Thing 8 - Google Calendar

Although banned by my current employer (!), I have used Google calendar in another NHS region (I don't make the rules) and it was very useful to have read/write/edit rights on someone's calendar when they spent a lot of time out of the office.  In the library office, the shared calendar on MS Outlook is sufficient as everyone in the team can access and edit it.  One website I really like for scheduling is Doodle...no access to other people's calendars is required. 

Thing 7 - working the room...

The NHS libraries in the South West where I'm based do have a strong network that benefits the library community.  Most of the day to day contact is through the LIS emails, but there are opportunities to meet up too.  I have been able to attend meetings on Copyright, Marketing and a Christmas get-together and put faces to those email monikers. 
I am a member of the regional "Circulation group" and "Trainers Group".  The former tends to have webex meetings, but I have attended Trainers' Group meetings in person which has been useful.

I am an Associate member of CILIP and am fortunate in having the subscription paid by work.  I have not been to any of the meetings yet - as others have noted, they do tend to be in London.  However I find the newsletter of interest and if you are job seeking it is an expectation for many professional roles to have membership. 

Thing 6...gonna get myself connected...

I'm not doing badly on this Thing.  I've had a profile on LinkedIn for several years and I do use it as a sort of handy CV.  Most of my connections are from my previous roles in pharmaceuticals, where job stability is a rare commodity.  I like the fact that you can have recommendations on your profile and that is a good thing to have.  Of course they are going to be from people that have something positive to say about you/your work, but it's better than a dry statement from some HR person you've never met who will respond to any reference request with only your dates of employment and salary and who will not comment further for fear of being taken to court.

I have Twitter and Facebook accounts  - for personal matters.  I look forward to having Library accounts from my workplace but I wonder how long that will take to be approved.  One thing the NHS Library is good for is the networks - I am on several and they really are useful.  For example, LIS-MEDICAL which is for  the UK medical & health care library community. All sorts of questions are asked...and answered by the LIS community so it is a very valuable resource.

Thing 5 Reflection...You what? Why not..?

I've been dragging my feet over this one.  Reading about and doing more in the way of reflective practice are of course on my to-do list (near the bottom, but hey, they're on there!). At first glance I like the sound of the pithy 'what -so what- now what' model (Borton), so will start with that.  It occurs to me that the annual apprasial at work is something I spend time reflecting on and planning outcomes/what next so I guess I am doing it a teeny bit already.  It is the "Review" part of the cycle that is the hardest for me - planning and doing are not too bad at all.  Also, assessing "impact" is a big thing for NHS Libraries and I have tried to get more feedback on this from people who have asked me to do literature searches for them, or people I have run information skills training for.  I feel that reflective practice cannot be done in isolation without feedback...it would be too subjective.