NYLA: Meet the Bloggers

The second New York Library Association session (other than my own) that I attended on November 7 was a superb panel on blogging. As you might imagine, it piqued my interest . . . .

I missed the first few minutes of Ken Fujiuchi’s great presentation. Fujiuchi, who works at Buffalo State College, is responsible for maintaining his employers’ blog and that of a professional association to which he belongs, and as a result his personal blog has suffered; teaching others how to use Blogger, the Google-owned free blogging service (which powers this blog), has also dulled his appetite for traditional blogging. However, he does use Twitter to microblog via his cell phone, and showed the audience how he had Twittered another NYLA session by devoting one post to each PowerPoint slide that the audience viewed. (Several people in the audience were doing the same thing during the Meet the Bloggers session!)

Fujiuchi then discussed a variety of social networking tools that could be used in a library context:

• Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per post, is an excellent way to disseminate news or provide real-time updates on an event, enables users to “follow” others’ posts without the degree of familiarity and amity associated with “friending” someone on Facebook, and makes it possible to use social networking tools without devoting a lot of time to it. Twitter works best once an individual identifies one other user, starts following the users’ posts, and then starts following the posts of the other users’ friends. Twitter is being used by Congress and the White House, and
• FriendFeed, which allows users to follow discussions taking place on a variety of social networking services
• TwitterFeed, which enables people to feed their blog posts to Twitter via RSS.
  
• Flock, which allows people to search Twitter, Facebook, etc., at the same time.

Some of these tools really are fascinating, and I really appreciate Fujiuchi’s succinct and helpful introduction to them. I also want to see what other librarians and archivists make of them, and I can see myself using these tools under certain circumstances. However, I don’t think I’m going to be a heavy user of most of them. Although I understand that Twitter has real value -- not only as a means of providing real-time information about unfolding events but also as a way of capturing the patterns and textures of people’s lives -- I kept thinking that I really don’t want to be so connected to other people. I don’t carry my cell phone with me most of the time or log into Facebook every day, and I don’t want to contend with tweets (individual Twitter posts) all the time; I already feel a bit besieged by the constant flow of information that demands my attention, and the thought of enlarging the stream doesn’t thrill me.

Moreover, I worry about the broader social impact of these tools. For highly verbal people who are as comfortable reading and writing lengthy synthetic and analytical pieces as they are dashing off quick notes and pithy observations (i.e., librarians and other knowledge workers), these tools will become yet another means of sustaining relationships and sharing factual tidbits. However, I do worry about their impact upon the grade schoolers who are growing up with them. These kids will experience of reading and learning quite differently than their predecessors, and by the time they hit high school they’ll likely have less experience at following a sustained narrative or argument and less of the patience needed to do so.

The next presenter, Jill Hurst-Wahl of Hurst Associates Ltd., discussed how her blog, which began in 2004 as a means of publicizing her consulting work, enables her to bring together her many professional interests and roles: librarian, entrepreneur, business owner, generalist, and technology lover (but not a bleeding-edge enthusiast).

Hurst-Wahl’s consulting originally centered on competitive intelligence (a career option that Patti McCall discussed during the “What Else Can You Do With a Library Degree?” session earlier that day). As she branched out into project planning, workshops, and other aspects of digitization, she needed to expand her marketing efforts. She wanted to talk to possible clients and convey her expertise without having to do it face-to-face, and blogging was an excellent means of doing so.

Hurst-Wahl’s first blog, Digitization 101, was launched in 2004. She committed to blogging daily (30-60 minutes) and to filling a clearly defined niche. Hurst-Wahl uses her blog to disseminate information that she finds interesting and useful, and seeks creative ways to talk about digitization (e.g., one post began with a discussion of how the uniform size of the tiles in her newly remodeled kitchen underscores the need for standards). She refers people who have digitization questions to her blog, uses the blog to ask questions of her readers, and makes it a point to promote her blog to others.

Hurst-Wahl has also established a clear set of rules for her blog: she will not use it as a soapbox, a place to talk about her personal life, or as a vehicle for venting negative feelings. She has occasionally broken these rules, but not without good reason or careful evaluation.

Digitization 101 has enabled potential clients, vendors, and associates to become familiar with Hurst-Wahl’s expertise and track record, and its prominence has ensured that Hurst-Wahl is among the first to receive honest information about various products and services. However, the blog has also resulted in loss of anonymity: she’s been recognized in public places. She sometimes receives unsolicited materials – which is sometimes good, and sometimes bad.

