Thing 23 - Making it all work

I use social media at work and at home and it's strange how I seem to separate the 2.  At work I use Hootsuite as I found it near impossible to keep track of Twitter while working and not miss things as we work on such an old browser i was having to use the mobile version.  Pulling them together onto Hootsuite means I only have to check one place and I can keep up with where we are.  Pulling it all together there has also helped me to convince my colleagues to keep track of things while I'm not there - something which wasn't always happening before.  We have tended to stick to Facebook and Twitter mainly at work (although I've just started us on Pinterest) and it's been due to a lack of time to focus on everything.  I think it is important to work out where your audience is and focus on it rather than try to be everywhere and I will be mentioning that we need to revisit our social media strategy with an eye to what our ultimate goal with it is.  

At home, I do find it difficult to keep up with social media and I often find myself neglecting something for a while and then remembering to get back to it.  I also have a business account on some social media platforms and I really am making it my resolution next year to have a look at scheduling posts properly to really enhance my presence and properly publicise what I'm doing.

It's taken me quite a bit longer than I initially thought it would to work through all 23 things and although that's partly been lack of time it's also nature of the "things" themselves.  Some I've found fascinating, many I've found myself using as a matter of course and all have definitely peaked my interest.  There are certainly times when I've thought long and hard and possibly deeper than I've wanted to about some of the questions posed but in the end it's been such a wormhole experience and I'd like to thank the whole Rudai23 team and fellow participants for a very enjoyable few months.

Thing 22 - lets get mobile!

We've been very involved in mobile technology to a certain degree recently.  We invested in mobile devices last year and staff were trained on the use of iPads, Samsung Galaxy tablets, kindle fires, Kobo and Hudls.  The training focuses on the basic applications and the main functions of each as well as some grounding in social media.  This has allowed us to offer basic sessions helping the public get to grips with their new devices.  My team and I had been offering iPad sessions for a few years but it's been good to have an overview of different devices and to have other libraries in our authority offer these as well.  We've also been able to use these sessions to show how to use our own e-resources as we feel that as with many of these things it's far simpler to show it working than to talk about it.  

We have free wifi in all of our libraries and the use of mobile technology really has meant that we're not as aware of those using our services as we traditionally were before.  That's not a bad influence, but it does mean we need to think of other ways to approach our users than we traditionally would and so the beacon idea may well be an option we'd consider.  We have merged with customer services and some of our libraries are now within shared facilities but it hasn't been an easy task to persuade people coming into use council services to also consider libraries as having something to offer them - this might be a way to do that.

We're also always considering ways to engage with readers and I can see potential applications for Gum.  I had fun adding a plaintive request from a parent for Little Red Tractor to hide permanently to one of my son's favourite books!  It would be great to think we could have readers adding reviews to books that would be available by scanning them but I think there is a concern without moderation so it would certainly have to have careful consideration.  I can see it being hugely popular if it could be moderated in some way for the children's summer reading challenge - it would certainly increase the digital offer and interest some of our less engaged children.

Thing 21 - Infographics

PI found this quite fun!  Actually, I probably spent a bit too much time thinking about my topic and then got caught up in it so I decided to just share it without completing it or I'd still be here next year trying to decide what songs are best listened to on the bus vs those you have to belt out in the privacy of your car...

I found easy.ly quite straightforward although the app was quite annoying on my iPad so I'm looking forward to having a go on my PC at some point.  I can definitely see how information presented graphically can be a really powerful way to get your point across and I'm looking forward to trying it out at work.  I can certainly imagine sharing information with our library users in a far more interesting and engaging way.

There's definitely a risk of me getting too involved in playing with the tools though so I think I need to have all my information written out before I start.

Thing 18 Flickr and Instagram

  I'd forgotten until reading Thing 18 that we had a Flickr account.  When our Computer Services librarian retired some time ago none of us kept it going.  In reality as soon as we started a Facebook page we shared most of our photos that way and still do.  Sometimes it's difficult to maintain too many social media accounts and you have to go with the ones which are simple for everyone and most popular with users.  

