If you want to join in, let @flexnib know so she can add you to the list.
If you want to follow along then you can add everyone on the afore-mentioned list into your favourite RSS feed reader or follow her Twitter list – as participants will probably tweet when they have posted.
Or take a look at the #blogjune tag board which captures tweets, instagrams, facebook updates, and more with the hashtag #blogjune.
Or, I’ve subscribed to all the participant blogs and shared the feeds on this my Netvibes page.
]]>But that is beside the point. What is ANZ 23 Mobile Things?
“ALIA NGAC (Australian Library and Information Association New Generation Advisory Committee) and New Professionals Network NZ have teamed up to offer an Australian/New Zealand course based on the 23 Mobile Things course by Jan Holmquist. We are running this course from May-November 2013 and it currently has over 500 participants signed up! Come and join us in our learning journey.”
Over 500 of your Australian and New Zealand colleagues have already signed up and there are opportunities to do more than just participate. Check out the ANZ 23 Mobile Things blog, the Facebook page and Twitter feed (@anz23mthings), but do so now, because we are in Week 0 – the learning begins next week!
]]>
Queensland, Australia: City Looks to Commercialise #Libraries ow.ly/kt34S via @infodocket Tip: @mattrweaver
— Library Journal (@LibraryJournal) April 26, 2013
A short time later I found the article on our local newspaper website – The Gold Coast Bulletin.
City looks to commercialise libraries (April 27, 2013) by Stephanie Bedo.
ABC Gold Coast (on Facebook) is asking what locals think about having to pay to check out books, and if collection development preferred e-books over print resources. Check out their responses.
Letters to the Editor
The Gold Coast Bulletin
Apr 29 2013
I WAS surprised to read that Deputy Mayor Donna Gates ( Gold Coast Bulletin 27-4-13) is concerned about the cost of running free programs at our local libraries. I have run several card-making events as part of these programs and I volunteer my time…read more…
LIBRARY
The Gold Coast Bulletin
Apr 29 2013
I FIND it amazing we can’t afford library services but can afford the exorbitant wages of councillors and CEOs like Dale Dickson. – Grasshopper AS much as libraries are nice relaxing places and a good place to store records on paper, Colette McCool’s…read more…
Facts & Figures about Gold Coast Library Services – one of the busiest public libraries in Australia.
]]>]]>
So what is the NZ/Australian Cohort for 23 Mobile Things all about? Read on.
What are the 23 Mobile Things?
- Taking a photo with a mobile device: Instagram / Flickr app / Snapchat
- eMail on the move
- Maps and checking in: Foursquare
- Photos + Maps + Apps: Historypin / What was there / Sepia Town
- Video: YouTube and screencasts
- Communicate: Skype / Google Hangout
- Calendar
- QR codes
- Social reading: RSS / Flipboard / Feedly / Goodreads / Pocket
- Augmented reality: Layar
- Games: Angry Birds / Wordfeud
- Online identity: FaceBook and LinkedIn
- Curating: Pinterest / Scoop.it / Tumblr
- Adobe ID
- eBooks and eBook apps: Project Gutenberg / Kindle / Overdrive / Bluefire / Kobo, etc.
- Evernote and Zotero
- Productivity tools: Doodle / Remember the Milk / Hackpad / any.do / 30/30
- File sharing: Dropbox
- Music: last.fm / Spotify
- Voice interaction and recording
- eResources vendor apps
- Digital storytelling
You can view the 23 Mobile Things on the official blog here – http://23mobilethings.net/wpress/the-things/
What is this NZ/Australian cohort all about?
simple; it is just establishing a group of librarians in NZ and Australia who are keen to do the 23 Mobile Things at the same time. This cohort will give us mutual support and contact with each other so that we can learn together and keep each other motivated. Hopefully it will help you grow your own personal learning network (PLN) and have fun and great collaborations throughout the course!
Who can take part?
Anyone! This is not limited to New Professionals, but is open to anyone who would like to take part – whether newer or older to the profession. I have just put the contact form on the New Professionals blog as that is a place where I know many people will find it. We are creating another blog specifically for this NZ/Australian cohort that will be the hub of our conversations and connections. So please sign up and let’s all learn from one another and have fun playing with mobile technologies! Over 60 people have signed up already; this is going to be such a fantastic group to be a part of 
(It’s mainly NZ’ers at the moment so come on Australian’s sign up!)
What do I need to take part?
- Access to a mobile device (e.g. iPad, tablet, smart-phone, etc…) – if you don’t have one yourself, you could borrow one or use the PC applications to understand the general principles.
- Time to dedicate to investigating the 23 things – it seems most people are keen to do 1 Thing a week so you can dedicate as much or as little time as you need to exploring that thing and engaging in chatting and collaborating with others on the course.
- Willingness to collaborate, experiment, and support each other – it’s going to be fun!
How do I sign up?
