LIASA Sixteenth Annual Conference

To all the young professional librarians

There is an invitation to submit papers and posters for a LIASA annual conference. This conference will be on the 22nd to the 26th of September 2014. The theme is: Celebrating libraries in 20 years of democracy: continuing the dialogue …

For more information visit the link below:

http://liasa.org.za./

THAT EMBARRASSING MOMENT WHEN YOU PUBLICLY FALL

I had an embarrassing moment yesterday. I have been trying to erase that part of my memory but my mind won’t let me. I just had to share with you. So here I am in a workshop with plus/minus 25 participants. Everything had been going so well. We were working as groups. My group had decided to take a group picture. We stood up to go to a selected spot to take the picture and alas THE moment happened. I tripped over computer cables and fell backside first. I laughed at myself hysterically. Answering that question you have in your mind right now, yes, the participants helped me in laughing. It was a pretty bad fall. I am sure I stayed down there for a good 5 minutes. It’s a good thing cameras were far away. Noone captured the moment. When we had all gathered ourselves, hands were extended to help me up.

I guess professional or not, beautiful or ugly, old or young, we are all subject to embarrassing moments.

Ever had an embarrassing moment???? Please share your story on comments.

LETTER TO FUTURE LIBRARY SCIENCE STUDENTS

Yesterday i met a young lady who asked me to advice her on whether librarianship is a profession she can pursue.  It pushed me to write this letter to the future library science students, sharing my thoughts and experiences as a young professional librarian. here goes:

Dear Future Library Science Students

I write this letter to enlighten you on my thoughts and experiences in the library science environment. 10 years ago i was faced with a critical decision on the programme to undertake at the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo. My first option was a commercial programme. Library and Information Science was never one of my options. A kind professor X (name withheld), a good friend of my father, offered to advise me. That was the day he changed my life. He pointed out that most people want to go the commercials way, that is, accounting, finance, banking and so on, but the fact is that market is flooded. There is more than 20 universities and colleges in the country that graduate thousands of commercials students into the market. He made me realise that library and information science is not saturated. It is fairly new. There has been an information explosion and huge gaps in the market. I understood his advice. I enrolled for Library and Information Science. Four years later i graduated, got a job in a local university and i have loved every moment. I love being a librarian.

Library and Information Science does not limit graduates to library jobs only. The LIS graduate can be an information resources specialist, documentation officer/manager, metadata analyst, researcher, information consultant, school media specialist, and so on.

For more job suggestions, follow the link below: 
http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu/2011/12/23/61-non-librarian-jobs-for-librarians/

Looking forward to meeting you in future.

Yours faithfully

The young professional librarian

WEB 2.0 AND SOCIAL MEDIA LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

       

So, an opportunity arose for a training in web 2.0 and social media learning facilitated jointly by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU and the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). I had to jump at the opportunity to further my skills and abilities in this dynamic technological era.

The training involves interacting with people from a diversity of working environments and to share aspirations and experiences on how social media can be leveraged for strategic use in the work place.

Visit the link below for more information

 http://vimeo.com/91565145