A non-trad roar in the crowd

I know its been a long time since I last wrote on this blog. I can blame it on not having enough time in my life or for being too shy to write (both of which are sort of true). But the real reason is that I've not been inspired to write. But yesterday that all changed.

I've always found it difficult to get the voice of us non-trad librarians heard over the din of the library speak.  Yesterday was different. Yesterday the trad community sought me and my voice. The voice of the different - but the same.

@TheDIYLibrarian came to my office to find out what I do and how it relates to professional practice for her CILIP Chartership. And to her surprise (but not mine) the non-trad role I hold is a lot closer to the trad than she anticipated. But of course!

I often worried that what I do is seen not always seen as professional (though I don't know why I worry since I'm Chartered and passed first time). But it was good to see a real life person nod at the righ places; ask questions about my practice and acknowledge that what I do is professional.

So what next? Well my hope is that @TheDIYLibrarian won't be the last to visit.  I'm hoping she'll tell her friends and they'll tell their friends and people will get excited to visit and learn about non-trad information professionals.  So if you know of someone who needs to find out what we non-trads do, schedule a vist with us and ask us questions.  See how we're different - but also see our similarities!

Calm reflection

Thing 5 is nice and relaxed.  Reflecting on the things that come our way; learnings, situations, networks. Calm. Breathe in. Breathe out... Ahhh.

 

I'm a reflector by nature.  But the thing is I'm not one of those writter down-er reflector by nature.  I prefer a good internal monologue in my head.  I reflect on everything (if you haven't noticed by some of my posts) and in most cases, I'm ok with the results.  I get all hyped up at first, brain firing messages everywhere.  Then, after a bit of calm and cool collectedness, I really sit and think in a constructive way.  I've never gotten into the whole reflective writing thing. Though I had to do it for my CILIP Chartership I often had to do much of it retrospectively (don't take away my Chartership please! I meant what I wrote retrospectively!). Give me a good internal monologue any day! 


That being said, I do think there is a real value in the reflective process for evaluating work processes (less personal and more service oriented). I attended a knowledge management training session a few years ago and I really took to the after action review.  Its' a simple yet effective tool that asks you four questions:

What is it?
What is supposed to happen?
What actually happened?
What next?

Ok, ok, so it's super similar to most reflective practices... I just really like the way it handles the difference between expected and actual outcomes.

I guess my feeling about reflective writing practice depends on the situation.  I see a real value in evaluation and reflection both for services and for your own practice. But, I don't think there's a one-size fits all approach.  You have to ask yourself these questions when reflecting:

Who am I reflecting for? (Am I doing this for me or for someone else?)

What do I want the reflection to do? (Is it to evaluate myself or to influence others?)

What reflective method suit the situation? (Should I write a narrative? Will bullet points work? Is reflective thinking more suitable? What about a discussion? )

Do I have the time to reflect properly? (Do I have the time to sit and give the reflection justice? If I did it now would I be able to think objectively? Would there be a better time to do it?)

That's my two cents on reflective practice.

As for CPD23, well, it's forcing me to write reflectively these days. I'm getting out of my head a bit and sharing with you my followers. Hope you enjoy!

Would you be interested in me?

I need some help from you, my online network.  I want to present a paper at the CILIPS Autumn Gathering (Wednesday 12th October in Dunfermline - Plug!) but I'm not quite sure what people would find interesting.

This year's themes are 

• Digital Developments 
• Learning and Doing
• Looking ahead

I can probably add something to each theme, but I don't know if I can add much. 

I'm working on an interactive map of services, but I don't do the digital bits, I just do the information bits. So does that rule out Digital developments?

Or how about Learning and doing ... I've recently Chartered (go MCLIP!) but would people be interested in hearing how I went about Chartering in a non-traditional sector?

Does setting up and maintaining small bespoke library collections count as Learning and Doing?  I set up a library in my old work and then in this role I'm working with our library team to enhance our regional collections. I mean I've created bespoke classification systems for both my old role and my new.

Looking ahead ... looking ahead... I can't really think I can add anything that fits into this theme. So I guess that's a no goer.

Right, your task as my network is to give me feedback on my suggested themes.  Do they work? Would you be interested in hearing about them? Or are they kinda dud.  I was told that case studies are popular!  Bear in mind I would need to speak for 50 minutes so would you be interested in sitting through a long presentation about me?! 

And ... go!