Becoming an 'old' information professional

When did it happen? Has it happened? When did I stop being a new information professional and become an (old) information professional? I've been following a debate on Twitter over the last couple of days which has concerned me and I'm not entirely sure why. I've been a professional librarian (still unchartered, granted, but that's a different issue) for over 15 years, and when I was appointed to my current post, I was 27 years old (I think), and for quite a few years, was considered the 'young' one. Obviously, time passes, folks move on, and I'm definitely no longer the baby in the team!

When I qualified, there was no such thing as Twitter, nobody blogged, networking was done at meetings and conferences, although we did have email. For me, lis-link and lis-usltg, in particular, were places to engage with other librarians and keep your ear to the ground. USTLG (Universities Science and Technology Librarians' Group) also held regular meetings and was (and still is) a great place to meet folks doing the same job as me. Now, I can keep up to date with colleagues and fellow professionals in so many different ways. I have a Twitter account and although I can't quite keep on top of it, or contribute as much as I might (I'm working on this...), I'm finding it a great way of keeping up-to-date and finding out what folks (new and experienced) are up to, and am taking inspiration and ideas from lots of people. Isn't that the point?

I joined the CPD 23 Things programme for a variety of reasons; my own (personal & professional) development being one of them, obviously, but my main aim is to use this opportunity to re-engage with the profession as I feel as though I've neglected this area of my professional development in recent years (partly due to my extended exhaustion after 2 periods of maternity leave, and then combining raising 2 small children with the demands and pressures of work. I know lots of working mums who manage this a lot better than me though...). How do I feel about the new generation of professionals. To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought., aren't we all just professionals, trying to do our best and make a difference? Actually, if I'm honest, I'm quite envious of the years they have in front of them. Am I envious of their network? Perhaps? How would I feel turning up at a conference designed for new professionals? Would I feel the need to justify myself? (" Hello, no, I'm not a new professional, but I love to learn new things and meet new people!") And I do love exploring and experimenting with new technologies and different ways of doing things, and I don't think this has changed as I've aged or gained experience. In some ways and in some areas, I feel as new and inexperienced as I did 15 years ago. However, I love looking to the future and exploring, experimenting. It's got nothing to do with age, it's a state of mind.

Reasons for joining CPD23

Reasons for joining CPD23? Well, where to start? Interest in social media, a desire to take control of my own CPD, CILIP chartership, networking, to help me support researchers, staff and students as part of my job, getting to know more librarians nationally (and internationally), (re)joining a community of librarians from which I feel a bit detached.

I'm really interested in social media and web 2.0 technologies generally and am experimenting with as much as I can as part of my job, and I do consider it to be part of my job, but I do find that my approach is a bit scatter gun and I'm hoping the CPD23 programme will help me focus a bit more over the summer.
I'm also really interested in taking a greater degree of control over my own CPD. I can't grumble about a lack of opportunities because there are lots of opportunities for staff development where I work, but having the option of following a programme remotely, at my own speed is very attractive. Especially as I'm more likely to dip in and out at fairly unsocial hours. I'm also in the process of updating a 'Social Media for science and engineering researchers' and am hoping to pick up some new tips and ideas! I don't wish to re-invent the wheel and whilst I feel familar with some of the theory, I'm hoping to find real, practical examples of social media for research which I can share, to help demonstrate how these technologies might help the folks I support in my jo. But mostly, I'm interested in re-engaging professionally. I've been in my current post for around 14 years (I think), but in recent years have had time off for maternity and am now working part time (I've increased my hours up to 80% in the last 12 months), and have found that I no longer feel as engaged with the community as I'd really like to be.

So, hello, here I am. Looking forward to learning new stuff and meeting new people.

Another blog

I've decided to start a new blog as part of the CPD23 things programme, which is due to kick off in a few days time. I've already got a Wordpress blog and I'm creating a teaching resources using a Posterous blog for work, so thought I'd experiment with something else too. Really looking forward to the programme...