#ITOT Questionnaire

I am looking for New Professionals (enrolled on a LIS course or about to do so or graduates looking for or who have gained a professional post in the last 5 years) to participate in research for my dissertation.

The topic is the challenges of getting the first professional post for new professionals in the UK. To participate, please find a link below to a short questionnaire that should take approximately 5 minutes to complete. I would be extremely grateful for your contribution.

ITOT Questionnaire

The results of this research will be discussed within the dissertation and a summary of responses will appear on this blog. All responses from the online questionnaire are anonymous and participants may opt-out at the end of the questionnaire if they do not wish for their responses to be used in the research.

If you have any queries or concerns, please contact me at john.kostiw@gmail.com

Thank you for taking part.

Thing 9: Evernote

Ahh Evernote... like so many applications how I coveted but hardly use thee!

I was interested in finding an application to help keep myself organised and a possible techy solution for time management by creating task lists. Evernote appeared to be the answer. I'm not saying it's not, I'm just yet to use it as my default. For yonks, if I found a web site of even passing interest I'd email myself a link but I do like the idea of keeping my passing fancies in one place.

I can't say that I make no use of Evernote because it has quite a presence in my life, it's now my go to place for short notes (names of restaurants, places, names etc) replacing the memo function on my phone. I also use it now for quick pictures such as the cover of a Jan Svankmajer DVD I always forget to look for when shopping! Evernote sits on my laptop, as an app in Google Chrome (home and work) and on my smartphone. I ambitiously thought I'd get some extra use out of it when using my Echo Smartpen, which is currently looking like £140 down the drain as I've had occasion to use it once in two and half months! It can be useful I'm sure, I think I just need the headphones to go with it!

Thing 8: Google Calendar

Calendars are taking over my life at present, or it feels that way!

Fortunately? My family and friends are a disorganised bunch! Nothing is ever really planned further than a month in advance, that's enough for it to remain in my head, just how I like it for personal events. My Android phone is rarely a meter away from my hand at any time but I rarely use Google Calendar for the reasons stated and have much less use for sharing a calendar.

That sort of fell apart when I synced my work Outlook calendar to Google. On numerous occasions at work I was late for meetings or sessions on the desk where I was already in a meeting away from my desk, away from the safety net of my Outlook reminder. Syncing has saved me no end! I get a satisfying, distinctive buzz from my phone when I should be somewhere or doing something (oddly before I am alerted via Outlook!) We have/are in the process of upgrading to Microsoft 2010 packages, Outlook here is already proving more satisfying especially for sharing calendars. The main reason, you don't have to! Although details are kept private I can see a colleagues calendar to arrange meetings without the faff of the scheduling assistant. I have used this to my own ends in the journals team to overlap individuals calendars.

One thing I have tried without success recently, where I think maybe Google calendar specifically might help is a live background. For a while I have been looking to use a calendar as my background so it's always open and visible and programme applications sit in front. I think this may have been easier in XP as you could use a link for your background? Windows 7 doesn't seem to be so easy, has anyone achieved this?

Thing 7: Real Life Networks

This should be one of the shorter posts.

I think everyone is a bit nervous about the prospect of real life networking, we're all aware of those vital seconds we have to make a good first impression and the more nervous of us feel them ticking away realising we haven't said anything interesting...? Maybe it's just me? Or at least used to be. The NPC 2011 was my first opportunity to network with people outside my library and I found that one of the most enjoyable aspects of the day. I look forward to NPC 2012 next week for the same reason and the Executive briefing I'm due to attend the next day. Shamefully my first visit to CILIP HQ, I've heard nothing but good things so am looking forward to it.

I have yet to attend a CPD23 meet up although I may have missed one recently in my area? Not sure! An Assistant Librarian colleague used to arrange informal social events for the select in our library, on both occasions I was invited I couldn't make it due to other commitments and by all accounts these weren't very well attended. It's something I would like to see more of really, does anyone else work in a library with regular staff socials?

Thing 6: Social Networks

And we're off!

I used to jump on the band wagon pretty early with social networking sites and rapidly lose interest in them. I have been a begrudging Facebook user pretty much since it was available in the UK, had several Twitter profiles, a dilapidated LinkedIn profile and a baron presence on Google+.

