Thing 1: Blogs and blogging and Thing 2: Investigate some other blogs

I thought I'd kick start my own CPD23 experience by combining Things 1 and 2 into one blog post - purely so that I could reference Dr Seuss, of course. I'm not the only one who was so inspired: check missrachelsmith. I'll start, sensibly enough, with Thing 1 and talk about why I wanted to complete the programme.

"These things are good Things" - photo from las on Flickr

This time last year I was coming to the end of my MA Librarianship course at the University of Sheffield. There were parts that I loved about my MA and parts I wasn't so keen on, but one of the things I really liked was simply the fact that I had something to work towards and some goals to achieve. I work well with fixed projects and deadlines, because I feel like I am achieving something concrete. I also get a real kick out of completing lists, so I know I'll get a lot of satisfaction out of discovering each Thing.

I also want to learn more about the specific Things being covered, particularly Endnote (which I've tried before but never really got into), Google Docs which I've never quite got the hang of for some reason, and wikis which I'm slightly scared of.

As well as this I want to get into the habit of regular blogging, develop my own voice and start reflecting on what I've done, starting with the CPD23 programme of course. I've had this blog for over a year but I don't think it's been particularly successful - I'm a little bit scared of putting my thoughts out there on the Internet! I've had some lovely responses to my New Professionals Conference 2011 post and I hope this programme can help me keep up the momentum. I eventually want to charter and I hope this blog will be a helpful reflective record that I can look back on.

Finally, I want to engage with other programme participants, which will include commenting on the blogs of complete strangers as well as people I already know. Bad as I am at writing regular and thoughtful blog posts, I'm even worse at commenting intelligently and meaningfully on those of other people.

Which brings me to Thing 2: Investigating other blogs. I did start off by checking out the blogs of some people I already knew, just to familiarise myself with the process and get myself started. I also came across a number of posts via Twitter. After that I looked through the Delicious list of cpd23 blogs and picked out some at random. I found some really interesting posts - some from regular bloggers who were excited about the programme, others from those new to the idea of having a blog who were willing to give it a go. I found some blogs from people who weren't librarians but who felt the programme might have something to offer them. I must admit I was also drawn to the blogs with interesting names, such as Squirrel Library and The Trumpet Major  (Thomas Hardy reference ftw). After that, I got more serious and checked out blogs relating to the areas in which I currently work, law and education, as well as areas of interest, like museum libraries. Thinking of comments was much more difficult, and to be honest most of the comments I made were along the lines of "Love your blog name!".


I would love to read everyone's blogs but with over 500 participants this just isn't practical, so Thing 2 was a great way to track down some new people, though I hope to make more discoveries as the programme continues.