Gratitude

My how time flies!  It is so incredible to think that the year is nearly half way through.  It is time once again to reflect upon the things that matter in my life, and to be truly grateful for them.

1.  My poodle!  I was out  for the count yesterday with a migraine in my left eye, and my beloved, old poodle kept me company for the day.  It was so lovely having him snuggled up next  to me on the couch.    He turns 12 this year and has been one of the best things to have happened to our family.  We have had him for 9 years and took ownership of him from some people who were going to put him down.

2. A job.  I am truly grateful that I have a job.  It may not be the job I want as a librarian, but it is in the same industry, and it pays the bills! This week I have heard 2 heartbreaking stories of families who have lost jobs due to the current financial crisis, and listened in horror/awe as they try to get their lives back on track.

3. Learning new things.  I was lucky enough to spend a week out in Oakey at one of the regional libraries, and be on the receiving end of learning 'librarian' things.  It was great to be able to put into practice some of the theories that I learnt whilst at uni.  I am truly grateful to Fay, the librarian out there for sharing her knowledge so freely with me.

4. Hope.  Have been thinking about hope a fair bit this week, and the part it plays in our lives.  The hopes and dreams I have for my life and for my kids, for my country and for our world.  I have just finished a book about Joseph Fritzel, the man who locked his daughter and her children in a cellar for 24 years.  I wonder at what point she gave up hoping to be released? I wonder what her hopes and dreams are now, one year on.  Hope is a very powerful emotion, and I am still hopeful that one day I will find a job that utilises my degree.

5. Literacy.  I am so glad I can read and write.  I was thinking about this yesterday as I was unable to read for the day due to my migraine.  I am grateful to my parents for fostering my love of reading, I am sure it drove them crazy finding me still up reading by torchlight under the covers every night!  I hope (there is that word again) that I am instilling the love of reading writing and learning in both of my children.

Library and Information Week

Last week across Australia, Librarians and Information Professionals celebrated Library and Information Week , the aim of which is to 'raise the profile of libraries and information service professionals in Australia'(ALIA 2009).  It is a chance to promote the Library to the local community and to introduce new services or resources, and in all honesty, it is a chance to showcase the broad range of services that the library provides.

As an Associate member of Alia, I read with interest the theme for the week:  Libraries - Your passport to discovery - Connect, Access, Discover.  Alia gave examples of what Libraries from around the country had previously done to celebrate the week, and offered great ideas for  future events.  Our Young People's Team participated in National Simultaneous Storytime at 11am last Wednesday,  with Councillor Ros Scotney reading Pete the Sheep to a group of Prep, Year 1 and 2 students from a local school.

I decided to celebrate LIW in my own way. I talked about it on twitter, and enjoyed the Australia wide conversations.  I also decided to interview some of the parents and children who attend storytime at our library.  What better way to promote the library and its services than by the people who actually use them!

Library and Information week also saw me participate in my first New Generation Advisory Committee teleconference.  I was both overwhelmed and very excited to be part of that group.  I also had the privelege of giving my first radio interview with ABC Southern Queensland.  The conversation cenetred around Library and Information Week, technology and the services that our Library provides.  You can hear it here!!!
So, there you go. One new grad, not as yet employed as a librarian's attempt at celebrating Library and Information Week. Am looking forward to the next one....

SLQ's Week 6 Folksonomies and Tagging

This fortnight we are looking at tagging and folksonomies , and the tools that enable us to create and share our content.  I like the idea of tagging, and have been using tags for some years now to add what I perceive to be keywords,  that will help describe my content.  I love the word folksonomy, or the unstructured categorization scheme that tagging is part of.  It at first glance seems in direct contrast to the Library's taxonomy, or formal categorization scheme, but I think eventually we will end up with a combination of both.  One of my friends is writing an essay for her Grad Dip on this topic, and I have enjoyed discussing this topic with her.

