My information project has officially ended now! I added the finishing touches to the guides last weekend, including images and a Delicious tag cloud and then published all seven guides publicly on the University of Melbourne LibGuides website: http://unimelb.libguides.com.
It has been a very different experience taking this course at RMIT compared to all the others that I have completed toward the Graduate Diploma in Information Management. Usually I hand in an assignment, it is marked and then just filed away in a drawer somewhere. Whereas this project has been completed due to a real need in the workplace and hopefully will be well-used. It is a great feeling to know that all the work that I have put into creating the guides has not been wasted. The Science & Engineering librarian has already used the Civil & Environmental Engineering guide during a research consultation with a PhD student last Tuesday and I have used the Geomatics guide during a consultation with a new academic staff member.
Additionally, unlike other assignments, the project is not really completed just because the semester has ended. I have realised through completing the project that it will be important to continue to update the guides. I have written a maintenance plan with fortnightly, monthly and yearly tasks, such as using a link checker and reviewing the information needs of students in the Melbourne School of Engineering. I also have plans to market, improve and evaluate the guides.
The main lesson that I have learned through completing the project is that there is great value in approaching projects at work in a similar way to those completed at university. While it won't be possible for all projects in the work place, completing a literature review is a great way to learn from others in the industry, rather than reinventing the wheel. Additionally, writing up a report about the project, including a discussion about the outcomes of the project and recommendations, helped to focus my thoughts on the project and plan for the future. I plan to pass the report on to my manager and colleagues at work and hope that it will trigger a conversation on the issues surrounding library guides and lead to improvements in the guides being created at work. It was also fantastic to have a supervisor, who was outside of the workplace, to give me a fresh perspective and advice throughout the project. I am thinking of seeking out a mentor who could play a similar role for me in the future.
Finally, I would like to continue blogging on my professional experiences. I found that it was easy to feel lonely and isolated this semester as I was not attending lectures or tutorials. However, after attending ALIA Access 2010 I started Tweeting every so often about my professional experiences. This made me feel more connected to those in the profession and less isolated (especially when working in one person branch libraries on campus). It also helped me to feel motivated and excited about my project. My plan is to start a new blog, continue blogging about my professional experiences, and advertise my blog posts to my 'professional network' of friends on Facebook and Twitter.
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