CPD23: Thing 19 - Reflection on the Things covered so far

The most important thing that I have taken from CPD23 Things so far is... to reflect and make use of this blog to do so. I haven't been very happy with my job recently, and reflecting on what I'm not enjoying and what I am has helped me to understand myself better and where my weaknesses are. I keep forgetting to have formal 1-1 meetings with the two chaps I line-manage, for example, which is a weakness as I need to document whatever issues we talk about and keep tabs on performance, especially as we are half way through the year in terms of Annual Reviews (which took place in May, I think?).

What am I doing well, what can I do better? What am I doing, why, and when and how will I review myself?

I've been unable to concentrate lately. The major building works going on outside my office window have rather a big factor in that, as well as the 'bitty' aspects of my job: I have 10 different To-Dos, but they are all small and unconnected, and it's been hard for me to make a start on any one. I've enjoyed the library inductions, the EBM Thread lecture that TP and I gave today, my search clinics at Sobell House on Wednesdays. I don't enjoy liaising with people in this building, but I will do it. I have to.

As for the Things - have I incorporated any Thing into my work so far? Well, no, but I am now aware of the value of Zotero, Mendeley, (and why you should use Endnote instead!), as well as Evernote, Prezi, Jing and Audacity. I have enjoyed taking the opportunity to think about advocacy, my route into librarianship, what I might hope to do in the future. (Working on a building site is NOT something I'd like to do in the future. It is quite tiresome watching men in forklift trucks shifting piles of rubble around all day. And they are ALL men on the site!)

Going well, so far.

OH and I've enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, reading other librarians' blogs, such as the Wolfenden report: http://thewolfendenreport.blogspot.com/2011/10/cpd23-thing-19-catch-up-and-reflection.html We are a good community!

CPD23: Thing 18 - Screen capture and podcasts

I made several "narrated videos" when I worked for a private company a few years ago, as I wanted a way to talk users and potential users through how to use the specialist library websites I was working on at the time. I used Camtasia to capture my screen, and I used my Skype headset to record my voice. I got rather good at speaking slowly, calmly, clearly, and was rather pleased with my work. The problem with the specialist library was that the web technology that it supported was so old and rubbish that it couldn't cope with whatever kind of file the Camtasia software created, so in the end I couldn't use the video. A frustrating but true story.

I am glad that I now know that Jing exists as a screen capture tool, but have no use for it just at the moment. Our library has used a tool that now escapes me for colleagues to record online tutorials: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/medicine/information_skills/screencasts I think these colleagues have done a marvellous job at making their presentations come to life.

I like the use of Slideshare by colleagues from the Radcliffe Science Library for this screencast: http://rslbio.blogspot.com/2011/02/reference-management-screencast.html What I'm trying to find is Ollie Bridle's presentation about bioinformatics that he gave to my colleagues earlier this year (I missed it cos I was on holiday!)... which is here! http://rslbio.blogspot.com/2011/01/bioinformatics-for-medicine.html

As for podcasts, I am already a big fan of these. I like podcasts of Radio 4 programmes such as the News Quiz, which I make a point of listening to every Monday morning to cheer me up, and I am a fan of podcasts of presentations such as those from the Oxford SciBar meetings, eg. Dr Evan Harris back in July: http://oxfordscibar.jellycast.com/node/9

If I needed to develop podcasts, I would use Audacity. Right now, however, I have enough to get on with in my 'management' capacity...

CPD23: Thing 17 - Prezi and Slideshare

I'm going to start with Slideshare, as nice people have already put some of my presentations up on this website and I am slightly nervous about playing with Prezi.

Slideshare:

According to the CPD23 Things post about this, it is a useful place to store all the powerpoint presentations you have ever created. As I am slightly embarrassed about some of my presentations, I don't really want them available online for public consumption, and prefer to keep them on my hard drive, memory sticks, back up drive etc. The following are, however, all my own work:

• My poster for EAHIL 2010 on the information needs of urology nurses: http://www.slideshare.net/eahil2010/poster-1-eb-urology-nurses-information-needs-with-references-compatibility-mode
• My poster for EAHIL 2010 on collaborations between staff and on different projects for the late and lamented NHS Evidence kidney diseases and male urogenital disorders specialist collection: http://www.slideshare.net/eahil2010/nhs-evidence-kidney-diseases-and-male-urogenital-disorders-collaborations-poster-eahil2010

I've just joined slideshare in order to share this presentation about highlights of the 2011 International Clinical Librarians' Conference:
http://www.slideshare.net/EliBa27/outreach-librarians-atlargewedsamtrainingsession7sept111

This could be a useful tool for sharing presentations, eg about library inductions, with other staff in the university. Or when I give a seminar next month... I'll be able to share it with my family to get their comments on the key aspects of the research that I've highlighted using powerpoint... I will think about this!

Prezi:

I like this tool. I might actually try out a Prezi presentation for my seminar in less than 4 weeks' time... although the motion-sickness thing is a problem for me.

I like this presentation, as recommended by the Thing 17 post: http://prezi.com/hwkh2-lgkvm_/a-voice-in-the-wilderness-personalised-library-services-in-a-virtual-environment/

OOh I've just joined Prezi and created a test presentation: http://prezi.com/rxfwf7el4mft/test/

OK that'll do for now. I need to have lunch. I'm not having a great day, as I went to the Phoenix cinema here in Oxford last night to see Tyrannosaur, and am still in a state of shock and horror. I had to leave the cinema twice to blow my nose and mop up my tears. It was horrible. I won't listen to my friend Carole's film recommendations again in the future. It was almost as horrible as a French film I saw when first at uni in Cambridge, called A Ma Soeur!. The rape scene at the end had me in shock for weeks. I'm not a very happy bunny today. Despite the sun shining over the building site outside my office today...

I am still here!

I know, I know, I have Prezi and all sorts of Things to catch up with, but I've been busy doing my management course and zillions of other work-related activities. I will catch up soon!

Quick reflection on today's inductions for MSc and DPhil students

I've had three sessions with our new students: 8 for group 1, 15 in group 2, and 4 in the third and final group.

Mixed success, I feel. I gave a library tour to the first group, but not to the second two because the digging people had started digging next to the so-called Quiet Study Room by then and it didn't seem appropriate to interrupt the three people in there.

We talked about the library catalogue, databases, e-journals, a bit on reference management (why am I such a big Endnote fan?), the Oxford Research Archive, Remote Access, and ... printing, copying and scanning services. Most people weren't all that excited, apart from when I did a quick (panic) search on PubMed for articles with "depression in fish" in the title, to find something entertaining to demonstrate the link to the full text article... that got a bit of a laugh.

I went a bit too quickly, maybe, and yet it is hard to get the balance right: don't be too slow and patronising, don't overload and overwhelm with irrelevant stuff, yet maintain interest and feed the message that there are these resources available online, from our library website, and please come and ask me and my colleagues for any help you require with articles, literature searches, reference management, depression in fish, etc.

I do need to improve my overall confidence with ORCRB groups, although I'm getting better over time. I've now been in my current job for over 6 months, longer if you count the fact that I really began it in March not April, and I'm still learning.

Maybe we don't or can't actually help students in this building with their research or other work, yet we can at least show 'em what we've got.