Facebook
I think even the most committed users of Facebook welcome a break from it once in a while and I've certainly had spells when I've given it a wide birth. Now it's one of my top break apps (you know...I've got 5 mins, I'll just see what's going on!) This could only ever be for personal use for me, there are too many things  out of my control to reign in for anything else. It's also one of those sites where I wouldn't want it for anything else, hey I've seen Social Network that wasn't it's intention... I can't fail to be impressed by organisations that make a go of Facebook, Brunel University for example keep students informed, post pictures and make their catalogue available. I always wonder what investigations go before this to find if students want this? Yes we need to be where students are but no-one wants to be the uninvited guest!

LinkedIn
After attending a New Professionals conference in 2011, I thought it was time to give my profile a makeover.  About 2 months ago I achieved it! It still needs work but I find some of the group discussions informative and interesting. Had I been using it properly this could have been useful as a reflective practice tool for the duration of my traineeship, I should have been updating it with new skills, roles and tasks completed but alas...

Twitter
This was a social network tool that I have dropped many a time, my current incarnation is probably my longest running. I'm still getting to grips with it but am finding immensely more useful, due in no small part to CPD23 I'm sure! I plan to make more use of it, certainly in the immediate future but beyond that to. It again is one of top break apps!

Google+
Oh G+! I still think this has the potential to be my favourite social networking tool. I like it's ability to group networks and could finally navigate that personal/professional divide. However I have about 2 connections and have not used it since it's launch, frustratingly I can't see a mass of people leaving FB as the go-to guy.

LISNPN/CILIP Communities
I joined LISNPN after the aforementioned conference in 2011 but only recently got back into it. I'm yet to contribute anything but I think this is a great place for NextGen librarians to discuss and share experiences. I have made absolutely no use yet of CILIP Communities I find it all a bit daunting and tough to navigate at present but I will try to make some headway this month.

Thing 5: Reflective Practice

After falling massively behind on my things, this week will hopefully see a big push to catch up.

After hearing people talk about chartership recently, the reflective practice aspect is something I find quite daunting. I've read peoples blog posts on this so far and briefly read around the subject in the past so its not so much the process, it's the doing.

I may have mentioned before that my workplace have regular staff development hours, here we are encouraged (it's a requirement) to keep a log which is usefully structured to include what you enjoyed, why and how you can apply it etc. In fact the more I think about it, reflective practice has been part of my education for years, I now recall GCSE and A Level projects where including what went well, what didn't, how you would improve it formed a large part of the assessment.

I think one reason why I see this as a challenge is time related. With staff development hour logs, I struggle to  write it up too soon after the training because for me their hasn't been enough time to process or apply what I learnt. I think we are all reflective practitioners by our very nature, we wouldn't have survived as a species if not I'm sure. Cliche alert - I like to live in the moment! It's only at the point where you need to draw on the experience (success/failure) of a prior event that it has value. So receiving training etc, formally writing what I learnt has rather baffled me. I guess I need that interview jeopardy - "Tell us about a time...what was the outcome?....

#ITOT 2

After submitting my dissertation proposal a couple of weeks ago there's been a bit of a lull. That lull is fast turning into slight panic!

In my rough draft schedule I had hoped to be a bit further along by now (but don't we always?) and knowing  I will be away for a few weeks imminently I can only see myself falling further behind. At about this point the plan was to have a pilot questionnaire circulating among my classmates with a final version setting off in the second or third week of July. At present I am yet to be assigned a project supervisor or have my ethics formed signed off!

I'm already thinking now that the proposed 10 weeks to collect responses may have to be reduced. This will not necessarily be to the detriment of the research if I can push it relentlessly to gather as many responses as possible, so this week and in a fortnight I will be following a lot of people on Twitter! I think I'm also attending the CDG Conference in Birmingham so I hope there is something circulating by then?

Thing 4: Current Awareness

It is my displeasure to be dipping my toes in library waters on the weekend (especially at this time) without it being necessary for academic work. But since the football's finished and the only thing on TV is Cameron Diaz having a go at acting, here I am.

Twitter - I have mentioned before how I've dipped in and out of Twitter in the past, since my new incarnation I do use a bit more regularly (time permitting). I began to follow the usual suspects plus a few others I find interesting. This has been great for keeping informed and staying up to date with the library community. I try not to be too much of a lurker but I rarely find something others might find useful that hasn't been mentioned before, especially as I only find myself checking Twitter at the end of the work day!

One of my primary reasons for sticking with Twitter this time is that I had something tangible I wanted to get out of it (purely selfish). I wanted to tap into a community of knowledge where I could gather/request information/advice for my dissertation in the first instance anyway. For this to work you need people to follow you as well as following them. That's the Catch22, if you follow everyone it's just information overload  and advised against in some circles (follow what's useful...) but then you may miss that vital piece of info or a request for help. Still immensely useful though!

