An introduction

I've been thinking about, and half working on, chartership ever since I qualified. I thought it would be a good idea to work towards chartership while I was learning so much in my new job. Well, here I am a year and a half later, about to move on to another new job, and I haven't got very far! I have a basket full of items which might be useful for my eventual portfolio and there are lots more documents I must remember to save and print out as I tidy up my desk before moving on, but that's all I've got to show for myself. In my defence, my job has been fairly hectic and varied with not much time for reflection and, though I'm enthusiastic about chartership, by the time I get home, I want to relax rather than do more work.

I have been attending the CPD25 chartership workshops throughout this academic year and I have found them very useful . The problem is that I come away from each session with lots of ideas but they're pushed to the back of my mind by the next day. I hope that by setting up this blog, I'll have somewhere to make comments on the sessions I attend and on any achievements I make, even if it is only a few short lines.

This blog should also give me the opportunity to get more into Web 2.0, a concept I find very interesting. I find it amazing how quickly the concept has developed and exciting to think that I am in a career that will hopefully allow me to be at the cutting edge (particular in my new job as a business librarian in an academic library). I have various experiences in Web 2.0 so far: I often use LibraryThing.com, I have catalogued (to a basic standard) all the books I have in my house (there are many more waiting in my parents' attic!); I have set up an account with bloglines.com and read a variety of blogs via RSS feeds. In fact it is this which has encouraged me to set up this blog. Several people on the JISC chartership list are keeping blogs and have invited people to read them. I have found these blogs very informative.

I would like to learn more about wikis, the only experience I have is through wikipedia.org and similar. It would be interesting to contribute to, or perhaps set up, a wiki myself. Maybe I'll have the opportunity in my new job. I would also like to become familiar with all the other aspects of Web 2.0, for my own interest and also so that I can explain them to students. A few weeks ago a student asked me about social uses of the internet (she was planning to write her dissertation on this). When I said 'do you mean Web 2.0?', she didn't know what I was talking about. I have a feeling that won't last for long, particularly as more and more people who begin higher education have used the internet all their life.

There's so much more that I could say but I think I'd better end with a few targets:
- I will be probably be busy aclimatising to my new job over the next few months but I don't think that should stop me finding a mentor or registering for chartership. I will aim to have done this by the end of June.
- I have just read the article Innovative 'Five weeks to a scoial library' course voted a success in this month's Update. Meredith Farkas, the instigator of this course, is giving a talk at the next Cilip in London evening. I would like to attend this. I haven't been to one of these events for a while but that's because I work on the night they're held.
- I will update this blog at least once a week.
- I will join the JISC mailing list for librarians who blog.
- I will the Web 2.0 resources listed on Phil Bradley's website. I should at least be fmailiar with the majority of them even if I don't visit them regularly.