Since starting Digitization 101, Hurst-Wahl’s online presence has expanded to include blogging for the Special Libraries Association, a second professional blog (eNetworking 101), and heavy use of Twitter, FriendFeed, and other social networking tools.

Hurst-Wahl concluded with a series of great recommendations for audience members interested in starting their own blogs:

• Read blogs, talk to bloggers, and experiment
• Start your professional blog
• Focus on a niche
• Make a commitment to posting timely, original and/or rich content -- and honor your commitment
• Push the envelope
• Include images, photos, and video in your blog
• Market, market, market your blog
• Use other social media

Hurst-Wahl’s presentation (which is available online) made me devote a lot of thought to this blog and what I hope to accomplish with it, but I’m going to reserve the bulk of my comments for a separate post; this one is approaching a Russian novel in length. Suffice it to say that several of my colleagues told me in advance that getting to see and meet Jill Hurst-Wahl would be a treat, and they were right.

The last panelist, David Rothman of Community General Hospital in Syracuse, highlighted how his blog, davidrothman.net, has opened professional doors: thanks to his blogging, he has received invitations to write for professional journals, become the co-author of a forthcoming book, was asked to be the plenary speaker at the Medical Libraries Association, and was invited to teach an American Medical Association workshop.

Blogging motivates Rothman to keep learning and trying new things, gives him a sense of community and contact with like-minded others, and enables him to “think aloud” and track his progress on various projects.

Rothman seconded Hurst-Wahl’s emphasis upon the importance of focus: as long as you focus on a discrete topic and identify your audience, people will come. He also concurred that it’s best to keep one’s professional blog focused on professional matters; it’s okay to “be human” and discuss personal circumstances that affect one’s ability to blog, but it’s generally best to reserve personal posts for a separate personal blog.

He also emphasized the need to keep employers apprised of one’s activities: he received approval from his employer’s Chief Information Officer, Director of Corporate Communications, and Vice President of Medical Affairs before starting his blog, and he’s taken care to inform their successors of his activities. His blog also incorporates a disclaimer stating that his views aren’t necessarily those of his employer. Keeping administrators in the loop has actually been a very positive thing: the hospital’s CIO has also started blogging (using a template that Rothman created) and was delighted to learn that local reporters were reading his blog.

Rothman ended his presentation (also available online) by offering his own first-rate suggestions for prospective bloggers, many of which harmonize nicely with those put forth by Hurst-Wahl:

• Clarify to yourself and your readers the focus of your blog, and deviate only rarely
• Try to save your readers time, money, or hassle
• Remember that content is everything
• Choose your blog’s name and/or domain carefully
• Make sure you post regularly -- at least once a week

Rothman's presentation also gave me a lot to think about re: this blog. Again, I’m going to outline them in a separate post. It’s getting late, my hands are tired, and your eyes could probably use a rest, too.

NYLA: What Else Can You Do with a Library Degree?

I attended the New York Library Association conference on November 7 because a couple of colleagues and I did a morning session on preserving State government information found online (which I’ll blog about later). I stayed around for the afternoon sessions, and I’m glad I did.

“What Else Can You Do with a Library Degree?” brought together four librarians who now work outside of public and academic settings:

• Patti McCall is a librarian employed by a chemical and pharmaceutical research firm.
  
• Polly-Aida Farrington does technology training, project management, and Web site consulting.
  
• Jane Oliver is a grant writer.
• Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer was until recently the librarian/archivist at a museum.

After the four panelists introduced themselves, they took questions from the audience. The ensuing discussion was really wide-ranging, resists easy summary, and contained lots of good information and advice. In lieu of adding my own commentary (apart from noting that all of the advice the panelists dispensed was exceptionally good), I'll simply recap:

Grant-writing coursework: Joan Oliver recommended the Grantsmanship Center, which offers weeklong courses throughout the country, and the Foundation Center in New York City. She also indicated that anyone interested in the field should start reading the Chronicle of Philanthropy and look at GuideStar, an online service that allows you to see philanthropies’ financial data. (Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer noted that GuideStar is also a good resource for researching prospective non-profit employers.)

Making the transition to being self-employed: Polly Farrington took advantage of a retirement buyout and thus had a year’s salary and three years of benefits, but now purchases insurance through a small business association. Joan Oliver, who gets insurance via her local Chamber of Commerce, was laid off and realized that her experience administering grant projects gave her the insight needed to write grant applications. Polly Farrington initially saw contract work as something to do while she searched for a “real job,” but eventually realized that she was doing well on her own.

