The Woolly Library Assistant

Thing 13 -  Reflective Practice Online Networker This was one of the badges I wasn’t really looking forward to doing, but I thought I will give it a try.  I have surprised myself and quite enjoyed it. Through completing Thing 10 I have been able to Network with other Librarians through Tweetchats with #uklibchat and I also took part the #Rudai23chat.  I enjoyed being part of both and meeting other Librarians from similar Libraries and also meeting other participants on the Rudai23 course. I have joined various Library Associations through Facebook and organised my homepage to make it easier to negotiate. I prefer to use Twitter but I can see the benefit of being able write longer posts on Facebook. For Thing 11 I joined Linkedin, I need to take more time and to enter more information and familiarize myself with the site. As with all these social media platforms take time to get familiar with and you tend to use what you feel comfortable using. This was the Thin...

 Thing 12 was looking at various collaborative tools. At work I am a member of the Social Media Committee, we are looking at Social Media and what information we should be posting.   We work face to face in arranged meetings, which for me has been positive getting to know other staff members.  I usually have to travel to Belfast for the meetings but it may be an option, in the future to consider using Skype.  I was able to use Doodle but unfortunately due to I.T. restrictions I am unable to access the other tools mentioned.  I have used Doodle before to do a Doodle Poll to get a suitable date for everyone for training and meetings. The other tool we have found useful is Padlet, which we use as an inspiration board to post ideas for tweets.

Thing 11 was looking at your Profession Brand, thinking of myself as a brand doesn’t come naturally to me, although it is a good way to promote yourself and develop your career. When thinking about your brand it makes you look at yourself and think of your unique selling points.  Before the holidays I struggled with the idea of branding and I had only written 3 lines for  Thing 11,  basically commenting I had set up a Linkedin account and would look at creating a Bio at some stage. Then I began to think about how other Professions have been branded over time and in people’s mind-set a Doctor, Teacher, Lawyer etc. have built their brand and people aspire to have a career in these professions. I don’t hear many young people saying they want to be a Librarian. We have to encourage Librarians to brand themselves this, in turn its brands the profession and it will hopefully inspire young people to think about a career in a Library.  Many people have the impression that...

Thing 10 Networking Tools Online networking is something that I am not very familiar with, but I am looking forward to learning more. I can see the benefits of using these tools.  I have a Twitter and Facebook accounts but there are probably sections in both that in my profile require updating or adding.  While looking at Facebook I have created a group for friends and I believe I will need to look at creating other groups. I have still to add my picture to Facebook which I hope to do soon – just another thing on my to do of list!! I joined the Rudai23 group and the Library Association of Ireland on Facebook. Twitter, I am slightly more familiar with as I post Tweets with work and I find it easier to use. I have followed Rudia23, some of the participants on the course, Conul Ireland, #uklibchat, LAlonline and Libfocus just to name a few. It does keep you in touch with what is happening and conferences taking place.  I hope to join the uklibchat on Tuesday 5 th ...

                                    Thing 8 - Creating an Infographic This task involved creating an infographic from a report using either Pikochart or Canva. I started by reading through Rudia’s blog on Infographics.  I had training on using both the above through work, although I hadn’t created an infographic, as I felt I needed a bit of time to get familiar with tools. My Boss had received a report from UpToDate on the useage of the Database in the hospital.  She wanted an infographic created, so I took this opportunity to use the information and turn it into an infograpraphic UpToDate which could also be used for advertising . I decided to look at other examples of infographics for statistics. I took a note of the elements I liked and could possibly use.  I looked at the information given in the report and summarised it into 4 areas.  Then I logged into Piko...

Thing 7 – To create an online exhibition. My Online Exhibition is found at  https://resourcesframed.blogspot.com Within the Library I work we have no special collections.  I decided to base the exhibition on a leaflet about the Medical Library and HSC Library.  I took the images from QUB Image bank. I then had to decide what platform to use to put my exhibition on.  I looked at the examples on the Rudai Blog and realised I had very little knowledge of coding which I felt you would need if you wanted photographs to change in a exhibition.   I looked at so many youtube videos to try and get guidance.  There are plenty of youtube videos on elements but not how to create an on-line exhibition from scratch, that I could find.  Perhaps this is an opening for someone to do.  I then started to enter the information unto pages in my blog pages, using separate pages to each section.  There were limitations to each page and I couldn’t custo...

I decided to do the Rudai 23 course to improve my online skills and to explore online tools, for social media which would be useful for the Library.  Visual communication is becoming more important as there is less use of written text but I believe you need a balance approach.  At the Library we have been recreating our posters with images and less text as people don’t have the time to read a lot of text.  Since starting the Rudai 23 course it has been the first time for many Things and I have embarked on this journey of online learning which has been interesting, challenging and informative.  I have been a stressed at times thinking how will I do that.  It can be a bit frustrating knowing what you want to achieve but not having the technical experience to do it.  It has been a big learning curve but one which I have enjoyed. Thing 3 – Image Banks. The task was to download an image from Pixabay or Flickr.  I read the informa...