Thing 13: #Rudai23

 The Library Association of Ireland (LAI) website offers information on numerous topics for library professionals. The website is an important resource providing information on careers, conferences, groups, membership, events and publications.

I have currently applied for membership to the LAI in two sections;

·        The academic and special libraries section

·        The public libraries section

There are many benefits to becoming a member of the LAI besides looking good on a C.V. The LAI offers guidance and support for library professionals. It provides a platform that promotes collaboration between peers. The LAI provides information on how to develop my professional skills to progress in my career.

Thing 12: #Rudai23

  

Thing 12 was interesting to read and understand. I never really taught about the value of conferences before now, but the article was very insightful. For the purposes of this blog I have decided to choose option two of the task, but I do see myself attending conferences in the near future.

The conference I would like to attend is titled, Developing as a Professional: Attaining a Library Association of Ireland (LAI) Award of ALAI and FLAI, on 20 November 2015. I became aware of this conference when I was exploring the LAI website, and I really feel it would help my progress in the profession. At the moment I’m a graduate student who is coming to the peak time of term with assessments so unfortunately I can’t attend the conference.

      

The conference is intended to educate people developing their careers and there will be previous award winners discussing their experiences and offering insights. I think the conference would guide me in the right direction for the next stage in my career. It would be a great to hear the experiences of people who were in the same position as me, and to see what route they decided to take in the profession. I know the library profession is for me from my studies and I will need this guidance soon.

I wouldn’t be fearful of attending the conference. In the past year I have welcomed new experiences, particularly group work in college. This involved meeting new people and collaborating together, so I feel ready to attend these type of events. I know two guest speakers on the programme and if the other speakers are as insightful, I know I would learn a great deal on the day.

   

Thing11: #Rudai23

For this task I am going to discuss my time management strategy. At present, I have started my graduate diploma in Library and Information studies. I am in college three days a week and I commute a four hour journey approximately one way by train and bus services. While I am travelling I use this time to study for my college course. 

On the four remaining days, I also study and do practical exercises for my course. The Rudai23 course is very beneficial to me in my future career, teaching the diverse communication sources available while also improving the skills I already possess.

My time for Rudai23 is mainly on weekends when I take a break from my college studies for a few hours to clear my head. I'm enjoying the course which makes it easier to make time for it but with my college workload it is more difficult to complete. I feel that my time-management skills have improved dramatically in the last two years for me.  I need to remain focused to have good time management skills.

Thing10: #Rudai23

I attended the hangout-on-air session back in August to have only reached the task now the complete. My camera worked fine on the day, however, my microphone was acting up and I lost my connection to the group. Instead I viewed the hangout session and commented on the Twitter feed #Rudai23. I found the hangout feature in Google+ to be very impressive, allowing people to create a video conference at no expense.

In the broadcast I viewed, there were participants from all over the world discussing their particular roles and experiences in the Library and information fields. This highlights the magnitude of how useful google+ is to professionals. To be able to reach such a global audience instantaneously is just a mere reflection on the revolutionary technological advancements in modern society. From completing the tasks in Rudai23, I  realise there are so many formats through which people can communicate information on a global scale at no cost whatsoever. 

Thing9: #Rudai23

This task was probably the most intimidating task i completed to date in Rudai 23. I was never taught how to create a screencast until now so I kept putting this task off.  I eventually did get down to the task at hand and I learnt how easy a screencast is to create and upload to the internet. I think this task is daunting for anyone who has never made a screencast before but it is an easy process to complete. It is also a very effective way to educate people. I demonstrated  my screencast to some family members and friends to be told how useful this particular screencast is to them.

The recording software i used is called the screencast o matic, which can be downloaded at,http://screencast-o-matic.com/ . Consequently, I uploaded my screencast to YouTube and allowed the video to be viewed by the public. After all, collaboration and the sharing of information is a major feature of library and information services.

My screencast demonstrates how to enhance the volume on a Dell Inspiron laptop. I dealt with this issue recently and I felt it was an appropriate screencast to make for this task. I have attached a link to my YouTube video below. 

https://youtu.be/GRmQFSpGv64

Thing8: #Rudai23

Thing8 was a straight forward task to complete.  I have been familiar with Pinterest for approximately two years now, so instead I decided to open a Flipboard account through Facebook.  I was very impressed by its user friendly design. I setup my page to suit my interests, similar to thing4 when I setup my Google+ account only much easier. I explored the features within Flipboard and found the site to be like a combination of Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.  I think Flipboard is a useful curation tool for Library professionals to display information and to network with others. Unfortunately I'm new to the occupation and don’t have examples of how Flipboard has been utilised by Library professionals to date.

Thing7: #Rudai23

I found thing7 to be most enjoyable task to date. I had listened to podcasts in the past but didn’t how it was made if I’m to be honest. The audio icon was on the webpage, I clicked play and that was it, magic!  In this task, I learned what a podcast is, the software used (most mobile devices), how to create a podcast, how to host a podcast through Soundcloud, and sharing a podcast though social networks such as Facebook, twitter and blogs.

After reading Thing7, I decided to partake in option B and listened to the podcast Circulating ideas created by Steve Thomas. The podcast was very interesting and relative to me in my future career. It was very informative for library professionals. The podcast was a very short 45mins and I would have happily listened to it for longer. The podcast itself illustrates its value as a source for people to create at a minimum cost and of high quality. The library at which I received my experience didn’t create podcasts but that’s mainly due the large workload they already have to deal with. I think podcasts are really useful for educational purposes. Teachers and lecturers could easily upload classes for students to listen to. I hope to listen to podcasts regularly in the future.