Connecting Librarian

I knew it was here somewhere and this morning I found it. Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of Connecting Librarian. To celebrate, this is my 127th post. Never thought of getting that far when I started with my first post “In the beginning….”

Those 127 posts have had 144 comments, which is much better than I expected, even accounting for the fact that nearly half of those comments are from me, responding back to comments made.

How do I feel about blogging 2 years on? I’m in awe. I never dreamed of the power this medium could have. Its enabled me to vent in a healthy way, to work through my thoughts on issues that are important to me and most importantly, linked me to a fantastic community of people passionate about libraries, world-wide. It has been a great personal and professional satisfaction to know that my musings are of interest to others and I appreciate all your support as I have stumbled, ranted, mused and journey through these last two years.

So where to from here. I have some dearly respected friends suggest I get my own domain for this blog and other professional stuff and it makes sense. I now have some presentations and a report to share and my own domain would be the place to make those available to anyone interested. I also plan on writing the odd journal article or two, so that would be their home also. So watch this space as I plan on moving it before year end.

So flowers to you and many thanks, for helping to make these last two years of blogging interesting, provoking, inspiring and fun! Although things have been a little dry of late, here’s to the next two years and more of passionate sharing and support of our wonderful profession, both by me and you!

So why would my mail be of interest to the library profession, which is, after all what this blog is about? And why now, when I haven’t even done a blog post on the wonderful Libraries, Web 2.0 and other Internet stuff session at the State Library of Victoria last Monday?

Well, its because things have been very chaotic lately, with doing the report on my study tour, putting in proposals for papers at conferences (I’m 2 for 2 knockbacks - oh well) and presenting at the State Library last Monday. I will be blogging that event hopefully this weekend, but until then, back to my mail.

I got one!

That little treasure above is a Web Junction Pez dispenser, a highly prized item from ALA 2007. As I was obviously not able to attend ALA (only not long back from the US) I entered the online prize draw. Not only did I win one, but they sent it to me in Australia, gratis. (not used to that). So there’s my prize, in its only public appearance. It is now back safely in its plastic bag, where it will remain safe for the imaginable future.

Stay tuned, I will get back to serious library blogging soon.

Late edition: I also got a card with it which read

“Dear Michelle

At long last - your very own WebJunction PEZ!

Thanks for entering the drawing and for being a WebJunction member. We had a lot of fun with this giveaway at ALA and we’re exciting (yes it does say that) to be able to pass a few on to our members who weren’t able to attend this year.

Hope to see you in Anaheim next year! (I wish!)

Thanks,
The WebJunction Team

I am a qualified librarian and I can put a whole long list of letters behind my name. Between my Bachelors degree, my Masters degree and my Associate membership of ALIA, the letters are as long as my actual name.

So when should I use them? This all came from my dad - who is a fitter and turner by trade. I showed him a copy of my beautifully presented report from my study tour and he asked where all the letters were from behind my name. My dad is very proud of what I have achieved, even if he doesn’t understand the fuss and what its all about, but that question caught me by surprise.

So why didn’t I use the letters - its a formal report, going to be read by many people in library circles (and maybe some who are not). Would it have been legitimate to list degrees etc on the cover, to further indicate my qualification to conduct this tour, or would it have seemed like bragging to those who already know me and who will also read the report?

What about the presentations I will be doing that will also come out of this study tour? Should I put my qualifications on that, or just leave it as my name and position/library? I have been pondering this at work today, with some of the other librarians and none of us was able to come up with a definitive answer. We thought it would be appropriate to mention qualifications in a speaker’s introduction or on the blurb of a journal article, but anywhere else? We couldn’t decide.

So I thought I would ponder it here and see if any of you had any thoughts on this. We have worked hard for our qualifications, shouldn’t we be more forthright in displaying them and more often? Or is that bragging and inappropriately so in some circumstances. I would love to get your feedback, so please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

By the way, all those letters for me are:
Michelle McLean
BA(Lib) MBIT AALIA
Bachelor of Arts in Librarianship, Master of Business in Information Technology and Associate member of the Australian Library and Information Association. At least I can use the letters and not have to spell it out in full!