Firstly, a bit about me... I'm currently working as an Assistant Librarian at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol. My specialism is working as the Repository Manager, organising and developing the university's institutional repository (it's sneakily called the UWE Research Repository). For those who don't know, instutional repositories are now being used by a number of universities (and other organisations) to promote the research that happens within the institution and, wherever possible (subject to copyright laws etc.), to give free, instant access to that research (for anyone and everyone) via the Internet. I strongly believe in the principals of open access, so it makes the job a fitting one for me.
As for how this blog came about, it's all because of the 23 Things for Professional Development course. When I received an e-mail telling me all about a free online CPD course this summer, I thought it sounded like an interesting thing to do. And I really liked the idea of having a chance to professionally develop myself without having to leave my desk!
Taking a look at the sorts of things on offer, I already felt like I had some knowledge of a lot of them. I already have an online presence, spend a fair amount of my time reflecting and networking, and (don't think) I'm too badly organised. But there always seems to be more to learn, and the things on presenting information and getting involved especially caught my eye.
Additionally, my online presence isn't currently geared specifically towards my professional self. I already have two blogs, but chose to start a new one as part of cpd23. This was so I'd finally have a place to point people I work with in the library world to. Much as I love watching and blogging about movies, it's not very relevant to my work!
Hello from across the pond - I'm another one who feels like some of the 23 things may be a bit review, but thinks there is always something more to learn. (I also had hidden my blog for a while because I was embarrassed I didn't use it - so I've hid all my old posts for now and "resurrected" it for CPD23 - I read a lot of blogs, I'm just not very good at blogging...)
ReplyDeleteIt is funny though sometimes what else comes in handy - I don't consider myself one who is widely knowledgeable on movies and tv, just really into the ones I like, but I've gotten the rep at our library as being the librarian who has the answers for that kind of thing, so I do occasionally get to put my other interests to good use, so I would say your movie blog may not be quite as irrelevant to your work as you might think - might surprise you one day!
Hi, I share a lot of your points. I also have blogs for other uses, so have started a work focussed one which will present a slightly more professional version of myself! I hope you enjoy the course - I do already :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Anna,
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the people maintaining the Delicious list of cpd23 bloggers. I'm adding an extra tag for digital repositories (http://www.delicious.com/cpd23/digitalrepositories)- is it OK if I add that tag to your listing?
Katie
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteYes, that's fine- please go ahead and add a digital repository tag to my Delicious listing.
Anna
Done!
ReplyDeleteKatie