My focus has been on my Twitter account and blog.  I decided that ideally I would like my backgrounds to match for both, as Jo had suggested in the introduction to theme 3, as I think consistency is good and it makes you easily recognisable.  Whilst my name and picture are the same, the backgrounds are not.   However, my technically skills are not quite prepared for how to make them match…  I tried to upload my own picture of a pattern and whilst it worked for wordpress, but was too big for twitter and I did not know how to resize it and do not have photoshop or whatever I might need to do so.  So if nothing else, I have realised I need to work on my IT skills further!

In the meantime I browsed the themes of WordPress and found a theme I really like (and am using now) but I do not know if it’s possibly to take the background to Twitter, though I am assuming not.

In all this fiddling around I also lost my original pretty, floral background of my twitter page and, not remembering where I got it from, have replaced it with dreamcatchers.  Whilst I am a fan of dreamcatchers, I’m not sure they will be a permanent background and will try to get something more in line with my blog (which has already had positive comments on its look!).

I also performed a google search of myself, I suspected that my name was far too common for me to appear on the first couple of pages and I was right, however my cousin did appear (same middle name and surname, but not first) which was interesting!

I have commented on a few blogs too, I always find it nice when someone leaves a comment on my blog it’s quite encouraging and therefore I like to return the favour!

I originally signed up to take part last year, but life got in the way.  Since then I have moved from Oxford to London, started work as a graduate trainee librarian and started my postgrad in library and information studies at Aberystwyth…….so although life hasn’t real got much quieter, I am really keen to do !!  I think it is good to try reflective writing and I think it will be good for general career development as part of my traineeship. 

I am hoping that cpd23 will help me think more about career paths and reflect on my journey in library and information career so far and how I might want it to shape out. 

I am mostly looking forward to things 13 onwards as they will be useful to take into real life situations, in particular Thing 15 and Thing 16.  I would like to think that one day I will be confident to do a presentation, and am aware than some job interviews even request presentations, so the better I am able to make a presentation look good, the more confident I may feel and the better I might look !!   I would also really like to get a paper published, I feel it would be good to say I’ve done it and look good on my CV, it is already something I am looking into at work and hoping Thing 16 will give me some further ideas and inspiration.

I wanted to use my blog more but have not thought of things to talk about, CPD23 is a good reason to blog more and reminds me to read others blogs, it always good to know other people’s experiences and hear about their roles in the library and information world.   

DAY 2:  The lectures begin.  We were welcomed back and began our introductions top the next modules.  One of our first sessions was with Pauline Rafferty for a module Information organization and retrieval.  I had pre-judged this to be a ‘boring’ module having never considered cataloguing as something I would be interested in.  However, Pauline spoke of the topic with such enthusiasm that it has made me reconsider my previous judgement, classification theory in fact sounds very interesting and it is now one of the modules I am most looking forward to even to the point of considering dissertation topics to do with classification theory (although perhaps I am influenced by Pauline’s enthusiasm and the reality of starting the module without her inspiration will revert me back)!!  This lecture did prove the value of study schools, without the introduction lecture, I may not have realised the potential within it.  The social meal was held in the evening, and, as last year, a very nice time was had by all (on my table anyway) the only minor embarrassment I had was asking the lady next to me which study school she was attending only to discover she was in fact an archives lecture, she didn’t seem to mind though!

DAY 3 was time for one to one with your personal tutor.  Just two days into study school and I have quickly realised that I have slacked off a bit from my original schedule and perhaps wont be able to work my way through the rest of part one before dissertation school in September.  I voiced this concern with Peter and although he said he would be “very impressed” if he saw me again in September it wouldn’t be impossible (providing I’m willing to sacrifice any social life).  I will try my best to make it to September, but have realised that it isn’t the end of the world if I don’t.    We also got a brilliant career development talk from a lady who works in the careers service department of Aberystwyth University.  Apparently this is something distance learners aren’t normally provided with but I really hope they consider doing it every study school as I think the majority of us found it extremely valuable.  It was also interesting to learn of the services that our available to us in that department including job application checks and mock interviews via skype, it is something I will most certainly use in the future.

