Interview Panic

So I have an interview tomorrow. It's a "group assessment". It will go for three hours. I'm kinda freaking out.

I've found quite a few resources online that talk about group interviews, but for the most part they're aimed at retail & sale positions - which is where I have experienced group assessment before - and not at professional positions. This article is by far the best of all that I have read, and has given me some useful tips.

The first one being - Don't Panic. Ha! Easy for you to say. But OK, let's work through this.

I am currently in prep mode. Which, for me, involves frantically researching everything at once.

So I have:

• looked at all the programs the library service offers and thought up some additional ones to suggest
  
• investigated the demographics of the catchment area and made some notes regarding trends and target groups

and I have yet to:

• read some articles on management and teamwork and get "buzzword-ed" up
• investigate team/management scenarios and solutions
• figure out my key 3 skills
• read back over my application and figure out why the hell I thought I was suitable for this job

I remember applying for the job and being very confident that I could do it, looking at what they asked for and knowing that I was capable of meeting the requirements, and doing a good job. I just need to rediscover that confidence, and re-find my mojo.

Wish me luck.

PS Interview outfit is sorted. Business-like dress, purple patent heels and new earrings I just bought for the occasion. At least I'll look the part!

On Publishing

I can't remember who was commenting during #blogeverydayofjune about the dearth of Australian Library publishing. And I'm too lazy right now to find it.

But here is a GREAT opportunity:

Seeking Submissions for Proposed Anthologies from Practicing Librarians

1. Library Collaborations with Writers, Artists, Musicians and Other Creative Community Members
How local writers, artists, musicians and other creative people and libraries help each other and their community. These creative members (who are also voters) appreciate the resources and stimulus libraries provide the creative process and like making their work known. Librarians are asked to share successful activities and collaborations with these patrons.

2. Library Services for Multicultural Patrons to Encourage Library Use
How to make the multi-cultured community members regular library users. A how-to for librarians restricted by time, money, and staffing: creative librarians using various outreach methods to overcome language and cultural barriers to serve all those in their communities and turn them into regular patrons.

3. Publicity Methods to Keep Libraries in the News
An anthology by and for librarians striving to spread the word what their libraries offer, what they do, their service role. Changing economics and life styles presents challenges to librarians often restricted by cutbacks in staff, hours, and money: how creative librarians using many publicity methods to promote their libraries and make them recognized as an essential resource for all ages.

Publisher: Routledge Books
Articles: 3000-5000 words; 1 author or 2, 3 co-authors
Compensation: complimentary copy, discount on more
Librarians outside the U.S. encouraged to contribute

Editor: Carol Smallwood, MLS
Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook, American Library Association 2010 http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2646

Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook, American Library Association, 2010 http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2774

Thinking Outside the Book: Essays for Innovative Librarians, McFarland, 2008
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-3575-3

others by ALA, Peter Lang, Linworth, Scarecrow, Libraries Unlimited

Please e-mail in a Word .doc (older version) attachment 4 topics/titles each described in 2-3 sentences by July 25, 2010 and a 75-85 word 3rd person bio: your name, library of employment, city/state location, employment title, where you got your degree, awards, publications, and career highlights. Please include publisher/date for books. If co-authored, a separate 75-85 word bio on each contributor. Please: no long resumes or abstracts-your selected title/abstract/bio composes a tentative table of contents for Routledge. You will be contacted which of your topics are not duplications, inviting you to e-mail your submission if Routledge decides to publish; your bio's will appear in the anthology. Please place COLLABORATION; MULTICULTURAL; or PUBLICITY/your name on the subject line: smallwood@tm.net

On overcommitting

I've decided to take a leaf out of Hoi's book (blog) and title some posts "On ..."

This one is on doing too much. Or more correctly, on my attitude towards doing too much.

It's odd, because secretly I think I'm a quite lazy person. (Not a secret anymore I guess!) I watch a LOT of TV, spend a lot of time on teh intertubes, tweeting, blogging and reading blogs, reading silly stuff about celebrities, and chatting to friends or whatever. Oh, and I love sleeping.

But I actually do a lot. I work. I volunteer for ALIA (some say too much!). I do yoga. I spend a lot of time with my family, friends and pets. I occasionally date. I occasionally diet and exercise (small steps). And I've just submitted a mammoth proposal to do a huge research project on a conference mentoring trial.

It wasn't until I had submitted the 14 page document detailing the outline, methodology, timeline, budget and (projected) outcomes of this study that I realised that I had effectively given over the next year of my life to this project. And I also realised that I'd thought I needed to get everything done within a year - rather than complete the project, and THEN submit the deliverables within a year after that.

"Is it for a Masters or a PhD?" people keep asking me. "Um, no." "Are you getting paid for it?" That would be a "No" again. So why are you doing it?

The best answer I can give actually came from @restructuregirl : Fun, joy and networking. Why add study to that? Chill out

I'd add: because I think it's a really important initiative for new graduates, and supporting new professionals is really important. And I absolutely love conferences, and want others to have the best experience possible.