RSS Feeds - I started following blogs before my involvement with 23 Things using Google Reader and am happy with how this works and very satisfied with it. I have updated my subscriptions with some fellow participants and find it a much more enriching experience to read detailed experiences of others. I'll certainly keep going with RSS but I'd like to better organise my feeds.

Storify - I had heard about this but never used or explored it until now. Initially I didn't really get it! Who has the time to put a story together using various web 2.0 tools? I can see how this could be very powerful for reflecting on the global experience of a huge event for instance the uprisings in the Middle East, people harped on about the power of social networks then, imagine if that was professionally organised (which I imagine the value lies)!

I'm sure it's of more use to others than to me, which is probably why I didn't enjoy using it. It's not something  of any particular value to me in my work or my organisation with it's lack of social network usage. From the sample stories I looked at mostly use Twitter as it's feed which is where I think my only interest in it lies as it is now used for conversation summaries for UKLibChat. I'm also not a fan of it's use of Facebook status updates, as I think this could get a bit murky with people being targeted see here, regarding YourOpenBook. Since, there have been a few sites that let you search across Twitter and Facebook updates such as Kurrently.

I prefer using tools for dedicated news streams that I have selected that appeal to my tastes such as Pulse and Google Currents. This way my favourite news sites, magazines are in one place and up to date, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more of the same!

#ITOT Dissertation Proposal

Last week I submitted my research proposal for my dissertation. Since one of the primary purposes of setting up a blog was to track it's progress I thought I should give a little summary.


At library school, whenever we had a guest speaker questions often aimed at them from classmates were not about their roles but how they got them. In other more casual conversations people often expressed concerns about what to do next, how were they going to get their first professional jobs if the work's not there, organisations are closing shop (hiring freeze) or people weren't moving out of their posts at the necessary rate?


My initial reading focused on this career platauing and the concept of the greying profession labelled at librarianship, not just because of it's dowdy perception but backed up by demographic research. The "greying" profession has been widely written about from an American perspective where employment planning is quite cyclical. The late 1990s saw many folk concerned about the impending wave of retirements that were believed to be around the corner and prompted a recruitment drive in early 2000s ($10M from US Government).


The exodus, didn't happen. Of course a contributing factor being the economic downturn. So there were a lot of LIS graduates with no-where to go, feeling they had been miss-sold on the profession (see Fiakoff 2010).


So I wanted to explore getting that first professional post, what are the perceptions of those looking and the experiences of those who acquired it - the UK perspective.


Data Collection


Inevitably this will require a questionnaire - an online form being most efficient. Since there is no set sampling frame I hope to solicit as many responses as possible from a snowball effect. 

• I hope once it's launched, to promote it's completion from LISNPN, Twitter (please retweet) and other new professional's groups and mailing lists.

• Initial responses will inform further open questions to be asked in online Twitter discussions similar to the format used by @uklibchat, using the #ITOT.

• There is also the intention to carry out small interviews (face-to-face or telephone) with relevant representatives in recruitment.

So that's a very brief summary of where I'm at. If anyone has come across any good articles/blogs about this or similar please do pass them on and follow @costyouall to get involved. There are a few things emerging that are following the American trend, I would like to see a UK version of this: INALJ.COM which features success stories to inform and inspire.

Thing 3: Considering my personal brand

I had not had the pleasure of seeing Ned Potter’s presentation at CILIP’s New Professionals Day but the positive feedback I found encouraged me to check it out. A lot of what I thought about my personal brand comes from a corporate perspective (a recent feature in Shortlist [link unavailable] was very useful) making me think about my brand by in the context of my 5 core values, which turned out to be very tricky so I stopped! I had hoped to ‘be my brand’ immediately, emerging online as my professional self without showing the journey (if I kept that position I’d never emerge).

So here I am. I had always signed up to social network sites in the past as a means to connect to friends but now see the value of a professional presence. With that in mind, for me Facebook is strictly friends (or should be) and I hope not to embarrass myself on other sites, I hope not to embarrass myself on Facebook either but I’m not of the opinion that I shouldn’t be me in the comfort of my social circles where I swear like a sailor with their bits in a mangle and always have.

What’s in a name?

