NLS4 Meeting

On Saturday morning I headed into the city for our first official NLS4 meeting with our PCO (Professional Conference Organizer). ICMS are located in Southbank and boy did I go in circles trying to get through the "no right hand turns". It was great to finally get the ball rolling and we discussed lots of our ideas. Now though we need to secure a venue, upon which everything else will be able to fall into place. So hopefully over the next few months we will be able to start locking in deatils and really get this show on the road!!

Health Libraries Inc: Inaugural Life Membership Award

On Friday night I headed to Melbourne for the presentation of the HLI: Inaugural Life Membership Award. It was at the Charsfield Hotel on St Kilda Road. Very posh!! Well - definitely not the sort of place I frequent!! Andrew Rooke from Monash Medical Centre was the recipient and a long citation followed. What a worthy winner. He has done some amazing things over his library career working both in the USA and Africa and in Victorian medical libraries. not to mention all his work with various professional library associations over the years. The meal was very scrumptious and the conversations interesting. A very enjoyable night and a great chance to catch up with those Melbournites!!

Millennials: the 21st century worker

Last night I attended a session at the State Library of Victoria as part of their "Outside the Box" series. It focused on how young people (gen Y) like to work, what motivates them and how managers can attract and retain them. There were three presenters:


Andrew Finegan, from the Darwin City Council Libraries - check out his blog at: http://librarianidol.blogspot.com/


Lil Wilkinson, from the SLV's Centre for Youth Literature - check out her blog at: http://thinkingsofalili.blogspot.com/


Ben Tan, a 20 year old Arts/Law student who works for the Oaktree Foundation, which is a youth run aid organisation. He isn't into blogs!!

So just some thoughts/comments:

• provide opportunities or millennials will go into another industry
• remember that we see the world differently
• lifelong learning - is our job
• we want to learn from you, but you have to learn from us too
• I am who I am and want to do what I do most of the time
• we love to solve problems - we like a good challenge
• we are ready for advice and constructive criticism
• we want to feel like we have a say and that we are valid
• we want career pathways and want to know what that next step is
• we will change career paths
• we want empowerment
• we want recognition for a job well done
• we want stepping stones to bigger and better careers
• we don't want to stay in the same position for a lifetime
• give us the opportunities that we seek, and the organisation will be rewarded

It was really interesting and though I didn't gain a lot (as I am a gen Y), it helped me to reinforce ideas and validate who I am.

Blackle

Janette Telford posted this on aliaLIBTEC this morning, thought it was interesting:

For those worried with energy consumption and all its downsides, when your screen is white, being it an empty word page, or the Google page, your computer consumes 74 watts, and when its black it consumes only 59 watts. Mark Ontkush wrote an article about the energy saving that would be achieved if Google had a black screen, taking into account the huge number of page views. According to his calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year would be saved.
In a response to this article Google created a black version of its search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version, but with lower energy consumption, check it out at: http://www.blackle.com/

UPDATE

I was just sent this which also makes for an interesting read:

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/does-a-darkened-google-really-save-electricity-104/

Facebook

OK - so am in the Library 2.0 phase at the minute and I finally gave in and joined Facebook. Check me out at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=738709318. Now I am still sort of uncovering things but it is pretty cool so far. Thanks to all my friends who have joined me up as friends - it's like they admitted in public that they know me!! Now I keep thinking of who else might be out there.

OK so it is still pretty new to me. I haven't really figured much of it our yet so bear with me. There are all these things about groups, networks, pokes, gifts etc. Lots to learn!! But I am having fun which is the main thing.

Anyway, can't write for long as I am heading down to Melbourne soon for a talk at the State Library of Victoria - will tell you all about it tomorrow!!

Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

WOW! Great book! However am so sad it's over.

I picked my copy up at 9:01am (I was fourth in line) then headed home holding it protectively!! We had to travel for an hour as Dan was working but when we got there, I jumped on the couch and read!! The book grabs you from the first pages as the action begins straight away. On Saturday I had to be a bit social and stuff then I had to go out for dinner so I only got through a few hundred pages.

However, on Sunday I did not get out of my pyjamas!! I stayed in them all day (except for a shower). I finished reading all 607 pages at 1:30am this morning. And it was great!! I won't tell you what happens but I was pleased with the ending. Yes there were deaths but this was neccessary as is any good story. I just loved how she incorporated all the little bits from the previous six books in this one blockbuster. I feel so sorry if you're not a Harry Potter fan - you don't know what you are missing out on.

