Belbin team roles - my results

As you can see, I came out with the most points as an implementer. To give an idea of the role the implementer plays, here’s an explanation from the Mind Tools website (which includes more information about the different roles):

Implementers are the people who get things done. They turn the team’s ideas and concepts into practical actions and plans. They are typically conservative, disciplined people who work systematically and efficiently and are very well organized. These are the people who you can count on to get the job done.

On the downside, Implementers may be inflexible and can be somewhat resistant to change.

Now I know when we get the results of a psychological test like this we have to take it with a pinch of salt, and of course we’re bound to focus on the things we agree with (there was a fascinating section in a book I read recently about how we treat results of these sort of tests), but that aside I do feel that this describes the role I usually take on board.

I certainly like to work systematically, and prefer to have a plan to work to. I’m usually the person who will volunteer to organise these sort of things and I’m a person who lives her life by making lists! I also agree with the downsides of being an implementer – I don’t like it when things go majorly off course and don’t stick to the plan, and I can be resistant to change (particularly in my home life, although not so much in my working life).

There was quite a difference between my score as an implementer and the others, although I also scored relatively highly as a resource investigator (who explores outside opportunities) and a completer-finisher (who ensures thorough, timely completion). I think the latter will ring true with anyone who has worked with me – I’m often the designated proofreader who checks everything is accurate, and I tend to take on an organisation role to make sure things are on track. I can certainly see some of the elements of the resource investigator in my personality too – I’m curious (to the point of being annoying with all my questions!) and like to help negotiate to bring in external contacts and resources. I’m more introverted than extroverted though, and not very outgoing.

As for the roles I probably don’t tend to take on, I scored low points for the role of the shaper (who challenges the team to improve) and the plant (who presents new ideas and approaches). I’m certainly usually the type of person who avoids confrontation, and I won’t usually challenge others or shake things up unless I really think it’s necessary. I’m not a creative innovator either (like the plant); I tend to follow existing practical approaches where possible.

It was an interesting exercise and useful to learn more about myself and ensure I’m aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and the roles I usually play within a team. I am also now aware of the way my new boss tends to work and how we may be able to work together more effectively.

What role do yo usually play? Do you think it’s useful for staff to understand their role within a team?

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Today, 20th August 2010, is the last day of my contract at  University of Wolverhampton (last Friday was my final working day). Having begun employment as a Graduate Trainee on 1st September 2005, I worked there for almost 5 years. During that time I had four different contracts, three different bosses, two different job titles, and worked at three different campuses. I worked with some fabulous colleagues, many of whom I am sure I’ll keep in touch with.

I started out in the trainee post, and then worked in a paraprofessional role whilst I was working towards my postgraduate qualification (which I still need to complete the dissertation part of!). I started my first professional post in November 2008, in a traditional subject librarian role. I learnt a lot during my time in each job, and developed many skills essential to my work such as information management, organisation, time management, effective communication, and project management.

Over the last couple of years, I also spent a lot of my free time working on professional activities such as committee work for CILIP, writing articles for publication, and speaking at conferences. I was encouraged by my managers, and by my professional network, to continue to push myself into new challenges. I began to discover my professional interests (although I’m sure these will change throughout my career), and realised that I’m passionate about driving things forward – whether it’s implementing new technologies, adopting new working practices, or investigating the feasibility of new services. I thrive on project based work and love investigating and researching areas to support development of library and information services.

So, armed with the encouragement of my mentors and my network, I jumped at the opportunity to apply for a job as Evidence-based Researcher. My passion must have shown through in my interview, and I start my new job at Birmingham City University on Monday.

The job will be very different; I’ll be involved in research projects for libraries, but I won’t be based in a library. I think I may find it strange at first to make the adjustment, but I know many others who work closely with libraries yet no longer work in one, and I’m sure my professional network will help ensure I don’t lose touch of what’s actually happening in libraries.

My working pattern will change, and I’ll probably be travelling a lot more, but that’s something I’m really looking forward to. The train is one of my favourite places to work so I’m happy to work on the go and I hope to have the technology to enable me to do so. I love attending conference and events, and hope to be able to continue to do so on behalf of my new employers.

