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| Photo taken by Stephen Leitch |
Working through the Online
Networker section of this course has been both fascinating and a little frustrating
at times. Fascinating as I’m seeing and learning about software and programmes
that can really help me link in with my colleagues and the wider librarian work,
but frustrating because I have been battling my own pessimism about their usefulness
in some cases. Whatever I have felt about this section it has made me stop and
think about reaching out and working with others in the sector, and what image
or brand about me I am displaying to the wider world online.
The digital footprint discussion made
me do something I haven’t done in years – I Googled myself to see what information
was readily available out there about me or my libraries. I was pleased to find
nothing overtly incriminating, a few memories were stirred about past events
and jobs and the odd chuckle over images. But also, I felt nothing startling
either. With my Facebook locked down to private and Twitter registered as my
current school library at Buckie High, little social networking evidence was
found or articles in general. I admit I am a reluctant social networker, yet I
realise this is an area that people use to find out information on other people
and I have realised that what ever my feelings I need to have a positive
presence out there online that clearly says ‘this is me, find out about me here’.
And my lack of clear presence may be putting me at a disadvantage as people may
not be getting a great picture of who this Stephen Leitch guy is. I have
started to take steps to rectify this including reactivating a very dated
LINKEDIN account, which despite still being a bit baffling to me I want to make
my professional online site to direct people to and learn about me and my
career, which no one would be able to find out about now online. I have also decided
to create personal twitter account separate from the school library account I
run, to allow me to follow people and organisations I wish to and to interact
with, ask questions, share information, or take part in twitter chats with.
This will provide another perhaps more dynamic space on the internet for folks
to learn more about me – and me to be a more active networker online. Once
established both will have the same photo and backdrop and description to give
them the ‘my own brand’ feel. I’ll also use the biography I wrote in Thing 11 which
I am really pleased with. Taking a slightly different approach to highlighting
me and my digital brand, I have also been making sure in press releases to
local newspapers that my name and job title appear in full in the press
release. There is logic in this, so that if the article is published online
with my full details it will be more readily found if people search for me. I
have thought about branching out into other social sites like Tumblr for work,
but on reflection decided that having another site to update with essentially
the same information as on twitter that there is no point in this for me. Also,
that would be work focused and not directly promoting me or my digital image. My
challenge will be actively using LINKEDIN and Twitter and keeping them up to
date, and the decision to undertake this is one of the largest positives that
this section of the course given me.
I mentioned earlier that I am
perhaps a more reluctant networker online than others, which may seem a little
surprising as a solo librarian. Though on reflection that is not totally the
case. I’m more of a traditionally networker – speaking to people real time, attending
departmental meetings, contributing to requests for ideas and resources by
email etc. But these are very much traditional approaches which I do feel more
comfortable with, though confidence is sometimes lacking when contacting new
staff or promoting new ideas. Interestingly I feel these are reasons I find
online networking a little challenging – asking complete strangers for advice
online seems odd. Yet it shouldn’t. Online networking should be easier – there isn’t
a person standing in front of you! Following the Future Ready Librarians on
Facebook has really shown me that I shouldn’t be worried about asking what may
seem a non-important question, people seem very happy and willing to share
information and experiences when they can, and I have certainly offered advice
when able to and benefitted from reading other people’s posts, comments, and
ideas. This experience alone is starting to make me feel a little more
confident in being more active in the online networking environment and realise
that I need to stop being a passive player and look for opportunities to be
more active in commenting on posts, posting my own questions. As I develop my
own twitter account this should also help be develop confidence in being more
proactive in using this for networking, questioning and being involved in
twitter chats which I have avoided having only my work account to use. Just
having an account used for work while being a good showcase for the work of the
library hasn’t given me the ability to be as free as I need to be to develop
myself as an online networker. While there is a crossover – after all I am the
librarian making things happen at Buckie High Library, what I want people to
see me as, as opposed to my work twitter are two separate things and should be
developed as such.
Having looked through some of the
collaborative tools available to me and reflecting on my current position of
work, one thing is clear. I really need to start better exploiting the tools
that I have available to me before I go headfirst into using others. Presently,
I don’t use any of the recommended tools mainly because I don’t readily require
all of them in my employment network – though I have investigated them and can
see the use of them, especially Doodle for setting dates for events and
meetings as this can be an absolute nightmare. Also, for the likes of Google
Drive, I’m learning to use an equivalent – OneDrive, as this is supplied free
as part of the Scottish Governments educational GLOW network and is one we are
encouraged to use. The principles are the same as Google Drive and I especially
like the privileges that you can give people to alter files which is necessary
on remote project work, meaning there is only one up to date copy. While I can
see uses for the likes of Skype, this form of communication is blocked by our
IT department which is such a shame as being remote working librarians in Moray
schools getting together can be tricky and online meetings would be so much
easier for us to do, and link into meetings with our colleagues in neighbouring
authorities (of which we are trying to encourage and attend more joint
meetings). And the structure of work is
an area that can hinder networking and collaboration – the access that you have
to these tools or whether they are blocked by your IT department – many social networking
and file sharing sites are for me. So, I need to better exploit what I currently
use and have access to – outlook calendar, email, meeting scheduler, OneDrive
for file sharing, but keep aware of what else is available for future
developments and also collaborating outside of work on projects. Google Drive
will allow me to share files with people online from home which many people on the
Future Ready Librarians group do. I need to be future ready with these tools.
Being a good online networker is
more than simply having a twitter account and liking a few things that your
colleagues do. It’s about having a clear professional presence on the internet that
people can identify as you, which you can use to engage with, discuss and share
ideas with colleagues and other professionals alike using online tools to help with
this. While not at the start of this journey I feel I still have some distance
to go before I would call myself a good online networker. Working through this
section of the course has allowed me to move forward on this journey, allowing
me to develop strategies for moving on. And though at work I may not need to or
be able to use all the brilliant tools available to me to help with collaboration,
I have a much greater of knowledge of what is available to me to use outside of
the work setting and in future employment, and a drive to better use what I have
access to, and to be a better networker.
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