The Harry Potter Weekend

Yes - it is almost that time. The new HP book is due out at 9:01am tomorrow morning. I will proudly be lining up at my local bookstore. I have been there for books 5 & 6 also and the atmosphere is great. I talk to complete strangers about what will happen in the new book, then the doors magically open and we all proceed in, buy our books, then disappear home to quietly contemplate Harry's life!! When I pre-ordered there was the option of the children's cover (above) or the adult cover. I am not ashamed to say that I want the kids one (it matches all my other ones after all!!). So who are those adults out there that are ashamed to say they read HP. Tssk, tssk to them!!

Tonight however I am off to my favourite Ballarat restaurant called Thai Fusion. My friend Karla is heading overseas for eight weeks so we thought it was a good excuse to all catch up - I am awfully jealous of her though! But after that, straight home for a good sleep in preparation for Harry tomorrow!!

Leading opinions...

One of the different things about working in a the public health system is that all sorts of different events come up that are not really "library" related. This afternoon there was the nursing journal club - called 'Leading Opinions' hence the title! The following article was discussed:

"Working with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) group of nurses"
Collegian, 14(1) 2007; 16-22
Jeon, Y & Chenoweth, L

I haven't been to one for a while and went because this one is really relevant to me. Though I don't work in a nursing setting with CALD nurses, I certainly do in the library. My workplace runs a program for Overseas Qualified Nurses in which we have groups of between 12-26 come at any one time to become qualified Australian nurses. They spend four weeks in lectures then eight weeks on the ward whilst completing 4 major assignments (hence the library). We teach them how to find information through books, databases, internet etc. Then as they don't generally have access to computers, they are in here typing up all their assignments - therefore we become IT experts trouble shooting, double spacing, changing fonts, saving work etc. Then it takes them another four weeks to find sponsored jobs so they continue to come in and learn and check their Yahoo and Gmail accounts.

Over the last three years I have learnt so much from them , as I know they have from me. For once I actually felt like my opinion counted so I definitely put it across in the discussions. I think it is because I am confident on this topic and feel comfortable with nurses. If it was a room full of doctors my lips would probably have remained zip locked the whole way through!! I was just really proud that I expressed myself and felt like it was another step in the "growing" up process. Maybe that's what happens when you turn 27!!

Victorian New Graduates Group Drinks!!

Last night the Victorian ALIA NGG had a get together at Chole's Bar in the Young and Jackson Pub on Flinders Street. It was a great turnout with people from across Melbourne along with country folk from Geelong and of course Ballarat - me! One of the best things was that my friend Satu came who used to volunteer at my current workplace in Ballarat for the last few years whilst she was studying. She only moved earlier this year for a job at the Federal Court Library and we miss her terribly. However, she is doing really well and enjoying her job so that is the main thing.

After a few drinks some of us headed over to Federation Square for a quick bite to eat. I made it home just on 10:30pm so not too late. I was thinking about it on the drive home and I talked to all different people about libraries, digital stuff, movies, television, library 2.0 etc. but not about books!! I suppose that just goes to show how much libraries are changing. I suppose though that is why I like libraries. Things are constantly changing and I am forever learning and doing new things. I still however love the tradition of libraries and the fact that we can sit around and discuss Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice without being embarassed about it!!

Bookmooch

I am sure most of you have heard of Bookmooch but thought I would share it with you anyway. As you can see from above there are four steps involved:

1. Type in books you want to give away;
2. Receive requests from others for your books;
3. Mail your books and receive points;
4. Ask for books from others with your points.

You can find my profile at: http://www.bookmooch.com/bio/gemmas

I love Bookmooch as I can pick up some old books I want that are no longer in book shops and I have also been sent some great books to use for uni. I kind of liken it to ebay but you only pay for postage. The catch is you have to have books that are good enough to be given away to others so that you can accumulate points. The more points you get the more books you can "mooch". Check it out and join up!!

Monday mornings

Don't you just hate Monday mornings becasue you wake up and remember all the things you didn't do on the weekend, then you come into work and see all the things you didn't finish off the week before!!

