Saturday 25 June 2011

Thing 1

Well, here goes - my first ever blog. It's taken me a week of humming & haa-ing, reading the other blogs for cpd23 & wondering whether, technically, I qualify for participating, but I've finally taken the plunge. I feel a bit of a fraud because surely to continue one's professional development, you have to have started it first?! And I haven't...yet.

I decided to participate in cpd23 ("a self-directed course aimed at introducing you to a range of tools that could help your personal and professional development as a librarian, information professional or something else") for several reasons - I heard lots of good things about it when I attended npid2011 recently, the weekly projects sound  great particularly for a Web 2 learner like myself (I've spent a long time being 'faceless' on Facebook & silent on Twitter), but mainly because last year I decided to try & change career from the world of theatre to the library & information sector. I shall leave the reasons why to one side for the moment, but the journey over the past 12 months has been a steep learning curve. I have yet to achieve my prized goal of a paid job in the LIS sector, but I haven't given up trying. The first 6 months of applying for entry level jobs & graduate traineeships(I should point out that I am definitely not in the first flush of graduation!) were slightly delusional as I attempted to continue with my theatre work & had no library experience to speak of. I then realised that if I was to get anywhere I needed to show more commitment. So for the last 6 months I have given up the theatre jobs which are all-consuming & taken on voluntary library work including a very rewarding position as a library helper in a primary school. The search for paid library work continues, along with my hope of completing a postgrad qualification in LIS someday. I'm hoping to use cpd23 & blogging in general as a career change diary which will have practical benefits in the process.

Writing this first blog has been quite cathartic so maybe blogging is not quite so scary as I first thought.

7 comments:

  1. Sarah, I just wrote a comment, but have a fear that I didn't actually hit post, so I'm writing again. Apologies if you end up with two nearly identical comments!

    As part of the cpd23 organising crew I can say that you're *definitely* eligible to take part. Any with an interest in library/information work is welcome. And I should think that potential employers should be impressed with the commitment you're showing by taking part - make sure you flag it up in applications, not just that you're taking part but also what's involved and what you're learning. And well done for taking the plunge and volunteering, too. Good luck with the job hunt, and I look forward to reading your posts.

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  2. Hello - I arrived here via various other #CPD23 blogs and wanted to comment because your experience sounds in some ways quite similar to mine.

    I'm crossing over into librarianship-type disciplines from working previously in IT and journalism. I worried endlessly about whether I was allowed to join CILIP, then if I could take part in the various things on offer, and then if I should stick my head over the parapet by volunteering and becoming more active.

    I've learned two things - one, that people are generally very welcoming and interested to meet people with different career paths to themselves. And two, the ethos seems to be that it's up to individuals to take responsibility for their career development but, once you've done that, you'll get all the help and support they can possibly offer.

    So, as another originally nervous participant, I would say jump in - the water's lovely!

    Good luck with #CPD23.

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  3. @Katie Birkwood
    Hi Katie, thanks for the reassuring message. Sorry it took a while for me to reply, but I've been trying to sort out a reply option to my comments!

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  4. @LJ Hutchins
    Always happy to hear about similar situations to mine! Thanks for the advice.

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  5. @Sarah
    You're welcome! How did you set up that reply option? I don't think I've seen it on Blogger before.

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  6. @Katie Birkwood
    I followed one of the many links which Google threw up for embedding a reply option. I think it was this one http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2010/03/reply-button-option-blogger-comments.html
    but I did look at quite a few! My reply feature still needs refining - it would be great if my replies weren't counted as comments, & I would like a smarter reply button widget. Still, I'm counting all this as part of my cpd23 learning process!

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  7. @Sarah

    Thanks! I'll follow that up. I think it would be great if Blogger supported the threaded comments you see on some Wordpress and other blogs. One day, perhaps. I think author's replies are always counted in the number - but that's fair enough I think!

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