Thing 2: Other blogs...

You know that feeling you get when you walk into a massive library with no idea exactly what you want to read? That's how I feel when I'm looking for new interesting library blogs! It's not that there isn't good material out there, but rather too much, it's a little over-whelming to be honest. Luckily, the cpd23 blog gives plenty of tips and after a bit of searching, I've found - at least - one blog that seems really good, so I thought I would share it with you all:

http://damienslibraryblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Definitely worth a look. Even for the fact that the author's picture has Father Ted's house in the background! To be honest, I feel that Damien is quite similar to myself, in terms of getting started. You just have to dive right in there. If you don't like it, move on, and so forth until you've found what you're looking for! (Thanks Bono.) I realise that it will take time but the end product will be worth it. I also realise that I really must get into delicious, people keep telling me it's a fantastic tool and it really is. I wouldn't have known where to search without it.

Even on Thing 2 I can already see the benefits of cpd23, its the online networking. I have been in the library almost four years, I have discovered that meeting other librarians is the best way to learn. I absolutely love going to events and conferences (the LAI/CILIP  joint conference this year was excellent) because you really get an idea of what is going on in other libraries. With Facebook, Twitter and now blogging, I hope to reach out to even more librarians and steal learn from them. Hopefully, they can learn from me too!

I also wanted to comment on my blog's title, as a few colleagues have asked me why I named it The Librarian Rises. First of all, I'm a huge Batman fan and I blatantly stole the title from the new movie coming out this summer. Secondly and most importantly, I want to dispel the age old library stereotype. I feel that libraries are modern innovative spaces and library staff are too. So I believe, a young, comic book loving male librarian is about to rise in a library near you!

Thanks for reading!!

The Historic First Post.......

So here it is, the historic first post! Hi everyone, my name is Cahal. If you're reading this, you're probably a librarian and you guessed it... So am I! I got a job in Libraries NI (The public library service for Northern Ireland) 4 years ago and I have fallen in love with libraries ever since!

I'm 28 and (obviously, I hope) male, so I'm something of an anomaly to the library stereotype. Hopefully, I'll help break more stereotypes throughout my career. I'm currently halfway through my second year of a Libraries Information & Management degree, and when I heard about cpd23 I jumped at the chance to take part! what a terrific way to help further your career!  I also joined CILIP this year and thought the networking opportunities were really good, so I hope this will be the same!

I've always wanted to blog as well but always found the excuse not to - "Don't have the time, etc" - Hopefully this blog will be of some use to someone apart from me, and if not, I'll enjoy blogging my experiences anyway!

So here's to the first post, talk to you all soon!