When I try and speak to you I'm speaking Klingon

THING 6: VIRTUAL NETWORKING 

In order to do a bit of catch up I thought I would squeeze these things in together tonight as they technically go hand in hand.  I'll start with the online/social networking part first as I can probably blitz through it; Twitter - already blogged about it, Facebook - Will never use this as a professional platform (but I do think having a 'page' for libraries to use to reach out to users is a fantastic idea for keeping people up-to-date and aware of the services etc, Pinterest - not quite made it there yet, intrigued but not sure how it'd work professionally, Google+ - ERM (need I say more?), and then there's LinkedIn.  I joined quite a while ago after a few of my IT Crowd friends bang on about it, kept my profile basic, never used it or understood it's potential...  Until I got my most recent job, when I decided to go back to it and add some education, job history and skills and eventually found some people I could actually connect with (ex-colleagues, students and friends).  I keep it strictly professional, have joined some relevant LIS groups, very recently linked my twitter and blog (scary) and kindly received a recommendation from an old colleague (it was surprisingly lengthy and incredibly kind).  I haven't yet done any real 'networking' on it, but it's one of those places I'll keep going back to and maybe, just maybe, end up liking it and it'll help my career somehow... hmmm.

The three networks for library an information professionals are new to me though so it was great to feel a bit more part of the loop learning about them.  LISNPN I have briefly joined (as nicololosaurus) but not spent enough time really checking out what it has to offer.  'New professionals' is one of those phrases that makes me a little anxious, as I don't really know what to expect from it - I don't know if I fit into this category or not.  The downloadable resources, events and forums definitely deserve more of my time though.  

I've literally just clicked on LATnetwork not knowing quite what LAT might mean - currently this network bear little relevance for me (I'm definitely not studying for a teaching certificate) but it's great to know this kind of network is out there for the future, especially as teaching is something I look forward to doing more of in the library world.  

The CILIP communities page looks like a scary JISCMail forum or something, overcrowded and not particularly appealing.  I'm not a CILIP member, and probably won't be until I dive into library-student life, so I have to admit I don't consciously keep up with anything CILIP unless I'm alerted via work or, surprise surprise, Twitter.  It's important to think about the advantages to engaging in professional online networking which the CPD23 blog spoke about:

• Becoming better known, and more visible in your fields of interest and expertise, by joining in with conversations and sharing information.
• Becoming better connected, with people whom you might otherwise never actually get to meet.
• Becoming better equipped, gaining knowledge and information from others, and staying up to date with the trends and ideas in your profession.

Having said all that though I also think it's better not to go over board and to think about what's right for me, right now.  Like MySpace (remember that) things fall out of date, so I'm not going to worry too much about not joining everything, just as long as I know where to go when I need to find it!