Building Your Professional Careerwith Networking

A school librarian’s perspective.

Valerie J. Hill, PhDEthridge Elementary LibrarianLewisville ISDTWU Adjunct Instructor

A Panel DiscussionTexas Library Association Convention 2013

Fort Worth, Texas

Why is a Why is a PLN PLN

imperative?imperative?

Professional Networking in Digital Culture

My school library is now in my pocket.

The Information Hierarchy has Toppled.

In the old hierarchy, information had gatekeepers.

There were both pros and cons.

Who were the gatekeepers? (publishers, librarians, experts)

If anyone can curate and publish online, what happens?

“…the news ethic that once propelled these organizations is being displaced by a focus on dollars and cents, and by a resultant shift toward entertainment and superficiality over investigation and analysis.” p. 183

What is our role now? We can blaze new trails through professional networking.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fonsen/4892731839/sizes/l/

The flood gates of participatory culture have opened.

http://robcroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2595497078_4f6d5367bc.jpg

Quick Side Note:

Finding out who said it is NOT unimportant (intentional double negative here).

Today, in addition to “citing” we can follow on twitter.

I looked up who said the quote on the last side and now follow him.

Now we live in participatory culture.

We are online 24-7.

My library is in my pocket.

The only way I can learn how to prepare my students for “thriving online” is through professional networking.

This book was written way back in 2012!

JOB #1: Preparing students for participatory culture

Two PersonasNot just 1!

Identity in Physical Space Identity Online

WhereWhere are you virtually visible?

You certainly do not HAVE to be on any single content creation/curation site. Choose purposefully.

WHO are you online?Consider a personal mission statement.

Do your digital footprints reflect your purpose, your vision, your passion

(expressed or inferred)?

Valerie Hill, PhDAdjunct Instructor Library Science

School LibrarianInformation Literacy Specialist

Past President Beta Phi MuACRL VWIG Convener 2012-2013

Valibrarian in Virtual WorldsBlog: ValibrarianTwitter @valibrarianMachinimatographerVirtual Exhibits, MOOCs, Emerging Technology

Who is Valibrarian?

“My goal is to help students and lifelong learners navigate the “sea of chaos” as information seekers in physical, virtual and augmented worlds.”

“Val” + “Librarian”= my professional brand. I put my professional image in my online name. It just happened, but now I am glad it did.

Anne Frank Virtual World Museum & MOOC

Be who you are! Physical, Virtual, or Augmented

Physical World Librarian Virtual World Librarian

Be willing to explore and share new formats: Augmented Reality, Gamification, User-generated Content, Content Curation, MOOCs and whatever else emerges.

Professional Networking Topics to Follow (currently):

• Information literacy in the digital age• Emerging tech trends in information &

education (example- MOOCs, Augmented Reality, Gamification)

• Best tools for sharing content (Web 2.0, Content Curation)

• Digital citizenship• 21st Century learning standards

How can you develop your online professional image? Authenticity, Transparency, and Trust (Are you the real YOU?)

Professional networking is open-minded.

We learn from a variety of perspectives…..

Many colors!

Learn from our colleagues.

Balancing personal / professional

Can we information professionals model digital citizenship?

“Young people announce every detail of their lives on services like Twitter not to show off, but to avoid the closed door at bedtime, the empty room, the screaming vacuum of an isolated mind.” p. 180

“What “self-expression” does not mean is the making of art- of any kind of art, popular or high.” p. 53

Participatory culture contributes to the flood of information online.

Teaching Digital Citizenship & 21st Century Learning

We all live in virtual communities now (whether or not you have an avatar).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/1824234195/

My current favorite networking tools:

• Twitter• Virtual worlds (Cost effective presentations)• Content curation (ScoopIt, Zite, Flipboard)• RSS (Google Reader RIP- now Feedly)• Slideshare, Google Hangouts, Youtube• LinkedIN• Google apps

Be willing to learn a new tool and let go of an old one.

WIKIS

Example: Ning

Professional Organizations

Personal Choice: Where can you learn and where can you contribute?

“It may be that the great age of libraries is waning, but I am here to tell you that the great age of librarians is just beginning. It’s up to you to decide if you want to be a part of it.”

~T. Scott Plutchakhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/7255333900/

BibliographyALA (2012). Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards

Barlow. A. and R. Leston. (2012). Beyond the Blogosphere: Information and Its Children. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Bigfoto (2012) http://www.bigfoto.com/ Gant, Scott. (2007). We’re All Journalists Now. New York: Free Press.Lanier, J. (2011). You are not a gadget. New York: Random House.Rheingold, Howard. (2012) Netsmart: How to Thrive Online.

Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Seigel, Lee. (2008). Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of

the Electronic Mob. New York: Spiegel &Grau.Solomon, Laura. (2011). Doing Social Media so it Matters :A Librarian's

Guide . Chicago: American Library Association.