Thing 2½: Neighbours

So, after realising that social media is supposed to be social, let’s get back to the question - what I’ve read and who I’ve met!

The joy of CPD23 is the mix of people taking part – worldwide, all sectors, at varying career stages and extremely different levels of social media confidence. My original plan of following a few people from different places and sectors has completely gone by the wayside, in favour of ‘ooh look, a thing’ *click*. The fact that the programme's so flexible also helps - Thing 4 has already been posted, I’m still on Thing 2, but so are lots of other people… and off I go to see what they have to say.

I’ve particularly valued having a safe place to start blogging, a shallow end, where you can meet and say hi to other people who are similarly new to the whole thing, and can encourage each other along. The Savvy School Librarian’s Thing 2 post inspired me to post my first comment, while Julie at Revalidation Journey  and Asha K are both, in different ways, encouraging me to keep going!

I have learnt stuff! Evan at Learning Learner pointed out the value of including useful links in your blog, while Nia reminded us to stay positive. I will try!

It’s great to have more experienced bloggers involved:  Collections in a cold climate is what my blog wants to be when it grows up (this may take some time!). And I definitely need pictures – they won't be as beautiful as librarydot, or as far-flung as Phil, the wandering librarian, but I’m sure I can find an excuse to squeeze in a couple of seaside pics.

I do have lots of blogger-y questions – things I’d like to try or work out. I know I’m being followed, but am yet to work out how I can follow other people’s blogs.  I think a blog list down the side of the screen is a good plan – in time! And photos may happen, one day…

Thing 2: Borrowing cups of sugar

Thing 2 has been about meeting the neighbours, and stopping by to say hello.

And my revelation for the week has been blog comments. Although I quite happily jump about reading (and appreciating) blogs, as a non-blogger, the whole comments thing has just seemed a bit weird and not entirely necessary.  In amongst the valid questions and interesting debates that occasionally appear at the bottom of a blog post, you usually see a lot of comments going ‘Yep. I agree. Cool post’, or something equally profound, and I’ve always kind of felt ‘why bother?’ Well, newsflash. These comments are not aimed at you (or me), dear lurking reader, they’re a show of support for the blogger themselves, very often, no doubt, from other bloggers – a connection, an excuse to say hello, a word of encouragement, a way of letting people know ‘I’m reading this and I value it’.

So I’ve started posting comments.  A little thing, but a real penny-dropping moment for me!

Thing 1: Blogs and Blogging

Last year I was intrigued by CPD23 – 23 Things for Professional Development. This is a programme looking at various tools and aspects of social media and professional development, aimed at library and information types, and anyone else who’d like to join us. This year, I’ve actually signed up! For me, it’s a way of getting started with a blog, getting over that “my words, out there, uggh!” thing, and meeting some of my colleagues in the wider library world.

I could probably be described as a bit of a watcher-from-afar, as a lot of people doing cpd23 seem to be! The truth is you’re more likely to find me watching the world go by on twitter than diving in and getting involved. And there are some fantastic blogs out there, but I probably haven’t mentioned that to the bloggers writing them. And of course, the last thing the world needs is another library blog. And as doe putting my noodlings up online – I mean, someone might read them… Or nobody might read them…

In the real world, I work as a part-time supervisor in an academic library, mostly dealing with the circulation side of things in a site library, and increasingly learning about the Library Management System. For the last couple of years I’ve also been an information services librarian in a public library, dealing with intellectual property, European information and helping out with the very wonderful Enquire service, as well as anything else that comes along. Sadly, I’m going to be finishing in that role this week, so it’s either a very good or a very bad time to start a reflective blog!  I’m hoping it’ll give me a push to bring my revalidation portfolio together, and get more involved beyond my organisation.

So that’s me, in a rather rambling nutshell. I’m now off blog-hopping, to find out who else is going to give this a go.

All set!

A new blog set up, signed up to CPD23, all ready to go!