Well most Monday mornings are like this for me. Firstly I wake up and just know that I have another five hours sleep in me! Then I finally drag myself out of bed and think of everything I didn't do. Now don't get me wrong - I put a little efoort in this weekend. I managed to see the new Harry Potter film which was brilliant - but so many things left out compared to the book. Then on Saturday I got up early (like 9:30am) and went to the gym and did a few errands, then came home and had a rest before my friends 30th. So I went to the party and had an awesome time and got totally drunk and taxied in home well after 3:00am. Fell asleep and wished I could stay there forever. However as we drove to the party I had to get up early and go back into town to get the car so Dan could use it for work. Came home and cleaned up (including the dishes - a big clap for me) then my other friend came around and we went out for some much needed KFC. I love deep fried food after a big session!! She dropped me home about 2:00pm and I jumped on the couch and that's where I stayed. Dropped in and out of consciousness for the next few hours until Dan got home. He was knackered too so we decided we needed more junk food and ordered Pizza. About 8:00pm whilst watching a Big Brother Eviction I thought I better do some of those other things I had wanted to do. I managed to type up the minutes for an NGPAG meeting but then felt so tired I just had to go to bed. And that is where I satyed until the alarm went off this morning!!

This weekend...

(See above for the cake we had to celebrate TOT's 10th anniversary year!!)

It's just about that time again where you plan to go home and relax - but not me. Pretty busy this weekend. Tonight I am off to the movies to see the new Harry Potter movie with Dan, Marcus and Tan. I want to sit next to Marcus becuase he is the only one who has read all the books like me!! It's nice to have "booky" friends who aren't librarians!! He runs Midland Typesetters so prepares all the manuscripts before they become books. He gets to go to lots of fancy publishing parties too!!

Anyway, tomorrow night one of my best mates is having her 30th so I plan to get thoroughly sloshed and stay up to the wee hours of Sunday morning!! Then a girlfriend is coming for lunch on Sunday.

Also, I have to write up the minutes for NGPAG (a New Generation and Policy Advisory group I am on in ALIA). Plus write up Technotes which is the newsletter of the Victorian LT Group I am on. Plus the usual things of clean the house, visit the gym, read more books etc. Then I get to come back to work on Monday and work a little harder as over the next 3 weeks all of the people I work with are taking annual leave at some point!!

I was also thinking about starting some studying but am guessing I won't even look at it! Oh, well - you have to have fun now and again!!

Techs on Tour: 10th Anniversary Year

As I begin to write my blog you will slowly learn things about me. One of those things is that I am on the commitee of the Victorian Alia Library Technician's Group. On Saturday we had Techs on Tour (TOT) which is an annual event where we start at the State Library of Victoria, looking behind-the-scenes. This included a tour of the preservation, conservation and storage areas, as well as a general tour of the library. What an amazing place. Then we had lunch. You can see me above with Sian (I'm on the right). Then my group headed off to Freehills Library which is a law firm library. They are on the 43rd floor and have such amazing views over Melbourne (very jealous). It was a fantastic day, enjoyed by all. I hope to add some more photos soon.

Copyright and CAL

The thing I love most about my library is that I get to be involved with most of the decison making and that I am thoroughly involved in everyting we do. For instance yesterday we had a copyright question which I handled in conjunction with my boss. If I worked in an academic, public or larger library though I would miss out on lots of the queries that are received. Plus, these queries lead me onto all sort of new things.



Anyway, so with this query I contact the ALIA Copyright Advisor who was mopst helpful (one of the perks of being an ALIA member), then I was put onto CAL (Copyright Agency Limited). Even though we don't have to do anything for our patron at this stage, I still discovered heaps of new things about copyright and how it works. As it is something that doesn't arise very often apart from the usual ILL's, copyright tends to be in the background here.

Second time around...

OK. So I started blogging years ago but never got past the first few months - but thought I give it another try so I deleted all my really old blogs which no one ever read anyway.

This blog aims to follow me through my library career, studies, and work. Plus - my dabbling in new IT things!! I am sort of on the outside and looking in really in regards to all that Library 2.0 stuff. I am familiar with very basic blogs and wikis, plus have an RSS feed set up in Google Reader and have photos on flickr - so I am sort of into stuff!!

I am currently studying my Masters of Applied Science (Library and Information Management) through Charles Sturt University by distance education. I should finish by the end of the year (fingers crossed). I am also fairly involved in other library things through ALIA but more of that later.

Let's just get this first one posted!!