12 Things: Thing 3

Working Collaboratively

Wikis
As a member of EEHIST, I have been using Wikis for a few years. The group uses PBWorks to host a wiki where we can share documents, discuss and collaborate on projects. I think many healthcare staff are aware of Wikipedia but not many I have spoken to are aware of the ability to start your own wiki and use it in this way. It's a great tool when you are part of a regionally dispersed group and eliminates the need for emails to clog up inboxes!

Another wiki I find useful is CATNIP: Critical Appraisal Toolkit Navigating into Practice http://catnipnw.pbworks.com. It is a closed wiki, so you have to request permission to access, but is an excellent resource for critical appraisal.

For medical wikis I start at Webicina - http://www.webicina.com - this is brilliant so do have a look if you haven't come across it before (there is a link on EEL!). It is divided in medical specialties - 38 at last count including Medical Librarianship - and each one gives links to Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Twitter, video etc. It's great as a starting point, and also for showing to healthcare staff. There are also guides to Web 2, including managing a medical blog and keeping up to date. The founder is Berci Mesko and you can follow him on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Berci

I also find Wikipedia of great use - especially for critical appraisal / research / statistical explanations!

Google Drive
Again, as part of EEHIST and as an author of 12 Things, I have used Google Drive (was Docs) quite a bit and it's another really useful tool. As part of a work group based around the region it's so useful to be able to work on a document with others, without having to keep emailing it around. You can see any updates made and who has made them. It's useful for sharing, not only with other group members, but also publicly. When HDAS was updated a few months back, I saved my updated guide to Google Drive, shared it using the "Anyone with the link" option. This gave me a link that I could Tweet to my followers - easy!

Meetings
I use Google Calender personally rather than in a work capacity. I have been invited to meetings via Doodle or Meet-o-Matic (not sure which one) and it was incredibly easy to use. I shall investigate if the need arises - as I have just taken on co-chair of EEHIST this may be quite soon!

Kilomathon

I took part in my second organised race on Sunday 28th October: the London Kilomathon. A Kilomathon is basically a marathon measured in kilometres, so 26.2km, or just over 16 miles.

I first heard about it from my sister about a year ago, and my reaction at that time was "no way!" but then I started running myself and before I knew it I was entered alongside my two sisters and their husbands and training as much as I could!

The day itself was cold - the phrase "Arctic plunge" mentioned by the weathermen - but it was thankfully dry. An early start saw us heading down to Lee Valley Athletics stadium for 8am. The race started at 9am.

Here we are at the start.

Harry, Nick, Diane, Me, Lynda & Terry

I enjoyed the race. We started on the Athletics track (I felt like a real athlete for the first time in my life!) and then headed out onto the road. The road bit wasn't too exciting, but it was only for about 5km, and then we took the tow path along the canal into Lee Valley Park. I thought the park was lovely, really varied scenery with lots to look at. The downside was that the route through the park was circular and we had to follow it twice. Parts were quite narrow and we had to dodge park visitors, many with dogs - though for once I didn't get chased! At one point the track was also blocked by a rather large swan! The last few miles I was also running totally alone, which was a bit odd!  I found it very well marshalled though and always knew where I was going.

The last mile was the toughest, along a long stretch of tow path. I was determined to keep going, not to walk! At the very end though we had to go up a very steep bank to get onto a bridge - I did stagger that bit I think - but then across the bridge and into a field and the finish line (that bizarrely said "Start"!)  I finished in 3hours 54 seconds, and very proud of running the whole thing!

But then, it all went wrong! As I said we finished in a field (not back at the Athletics stadium where the car was). I had to help myself to a medal as the girls handing them out were too busy talking to notice I'd finished!!

The "organisers" told us there were no parking facilities at the end and we were advised to purchase bus tickets for the shuttle buses that would return us to the start. When we had all crossed the line, we headed across the field to the buses, round a clump of trees and into the back of a very long queue! We were told by a St John Ambulance guy there were only two mini buses running and that it would be at least a 45 minute wait. He gave us foil blankets! We were freezing cold, tired, and aching, no where to sit, no hot drinks on offer. Some people gave up and headed off to find taxis. We waited, getting colder and colder. The buses arrived and a small fraction of the queue got on. At last someone took charge and arranged for us to wait at the White Water Centre across the canal, so we took our tired legs off back across the field and waited there. A bit warmer, but still cold. It was probably about another 45minutes or more before the buses returned and took us back to the start.

So after a good race, the whole bus shambles at the end ruined it for everyone. We had an apology via the Facebook page the next day, stating they were let down by bus contractors etc, but not good enough really. It was a cold day, and after running 16 miles it was not the end I wanted!

Unless drastic improvements are made for next year I can't see there being a very good turnout for this race. It really would be better if it could finish back at the start and not have buses involved at all.

However, I have achieved a kilomathon! What next?

Me, Grace & my Medal!

12 Things

I may be one of the authors of 12 Things, but I shall also be dipping in and doing some of the Things too! Particularly looking forward to Prezi - I've seen presentations on Prezi but not yet used it so that should be interesting. 

It's great to see so many people are taking part in 12 Things. At last count there were 35 blogs registered! I've read a few, and I'm loving all the newbies! Well done to everyone who has blogged for the very first time. It can be quite daunting, but I hope you've enjoyed the experience and continue to enjoy blogging and exploring what you can do with your blogs.

We've all gone blogger-mad here at the Warner - naming no names, but it's great to see my colleagues have embraced blogging so enthusiastically! Let's see how many start Tweeting next week!

