The biggest and most effective change I've ever made to the way I organise my work-load...

... has been to create a separate and specific To-Do list, entitled "Things Other People Are Waiting On Me To Do". It seems a really small thing but trust me on this, you have to try it!

I really can't emphasise enough how useful this has been. I can't even fully explain why - I think it's something to do with how it really focuses the mind. I always feel more comfortable working on stuff that is more general, or is a new idea / experiment, or that is specifically for me, when I know that other people aren't waiting on me for stuff. Also, it allows you to prioritise effectively in those moments when you know you have only 20 minutes before a meeting: yes you could check your emails, or you could work on that presentation you have to give next week - but if you look down your Things Other People Are Waiting On Me To Do list and see a nice 20-minute sized task to complete, it feels like a really productive use of your time, which frees you up to concentrate fully on your own stuff later.

I personally divide my list into People in Music and People in TFTV (the two departments I look after as an Academic Liaison Librarian), People in the Library (meaning the rest of the staff here in the Information Directorate) and Information Professional People (which is a catch-all term I use for stuff I do professionally like talks and presentations, the book etc). Obviously to some extent, everything we do at work is for other people - but having a separate to do list with, say, 'provide list of titles for X', 'order books for Y' and 'get back to Z about whatever' and those kind of specifics is a really effective way of helping organise my work-load. This doesn't replace my general to-do list, it runs alongside it.

I add things to it as soon as they come in - it's a way of making sure I stay aware of the need to email someone back about something, rather than it staying in my mind for a bit and then slipping off my radar, for example. I have my list in Evernote, but it would work in whatever format you like your to-do lists in.

Try it! Seriously, give it a go. I've converted a couple of colleagues here, and although I think they thought I was just rambling when I first told them about it, they've since told me how effective it's been for them too...

- thewikiman

#libday7: a Multimedia Journal

It's Library Day in the Life time again! Here is a week in my life as an Academic Liaison Librarian - works best in full screen mode:

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(Here's a link in case you're viewing this in Google Reader and the embedded content doesn't display.)

I don't normally write much for this (last time round I did a video) because I think people are often over-saturated with LibDay posts - but I'm making an exception this time because my new job is so much more interesting than previous roles! Also, subject librarian is one of those roles which people find very difficult to really get a handle on - no two days are the same, so finding out what subject librarians actually DO is tricky. So the journal above is a fuller account.

Let me know if you have any questions about the job, particularly if it's an area you're wondering about going into yourself...

- thewikiman

The ultimate guide to Prezi

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Update: the Prezi itself, below, was updated in May 2013 with some more tips, examples, FAQs, and also to cover the new Prezi interface.

I've been meaning to do this for ages, so here we go: a complete guide to the presentation software Prezi, from what it is and why to use it right up to advanced techniques for making your presentation absolutely killer.

Works best on full-screen, as ever.

The how to make a great Prezi, Prezi on Prezi

I created this for a workshop next week in the library, so I was going to launch it then - but Prezi themselves have started promoting it via their Facebook presence and on their Explore page. (You should really check out the Explore page, some of the Prezis on there are amazing!) So seeing as it's gone global already, I've brought things forward.

I created a hand-out for the workshop, which features screen-grabs of the nuts-and-bolts instructions on how to use Prezi, plus this basic overview for those completely new to it:

The basics

The basic principle of Prezi is to put objects on the canvas and link them together with a ‘path’. Your presentation will then consist of Prezi moving from object to object, zooming in on them in the order you’ve chosen.

Objects can be text boxes, images, youtube videos or graphics. You can write and structure your presentation exactly as you would a PowerPoint, or you can do something completely different.

Just click on the canvas anywhere to start adding stuff.

A typical process of creating a Prezi might consist of these stages:

1. Plan the structure and outline of the presentation
2. Add the text, plus any images / videos etc
3. Move them around and arrange them in a coherent order on the canvas
4. Plot the path between them in the order you want to use
5. Click ‘Show’ and watch the presentation back, then refine it if you need to .

If you found this guide useful, I've written a bunch of others to various things like twitter, blogging platforms, netvibes and so on - they can all be accessed here.

Happy presenting!

- thewikiman

Bravery based librarianship is the (only) future

 

In recent months I've been fortunate to meet a few people  I admire. Stephen Abram, Terry Kendrick, Andy Woodworth, and Jim Neal* are all people whose ideas about librarianship I've been inspired by.

