http://connect.ala.org/files/Infographics%20Poster.pdf

I would really like to try this as an assessment task. Great idea from Loyola University.
The rubric is also available. 

I have recently returned from a hectic and inspiring 10 days in Perth, where I attended two library conferences and one unconference. All three events were terrific. 

Alialibtec  ALIA National Library & Information Technicians Conference

Top 3 takeaways

Photo: Social Board staying connected offline 

• Shhhh - the secret to a good presentation is answering the following two questions - what do you have that the audience wants and what is it that your talk is going to do? (Dr Lisa Cluett) 
• To start a conversation when networking - the top 12 talking topics include the weather, sport, travel, current news, health/fitness, environment, entertainment/hobbies, work/business, shared situations, food/lifestyles and family (http://www.confident-woman.com.au/)

Networking at #ALIALibTec fabulous - library educators, friends and colleagues from past lives #newfriends #oldfriends

NLS5 - New Librarians Symposium

Photo: Stitching at NLS5

Top 3 takeaways:

• Please see Ruminations, Virtually a Librarian and Librarians Matter for more on NLS5 
• Curation is the next big thing in Libraries and Education (@malbooth) 
• Don't worry failure is okay - play, fail, learn 
• What is the hidden rule book in your profession/job/life? Now can you break those rules or rewrite them! (@libsmatters). Know what you can change and what you can't. 

Libcampoz

Photo: the LibcampOz participants

Top 3 takeaways

• Courage is rewarded
• Our profession is filled with dynamic, smart, wonderful and funny people
• Take calculated risks

Take a look at @Lyndelle's wordle from libcampOz. It is a nice summary of what was going on.

The good news is that we are planning LibcampOz2012 in Melbourne on Friday 10 Febuary 2012. More details to follow shortly. 

Peace

 

I am in Perth for the following:

ALIA Library Technician's conference
New Librarians Symposium
Library Camp Australia

The weather is fantastic the people are friendly. Yesterday's workshop by Dr Lisa Cluett on presenting was excellent.

I am off on library tours today. Expect photos.

Graffiti in academic libraries is usually confined to the toilets but with art and design students on campus some times they get creative. I actually like this. Please note the image has been digitally altered to keep it "G-rated". It was left on one of the sign holders outside a discussion room. It will be cleaned off and replaced. A shame. But I thought I would share it with you first.

An amazing informal learning network has sprung up amongst some of the tweeple I follow on Twitter. Most work in or with libraries in Australian and New Zealand.

Some of the information learning activities so far this year are:

1. Blogeverydayofjune - kicked off my @flexnib. A challenge to improve blogging.
2. 1pict1thoughtinAug - kicked off by @restructuregirl. A challenge to learn more about Flickr
3. Positivesep - kicked off by @katclancy. A challenge to look for the positive in our lives and share it in tweets

Next month it looks like we are going to be video blogging using 12second.tv. I will let you know the tag to follow. 

The benefits of this informal learning is:

1. Ease of sharing links through Twitter
2. Peer support from other participants 
3. Keeping up-to-date with new learning technologies
4. A sense of fun 

As a result of this informal learning network my colleagues on another campus have started using screencasts and 12second.tv to make training videos for a new staff member. It is a great team building exercise and put some fun back into work. Social media has opened up new opportunities to learn in the workplace. Maybe this kind of learning network is applicable to your workplace. 

Finally, my hearties a number of library folk and others will be participating in #piratehatsWednesday. Another @restructuregirl initiative. Post your photos on Twitter or make a 12seconds.tv video and share it with the world. More information is available on Ruth Baxter's blog. 

 

 

 

I have decided to participate in library day in the life. For those of you who are new to this blog my name is Kim and I am the Information Services Manager at Prahran campus of Swinburne University. Essentially I am responsible for running a small campus library in an Australian university. We have a student cohort of about 5000 on campus and there are 12 libary staff including myself.

Day one:

Yesterday was a day of meetings:

1. Our monthly Information Resources Strategic Team meeting - a meeting of all the Library Senior Management. We discussed budgets, projects, off-site storage, staffing, space, strategic direction, risk management, occupational health and safety, professional development and much more
2. Project team meeting - we are creating online learning objects for a generic library skills program. This meeting was to storyboard a comic strip

The University is multicampus so I spent my day at the main campus. At lunch time I was able to go to the Library's craft group which is rare. This week is busy:

• Interviewing for a vacant position
• Writing a paper
• More project meetings
• Research for projects I am working on
• plus the day to day operations of the library

If you are interested in knowing more about what librarians are doing around the world check out librarydayinthelife.

