Tales from the CDG Tardis

So here I am at SALCTG’s Show and Tell Web 2.0 extravaganza. About 25 good library staff and true have gathered in a windowless PC lab at Napier Uni, forgoing bright warm sunshine outside, to find out just what the heck everyone else is actually doing in the web 2.0 arena. We’ve talked wikis and blogs, catalogue widgets and instant message enquiry services, and flown around the Sistine Chapel in Second Life. We’ve shared a few frustrations and misconceptions and many of us have felt outclassed by others’ presentations. There is so much more to be learned but it all needs time. I need to get under the bonnet more and gain confidence to enhance things, peek at the HTML a bit, not just go bargain basement with everything.

Stuff I’ll be looking up that I haven’t tried before… Meebo; Dapper; FeedBurner; Eurekster. Maybe. If I have time. Eat an Aero bar to sustain myself.

Have a good chat at lunchtime with a PhD student who is researching the psychology of learning technologies… plenty to analyse there I shouldn’t wonder! Actually find I have some business cards in my purse so encourage him to keep in touch.

The world is small and one of the delegates turns out to be a fellow musician who knows some muso friends of mine. And there are biscuits, hurrah! I need my strength if I’m to make it through Peebles tomorrow…

Yesterday saw our first official Revalidation course up at Causewayside in Edinburgh. I joined with Margarets Forrest and Chapman to hopefully cover all points of view - CILIP as award provider; the assessor; and the candidate. We hope we created a welcoming and positive atmosphere, and indeed the afternoon did seem upbeat (even though we left a glorious summer day outside for an overly air conditioned windowless seminar room). It was a small group, and most people seemed comfortable asking questions. Ventured slightly into Fellowship territory at the end of the day. I think I will go for it. Well, maybe. Next year. Or the year after. When I’ve had both arms broken by my activist colleagues, no doubt.

Have you noticed how some names are more hallowed than others in the profession? I don’t mean specific individuals; I mean literally certain names. ‘Margaret’ is one such name. Chapman, Forrest, Watson and more. ‘Sheila’ does well too: think Corrall and Webber. ‘Keith’ gets about - Trickey, Nockels, Wilson. In my first library post, I worked with 3 Janes, 5 Annes and 7 Sues. It did get rather muddly. I’ve met a couple of Amandas on my professional travels, so that bodes reasonably well. (Did you know it means ‘charcoal’ in Lusoga?) I wonder whether there are any inauspicious names for information professionals? ‘Louis’ would give rise to some bad poetry, I imagine…

Back to Chateau Inbox today and hard at it all day with documents to finish, critical meetings and discussions, plus a host of new electronic resources each with their own peculiarities and demands. I’ve had to resort to using flags on my emails and it’s starting to look like an Olympic opening ceremony.

Tomorrow a musical interlude - off to Glasgow for the Scottish Recorder Festival, an annual jamboree with guest stick-waver and a nice lunch in between playing sessions.  Looking forward to being uplifted and achieving something with my fellow players - the ultimate in quick wins - see a piece for the first time, play it, rehearse, improve, perform. Also get to dip into some more short stories on the train.

Don’t forget - this week’s Doctor Who promises an ultra scary story set in a Library…

Busy times as the Career Development Group National Council is almost upon us - Monday and Tuesday see our biggest business meeting of the year, and for 2008 I am its Mummy. Yikes. We have some wighty matters to discuss including finance and governance. Monday night also sees my Presidential Reception at the beautiful British Library, in the company of around 70 of my assembled colleagues - fellow group members, Past Presidents and officers, the great and the good of CILIP, even my boss (although I did warn him off staying at the Tavvy…) I am expecting another night when style will triumph over substance (hasn’t Boris shown us that…) and I will be relying on my trusty Jackanory binder for moral support and pre-menopausal memory lapses.

Flicked through the Big Issue yesterday, Lisa at Dundee Station always saves me one. The seller’s profile at the back this week caught my eye:

“I want to better myself, and books can help you do that. It’s mainly biographies I read; crime and sport stuff… True-life stories by people who’ve had a hard time are more interesting to me than fiction because real people have got a story to tell. Their experiences can make you think”.

I don’t agree about fiction but I do agree on the enabling power of books! Librarians should stop apologising for the books!

Also been enjoying Young Musician of the Year category finals on BBC4 this week. Technical ability goes without saying; it’s more about the performance, how to communicate with your audience, how to choose the programmes that will delight and inspire them. Sound familiar?

Well, you may have raised a virtual eyebrow at my recent silence. I have been closed to the blogosphere due to full time engagement with the real world. Last week I spent several days in Germany - a collaboration between the Scottish Recorder Orchestra and our Dortmund equivalent. We stayed in a beautiful guest house (complete with swimming pool), rehearsed 8 or 9 hours each day and generally bonded together. We each pieced together what we could of each other’s languages, with simultaneous translations by our conductors during rehearsals. On Sunday we performed a wonderful concert in a high school gymnasium. I have played in hundreds of concerts over the years but have rarely been so moved.

OK so this is nothing to do with the profession… but the same motivators apply: cooperation; reaching a common understanding; purposeful activity leading to high motivation and great reward for all concerned. Are you speaking my language? Are we on a wavelength?

Tonight I go to the Scottish screening of ‘Hollywood Librarian’ in Glasgow. Very exciting. I am dressing up. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a feather boa in rural Fife…