The Shame of Listening to My Own Voice (aka My First Jing)

Thing 18 from CPD23 is about Jing/screen capture/podcasts, which are varied tools to help visualize data through screen capture. It has been interesting to see how training has been enhanced through the years from screenshots in static presentations to full-fledged-in-the-moment webinars.

Jing can record single shots or short videos, and will show everything that happens on the screen. This is extremely beneficial went walking through multiple mouse-click sessions that can lead to different screens. I had used Captivate previously, but it almost has too much capability, while Jing gives you a simple start and stop recording menu. You can then upload it to their site for public viewing, or save it in a Flash format. 

Considerations for recording include:

• Microphone. You will want to make sure that viewers of your recording will actually be able to hear what you are saying.
• Concise topic. Jing recordings are a maximum of five minutes.
• Rehearsal. You do not necessarily have to script everything that you are doing, but you will want to make sure that you know what to expect. During one recording I went to click for patron login, but forgot we do not have an SSL certificate on the training server so I got the big "THIS SITE CANNOT BE TRUSTED" warning. Whoops.
• Patience. Things go wrong. You click the wrong link, you start sneezing, the phone rings, your voice cracks because you didn't drink enough water, you lose internet connection. Be ready to do your recording more than one time. Or ten.

I recorded my first Jing session yesterday for member libraries, to show them the new Evergreen public catalog we will have after migration. I will be creating more demos to make available to staff, then make them available for the general public. Since we will not be migrating until the end of the year, I have time to edit or recreate the videos if anything changes in the meantime.

Now, if I could only change having to listen to my own voice on them...

The Teen Years (CPD23 Things 11-16)

It has been a very busy last few weeks, between a vacation/conference, then preparing my children for school days to begin. I thought the Labor Day holiday would be a good time to run through some of the topics that I have yet to touch upon for CPD23.

Thing 11 - Mentoring

When I was finishing my degree I took a half-year practicum in the acquisitions department of the university library. The head of the department became a mentor to me, in the broadest sense of the word. Afterwards I learned from various people in my jobs, although none took a real mentoring role. In 2009, I was fortunate enough to get a place in the Library Leadership Massachusetts, a leadership conference for Massachusetts librarians and library staffs. Besides working with two facilitators, we worked in groups that included two mentors that assisted us with sessions.

Thing 12 - Putting The Social Into Social Media

Social media has definitely had a large influence on my professional life. I have made contact with other librarians and book professionals from around the world, and have gathered a lot more information than I could without it.

Thing 13 - GoogleDocs, Wikis, and Dropbox

I am a fan of two out of these three. I have used GoogleDocs for a long time, not only personally but professionally. I maintain work documents here for the Digital Commonwealth, as the sharing feature makes it easy for people to not only view but also edit collaboratively as needed. This function is a necessity, and having it cloud-based means I am not trapped within my work domain to use it.

Dropbox has similar features, although I know that they had a rough go earlier on due to privacy concerns. I think that with cloud-based storage, there is always going to be that concern. However, the benefits so far outweigh the risks.

I have never been a real fan of wikis. I think that may have to do with the sometimes rough editing features that many wiki programs have. Of course, this was in the early days of wiki constructs, and I am sure that there have been improvements.

Thing 14 - Zotero/Mendeley/citeulike

I am sure that these reference management systems are very useful, however not being based in an academic environment, I have not used nor see it likely that I will use these features. The only possibility would be if I decide to pursue my thoughts on publishing articles myself. Does anyone outside of academic libraries use these on a regular basis?

Thing 15 - Attending, Organizing, Presenting at Events/Conferences/Seminars

I am lucky to have attended a few conferences through the years, both at the state and the national level. They have ranged from the Massachusetts Library Association Annual Conference to the Public Library Association. I have also attended quite a few specialized conference and seminars for working within my Integrated Library System and learning more about web design and features.

I have been part of a couple panel presentations before, dealing with digitization and our repository. This past spring I spoke for the first time alone at the Digital Commonwealth Annual Conference, giving our "Introductory" session. While speaking always builds up some anxiety, I do enjoy the opportunity to share my experiences.

