Connecting Librarian

Its Day 2 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and today is a personal reflection.

I am a very organised person at the best of times, anyone who knows me knows this. I am always moving, have things under control or at least in process most of the time, know where everything is and belongs (cos I’m tidy too).  My husband sums me up by saying I make coffee nervous.

From vagawi, uploaded to Flickr May 15, 2008

So how am I coping with working full time after 10 years working part-time? Bring it on!

Today for example. Wednesdays was usually my washing and non-grocery shopping day. I would do the major washing for the week and cook a roast. Even after being back at work full-time for 4 weeks, I am still managing this and the rest of the domestic duties, better than I had ever hoped.

How? Well first off, I have help – from my wonderful family, especially my nearly 11 year old daughter. She is very keen to learn more about how to do things on the home front and extremely happy to help, for which I am so very grateful.  I have also shifted a few things around and I’m organised. This is not a boast. It is a lesson in itself.

When I took this job, I really did wonder if I would be able to keep up with everything that I was able to manage when I worked part-time.  Turns out I can, with some help and some concerted organisation.

I really feel (so far at least), that I am proving out the adage, that if you want something done, give it to a busy person.

More reflections on Day 3 of the 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge tomorrow.

I have been reading a bit about this lately through various blogs and articles, including Your Virtual Brand by Meredith Farkas in American Libraries, but it all came very close to home through a couple of things that happened to me personally.

Reputation by krossbow on Flickr

The first was news I shared on Twitter. I didn’t think much about it as my Twitter posts are protected. There was no real damage in the news, I just forgot that my Twitter feed was also going to Facebook, so the news got out to a wider audience,  sooner than I had planned.

The second was about my Blogger account. Connecting Librarian used to be on Blogger, but when I decided that I wanted to do more with my blog, I created my own domain name and exported all my blog posts across to it.  However, my old Blogger address still remains as a marker, referring anyone interested to the current location.

Recently,  I got an email from someone I didn’t know, wanting to take over that blog address. I politely declined.

So why are either of these things a problem? Because my online reputation is important to me. Lots of people know about me and what I do through my online presences. Lots of people know me only online, having had no contact or very little contact with me in person.  I have established an online reputation through my name and through the name Connecting Librarian.

Its also important to me because online is where I do the vast majority of my professional networking and I don’t want to undermine the professional relationships and more importantly, the real life friendships I have established online.

In the online world, it is extremely difficult to apologise for a mistake or to re-establish your reputation. Case in point: Catherine Deveny recently being fired from the Age for comments made on Twitter.

I know I have a reasonably good reputation online. How? Because occasionally in real life, I get chatting to or introduced to someone who says that they have friended me online through Twitter or Facebook or follow my blog. I still grin like mad when I remember that I got that sort of response from Karen Schneider when she visited for the VALA 30 year Anniversary series in 2008. I also get the odd email from someone looking for some assistance in whatever way, hoping that I can help or point them in the right direction.

So I don’t want to do anything which will seriously compromise my online reputation – such as saying something in an unwise or untimely manner, or doing something which could undermine my Connecting Librarian brand, like giving up my Blogger account.

So I have had a bit of a wake-up call about being a bit more cautious in what I share and keeping this more in the back of my mind as I deal online. I plan for this not to change what I do dramatically, just make my hopefully do so with a bit more wisdom.

So have you had any online reputation scares or offers? How do you protect your online reputation, or if you don’t, why not?

I’ve been tagged by Kathryn at Librarians Matter. So here’s 5 things you did’t know about me.

1. I was born in Cornwall, England and immigrated to Australia when I was 18 months and got citizenship when I was 8 years old (very proudly signed my own citizenship papers!)

2. I sing. I am no Beyonce, but I am a passable singer and sang “Lean on me” acapella (with friends helping), to my husband at our wedding.

3. I am overactive, can’t sit still and have to have 20 things on the go at the same time. My husband says “She makes coffee nervous” (and those who know me agree.

4. Speaking of which, I don’t drink tea, coffee or any other hot drinks (besides soup!).

5. When I first started as a librarian, I had never seen a PC. Within 6 months of starting work, I was their local expert.

Enough about me, time to get to know some others, so I’m tagging Bronwyn, Corey, Peta, snail and http://austlit.typepad.com/cfn/.