12 apps for 12 days during the 12 days of library Christmas....ahhh!

Well hello everyone!

After completing CPD23 and bravely announcing I would carry on blogging, I then completely failed to ever post again...until now that is.

Why am I reviving this blog? Well, there are many reasons actually:

1. I feel out of touch with the librarian community and that I'm working in a vacuum. This is not a good feeling. Blogging forces me to take time out for reflection, and for learning new things. Also, some nice library folk might turn out to be a bit interested in my blog, maybe.
2. I am going to do the 12 apps of Christmas this year! Having not really thought about my digital presence for a while (hence the vacuum) I realise I am now completely out of touch and have been missing things. Maybe the 12 apps of Christmas will help me rectify that.
3. Finally, I am slightly lying when I say I haven't blogged at all in recent times - in fact I've just set up a new blog for UEA Library called 'The 12 days of library Christmas', in which we are going to showcase one of our resources each day for the next 12 days. Fun, right? Well, if I can manage that, then I can jolly well write my own blog as well. Here's hoping anyway.

So, the first app of Christmas is Onenote, and it just so happens that I've used that extensively for many years now. I shall post about that later today I think. 

For now, for anyone contemplating their own connected-ness with the other members of their profession, here are my CPD promises for 2016:

• Tweet more - and reply to people's tweets. Lurking is all very well and good but it's much better to actually be involved.
• Blog - my thoughts, what I'm up to, my research, essentially keeping a record of things I achieve so I remember it all.
• Go to conferences and talk to real people. It's extremely refreshing to get out of my own silo and go and bother some other folks who turn out to have exactly the same problems, and maybe some creative solutions I haven't thought of before.
• Read - probably not much as there simply isn't time, but perhaps, rather than just bookmarking articles of interest and never looking at them again, I might take two minutes to skim the contents instead.

Wish me luck!

In need of advice.

Thing 11 is about mentoring, which I think ties nicely into the themes of career progression and a lot of the professional development stuff I discussed in my last post.

So, following this theme...I am about to change my career-and life-in a pretty massive way!

Today is my penultimate day as Academic Liaison Librarian at the University of Worcester, and on Monday I'll be starting a new role as Faculty Librarian at the University of East Anglia. For anyone whose geography is as shaky as mine: yes, they are on separate sides of the country. I am thrilled to be joining the team at UEA, and looking forward to the (pretty steep!) learning curve and set of challenges ahead of me, but I'll admit to some trepidation about starting a new life in a new city - it's a lot to do all in one go!

So, I ask myself, if I had a mentor, how would this have shaped my career and choices so far, including the rather massive decision to uproot my life?

I'm not sure why I don't have a mentor. I'm familiar with the concept, and have met several professional colleagues over the years who I have admired greatly and listened carefully to their advice. Perhaps the fact that so far in my career I seem to have been moving around a lot is a factor in my deciding not to have a formal mentor? Or perhaps it's easier to keep my thoughts, fears, joys and apprehensions in my head rather than sharing them with someone who may have a different opinion? Or, worse of all, admit the possibility of establishing a relationship with someone who I could then potentially disappoint! 

Reading Meg's thoughtful and rather persuasive blog post I felt a sense of loss that I had not allowed the continuity of a more senior and experience voice to inform and reflect on my choices and decisions. It's not that I think I'd have done anything differently, but the idea of having someone to discuss my professional thoughts and choices with is actually very appealing when you stop and think about it. And I would love to think that one day in the future I'd be in a position to mentor someone else in the field.

So watch out Norwich, I'm on my way, and I may just be at a stage in my life to stop, think, reflect and ask for someone else's interest and input along the way. 

Reflecting on reflecting

Adrift by Pascal B on Flickr 

As a chronic over-thinker with a natural inclination to scrutinize everything I do, you'd think I'd be looking forward to this 'thing', feeling that it's second nature to me.

Well no actually. I have many mental barriers that make me what to scribble over the words 'Reflective Practice' with a thick black pen. Firstly, thinking is tiring. No really, it is. And the idea that I need to do even more of it...no thanks. Secondly, why should I have to form my thoughts into a coherent pattern? I've been thinking for nearly 28 years so I feel well practiced - so why do I suddenly need a framework for thinking? Finally, there are so many elements to professional development now that require a portfolio, keeping a record, compiling evidence...and to extend this to even my thoughts and the intensely personal nature of it all seems like a level of commitment and depth I'm not sure I feel immediately comfortable with. 

But despite these objections, I also think I'm wrong on all three points! Here's why:

• The ability to reflect critically on experiences can be an extremely powerful tool for keeping an open mind, trying new experiences and responding positively to peer-observation. 
• A framework for thinking actually helps take the strain out of reflective practice - it provides a way of documenting your experiences in a manner that constantly moves you forward. 
• Emptying your head in a productive way is much healthier than letting thoughts swirl around with no outlet!
• Keeping a journal, or blog, or record of your reflection provides a basis for professional dialogue on interesting issues, and can also surprise you when your feelings or opinions change.

When I started in my post as a liaison librarian, I used a Pebblepad journal to keep tabs on my thoughts and feelings with regard to my teaching practice. I used to write down what I had done, what I felt went well and what could have been improved, and then try and incorporate some positive changes into my next teaching event. After a while I stopped because the process became quite automatic for me, and actually writing it down took time that I didn't have. Ironically, I'm now in a position where I'm trying to package up my teaching sessions into a coherent programme for embedding into a first year undergraduate program, and I'm wishing I'd kept a record of some of the reflections that led me to change and progress my sessions in the way that I did!

So I feel like I'm actually just starting out as a reflective practitioner, and have a lot of learning and practice to do, both in terms of theory and in terms of what works best for me. Recently I've found this presentation on The Teaching Librarian in Education by Claire McGuinness very inspiring. I hope that this blog will become a space where I can reflect on my work, interact with others and keep a record of my development...we shall see!