Thing 13: Professional Organisations

I have been a member of the Danish librarians' organization, Bibliotekarforbundet (BF), since I graduated in 1994. It's headquartered in Copenhagen.

Over the years I have used BF's different services on several occasions and if I lived in Copenhagen I would have used it even more. There are no local branches of the organization and eventhough we live in a small country it still takes me three hours to go to Copenhagen - it's a lot of time to spend on a two hours event on a Wednesday afternoon. Some of the events take place in other parts of the country but not nearly enough if you ask me.

 

Employment and salary

There's no collective agreement between employers and employees in the corporate world like between the local authorities and librarians in public labraries, so when I got my first job in a private company I got help from BF to settle on a reasonable salary level for me to negotiate for and to read through the contract of employment before I signed it.

Member of special interest group

When I was working in different companies I was member of a networking group of other librarians in the business world. We were - and still are - a minority among librarians and the focus of BF has been on public libraries. But even though private librarians have very diverse jobs according to industry, some things are common, e.g. marketing/positioning efforts in the organization or compliance to copyright and license agreements.

Courses and other professional input

BF arrange seminars or workshops on both "union stuff", e.g. retirement planning or stress management, and professionally relevant subjects like online tools and teaching skills.

National conferences

Every other years there's a national meeting for all memebers of BF - a weekend full of professional and social content. And it's free - so I usually attend to get something in return of my member fee :-) And of course get new impulses and meet old colleagues and fellow students.

Conflict with my employer

I have been lucky not to have had any serious conflicts with any of my employers but this years I've experienced some changes at work that I couldn't accept just like that, so I consulted my professional organization for counselling. They couldn't do anything to help me and the changes became effective nevertheless, but still it was a positive experience to talk to a legal consultant and discuss the situation.


As I went through my list of touch points I was surprised how much I've actually used my organization. But with 936 € a year  in member fee, I think I should, too! :-)



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Jeg blev medlem af bibliotekarforbundet, da jeg blev bibliotekar DB i 1994. Siden da har jeg brugt forbundet i mange forskellige sammenhænge. De er et forholdsvist dyrt forbund af at være medlem af, så jeg sørger for at få noget for mit medlemsskab - selv om det meste fagligt relevante foregår i København.

Thing 12: Conferences

Conferences - I can only dream about them for the time being.

Unfortunately, there's not much room in the budget of our organization for attending conferences. So thanks for the internet and the many (free) ways to obtain new knowledge and connect with other information professionals - like Rudaí23 :-)


I have attended two international conferences in my carrier, the latest was Online Information in London in 2011. In fact, we only visited the exhibition and the short seminars in connection to it - not the real conference. But it was very interesting and I remember that it gave me the feeling of belonging to a professional tribe :-) I realized I had gained enough work experience to know what most of it was all about - I benefited from the halv hour seminars and I could talk to vendors about their products. Nice experience.






Internet Librarian International 2015 in London in October would be really great to visit (in my dreams!).
The programme looks very interesting and especially day two would be relevant to me. Among other things I would have chosen to hear about Good customer relationships: proving value every day, The pressures on Google: why search isn’t simple any more and Librarians and information literacy: the key to first year student success.
I noted that there are quite a few Nordic speakers on the programme, nice to know that we can make a contribution to the international community :-)


As a semi-independent information professional I would like to learn from those who actually make a living on freelance information services, so attending one of  the annual conferences of AIIP would be genious!

Our own professional organisation for librarians in Denmark arrange national congresses every other year. In 2014 the overall theme was librarians' professional DNA focusing on identity and roles. What I appreciate the most, is that most of the speakers ususally are from outside library circle, so they contribute with other views on our profession - not always pleasant, but definitely true!


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At tage til internationale konferencer ligger ikke lige inden for rækkevidde - så jeg kan bare drømme.
Heldigvis ligger der masser af gratis, fagligt stof på nettet, så jeg bliver ikke helt udsultet.
Men jeg ville virkelig gerne med på Internet Librarian International i London til efteråret. Der vil være masser af nyttigt fagligt udbytte - især i forhold til search.
Den amerikanske organisation for selvstændige informationsprofessionelle ville være drømmedestinationen - dér kunne jeg lære så meget!
Herhjemme har vi Bibliotekarforundets årsmøder hvert andet år. Det er lidt en fætter-kusinefest, men der er da også et fagligt udbytte, fordi der kommer indlægsholdere ude fra, der bidrager med nye syn på vores profession.

Thing 11: Reflective Practice

I'm always the time optimist. Then reality comes around and things just take more time than I thought.

This is how I've always worked - I tend to linger for a long time and then I work intensely for as long as it takes for me to finish the job. That's just how it is and I've learned to organize for it.

I really enjoy this course even though I tend to fall behind at times and even though I could always do more, investigate more and write more about my experiences and considerations.

But today my family has left the house for a sunny day in Legoland and I have sat myself down in front of the screen and get things done (more or less thouroughly, see Thing 10!).

I like to be presented new thing, like tools on the internet, and I like that writing the blog posts forces my dive into the thing and  think about about how to use them instead of not just "have a look" at them.

I'm actually thinking about copying some if Rudaí23 into a series of short courses for start up companies at our public library. I think that when you're on you own as an entrepreneur and responsible for everything you could need some insiration and new tools to help you promote your business and perhaps make life easier.



