Some people are happy to stay as they are throughout their careers and do what they are asked to do without worrying too much about the bigger picture. Others are keen to stretch their boundaries, explore new ideas, and make a contribution to their profession. Yet others seek to become beacons of their profession, break boundaries, and create change as they move along illuminating the way ahead for others. The Engaged Professional segment made us think where in this continuum each of us exists and reminded us that - to paraphrase John F. Kennedy - it's not just about what our profession can do for us but what we can do for our profession. To my mind, this segment bore a certain parallel to Critical Thinker, particularly Thing 16 Your Digital Footprint (which highlighted the professional profile that exists of us on the internet) and Thing 17 Sharing Your Work, and I am wondering if perhaps they would work better grouped together. Then again, there are many ways to skin a cat and equally many to group Things together!
Thing 19 introduced us to podcasts and how they could be harnessed to promote our work and place of work. Whilst I am a great fan of podcasts and love listening to them, including library-related ones such as Metric, I have some misgivings about using them as an advocacy tool. My main reason for saying that is that I have a notion podcasts are quite time consuming to put together, particularly if one aims for a weekly or monthly serial. On the other hand, they require no complex equipment or software to produce, and people who are easy going, good at ad-libbing, and not inclined to sweat the small stuff would probably throw one together in no time!
Thing 20 focused on advocacy and engagement, and was one of the most important and thought-provoking Things on this course. My first thought on reading through it was that not everybody who works in a library has an opportunity to engage in advocacy. Then I stopped dead in my tracks as I realized what a foolish notion that was. The way we interact (or fail to interact) with our patrons, the way we provide (or fail to provide) a service, and the way we conduct ourselves daily at work, are all forms of advocacy and contribute to the way archives and libraries are perceived by the wider society. It reminded me of the public library where I worked for some years. We were joined by a new staff member who had never worked in a library before and felt nervous about her new role. However, she had great people skills and a genuine love of books, and very quickly she learnt to combine these two assets. I have no idea how she did it but she was able to match anyone struggling to find something to read with just the right book. Her popularity rating among the library users shot through the roof and with it so did the positive image the users had of the library. It really brought home to me how being an advocate of one's profession doesn't require a lot more than the right attitude. A big smile and willingness to help can do as much as if not more than an infographic or a podcast.
Having said that, reaching beyond the local library service and advocating the seminal role libraries and archives play in society requires a bit more than a friendly smile. Here, advocacy campaigns and the work of professional organizations such as those discussed in Thing 21 pay a key role. Joining a professional group adds weight to this work and is something that every information professional should consider doing. These organizations also provide an ideal platform for anyone interested in continued professional development as they arrange training courses and development programmes, organize conferences, and can provide funding for research projects. I was encouraged by my course leaders to join the Archives and Records Association on the first day of starting my degree course in archive administration, and I think it was the best advice they could have given me. Joining this group has made me feel part of a wider community of people in the same profession, enabled me to continue my professional development in a structured way, and kept me up to date with news and current issues affecting the archival world. It has also made me think more about what I referred to at the start of this blog - what can I do for my profession? At the end of the day, libraries and archives are fragile institutions and dependent on support from the wider community. Should not each of us contribute in our own way, no matter how small, to ensure that these institutions have a future and that we as a profession have a future?
Two months ago I didn't think I had a hope of getting this far but by some miracle this is my last post and I'm still within the deadline! I would like to thank the Rudaí 23-team for yet another invigorating and thought-provoking course, and for the many interesting, challenging, creative, frustrating and frightening assignments you devised to keep us on our toes!
Images:
Image 1: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff on Flickr by Lectionary under the Creative Commons Licence CC BY 2.0
Image 2: Wikimedia Commons
Thing 19 introduced us to podcasts and how they could be harnessed to promote our work and place of work. Whilst I am a great fan of podcasts and love listening to them, including library-related ones such as Metric, I have some misgivings about using them as an advocacy tool. My main reason for saying that is that I have a notion podcasts are quite time consuming to put together, particularly if one aims for a weekly or monthly serial. On the other hand, they require no complex equipment or software to produce, and people who are easy going, good at ad-libbing, and not inclined to sweat the small stuff would probably throw one together in no time!
Having said that, reaching beyond the local library service and advocating the seminal role libraries and archives play in society requires a bit more than a friendly smile. Here, advocacy campaigns and the work of professional organizations such as those discussed in Thing 21 pay a key role. Joining a professional group adds weight to this work and is something that every information professional should consider doing. These organizations also provide an ideal platform for anyone interested in continued professional development as they arrange training courses and development programmes, organize conferences, and can provide funding for research projects. I was encouraged by my course leaders to join the Archives and Records Association on the first day of starting my degree course in archive administration, and I think it was the best advice they could have given me. Joining this group has made me feel part of a wider community of people in the same profession, enabled me to continue my professional development in a structured way, and kept me up to date with news and current issues affecting the archival world. It has also made me think more about what I referred to at the start of this blog - what can I do for my profession? At the end of the day, libraries and archives are fragile institutions and dependent on support from the wider community. Should not each of us contribute in our own way, no matter how small, to ensure that these institutions have a future and that we as a profession have a future?
Two months ago I didn't think I had a hope of getting this far but by some miracle this is my last post and I'm still within the deadline! I would like to thank the Rudaí 23-team for yet another invigorating and thought-provoking course, and for the many interesting, challenging, creative, frustrating and frightening assignments you devised to keep us on our toes!
Images:
Image 1: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff on Flickr by Lectionary under the Creative Commons Licence CC BY 2.0
Image 2: Wikimedia Commons
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