Thing 18 - Communicating Through Photographs

After a bit of hassle I finally did get to open a Flickr account, as it is linked to Yahoo it made things a bit tricky for me but not to worry, here is a lovely picture I found of a library with a creative commons licence.

But in the meantime isn't Instagram lovely!  Nice and easy to use, no trouble with opening an account and so much to see.  I have left comments on many library accounts but no replies just yet. All that waiting around gave me a chance to see what Kim Kardashian is up to...oh dear I have no restraint...all these images are so distracting!  

We have a Twitter and Facebook account at work which is updated regularly on our website but no Instagram.  I will suggest we give it a trial period for when we are promoting our library events.

Thing 17 - Reflective Practice

 

Taking part in Rudai has been far more time consuming and daunting than I ever expected but it has also been the most rewarding experience.  It has pushed me out of my comfort zone and that in itself is a lot to reflect on!  I never thought I would ever publish my own blog, let alone create a short video and upload it to YouTube, it is all very exciting!  

Sometimes when I read the new Thing that has to be done I say to myself "I'll never be able to do that" but then I do it and feel great. There are some tools that I won't use regularly but at least I know they exist and now have some experience of them.  I really enjoyed learning more about the uses of Google, figuring out how to use Podcasts, YouTube and even augmented reality.

I have never come across the idea of reflective writing before, learning by doing is what I would have been familiar with.  The process of a written reflection to enable further questioning and investigating to lead to a better understanding makes so much sense.

Thing 16 - Collaboration Tools

Having spent the last 15 years working in a large office environment with a staff of up to 300 people, communication was vital to the working day.  We were all connected by our staff email system and we had an intranet to provide staff with practical, easily accessible information such as telephone extension numbers.

I did not realise how much I had taken that for granted!

Once I moved to the library service I lost my email account and access to the intranet, it was like being cast adrift from the mother ship.  Not only is it difficult to maintain friendships with just a little email it also means that I have no idea what is happening in the organisation as a whole.

The library operates under its own system and it works well for those that are used to it but there is always room for improvement.  Using Google as a collaboration tool would be ideal for us as all the libraries have access to the internet and the interface is similar to Microsoft and easy to use.