I’ve started researching some of the projects I’m going to be working on, and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into it. I hope to be able to bring some of my current skills in analysis and evaluation, and develop further some of my skills in research and consultancy. I’ve got some ideas of what I’d like to achieve, both on a personal level, and also to support the work of my new department, and I can’t wait to get started!

Something that I think will make the transition easier is the fact that my professional network is unlikely to change very much. My immediate colleagues will obviously change, but I get a lot of information and support from my network (particularly those on Twitter), and I hope to continue to build this network in my new role. I’ll also be able to keep in touch with some of my current work colleagues with similar interests to my own, which I hope will be of mutual benefit to ourselves and our employers. It’s really highlighted to me just how valuable a professional network is.

Bring on the new challenges!

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What is advocacy and why is it important for libraries?

Advocacy is marketing an ISSUE, it’s a different thing to marketing or public relations – advocacy is an agenda not an event.

Librarians and libraries are often uncomfortable with promotion and marketing, however recent discoveries (e.g. schools using Google etc.) show that it’s not enough to expect people to “know” about the value of libraries, we need to promote them to our funders, our library users, and potential users.

Stephen emphasised that the communication method is key – it needs to be appropriate and timely to start a conversation with people. We need to think more about libraries from a listeners point of view rather than a librarian point of view – how does the library support the community (whether this is general public, academics, health professionals, lawyers etc.)? The space the library can serve for the community is very unique – how do we measure that value and communicate it to our funders?

Selling is not a dirty word – we need to do it more!

A successful advocate is someone who needs to care, have courage, be trustworthy and passionate. An advocate needs to have a story, and respect those whom we need to influence in order to share the story in an appropriate way. An important offshoot of this is that advocates need to have a commitment to communicate this in different ways, for example

One point he raised which I wholeheartedly agree with is that every member of library staff is an advocate and should look for ways the library can support the community. We need to understand the research to be armed with facts, but also be aware that some people won’t believe the facts – we can reach these peope by telling them stories that they can identify with.

How and when is advocacy needed?

When is advocacy needed? Before you need it! Advocacy is often more successful when you are for something rather than against something – you can have a secondary point which is against closing a library, but the main issue to reinforce should be a positive one.

Don’t make people digest our information for themselves – put it in the most appropriate format and tell people your stories. For example, when using images to tell a story use the community or interesting images, not clip art or pictures of books and PCs. The relationship is often with library staff, so make sure they are visually represented appropriately e.g. staff photos on the website.

A metaphor I really liked is to “be the sun” – where sunflowers follow the sun, the library needs to be like the sun for our users; on point, positive, respectful, and aware of what people need as well as our funders’ agendas. He also used a bonsai tree metaphor, where bonsai tree growers use copper wires to shape the tree, we have to be patient with library advocacy and wait for the growth to move in the way you are encouraging. Interesting perspectives!

He also discussed some marketing ideas for getting people into the library, and then using the opportunity to reinforce your library message and develop advocates as well as providing more stories to tell from the event.

Some messages we might want to think about for library advocacy:

• “The magic happens from the librarian” – not from adding computers, or introducing e-books; it’s the librarian that makes the difference. Very powerful message.
• We know that we develop knowledge through learning, and libraries support all 7 forms of learning. It’s not just from books.
• Virtual usage – with changes in the material and resources we supply, we need to have the capability to measure the statistics from this – do we have statistics of our virtual use as well as borrowing statistics? We need to have this in place in order to prove the value of the virtual library, otherwise it is easy to say that the usage of the library has decreased, due to borrowing statistic changes.

He also gave some examples from USA of successful library advocacy – there are some links in his presentation.

On a related note, Lauren Smith has followed Ian Clark‘s excellent example and her article about Doncaster Library cuts has been published in the Guardian Comment Is Free section today. Great way to escape the echo chamber!