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Dette kursus er en vigitg inspirationskilde for mig. Jeg elsker at få præsenteret nye værktøjer på nettet, som kan hjælpe mig i mit abejde og med at brande mig selv på nettet. Det er et godt greb, at man skal skrive posts om hver ting - det tvinger én til at sætte sig ordentlig ind i dem og overveje, vad man kan burge dem til, og ikke bare "kigge på" dem.
Jeg arbejder som regel i ryk. Lader tiden gå i et stykke tid og så får arbejder jeg igennem så længe som det tager at få opgaven færdig.
Jeg overvejer at kopiere idéen fra Rudaí23 og sammensætte en serie af korte kurser for iværksættere. Jeg forestiller mig, at når man er alene om at have en virksomhed og har ansvar for alt, så kan man godt bruge noget inspiration og gode tips til, hvordan man kan markedsføre sig selv og måske gøre hverdagen letter.

Thing 10: Live Streaming

I'm not going to spend much time on this one. For the first time during this course I'm going to just skim a Thing.

I have attended a few webinars with fair succes. Last autumn I took a class in online communation (!) via webinars and I'm all for it despite technical hiccups in the beginning.

I see the potential in attending events where you can't be physically present and I'll explore the options if and when I need or want to use it.

Thing 9: Video and screencast

This screencasting thing is something I have been looking forward to trying because this is really useful to me. 

I would love to make short instruction videos for all kinds of databases and other tools on the web. This is what I missed when we looked at podcasting.

But my first attempts with screencasting weren't very succesfull, I must admit.

For some unknown technical reason (firewall, perhaps) I didn't manage to launch Screencast-O-Matic directly from the website or download the app, either :-(
I would have prefered to use Screencast-O-matic, though, because of the editing options.

But I managed to shoot a recording using Jing, and I really liked the simplicity of it. I also think that a five minutes limit is a good thing - it forces one to focus and get to the point :-) Better make more vidoes, each with its own topic, if you need more time to explain e.g. how to find the way through a database.

This is my first attempt into screencasting:
http://screencast.com/t/wjIlh7TqQp

But then I never figured out to upload it to my Youtube account. I couldn't find the file itself (only the URL) and drag & drop didn't work. Since my little video is recorded without sound I would have wanted to play around with annotations in Youtube.

Anyway! Even though I got stuck - again - because of my limited tech skills, I'm still positive and I know people I can ask for help, so I'll get it nailed eventually. Because screencasting is something I really want to use!

Tradidional video is not something I can see myself using. But my colleagues used it a lot during the time our new library was being built. They were uploaded to a dedidated website following the progress every two or three weeks or so and it was a great way to present the project and create interest and expectations in the new and much more creative place for the future public library.

We also have different image videos on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/105872881


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Jeg har set frem til at lære om screencasting og det er helt sikkert noget, jeg skal have kigget mere på. At lave små instruktionsvideoer til databaser og andet er noget, jeg kan se et meget stort potentiale i.

Thing 8: Curation Tools

If my work place is my second home, Pinterest is my third! 

I spend hours on Pinterest. I've realised that one of the things I personally like about Pinterest is that I can choose to stay there - I don't have to surf off to other places on the web. Can just stay there and enjoy and collect pretty pictures and useful links to explore ... some other time ;-)

As with most of the other tools I mainly use Pinterest for my own personal entertainment, and my Pinterest account contains several DIY, crochet and sewing boards. But I do have a professional board with tips on social media - mainly Linkedin - and a board with tips on job searching.

Not many of my pins are library relevant, but then again my job isn't a typical library job. But I certainly see the potential in these content curation tools as a way to collect, order and display relevant stuff to library users, students or clients.

I don't see Pinterest as a social media if social means direct exhange and conversation between people. I know you can comment on and send people pins you think they should see. You can also collaborate and build boards together in a group. But the format and layout is not very suitable for longer discussions.

Because I already know Pinterest, I wanted to take a closer look as Flipboard and set out to start a magazine on information professionalism. Its look appeals to me and I find it more suited than Pinterest  for collecting articles.
But I regret to say that I can't make it work - neither the app on my phone nor the labtop version.

I'll leave it there for now, but I'll keep an eye on the tool and hopefully start using it eventually.



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Pinterest er kendt territorium, og jeg tilbringer en del tid der i min fritid. Men har da også et par boards relateret til job og jobsøgning.
Flipboard, hvor man kan sammensætte magasiner, ser tiltalende ud, og jeg kunne se en idé i at at bruge den til at samle faglige artikler - mere egnet end Pinterest, der primært fungerer som et billed-medie for mig. Men desværre kan jeg ikke få Flipboard til at virke. Jeg kan ikke "flippe" artikler ind i applikationen.
Så jeg lade den ligge for nu, og må se, om den bliver mere håndterbare hen ad vejen.

Thing 7: Podcasts

Podcasts have been part of my work life for the last five years. I have a one hour train ride each way to and from my job and I listen to audio books and radio programmes almost every day.

My purpose of listening to podcasts is mainly entertainment but also to prevent me from falling asleep - though I sometimes manage to do that anyway even with a person talking right into me ears!

I like to listen to novels or programmes about history and culture, mainly literature, and it's a great way to get to know about authors or unknown periods or events in history.

I listen to things that interest me personally and I don't use it in my work. I haven't thought of podcasts as a way to learn work related subjects or gain new skills.
I think that the things you could learn just by listening would be "softer" and more interpersonal skills like conflict management, assertion training, languages etc. Not "harder" stuff like information management, new software and things like that where you would need to look at a screen at the same time.

For the same reason, it is not part of my job to create podcasts myself - when occasionally I teach, the subjects are not suited for this media.

I am grateful that I have learned English well enough to listen to podcasts in this language - it increases my chances of finding interesting stuff endlessly! I didn't know Soundcloud but I have already got the app and look forward to exploring what's on the shelves when my life as a pendler starts again in a few days.