I’ve been meaning to start this blog for quite a while now, but since today I have approximately 37 other vital things to do, I have decided now is the time. Nothing like finding more procrastination tools. Although, of course, it is intended to a tool for personal reflection and professional engagement, not just killing time whilst I lock myself away from the kids and pretend to be studying for my MA, no not at all…
This is probably the 5th or 6th blog I have started. Previous blogging topics including knitting, sewing, cooking, gardening, parenting, overthrowing captalism and social injustice, and a Live Journal of immense teenage angst about 15 years ago. None of these blogs were well written or consistently maintained, so I’m not sure this will be any different…although of course it has potential ‘professional applications’ so I should probably give it a bit more of a go (although I have vague memories of once imagining that I could transform myself into a professional mum blogger, and I didn’t do too well at that either…).
Given that my blogs have generally begun with an entirely superfluous ‘who I am’ introduction for my imaginary reader, I shall briefly include one here. I am one of those over eager aspiring librarian types, yet also rather cynical due to a good few years working as a library assistant and feeling the frustrations… I’m in the first year of a distance learning MA Library and Information Services at Sheffield and I have two part time jobs-one in ‘customer services'(aaagh! I know! But it’s my job title so…), and one in Collections and Acquisitions, in 2 different university libraries in Leeds. I have 2 kids, a two year old and an eight year old, that I’m probably guilty of mentioning too often to compensate for the fact that I feel like I’m a bit rubbish at everything, cos they suck my energy and sometimes my soul. You can read about my ‘journey’ to this point for FLIP Network. Although the fact that I was totally mortified to read my writing when it was published doesn’t bode well for my blogging in general…
However, I do feel the need for somewhere to collect and disseminate my musings on my studies, my work, and the world of libraries and librarianship in general, with its many, constant existential crises. I’m really happy, at 30 years of age, to have finally found something that I want to do, care about hugely, ties in with lots of other things that I care about, generally suits my aptitudes and personality, and I can actually pursue as a career. But blimey there’s a lot of interesting issues to be discussed/agonised over. I’ve been enjoying following/occasionally getting involved in library twitter discussions and debates but often feel frustrated at not being able to articulate ideas properly within 140 characters (I’m hella long-winded, sorry), so it’s good to have somewhere to talk about stuff. Although I’m a bit terrified that any ideas I have will get totally shot down if I dare to air them in public…
I’m also keen to have somewhere to write up CPD type stuff I do, as I’ve been guilty of going to rather a lot of conferences/training events over the last year or so and then failing to do the necessary reflective write up at the end. Poor form, which I will be attempting to rectify in the future…
Some Library Ramblings 