In regards to organization, I have planned workshops at the library level for our members dealing with ebooks, and now with the new Evergreen public catalog I am creating both screencasts (which will be highlighted more with Thing 18) and will do some Go-To-Webinars for online training. I have also been invited to help the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (NE SCBWI) Conference review proposals for next spring.

Thing 16 - Advocacy

Advocacy is an important part of working in librarianship. Funding and public support can wax and wane - people want the services, but find it hard to buy into the "we need tax dollars to run" argument. I have been to Boston to visit the Legislature on the topic. Most are willing to listen, at least. It is wonderful that we do have such a broad vocal backing, but I know that it is not always enough. Libraries still close, others are decertified. It puts a strain on the resources of the neighboring communities when a town does not support their library. We have to keep talking.

I know that Thing 17 has been postponed, but Thing 18 has to do with Jing, which I plan on taking advantage of this week with my catalog screencasts. I am looking forward to some up-to-date experience - and posts!

The Road To Librarianship is Paved With Books (Thing 10)

At least, mine was.

This week CPD23 is covering Routes to Librarianship. Their post is covering the steps that are mostly required over in the UK, and I find it interesting. The formal accreditation and chartership that they have seems to lean more towards the tenure-building that (fewer and fewer) academic librarians do. While I know that there are numerous continuing education experiences for librarians all over the US, I think that not requiring them, and not ensuring that all librarians have the opportunities, shows a lack on our parts.

I am a book lover and hoarder. I read voraciously and quickly. I prefer to read for fun, however I have added a lot of non-fiction to my personal collection as my interests in gardening, knitting and cooking grow. I remember being in my elementary school library all the time. I knew where the books I loved to read (I am a re-reader) where shelved and I can still picture those places in my head. I had the opportunity to actually work in the library when I was in sixth grade, and remember writing names and stamping due dates on cards. My high school library was a similar retreat for me, and browsing the paperbacks was a pastime. I was at the local library almost every weekend. I wondered what the people behind the desks did, but they always helped me.

My path to becoming a librarian began formally in 2001 when I decided to go back to school for my Master's degree. I was employed in local government, but was not sure it was really what I wanted to do. I was originally going to pursue math education, however my undergraduate was not in that field and I would have needed far more courses. I discovered the Library Science degree at the University at Albany (NY), took one course I paid for out-of-pocket, and fell in love. At the time I was going to pursue Library Media, as I figured that being on a similar schedule as my children would be beneficial, but my introverted number-pushing self came to the forefront and I ended up with a general degree with an emphasis on cataloging. We were required to have one session of internship, which I did in the acquisitions department at the university.

After acquiring my degree in 2003, I job hopped from an archival summer job at the Chautauqua Institution to landing a job in western MA as a cataloger at a public library. The library I started in was unique as being one of the few that still used Cutter Expansive. I moved laterally to another cataloging and acquisitions job and for a couple more years worked within public libraries, then into digital projects at the automation network. Here was where I developed a lot more web design and coding skills, and now supervise the department that deals with the public and digital catalogs and websites for our network. I still get to dip my hand a bit into collection development with our OverDrive collection, as I am the main selector for several genres.

I enjoy my work. There is always something new, although I am finding I really enjoy the ebook collection, both in acquisitions and in training. It is a fascinating and growing topic. I would like to write and present more. I co-authored a chapter on our digital repository a year ago, plus presented for the Digital Commonwealth conference, and of course blogging on librarianship and book topics are a given.

My work is not static, nor do I expect it to be.

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!

Reflection

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. - Peter Drucker

I seem to have fallen a bit behind with my CPD23 posts, although in a way this lateness is timed perfectly. Last week was Thing 5: Reflective Practice. In many ways, I do this on a regular basis on my personal blog. I will ruminate on the things I pursue, whether in reading or knitting, gardening or parenting. In the midst of writing I can catch the tail of thoughts that never presented themselves when I was in the thick of action, but the reflective writing brought them to the surface.

