Thing 14: Zotero / Mendeley / citeulike

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cpd23

Every so often, I am asked about the availability of reference management software. Usually this is by people who have come from the academic sector where site licences to things like Endnote are available. This is not usually the case in the NHS. I have been recommending Mendeley as a free reference management package. But now Zotero is available as a standalone package (in beta). Previously it only worked in Firefox, which was not an option for the NHS. It now supports Chrome and Safari, again not authorised for the NHS. Compatibility with Internet Explorer, the default browser of the NHS, is still awaited. However the desktop version operates independently of a browser.

Trying out the desktop version, I particularly like the fact that it becomes an addon to MS Office allowing citations to be added in a variety of styles. Bibliographies are easy to create, it is difficult to include abstracts.

I will definitely be recommending Zotero to library users who need a free reference management package.

Thing 13: Google Docs, Wikis and Dropbox

I have used Google Docs, most recently for the PCC Commissioning Zone Ask an Expert Pilot. It is useful to be able to collaborate on documents when we are different networks. On the same network, at GEH, Sharepoint 2007 allows collaboration on documents, which works best if you have Office 2007 installed.

Our West Midlands Library website (WISH) functions using wiki technology, although it is quite locked down.

I can see the attraction of Dropbox for moving files too big for email, although memory sticks are very cheap. I haven’t tried it because of the requirement to install it.

Thing 12 – Putting the social into social media

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cpd23

I have made some new contacts through LinkedIn, but they haven’t developed into meaningful relationships yet. In my opinion you can’t beat face to face. For example I had read Alan Fricker’s blog, but meeting him at HLG 2010 created a relationship however tenuous. Of course in these straitened times, travelling to meetings is more difficult. However, once  a relationship is there, teleconferences work fine.

I have made contact with some new people through Cpd23, but they are still largely pseudonyms at the moment, even if I know a little bit about them.

I guess it takes time, and time for commenting on other people’s blogs and responding to tweets takes time. I still don’t know whether I will continue the blogging after the end of Cpd23. It does take quite a lot of effort.

Thing 11: Mentoring

I agree that it would be good to have a professional mentor. When I worked at the University of Leicester Library, one was assigned to me from a different department. That was quite helpful, although I was only there six months. It would be good to have one now, but the question is how to find one.

I do meet one of the elders at my church every couple of months to talk over how things are going, but that is much broader than just professional life. It is good to have an honest friend to chat to about what is happening in my life.

Thing 10 – Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

Entering my third year studying a BA in Ancient and Modern History at Oxford University, I was unsure what to do next. I was looking through a booklet of graduate career opportunities, when I saw an entry for Graduate Trainees through the Library Association (as it then was – 1998). I had been a volunteer in my school library (Maidstone Grammar School), but before then the the idea of a career in libraries hadn’t occured to me. To be honest, what appealed was the ability to continue to work in a university environment for another year, followed by a Masters. I got the list off the LA website and started applying.

When I started getting interviews, I realised I was on the right track, and eventually I was accepted by the Albert Sloman Library at the University of Essex. My year in Colchester was very interesting. It was divided between Cataloguing, Periodicals and Inter-Library Loans. We had talks on other aspects of academic librarianship by different members of staff, and a few visits.

After Essex, I studied for my Masters at Loughborough University Department of Information Science. This was an excellent course, which gave me a good grounding in Librarianship and Information Science. Six months was the taught course and six months on the dissertation.

On finishing I thought I was set for a career in academic libraries, but after a short -term post at the University of Leicester working on their collection management policy and some temping positions, I ended up as a Library Assistant in the NHS. My big break, through God’s provision, was a six-month maternity leave Assistant Librarian post at Leicester General Hospital. Since then I have undertaken a variety of posts in the NHS and am now Clinical Librarian at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust. I like working in the NHS, because one is part of a multi-disciplinary team supporting care for sick people. I enjoy helping people find the information they need.

I gained Chartered membership of CILIP in 2005. I found it a helpful process to reflect over my career and future goals. I can’t say whether it has helped my career. I am now thinking about revalidation as it has been set as one of my goals for the year in my Personal Development Review. One of the difficulties here is that although there is a lot of support for Chartership, there is not much for revalidation, probably because fewer people are doing it.

Thing 9: Evernote

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cpd23

As Evernote requires installation, I was not able to try it out at work without involving IT. I have to say that I couldn’t see an application for this in my way of working. If I have to make notes, I use a notebook, but rarely do I consult them again.

Thing 8: Google Calendar

Tags

cpd23

I am a bit behind in CPD 23 because of holidays and big tasks that needed doing, but I am hoping to catch up today.

I had a look at Google calendar. It was quite interesting and I can see there would be advantages from being able to access one’s calendar from any machine. However I can already do this at work using Microsoft Outlook. It’s calendar feature can be shared with other people on the same network. For public calendars we have Microsoft Sharepoint 2007, which is OK. For room bookings we use a Bookwise, which is designed for that purpose.

At home, the authoritative calendar is hanging from the wall. This allows consultation or addition without the need to switch any device on. Well if paper works, why adopt a new technology?!!

Thing 7: Face-to-face networks and professional organisations

Tags

cpd23

I find face-to-face networks and professional organisations far more useful than online networks. It is easier to have a conversation face-to-face, although distance might make it rarer. I am a member of CILIP and my membership of the Health Libraries Group has been especially valuable. I have learned a great deal from the professional publications, and even published myself on a couple of occasions. The conferences and other training events I have attended with them have always been excellent, and presenting myself has raised my professional profile. No new jobs though!

I am also a member of EAHIL (European Association for Health Information and Libraries). Their journal is very interesting, but I haven’t been to any of their conferences because of the cost. I am more of a lurker in this group.

Most of my networking has been with other local and regional NHS Librarians. This kind of networking often has concrete results in the form of joint projects. Whether the latter will survive changes to Deaneries as part of the NHS reforms remains to be seen.

Thing 6: Online networks

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cpd23

I have experience of two online networks: LinkedIn and CILIP Communities.

I appreciate the importance of LinkedIn as it the first result for my name on Bing and second for Google. I try to make contact with as many people as possible through it (45 as of today). The email update system is useful as I find out what other people in my network have been up to. The forums part is less useful as whenever I click on the link in the email I am taken to the start of the thread. I am a member of the CILIP group, which is more useful than the CILIP Communities closed site. I haven’t visited that one for months.

Facebook is blocked at my work, and I don’t have the time to engage with it properly at home.

Thing 5: Reflective practice

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cpd23

Since I began the CILIP Chartership process in 2002, I have sought to implement reflective practice, which I continued after Chartering in 2005. I write a short appraisal of every training event I attend. I have to say that improved practice has not been as much as I would have liked. Tackling the accumulated backlog of work that has amassed while I have been away tends to dissipate my momentum. It takes self-discipline to overcome this.