I can't say that I had ever considered myself as a brand before. Adidas is a brand. L'Oreal is a brand. Louise Wallace is my name, partly dictated by my parents and partly by my husbands heritage.
Now that I am considering it, I don't think I really want to be a brand. I am Louise Wallace, Assistant Librarian at The University of Glamorgan and that's good enough for me. I don't feel that I need a moniker or a logo to promote myself. The best way to promote yourself in your own organisation is surely by doing a good job and by impacting positively on the service? Externally, I am on the Career Development Group Commitee, I belong to LISNPN and I try to network as much as I can.
Having said that I don't want to be a brand, this has made me think. When I sign up for online accounts I tend to use Louisianna (a nickname given to me by my Nan as I am Louise Ann - very inventive), or a variation of my names, or sometimes my staff ID - lawallac. I tend to go with whatever isn't already taken (often very difficult ), and something I will remember. This isn't very consistent and thing 3 has made me think about whether I need a new approach.
Thursday 4 August 2011
Playing catch-up
The cpd23 boat is crusing round the med and I am left in Southampton, I had every intention of getting on the boat but now I'm left waving my arms around on the dock.
In real life, I went on holiday, came back to work and have had so much to do that I have neglected my blog. I have been keeping up to date with the things, and it's easy enough to spend a couple of hours in the evening exploring some of the applications; pushnote, google calender, evernote etc... Actually writing about them is more difficult and more time consuming. It's not because I don't enjoy writing, I love it. In my day job I write a lot of guides, they have to be precise and accurate and they are quality checked my my colleagues. This is a whole different ball game! This is me, and the fear of not understanding something fully
and writing something silly, is strong.
Anyway, I have no intention of missing the boat altogether and I think it's about time I got a flight to the next stop and catch up!
In real life, I went on holiday, came back to work and have had so much to do that I have neglected my blog. I have been keeping up to date with the things, and it's easy enough to spend a couple of hours in the evening exploring some of the applications; pushnote, google calender, evernote etc... Actually writing about them is more difficult and more time consuming. It's not because I don't enjoy writing, I love it. In my day job I write a lot of guides, they have to be precise and accurate and they are quality checked my my colleagues. This is a whole different ball game! This is me, and the fear of not understanding something fully
and writing something silly, is strong.
Anyway, I have no intention of missing the boat altogether and I think it's about time I got a flight to the next stop and catch up!
Wednesday 29 June 2011
A blog about blogs
I've spent a lot of time this past week reading blogs. Not exactly a newsworthy statement and I'm sure if any other cpd23-ers read this they be "me too-ing" about now. One thing I have come to notice is that blogs are like pringles, once I click I can't stop, one blog leads to another, and another (no mono-sodium-glutamate required) As well as the blog reading, I have spent a fair amount of time perusing the list of blogs on cpd23, clicking on the ones with interesting titles or written by people who have a first name that also belongs to a librarian that I know (only once so far has this been the same person).
I must admit that I'm finding it pretty overwhelming. Until last week I had a few core blogs that I used to make time to read and reflect on and learn from where applicable. Now I'm a bit head spinny with blogs coming out of my ears and I'm spending so much time reading them, I don't know when am I supposed find time to write my own? At the moment the majority of posts seem to be quite introductory, standard welcome to my blog type fayre, but what about when it starts getting meaty? What if I miss something? What if someone who's blog name hasn't caught my eye writes something that rocks the library world to it's core?
So, I'm thinking, what do I do if a student comes up to me on the enquiry desk, their facial expression often speaks before they do "so much information, so little time". Are they not in a very similar predicament? I will explain the importance of being selective and evaluating their sources, the need to refine their strategy until they get what they need but I'm not exactly following my own advice; reading through hundred of random blog titles, clicking willy nilly. Not good practice - fact.
So I will not let myself become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cpd23 blogs on delicious. I certainly cannot read every one and I am not going to miss something important by not doing so. Library folks are awesome at sharing best practice and I know that I can't know everything. My brain only has a limited capacity. So if anyone else is feeling similarly, I hope that this makes you feel better about it. Librarians are humans too!
I must admit that I'm finding it pretty overwhelming. Until last week I had a few core blogs that I used to make time to read and reflect on and learn from where applicable. Now I'm a bit head spinny with blogs coming out of my ears and I'm spending so much time reading them, I don't know when am I supposed find time to write my own? At the moment the majority of posts seem to be quite introductory, standard welcome to my blog type fayre, but what about when it starts getting meaty? What if I miss something? What if someone who's blog name hasn't caught my eye writes something that rocks the library world to it's core?
So, I'm thinking, what do I do if a student comes up to me on the enquiry desk, their facial expression often speaks before they do "so much information, so little time". Are they not in a very similar predicament? I will explain the importance of being selective and evaluating their sources, the need to refine their strategy until they get what they need but I'm not exactly following my own advice; reading through hundred of random blog titles, clicking willy nilly. Not good practice - fact.
So I will not let myself become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cpd23 blogs on delicious. I certainly cannot read every one and I am not going to miss something important by not doing so. Library folks are awesome at sharing best practice and I know that I can't know everything. My brain only has a limited capacity. So if anyone else is feeling similarly, I hope that this makes you feel better about it. Librarians are humans too!
Wednesday 22 June 2011
The first post
This is the first and hopefully not the last post to my brand spanking shiny new blog.
I've created this blog as part of 23 things for professional development http://cpd23.blogspot.com/ which is on my summer to do list. I did have reservations about signing up because there were already lots of things on my summer to do list but seeing the huge response for the project from other librarians, convinced me that this was a a fantastic opportunity.
The main purpose of this blog is for me to reflect on the things that I do in my work in order to improve the things that I do in my work. It will also serve as a handy tool to document what I am doing and make comment while it is still fresh in my mind.
I've created this blog as part of 23 things for professional development http://cpd23.blogspot.com/ which is on my summer to do list. I did have reservations about signing up because there were already lots of things on my summer to do list but seeing the huge response for the project from other librarians, convinced me that this was a a fantastic opportunity.
The main purpose of this blog is for me to reflect on the things that I do in my work in order to improve the things that I do in my work. It will also serve as a handy tool to document what I am doing and make comment while it is still fresh in my mind.
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