I have rediscovered Del.icio.us, a social bookmarking tool that uses tags to bookmark my favourite web locations in the cloud.  This means I can access my information from which ever computer I choose to sign in on.  I have always meant to get around to using Delicious, but am determined to import my favourites from home and work and then retag them so I can always have access to them.  It is funny that as I write this I am following a discussion on twitter on this exact topic!

I have been using Technorati for a few years also, and have found it a great way to find new blogs on a certain subject.   What I love even more is the Technorati State of the Blogosphere an annual report that provides an in depth look at the who, what, when and where of blogging, how to use it for profit and how brands enter the blogosphere.  It is always a good read.

Library Thing is another web tool that uses tagging for classification.  I love my Library Thing account, and try each month to update it (though I sometimes forget).  It is a great way to keep track of what I have read, but also to find new authors.  I love scrolling through other people's accounts and reading their book titles.  I have often used this to source a new author!  Though this in no way compares to real conversations with customers as to their likes and dislikes and suggestions.  I can admit to actually reading and finishing my first Nora Roberts book on the advice of a customer just last week, and discovered Patricia Briggs and Linda Le Plante from conversations at the help desk! But Library Thing is truly the next best thing as it facilitates through tagging the 'if you like.... you will like ....'

 The Horizon report (2007) has this to say:

"A little group of Web 2.0 technologies—tagging and folksonomic tools, social bookmarking sites, and sites that make it easy to contribute ideas and content—is placing the power of media creation and distribution firmly into the hands of “the people formerly known as the audience” (Rosen, 2006). No longer satisfied to be consumers of content, today’s audience creates content as well. Producing, commenting, and classifying are just as important as the more passive tasks of searching, reading, watching, and listening."

I love this quote as it alludes to the notion of engagement, active participation. 'No longer satisfied to be consumers of content.... but creating content as well(Horizon Report, 2007).  Now if only we can provide services that allow our customers to do this!

SLQ Week 5 - RSS Feeds

Am up to Week 5 of the State Library of Queensland's Licence 2 Test Drive, and this week we are looking at RSS feeds.  I could not imagine living without RSS feeds as they are such a time saver.  I really like the following Youtube clip as it clearly explains what an RSS feed is, and why you would want one.



I have been using my Bloglines account now for over two years, and I could not imagine ever going back to the old way of looking for information.  My Bloglines account automatically retrieves updates and is separated into three different folders : a professional libraries folder encompassing library, librarian and library related blogs; a friend folder that tracks the lives of many of my online non-librarian friends and finally a news/weather and other interesting sites folder.  All of the information comes to me in one place, and I can view all blog posts or updated information whenever I want.

My Bloglines account is a vital professional tool, and it enables me to keep up to date with what is happening in Library land.  I follow blogs from information professionals from around the world, and this global perspective encourages me to think and do libraries with a broader/wider understanding, and from a deeper knowledge base.

I really like the Powerhouse Museum's Photo of the day blog.  This is such a great idea and is a wonderful way to share the amazing photos contained within their collections.  I think our local history library could do this, and share the story that the photo contains.  It is also a way to engage with the community as it promotes conversations and connectivity.

I am thinking of changing Feed readers at the moment, and exporting my Bloglines account into Google Reader as I have had a lot of trouble lately accessing my information.  I was sent this link via twitter after making a comment about the reader being offline again which explains some of their problems.

A week of discoveries....

I love being a librarian. I don't actually have a job as a librarian as yet, but I still love the possibilities of what could be. I love that part of what I need to do to keep relevant and up to date is keep learning! This week I discovered Audioboo , and my mind has been reeling with the potential. My twitter friend @dramagirl shared some thoughts about what she was doing with Audioboo, and I was intrigued. Above is a link to my second Audioboo, recorded using my iPhone at the Toowoomba City Library. It contains an interview with my friend and work colleague Kelly, talking about her SLQ's License 2 Test Drive online learning experience.

I would also like to use Audioboo to record interviews with some of the teens who attend our young writers group at our library. Also to record snippets of conversations with customers as to why they use our facilities/resources.  Also would be great for collecting oral histories as part of the Local History Collection. Imagine a link on a website that allows the user to hear an interview with a patron about a favourite book, or author, or service....

