Continued Reflections on yesterday

So the rest of the network day was interesting to. We had a session on mobile technology and how health libraries can support users in accessing information on smart phones. Richard Parker gave a good introduction and over view to the technology and the possibilities for the future. He also mentioned the fact the libraries need to get themselves in order and to make sure that their catalogues and web pages were mobile friendly. This was not something that had even crossed my mind. It is something that I will need to look at as we update and develop our library catalogue this year and something I will need to engage with IT about when thinking about our internet pages.

After this introduction Helga Perry spend sometime showing us all our users could access apps from a number of different databases on different smart phones. Helga has written an number of help sheets that explain to librarians and to users how these all works. Again this is something that as a library we have thought about very little. Helga's work with the help sheets will be a really big help when we get to grips with this work (hopefully in the near future).

There were plenty of other things to think about from the day. Lean working in libraries - some is something that we have thought about as a library team though quality improvement, but it was a good remainder to continue with the good work and not to let things slack off. We had an interesting presentation from Ovid and what they could offer us in terms of journals and databases - these need thinking thought but lots to think about.

Overall a very good day, with plenty of things to take back to the team to think though in more detail.

reflections at the end of the day

Well today was very busy as I was at a regional networking day for NHS library staff in the West Midlands. The event has a full agenda with a number of interesting issues to think about and possible take forward back at my library or with others in the patch.

One session was looking at an Impact Assessment Toolkit. This tool kit has been around for a number of years within NHS health libraries in England, but I have never really made time to look into it more fully and see how it could support some of the work my library undertakes. Having listened to how one library used it I will be going back to the office tomorrow to investigate this further. I think it has real possibilities to support the work we have been doing on quality improvement over recent years.

There were a number of other interesting things which I hope I have time to reflect on more tomorrow (and possible have a chance to think about thing 3)

Thing 2

Well, I spent sometime yesterday looking at a couple of blogs. I found the blogs of a couple of my colleagues who are taking part including bevvos blog and ayreline. I have also found some other people I know from library land - such as cpd by george. Finally I wanted to find a blog from a librarian working in another country, I get a wider perspective on the library world and on CPD23, and I really managed it with I found myself in the library, so overall an interesting time. I hope to return to a number of these blogs over the next couple of months to see we are all getting on with CPD23.

Thing 1

Well I have sorted out my labels I and I now fill I might almost know what I am doing. 
So I have completed thing 1, a bit late maybe as I was on annual leave last week. 


Why am I taking part in this programme of development?


I want to become more confident in this area of the web and how I can link it into libraries and the work I do. I see possibilities for developing  library services once I am more conformable with the medium. 


Also I did my library studies at Aberystwyth as an undergraduate and I am now thinking about undertaking a Masters and I want to make sure I am continuing with my professional development as I get ready to undertake this work. 

Organising the layout

Well this afternoon I have had fun trying to get my layout the my blog sorted. I want it so that I find it easy to read. I also spent a lot of time trying to come up with a title for my blog - so I have linked what I like to do with my spare time gardening with my day job as a librarian. 


Do tell me what you think of the layout and design. I am still not sure I have got it right yet. But I must get back to cpd23 and see what I need to do next.


I have also just worked out that I did something odd when I tried to label my last post so need to go and sort that out. 

First Post

 I haven't looked seriously at blogging either for work or personally for a good number of years. I found that it took up to much time and effort and I didn't think anyone would want to read what I had to say. Also as someone with dyslexia writing that was pleasurable and not a chore was not something I had much experience of.

But I am trying once again because I am engaging with 23 Things for Professional Development over the  summer and the next couple of months. I am hoping that through learning new skills, updating old ones and engaging with the library community this time round I will find that blogging has something to offer me.