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As some of you may know, escaping the echo chamber has been a concern of librarians for a while now. American library bloggers, and more recently UK library bloggers, share their experiences and discuss innovative ideas for developing their libraries, whether they are public, academic, law, health or special libraries. For approximately four or five years now, I’ve been reading about all these fantastic developments and joining in conversations with other library and information workers in the profession.There’s some great stuff happening and some even greater stuff being developed for the future.

And yet, we find ourselves in the unfortunate position whereby libraries are facing closure threats, funding is being cut drastically, and staff are facing redundancy. Obviously, these new stories are due to the economic climate, but why are libraries suffering worse than some other areas? Is it because libraries aren’t seen as important as some of the more vital areas of public spending such a healthcare and education? Possibly. Is the problem exacerbated by the lack of communication outside of anyone working in the profession or our regular users? I think so.

Of course, I’m biased – I’m passionate about providing information to help people, and I choose to work in this profession so I have a vested interest. However, I’m pretty new to the profession, and before I left University I knew very little about libraries or librarians. I had no idea that you needed to be qualified to become a librarian. I didn’t know that stamping books was something that very few librarians do, and that there is so much else they do. So when I get the standard reaction from other people when they ask me what I do, I initially feel a little defensive of my profession, but then I think back to my previous (lack of) knowledge about librarianship, and I explain to them what it’s all about. I’ve had conversations with taxi drivers, railway staff (often on the way to a library related conference), and occasionally with my friends and family.

But I have a confession: I’m not doing anywhere near enough of this.

I recently found this blog post by Emma Cragg fascinating (go read it!), and it inspired me to do something similar. I didn’t email my family and friends, but I did ask some of them what they think I do. I’ve had the excuse to talk about it as I’ll soon be changing jobs, so it’s coming up in conversation now probably more often than normal. It wasn’t a big surprise to me, but the people I asked didn’t really have any clue what my job role entails. One person had actually read the job description for my new job as well as my application, and still didn’t really know what it was I actually do for a living. My new job title includes the word “researcher” so my sister thought I’d be helping people with their research which I probably didn’t do as a librarian – in actual fact the opposite is true.

This brings me to the echo chamber. According to Wikipedia (yes, I’m a librarian who uses Wikipedia, so shoot me!), an echo chamber in terms of media refers to:

a situation in which information, ideas or beliefs are amplified or reinforced by transmission inside an “enclosed” space

This is what we have in the biblioblogosphere (library bloggers), on Twitter (probably about 90% of my Twitter network work in library related jobs), and at library-related conferences and events I attend. Obviously, this is a problem. Even if someone had the most fantastic idea ever, or there was news about an amazing new library scheme, only those of us who already had an interest would find out about it. So how do we escape the echo chamber?

It’s been a concern for a number of other UK librarians recently, and Ned Potter and WoodsieGirl recently presented on the topic, giving a great overview of where we currently are, and sharing some examples of when librarians have successfully broken out of the echo chamber (such as Ian Clark‘s excellent article recently published by the Guardian Comment is Free section) – check these links out if you haven’t already seen them, although of course most of you reading this will already know about them as I’m aware that I’m currently speaking to the echo chamber!

I’ve been thinking recently about ways I can help us break out of the echo chamber.

One thing I have been working on in my role as Marketing Officer for CILIP West Midlands is organising a debate with a local debating group, the Birmingham Salon. As you may be aware, Birmingham is having a brand spanking new library, but it’s not been without its criticism. Firstly, it’s costing a lot of public money, and secondly, there are a number of people who oppose the destruction of the current library building, as it is an example of brutalist architecture which they feel should not be destroyed. We thought it would be good to encourage discussion about the new library, and about the future of libraries in general by holding an open debate. It’s being organised jointly, and we’re hoping to encourage both people from the library and information profession, and the general public. I’m promoting via all the usual library channels, and we’re utilising the Birmingham Salon contacts to promote the event locally. Hopefully it will be a way to begin to engage with the local community and escape the echo chamber. If you’re interested in coming along and live near Birmingham, the details are on the event flyer and the Facebook event, or follow remotely with the #libdebate tweets.

