I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after my undergrad, but after a year of trying the world of work decided I’d return and study an area of my degree I’d particularly enjoyed, Occupational Psychology. My MSc dissertation focused on a centre in Sheffield offering work-related IT courses and I became interested in learning and technology. Looking for work afterwards, I discovered that the University of Nottingham were offering studentships at their new Learning Sciences Research Institute, so I applied. My topic ended up being homework: specifically I focused on how technologies could be embedded in the home, given family’s views on privacy, their interactions around homework technologies, and various other criteria. However, as I worked on my PhD I developed an interest in how the theories I was studying applied to my student / research role. How I and those around me used technologies to learn and search for information became a larger and larger interest.

With my PhD it would have been quite easy to move within fields to study this academically, but I was reluctant to continue an academic career path. I don’t know when I suddenly realised that librarianship contained people-focused and applied roles which encompassed many of my interests, but I do remember increasingly thinking about librarianship as a career. However, given previous multiple changes in direction, I wanted to try a spell in libraries to decide if they were right for me, so I applied for and got a part-time maternity cover job in the George Green Library at the University of Nottingham while I was writing up my PhD thesis.

The job at George Green gave me a broad experience of libraries, as I worked half of my shift alongside a librarian or library assistant, and got to hear all about their work, and was in sole charge of the service for the second half of the night. I liked the job. I could have applied for library school at this stage, but instead I decided to take the opportunity to get a broader background in librarianship, and applied for a number of graduate trainee posts. It was as I started the traineeship that I looked around for others who had blogged their experiences as trainees, and, unable to find anything, started this blog. The rest of the story is quite well documented here: from my traineeship to my MA and then my current academic librarian job supporting students and researchers at De Montfort, just like I wanted to do as a student and researcher. And my Occupational Psychology degree, the starting point of it all, helped me get a job as a subject librarian in Business.

Nice story, isn’t it? However, one of the theories I learnt in my MSc Occupational Psychology is that the ‘career’ as we understand it, can be seen as just a story, reflecting back on how we got to where we are, and editing out all the awkward bits that don’t fit. For those about to start on a librarianship career, I think it’s important to mention some of these roots, which weren’t part of my route, to show that we’re not all perfect, inevitable fits for a librarianship career, that stops and starts are involved.

For example, I did a week’s work experience in a public library as a 16 year old and in my National Record of Achievement it says “I am not sure I would like to continue to work in this field when I am older”. When I finished my undergraduate degree I was a day too late to apply for a graduate trainee post in the university library. And I also have a traditional ‘I was a bookish child’ story to tell, but was nearly put off librarianship because I was worried it was more about the quiet anti-social child I had been, than the more extroverted lover of knowledge I’ve become. It’s fascinating to look back on our routes and our roots, but I’ve learnt not to be too defined by what I’ve done. Who know where I’ll end up next?

On top of that, next week I’m starting my new job! It’s a temporary post at De Montfort University, and I’m going to be an assistant librarian, working with the Business School. I have an MSc in Occupational Psychology, which is the study of business from a psychological perspective, which should give me a good start in the topic. I’m looking forward to starting, although a little nervous! This week has been a semi-break between course and job, although I’ve been tying up some loose ends and preparing for the presentations next week, so it’s not all been holiday.

Obtaining my first professional post has made me reflect on this blog a little. I’m really happy I’ve kept it going throughout my graduate traineeship and my library course to my first job. I started the blog because I couldn’t find any which documented that journey, and I hope it proves useful to people about to start librarian training. At the very least it’s entertaining to me to look back at what I’ve been doing for the last two years, and a great record of all the things I’ve done. I’d recommend the process to anyone else too!

Note: Photograph is a view from the Information Commons, with the infamous comfy seating.