Marketing one’s services: When Joan Oliver began seeking contract work as a grants writer, she sent out letters outlining her grant-writing experience to entities throughout the country -- the only marketing work she’s ever gone. Polly Farrington, who sent out an initial message to friends and colleagues indicating that she was seeking short-term work, uses Flickr, Facebook, other social networking tools, and her blog to market herself and occasionally contacts people who are doing projects that interest her. However, both of them get work largely through word of mouth.

Whether academic librarians need a second master’s degree: Patti McCall felt that having a second master’s degree in history worked to her advantage when she was seeking an academic library job, but didn’t see it as a requirement. Polly Farrington, who had also worked in an academic library, did not have a second master’s degree. Both of them encouraged audience members to respond to job ads even if their qualifications didn’t perfectly match those outlined in the ads; not submitting a resume is the only sure-fire way not to get hired.

Learning the technical jargon needed to work in a special library: Patti McCall indicated that most of the reference requests she received actually concerned medical issues (her employer does a substantial amount of pharmaceutical research) but learned chemical terminology by asking chemists, attending the chemistry librarians’ meeting at the Special Libraries Association meeting, and attending chemists’ professional meetings.

Whether it’s better for new graduates to keep pursuing unpaid internships or take less-than-desirable (or non-library) first jobs: Patti McCall indicated that graduates who can continue working as an intern ought to do so, but most people need to eat. Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer said that it ought to be possible to work at a job that pays the bills and volunteer or intern in one’s spare time. McCall and Polly Farrington also emphasized the importance of developing a functionally oriented resume that highlights how skills learned in one field (e.g., customer-service skills developed in the retail world) apply to library work; a functionally oriented resume can also smooth the transition from librarianship to another field.

Finding volunteer opportunities: In response to audience members who had been rebuffed when they sought volunteer work, Patti McCall stated that working with volunteers does take staff time, that other opportunities are out there, and that joining a professional association would probably be helpful. Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer noted that at most libraries, someone is in charge of volunteers and interns and that identifying this person might take a little effort. Polly Farrington suggested looking outside of libraries; it might be possible to do library-type work for, e.g., a theater company -- and to get good experience and a good reference as a result of this work. A member of the audience commented that he was initially rebuffed by a non-profit when he sought to do volunteer work, but the non-profit was willing to have him do a for-credit independent study; he ended up paying the organization to work for it, but got good experience doing it.

Getting an archival position: In response to a question from a student who specialized in archives and records management while in graduate school but couldn’t find a professional archival position, Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer stated that there are relatively few archival jobs (and even fewer curatorial positions) and that it might not be possible to secure one’s dream job right out of school. Moving into archives will likely require a substantial amount of practical experience, which can be obtained by volunteering, interning, taking archival continuing education courses, and joining professional associations.

Records management and competitive research: Patti McCall, whose own graduate coursework focused on archives and records management and worked as a municipal government records manager before taking an academic library position, noted that RM and competitive research are also open to librarians (who can learn more about RM by taking New York State Archives workshops). She is currently responsible for doing RM work at her firm because she made it a point to emphasize its legal and practical importance to her employer, and her RM activities will ultimately feed into her employer’s development of an enterprise content management system. She also does some competitive research (i.e., examines the status and activities of her employers’ competitors), which is is frequently done by librarians. She’s adding value to the firm, and getting to know more people within it.

Joining professional associations: all four panelists repeatedly emphasized the importance of becoming active in professional associations, which provide opportunities for networking, taking continuing education courses, and moving into new areas of specialization. Patti McCall emphasized that, in her experience, new graduates who were actively involved in professional associations were much more likely to find jobs than those who weren’t. Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer noted that her involvement in archival professional groups helped her to make the transition from being a public librarian and a children’s librarian to being an archivist and special librarian and can help one avoid being "pigeonholed" within the library/archival world.

Blogs and e-portfolios: Polly Farrington stated that anyone seeking a job that requires maintenance of a blog or other social networking resource must be able to demonstrate that s/he has the skills needed to do so; maintaining a blog, etc., is a must. Rebecca Rich-Wulfmeyer maintains a password-protected Word Press blog with an e-portfolio that contains sample work and scanned letters of recommendation, and includes the URL and password when writing thank-you notes following job interviews.

Web development courses: Polly Farrington suggested taking NYLA workshops and joining the International Webmasters Association/HTML Writers Guild, which offers courses that will develop key skills and offers discounts to its members.

Library Science courses: when asked which courses they could take if they were currently enrolled in an MLS/MIS program, the panelists mentioned courses in government documents, management, research, any kind of computer-related topic, and metadata.