Summary
Content – Library Technician Symposium
Type – Symposium
Length – 14 Hours (2 days) + 1 day library tours
Level – Library Technicians, Librarians
Organisers – ALIA
Presenters – Various
Format – Keynote address (each morning) followed by small breakout workshops
Reflection
The symposium’s main focus was to provide an opportunity for library technicians from around Australia to come together to listen to prominent members of the profession, their peers, speak and debate issues that have arisen in the library technician field. It enabled people to network and connect with like minded individuals through informal and formal events that were planned by ALIA.
One of the reasons I wanted to attend the conference was that as I work within a school library I am the only library technician and it is very difficult to connect with others at my level. I had been working as a library tech for 5 and a half years and apart from connecting with others via social media I thought it would be a great step in my professional development. Another drawcard was that when I looked at the program there were a lot of opportunities to learn and develop new skills that I can use now and later in my career.
Day 1
On the first day there were a number of library tours that we could attend to see how different library environments worked. My first visit was to the Melbourne City Library to gain an insight to how their main public library branch worked. I have no experience in this field and it was interesting to see how not only is it a library but upstairs there is also a viewing space where local artists can display their work. As libraries are community spaces it was nice to see that the library was also respecting what the community values with a strong emphasis on art and collaboration.
My second visit was to the Melbourne Cricket Club library situated within the MCG. As this is a specialised sports library focusing mainly on cricket, it does house information about other sports across Australia also. Not only does it run as a library but it also doubles as an archive as was first established in 1873. It is open to the members of the MCG when there is a game being played and a number of researchers from across the world have used the information it houses.
Day 2
The first official day of the symposium was opened with a keynote address by CSU own Dr Mary Carroll who spoke about how the library technician job is today as valuable as it was back when the position was first established. Next we heard from other library techs and their experiences in their libraries, ranging from TAFE libraries to what it was like working within the National Library.
Breakout Session 1 – Twitter
The first breakout session I attended was on the value of Twitter as a tool for establishing and expanding my professional learning network. Margie spoke of the importance of making positive connections on the platform and connecting with people from all library worlds to gain exposure to their thoughts and ideas on certain issues. I think that Twitter is such a valuable resource for information professionals as it is a place that is continually updating and you can learn so much from a simple 5 minutes looking at a feed.
Breakout Session 2 – Video Strategy
The second session hosted by Jade Koekoe was all about how you can make videos that have a strong purpose and people will gain something from them. In this day and age it is vital that libraries are utilizing every platform they can to help inform their clients. Jade spoke about how to edit a video to ensure it is engaging and informative for the viewer. Now more than ever having a strong presence online comes down to how well libraries can make themselves known.
Day 3
The final day was opened with another keynote presentation by Maddy Medlycott and Michael Hawks who spoke about how we as library technicians need to be confident in our skills and the value we bring to libraries.
Breakout Session 3 – Canva
Hosted by Jade Koekoe this session was about how creating enticing graphics for the library’s social media page is as simple as having 3-4 elements on an image. Promoting events or new products in the library so people come into the library happen mostly on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. Thinking about the images I have made for my library I learned that I could have done things differently to enhance the design to convey my message clearer.
Breakout Session 4 – Escape Rooms
The final breakout session I attended was learning how Nikki Imberger planned a Harry potter escape room within her public library with little to no budget. Nikki took us through how she planned, promoted and built her escape room with simple props and tools she already had within the library and some she hand made. Listening to her experience gave me a view on how I could run one within my library context.
I really loved going to this symposium as I was able to connect with others on my level and some who were also extending their education and gaining their Bachelor degree. It was valuable as I was able to connect with people and make professional connections as well as develop my skills further with the sessions I attend. I think that skills that I gained made me think about how I can use social media to positively promote the library.
Evidence
Tax Invoice – ALIA National Library and Information Technicians’ Symposium 2019
When I first started this subject the views I had towards social media and how it could be harnessed professionally have shifted. Being a millennial, I have grown up with the social world around me, seeing it develop and being aware of all the advancements and the potential that it does have. However, I have never thought how much of an impact it can make on my professional life. Being a library technician for a number of years now I had never thought to branch out and see what networks there were for me in the online world. By working through this subject, it has really opened my eyes to how much is out there for me through online networks for the library and information world.
A platform that I think has immense value to social networking is Facebook. This platform is one of the largest social networking sites (SNS) as it thrives on social relationships, strengthen existing connections and providing a space where people can form new ones. It allows for a space where people can share and communicate about socially relevant topics and as like all SNS it has a strong foundation of communication. It’s a place where people can broadcast information, discuss ideas or ask for help and this helps to cultivate positive social capital (Vitak & Ellison, 2013, p.244). Working within an environment where we need to have these open lines of communication building social capital is vital to making our networks work. Social capital when broken down is individuals working together in a network to boost each other’s knowledge and skills (Cambridge Dictionary, 2019). Facebook with its ability for groups allows for this to flourish and strength the bonds of information professionals across the country and around the world. By working thought the modules and engaging with other people in our subject though Facebook it has encouraged me to join more groups that relate to librarians, library technicians and a group that is about engaging passionate readers. As an information professional I think it is important to have these networks as we work in such a collaborative environment accessing this online environment can unlock a whole world of untapped knowledge.
A social tool which I hope to engage more in the future with is Twitter. In today’s online environment it is a place that is constantly updating with new and current topics. When thinking of personal/professional development right now it can be described as PD 2.0, because of the online access people can obtain self-regulated PD with Twitter being a great space for that. Like Facebook it connects people globally but in a slightly different way. It’s not so much about the status update but the short tweet that gets peoples attention. With the use of hashtags, it can streamline the content to make it meet specific needs and this provides a knowledge bank for people to tap into. It’s a platform where people can post about new and current trends as they are happening in real time (Moreillon, 2016, p.65). I think moving further into my career it will need to be place where I can source new information and use it to further myself professional knowledge.