Yesterday's post Libraries & librarians from pop culture: a subjective top 5  got the ball rolling.  As suggested I am going to extend the list:

The Mummy (1999)

Listen here to one of the most wonderful quotes about being a librarian ever from Evelyn 'Evy' Carnahan played by Rachel Weisz. I enjoyed the first Mummy movie, great fun for a night in. Wonderful special effects and not only do you get to spend some time with the beautiful Rachel Weisz, there is also the lovely Brendan Fraser and John Hannah.

Rick: What are you doing here?
Evelyn:  Look I...I may not be an
explorer or...or an adventurer or a treasure seeker
or a gunfighter MISTER O'Connell, but I am proud
of what I am.
Rick: And, what is that?
Evelyn: I...am a librarian. (ArcadiaClips.com) 

My Morning Jacket - Librarian

Love the band and the song... any band that can use periodicals and The Carpenters has got my vote.

Pagemaster (1994)

Taking refuge in a library leads to all sorts of adventures for a small, anxious boy featuring the voices of Whoopi, Christopher Lloyd (Mr Dewey), Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Macaulay Culkin.

The movie is watchable. I agree there is much unexplored potential in the premise but the voice talent is awesome.

Harry Potter (2001)

All the best and most dangerous spell books are kept in the restricted section of the Library at Hogwarts. Without Hermonie's research skills Harry would be lost. The library scenes for the first two movies are filmed in the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library. I read all the Harry Potter books and have seen all the movies.

The Librarians (ABC)

I have to mention Australia's own The Librarians because a number of real Australian librarians have appeared in the last two series and yours truely will be in the next series (if I managed to get on camera). Find out more about my days on set here. Day 2 was a blast.

That makes 10. If you are interested in pop culture references to libraries and librarians there are a lot of people writing about the image of librarians:Spectacles: how pop culture views librarians is a good read. Check out the comments on yesterday's post for other great librarians/libraries in pop culture.

A quick lunch time post. Just a few photos of Spuffy (the name smoosh of Buffy and Spike). Spuffy evidently is a form of fan/fiction. Thanks to sallysetsforth for introducing me to this new term. These were made especially for maxcelcat who I met at a bike maintenance course and what do you know he has a family connection to libraries. Spuffy is now finished. It will be hard to say goodbye to them.

Yesterday I ventured out to Dandenong for a workshop called the next 23 things run by the LIT group of VATL. The workshop was an opportunity for TAFE liaision librarians to talk about what has happened since TAFE library staff completed 23 Things or Library 2.0. It was a time to reflect on whether it has resulted in better/new services and/or ways of working.

I was thrilled to hear that many of the librarians present are using social to build on their professional networks. Only three people in the room still blog but many libraries are using elements of 2.0 in the workplace:

• NMIT are using delicious to share websites with teachers and students
• Swinburne are playing with organisation microblogging service Yammer and using facebook
• Many TAFE libraries use an organisational blog to promote services
• Many are also using wikis internally for training and sharing resources
• RSS feeds are still very popular
• Some people are learning about Moodle to get up to speed on what is happening in elearning
• Chisholm are about to launch their new website/catalogue
• Box Hill gave us a demo of LibGuides

Participants also took the opportunity to share some of the exciting technologies they are playing with like:

• goanimate.com
• www.diigo.com

There was discussion about augmented reality and the Library of the future.

The LIT group are on facebook so you can become fans :o)

I had an ah-ha moment when I used an interactive whiteboard for the first time. I think I am in love. I now am trying to work out our to get one for the library. Thinking hats on folks.

Maha one of our terrific Swinburne TAFE liaison librarians shared this with the group (paraphrased):

Don't let all the new technologies overwhelm you.  Pick one or two that you really like and spend some time getting to know how to use it and think about how you can use it creatively in your work.

TAFEs don't get the same level of funding as dual sector Universities like Swinburne but the liaison librarians are resourceful and being creative in how they use new technologies. It was an emboldening day. Thanks to LIT organisers for making it possible.