Catching Up on Things (CPD23)

So, even while I am participating in Library Day in the Life, I am still working on CPD23. I seem to be a bit behind on topics, so I thought that I would repeat the wheels too much and give some brief thoughts:

Thing 6: Online Networks

Ah, social networking. It can be a boon or a bane, depending on how you utilize them (or how much you really need a cow for FarmVille).

I do have a LinkedIn account, and it is up to date although somewhat static. I like having a professional presence online. I think that moving professional topics to this blog has increased my awareness about my "online image" and I should explore LinkedIn a bit more to see how it works.

I started my social online networking with MySpace several years ago. It was where I started my personal blog, before finally folding my account and moving to Facebook and my personal Blogger blog. I was very active on Facebook for the last couple of years, however between Twitter and Google+, I am finding that I update less. Both of my blogs feed to Facebook.

Thing 7: Face-to-Face Networks and Professional Organisations

I have been hit and miss with professional organisations through the years. When I was still pursuing my degree, ALA was the mecca of student interest. However the lack of time and finances has left me without ALA membership for most of my professional years.

Currently I do hold memberships in Massachusetts Library Association (MLA), my state library organisation, and in New England Library Association (NELA), which is a multi-state library organisation in the US. I find I get different investments from each: at the state level I find common goals across the Commonwealth and many librarians that I know. The Digital Commonwealth also partnered with the MLA for their conference this spring, which was very successful. With NELA, I find that the continuing education is my biggest draw. I am a member of both the Information Technology section, which has hosted some terrific workshops, and HQ73.6, the GLBT section, which is of professional and personal interest to me.

Thing 8: Google Calendar 

I adore my Google Calendar. Well, I do have more than one (*cough 13 cough*) because I use the color coding to keep track of personal tasks and important work tasks. We use a Calcium calendar at work, however I keep my Google Calendar open all the time in my browser so I will load most of the tasks there also.

Google Calendar has become indispensable to me. The only issue I really have is that I currently do not have continuous access to it (no smartphone) so I also keep a paper agenda in my bag. At least I remember to transfer appointments to Google Calendar. Usually.

Thing 9: Evernote

I am not sure I would have ever taken up Evernote except for the fact that I have an iPad. At work I have found I prefer to have all my notes in one place and the piles of notepads I have filed makes this treehugger cry. So, when I got my iPad this spring, I was excited to have a portable device I could type notes on that was a lot lighter than my laptop. Except it does not have a native word processor. Of course there is the Notes app or the Apple apps, but who isn't looking for something free? Then I found Evernote.

Evernote, even in its free version, is very robust. I can take notes in various Notebooks (like folders), add tags, and save items from the web. With both the iPad app and a desktop version installed, I have access to those items as long as I have web access. Since I use Chrome as my web browser, there is also an Evernote extension that allows me to clip right from a webpage.

Now, let us see if I can stay caught up!