Something else I’ve been thinking more about is how important it is to act as ambassadors for the profession. We need to be objective (which I am aware is easier to say than do), and we need to demonstrate the value of libraries where that value truly lies. Although I would of course be disappointed to see libraries disappear, I’m also a pragmatic person and only want libraries that provide value to succeed. I myself rarely use the public library, because even though it’s only a 5 minute walk away, it’s just not convenient enough for me. It has confusing opening hours varying each day (often shutting for lunch and closing before work finishes), and many of the books I’d like to read are either on loan, or in another branch. I have paid 40p to reserve books in the past, but then I struggle to collect during opening hours. For me personally, I’d rather use a postal scheme, and I’d be happy to pay into something like Lovefilm but for books. For others in my town, the library is about the community; for example I imagine I’d use the local library far more for this purpose if I was a parent. As a distance learner and user of an academic library, for me it’s all about electronic access to the resources. For others it may be the study facilities. In my workplace, I’m not sure that I know what exactly it is that our users and non-users would like from the library. In order to address these different needs (and acknowledge that these needs change rapidly reflecting changes in society and technology) I’d like to see us, as a profession, listen more to our users and our potential users, and actively involve them in our planning and development.

And in the meantime, I’m going to be talking more about what I do and what libraries are all about to the people I come into contact with. I’m also going to make more of an effort to find out about different types of libraries and librarians, so that I’m armed with the knowledge to help both myself and direct other people to help.

What else can we do to escape the echo chamber? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, or join in the Twitter conversation using the hashtag #echolib.

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Over summer I’ve got two main projects on the go; collection management for the Teaching Practice collection (for trainee teachers), and managing a project working on development of induction activities for the VLE. I also usually have two enquiry desk duties per week, each of which is half a day (this week mine are Wednesday afternoon and Friday afternoon).

Work activities on my desk this week

Today I spent most of the day on the induction project, although I did spend a little bit of time weeding.

Morning activities today included:

• Sorting and responding to emails – nowhere near as many each morning since I recently reorganised my folders and accounts, using my librarian skills to good effect!
• Reviewing induction material sent to me by one of the project team – gave feedback for a few minor amendments
• Moving the HTML content from one VLE topic to another, uploading images to new topic, and changing the structure slightly (splitting a long section up into component parts)
• Adding the complete structure to the new topic (with blank marker pages) to get a better idea of the overall induction package
• Weeding the Teaching Practice collection – finished Music and did the Sport/PE section so just Geography and History to go now

Afternoon activities included:

• Reviewing more induction project material to ensure we’re sticking to the project brief and covering the areas we need without going overboard – a real threat to this project has been creeping into more advanced material, so it’s important we establish and stick to what we believe is necessary information for induction level
• Helping a colleague rearrange furniture – he’s swapped desks and needed to rearrange all his PC equipment (he’s a lucky so and so who has two monitors!)
• Adding some of the quiz questions to the VLE including feedback – remembered I could include images as answer options which makes the screenshot questions easier to understand
• More photographs, screenshots and image editing
• Starting to think about what, if any, files (physical or electronic) I need to handover before leaving – I’ve been at this workplace for almost 5 years, but most of what I have produced is publicly (or internally) available. Hopefully my meeting with my manager next week will help me think about all the things I’ve likely forgotten about!

Probably reads as a pretty boring day, but I’m excited about the induction activities project and want to make it a really useful tool for all our new students, taking into account different starting knowledge points and different learning styles. It’s all starting to come together nicely now so fingers crossed it will be complete before I leave!

If you’re interested in following other librarians, go to the wiki and use the links to people’s blogs, or use the #libday5 search in Twitter. Looking forward to #libday6 when I should be in my new job!

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Over summer I’ve got two main projects on the go; collection management for the Teaching Practice collection (for trainee teachers), and managing a project working on development of induction activities for the VLE. I also usually have two enquiry desk duties per week, each of which is half a day (this week mine are Wednesday afternoon and Friday afternoon).

Current to do list (I also use RTM for smaller subtasks)

I took some photos of my workplace today (including the one above of my overall to do list), you can see them all in this set on Flickr. Others have also been adding photos for the project, I find it really interesting to look at where people work.

