Zeus Fernandez
Welvie Tupas
Information professionals, just like their users, struggle with information overload and keeping up with whirlwind developments in the information world. While it is difficult enough to keep up as a working information professional, this is especially challenging for librarians not currently in the workplace. How do you keep up and stay current when you are on maternity/parental leave, while on sabbatical, or even when you are a librarian without a library?
Although this article addresses issues specific to those on maternity leave, the current awareness resources and techniques discussed apply to anyone out of the library workforce or on any type of leave.
Making time
Most librarians take leave for a specific reason. A new baby or a research project might not afford you much time to yourself, much less for staying abreast of current developments. The key is to plan and set aside time for your professional development. Arrange for your spouse, partner, or a relative to watch your little one on a regular basis, or schedule activities around your baby’s nap cycle. This is much easier said than done, but scheduling at least thirty minutes a week for current awareness will prove worthwhile when you do eventually return back to work.
Tried, tested, and true techniques
First, utilize conventional ways of keeping up: attending conferences, reading blogs, and joining lists.
Attending conferences is a great way to keep up and stay informed about developments in the field. If at all possible, try to physically attend your local library conference. If this is not a possibility, consider reading conference blogs (by bloggers attending conferences). Many associations (such as the American Library Association and the Canadian Library Association), as well as individual speakers, make conference presentation slides and handouts available on their websites.
Librarians, libraries, and related organizations are writing about developments, ideas, and relevant events on their blogs. Technorati currently tracks 112.8 million blogs: How many should you monitor? One rule of thumb is to monitor (via RSS feeds) at least three different types of blogs: one technology-related, one general library blog, and one blog specific to your library type, subject area, or position. You can use Technorati to search for blogs as well as to determine their ranking within the blogosphere.
Email lists are also great tools to connect with like-minded information professionals and learn from their discussions. Use similar guidelines to determine the types of lists you should monitor; most will give you the option to receive messages in digest form instead of as individual email messages. If your organization has an internal list, consider remaining subscribed while on leave to keep abreast of internal discussions and developments.
Avant-garde approaches: podcasts and social bookmarking
Emerging Web 2.0 technologies offer other innovative ways to stay current. Attending conferences in person or reviewing presentation notes, slides, and handouts online is one method of keeping up, but some conferences are making podcasts of selected sessions available online. Podcasts are audio or video files available for download online or via RSS feeds. This is a convenient way to access information, and watching podcasts in video form (or vodcasts) is close to being part of the original conference session. The technically savvy can download and listen to podcasts on their MP3 player in their car (akin to listening to audiobooks). Conference presentations, though, are not the only types of podcasts available. Organizations, vendors (notably SirsiDynix Institute), and groups of librarians are creating and posting podcasts online.
Another method of managing the information landscape is by using social bookmarking software, such as del.icio.us, to see what articles, websites, and information other users are bookmarking or tagging. You can do this on del.icio.us in several ways:
1) Click on “popular” to look at the pages that are ranked as popular (based on the number of users who have saved them to their del.icio.us account).
2) Find others who have the same interests as you (those who tag the same pages/articles) and sneak a peek at their favorite pages/articles to see what they are tagging.
3) Once you’ve identified users that share the same interests as yourself (hopefully other information professionals), you can add them to your network and keep track of their bookmarks.
Maintain human connections
Many of these current awareness tools are technology-based, but, while being on leave means that you might have to depend on technology to keep up, don’t forget the human element. People are great sources of information, so keep up with your colleagues at
work. You can stay connected by dropping by the workplace for a quick visit or by meeting a colleague for coffee. The key is to maintain your connections at work. Not only is this good for your professional development, but as a new parent, it’s good for your sanity as well!
Maternity or parental leave is challenging enough without worrying about your professional development. By devoting 30 minutes a week to professional development and selectively using one or two of the techniques discussed, it is possible to ride the currents and stay afloat in the sea of information.
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