I am a true believer that libraries must promote themselves to the maximum of their abilities to show patrons what services they offer.

The first photo of myself with a barcode on my head is an informal photo taken as a joke.
The second one I found amongst all my old photos, so I must have been trying to be funny when it comes to promoting library services. I don’t recall this one being used to promote my library, formally.

The third photo from the left, was used to promote my national library service to all of my clients. The ad actually worked and I found more people ringing me for information searching after this initiative was launched.
The last photo, second column was used to promote myself within the Melbourne Office as many staff didn’t know where I sat, it was aimed to take the mickey out of me, to show I’m fun and “at your service”, of which, this promotion also had an increased use in my services.

Therefore, it pays to lose some humility and promote yourself and your library, show that you are NOT invisible within an organisation and let people know you are there to help them with their information needs.

What sort of quirky information promotion have you undertaken in your service?

Does my promotion ideas give you any ideas you could use or do?

Goodluck !!

It seemed that after a 3 year break, that there were some barriers towards me entering the workforce. This had been lightly mentioned in interviews I have had when I went for senior positions. But luckily, the people called me back, I was turned down on the jobs as other people had “more direct experience”. But I was offered casual work.

I commenced at a public library and was extremely happy with the induction program they ran and the lovely staff they had onboard. I was happy to continue with this work, till…the telephone rings from a University situated in the same area. I went in for a chat not knowing if this was a “mini” interview, a thorough razzing or something informal.

Well, it ended up being “very” informal, lively, fun, informative, and embracing. On the spot, I was offered the job AND “can you start tomorrow”. Woah, I have never been in this situation before.

Firstly, the work sounded much more interesting, challenging, a learning experience and somewhere where all my library training could come to the fore.

After the first two days, I have realised that I have made the right decision. All the the library learning HAS come back and it’s now consolidated as I’m doing ordering, looking at Marc records, transferring files to vendors or finance, downloading information, keeping and adjusting records, liaising with librarians and vendors and I’m LOVING being back with a library team !!!

After some time thinking if I’d taken some steps back in my career by dedicating the last 3 years to my son, I have now let my skills come to fore, to give my life some “work life balance.”

I love you Ronan, but I also need to use my brain !! It’s all working out just fine.

On Tuesday I commenced work in Public Libraries, a sector I have never worked in, but have always been interested in investing my time and energies in. I have worked in many other sectors, including Tertiary, a “Joint Use” campus of a Uni, TAFE and High School, a number of special and corporate libraries. I am very interested in enhancing the education and knowledge of local communities and believe public libraries will allow me to assist this improvement.

After two days working in Public Libraries have I noticed any differences or similarities to other sectors?? As I strongly believe it should be easier than what it currently is, to move between sectors. The differences are the wide range of the clients, it’s important to understand that Under 18′s have a number of restrictions on their borrowing and internet uses.

And to me, so far, that is the main difference.

The similarities are MANY !! Borrowing, returns, claims returns, holds, information searching, databases, books, CD’s, DVD’s etc. The audience can be different, in special libraries the transaction with the customer and be MUCH longer, where in Publics and Academics, the transaction is “mostly” shorter.

I’d really love to do further research and assessment on this area. What do you think??

Overall, I’m glad to be back. I think I needed to “come back” / “return” in my own time. It’s taken quite a while. But I felt I needed to give Ronan alot of support and then get my own career back on track.

I am going to ease back into my blogging and today I’m going to list the 99 things about ME. Feel free to copy and paste this into your own blog

99 things about ME

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.

2. Slept under the stars.

3. Played in a band.

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.
was camping in Germany and couldn’t believe what was happening, then saw on the news the next night some info about the shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

7. Been to Disneyland/world.

8. Climbed a mountain.
The You Yangs, Mt Kosciusko, a small mountain in Andorra

9. Held a praying mantis.

10. Sang a solo.
Can’t sing drats

11. Bungee jumped.

12. Visited Paris.
once, loved it

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
Photography

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables.
Lots of vegies, garlic, onion, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
Next time

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.

24. Built a snow fort.

25. Held a lamb.

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a marathon.

28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Been to Venice, but didn’t do the gondola

29. Seen a total eclipse.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
LOVE sunsets, not really a fan of sunrise

31. Hit a home run.
When little

32. Been on a cruise.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
England, Ireland, Scotland, France etc, and local Australian places

35. Seen an Amish community.

36. Taught yourself a new language.
French and Bahasa Indonesian

37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
That’s a big dispute in our family, as we missed it on the map when driving thru Italy !! Ooops

39. Gone rock climbing.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.

41. Sung Karaoke.
Once

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.

46. Been transported in an ambulance.
Crushed a vertebrae in my back when I fell off a horse, a long time ago

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing.

49. Seen the Sistene chapel in person.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Once !

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
Many, many times, in East Timor, Bali, Thailand and Australia
52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.
Yup

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
Love them

55. Been in a movie.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business.

58. Taken a martial arts class.

59. Visited Russia.
Want to go

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.