Work is a bit different, whereas my network has been preparing for a migration to a new ILS the last year. We hit bumps along the way, as can happen, but we keep going. Sometimes this process happens so fast, you wonder if you have time to reflect and discover answers to questions or problem-solve in the most efficient way. When you have a timetable in place and a hundred-and-a-half libraries to take care of, sometimes all you can do is keep doing. Whether it turns out as effective as can be may only be discovered down the road.

In regards to CPD23, it made me take a look at how I blog and whether I wanted to keep my professional and personal "identities" more separated. I think there is reason for it, even if it seems to split me apart at times. As I explored the different blogs that others have created or continued for this program, I realize I am not the only one to wonder about that. Many seem inclined to keep there professional blog "untainted", although there are definite exceptions.

My personal brand is one that seems pretty entrenched online now, although I think I am still building the professional side of it. I know that social awareness is important to me, as Twitter and now Google+ have become a daily part of my online tasks. The information and networking from these services is instrumental in gathering more information outside my own little microcosm. This is bolstered by RSS feeds on various topics.

As I continue to explore what is available to me on a professional level (Thing 6 & 7 bring online and in-person social networks) I want to broaden my reflection time, both for my own awareness and to hopefully supplement some of the training I do. 

CPD23: Thing 4 Deja Vu (RSS Feeds and Pushnote)

This post continues the review of the "Social Awareness" Things that CPD23 asked about this week. In my previous post, I discussed Twitter and how much an integral part of my social and professional networking and news base it has become. Along those lines, Google+ is becoming interesting, although off to a slow start with expectations of integration to already established platforms. I discussed this new social tool last week on the blog, and you can find my Google+ profile if you want to add me or have me add you to a Circle.

However, back to RSS Feeds and Pushnote.

RSS Feeds:

I started using RSS Feeds as different widgets on my iGoogle home page for my browser about three years ago. I had various tabs for the subjects I was following: libraries, book writers and bloggers, gardening, etc. however each widget took up a lot of screen space and I realized I had several tabs to slog through each day. Then I was told about Google Reader, which I still use.

My Google Reader this morning, after initial clean out.

My Google Reader extension in my toolbar.

Google Reader aggregates all subscribed feeds into one location. You can also set up folders by topic to help manage your subscriptions. Since I use Chrome as my browser, I have added an extension that gives me the number of unread posts at Reader throughout the day. I try to skim through first thing in the morning, will star the ones I want to go back for a thorough read or to comment on, then can clear it out by marking the rest as read. Of course, there is always a possibility of missing something along the way.

I try to do a periodic resort and unsubscribe from ones I know I am not really reading on a regular basis. I acquired a book blogger bundle through Stacked and now the participant bundle through CPD23. I opted for the single feed of posts at this point, however it is possible I will grab the individual blog bundle so I can weed out the ones I do and do not want to follow. With over 600 participants, that would be a time-consuming project for another day!

Pushnote:

I have been reading the posts so far on Pushnote and took a look at the site. While I can understand the benefits this would have to someone who may not have such a service currently, I believe I have two or three other services that already do the job for me.

My Chrome extensions, including Save in Delicious (Tag),
Clip to Evernote (elephant), and Google Plus One Button (+1).

In my toolbar I have a few extensions that I use in Chrome, including Save in Delicious, Clip to Evernote and  the new Plus One (+1) button for Google. All three of these work to save webpages and other items of interest for me, either for my own consumption (in the case of Evernote), or that can be accessed publicly through Delicious or my Google Profile. I try not to be indiscriminate about what I post, but highlight things of interest to me and to those I know. Of course, the topics are far-flung from librarianship to gardening to chicken ordinances to ebooks, but still shared for the public.

There are many established social web tools that can be utilized at different levels: personal, professional, privately or publicly. As social interaction becomes as important as productivity online, I think that we will see more and more applications and services developed that recreate the wheel of social networking, while hoping to be "the one".

