Ok, so Things 6 is online networks and we are looking at Linked in, Facebook, LISPN, Librarians as Teachers and CILIP communities. This is probably going to be a bit sporadic and not in order as I am going to have to sandwich it into other work as well as dealing with all of the stressed out students who have just realised that, if they don't return their library books/pay their library fines, they will not get their spangly new degree certificates.
Facebook is easy, I'm already on it, so I use it a lot, although I would say probably more for personal use than professional.
LISPN, this is something I signed up to ages ago but haven't been on for a while, someone on one of the other blogs mentioned how it can get a bit out of hand if you are signed up to too many forums also, as LISPN does not have an RSS feed (unless I have missed it) it is going to be harder to keep up if I have to log in every time rather than checking my Google Reader. Whilst looking at the recent posts, it would appear that it is more relevant to people about to study or currently studying for their Master's or trainees. So, probably something that I would have found more relevant when I myself was a trainee or studying, but I will try and start to keep an eye on it.
CILIP Communities: I have just had a look at this, I'm glad to see the upper echelons of CILIP management are blogging on there (Annie Mauger, Biddy Fisher) as well as the ever jovial Michael Martin, blogging about his marathon exploits as well as various CPD issues. Also, some of the branches have blogs including my very own Hants and Wight as well as Special Interest Groups. The forums page is good, encouraging discussion about hot topics, the networks page also good although it was a little sparse on the topics, this may be a section where information shared at Teachmeets would be helpful, particularly for those people who are unable to attend in person. The media section also looks like it could be some use, as presentations, photo's etc are posted on there. I know from experience when you go to a training event or presentation that it is helpful to be able to refer back to the presentation at a later time and not spend the whole time the person is speaking writing down notes furiously and listening instead. The only criticism I would have of CILIP communities is that it is maybe under represented and could be used more. I'm not sure whether I would use it much as it is another thing to check and I would have to remember to go into it.
Librarians as Teachers: I have just signed up to this, it must be linked to LISPN somehow as my profile from there automatically loaded up. Some of the topics do look quite interesting, there is an interesting post, actually put on there from someone I know about whether running teaching sessions should be part of Librarianship courses. It is a bit disinheatening to see that the last post was put on in November, so possibly this is a tool which isn't used much. Although one thing that is springing up now are teachmeets, so this would be a good way of promoting these. I probably will check in to this now and again, although the fact that it is another network that you have to sign into does put me off rather.
LinkedIn: I have just signed up to this, I guess it is the sort of thing that would be handy if you were job hunting although I would not like to solely rely on it. Also, it means something else to check and I'm just not convinced that employers, certainly at Assistant Librarian level, would be checking it for headhunting. The American slant to it also slightly puts me off, although lots of material on the web is like that. I can see how, if you annotate your job history well enough, you could use it as a reflection tool on past positions if you needed to.
Right now to Thing 7.......
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