CPD23 Thing 10: Why, how, and what next (my life in libraries)

Why

I can’t say, like many others, that I just fell into it. If I look back, it was quite meant to be, and there have been a couple of milestones (i.e. decisions from my part) who have put me where I am now.

Risking to sound like a freak, I will confess that when I was a child, to the – slightly worried – astonishment of my parents, I used to browse the phone book  to see how many people with a certain surname were living in my town; I loved to look at maps; I used to make lists of everything in my possession (books, stamps, coins from foreign Countries, Barbie doll clothes); I loved to investigate the history behind objects – who owned that book, who wrote that postcard, where that piece of furniture came from – not to mention old photographs; restoring my Mum’s dolls; collecting old stuff, keeping it in order, and making it usable again. These are all activities that should have shouted “libraries and information” to any good observer (I definitely wasn’t one).

Cam23 - The Big Catch-Up: Things 9, 10, 11

I’m going to write very quickly on a series of Cam23 topics as I can’t find a way to keep up with everything and I need to squeeze several posts in one. I’m also about to go on holiday so I will resume in September with even more things to catch up on. Time management skills, eh?

Google Docs: I didn’t really know what to say about this until I created my first form last Friday and discovered the magic of the whole thing. I had used GDocs before but only as a way of sharing Word documents (with others or myself, to avoid carrying memory sticks around all the time), and I had found it slow and less useful that a “real” Word doc. But the forms! And the fact that the data are automatically collected in a spreadsheet! Blessed be Google however mischievous they may be. The form I created was aimed at colleagues in other Cambrige libraries. Every year we update our publications and, in the past, we used to send a copy of each to all Cambridge librarians. This approach had two main downfalls: 1) we didn’t ask librarians if they actually wanted our stuff, thus spamming them with literature and not making sure it was well received and happily dealt with 2) the system was based on an address list that changed all the time as librarians were moving jobs and roles: updating the address list used to take a lot of time – and transform the whole thing into a very tedious task. I have now created a form in GDocs and sent an email (plus a tweet) around the mailing lists. Responses so far have been really good and the form has been filled by a dozen librarians. I can’t wait to pull it all together in September and start organising a personalised mailing service! As I didn’t trust GDocs fully, I chose a rather convoluted way of sending the form around but next year I’m going to put the link to the form straight into the main email.

Pushnote and Evernote: nothing to say on them apart that 1) I can’t download them 2) Pushnote seems not to be that useful 3) Evernote sounds more interesting and useful. I will remember their names in case my downloading facilities get an updgrade, or I manage to snatch the admin password and hack my work computer.

Dropbox is an extra-thing and actually one I wanted to try as I do have an account but I have never used it. When I’ll get round to use it, I promise I’ll blog about it.

My opinions on the programme so far: it’s very interesting and the fact that I’m not enjoying it fully is totally my fault. I just got involved in too many things when I had a moment of professional boredom some months ago, and now I feel like a fly bumping into the same window over and over again without finding a way to get out. I thought about dropping one of the two programmes (the other being cpd23) but I know I’ll regret it if I do, so I’ll keep going and you will forgive me if I’m always running late.  See you in September.

CPD23 Thing 8 and 9: Google calendar and Evernote

I’m running scarily late, so I will indulge in some self-plagiarism (again). I have already talked about my use of Google calendar in a post written for Cam23 some weeks ago. Re-reading it, I don’t find much to add, apart that I have added some external calendars to it and this works really well. Also, that post had a link to the presentation of the first Mac computer by Steve Jobs and, if you have never seen it, it’s really worth it. Expecially to anyone wanting to enhance their presentation skills.

Evernote: it sounds like a really, really useful tool, although the restriction on Word documents makes me feel a bit wary. I have tried to download it at work and I almost thought I had managed to get around internal IT security, when I realised this message had been on my screen for quite some time and realised also that that “1 second remaining” was destined to last for a long, long time.

I have no excuses for not dowloading it at home now that our IT provision has been upgraded with a shiny new tablet, but my husband is using it all the time to read one of his sci-fi books (why oh why are they all available to download?) so I’m a bit stuck. I know, this is a really bad excuse, but don’t worry: I want that elephant icon on my computer and I’ll have it one day!