DAY 4: The last day already! We attended a talk about preparing for dissertation school, during this week I have been starting to think about dissertation topics, but it’s difficult to properly think about it when potentially it’s a whole year away but it seems like they will provide us with all the support we/ I will need!   In the evening we got taken on a bluebell walk – the weather during the day had been a total downpour but a miracle occurred and the sun broke through, providing us with a glorious evening for a walk!  It has been lovely to get away from the big smoke and see the rolling hillside and coastline.

It can be a struggle working full time and studying (although this is nothing to the people who have children as well, I really really admire them!) but I don’t think I’ve done too badly, so I’ve worked through it apparently quicker than the average, but I’ve had good marks so far so I don’t think I’m sacrificing anything.  Attending study school has been the kick up the bum that I need to keep going.

I’m still determined to complete the course in two years and whether that means sacrificing any kind of social life or accepting it’s going to take more than 6 months to get to dissertation school… I’m not sure yet.

After returning from study school I got stuck into my first module as well as starting my new job.  I quickly got into my role, although most of it was new to me.  Everything is internet, web and e-resources so it was a bit of a learning curve but got the hang of it soon enough.  It is unlike any more ‘traditional’ libraries that I have worked in before.  We are constantly trying out new ideas, working on marketing our library and other information services and coming up with new research to do.  I am particularly enjoying the research side of my job.  We recently conducted a survey on the information needs of health practitioners and their journeys in seeking information, it was really interesting and I’d love to look into it further on a broader scale.  I have also been attending conferences and hope to attend HLG 2012 in July.   My work are very understanding and encouraging when it comes to studying so they have tried to help me where they can and given me some study days which has been great.

Last year me and some other graduate trainees met up for drinks in London (whilst also participating in libchat!).  It was really lovely to meet other people in similar positions as me and to share experiences.  I sadly missed the second meet up earlier this year because I was ill, but hopefully there will be another one soon.

Studying is also going well so far (i think….!)  I enjoyed the first module, which was about information and the society, and got top marks for my essays (believe me, that is a first time for me) and feel quite proud about that.  The second module was a bit more difficult, it was business and management based which isn’t necessarily in my interests but I can understand why were are doing and it gave me more understanding of the roles of a manager.  I am still waiting to hear back my results for that module so fingers crossed! The good news is that I’ve made it to the second study school in April so still on course for completing in two years.

So far I have found the distance learning course fine – sometimes working full time and studying can be hard going, particularly near to deadlines, but I think it will all be worth it.  I was concerned about feeling isolated but the moodle discussion forums with Aber have been really good.  Most of the time any questions or fears I have have already been voiced by someone else which is always reassuring and lecturers have been really good in responding to questions quickly.

All in all, I am looking forward to the next six months!

Well after a long, but not too tedious train ride from London I got a taxi to the halls of residence with what I discovered to be a fellow student. The taxi driver was lovely and very informative about Aberystwyth and the Universtiy and, from what I understand, all the taxi drivers were like this!  Being back in university accommodation after 6 years was quite strange, but I think Aber accommodation is slightly better with a bigger room and a lovely common area (with what looked like a brand new kitchen!).  The rest of my flatmates moved in at about hte same time and we bonded and remained together throughout the week, which was lovely.

Once settled next on the agenda was dinner followed by an introduction by the distance learning team.  This included an ice breaker game (which I don’t normally relish the idea of) and saw me singing Beatles songs to what were then strangers, as I didn’t have any other criteria I could meet on the questionnnaire we needed to complete !

After that, the majority of us decided to find the pub and go for a drink.  Once found, I felt, a bit like a ski chalet, very cosy and this was another good opportuity to get to know people better.

Second day was when library school properly started.  Our first session with Tanya Rogers was a general introduction to distance learning and gave us an opportunity to voice any concerns we may have with studying distance learning and it was reassuring to discover htat most people share the same concerns I have.

