If you are interested visit the blog post here for more information on how to join #librarytwittermysteryamonth.
In the last few days I have undertaken quite a few challenges. There is :
- Fiona's blog post a day for the 12 days of Christmas;
- Project365 for Anthony (taking a photo of him every day for 12 months);
- Kathryn's #dailyimage2011 where a photo is taken of the individual every day and then uploaded to Flickr (except I wont be uploading);
- Anne's reading a recommended mystery book a month.
Anne also recommended I use Goodreads to keep track of the books I have read or that I want to read. I have registered and entered 3 books so far....
Friday, 31 December 2010
12 days of Christmas - Post 7 On documenting life
Today @sirexkat put a call out for tweeps to join in Daily Image 2011, where anyone participating uploads a daily picture, video or image of themselves to Flickr. This is similar to something I did in 2009-2010 (specifically from April 2009 to April 2010). The project was called Project 365 - you can read more about what it entails here. This is a photography project where you document a year of your life by taking a daily photo. These photos can be uploaded to Flickr, a personal blog, or printed, as I did, and then scrapbooked (as I am doing). I found it very challenging to remember, but so rewarding to be able to look back and see what my house looked like, my front garden, the car I drove, when my husband got personalised plates - true snapshots in time. I love the social history behind it all. Here are some photos I took as part of the project.
First layout I submitted for a scrapbooking challenge
Photo I took walking along the beach in FijiThursday, 30 December 2010
12 days of Christmas - Post 6 Ramblings
Ok, so I was way way behind in my blogging, well in my physical blogging. My mental blogging was really current and cutting edge. I regularly write about 4 posts at 2am in the morning that I am super impressed with-they are usually so good I just know I will remember them. Guess what? I don't, well not much anyway.
So what have I been doing with my time? Quite a fair bit which surprises me, especially since NLS4 is well and truly over with. Totally over. My final report was submitted a loooong time ago to the ALIA Board of Directors - pleased to say that we more than made our forecast budget. The thing with a conference budget is that it is only ever a forecast - it can be very easy to make something look good on paper, whether it is achievable or not is another thing. There are also so many variables that can affect the bottom line - you can try hard to be prepared and anticipate things, but not everything will ever go to plan. I was so lucky to have a fabulous, hardworking committee - made things go so much more smoothly.
Keeping on top of my feeds in my reader - this could honestly just about become a full time job! I just checked and I have 500 subscriptions - is it any wonder? Not all of these have regular postings, some are probably dead and forgotten by now, however many have multiple postings which could make up for those that don't post or don't post regularly (sort of like me....). It does annoy me when it turns out that some blog postings don't fully appear in my reader. I use my reader as a single point of access so I don't have to visit individual blogs. I have unsubscribed from many that do this. Do I read everything in my feeder - yes and no. Most I skim first and then go back to later. There are exceptions to this - I always read CW's, Jenelle's and Steph's. Actually I always read a heap more and they are in my 'must read' folder.... There are others but these are the three that come to mind instantly (random thought - it is late and I need another cuppa).
Working, working, working.... I've been on a huge learning curve since starting work at Yarra Plenty Regional Library, something I have enjoyed immensely. I also acted for 10 months as Operations Manager, which was a very rewarding experience, although I hit the ground running and don't think I stopped in all that time.....It was definitely something I enjoyed and would like to explore further.
And of course my most recent news that is keeping me busy - I had a baby boy 2 weeks ago that is definitely keeping me on my toes. Loving being on maternity leave and catching up with things.....
12 days of Christmas - Post 5 On the benefits of presenting
Yesterday I blogged about presenting at conferences so today I thought I would follow on from that a little and outline some of the benefits of presenting. So many times people ask me why they should bother, or say that it is too daunting for them to even contemplate. I am hoping that these points will help alleviate some concerns others may have because there is so much to gain from writing and presenting a paper to your peers.
