It's time to reflect on the online networker section of Rudai23. A useful exercise indeed. It is so important to stop and consider how we use social media and online tools. When used carefully these can be hugely beneficial in terms of career development, networking, current awareness and brand promotion. Conversely they can also consume way too much of our time, for little gain. So, good to stop and think about smarter ways to use them.
Thing 10 is all about opportunities to network online using tools such as facebook and twitter. On facebook, I joined Rudai23 and Irish Librarians Community in Practice facebook groups and liked some more library related pages. On twitter I already follow a good number of libraries and librarians which I keep in my '
Library Stuff' list, but I hadn't seen @libfocus's handy '
Librarians in Ireland' list which I am now following.Thing 11 is concerned with your personal brand. As I already have a LinkedIn account I focused on improving my profile. I amended my custom URL to include just my name, added a cover image and ad
ded an example of recent work -
a video I created for for an exhibition currently on at Dublin City Library and Archive. I then turned to twitter where I rewrote my description. Next on the to do list is to renew my LAI membership.
For Thing 12 Collaborative Tools,
I wrote about Asana, an online task management tool that I have recently began to use in work.
A necessary evil?
Social media has me feeling more conflicted than usual at the moment. It doesn't help that I am writing this in the midst of the troubling Cambridge Analytica scandal. I rely on twitter, facebook and LinkedIn as useful barometers of what's going on in the library world. I find twitter invaluable for CPD, simply put, librarians do twitter well, and I keep relevant accounts together using lists. Facebook pages and groups such as Rick O'Shea's Book Club are great for public librarians curious to know what people are reading, how they are reading, keeping up to date with publishing news - and getting in the odd library promotion! I still feel I would lose too much if I decided to #deletefacebook. Like many I am concerned by the unethical breaches in privacy, the invidious marketing and issues with filter bubbles - and I'm not even going to go into fake news. I see the value of social media in facilitating communication with colleagues nationally and internationally and for current awareness but I will keep my privacy settings high and am careful about what I post.
Squad goals
Even though I have been using social media for years I picked up a few new tips and I am more conscious of the need to maintain a professional and up to date personal brand. Posting an example of my work on LinkedIn would never have occurred to me in the past. One sentence in
Jane Burns blog post really made me think and has helped me get over my reservations: "If all librarians had personal brands this would collectively contribute to the development, perception, and involvement of the library world with other sectors." We need to promote our work, not just for our own career development, but to create more awareness of the wonderful and diverse work done by librarians. So time to get over our modesty - it's for the good of the profession after all!
What next?
I have pledged to do a bit more online networking and join in a #ukibchat rather than just reading the tweets later. I love Jane Burns' recommendation to use conferences and seminars as opportunities to network both online and in real life. I am determined to interact with other librarians on social media, even if we have never met. Recognising someone from twitter should make it easier to make a connection in real life, in some ways the ice has already been broken. Anything that makes the challenge of networking less daunting is worthwhile. I will give it a go at the DBS Library Seminar in June. I have attended this seminar for the past two years and on both occasions I found it particularly useful for making connections with librarians from all different sectors. The atmosphere feels friendly and positive - could be the influence of the inspirational Marie O'Neill and other fantastic librarians I always come away feeling motivated and enthusiastic to try out new ideas. And that really is the essence of good networking!
It's time to reflect on the online networker section of Rudai23. A useful exercise indeed. It is so important to stop and consider how we use social media and online tools. When used carefully these can be hugely beneficial in terms of career development, networking, current awareness and brand promotion. Conversely they can also consume way too much of our time, for little gain. So, good to stop and think about smarter ways to use them.
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