So, incredibly, I've been in Cambridge for six months which means I'm halfway through my graduate trainee year! Needless to say, it's gone by very quickly, and as I think you can tell from reading my blog, I'm still really enjoying myself. Exciting news - I had my letter of acknowledgment back from UCL at the weekend, so I will most definitely be off to London next year for my Library and Information Studies MA!
Also, this means I've been blogging and have been on twitter for six months too!
In the space of about a week at the end of August I went from creating my twitter account because it seemed like something I should be doing, to knowing it was
absolutely something I should be doing. For me now it's the number one way of keeping up to date with library related things. I tend to catch up with my friends outside of work on facebook, and use twitter to network and chat to other librarians, with a little bit of crossover between the two. Number one on my
11 Things for 2011 was to tweet more frequently instead of being a passive listener. I've definitely been tweeting more since then - whether I'm saying anything worthwhile is another matter!
Keeping this blog has been useful in several ways. It's great to have a record of what I've done this year that's more detailed than the Excel spreadsheet I'm keeping at work. It's made me part of another group (the echochamber of library bloggers!) that while it's great to break out once in a while, it's also brilliant to be "in the tent" with other like-minded people. Thirdly I've just enjoyed writing, and I think I'm getting better at it as I go along.
I think I've said before that librarians as a group are one of the most welcoming, friendly and (obviously) helpful bunches around. Online and offline I felt straight away like part of the profession - there's no exclusion because I'm just a noob while others have been doing it their whole lives. So thanks everyone :)
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In the space of about a week at the end of August I went from creating my twitter account because it seemed like something I should be doing, to knowing it was absolutely something I should be doing. For me now it's the number one way of keeping up to date with library related things. I tend to catch up with my friends outside of work on facebook, and use twitter to network and chat to other librarians, with a little bit of crossover between the two. Number one on my 11 Things for 2011 was to tweet more frequently instead of being a passive listener. I've definitely been tweeting more since then - whether I'm saying anything worthwhile is another matter!
Don't thank us, we should be thanking you! It's great to have you around :) (Not that I'm much more experienced at this getting involved lark than you are...)
ReplyDeleteHehe yes but you're involved in everything!
ReplyDeleteHere's to a great 2nd half - and to nurturing your networking habits further when you don your new hat!
ReplyDeleteChallenging times to move into libraries. Believe digital editions of books are starting to outsell paper copies on Amazon. Who is going to record/keep all this digital 'wordage'? We have Pepys' Diary... but what about Stephen Fry words of wisdom on twitter?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think they were selling something like 125 digital copies for every 100 paper copies. There are a few "archive the internet" projects around, but since web content is being made WAY faster than it can be read, they aren't going to be very comprehensive! So yep, challenging, but exciting!
ReplyDelete