Thing 2: Investigate other blogs

Ok, I have to confess to being a bit of a lurker in that I do passively read some blogs, but I have never before commented on any.  Following the CILIP Graduate Open Day in 2009,  I periodically read Joeyanne Libraryanne, as she always has interesting and knowledgeable insights on library matters, especially web 2.0.  I also occasionally look at the blogs in CILIP Communities, which has some useful articles and also publicises events.

However, since embarking on CPD23, I have been dipping into various blogs, and am amazed and impressed at the number of participants (the Delicious list is currently standing at over 600) from all across the globe.  As I’m at the beginning of my library career, I thought I’d take a look at the blogs of some people across several different industries.  Two that I left comments on were: angellibrarian, written by a school librarian in Bangkok, and Library Space, a blog belonging to a health librarian.

I also had a look at CPD23 as it was tagged under ‘institutional repositories’, which was the subject of my Master's dissertation.  Finally, I am very interested in the experiences of librarians based in other countries so was drawn to the blogs of some of the international participants, such as itools, by a librarian from Sudan, and papers and sandpaper from Latvia.

It was also great to receive my first comment, from which I found the blog of The Learning Librarian, who is also searching for a professional post.

I will be looking at more blogs as the programme progresses and am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts!

Thing 1: Blogs and Blogging

This is it – my first ever blog post!!

I’ve decided to participate in CPD23 as it seemed like a great opportunity to try out blogging and explore some web 2.0 technologies that I’m not yet familiar with, as well as to develop my reflective writing skills.  I heard about the programme through a group on LinkedIn and was already committed to participating, but hearing the conference presentation about it at the New Professionals Conference really sealed it for me. 

To give you some background, I will graduate with a Master's degree in ILS this July and am entering the profession from a predominately administrative background, which involved many aspects of information management.  I’m currently searching for my first professional post and am hoping that participating in CPD23 will keep me motivated and develop my skills.