I'm really interested in a common theme, one which the SLA2011 conference really hammered home for me. All of them have talked about the need for for a little chaos. They've all talked about the need to build in the potential for chaos into the fabric of librarianship and the libraries we work in - to deal with what Stephen calls the "asynchronous, asymmetrical threats" libraries are facing. He believes the only way to deal with this is through pattern disruption (and incidentally, points out that pattern disruption is a lot easier to achieve with people than it is with buildings or books).  In other words, mixing things up. Not just plodding along the same old route.

I think that chaos - deliberate, sanctioned chaos - is very, very hard to engineer. The whole thought of engineered chaos is almost oxymoronic anyway. You can only build in the potential for chaos but you can't be completely sure you'll be able to decide what that chaos will be. So you have to be really brave.

I think that bravery based librarianship is the only future we have. At some point, we have to disrupt the patterns and set a new path. Many libraries are doing this already - our profession is, of course, much more responsive to change than most people realise. But fear-based librarianship, or at least caution-based, still seems prevalent. Many a decision is made in order not to upset the minority, rather than to potentially please a whole new majority. In many cases, this approach is taken with good reason. But we're talking about the survival of our profession, here.

But what strikes me is how often I hear about bravery-based librarianship that goes well. There were loads of these at SLA2011. So many times when libraries take the plunge on some decision or other, the outcomes are positive. I know failure is less likely to make it into the public eye, but even so enough people are trying interesting things and discovering that - hey, guess what - the world DIDN'T end and the earth DIDN'T swallow them up, and in fact everything carried on, but slightly better. So we should learn from them.

So many great ideas get bottlenecked by trying not to upset people. We are at a time when we need to inspire people, not protect their delicate sensibilities. Merely not failing is no longer enough. We have to succeed in such a way that the odd failure happens too - otherwise we're not speculating enough to accumulate sufficiently. And I'm not talking about whole libraries, I'm talking about the ideas which drive them. Can we get ourselves into a collective mindset where we don't fear chaos?

If you have an example of bravery-based librarianship, either succeeded or failing, I'd love to hear it in the comments.

Andy Priestner, another librarian for whom I have much admiration, is a good example of someone who has reached a senior position and still innovates, forward-thinks, and generally terrorises the establishment. (He's even employed a Special Projects Officer who has the freedom to make chaos happen, in a good way, because they're not tied in to the daily grind of the library. This is, thus far, the only clear example I've seen of what Jim Neal advocates - to build in to your organisation at least one position with real freedom to innovate, react with agility, focus on new ideas and so on.) What Andy does at Cambridge works!  Bravery-based librarianship really can be done.

- thewikiman

* I didn't actually meet Jim Neal in the end. He did a talk at my previous institution, and it was amazing - I queued to meet him but ahead of me in the queue were all the really senior people in the organisation, including my boss and the librarian etc. So I thought they'd think I was out of place, and he probably wouldn't want to be bothered, so wussed out and left. Later, I found out he knew who I was because of the Movers and Shakers thing, and wanted to meet me. Moral of the story - if you get the chance to meet someone inspirational, just take that chance and filter out all the things which might cause you to leave instead! Don't let caution get the better of you; bravery FTW. :)

My SLA2011 Experience, in video form...

A while back I made a video about SLA 2011, the annual conference of the Special Libraries Association. I was lucky enough to win a place to attend this - I've been holding off putting the video on my blog until the Leadership and Management Division, who sponsored my award, had put it on theirs, as I made the video primarily for that. Anyway, here it is:

I made the video using good old fashioned Windows Movie Maker, and I've used the same techniques as in my Library Day in the Life vid to try and keep the viewer diverted! So it's not just me talking at the camera.

The whole SLA experience was so amazing, really I haven't even fully processed it. I keep going over my notes and spotting new things to go away and think about. If you're interested in some more reflections on the conference, I wrote a post on the SLA-Europe blog; I'd also recommend reading the reflections of my fellow ECCA winners, Sam Wiggins, Natalia Madjarevic, and Chris Cooper. And I would SO recommend applying for the ECCA next year!

I do have one over-arching conclusion from the conference, though. Which is... in my next post. :)

- thewikiman