Flying the flag for solos

Just back from the EARLI SIG 9 Phenomenography and Variation Theory conference in Jönköping, Sweden, which took place on 27th and 28th August 2012. I took part in a symposium on phenomenographic interviews and could present some of the findings of my PhD thesis on one-person librarians and their conceptions of "continuing professional development". Although the purpose of the symposium was to highlight our experiences with interviewing people in different languages, we also gave short overviews of our respective research projects. Mine was obviously about OPLs - for an abstract click here: EARLI SIG 8 Phenomenography and Variation Theory: Conference abstracts

Library champions

Two excellent pieces in the Irish Times on the importance of libraries this week - Saturday's edition saw an essay by Dermot Bolger, poet and novelist, who I have heard reading before. A very engaging and witty writer. He described public libraries as the last truly democractic spaces existing for all citizens of the state. Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin, highlighted the threatened merger of the National Library, the National Archives and the Irish Manuscripts Commission in Tuesday's paper. He argued that these three institutions served completely different purposes and that no money would be saved. As a past user of some of these organisations I could not agree more. OPLs know how difficult budget negotiations are and we often rely on our colleagues in bigger libraries, so we should show solidarity whenever we can.

Interview with Juergen Plieninger

Interview with Dr. Juergen Plieninger, a German OPL expert, available on the Goethe-Institut website (in German). When asked about the future developments in one-person libraries in Germany, he pointed towards the importance of Web 2.0 and social media. He suggested using technology for internal communication and work organisation as well as public relations. He is a member of the "BIB Kommission (One-Person librarians)", which is part of "Berufsverband Information Bibliothek", a German library association with more than 6000 members.

23 things for professional development is back!

An easy and effective way of keeping up with your professional development is "23 things for professional development", run by professional librarians. You will find weekly suggestions, which are easy to follow and don't take much time. A great tool for OPLs!

Presentation on CPD for OPLs

Just back from the CILIP Ireland / LAI Annual Joint Conference 2012 in Belfast! A great conference, great networking, very well organised. Gave a paper there on some of the findings of my thesis. Great feedback!

Resource list for solo librarians

Just came across a list of resources for solo librarians. SWALL,the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries in the US, published this document, which highlights books and journal articles about solo librarianship. It also contains links to associations and a weblog. A good selection of practical tips for the one-person librarian!

Social meta search

Came across SocialMention today*! ____________ From its website: Social Media Alerts Like Google Alerts but for social media. Receive free daily email alerts of your brand, company, CEO, marketing campaign, or on a developing news story, a competitor, or the latest on a celebrity. ___________ You can search across Flickr, Youtube, Google, Twitter, Facebook etc. --------------- *(Thanks to Juergen Plieninger in BuB:)

Similar ideas?

Just came across this site while reading Phil Bradley's column in CILIP's Update: Similarpages.com. Great idea - you type in an URL address and receive suggestions of similar websites. Reminds me of my days as a Children's Librarian when desperate parents asked for other books "like the one you gave me, the one that little Johnny wouldn't put down!"

Inside your search

Having fun with this... Wanna know what really happens when you are using a search engine? Check it out!

Public libraries in Ireland

Irish public libraries report over 16 million visits each year! Watch the film here!

Reflecting on mentoring

Catching up with 23 things for professional development at the moment.

Mentoring is quite close to my heart. Recently I became a mentor with CILIP and am really enjoying it! My mentee also works as an OPL. Because we are based in different cities we conduct most of our business by email and phone.

It's a great way of reflecting on your own practice. And you get a new perspective by examining someone else's work.

Mentoring works really well for OPLs. We don't have other LIS professionals in the vicinity, but there are plenty of opportunities within our networks.

Give it a try!

LibGuides Community

It has been around for a while, but I am still amazed by what can be found here - LibGuides taps into the collective brains of thousands of our colleagues. You can check out guides, articles and tutorials on hundreds of topics.

A great resource for the busy OPL!

LibGuides Community

Friday silliness

Just got this link from a friend:)

Lady Gaga, Librarian?
iSchool in Washington has the answer!
Watch this video:)

Professional associations for OPLs

Being physically isolated from your peers does not mean that you can't be in touch with your profession.

There are several professional associations out there that solo librarians can join, e.g. the Special Libraries Association has a Solo Librarians Division.

Even if you are not a member you can still read their newsletter.

Most national library associations don't have a dedicated OPL group - perhaps it's time to start one?

Playing with Tagcrowd

More ideas for OPLs and how to increase visability:

Playing with Tagcrowd at the moment. This could be used in the library brochure, as a poster, for bookmarks - the list is really endless. As an example I used the abstract of my PhD and created the following:

achieve analysis barriers based cpd develop different distinct experiences holistic importance informal ireland job keep learning level librarians library lifelong literature longer one-person opinions opl overcome people perceptions profession professional published qualitatively ranging skills study target various view ways workplace

created at TagCrowd.com

Twitter and RSS feeds

This is week 4 of the "23 things for Professional Development" course. We are now looking at Twitter and RSS feeds and a thing called "Pushnote", which I can't use as it's not supported by Internet Explorer. Never mind.

I've been using RSS feeds for quite some time now. Find them extremely handy to keep up with websites. A very useful tool for the busy OPL.

As for Twitter... mmmhh... here in the Academic & Special Libraries Section of the LAI we've been using it for a number of years now as part of our outreach activities. Some committee members are more active than others. I personally am not really a Twitterer (is that the noun used?) - it's really a question of time and technology. You do need a smart phone with Internet access. Mine is of the ancient clan of "only phones and texts":) Also find it very hard to keep to the word limit...

Value and impact of LIS in further education

CILIP has just published a great selection of resources that demonstrate the value and impact of library and information services in further education.

Some bits and pieces in there for OPLs.

Anatomy of a librarian

Mmmmhh.... looking at the brain I'm wondering... where is the "chocolate centre" located?

++ Click to Enlarge Image ++

Source: Master Degree Guide

First post!

Taking part in 23 things for professional development. What a great idea - trying out new things without leaving the library! Very handy for one-person settings.