This week I also discovered the Columbus Metropolitan Library's 2008 Annual Report. Sounds boring? I don't think so! It is a visual representation of their report, and contains amazing interviews, news promos and conversations with staff, customers, friends of the library, board members and their executive director. What a wonderful marketing tool! Was a half an hour well spent.

I spend alot of time thinking about marketing and promoting our library, and read alot about organisational change. I discovered a quote this morning and was very taken by it. It was from a slideshare presentation on The New World of Word of Mouth . It talks about how to give customers an experience that they will want to talk about and share.

"You must decide what you stand for, and then align every one of your systems to reinforce it. You must recruit for it, you select for it, you orient for it, you train for it, you reward it, you promote for it, and you terminate those that don't have it"         John Young

Lastly, I turned 40 this week, and enjoyed a week of festivities! I also discovered a few things about myself. I am overwhelmingly grateful for the friends who share my life! Thanks to all for spoiling me so rotten. Thanks also to my many new friends who share my digital spaces. I am really loving the relationships that are being built there, and hope one day to meet IRL. I am also grateful to have such a wonderfully supportive family, who love me and encourage me to reach for the stars.  Thanks for everything.  Lastly, I discovered that I like being me, and  that being 40 is great :-))

Week 4 SLQ Licence to Test Drive

This fortnight we looked at social networking as part of the State Library's Licence 2 Test Drive .  I am particularly interested in this topic for marketing and promotion, and creating relationships with patrons/customers.  Just this week David Lee King posted a blog about the use of social networking tools both professionally and personally, and the fine line that divides the two.  It is a very good post, and worth a look.

Librarian Idol - in a post on a very similar theme - states, "So, here's one thing I'd like to see. If we're so focused on libraries using social media, then we need to train our librarians up on actual social networking skills for online communication".  He then gives 4 tips on how to do this.  Also a great blog post and worth reading.


I am personally involved in a few social networks, and my fav at the moment is twitter.  My account is a mix of both professional 'friends' within the library/online industry, and geographical 'friends' that live within my community. I have also been fortunate to meet up with some of my twitter 'friends', and have yet to be disappointed with the contact.


I am ever so grateful for my professional 'friends' who continue to educate, inform, inspire and encourage me to become not only a better person but a better librarian.  I am so glad that I work in a profession where most share so freely of their knowledge.  I am *loving* building online friendships with people from my local community.  I love that my 'friends' know that I am a librarian, and I enjoy answering questions and passing on any info that I can.  I especially like when they come into the library to say hi!!


Now for the shameless plug!  This last month month has seen me create a Ning network aimed at the teenage readers within our community.  We just released it this week, and still need to advertise heavily within the schools and at work.  It is called Virtual Libraria , and I will keep you posted!

Lest we forget

101 Field Battery

My dad was with the artillery

 Marching (in jeans) Toowoomba 2008

Today we celebrate Anzac Day in Australia.  Wikipedia  defines Anzac Day as a national public holiday that 'commemorates the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli during World War 1.'   Anzac Day is a time to reflect on the futility of war, and a time to remember the men and women from all the wars who fought,  and gave their lives for their country.

My dad is a Vietnam Vet.  I was unaware of this fact whilst growing up, and only found out when I was in Year 12.  I still don't really think I fully comprehend what that means, or all that he went through.  He decided to march for the first time ever in an Anzac Day Parade in 2007, and in 2008 my whole family attended a dawn service in Toowoomba to watch him march.  It was a very moving experience, and one that hopefully we will always remember.  This year he decided not to march.

I still remember one year stopping to buy a lapel pin when my son was little.  We looked at them all and he asked where the Vietnam pins were.  At that time there were none available, and my son said no thanks, he wanted one that remembered his Grandpa!  Out of the mouths of babes.  I am glad that these are available now.

As you go about your day today, please take a few minutes to reflect on the futility of war, and remember the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can be free.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Lest we forget.