Further lessons in chilling out came (apart from the multitude of Darth Vader clips @restructuregirl proceeded to send to me - she's obsessed!) from various sources.

Kay Harris, the awesome Convenor of Information Online where I'll be running the Conference Mentoring trial, offered me all sorts of assistance and help (including some volunteers to help out! Yay!), and in a follow up email wrote:
small steps my dear - plenty of people to help

My very best library friend (and one of my very best friends of all time) virtually a librarian talked me down from my anxiety ledge around the research project and gave me some salient advice around managing multiple projects and work.

@KatyKat and I had a great natter last night around life, libraries, study, work, ALIA and everything in between which left me feeling more invigorated and supported and part of a team that will achieve stuff! (Go NGAC!)

So I'm going to revisit my proposal, and make a coupld of adjustments to the timeline, and treat it more as fun and less as work. Because the reason I signed myself up for this stuff is not to to make myself stressed out: it's to help others and make a difference, and (hopefully) create a program that will be of lasting value to the profession. And to have fun while doing it.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my 32nd Birthday.
I took the day off work, slept in, ate bacon & eggs & tomato & toast, drank lots of tea, had a massage & spa, visited my best friend where I saw her daughter (finally!) walking (yay!) and ate chocolate cake and brownie (yum!) and read same daughter some stories, went to dinner with my Mum & brother, and now I'm having a cuddle with my cat.
I also stressed about the study grant I put in last night, because the project has turned out bigger than Ben Hur, and I'm afraid that it will be too big for me to do justice to if (and when) I move to full time work. It seems to get bigger every time I think about it, and is now kind of looking like a Masters thesis. Goddess help me.
However, it's my birthday so I'm not going to stress about that anymore, at least until tomorrow. When I will continue to blog. Thanks to all who were involved in #blogeverydayofjune, I've loved it and I will continue my online journey with you all, if you'll have me.
@nomesd aka SkinniBitch

Mentoring in LibraryLand: The Peer

Yesterday a talked about finding a career mentor, or a guru. Today I want to talk about finding a peer mentor.

You probably have some unofficial peer mentors already. People you studied librarianship with that you've stayed close to, or who you may have worked with or been on professional committees with. I have a great professional network in this way, partly because I studied my library quals internally at QUT and did a lot of group work, and partly because of my continuing work with ALIA and my love of meeting new people (some call it networking). Also, I'm mouthy and loud and tend to go up to people and say "HI! I'm Nomes! Be my friend!"

However, if you are starting in a new job or position or workplace, it can be very useful to find someone who works in the organisation that you work in, who is in a similar position to you, but is a couple of years more established in the role. That way they can provide you with tips and advice on how to do the job, but they are not your manager or team leader, so you may be able to be more open with them about concerns you have, issues you're struggling with. And if they're relatively new to the role and organisation (say, less than three years) they will likely still remember enough about what they didn't know when they started, and still know where to find and therefore pass onto you, those useful bits of organisational knowledge that people who have been there longer don't even realise they know, and never pass on.

Peer mentors don't have to be of a similar age to you, but in some circumstances it can be helpful. This is particularly pertinent if you work in an organisation where, for example, most of the professional staff are over 40, and you feel a bit like a fish out of water. I've found having another new grad-like person to talk to about issues at MPOW has been really valuable. For one thing, apart from the library's official twitter account and our university librarian who tweets, we seem to be the only librarians at OPOW that are really into social media. We both tweet, and we're both involved in #blogeverydayofjune.

I'm very lucky in this way, to have found a peer mentor that I have so much in common with. We already knew each other - studied together - but we have not had a lot to do with each other professionally until I moved to OPOW. She's been here a few years, and has a much better lay of the land than me - but I have a lot more professional association experience, and other LibraryLand experience than her. So we're mentoring each other - it will soon become official, through OPOW staff development program, and hopefully we will both gain a lot from the experience. I have already gained more enthusiasm, a greater feeling of support, and I feel like I have somewhere else to turn to with my questions (I am a big asker of questions!)

Before I leave on this topic (for now), I must mention the number one important part of any mentoring relationship: TRUST.

In order to have a really effective relationship that you need with a peer, I think you really need to have a good idea of what kind of person your potential mentor is. You are likely going to be asking questions about your job that some people would assume you should "just know". That, of course, is rubbish, but if there's anything I've learned from working in so many different library sectors and cities it's that people who have been at the one organisation for years think everyone does things the way they do things. It's the old silo effect. So you need to be sure that you are comfortable talking to your peer mentor about uncertainties you may have, and that you can trust them not to gasbag, or talk to your or other managers without permission. Of course, if you have real issues with your workload you should always speak to your manager, but for advice like "How do you find approaching academics works the best?" or "What coding do you use in your blog to ensure the pictures authenticate?" it's often best to talk to a colleague, a peer.

Once again, happy to hear how others have found peer mentors and any other tips you might have for mentoring relationships.