- a great networking opportunity - presenting a paper gives your colleagues and peers an opportunity to seek you out to discuss your paper;
- demonstrates the value to your employer of funding conference attendance;
- there is potential to create opportunities to do further research on a topic of personal interest and then develop a project that can be implemented in the workplace;
- asking someone to co-present with you can further build networks in the workplace;
- Many senior managers attend conferences to see what 'new blood' (or 'existing blood') is out there and this can be an ideal opportunity to attract the attention of potential employers;
- a much higher personal profile (your name will be in conference proceedings, published papers, programs, websites etc);
- if you are presenting on an area of research, presenting a paper on your results so far gives an opportunity to test the waters and receive useful feedback;
- you will be a more skilled communicator - with a public presentation you need to be able to get your point across without being long winded;
- there is, believe it or not, an improved ability to listen. Nothing makes you pay attention more than being asked a question you need to answer on the spot;
- increased opportunities for career advancement;
- improved self esteem;
- and most importantly of all, increased self confidence and self satisfaction.
You can definitely do this!
All these were off the top of my head - are there any I have forgotten?
12 days of Christmas - Post 4 On conferences and presenting
Frantic day today and had planned to blog twice but this one took longer than I anticipated!
My first conference paper was in 2005 at neXt 2005: ALIA National Library and Information Technicians Conference and focused on creating partnerships with Council departments to facilitate community engagement. I had done a lot of work at my previous workplace and built sustainable partnerships with Council’s Maternal and Child Health Unit and Kindergarten Unit and thought this conference would be an ideal forum for sharing knowledge with others. The buzz i got from presenting was overwhelming (we wont talk about the nausea that was enveloping me 5 minutes prior to my talk :) ) and made me start to think on how to better my presenting skills. I started to observe presenters and noted their styles, what I liked or didn’t like. I took note of the way they interacted and whether there was something in the way they presented that I wanted to emulate. I had three that I particularly admired – Gill Hallam (Queensland University of Technology), Roxanne Missingham (Parliamentary Library) and Chris Kelly (Brimbank Library Service).
Since that first conference presentation in 2005, I have presented at many other events and conferences, including the Learning Communities Conference, NLS2006 and IFLA last year and picked up many tricks along the way. When I was asked to give a talk for the Victorian New Graduates Groups on Presenting to an Audience, I pulled everything that I had learned together and was surprised at what it actually took to make a presentation work seamlessly. I thought I would share my learnings here.
First of all, you need to think about what is important to you – what do you want to achieve from presenting?
Do you want to engage with the audience?
- Are you happy to read your paper out loud and get it over with?
- Do you want to stimulate discussion and debate?
- Do you want to be remembered?
- Once these are identified, work out how you can achieve them. I personally feel it is very important to engage with the audience and to remember the message being given. Make it look as though talking to an audience is something that happens naturally.
Engaging with the audience
- Start off with polling the audience – ask a question or two – this can be a good lead in to what you are talking about, without starting cold.
- Speak to the audience, not at them – try not to read your paper word for word. My presentations are made up of 3 parts, my actual paper, to be published, my notes for the presentation and my slide show.
Read your paper out loud?
- As mentioned above, try not to read your paper to your audience – looking down at pieces of paper will not help you engage with the audience. I developed a prompt system that had a print out of a slide on the left hand side and some brief notes, in a large font, on the other. I used a large font so I wouldn’t have to focus too much on my page and so I wouldn’t be caught out if I had to put my notes on something quite low.
- Practise talking your paper in your head with your slideshow. Notice I said ‘talking’ not ‘reciting’. Practice as though you are actually talking one on one with someone so it sounds more natural. This will also make you feel that you have identified with the audience more.
Being remembered
- You really want what you are presenting to be remembered. The abstract is the first part that will attract people to your session – make your session representative of what your paper is, and take out key points, rather than just reading it out – this way delegates will go to the full paper and read it. This also makes it easier to not go over time.
- Leave some time for questions at the end to reinforce your interaction with the audience.