There were two stages to the research, and three stages to the analysis. In stage one, interviews with staff involved in the Information Commons (IC) development were analysed using the Theory of Change approach to uncover the drivers, resources, activities, desirable outcomes and anticipated impact of the project – these are the five tubs of quotes visible in the photographs. In stage two, a thematic analysis of the student interviews looked at how students used the IC. Stage three, which I’m still finishing, involves looking at the desirable outcomes of the project related to student usage of the IC and the student experience, and asking if i) if there’s evidence for them in the student interviews and ii) if they seem to have occurred because of the activities identified by staff.

In stage three everything’s starting to come together quite nicely. I think the first two stages of the analysis are quite information-rich, but the process of evaluation draws them together quite well and should help me structure the key findings in the discussion and conclusion quite nicely.

At the moment I’m finishing off the literature review (currently bringing together the literature on information commons in general) and then I’m back into the analysis again. My supervisor is back from holiday on Monday, and we’ve arranged a meeting, so I hope to have a reasonable draft of the whole thing to show her by then. Compared to my PhD thesis this has all been a bit of a whirlwind: I’ve been reasonably ambitious with the scope of this project, and there’s not much time at all to think and reflect. However, I’m happy so far with what I’ve produced and hopefully will be able to knock it into shape before submission.

The Information Commons is a beautiful building, if relentlessly modern. I’ve posted pictures of the outside before, but here’s one of the interior, which I used as a probe in the student interviews. I might go round and take some pictures myself soon, as empty out-of-term building means no consent forms. The varying levels of use of the IC have impacted on my project in several ways. I had to conduct my student interviews during my coursework period, as exams were approaching, and getting students to give me a tour of the IC would have been unworkable at its peak use. Still, it put me ahead of the game, which I’m not complaining about that now.

When I first started this project I was more focused on the student part of my project than the staff aspect, but over the last week I’ve really loved doing the staff interviews and finding out about how the IC was put together. I was astonished to find out that it was in planning back in 1998 when I first came to the university as an undergraduate! My favourite bit is seeing how staff use some of the ideas and interests I’ve had in the MA in their jobs at senior levels. The opportunity to get involved in projects like the IC is something I’d love, and it’s made me even more enthusiastic about a career in academic libraries. I just need to find a job now!

Note: Photo was taken by Flickr user paolomargari and used here under Creative Commons licence.

I also got some good feedback on one of my essays: one looking at Virtual Research Environments and the role of the library. I don’t know yet what mark I’ve got for it, but my head of department contacted me to say she’d really like what I’d written, to ask if she could pass it on to some potentially interested people, and to discuss the possibility of writing it up for publication. Will have to see what comes of this, but it’s great feedback, and a great opportunity. We’ve got a meeting next week to discuss publication ideas. It’s this kind of attitude I really like at Sheffield, they seem to be very proactive. In addition, this week I’ve got a job interview on Wednesday. Should be interesting stuff, will wait and see what happens.

Final good news: my vision problems have been inspected by an ophthalmologist, and apparently the visual distortions I’ve been having are very likely due to my very dry eyes. I’m awaiting a prescription for some better drops, and in the meantime taking the ones I’ve got whenever I like. I was pleased to hear that the ophthalmologist was related to a librarian so knew all about the importance of text to our profession! My digestive problems are still ongoing: nothing conclusive learnt from my elimination diet so far, watch this space!

Today’s picture comes from Nottingham University campus: I live right nearby and went for a walk to get some library-related shots recently. I always liked the fact there’s a whole road named after the library. It sounds like all the libraries should be along this one road, but in fact it’s only the original Hallward Library.

The most manageable task at the moment seems to be transcribing the interviews I’ve got so far (I’m a touch typist, and I transcribed a lot during my PhD etc. so I’m a fairly dab hand at churning this out). I would have preferred to type these up as I recorded them, so I was fresh from the interview, but was involved in about seven layers of coursework at the time. I typed up my first interview today, and it was quite interesting to go back over it and see the kinds of themes that came up.

Just as a reminder, I’m looking at the use of space in Sheffield University’s Information Commons with the student interviews, and the next stage of my research will be to interview staff and find out about their expectations for the IC, and how they compare with actual use. I need to do a bit of reading before the staff interviews, though, so holding on to see if I can sort out my eyes first!