Morning activities today included:

• Sorting and responding to emails
• Finding examples of different types of material for the induction activities (book, CD, DVD, and chapter from edited book from well known or general study skills material) – always amazes me how long it can take to find a good example!
• Taking photos and screenshots of example materials and example searches on OPAC (library catalogue)
• Adding the images and brief explanatory text to the VLE
• Putting together some multiple choice questions for the induction activities
• Covering the Lending Services Helpdesk for 90mins whilst other staff were at a meeting (this involved selling some withdrawn books and binding materials, issuing reservations, renewing a laptop loan, helping students find books, and helping a student with a corrupt USB drive – oh and cutting my hand whilst guillotining some scrap paper!)

Afternoon activities included:

• Adding more induction material to the VLE (think this will be repeated every morning and afternoon for the foreseeable future!)
• Glancing through the CILIP Defining our Professional Future report, and printing a copy to read soon
• Flicking through the online version of Library & Information Update from CILIP
• Organising my calendar for the next few weeks before I finish this job role (including arranging some meetings with my manager)
• Trying to sort out a crashing issue with Photoshop (using advice from Twitter) before editing images ready for web use – it seemed a little better later on, but still crashed when I tried to open multiple files so more investigation needed tomorrow!

If you’re interested in following other librarians, go to the wiki and use the links to people’s blogs, or use the #libday5 search in Twitter.

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Over summer I’ve got two main projects on the go; collection management for the Teaching Practice collection (for trainee teachers), and managing a project working on development of induction activities for the VLE. I also usually have two enquiry desk duties per week, each of which is half a day (this week mine are Wednesday afternoon and Friday afternoon).

Morning activities today included:

• Sorting through emails and responding to a couple of email enquiries (local college librarian re-arranging a visit to discuss inductions and education student researching pedagogy and andragogy for her dissertation)
• Changing loan status of some books which are no longer in such high demand
• Selecting books for withdrawal in the music education section of Teaching Practice (found some gems which I’ll photograph to share!)
• Organising classmarks of books to be changed where they would be more findable from another area (Teaching Practice is usually browsed, not found by searching OPAC, so logical placement in terms of the area of the curriculum it supports is vital)
• Returning books I’ve been too lazy to return and kept renewing even though I have finished with them (librarians are such rebels!)
• Enjoying a lovely slice of gluten free chocolate cake made specially by a colleague (this was definitely a highlight!)

Afternoon activities included:

• Answering a couple of phone and in-person enquiries – mainly just directional enquiries though, no meaty research enquiries this afternoon
• Briefly covering the Lending Services Helpdesk (and helping a lost student find a book)
• Looking at the latest issue of SCONUL Focus – read part of a particularly interesting article about improving support and liaison links with academic staff and researchers
• Discussions with a colleague about changes to the curriculum and how our soon to be developed induction activities can be embedded into the new modules
• Discussions with a different colleague about the progress on the induction activities (this turned into an epic conversation but I think we both had a clearer idea by the end!)
• Drafting some ideas and activities for my areas of responsibility in the induction activities (mainly activities using multiple choice questions with clear feedback at each stage)
• Testing capabilities of the VLE – thankfully inserting images into multiple choice questions is relatively straight forward!

I forgot to take photos today so I’ll be sure to take some tomorrow and add them to the blog posts.

If you’re interested in following other librarians, go to the wiki and use the links to people’s blogs, or use the #libday5 search in Twitter.

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My workshop was examining ‘The Wild West’ scenario; an era of instability and regional divides, largely market driven but relatively open. We began the day by trying to visualise this scenario and what it could be like if this was the case in 2050. We thought about how this might affect currency, language, global resources, communication, and education. As you can see from the overview, in this scenario UK Higher Education consists of 20 academic and research intensive universities, 2-3 major vocational institutions in regional clusters (merging FE with HE), and around 25 new entrants from the private sector, mainly operating for profit. Funding of learning comes from employers and students (no state funding), with research funded by industry, state and regional partners.