Summing up
Before the event
- Ask yourself – what’s important to you – what do you want to achieve?
- Observe presenters
- Prepare brief notes based around your slideshow
- Practise talking your presentation in your head
During the event
- Poll the audience – this will ease you into your session
- Refer to your notes to prompt you along
- Look at the audience frequently
- Leave some time for questions
After the session
- Leave some way for delegates to be able to contact you
Monday, 27 December 2010
12 days of Christmas - Post 3 On blogs and keeping up with them
I feel like I am on a roll - 3 posts in 2 days is a pretty big achievement for me at the moment, considering how long it had been previously between posts.
So onto keeping up with all my blogs. I previously used Bloglines to keep up with my blogs, not that I had many that I checked on a regular basis. I eventually decided to switch to Google Reader, mainly for the ease of having one login.
What I like most about reading other people's blogs is the fact that they lead you to more and more blogs, more interesting reading, more things to read that are in my area of interest. Initially I was only adding library related blogs, those that I felt were professionally linked to my career. Over time, blogs related to my hobbies of knitting and scrapbooking were duly added to my reader. Over time, these additions started to spiral out of control! To manage these more efficiently, I added labels to every blog (I guess I catalogued them :) ) and started to cull those I had added on a whim and decided held no interest for me (I weeded them :) ). Any that did not show the full feed in my reader were removed too. I use my reader to save me time and save me blog hopping. If I need to go to a blog to read the entire post, then to me that defeats the purpose of having it in my reader in the first place.
Then came the task of 'keeping' posts that I liked and wanted to refer to later - aaah the beauty of starring an item! Then, of course, the dilemma of TOO MANY starred items! I go through these every now and then and remove stars if I feel a post has outlived its usefulness. It does happen. (Never with @polyxena posts though!)
Using Google Reader has enabled me to check my favourite blogs on a regular basis in a much more efficient and timely manner than previously. This is very good for me, considering how many more blogs I have added to my reader since the 12 days of Christmas challenge started :)
Out of curiosity, how many of you have added my blog to your rss reader?
12 days of Christmas - Post 2
So onto post 2 for the 12 days of Christmas challenge. Actually I am not sure that Fiona intended it to be a challenge, but it certainly is one for me, as blogging is something I have let slip over the months. There are many, many blogs that I follow, professional ones, as well as hobby ones (what they are and how I organise them may be tomorrow's post?) and I am always amazed at how they manage to find the time to blog, and blog something that can be quite deep.
Maybe I have been a little too focused on only having this blog relate to professional posts - I intend to relax this, at least for this challenge, and see what I can come up with. Today's post is about a photographic project I am doing to document our lives from December 1 to December 25. The Christmas tradition is led by Ali Edwards and is aptly named December Daily. I wanted to do this project last year but found out about it too late. Sometimes something has to give :) I filed the idea away for 2010.
December Daily is a photographic project that documents, with words and photos, the 25 days leading up to Christmas. According to Ali, many people start their documentation earlier and many people go longer. I decided that 25 days would be as long as I would document things we did during that time.
One of the keys to success in this project is getting an album structure together prior to December, the idea being that you can then enjoy the lead up to Christmas. I wanted to get my foundation pages (as Ali calls them) together ahead of time for 2 reasons - one being that if I didn't, it would mean that I would need to, after the event, get photos ready, organise them, journal AND create an album for them to go into as well - the project would be more daunting. The second reason is that I was due to have a baby quite close to when the project would end, which meant that the more I had organised ahead of time, the better for me.
One of the challenges I set myself was to use items from my stash as much as possible, the idea being that my stash would drastically reduce (can I say that this did not happen - I swear this stuff breeds!) I made the album quite similar to Ali's, size 6 inches by 8 inches, with a transparency between each page (each page made from white card). Again, rather than buy preprinted transparencies, I made my own by cutting old overhead projector transparencies down to 6x8 and decorating them with various Christmas items from my stash. Some of the items I used included Christmas shapes, stickers, paper, flocking, design adhesives, tapes and glitter.