So the photo I've chosen to share is actually a bit of a cheat as its one I took of my poor husband in our library mascot costume on a very hot summers day 5 years ago!  Funnily enough this was taken before we got married and he hasn't worn the costume since then - it would be interesting to know though whether the families and friends of other librarians are prevailed upon quite as much as those of mine and my colleagues!

I have an Instagram account but haven't really used it.  Again in my personal life I tend to stick to Facebook and Twitter.  I've followed a few libraries though and will be interested to see how they are sharing what they're doing.

Thing 17 Reflective Practice

So I've had a seriously long break from this and I'm trying to catch up before the deadline as I hate not finishing things!

I've decided to base my reflective post on the "Thing" I found hardest - library advocacy.  Following the Gibbs Method has actually really helped me consider how I feel about where my career is right now so it seems fitting to use this one.

I struggled a lot with Thing 14 as I said at the time.  I had difficulty deciding how I should approach it as politically the climate for libraries really isn't great right now and things where I am based have been in lots of flux.  I eventually decided to concentrate on mentioning the library advocacy I had been involved in (which was far more than I'd realised) and to make a general point about how I feel politics and austerity has affected libraries.

At the time I found it really difficult as there was a lot I wanted to say specifically about things I wish we could do more of or better at in my own role but I was very tied by being mindful of the fact that I have an employer and I have to respect my position within the organisation.  I'm quite a political person and have strong opinions and feelings on austerity politics and the effect it's had on society so it was incredibly difficult for me to generalise rather than be specific.

Looking back, it was actually a really useful exercise for me - it's important to maintain a professional approach at all times - I do everyday at work and I need to be able to do so online as well.  It was difficult to have to generalise when I realised through thinking deeply about it that I was actually having a bit of a crisis about the profession and my place in it.  It actually prompted me to think long and hard about my future career and where I want to be.  I also took a long break from this and other CPD activities while I considered it (hence the desperately trying to catch up now!). 

In reality I could have had a long rant about the things which I wish my own authority were spending more time on but I'm realistic enough to know that we can't do everything and some things have to give when budgets are constrained and as I've said it would be unprofessional to do so.

Interestingly, I attended a conference recently which restored my faith in some respects in what's happening in libraries across Scotland at least.  One of the most useful sessions I attended was led by Ian Anstice of Public Libraries News.  What he said about advocacy really chimed with how I'd been feeling and the difficulty I had with thing 14.  He reiterated that you cannot and must not campaign or  advocate publicly on issues which affect your own authority but pointed out that you can advocate and campaign on behalf of others.  

Having had time to process all of that now I'm still unsure whether my professional career will remain with libraries in the long term but I do now believe that I've identified a direction of travel and rekindled the desire to advocate on behalf of libraries and our place in society.

Thing 16 Collaboration Tools

I like Google Drive, I use it a lot for editing documents in different places and I like that I have access to it wherever I go.  It was really useful in working on my chartership when I had no printer at home.

I have also used Doodle personally to organise meet ups with friends when we needed to organise the best time and location for a number of people.

Over the years I've used google drive (or docs as was) to collaborate with others a few times and I've found it really useful to be able to work together without being in the same room.  I previously took part in the Scottish Goverment Library's 10 things course which shares all documents via collaboration tools.  I was also seconded for a term to a local secondary school and was able to see the classes use Google for education to great effect.

I do have a caveat to this though, I'm able to use collaboration tools because I do so from home.  Colleagues who wanted to take part in the 10 things course were unable to do so due to unreliable broadband at home and a refusal from our council IT department to make Google Drive available on our corporate network for security reasons.  I do believe we could use these tools very successfully in the workplace but we're currently unable to do so.

Libraries are just great because they are and why can't you all see it?!