CPD23 Thing 4: Twitter

Back into CPD23 this week with Thing 4: Current awareness. This has participants looking at social tools that can assist keeping up with the happenings of the library and information science world. It is three tools actually: Twitter, RSS feeds and Pushnote. There is enough to talk about (at least for the first two) that I am going to break this up into multiple posts.

Twitter:

If you haven't figured out by now, I am on Twitter! You can find me at @booksNyarn. I would consider this account to be "profersonal". I originally created it over two years ago (on May 15, 2009 in fact) just for personal reasons and fun, but of course fell immediately in with a crowd of librarians who I count as my closest friends. I was also following knitters, librarians, gardeners, green activists. I rarely talked about work, I used a few different comic avatars, and used only my handle up until a little over a year ago.

This year has brought a lot more discussion: with librarians, with Library Journal, with upheavals in the digital world with ebooks. I have become more vocal for and about my profession and now put my face and my name on my account. As I began book reviewing at my other blog, I grew to know more book bloggers, reviewers and publishers too.

Over the last year I have begun to also tweet from various conferences and seminars that I have attended. Try to find out if the program you are attending has a hashtag! If not, create one. I have almost always found at least one other person tweeting at the program, which gives additional notes and perspectives, and I usually end up with comments, questions and other librarians to follow. You can also archive tweets with a particular hashtag over at TwapperKeeper.

Managing it has gotten to be a bit more unwieldy. I know I do not keep track of my timeline the way that I used to a couple of years ago. However, following over 900 people and organizations and having over 700 followers, I am not going to be able to keep up with it as much as I would like. This is why I started using Tweetdeck.

Tweetdeck is a third party Twitter application that allows the user to have multiple Twitter columns on their computer screen at the same time. You can also have multiple Twitter accounts, along with Facebook, Buzz, MySpace, etc. Being able to run multiple columns is a boon, especially since they can be created on lists or on search terms. Above I have my general timeline, then my Librarians list, plus the hashtag for #cpd23. I have a few other columns to help track mentions of me and direct messages. I used to run the desktop application, but with Chrome having an in-browser app, I have moved it there and just run it in a tab along with the other dozen I have open at an given time. Tweetdeck was bought by Twitter in May 2011. So far we haven't seen any real changes, and I am holding out hope that it will stay active and supported.

Twitter is a social tool I use every day, both professionally and personally. I interact with many more librarians and other people from across the US and the world than I ever would have in my own little corner of Massachusetts. It has broadened my network and become the place where I can get the news faster than the television or radio. I really cannot picture my online experience now without it.

Thing 3: Branding and Spin-offs (aka Am I CSI:Miami or Joanie Loves Chachi?)

This week's topic is branding, which I have found has brought out some interesting questions today.

I have been on Twitter for a couple of years now and ever since the big explosion of ebooks in libraries, I have found myself talking more and more professionally on Twitter, and now has carried over to my personal blog with some posts about OverDrive and ebooks. When CPD23 came along, I thought it would be the perfect chance to split off the more professional discussion and go back to keeping my blog full of books and yarn and chickens. I created a blog name that suited me (three gadgets plugged into the outlet as I type), have been thinking about sprucing it up, and deciding how much I want to post and the topics I am most interested in (ebooks, Web 2.0, technology). I can definitely brand myself this way.

However, I have realized something: aren't I already branded? I have been "booksNyarn" on the Internet for over four years now. I have my real name and real photo up in most places. I talk with other librarians, publishers, editors and companies on Twitter. My opinion pieces on ebooks and OverDrive have been some of the most read posts on my other blog (along with my desire for chickens), so why did I think I needed to recreate the wheel?

I followed Jo's advice on the CPD23 blog by searching my name in Google. It seems that Kristi Chadwick is not as uncommon as it could be, and the assorted spellings are enough to knock some of my results several pages in. However, then I added "libraries" to it, and that made it all me for the next couple of pages (although that photographer Kristie Chadwick sneaks in somehow). I was amazed to see how many results I had. In fact, I was surprised to find an April article from Library Journal which actually quoted from my blog, which I didn't know about until today. I am already branded this way.