My friend Rebecca was over from Tasmania to spend a week with me crafting prior to me having the baby and we managed to get the album done, in between a lot of talking and me having to continually elevate my legs.
I took many, many photos and have used Photoshop to make a collage out of some that I will print out as a 6x8. I am going to try and use three 6x4 photos per day - 2 will go down one page (the album is portrait) and one will go on the page with the date on it. As this page has a 2 inch strip of patterned paper on the bottom, meaning I can't put 2 photos there due to space constraints, I plan to put one photo there and journal in the remaining space.
I had better get more photos organised....
Sunday, 26 December 2010
12 days of Christmas - Post 1
Yes I know, I am already a day behind, but am hoping to put 2 posts up today in order to catch up. What I am really hoping will happen is that I will finally get my momentum with blogging back and not leave it so long between posts. I guess I am hoping to find something meaningful to blog about :)
To ease me back into it, I thought I would use a Christmas meme that I have seen somewhere online.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper. I only use gift bags if the present is a really weird shape.
2. Real tree or artificial?
Usually artificial, but this year we have a real tree, which is just lovely. Will either continue with that or get a new artificial tree next year.
3. When do you put up the tree?
End of November or December 1
4. When do you take the tree down?
After New Year's
5. Do you like eggnog?
Never tried it and don't think I want to
6. Favourite present received as a child?
Fuzzy Pumper Barber Set - until I realised I had to poke all the little bits of play doh out of the holes in the dolls' heads. Gah
7. Hardest person to buy for?
My mother
8. Easiest person to buy for?
Probably my father
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
I do. I have a knitted one that I made over 16 years ago that I thought would be tiny but are actually quite large. The set has 3 Wise Men, 2 shepherds, Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, sheep and cradle. Baby Jesus can go in the cradle or in Mary's arms (she is the only one in a sitting pose). My second son sets it up on the window ledge at the front of the house every year and this year there is a sheep in the cradle and one of the Wise Men is running off with the baby :-) I get comments on it all the time.
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Definitely mail!!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A gold fabric bow on a clip. Gah again!
12. Favourite Christmas movie?
Don't have one
13. When do you start shopping?
Anytime really. I do start thinking and planning early on in the year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No
15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas?
My mum's roast potatoes and baked macaroni (Maltese dish called timpana)
16. Lights on the tree?
Coloured LED fairy lights
17. Favourite Christmas song?
Not sure - if it is a hymn maybe 'Oh come all ye faithful'???
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Usually fairly local - by that I mean in Melbourne at least!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
An angel.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
It has become a tradition to open them around 10 pm Christmas Eve
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
People crowding supermarkets like they are running out of food or the supermarkets will be shut for 2 weeks.
23. Favourite ornament theme or color?
No tinsel on tree! Purple and gold baubles, bead strings and some traditional ones my children have made over the years.
24. Favourite for Christmas lunch/dinner?
Mum's roast potatoes and baked macaroni
25. What did you get for Christmas this year?
New Nina perfume, lovely necklace with heart charm saying mum/daughter, new Kathy Reichs book (astounds me that there is another one out and I haven't read Mortal Remains yet - looks like a new series), bath salts, cant remember any more. Probably is no more!
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Posting again
It's been a while between posts - a very long while. Lots of posts simmering in my head that just never seem to get put in writing. I thought picking up on Clare's meme of '2 things about me' would help kick start me.
I know some people frown on memes - too personal, not professional, waste of time, no meaning to them, but I love them. I love the glimpse that they give me into my colleagues lives, both professionally and personally. So here goes:
Two names you go by:
1) Tania
2) Mum
Two things you are wearing right now:
1) pjs
2) engagement ring
Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship:
1) trust
2) respect
Two things you like to do:
1) Read
2) Scrapbook
Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1) less clutter
2) a week off work
Two things you did last night:
1) marked some papers
2) crocheted
Two things you ate today:
1) toasted ham and cheese sandwhich
2) chicken schnitzel
Two people you last talked to:
1) My daughter
2) My husband
Two things you’re doing tomorrow:
1) work
2) driving
Two Favourite Holidays
1) Fiji 2008
2) Fiji 2009
Two favourite beverages
1) soda water
2) tea
Two things about me! Things you may not have known.