I have had a number of Twitter accounts in the past, dropping them rapidly as my interest waned but not deleting them until recently. Rather than going back to an account and tidying up I opted for the creation of new ones (no, I don’t know why either)! My first iterations were simply my full name, first initial – surname or some variant with an underscore. I later opted for @digicol13 (digital collections being the area I was based in and 2013 year I’m due to end). I have since lost access to digicol13 so set up ANOTHER Twitter account. @CostYouAll is not particularly inventive but hopefully useful for anyone who meets me as it is how I pronounce my surname (minus the all). Hello, I’m John Kostiw. This is something I have also used for my blog name keeping a clear connection. Following the advice on many a blog I now use the same profile picture across my social network sites.

Shock horror, I hadn’t Googled myself for around 10 years! Not since Dave Gorman’s Are you Dave Gorman? When I thought I too would find it fascinating to find another John Kostiw. It wasn’t. Having more of an online presence now I thought it worthwhile to see what information about me was out there. As suggested I used various search engines, my first appearance on Bing was my Facebook page (locked down) with my LinkedIn profile appearing further down the page a similar result to DuckDuckGo. 

My Google results faired a little better; first page, second result was LinkedIn, in the top 5 was my old twitter account annoyingly with a not embarrassing, but not preferable profile picture.

As I looked through more results my concern grew...somewhere along the line I had signed up to last.fm (news to me). I will try to rectify this later if possible but I also found information about myself on Yasni referring to Amazon wish list titles (clearly me with the amount of library related books displayed) Ummmm what, how? I have or so I thought kept my Facebook thoroughly private, this exercise prompted me to double check, while not every aspect was friends only nothing was public. But profileengine.com had a little more access than I liked with access to my friends and group lists although I’m not sure how up to date the information is.

I thoroughly recommend people search for themselves in these sites to see what is available. I would also be cautious about what information you allow mobile apps to access when downloading to your smartphone as I suspect this is why I’m finding a bigger footprint than expected.

While I am now more aware of my personal brand and branding I imagine this will still take a back seat for the time being as I need to evaluate what I want my brand to say about me, how I want this to be portrayed and how it can work for me among other things.

I seem to have a habit of apologetic sign offs...so here I go again, but this wasn’t even half of what I could have written!

Thing 2: Investigate other blogs

Exploring other blogs in the run up to beginning cpd23 has been immensely helpful and reassuring. There is such a diverse bunch of library folk taking part with many of the same apprehensions as my own but with better blog names! I had been using the delicious site to investigate blogs from UK, 2012, HE some of which have duly been added to my Google Reader.  These have been so intriguing and entertaining even at this early stage I have found myself on the alphabetical list clicking at random sure to strike gold.

I am by all accounts quite a quiet person (sort of), not just in unfamiliar crowds but often in my core circles of friends too. It’s not that I am overwhelmingly introvert or shy I just prefer to listen. In this scenario however I listen then contribute (hopefully something of relevance), I am yet to really transfer this to online social networks.

In a real social situation, even if quiet, you’re there! You have form! Your physical presence demands attention even if you’re not the centre of it. Although I’m not particularly anxious to comment on people’s blogs it hasn’t been something I “do”. Until now! Comments needn’t be a daunting debate generator, I’m sure people just appreciate that someone’s read their blog and is willing to say good job, keep it up!

Lots of exclamation marks in that one.

Thing 1 - Blogging

I first heard about cpd23 in a presentation from Helen Murphy at a CILIP New Professionals Conference back in 2011. I recently looked back on my notes of this event where I wrote this seems like an interesting project I should look into this (or something along those lines). Well it’s almost a year later and the looking has just been done. Like many things that came out of that conference cpd23 struck me as being useful, but not yet. I was at the time, 8 months into a 3 year graduate traineeship and with all the projects I was due to be involved in this fell by the wayside.

Blogging fell into another category entirely. No thanks! I felt (like many I’ve recently discovered) unsure I would have anything interesting worth contributing and I absolutely abhor vanity blogging. Ever a creature of contradiction I’m sure at times I will fall into the trap but it will never be my intention. So why bother?

I now feel that I have cause to blog that previously didn’t exist or was hidden from my view. The first reason is to develop self reflection skills for when I begin chartership. At UWE we are supposed to keep a log of staff development activities, since the removal of the use of the journal function on our VLE I tend to complete mine weeks after the event and struggle to remember what I got out of it, so this could be the new tool I use.

The second and more immediate reason is for my dissertation. I hope the topic when finalised will be of interest to new professionals and I as I seek information from you folk blogging a summary of findings and where I am in the process will hopefully maintain that interest and engagement. Completing cpd23 alongside my dissertation should give me the kick up the rear I’m likely to need to get writing.

I’ve gone on long enough. It was all a bit blurgh but Thing 1, done!