So you’re keen? Great! Here’s what you have to do to get involved:
- fill in the contact form on the blog
- vote in the poll for best time-frame for the course
- share the news with friends/colleagues
We will be in touch as we create a blog as a hub for the group, a Facebook group (if you are keen) and organize some online real-time events such as Twitter chats and Google+ hangouts so that we can chat and collaborate. It will also give us an opportunity to put into practice what we have been learning!
We are hoping to start with Thing 1 the first week of May. If the course runs for six months (approximately 1 Thing a week), it will finish at the end of November.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up today and we will be in touch again a bit closer to the date.
If you want more information please don’t hesitate to email me (Kate) at my gmail account (take off the no spam) or on twitter at @katejf.
Abigail Willemse (NZ) and Kate Freedman (NGAC) and Hiba Kanji (NGG)(AUS)
]]>Howard, Jennifer; For Libraries, MOOCs Bring Uncertainty and Opportunity, The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education (March 25, 2013). Here’s a quote….
“Ms. O’Brien had one piece of basic advice for librarians wondering what to make of MOOC mania: Take a MOOC or two to see what they’re really like. “You can’t be a valued adviser if you don’t understand what it takes to do one of these courses,” she told the audience.”
Image by BrianCSmith CC Some rights reserved
Some that might be of particular interest to librarians…
- Metadata: organizing and discovering information – starts September 2013 (8 weeks)
- Hyperlinked Library MOOC – starts September 2013
- Surviving disruptive technologies – started 3 days ago, but looks like you an still sign up. 2-4 hours per week for 7 weeks
- Introduction to data science – May 2013 (8 weeks)
- Globalizing Higher Education and Research for the ‘Knowledge Economy” – Jan 2014 (8 weeks)
- Apps for Librarians & Educators ($125)
- Accessibility features of iOS for the iPad and iPhone
- How to write a thesis ($12)
- Responsible Computing – sounds interesting to see how they ‘develop foundational computing and information literacy’ for college freshmen
- The Economics of Information: Strategy, Structure and Pricing
- Digital Learning Transition
But you could choose one on any topic you like:
- How to listen to orchestras
- Introduction to guitar
- Message of the image
- Polite Puppy Dog Training Classes
Have you enrolled in a MOOC? What was it like? Have you asked your employer to fund a MOOC for professional development? How did that go?
]]>If even the Papacy is a job one can ‘resign’ from, what hope is there for the idea of vocation? by Brendan O’Neill questions the premise of being able to resign from a ‘vocation’ and has stirred dedicated librarians with this quote:
“The news that the Pope has resigned sends out a powerful and probably unwitting message – that the Papacy is just a job, like being a bank manager or librarian.”
He follows this up with a definition of vocation - “…a calling, or at least a vocation; something one feels summoned to do and more importantly to be.”
There are librarians who definitely fit the description of job, but there are many more I would argue that have some form of vocation or calling. Some come to it early, some later in life after exploring other realms, but wherever we end up, many of us will be a librarian until the end – whatever our job position.
I wanted to be a librarian since Grade 6 and went straight through and achieved that. I have been working as a librarian for 27 years and my librarianship continues beyond the workplace. I am a librarian 24/7, because it’s also who I am beyond the job. And I don’t do it for the money because there is no money in librarianship. If this is not a vocation or a calling, then what is?
Do you agree? Is your librarianship a calling, or just a job until you get to do what you really want to do in life? Does it hold true for the majority of librarians (including a good range of shambrarians) or is it just a select few?
]]>With Movers and Shakers now being international, why not nominate those Australian librarians and see that they get this just reward.
Nominations for 2013 are now open, but hurry, you only have until the 7th November 2012.
]]>
It is interesting reading for the future of the profession in the US and an idea of what may happen here, but what is more interesting is the Emerging Jobs/New Titles that new graduates are gaining.
Some of the more interesting new titles include:
- Emerging technologies librarian
- Data assets manager
- Digital initiatives librarian
- Digital curator
- Repository librarian
- Market insights analyst
- Impact evaluation specialist
Interestingly, many of our jobs will have these things in our job descriptions, but not in our job titles.
If you have a job title that you think is as intriguing as these, let us know what it is. And if you don’t and wish you did, what would you like it to be?
Me, I like the idea of Digital Branch Manager….. 
IFLA has published a Code of Ethics for Librarians and other Information Workers. This code’s aims are:
• encouraging reflection on principles on which librarians and other information workers can form policies and handle dilemmas
• improving professional self-awareness
• providing transparency to users and society in general. (IFLA 2012)
The key tenets of the Code are:
1. Access to information
2. Responsibilities towards individuals and society
3. Privacy, secrecy and transparency
4. Open access and intellectual property
5. Neutrality, personal integrity and professional skills
6. Colleague and employer/employee relationship
The Code is offered as a guide to individual librarians and also as a guide to library associations and was compiled by a working group of the Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE).
It is well worth taking the time to read and absorb. Once you have…..
Do we need an international Code? Do you agree with the Code? What is missing from it or what should not have been included? Will it affect your work? Would love to read your thoughts.
]]>