The first activity looked at what an academic library might be like in the scenario. Possible models included a geographic shared service (similar to Worcester’s academic, public and history centre currently being built), all HE being supported by one national library service, or libraries working as trading bodies becoming specialists in certain areas which other libraries may choose to buy in. Key themes which came from these discussions included the concept of regional hubs to support teaching and research (maybe even a Starbucks University!), the possibility of research intensive universities publishing and selling their research to increase income, and collaborative opportunities for educational institutions and businesses for both learning and research.

The second activity required us to think about certain people within the scenario and what their relationship with the academic library would be. We looked at learners (researchers, undergraduates, adult learners), library workers (junior librarians, specialist librarians, library managers), and university staff (lecturers, academic authors, university managers). This was an interesting exercise, my group looked at adult learners (for whom we felt a lot of their current needs would still exist in this scenario), library managers (for whom we felt would need more business skills such as negotiation, networking and marketing), and academic authors (for whom we felt would need support with the publication process and measuring the impact of their work).

The final activity was to produce a timeline from 2010 to 2050 with key milestones, assuming that we would reach the Wild West scenario in 2050. We had to come up with some headlines (we were encouraged to make them radical) and place them on the timescale where we thought they might happen. Suggestions included Google competing with Amazon for online sales of physical books, shortly followed by the last ever physical textbook being printed. Each of the groups predicted news of library buildings closing (though not the service), and key publishers going bust. Most of the headlines were things we predicted in the next 20 years or so, it was more difficult to predict what might happen in 2030-2050.

It was a really interesting workshop, and I enjoyed the different approach of scenario building. It was very difficult to picture things in 40 years though, especially when you think how much library services and society in general has changed in the last 40 years! Keep an eye on the project website for more information or details of the different scenarios.

There was also a lot of crossover between the discussions at this event and those of CILIPs Defining our Professional Future project, which I’m looking forward to seeing the report from.

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Emma Illingworth and myself at NPC2010 (from sarahjison on Flickr)

Having gained a lot from the use of Twitter as a communication tool and conference backchannel at recent conferences, I was keen to encourage this at this year’s New Professionals Conference. Thankfully, the organising committee agreed and I was appointed the grand title of “Twitter Officer” (despite what some people thought, this was only my title for the conference and not for my paid job!).

The Twitter hashtag

A hashtag of #npc2010 was agreed early on in the conference planning, and a TwapperKeeper archive was set up by Ned Potter, one of the conference organising team, in February 2010. The hashtag was promoted mainly through Twitter, being used by the conference organising team, myself, and other tweeters interested in the conference.

The Twitter list

A Twitter list of all delegates and speakers was established so that people could follow all tweets from the group. The list was populated by adding people who used the #npc2010 hashtag in the run up to the conference, as well as from the responses to an email which went to all delegates requesting Twitter usernames if they wished them to be added to conference badges and the list. As each was added, they were notified via email or Twitter and the link was shared so that they could follow the list if they wanted to.

Before the conference

In the run up to the conference, Twitter was initially used to promote the conference, and later to confirm attendance. It was also used by first-time speakers to help them gather evidence to support their talks, and share their experiences as they developed their presentations. Closer to the conference, discussion using the hashtag increased as people began to discuss their plans for the conference and organise face-to-face networking opportunities.

During the conference

Despite the lack of wireless access, a number of attendees were able to tweet throughout the conference using their mobile phones. Main points from each of the presentations and some of the workshops were tweeted throughout the day. This proved particularly useful during the workshop sessions, as those who were in a workshop could also read tweets from the presentations they had missed. There was also conversation on Twitter amongst delegates; reiterating points made by others, adding opinions to topics covered during the day, and building network connections.

Twitter usernames on delegate badges helped those who had previously communicated on Twitter identify each other and continue networking face-to-face. The prominence of Twitter throughout the day, and Bethan Ruddock’s Twitter workshop also encouraged discussion about Twitter during networking opportunities.

After the conference

Discussion on Twitter has continued after the conference, with people sharing feedback on the day, links to blog posts, photos from the day, and other information which may be of use to those attending or following the New Professionals Conference. Conversation has also continued on from topics raised and conversations held during the day, extending the networking opportunities available after the conference.