Which is what brought me to thinking for this post. Am I creating a spin-off that can be successful, or is this going to fold after a season? CSI has made it work from Las Vegas to Miami to NY. Law & Order did it across police departments and the country.  I did love Happy Days when I was a kid, but everyone knew it was Richie and Fonzi that made that show work, not Joanie or Chachi.

Being a librarian is a large part of me, but is there really enough of me to go around? Should I keep trying to give myself two brands, or just evolve the one that is already established? Should I fold this one back into the other blog, keep it for this project, keep going with it? Go ahead and take a look at my earlier posts here and at my other blog. What do you think?

Thing 2 Update: Visiting Blogs

It has been a little difficult for me this week to visit as many blogs as I have wanted to. I have been able to get to about a half-dozen for commenting. With several hundred participants, I am sure that I have not found half a quarter?) as many as I would like. I will keep checking out blogs through the remainder of the weeks with the help from CPD23's Delicious bookmark. The tagging they have done has been very useful, and while I admit to have just been going through the US bloggers to start, there are so many international librarians that I want to check out and see what similarities and differences there are in work with colleagues from other countries.

I was interested to see that I have the only blog tagged as "automation network". I guess I am the only librarian in a consortium participating? I do miss working within a library, although I have been thrilled with the opportunities I have received for expanding my technology skills. I have learned to build Drupal websites, rip apart html code, digitize two-dimensional materials, and still do some collection development with our OverDrive collection. Right now I am testing the new online catalog from Evergreen as our first group of libraries get prepared to migrate next week. Working with the consortium also broadens my perspective of what librarians need for services in different fields: public, academic, school and special. Unfortunately we cannot always provide a perfect balance to our service, but I strive to find out what the libraries need and help tailor it to their population.

Does your library belong to a consortium?

CPD23: Thing 1 and Thing 2

Who doesn't love a Dr. Seuss reference?

This week kicks off Week One of 23 Things for Professional Development. As I indicated in my opening post, 23 Things is aimed at introducing tools that could help development (professionally and personally) as a librarian or information professional.

I decided to participate, and create this new blog, because of my work as a librarian. I don't work in a library anymore. I work for an automation network that provides ILS (integrated library system) and other technology services for about 150 libraries in central and western Massachusetts. My official title is Access Services Supervisor and I oversee the department that handles the online catalog, digital repository, reference databases, OverDrive digital catalog and online presence (website, intranet, Facebook page). Beyond that my department is part of a larger group that handles any helpdesk calls for library staff support with the library management system. We are in the middle of a crunch time as we get ready to migrate to the open-source system Evergreen in two stages in July and October.

Since time is of the essence, I wanted to participate in CPD23 on my own time and pace. While some of the tools that will be introduced I am familiar with, others I am not and probably wouldn't have as much of a chance at a guided tour of them without this program. I hope to not only be a resource for colleagues who may want this information in my consortium, but use them myself as I start speaking more and more. This year I presented for the first time at a conference, and I have stepped into a leadership role in the Massachusetts Digital Commonwealth. I am looking forward to continuing to develop professionally.

This week's topics are Thing 1: Blogs and Blogging and Thing 2: Investigate Other Blogs. I am well-seasoned in the first topic as I have been blogging for almost four years at Books, Yarn, Ink and Other Pursuits. This is blog has seen a transition from strictly personal to personal and book reviews, and I have been very pleased with its direction. There are many wonderful book bloggers out there, but I wasn't finding blogs about the topics I like to read and get recommended to, so I started doing some of my own. It also brings me back to reading and gives me a connection back to the work I used to do in public libraries in acquisitions and reader's advisory. While I have some professional blogs in my feeds, I am pleased that CPD23 gives us access to Delicious bookmarks of all the participants for Thing 2.  There are several hundred participants, and the bookmarks have been tagged by specialty (public, academic, corporate, network, location, etc).

If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. Thank you for stopping by!