Tomorrow is my birthday so I'm not sure what/when/how I'll be posting, but I plan to continue blogging beyond the #blogeverydayofjune challenge. I've really enjoyed getting to "know" all the library boggers and commenters, and my weight loss journey is far from over.

So stay tuned for more from SkinniBitch!

Mentoring in LibraryLand: The Guru

On the comments of my last post, a couple of people wondered how I had been successful in finding a mentor. My answer is simple: ask.

The more in-depth answer is, as usual with me, not going to fit into dot points. (Sorry @katiedavis!) I am quite active in ALIA, and it has been the glue that has held my professional life together over the last few years, as I've worked in different jobs and sectors that haven't always been in LibraryLand, or provided me with everything I need professionally. (I'm an extrovert - fixing database records was NOT a suitable job for my personality!)

So I spoke to an ALIA staff member, whom I have worked with as an ALIA volunteer for over two years, and whom I trust. She agreed that it was about time I thought strategically about where I wanted my career to go, especially as I am now settled back in Brisbane for the foreseeable future. She asked me what sector I wanted to be in - the answer is: I'm not sure. I like both public and academic libraries. Basically, I like large library services, and in terms of my interests and personality, they suit me best. Then she asked me where I wanted to be in the long run. The answer is: I want to lead, and manage a team. My joke is that I want to run LibraryLand (into the future and beyond!) She knows a lot of people in the sector and said she'd think about who might be available, and within a week I had a name. I haven't asked this person if they are OK with our burgeoning relationship becoming public, so at this point I'll just say that they are high profile in the profession, and the leader of a library service. So, in many ways, where I want to be in the long-term.

I then emailed the object of my mentoring affections the following:

Dear retracted

I've been talking to retracted about the next step in my career, and now that I've returned to Qld and am settling back into life in Brisbane and in academic libraries, I really feel like it's time to start thinking about the future, and where I'm going professionally. I know that as retracted and running retracted Library you're very busy but I was wondering if you would have any time to consider a mentoring relationship with me? I haven't had a formal mentor for some time, and think I would really benefit from one. As you're based in retracted I would think it would mostly be via phone, however if you ever make it to Brisbane I would love some face time :-)

I understand if you don't have time, but if you could let me know either way that would be great.

Cheers

I received this response:

I'm out of of the office today, 3 June, If its urgent please contact...

Oh no! They will be too busy, for sure! Then a couple of days later:

I'd be happy to give mentoring a go.

Yes we will need to do most of it by distance (phone, email, Skype) however I do visit Brisbane reasonably often so could meet f2f at times.

Its probably best if we can arrange a time to discuss how we would like this to operate.

Over to you.

After a few emails ascertaining a date and time, we had our first session this morning on the phone. We spoke for about half an hour, where I gave my mentor a brief rundown of my immediate history, and sent them my CV. We then discussed career mapping. I haven't done a structured career plan, so my mentor suggested that I do so, based on something I could find quite easily on the internet. They suggested that I include in personal goals (family) and ALIA or other professional activities as well as work goals.

I've found these so I'll have a look and a think and a mind-map before we next talk in a fortnight.
Creating a Career Map
How to create a Career Map
Seven steps to create a career map
Developing a strategic vision for your career plan

Have you found any good resources in career mapping? Any other suggestions for finding a mentor?

Tomorrow: Mentoring in LibraryLand: The Peer

Let's talk about the weather

I started a post on what is going on in my personal life, and then realised it's just not appropriate. It's not my story to tell. But trust me when I say I have very good reasons for skipping a few days of blogging every day in June. Plus, I have done extra on quite a few days so ... whatever, it's not a competition.

Speaking of competitions, I got the news this evening that I was unsuccessful in securing a place in a mentoring program that I really wanted. There were an overwhelming number of applicants (it was an international program) and I was very close to being selected, but no cigar. I know that you can get mentors in other ways - I have just recently approached someone to be a professional mentor, and someone else to be a peer mentor, but with this research project I am undertaking I could really use a research mentor. And I work a lot better when there is a structured program. A very good friend of mine spent quite a lot of time convincing me that my not being selected for this program does not make me a failure. And she's right, of course. It just makes me not as good as the six people who were selected :-P I guess I can deal with seventh. Who am I kidding? I totally suck :-(

In other news, I bought a new pair of sneakers today. And not vanity shoes. They're cross trainers, for ACTUAL exercise. My brother and I went to A-Mart All Sports and he bought about $600 worth of running gear for under $250 (super special on Reebok compression gear til July!) because he suddenly got the urge to go running. I don't have any great urge, but I am going to New Zealand in September so I need to get fit/strong in my legs for skiing. Also there's the issue of that 20kg that I need to lose, which if I recall is why I started this blog. And seeing as I've been eating fun sized Picnics for breakfast, lunch and tea lately, it's about time I did something about that again.

Oh, and Brisbane is pretty balmy. It got up to 21degrees C today, and is expected to get down to a low of 7 overnight. There's been some light cloud coverage but no rain.