Key statistics

Using data from the Summarizr for #npc2010 and the NPC2010 Twitter list, the following key facts emerge:

• 796 tweets have been made with the hashtag #npc2010 (as at 11th July 2010)
• 119 different people tweeted using the hashtag #npc2010, demonstrating engagement from those who didn’t attend as well as those at the conference
• The Twitter list contains tweets from 30 delegates, and has 20 followers
• 80 different URLs were tweeted along with the #npc2010 hashtag (including links to blog posts, presentations, and the conference details)
• Numerous conversations between tweeters were encouraged through use of the hashtag; it also enabled conversations with speakers, many of whom use Twitter

Future recommendations of good practice

Use of Twitter certainly enhanced the conference and I would recommend its use for future events, but there are a few further recommendations:

1. Wireless access at venue – this is something that I imagine is frequently mentioned on feedback forms at venues without wireless access. Over the last couple of years it has become more common to have access to wireless network throughout events, and is therefore expected by many. Wireless access would have enabled more people to be able to tweet during the day, as many bought along devices which required wireless access. It had been hoped that the venue would have wireless but unfortunately that wasn’t the case – it may be something to place more priority on when choosing venue if future events are likely to include tweeting etc. during the day.
2. Wider promotion of hashtag – the hashtag was mainly mentioned on Twitter, but if you weren’t already following people like myself or the conference organisers it may not have been obvious. It was also publicised by email but looking back, it could have been more widely promoted. Details of the hashtag would be useful on the conference details page, in the delegate pack, and on the welcome screen as delegates arrive. It should also be mentioned at the beginning of the day with housekeeping information.
3. Twitterfall wall at venue – I know this wasn’t possible for this particular event, but I do think it’s something to consider for future events. It was used successfully at the Librarians as Teachers event on a large screen near the back of the room. This way it doesn’t interrupt the main presentations or distract people’s attention, but can be looked at during the break, even by those without mobile phones or laptops with them. It can also be interesting for speakers to review the tweets made during their session. If breaks are held in a different room, this may be a more appropriate place to display the tweets.

Conclusion

Twitter was used successfully at New Professionals Conference, and tied in well with the conference theme – many presentations discussed the importance of CPD via peer networking, and the use of Twitter encouraged this at the event. The Twitter list was a useful way for people to follow all delegates at the conference, and the #npc2010 hashtag was used extensively before, during and after the conference. Tweeting enabled some who couldn’t attend to get a feel for some of the key themes of the day, and supported networking and sharing information for delegates and speakers.

P.S. Many bloggers have reported on the New Professionals Conference, check them out if you’d like to know more about the actual event:

• Just another dent in the damage (Lex Rigby) (parts 1, 2, and 3)
• Niamh Page
• Palely Loitering (Laura Steel)
• The Graduate Librarian
• Shiny Forager (Bronagh McCrudden)
• The Wikiman (Ned Potter)
• WoodsieGirl
• Bethan Ruddock
• Lizzie Russell
• Random Musings of a Librarian, Almost (first blog post – welcome to the biblioblogosphere!).

You can also view more photos from the conference at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjison/tags/npc2010/.

Looking forward to NPC2011!

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Also, a brief mention about the publication process – as it is peer-reviewed and all handled online this was a new experience for me (previously I’ve mainly dealt with the process through e-mail communication with the editor). It seems to work well – there were a few issues with the system in that it doesn’t alert the reviewer/editor when updates have been made, but it wasn’t too arduous to send a quick email to let them know. I really liked the ability to track the progress of the article, and online storage certainly helped in terms of version control to ensure the most up-to-date copy is being used. I know this approach is used by a number of peer-reviewed journals now and I can certainly see why – I can also see the opportunity to use this sort of system for any document control which needs to go through a similar reviewing and updating process (project documentation, theses and dissertations, and dreaded reading lists!).

Anyway, enough about that – read the article if you’re interested in what LILAC 2010 was all about, and you may also wish to read my blog posts from LILAC. Hopefully it won’t be the last LILAC conference I attend; I really did get a lot of value from it and would recommend it to all researchers and practitioners interested in information literacy.

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