The student data is really interesting, though. There seem to be lots of layers to the decision making processes of students when deciding which space to use: study preferences, aesthetic preferences, habit, social behaviour, territoriality etc. Should be fascinating stuff to unpick these a bit further and see how they interact / combine in different individuals.

Note: Image taken at LILAC 2009. I like the fact that the signs told Welsh speakers to use the door to escape in case of fire, but didn’t tell them how to open the thing. Of course, maybe the Welsh are just naturally good at opening doors.

Lots has been going on, however. The best news is that I’ve received a funded place at Mashed Libraries 2009. This is one of those fancy unconference things looking at mash-ups within the library field. I’m really excited about attending. I don’t have much experience in any kind of library technologies: the shot on the right shows the nearest I got to library tech in my last job, a new computer to access our old-fashioned LMS. However my enthusiasm for social networking, my love of playing with random software and the bits of my PhD involving representing and supporting homework through lots of different technologies should be pretty relevant.

On top of this I’ve been recruited to work on an HEA funded synthesis of research alongside members of CILASS, the University of Sheffield’s centre for Inquiry Based Learning over the summer. Should be interesting and a way of keeping up my research skills and giving me something other than my dissertation to think about over the next few months.

Other than those exciting pieces of news, the most thrilling thing in my life has been the gradual erosion of my coursework deadlines. At the time of writing I’ve only got two more pieces I need to get done, and hopefully things will keep ticking along. In fact, I’ve got some editing awaiting as I speak, so off I go!

Aside from my funding I’ve attended both the Research Libraries UK and LILAC conferences on student places this year, and I’ve applied for and failed to get other opportunities. I certainly intend to be proactive and enthusiastic, although the wording of the UKeiG email did, I’ll admit, make me wonder whether applying for all these opportunities looks greedy. I’d understand if UKeiG’s criteria were shared across the sector. However, there are noticeable differences between the conferences to which I’ve applied: LILAC, for example, allows any student registered for any library qualification to apply. I know that these are separate organisations, and standards don’t really apply, but I wondered what people thought was the ‘fair’ way to do things. Should students be restricted to only one set of funding over a year? Should opportunities be determined by merit alone? Please do comment and let me know what you think.

I have to admit, I’m dying for a proper break, and haven’t got as much done as I’d (perhaps overoptimistically) hoped over Easter. I still have make a start on my final ideas for my dissertation, make changes to one piece of groupwork and finish putting together a website, and I was hoping to finish off my report on virtual research environments too. Of these I’m most enjoying the VRE report: despite my frustration at the fact that everyone seems to call them different things, it’s great to study something that’s right up my street, and technologies to support research pulls together two of my favourite topics. As I’ve picked the modules this semester myself, my personal interest is keeping me going. It’s not that far until June, right?

Photo shows tiny giant white blood cells out on a jaunt to LILAC 2009 with me in the Welsh countryside. They failed to stop me picking up further librarian lurgy, sadly.

I actually signed up for Second Life independently sometime around the end of last year; I’d heard a reasonable amount about librarians using it and wanted to have a try. The picture on the left shows my somewhat blockier original appearance. My background is very much as a Second Life cynic. I play a lot of computer games and so am very aware that the look and feel of the basic features Second Life offers are rather past their sell by date, and as someone with a background in usability I’m pretty appalled by its interface. I’ve always held that putting an island into Second Life, while potentially an excellent marketing technique, is unlikely to get you anywhere.

However, this course has changed my mind a little. I still find the interface frustrating and the world a little glitchy. I’m beginning to find clothing and adjusting my avatar more and more compelling, though, and now I’m working out where things are (through blogs and in-world groups) I don’t feel quite as disoriented. Furthermore, I can see how educators find the ability to create and manipulate the world so useful; it’s genuinely possible to build educational and attractive environments. The gamer in me still wishes someone would create a second Second Life, though, and it’s worth considering that I grew up in the 8 bit era – I hate to think what young gaming literate audiences will make of it in a couple of years.