#thing13

The thing 13: Professional networks workshop focuses on professional networks and in particular LinkedIn. The workshop included reading an article detailing the benefits of LinkedIn, creating an account and finally joining a LinkedIn group. 

I have found LinkedIn a very beneficial platform, as it was where I successfully found my first job. When I started applying for jobs I initially found it a very overwhelming process as I didn’t know where to start as there are so many websites and email subscriptions available to assist you in applying for jobs. This is where LinkedIn comes into its own as it acts as a one-stop-shop for applying for jobs and connecting with people in your industry. Applying for jobs tool on LinkedIn is very effective as it allows you to be as specific or as vague as you wish. This allows you to find jobs you were specifically looking for but also find jobs you would never have thought of before.

Furthermore, the networking aspect of LinkedIn is also very beneficial as it allows you to feel part of community and connect with old colleagues or potential new colleagues. This also allows you to engage in important conversations and increase your chances of being employed by using LinkedIn to find out what you may need to stand out and to see the career paths of successful individuals in your field.    

Professional organisations are really important for informational professionals.  Particularly for those of us who work alone.  They keep us up to date, and discuss common problems .

I am a member of SLA via work.  I find them a useful organisation as they produce an 'industry' style magazine every term. Which reminds me that I need to resubscribe for this year.

I trialled a CILIP membership for a year when I was doing my library and information studies diploma.  I decided not to carry on with it as I found that it didn't offer the kind of support I would like in a librarian body. £204 isn't a fee I would be willing to pay for what is on offer. (I know plenty of other people would disagree with me here.) It has improved in terms of advocating for members but personally I don't think it is bolshy or creative enough in it's approach (Again I totally understand that others have gained much experience from CILIP, it is just not for me at the moment).  Another reason for my non-membership is that I am busy in my personal life.  I like the sounds of the committees but would not have the free time to become involved and give it the time it deserves.  I admire those that give their time to advance our profession. I remain on the generic membership email list and this is useful.

Which brings me on to Chartership..It sounds like a wonderful reflective endeavour, I know my practice would improve from this but after completing a postgraduate diploma part-time, I feel I have completed my librarianship studies for the time being, but I may reconsider in a few years. I want to learn other things now.

A CILIP group that I would consider joining is School Librarian's Group (SLG).  I have attended a number of their training sessions which are always excellent (I improved my knowledge of information literacy skills, e-books and got plenty of ideas from them this year).  They have also extended membership to non-CILIP members which makes things more of a possibility for me.  

 I am a member of CILIP, although I have to confess that when I finished my MSc and stopped being eligible for the student rate, I did take a little break for a while.  I first joined when completing my MSc, as I had found out about the Library and Information Management course originally through the CILIP website, it was the first place I came to when I first started making tentative steps into the professional library world, and it gave me a lot of information on getting started. 

 A few years and a new house later, I re-joined CILIP, and making the decision to apply for chartership has made me appreciate my membership a great deal.  Although I have found all of the changes they have made over the last couple of years rather confusing, there are some great resources available at present through the CILIP VLE.  Through working towards chartership, I have also been encouraged to view my day to day work in a different way.  It has encouraged me to work more reflectively, and also to take on different roles within my current job – forcing me to push my boundaries.

I have been using Prezi for about 4 years now.

It’s the best program for making presentations, also very user friendly. Prezi presentations, because of dynamic visualizations and var#ious colorful templates, also very appealing for the eye.

I installed Gale’s Access my Library on my Samsung Galaxy S3 tablet, but I was unable to get any resources to load. It let me select my library, but it just spun and spun on the loading page once I did. I’m not sure if Gale’s servers are down or if it’s a bug with my version of Android or my device, but I wasn’t able to use it. I’d hesitate to recommend it to a patron even if it did work, since it’s only a selection of the databases we offer. I’d also worry about recommending Khan Academy, since it’s not a vetted source like Tutor.com or Gale Courses. It might be handy for someone who didn’t want to sign up for a Tutor.com account, but that would still be my first recommendation to a patron with a child who needed homework help.

Presentations aren't something that I do in my daily work but if I ever needed to I would use Haiku Deck rather than Deck Slideshow. 

Deck Slideshow Presentation wasn't great. Very basic design and not very user friendly.

You only start out with a few free design options and have to pay for all the rest. Although the designs look nice enough there is no customization of them whatsoever.

Haiku Deck was awesome, although I had to do it on either my iPad or the web, you can run a Haiku Deck that is on the web with your phone but you can't actually create one on your phone.

One fun thing you can do is look at Haiku Deck's that other people have created and there are some gorgeous ones out there.

Once you've started making your Haiku Deck and you want to add photos you can use the great stock photos they have available for you or you can get your own photos from a variety of sources.

You can search for any image simply by typing it in the search box. This is also where you can add graphs.

The designs are awesome and very bold.