62. Gone whale watching.

63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
Yes

64. Donated blood.
I’d pass out, wish I could

65. Gone sky diving.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
Visited Auschwitz, in Poland. Very hard to explain this experience, but many people must see it and learn from this lesson in history. Tragic

67. Bounced a cheque.

68. Flown in a helicopter.
When 5 months pregnant

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
A teddy bear

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.

71. Eaten Caviar.
Tried it, not a fan

72. Pieced a quilt.

73. Stood in Times Square.

74. Toured the Everglades.

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.

77. Broken a bone.
Crushed my vertebrae in my back

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
Used to ride a motorbike

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.

82. Bought a brand new car.
My Hyundai Excel ! Wee

83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
A few times, for Pony Club and Librarian promotion items

85. Read the entire Bible.

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox.

89. Saved someone’s life.

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club.

93. Lost a loved one.
A few

94. Had a baby.
Yes, one, he’s nearly 3. Have a stepson who is 25 !

95. Seen the Alamo in person.

96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit.

98. Owned a cell phone.

99. Been stung by a bee.
My father used to own bees and took me out to rob them once when I was about 7, he put woolen gloves on me, hence the bees stuck to them, ouch

==============================================

I hope you enjoyed that little speel about ME, I will write more, very soon. It’s good to be back

He entered the world at 7.30 and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, and was 54 cm long (he’s going to be a long jumper).

All is going well and I appreciate people sending me emails or getting in touch with either myself, or Tania Barry, re my news.

I arrived home from hospital yesterday, so we are into all the baby gear, like using the pram and bassinett etc. It is so much fun being a Mum and I appreciate being an older Mum, I feel like I’m pretty organised and thinking ahead of things and what I need to do. Here’s hoping it’s a pretty smooth ride.

If you’d like to send me an email, I’m at jillcstephens@gmail.com.no spam (remove the no spam).

I may not reply for a while, but will see your wishes.

Jill

Thought I should give you one last update, before I really tune out on life, for a while.

My baby is due in 3 weeks now, due to arrive “about 26 July”, but who knows when it will choose it’s birth date! I am finding that I’m starting to “tune out” on life and other what nots, so you may not hear from me for a few months.

One accomplishment I have been really proud to get happening, while on maternity leave, is the NLS4 Website (see link to the site, on the right hand side). We opened registrations at few weeks ago, and announced the program and a few keynote speakers, with more announcements to come. We do have an interim plan, for a month or two while I settle into life with a baby, regarding the website updates. It’s good to be prepared in advance for that. The NLS4 team received some very positive feedback from our PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) and their IT Team saying our website is “one of the best they have seen, produced by an organising committee”. Ooooh wow, I feel really proud now. The website has really come together over the last year and a half, and will continue to show it’s true colours, as we get closer to the conference date.

My belly is now growing quite big, uncomfortable at times, with other usual end of the pregnancy related items, including feeling very puffed out / short of breath.

I’ll be sure to post some info about the baby when it’s born, and you may also find out via other friends what the outcome was. Ie. is it a boy or girl? Girl or boy??

Until, a few months time, this Information Super Sleuth, is signing out.

Jill

I am learning further about tables, linkages between pages and basically getting the HTML to do what I want it to do. I have tackled, successfully, the program, which in my mind was a big job. It did take time, but I worked on one problem at a time, finding it all fell into place very quickly. The program page is not launched yet, but will be in the next week or so. I enjoyed doing the abstracts page and seeing the rich and varied papers that will be presented, from a variety of sectors, makes me feel very proud to be a part of this team!!

Registration has been delayed a bit due to technical reasons, but we have announced our first keynote speaker, do go to the site and check out the News Page.

Another joy is that I have been able to get back into is cooking. I enjoyed doing home science at school, all those years ago, and when not at school, I would tussle with my Mum in the kitchen, and cook up a few things. So, this last week has seen the chef extr-ordinaire (oh, can’t spell it !) come out – again ! I’d love to do a cooking class over a few months, but we’ll see if / when I get time for that. As a part of our Urbis Team Day a few years ago, we went to a Thai cooking class and I believed I came home feeling more confident when cooking, so classes can help. However, when we were in Bali, I refused to pay $100 for a few hours one morning, as in Australia, I know I could do a few nights of a course, for that much.

So, all is not doom and gloom, being a stay at home person. It can give you time to get through some items that have been in “waiting” for a while, or opening up some hobbies that have also been shelved, such as photography. Also, I must remember to do my ALIA Pd and get that accredited…

Today, I have already updated the “exciting news” on our NLS website, and have looked after the concreters who are here working away.