1) I graduated in 2006
2) I wanted to be a hairdresser when in primary school
Two jobs I have had in my life:
1) Data entry supervisor
2) Personal Assistant
Two movies I would watch over and over:
1) White chicks
2) Devil wears Prada
Two places I have lived:
1) Gippsland
2) Yarraville
Two of my favourite foods:
1) olives
2) hot chips
Two places I’d rather be right now:
1) somewhere hot, near water, reading
2) same as 1 :)
Monday, 5 January 2009
Meme
The 99 things meme
Read CW's
Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicise
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font
1. Started your own blog.
Started this one as I was running a workshop and thought I needed to know what I was talking about :) Also started one for the State Library of Victoria's 23 things program.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
If I had to do the amusement park thing again would probably just go to the Gold Coast
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
I DON'T THINK SO
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
See 9 above!
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
Does scrapbooking count as an art?? or knitting? or am I thinking craft? What about cooking?
15. Adopted a child.
I'd like to help a disadvantaged child. Doubt it will happen.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, zucchini, pumpkin, lettuce, cucumber.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
Not been able to scrape enough snow together to make a snowball, much less a fort!
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Believe it is overrated.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
Define 'seen' - have not actually looked at one, afraid of dire warnings re the consequences!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
Sunset (sunrise is probably a tad too early)
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
Not likely. Ships sink
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
Yes Malta
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
May happen this year!
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
Fiji 2008
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
Twice - ruptured appendix
47. Had your portrait painted.
Would prefer a photo
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
See 32 above
49. Seen the Sistene chapel in person.[sic]
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
Snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
Don't think I could, given all the reading I have done about them.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
Several actually
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
Have been told I am immune to it
89. Saved someone’s life.
My dad, indirectly
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
three actually
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
4, about to change for 5th
99. Been stung by a bee.
Twice
Anyone else?
Thoughts and reflections of 2008
I usually find that the first week in January is the time of year when I reflect on the past one or two years and consider my goals and aspirations for the coming year. I always seem to scratch around trying to think of what I have done, but things then come together as I continue to reflect.
2008 (in no particular order)
- Organised a drive knitting jumpers for African AIDS babies (Ok not strictly professionally related but gave me a better focus on how fortunate we are). Drive had over 300 jumpers made;
- Wrapped up being on the organising committee for the 2007 ALIA LT Conference;
- Gave a guest lecture for RMIT on Reference Services in public libraries;
- Convened the successful 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium;
- Was on the organising committee for Leap into Leadership;
- Gave a presentation for the ALIA New Graduates Group on presenting for the first time;
- Wrote several articles and papers, including 2 abstracts, which were accepted;
- Spoke at several seminars and workshops on partnering with the community and early childhood literacy;
- Changed jobs, focusing more on staff management;
- Continued marking for the School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University;
2009
My plans for 2009 had always been to focus more on writing and research and so far I have already committed myself to a few things, possibly more than I should have for this time of year!
- Attending Information Online in 2 weeks;
- Taking part in the Australian ePortfolio Project with Margie Anderson (Margie is the doyenne of career development);
- Co-presenting a paper with Gill Hallam for IFLA in Milan this year;
- Writing paper for IFLA (due end of Jan, not going there!);
- Co-authoring 2 articles for publication;
- Finalising my application for a research masters (long overdue);
- Continue marking for CSU;
- Exploring more tech things that are increasingly becoming available and how they can be incorporated into public library services;
- Am now on the organising committee for VALA2010 (it will be interesting seeing how another volunteer organisation works, as well as how we operate with a different PCO);
- Continue to be involved with aliaVIC - planning a series of ongoing workshops relating to career development;
- Continue my exciting role at Yarra Plenty, forging ahead with lots more innovative and exciting programs for my branch in 2009!