In the afternoon we had the opportunity to go on a walking tour of the town.  It was very pretty walk along the seafront and through the castle remains and learn about the towns history and I was fascinated to learn that Aber’s population is 9,000 and then almost doubles when the students are around. It was unfortunate that it was extremely windy (we were told it was due  to a small hurricane heading our way?!).  In the evening we were  given the option to attend a ‘Welsh for beginnners’ lesson.  I went along as I thought it might be useful to know how to at least pronounce Welsh words, particularly given that my family are from Wales!  And boy am I glad I went.  Our teacher for  the evening, John…., was a brilliant teacher! So entertaining and had really could ways of helping you to understand the language and remember the pronunciations.  I would be more than keen to learn Welsh if I was studying here full time.

Monday began with a tour of the library which was unfortunately short lived and didn’t go into great detail about the process and use of the library for distance learners, but it was good to see the functions of another library all the same.  This was followed y our first proper lecture which was regarding our first module -Information and Society.  I now felt properly back in learning mode and although this is the only lecture we will have in support of the module, I felt they packed enough in the help guide us through and give us an idea if what they are looking for.

We then had the opportunity to explore out Virtual Lerning Environment (Moodle).  Moodle is something I had heard of but never used before.  It seems very straightforward and I was pleased to see that it is used highly by students and staff seem to use it just as frequently.  I think I will be finding this extremely useful to interact with my fellow students, sharing ideas/concerns with them and with staff.  It will certainly help us all feel less isolated throughout our studies which I think has always been a concern of mine  with choosing a distance learning course.

My first meeting with my personal tutor, Peter Sharpe, followed this.  Although it is very early in my studies and therefore didn’t have to many quesitons (I’m sure they will come soon though!) it was nice to meet and get an idea of the kind of tutor he will be.  He seemed very laid back and when I voiced my concerns that I may be aiming to high with my completion date, he reassured me it could be done (at a push!!) and to see how the first module goes and take it from there.  Peter has done the course himself so I am reassured in the knowledge that he knows exactly what we’re going through.  Another bonding session in the pub followed that evening!

Tuesday came around very quickly (over half way through the study school already!).  We were introduced to Wendy Shaw, who gave us a lecture on report writing.  Although I did a lot of report writing as part of my degree it was really good to have a refresher on the key elements of a report structure.  Our next lecture was regarding the second module we take on our course – Studies in Management.  I t seems difficult to start thinking about this module now, but it was good to get an idea of what was in store and to again pick up some more tips about what they were looking for.  We did some group work discussing what make a good manager and so on and all of us seemed to have good ideas from previous work experience, both good and bad!  One assignment is to write a business plan and it was at this point that I felt a bit sorry for myself that I have just left a business studies focussed library that would of been very helpful when it came to studying this!

Tuesday evening held the ‘event of the week’.  It has been 25 years since Aber started distance learning courses, and we were lucky enough to celebrate with them.  We had a lovely wine reception and meal in the campus Arts Centre.  A really lovely building and the view across the sea as the sun was setting was really beautiful.  If anyone else reading this studies at Aber and hasn’t been the the Arts Centre, I highly recommend the visit.  Speeches were made by previous students of the course and it was reassuring to hear that they were all still working within the sector and enjoying their careers.

Then came the final day.  Everyone was a bit tired from the night before and it was a great relief to everyone that we had the first period off (perhaps intentionally?!).  Our first lecture was with Juanita regarding our third module ‘Planning for Delivery’.  I think this module will prive really useful for future roles in the information sector.  This was followed by lectures on citation skills and a quick lesson on reference software,  which were both useful refresher lessons and was good to learn about other reference software from Endnote.  And that was the final day over.  Some of us went for a drink at the Arts Centre after dinner (Aber university has a lot to offer, the Art Centre in particular seems to have a lot going on for students and the community) before retiring to pack ready to depart.

And if nothing else, Aberystwyth University fed us AMAZINGLY well.  Too well infact, there was never a moment when I was hungry, if we weren’t in lectures we were either drinking tea with biscuits or eating a big meal and it was all at a pretty good standard!  All in all I enjoyed the study school week and look forward to seeing everyone and Aberystwyth, hopefully in April next year, if not September…best get on with all the reading now!