Tag Archives: continued professional development

The 10-Minute International Librarian #100: Share your own 10-Minute International Librarian tips!

This is the 100th and final post in this series.

Over more than two years, we’ve tried to come up with ideas which can make learning and reflection easy for colleagues across the library field.

They have covered the full range of IFLA’s Strategic Directions, and drawn heavily on the submissions made to the IFLA Ideas Store.

The series is freely structured, and of course free and available for use and reuse in whatever format you wish.

Crucially, though, it’s not as if we have a monopoly on ideas. There are a hundred posts in this series, but there will be many thousands more ideas for relevant activities across the library field.

And it’s important that they’re out there so that others can benefit!

So for our 100th and final 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, share your own 10-Minute International Librarian tips!

Remember the goal of the series, as set out back in 2020 – that in a busy job with lots of competing priorities, it can be really helpful to provide short, accessible opportunities to learn.

They can be about remembering valuable experiences, reflecting on lessons learned, thinking about something in a new way, clarifying your arguments for advocacy, or taking a moment to discover something new.

If you’ve followed, you will have had plenty of examples (and of course, feel free to revisit them!). So now it’s your turn to think of your own.

Use the comments box below, or your own channels to share them!

Good luck!

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 4.2 Effectively mobilise our human resources and networks.

You can view our other posts in this series using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below!

The 10-Minute International Librarian #98: Make a plan to implement something you’ve learned

We place a big emphasis on the importance of being a learning profession.

We know how important it is to be open-minded, and ready to listen to others, given how much we can gain from their insights, experience and knowledge.

But of course learning – most of the time at least – needs to be accompanied by implementation.

For example, participating in a conference is a great experience, but only has maximum impact if we can think about how we can take what we have gained, and turn it into something on the ground.

This isn’t always easy. Lessons learned can be easily forgotten if not applied, or we set ourselves goals which are unrealistic and end up having to give up.

Putting newly-gained ideas and abilities to work is not a given!

So for our 98th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, make a plan to implement something you’ve learned.

Is it a specific skill or technique, or rather a broader way of doing things, or even an attitude. It doesn’t need to be anything directly professional either – maybe it’s  way of relaxing or changing your mindset!

What opportunities do you have to apply it? What is reasonable, given all your other work? How can you do it in a way that isn’t going to be too hard, or mean that there’s a big risk of failure?

Let us know about examples of how you’ve implemented something you’ve learned in the comments below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 3.4: Provide targeted learning and professional development.

You can view our other posts in this series using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below!

The 10-Minute International Librarian #78: Share Feedback

Librarianship is a learning profession.

This is why we have associations and other groups, nationally and internationally, which provide opportunities to share and listen to others.

IFLA itself is all about helping library and information workers to discover insights and ways of doing things that they can then incorporate into their own practice.

But learning can of course also take place every day, through reflecting on what has worked and what hasn’t. A number of posts in this series have already addressed this!

However, people shouldn’t need only to rely on what they remember and perceive. It can be really helpful to receive reactions and views from colleagues.

Of course, for this to happen, you need colleagues who are ready to make the effort to do this!

So for our 78th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, share feedback.

Can you see something in a colleague or someone else’s work which is particularly good, and that they can continue to do?

Or is there something that could be done better?

Clearly, in giving feedback, it is important to be sensitive. Don’t make assumptions, and be sure to keep things constructive.

Think also if there are other factors which could mean that your feedback is likely to be more or less effective. In the end, the goal is to help someone perform better in their job.

Let us know about the most useful feedback you ever received in the comments box below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 3.4: Provide targeted learning and professional development

As we publish more ideas, you will be able to view these using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the com

The 10-Minute International Librarian #57: Celebrate a failure

It’s great when things work out.

But that’s not always the case – inevitably, some of the things we try will fail.

Yet this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

When things don’t work, we have an opportunity to reflect on why this is the case – what could the causes be? Can we do anything about it? What could be done better next time?

Indeed, there can be more to learn from failures than from successes.

So for our 57th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, celebrate a failure.

Take it as an opportunity to think about your own practices and the circumstances, and how these could have influenced thing.

Even if there is an element of unluckiness, could you mitigate the risk in future?

And be ready to share your lessons with others, including through the comments box below!

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! Key Initiative 3.4: Provide targeted learning and professional development.

As we publish more ideas, you will be able to view these using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box below.

Introducing: the 10-Minute Digital Librarian

Following on from previous IFLA series – the 10-Minute Library Advocate, and the ongoing 10-Minute International Librarian – we are happy today to launch a new one – the 10-Minute Digital Librarian.

Just like the other series, this will focus on actions you can take which do not necessarily require much time or effort, but can help you learn and discover new tools and ways of doing things.

Every two weeks, a new post will appear, with the ideas presented coming together to form mini-series of activities around different aspects of digital in libraries. It will be inspired, to a large extent, by the 23 Things series that has already proved popular in the library field.

Of course, at the moment, so much of the work of libraries, where it has been able to continue, is taking place digitally.

As individuals, as a wider sector, we have seen rapid take-up of digital tools, and learning about how to use them, around the world, across the full range of library types.

This work has helped both to provide pre-existing services in new ways, and to deliver a new offer to library users. Through this, libraries have arguably expanded further the ways in which they can fulfil their wider missions.

We hope, through this series, to share some of the lessons of this shift, and help more members of the field make best use of what technology offers.

See you for our first exercise in a couple of weeks!

 

Follow our series in future using the #10MinuteDigitalLibrarian tag.

The 10-Minute International Librarian #26: Identify something you’re not sure about, and look for an answer

Librarians are used to receiving questions from other people.

As a profession focused on service, it is part of the job to be able to respond to queries, and to help people access the information they need.

Yet simply having a qualification does not always mean we have all of the answers.

Indeed, assuming that we do is a great way of missing opportunities to learn.

So for our 26th 10-Minute International Librarian exercise, identify something you’re not sure about, and look for an answer.

Think through your work, and moments where you simply aren’t sure of what the best thing to do is.

Or take something you’re used to doing, and challenge yourself – are you sure it can’t be done better?

Once you’ve identified something, look online to see if others have faced the same challenge, for example on the IFLA website or library.

Share your best examples of learning from others in the chat below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! 3.2 Support virtual networking and connections.

You can view all of our ideas using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box.

 

The 10-Minute International Librarian #23: Think of something that hasn’t worked, and learn from it

Celebrating success is an important way to maintain motivation and energy.

But not every initiative works, especially when it is new or innovative!

Everyone will experience failures, or things that didn’t quite turn out as hoped. But beyond the disappointment, these can also be great opportunities to develop.

Indeed, there is often less to learn from a success than from a failure!

If the library field is to continue to learn and develop, taking these opportunities is important.

So for our 23rd 10-Minute International Librarian, think of something you’ve done that hasn’t worked, and learn from it.

Try to find which parts of any initiative could be changed or improved. Sometimes of course, it may be bad luck, but even some elements of chance can be managed.

You can these use what you have learned in your work in future.

You might even write a blog or present a paper about something that hasn’t worked, in order to help others share in your understanding, and avoid making mistakes.

Let us know if you have learned from mistakes, or have seen great examples of how this can be done in the comments below.

Good luck!

 

This idea relates to the IFLA Strategy! 3.4 Provide targeted learning and professional development.

You can view all of our ideas using the #10MinuteInternationalLibrarian tag on this blog, and of course on IFLA’s Ideas Store! Do also share your ideas in the comments box.