Oh Thing 15 how you have tasked me!  I'm not suggesting that figuring out how to write about library advocacy was responsible for my migraine last week just that they ran alongside each other....

Looking at some of the campaigns mentioned it strikes me that I've been involved in lots of library advocacy throughout my career.  I took part in 2 rounds of Library Day in the Life, I organise events for National Libraries Day, I've organised and encouraged weeks in our libraries encouraging people to be photographed with signs saying what they're visiting for, I've arranged for library staff to be on commuter trains on World Book Day handing out free books, I've visited schools, workplaces and local stores across our area all to try and let people know who we are and what we do.  Each of these activities has brought in a few new users and that's great, each new person through the door is a positive result but it isn't advocating to the right people and it isn't reaching those that could benefit most.  I worry that a lot of what we do is aimed at those who are already listening, we need to be louder, we need to be everywhere and we need to be supported by politicians.

Working in the public sector means that times are hard, services are being tested and in some cases cut to the bone.  The very nature of government means that financial decisions are taken based on what is currently the concern or project of the party in power or the party trying to get reelected.  This means that services which work for the long game aren't necessarily ones that will attract support unless they can shout loudest.  I'm passionate about early literacy, our Bookbug sessions and story times work with parents to show in a fun and simple way how to encourage literacy from the very beginning.  Putting the funding into working with parents now could very well lead to savings in education, welfare or even criminal justice in future (http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/resources/online-library/ready-read-scotland) but we need to be making those arguments to the politicians in charge of funding now.

I'm still not sure how we do better at explaining to people who don't already use us what we do and why we should exist, be supported, be better funded and be used.  I know I'll be taking more time to revisit some of the things I've done so far, work out what was most successful, what wasn't, look at what others have done that has worked and just keep trying.

Catching up - again! Live Streaming, Reflective Practice, Conferences and Professional Organisations

Just when I'd caught up, events conspire again!

I caught the start of the hangout on Sunday but missed most of it due to my poorly wee boy thinking there were better uses for my iPad than what looked like a boring discussion to him!  I enjoyed what I saw and will be catching up with the recording this week.  From the bits I was able to dip in and out of I found myself getting annoyed with the technical side of it - there were definitely breaks in sound and picture which could well have been my broadband or interference from other things.  Like reading the other blog posts I found it useful and reassuring to find that other people are having a similar experience to me with keeping up with the pace and with some of the questions about how we present ourselves professionally and personally online.  I also need to check out how I watch and tweet at the same time on my iPad - as i couldn't figure out how to watch and participate simultaneously.

I have considered live streaming a couple of times for work purposes but haven't quite got round to doing it yet.  I definitely want to either live stream a class visit for a class that can't come into the library (some of our primary schools are a bit far out so they could pair up with another class in a different school to at least experience a bit of the library).  It's a plan that I've been mulling over for a few years now and I think I have a couple of teachers who'd be keen to give it a go so this may well have given me the impetus to throw caution to the wind - watch this space!

Conferences and Professional Organisations

I'm a fairly shy person naturally so although I've attended quite a few conferences now I always find them a bit difficult.  The first couple of CILIPS (Scottish division of the Chartered Insitute of Library and Information Professionals) conferences I attended I did so with a group of colleagues and really didn't venture away from them.  When I got serious about working towards chartered membership of CILIP, I joined the Scottish committee of the Career Development Group, one of the special interest groups.  It was very useful for making contacts, picking up hints and tips from other library authorities and library sectors and was really enjoyable.  My maternity leave coincided with changes to the special interest groups and at the moment I have less time outside work for these things but I am registered as a mentor for candidates working towards professional qualifications which still allows me to be involved in the wider profession and network in a different way.  Joining 23 things has been one of the ways in which I'm getting back to the profession rather than the day to day doing my job and its renewing my enthusiasm for what I do at a time when it's being eroded a lot by changes in our structure.  I've found things like attending conferences has helped in seeing how others are affected in a similar way and how they've dealt with some of the challenges.