Race for Life

On Sunday 16th September 2012 I completed my first Race for Life - my first organised race and my first 10k!

With Jason, before the Race

I set myself the Race for Life challenge when I turned 40 in January this year. I had not run since my 20s and back then I really didn't enjoy it and quickly gave it up. My husband has always enjoyed running, and ran the London Marathon a few years back. Both my sisters, brothers-in-law, and brother also run so I was starting to feel a little left out!

My first runs were short - and embarrassing! Who thought I'd ever been seen out in public wearing Lycra! But I soon got the bug and wanted to keep going and build up my distance. I entered the Race for Life and  chose the Chelmsford event at Hylands Park rather than the closer Colchester event as that did not offer the 10k option. By then I was up to 5K in training, so thought I'd give myself the extra challenge!

It was a great day - so many women taking part! Hylands is a beautiful park - that certainly helped on the way round. The whole route was on grass and I found this quite hard going as the majority of my training is road based. It's pretty uneven running on grass and  I longed to see a bit of tarmac as I plodded on! It was tough when the route split just before 5k - the 5k women went towards the finish line (I could hear the cheers!) but the 10k racers carried on.

I finished in 55 minutes and am proud to say I ran the whole distance. Very proud of my medal - I know thousands of women now own one but it's my first medal EVER! Even more proud that I raised over £200 for Cancer Research UK and I ran for my Aunt who lost her battle with cancer a few years ago.

So if you're thinking of Race for Life next year - go for it! I'll be there again I hope, and both my daughters have said they want to run with me next year! A new generation inspired!!

I'm now training for the London Kilomathon on 28th October 2012.

12 Things

I'm resurrecting this Blog for 12 Things EOE. I started it originally for the CPD23 programme, but I'm ashamed to say, I never completed it! However, as one of the contributors to 12 Things, along with my esteemed EEHIST colleagues,  I will be working on the Things too! I hope everyone who follows the programme enjoys it, and gets a lot out of it too.

This blog may also reflect my new hobby: running!! After being a complete and determined non-runner all my life I've taken up running this year, and am about to run my first 10K this weekend - Race for Life in Chelmsford. I can't wait to get going!

Things 10 & 11: My route into Librarianship & Mentoring

Well, it seems I might be a little unusual as I didn't do a degree and then a Masters in Librarianship, I went straight for the undergraduate course at 18 and studied for a BA in Library and Information Studies at Loughborough University.

Why? Well, I had decided on a career in Librarianship quite early on. My aunt is a librarian, and maybe there was some subconscious influence there, or maybe it was my love of books. Whatever it was, I remember telling the schools career advisor at 15 that I planned to be a librarian - and like all careers advisers at the time - she tried to discourage me!

Undeterred, at 16 I got a job as a Saturday assistant at the old Norwich Central Library - I loved it, and ended up working there all through school holidays too. I had a discussion with my aunt about the best route to take (BA or Masters) and concluded that as I knew what I wanted to do, doing an degree in something else would be a waste of time!

I enrolled on the BA(Hons) in Library and Information Studies, at Loughborough University in 1990. At the end of the first year, we had to do a four week (I think!) library placement. I went back to Norfolk libraries and was fortunate in that a programme of work experience was created for me. I spent time back at Norwich Central Library, but moved around a bit into different areas, like the reference section.  I also spent a week at county hall, looking at services such as cataloguing and the school library service, plus I had a week in a small branch library.

I was originally set to do the 3 year degree, but at the end of my first term met my future husband - an engineer on a 4-year sandwich degree, and so swapped onto the four year sandwich course myself.  This meant I would spend year 3 on a work placement. As I wanted a placement near to his in Chelmsford, Essex, the placement advisor at university couldn't help me, so it was down to me to find myself a  placement. I wrote to practically every library in Essex and East London, including the Warner Library at Broomfield Hospital and I was offered the position of Trainee Librarian there.  I suppose this was much like a pre-MSc trainee year, though as it was part of the degree there were certain criteria I had to meet, and I also had to write a development report. I spent just over a year there, went back during holidays, and was even offered a temporary position when I graduated.

That placement year in the NHS shaped my career as I have always been in health libraries to some degree. I was Subject Librarian for Health in an FE/HE college, then Librarian at the British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT) in London, before returning to NHS and the Warner Library in 2000 to my current post.

For me, the undergraduate route suited me best, and taking the year out certainly helped me career prospects and gave me valuable experience. I'd be interested to know if anyone else following 23 Things took the undergraduate route as most of the blog posts I've read so far took the Masters route. 

As far as mentoring goes, I have never had a formal mentor, though of course during my career I have met people I could turn to for help and advice. Looking back, I think it would have been beneficial to me in first professional post and I would certainly have made use of a New Professionals Network back then had one existed! I chartered in 1996, and though it seems chartering now requires a formal mentor, it wasn't a requirement back then. When I chartered I was working as librarian at the BAOT. My manager was an occupational therapist, the Head of Research & Development, and was a fantastic support not only in the chartership process, but also in my day-to-day role and overall professional development. Having a mentor now is not something I have considered - I feel I get support from my own manager and also support from the EEHIST network of trainers.

Thing 8: Google Calendar

I already have Google calendar set up, but for personal use rather than work.

At work I tend to use an old fashioned paper diary, and have a calendar on Outlook - this is shared with colleagues and seems to do the job quite well. The only downside is that I can't access it from home, and as I work a couple of days a week at home this would be useful! Google calender would be a better then, and I'll look into this when I return to work in September.