What I enjoyed most about this subject was our OLJ. The process of designing it to personalise it to how we thought it best represented us. Working through the modules I found it interesting picking the topic which I wanted to comment and express an opinion. Having a blog is a different way of using and interacting with a social networking site as it is a space that allows the learner/writer to have more ownership over their work. The content can be focused to what they want to comment on, and it still enables conversation due to the comment feature. This can promote debate and pushes further learning as it gives them another perspective to think about. The way they are written is also different as it still needs to be professional, but it can be more of a conversational tone (Hansen, 2016, p.87). Having this blog was a good change in how I was learning the material that was covered throughout the subject. Working through the modules I liked how we covered how social networking sites have developed over the years to unknown of what they will be able to achieve. Because of limited time I wanted to select learning tasks that interested me and made me think about the capabilities of social media.
A post I enjoyed writing about was developing my personal learning network. It was a topic that I hadn’t thought about prior and it pushed to explore different forms of social media to see what networks are out there. By writing that post it made me think about where I wanted my career to start to head towards and how social networking could assist with that. On a whole it was wonderful to extend my knowledge and navigate different networking sites to see which ones I think are best to work with and then report back and critically think about them. Social networking can work different for each person, its how you use it and interact with it that makes it different. As I said above, I’m already branching out my Facebook exposure and I want to start dipping into Twitter. I would have never had those thoughts if it weren’t for my OLJ making me think about how I can use SNS to best benefit me a learner and soon to be professional.
What I found useful was researching real organisations and having a look at how they are using social media to their gain. It is one thing learning about the uses of social media and seeing how it can be used but actually having to examine and critically look at how it is being used gives you two different types of views. As the organisations we had to use as reference were charities this again gives you a different perspective to how to use social tools. As these organisations are not for profit, they must engage in social media to best reflect their vison and gain exposure for their services. By looking at all the platforms that they were using it helped develop critical thinking skills when deciding how well they are engaging in social media. Developing critical thinking promotes the learner to analyse and compare information and then look at the content and evaluate it. As this is part of self-instructed learning being able to look at a resource and then reflect on that information and make key decisions is important for a learner (Wallace & Jefferson, 2013, p.248). By working through assessment 2 we had to develop these skills when it came to look at social networking sites.
What I found interesting was having to see how many platforms the organisations were using and evaluate if they are using them in a way that was giving them the best exposure. What was prominent was that all of the organisations had a presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Interacting with more than one SNS is common and being able to maintain a strong presence across all of them requires a team of people. Uploading content, replying to users and making sure all information is up to date seems simple but what was something we had to look at was that if they are doing this consistently. Evaluating the organisations and how they were are using social tools was a good lesson in what we need to think about as we move into maybe working with these tools in our own workplace.
Social media as simple as people think can be quite complex a times. At the start of this unit I had some idea on what it could do but I had never thought about how it can benefit you in more ways than one. From a business side it can help promote and give you the best exposure if used in a positive way. From a personal view it has so many more capabilities than I had ever thought providing new networks to formed and a vast amount of knowledge to be learnt. It has been a great experience looking at these tools from a different angle and getting to see how other information services uses them. The knowledge I have learnt from this subject I will take with me into my future professional life as a librarian.
References
Cambridge Dictionary. (2019). Social capital. Retrieved from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-capital
Hansen, H. E. (2016) The impact of blog-style writing on student learning outcomes: A pilot study. Journal of Political Science Education, 12(1), p.85-101. doi: 10.1080/15512169.2015.1060887
Moreillon, J. (2016). Building your personal learning network (PLN): 21st-century school librarians seek self -egulated professional development online. Knowledge Quest, 44(3), p.64-69. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Wallace, E. & Jefferson, R. N. (2013). Developing critical thinking skills for information seeking success. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 19(3), p.246-255. doi: 10.1080/13614533.2013.802702
Vitak, J. & Ellison, N. B. (2013). ‘There’s a network out there you might as well tap’: Exploring the benefits of and barriers to exchanging informational and support-based resources on facebook. New Media & Society, 15(2), p.243-259. doi: 10.1177/1461444812451566
National Library of NZ
The National Library of New Zealand has quite an active feed, posting regularly a number of times most days. They post quite a variety of things from highlighting content that they offer within their collection, retweeting interesting things that are happening in libraries around the country, current news, New Zealand publishers…really anything that has to do literature, books and learning within New Zealand. The thing I like most about their feed is when they are highlighting their collection, they are posting about images they have. These are such a great thing to post about because it is giving people a snapshot into what life was like in the past. They post such diverse pictures like Swimming pool, Oasis Motel, Taupo, which depicts a summer in the 60s. But then they also post a watercolour image that was painted roughly around 1840 when an artist travelled to Ngamotu (New Plymouth).
Swimming pool https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23254325
Ngamotu (New Plymouth) https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23173901
What I also like about the NLNZ is that they retweet things that people will want to read and know about. They recently retweeted a tweet that provided a list of great new books that you can read over summer. Making this information available is so helpful to really any person that is looking at their feed because it gives people another tool to consult when they need something to read. But then they also are retweeting posts from clients of the library that mention them commending them on their new interlibrary loans process.
Their target audience is really anyone in New Zealand. They are providing information that anyone can use or be interested in, but I think their main goal is providing an online community around the library.