At the last couple of conferences I've attended I've started tweeting during some of the sessions and although at first it seemed a bit alien and like I was ignoring the speakers, I found that I recalled far more of it than I thought I would.  It helped me to consider my reaction to what they were saying more than just sitting there or taking notes would.  The bonus was that I was an.e to interact with others doing the same and have a conversation about it - I hadn't anticipated that happening at all and really enjoyed it.

On reflection...

A lot of what I've said above chimes in with some of the questions for reflection - I'm struggling a bit keeping up as I have other commitments.  In reality, that's a bit of a cop out though.  I spend quite a bit of time in the evenings chatting with friends on Facebook, I could easily be using some of that time more constructively.  I am definitely a procrastinator - I'll be in the middle of something but a notification will come up that someone has tweeted or posted on Facebook or re pinned one my pins etc and I'll nip over to check it out.  So lesson one is must switch off notifications!  I'm also guilty of not finishing one thing before I move onto the next.  I'm really enjoying them all but I'm not good at instantly reading and responding, I like time to think things over before I blog.  Trouble is, I like shiny new things and when a new thing comes up I start playing with it instead!

So - thankfully, mostly caught up for now and lesson learned - switch off notifications and set aside proper time without distraction to work on things (and I don't just mean Rudai things but the other 3 or 4 things I seem to have committed to recently as well!)

Now it gets visual, that's more like it! Things 8 and 9 Curation Tools and Video

Curation Tools

I've said on an earlier thing that I'm probably more of a visual person so it's no surprise that I'm already a big Pinterest fan.  I'm @ehcarlie if anyone fancies having a look.  I tended to focus firstly on things to do with my toddler so it's arts, crafts and reading games for small children.  It's a personal thing but I realised recently that lots of it is very relevant to my work in a public library so I also have a Work board which for some reason I decided to make private - I don't know why and I'm going to address that soon.  We haven't gone down the Pinterest line at work as we haven't made the most of our other tools really but I have definite plans to use Pinterest in November for Book Week Scotland and we'll see how it goes from there.  

I'd never heard of Flipboard and I think I might have found a new obsession - I love the idea of having a magazine I've made to read when I like just of articles I'm interested in!  The bonus is I now have more space in my bookmarks on my iPad having removed the flow of saved articles I never get round to reading again.  

I've seen Storify used to sum up conferences I've attended and think it's a good tool for that.  I'd definitely have to explore it a bit further to see if there are any other uses I can find for myself - potentially events that we hold in libraries.

Video

We haven't made much use of video, mainly a few nursery rhymes from Bookbug sessions and a bit of film from local events.  The most popular we've had is sharing a story we had readers tell during Book Week Scotland.  We've done a few now and it's always good fun: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cM6h8rRhBGc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cugAXjcW9l8

I definitely need to brush up on my editing skills for this year so I was really interested in options to edit on YouTube (I've only ever posted to it, not edited using it).  I'm also going to have a look at Screen-o-Matic as we've shared through the library account but mostly through my own and it would be more professional to have one platform.

Thing 7 - Podcasts

Confession time - I don't think I'm really a podcast kind of person.

I'm realising that I'm really quite visual.  I want to see images on my social media and I want to see images to go along with what I'm hearing.  It shouldn't surprise me as the only time I listen to the radio is in the car and I use music as a background mostly.

We haven't used podcasts though we did consider it at one point when we were looking into an online book group but found our council website too restrictive to use it.

I found Circulating Ideas really interesting and will check back regularly.  My experience of podcasts or at least of audio is mainly in history and archives.  I use SCRAN http://www.scran.ac.uk/ quite a lot with class visits and love the audio clips of oral history.  I can see how we maybe could use it to share some of the rhymes and songs we use for Bookbug sessions that parents don't know as well though I've shared some rhymes on YouTube from Bookbug sessions already and still think that would be my preferred medium.