I had a fantastic farewell at Urbis this week, it actually started last friday with a joint lunch, with another person who was leaving. I preferred to undertake a “joint” event as it took the “heat” off myself. Many people gave me lots of lovely gifts for the baby, stuff that makes you go gooey and imagine the little one wearing or using once they arrive. And on the last day my boss did a wonderful speech rounding up the library and intranet services and their progress from when I started at Urbis, close to 3 years ago, to how they look and work now ! I felt tired after reflecting on all that. It’s good that Ian and Ignatius are now taking over the services, they can look at them from “fresh” eyes and implement further changes, progression and development.

So, here is the Urbis Technology & Knowledge Team, some of us.

L-R: Ian, Ignatius, Johan, Me – Jill, Andrew and Adriana

Geelong Library Event

Last week I went to a Geelong Library and Information Week event, and it was good to connect with some of our regional counterparts. I had to be careful when I said, “I work in the city”, because that doesn’t mean, “I work in Melbourne”, most thought Geelong, so I needed to clarify. When I asked them why there hadn’t been an event for a while they mentioned that it “all got too complicated with ALIA”. But I don’t think a group needs ALIA to get like minded librarians together from a variety of organisations, so I do hope they keep meeting up. It will be good for myself, and easier to get to, than going to Melbourne during the next year. I was amazed I knew so many people, before I went I knew I’d know two people, but when I got there I knew about 6 people and a few others had heard of me through the ALIA lists. It was good to get chatting to people to talk library talk I hadn’t done for a while, such as document delivery and talk about the progression of those services through the use of technologies. So, I think I have found one way I can keep up to date with my profession while out of the workplace.

Anyway, I’m off to keep on with Day 1 of my new direction.

Thanks bloggers and blogging readers for making comments on some previous posts, it’s good to stay in touch.

I don’t want to stop blogging as I don’t want my blog to become a “fad”. I have tried facebook and am still on it, but I value blogging as being somewhere that my profile can develop and gain a personality of it’s own. Where I find facebook easier for chatting with others. To me my blogis a record of what I have done / progressed in my library career and how I have done it. It could possibly develop into some research or a PD or, as it has some back ground information that could develop into a potential Phd, that I may tackle, one day.

Some bloggers post every two months or so, but I enjoy reading what they are up to, not matter how infrequent they post, and I know they will come back and submit a post, when it’s their time. So, I guess this blogging thing is about finding your mojo, and realising it can be like exercise (like Kathryn has said) and that at times it may be neglected, but as long as you are getting enjoyment out of it, it’s good to keep your posts up, because not only do you benefit but your general library community does. Overall, it’s up to the blog owner to decide when it’s fate is up. If you do, I know we’ll meet up in other ways.

Let’s see if other bloggers discuss this issue further.

Or, you could try the 20 questions Kathryn has listed on her blog.

I have been pretty blogging quiet of late, so quiet, I haven’t written a post since Feb this year !! Crikey. I do note a few other blogs becoming quieter and one popular blog – Blisspix – has left the building. Blisspix, my fellow Aurorian Sheriff has decided to wind down her blog and focus on other library / semantic web concentrated work and blogs. Blisspix, I’ll miss you !!

I am wondering if other blogs will wind up? I have even questioned the value of mine, now that my career / lifestyle direction is changing, but I hope to focus on other extra curricular issues and blog about them. There still seems to be a readership of my blog out there, as I’m sure the statistics don’t lie. So, I will aim to keep intech the verve up and happening.

What’s been going on of late??

One really side splitting moment was seeing “Librarian Idol” perform at the Butterfly Club. Mind you, I am on a conference committee with Andrew Finegan, aka Librarian Idol, but had not met him yet ! This this virtual world is amazing.

My first impression of him in person was of side splitting laughter that could be heard by all at the concert. Andrew took me on such a journey of his profession, his Australian Idol experience, littered with so many funny librarianism jokes, that non library people would also be sure to get the jokes. Andrew, we want you to come back, and perform for a huge group of Librarians in Melbourne. Maybe we could book out the Athenaeum’s Theatre?? See this You Tube clip to see what Andrew is about.

During the last three months our Leap into Leadership group delivered the Leap day at the State Library of Victoria (thanks to the group who helped me in the last month, when it was difficult for me to get through the work), I have travelled to Bali for a wedding, employed a new Library Technician, Adriana Everett, as Meredith was poached by another group at Urbis, started winding up my job and employed my maternity leave replacement, Ian Rossiter, who starts tomorrow, at Urbis !! Welcome Ian. I will shadow Ian for two days a week, over the next few weeks, and then I go into a period of 8 weeks of rest before the newborn arrives !! I’ll post some pics on this site soon.

I am really looking forward to the next few months, I can focus on the NLS4 Website, my husbands work website which is about 2 years old, finalise my ALIA PD and possibly send it in for recognition, clean up the house in prep for a new kitchen, do the filing and get my tax done.

Thanks for being such a dedicated blog reader, it’s much appreciated and I will be back sooner, rather than later.

Also it would be good if you could send me your comments about what you think I can blog on…

Jill