Evernote could be what I've been looking for all my adult life. I love tools that make your life easier for you.
As it saves screenshots, you don't have the issue of going back to a webpage some months later to find it's no longer there. It's also very helpful that all the notes that you add can be accessed from any computer or device you happen to use.
I am yet to get to the Thing about referencing tools, but I can see how useful it would be for a student doing some research - or just putting all their notes together. The ability to create and save audio notes on an iPhone (not sure about other phones) is also great if you have one.
I certainly would have found Evernote helpful over a year ago when I was doing my postgraduate degree. There's even something called StudyBlue that works with Evernote and allows students to create flashcards from their notes. How cool is it to be a student these days, eh?
I haven't used Evernote for a month but I think the account data limits are more than sufficient. Maybe if you were saving a lot of images you would need to upgrade.
Possible drawbacks...well one of the first web pages I tried to save (timeout.com) did not save as I don't have a subscription with them. That's probably not that common though. There's currently just a choice between two browsers for a web add on - Firefox or Google Chrome. So, as far as I can see, you can't save web pages on an iPhone or Android phone. Maybe you would need to email the page to Evernote instead...
Also, I linked to my Facebook account but they asked for permission to access all my notes even when I am not using Evernote. So, if you value your privacy, don't get accounts with sites like these!
I also noticed that they had automatically signed me up to their marketing emails and that of other companies, so look out for that if you sign up.
It would be good to write again about Evernote at the end of this course and question if it really has changed my life for the better! Sites like Pushnote I really haven't gone back to since signing up for them. I think that it is more likely that I will stick with something that helps me in my everyday life rather than confuses me with more friends to add and feeds to follow...
Friday, 26 August 2011
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Thing 8
Oops, such is my post-holiday jetlag that I missed out Thing 8 and Thing 9! Lots to catch up on so I'll keep this post on Google Calendar brief.
I have a Google operated phone so it would make sense for me to use Google Calendar to organise my life. Yet, even after this exercise, I don't feel so enthusiastic about making it my personal or work calendar. However, I can see how worthwhile it could be in an academic library like mine. Integrating it into a library blog to show events coming up is a good starting point. As long as it is kept up to date, I think it would be a useful tool for keeping students informed.
I have a Google operated phone so it would make sense for me to use Google Calendar to organise my life. Yet, even after this exercise, I don't feel so enthusiastic about making it my personal or work calendar. However, I can see how worthwhile it could be in an academic library like mine. Integrating it into a library blog to show events coming up is a good starting point. As long as it is kept up to date, I think it would be a useful tool for keeping students informed.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Thing 10
As this post is all about routes into librarianship, I will discuss my own decision to join the profession and experiences of it so far. I spent a long period of time researching librarianship/information management as a career but it took me a while to even get to that point.
My first degree was in History. I particularly enjoyed gathering information from different sources and making sense of it. Yet, like a lot of my friends, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career. So I spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in London and Madrid. I then fell into a job in Publishing when I returned to the UK. There were aspects of this first job I liked, such as responding to requests from colleagues for information, but it was not clear where I could progress from there. Other people in my team seemed to get jobs in marketing, so I went that way too. I started a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) course and eventually got offered a job at another company which gave me marketing experience.
Again, there were aspects of this job that I enjoyed but I felt there was something missing. I liked the idea of working with the public and doing work which wasn't just about profit. It was around this time that I arranged to volunteer at a local public library. It was here that I assisted a Librarian with an oral history project she was working on. The project itself was interesting but, admittedly, I wasn't so sure that public libraries was the place for me.
Then I got made redundant during the economic crisis! Bummer. This was a period of time when I really felt pulled to working in the information field. Marketing jobs were low on the ground, particularly as the type of experience I had was limiting. On the other hand, I felt that some of the work experience I had could cross over to the information field. Additionally, I liked that it can be both a technology and people focussed career.
So luckily I got accepted on a CILIP-accredited Masters course and found work in the Student Services department at the same university. Although I had customer service experience, this post was good for getting face-to-face experience as well as the opportunity to assist students using online technology. I also did a placement as part of my course.
I really think both my course and this experience helped me get recruited at the college I work at right now. It has been really good experience so far but, as it isn't a permanent post, I need to think some more of where I should go from here.
What I am certain about is that I would like to start working on Chartership in the next year. It would be good to get a mentor and discuss my career plans in more detail.
My first degree was in History. I particularly enjoyed gathering information from different sources and making sense of it. Yet, like a lot of my friends, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career. So I spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in London and Madrid. I then fell into a job in Publishing when I returned to the UK. There were aspects of this first job I liked, such as responding to requests from colleagues for information, but it was not clear where I could progress from there. Other people in my team seemed to get jobs in marketing, so I went that way too. I started a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) course and eventually got offered a job at another company which gave me marketing experience.
Again, there were aspects of this job that I enjoyed but I felt there was something missing. I liked the idea of working with the public and doing work which wasn't just about profit. It was around this time that I arranged to volunteer at a local public library. It was here that I assisted a Librarian with an oral history project she was working on. The project itself was interesting but, admittedly, I wasn't so sure that public libraries was the place for me.
Then I got made redundant during the economic crisis! Bummer. This was a period of time when I really felt pulled to working in the information field. Marketing jobs were low on the ground, particularly as the type of experience I had was limiting. On the other hand, I felt that some of the work experience I had could cross over to the information field. Additionally, I liked that it can be both a technology and people focussed career.
So luckily I got accepted on a CILIP-accredited Masters course and found work in the Student Services department at the same university. Although I had customer service experience, this post was good for getting face-to-face experience as well as the opportunity to assist students using online technology. I also did a placement as part of my course.
I really think both my course and this experience helped me get recruited at the college I work at right now. It has been really good experience so far but, as it isn't a permanent post, I need to think some more of where I should go from here.
What I am certain about is that I would like to start working on Chartership in the next year. It would be good to get a mentor and discuss my career plans in more detail.
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