Let's pretend it's January!

Slack, slack, slack! I know, I did say I was going to decide what to do with this blog in January. But I just got so caught up with other things... NO MORE EXCUSES!

So, how will I be using a Wheel Librarian this year: to share the progress of writing a paper for the Library Technicians Conference, to share any milestones in my career, and to share my experiences of something else, which I'm not at liberty to say at the moment, but it fits quite nicely with what I was using the blog for before (that's a mouthful!) if it happens.

It is official, my colleague Robyn and I, of soon to be Robyn's reflections fame, were successful with our abstract for the Library Technicians Conference, taking place in Adelaide in September. It wasn't quite what we pitched for, a short talk, rather than a paper, but when we thought about it and what we want to get across to the audience about our experience, it probably better suits this style. In case you have forgotten what we are doing (and who wouldn't, it was last December since I wrote about it here... I know!) I will be helping Robyn wade through the 21 Lunges program, one on one, in a reverse mentoring relationship, in which we hope to see the benefits of these type of relationships generally, and whether they are particularly suited to guiding people through a Web 2.0 process. Our working title is Reverse mentoring: finding a new way of working while discovering Web 2.0.. And I'm sure Robyn will comment if I've missed anything. Actually, I suppose I should get her to subscribe to this blog...

So now the hard work begins, we have to give ourselves a timetable of when to get things done by, so it can be written and ready by August (when it is due). Robyn and I will sit down this week to do this, and as an incentive, I will report back. I have to say I'm excited, but nervous, maybe a little fearful, but I think that's natural. (I hope so!) All our peers will be watching and commenting, but the library and information industry is very supportive. I promised Robyn I would try to follow along on the 21 Lunges blog, checking to see if the links still worked and were still relevant (Web 2.0 never stands still), as well as trying to find other things of interest to the topics if I could, so I must do that.

As of this Monday, I will also be working full-time till October, filling in for two staff doing special projects, Robyn being one of them, so that will be interesting on many levels. I may also be working on something special myself soon, but I don't want to mention anymore until I know the outcome.

The ALIA New Graduates Group in Victoria is going well. We just had a a tour of the Parliamentary Library. I put in two expressions of interest, to take on other roles in this group. I was successful in both my "applications". It looks like I will be taking responsibility for our webpage as Website Co-ordinator, but I had to turn down the role of National Secretary, as I found out about my new extended hours the same day, so I didn't want to overcommit and exhaust myself too much.

So life is good, and I promise to blog regularly again. Watch this space!