This is what I have on the cards so far - I have no doubt that I will take on more professionally, as it seems in my nature to do this - I just need to continue to balance my home life with this.
Saturday, 3 January 2009
NLS4 post #1
It has been a long time between posts and that isn't because I haven't had much to say. A lot of it has been because I have been too busy to put anything together in what I feel would be a coherent form! It is almost embarrassing to find I am posting in reply to people emailing me about posting (or 'not posting').
NLS4 has finally been and gone and in the lead up I had a major change of job positions - now working for the ever fabulous Yarra Plenty Regional Library, as Mill Park Library Branch Manager. I'll discuss that more another time - something that has made such a big impact on me career wise deserves more than a one liner in the middle of a post on another topic.
As indicated by the title of this post, I plan to have a few postings on my thoughts on NLS4 and this one was not supposed to be the first! It has actually come about from many emails I have received in relation to my closing for the conference, which highlighted just how much work goes into preparing and planning for such an event. Not many realise this and some actually thought that it took about 3 months from start to finish (obviously they had not been subscribing to the news feeds!). When reflecting on the entire process of NLS, from start to finish, in preparation for my closing speech, I realised that although I knew it took a lot of work and dedication to make an event such as NLS happen and happen seamlessly and successfully, it may not necessarily be apparent to those attending. Not only this, but the two year timeframe for the committee to put NLS together was not done in isolation to other commitments. During these 2 years, collectively within the committee, there have been:
- 7 new jobs;
- 4 promotions;
- 2 engagements (mine and the ALIA Events Manager, Kamara Schlegal);
- 3 weddings (Gemma's, Jill's and mine);
- 2 pregnancies (Gemma and Jill);
- 2 births (Sharon and Jill);
- Over 600 papers marked (by Margie and myself and this is a conservative estimate);
- 3 Aurorans (Trevor, Jill and myself);
- 35 attendances at national conferences;
- 4 attendances at international conferences;
- 38 papers presented and
- 36 articles written
Every single one of us works full time and 5 of us have young families, so when factoring all of these into the planning process, you can see just how much more of a challenge things have been!
The reviews of NLS have been great, and I'll end this post with a small snapshot of some blog posts about it.
- Connecting Librarian (Michelle live blogged throughout the conference);
- ALIA Board Blog
- Librarian Idol (Andrew was Marketing and Promotions Coordinator for NLS4)
- Libraries Interact
- Quilter Jo
- Roxanne Missingham
And photos too of course :)
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Bored silly
I had an interesting 'discussion' the other day with a colleague about the recent vacancy we had for a part time Children's and Youth Services Librarian. We had only vaguely discussed a relatively new part time position she had acquired and then the comment was made that 'quite frankly, she would be bored silly with children's librarianship'. Interesting comment, considering that this librarian has worked in a public library for several years (albeit casually, and still is) and should have a solid understanding of the significance of lifelong learning and the important role libraries play in this, but especially the role that children's librarianship plays.
Information literacy starts from an early age and through programs and services developed and delivered in public libraries across Australia, children's librarians are playing a critical role delivering this message to parents. In most instances, a children's librarian is the one who is running and driving the following sorts of programs:
- Storytime
- Rhyme Time
- Information literacy sessions to classes, parents AND university students
- Support of the Premier's Reading Challenge in supported states (see what Yarra Plenty has done as one example - there are many others)
- Holiday programs (see examples on Darwin City Council Libraries site and Wyndham Library's site)
- Outreach programs to educational and family focused places such as schools, kindergartens, playgroups, Family Day Care sessions and RTOs
- Family literacy talks to parents
- Babies and books talks to new and soon-to-be mothers
Research has shown that literacy levels in children are vastly increased when parents or carers are involved at home. Sure, many of the programs I mention above are for children, but let’s face it, if ADULTS aren’t engaged, they also won’t bring the children to the library. Who, in these instances, is the one dealing with the adults, selling them the library’s services, programs and resources? The children’s librarian.
