Blog - Jo Alcock Consulting
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Blog

09 Oct

Posted at 17:40h in Events, Library, Professional issues, Public speaking, Reflection, Technology, Uncategorized by
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Wow, what a day! I really enjoyed Library Camp UK 2011 yesterday, and wanted to jot down some quick thoughts from a personal perspective whilst it's fresh in my mind. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="One of my sessions - really enjoyed the conversation at this one"]Sarah points out the next session[/caption]

07 Oct

Posted at 10:30h in Events, Library, Public speaking, Technology, Uncategorized by
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Tomorrow I'm joining 174 other people interested in libraries at the first Library Camp UK. I'm hoping it's going to be a little more civilised than the photo above - at least it should be drier as it's indoors. It's being held in Birmingham so I don't even have to travel far (although getting up early on a Saturday will be a bit of a shock!).

16 Sep

Posted at 09:00h in Events, Library, Technology by
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I attended a really interesting session at the Handheld Librarian online conference on managing organisational Twitter accounts. The session, Doing more with less: What to do with your 140 characters, was presented by Donna Ekart from Kansas State University library (@kstatelibraries). As I've been using Twitter since 2007 I wasn't expecting to learn a lot from this session, but I picked up some really useful tips so I'm glad I attended.

15 Sep

Posted at 11:00h in Technology by
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I've recently been trying out a new case* for my Kindle, one that also came with a light. Reading on my Kindle is mainly done in bed as I'm trying to get to sleep, so it's important for me to be able to hold it comfortably lying down and be able to read it in the dark. I do have a bedside lamp but I've been wanting to try a Kindle light for a while; partly so that it is less distracting for my partner as I wouldn't have to have the bedside lamp on, and also as when I stay in hotels it's sometimes not possible to read as there is no bedside lamp. The Tuff-Luv Spark Kindle Case with Light (Purple) is a funky looking case; I love the colour and the feel of the leather is really good. The light is very compact - you can store it within the spine of the case when the case is closed so it doesn't take up any extra room.

08 Sep

Posted at 13:00h in Events, Marketing, Public speaking, Technology by
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Earlier today I gave a presentation at the Oxford Social Media 2011 event hosted by Oxford University Libraries. The brief was to discuss ways to market yourself as a librarian using social media, and rather than just update my previous presentation on a similar topic, I chose to change the focus slightly and concentrate on the marketing and personal branding side of things rather than the fundamentals of social media.

30 Aug

Posted at 18:16h in Technology, Uncategorized by
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Found out about a great resource today which you can use to get an iPhone version of your blog (found via Ned Potter). Bloapp is a tool you can use to create a customisable mobile version of your blog (great for institutional blogs although the customisation is a little limited). I followed Ned's instructions to create a mobile version of the Joeyanne Libraryanne blog as shown below: [caption id="attachment_1396" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Joeyanne Libraryanne on Bloapp"][/caption] If you'd like to read my blog this way, you can download the Bloapp app to your iPhone (it's free) and then scan in the QR code below. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="150"...

23 Aug

Posted at 16:00h in Events, Library, Technology, Uncategorized by
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="553" caption="Handheld Librarian Online Conference V (click on image to go to website)"]Handheld Librarian V[/caption] A couple of weeks ago I attended my first full virtual conference - Handheld Librarian Online Conference V - yes, they have held five of them already! I've attended webinars before and tracked numerous events online that I have been unable to attend in person, but this was my first fully fledged online conference. It was really good value for money ($45), and although it meant working through the evening (due to time zone differences the conferences was 4 - 11.30pm in UK time!) it was definitely something I would do again. The software (Adobe Connect) worked really well, there were very few sound problems (ironically, the only ones I experiences was when the keynote speaker from Mashable was presenting), and the fact that is was all online meant that you could join in all aspects of the conference, including a virtual exhibition.

13 Aug

Posted at 12:00h in Events, Library, Professional issues, Reflection, Uncategorized by
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[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Professor Charles Oppenheim with keynote speakers"]LIS DREaM Launch Conference[/caption] I recently attended the LIS DREaM launch conference about developing research excellence and methods in library and information science. I wrote a blog post about my experience, but now I've had chance to reflect on the day I'm going to share my reflections using the basic method I learnt during 23 Things for Professional Development - what? so what? now what?

30 Jul

Posted at 13:57h in Events, Library, Professional Organisations, Study, Uncategorized by
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This week I’m participating in the Library Day in the Life project which charts the day-to-day activities of library workers at different points of the year. This is the fifth time I’ve participated; you can see my earlier posts from July 2009, January 2010, July 2010 and January 2011. I’m currently a full-time Researcher at Evidence Base, Birmingham City University, UK. Although my job title doesn't include the word librarian and I don't work in a library, I still consider myself very much a librarian - our research helps support the library and information communities. I decided to do Library Day in the Life a little different this time round; partly because I've been busy, and partly as I'm not sure verbatim accounts are the most interesting thing to write or read. So instead I'll be writing a summary of what I've been up to this week (using Nirvana, my to do list, to help me as I can check my logbook to see what tasks I've finished). My work life and professional interests often cross over so this list includes some pure work tasks, and other professional related tasks such as committee work and studying.

28 Jul

Posted at 08:30h in Events, Library, Professional Organisations, Uncategorized by
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Greeting after 1 mile (yes, 1 mile!) of convention centre"]Greeting after 1 mile of convention centre[/caption] Well, it's been almost a month now since my visit to the ALA Annual 2011 Conference in New Orleans and study visit to Louisiana State University. I know some people were following my tweets (although I expect some people followed my advice to mute them!), and my Tumblr that I used before, during and after the conference. If I'm honest though, the 8am starts and midnight-ish finishes meant I was exhausted so didn't get to blog as much as I had planned to during the conference. Having said that, I really wanted to take in as much of the sights and experiences of the conference that I possibly could, and I definitely did that.