These programs are not the only duties that form part of the role of a Children’s and Youth Services Librarian – quite often there is selection, weeding, ordering, reader’s advisory, planning, writing proposals, marketing and customer service thrown in for good measure.Bored silly? I think not. What do others think?
Thursday, 19 June 2008
NLS4 - registration is now open!
It has been a wait, but I believe the wait has been worth it! The link to register to attend the 4th ALIA New Librarians Symposium is finally live. Click here to see the fabulous, high calibre and engaging program and visit our Professional Development Day page to see what we have on offer on the Thursday preceding the conference - most of these are complementary for NLS4 delegates.
We have a fabulous range of keynote speakers lined up, which we will be releasing over the next few weeks - so stay tuned! We have already announced Dr Sherman Young (sponsored by RMIT University Library) and Erik Boekesteijn with Jaap van de Geer (sponsored by Yarra Plenty Regional Library Service, the State Library of Victoria, Brisbane City Council, State Library of Queensland and Viclink).
We will also have the best social program on offer - a night to remember at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (sponsored by Civica), with dinner overlooking the hallowed turf. Our theme will be announced shortly, so get ready for the opportunity to dress up. I know footy season will be over...but...CARN THE PIES!
All this for a really great price! Visit out registration page for more details.
Hope to see you there!
4 of the 5 NLS4 girls! 
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Paper at dreaming08
I mentioned in another blog post that I would be presenting a paper on 'Recruiting the next generation' at dreaming08. I have had some email queries about this now and just wanted to say that I withdrew my submission, hence why I am not in the program. So unfortunately, I won't be presenting at the Biennial, but am still writing a paper on this topic (well trying to at any rate) so stay tuned.
Monday, 9 June 2008
What professional involvement means to me
As the end of the financial year comes closer, ALIA National Office has started to actively promote joining, renewing or rejoining the Association. This of course leads to the usual questions of "why should I join?", "what does ALIA do for me?" or "ALIA does nothing for publics/specials/academics".
Is any of this true? It depends on how you look at it. For me, ALIA gives me exposure to more than just the field I am working in (publics). I go to a lot of PD events that are organised by Viclink and the State Library of Victoria and I enjoy them immensely. They give me the opportunity to network with those who are in the same sector and sometimes the same field. This is not enough for me though. I didn't become a librarian with thoughts of always staying in the same sector. ALIA gives me the opportunity to network extensively with people outside of public libraries - that is important to me. I like the fact that I am involved in an Association that is working for the entire library and information field, not just one particular sector. I see issues such as workforce planning as something that needs to be looked at holistically from a national perspective, not only a local, sectoral one, as it has implications for the profession and industry as a whole.
What else have I gained through my involvement with ALIA?
- The Aurora scholarship - by my calculations, I am about 13 years ahead in my subscription fees, just by receiving that scholarship, and that is allowing for inflation. One of the criteria for the scholarship, BTW, is to "provide evidence of personal commitment and contribution to ALIA", so my involvement also helped me get the scholarship.
- Confidence to present at conferences and events and share my knowledge with others.
- Project management skills.
- Budgetary skills - managing a budget with over a $100k turnaround is not something that happens every day.
- The ability to be involved, from the beginning, in a tender process that, again, would not have happened easily (and boy can I read fine print now!).
These are just a few things and ALIA President, Derek Whitehead, gives more in his first Frontline as President.
There will always be 'detractors', and they have a right to their opinions, just as members have a right to theirs. What they are not entitled to is to continually criticise those who do actively participate, as it belittles the hard work that is being put in.
For me, the benefit I get from ALIA is that I am not only getting my own professional development, but also giving back to the profession.
