Posts Tagged ‘Teamwork’
Novel Creations
Posted on: 05/05/2012
Sometimes creativity and innovation does not mean coming up with something completely original. It can also include taking information from a variety of sources, and culminating it into one cohesive document. I have chose to include part of my Ethnographic Report that I completed with a team. In this section of the report, myself and a colleague combined, organized and analysed a wide variety of codes from interviews and observations. The analysis section took a great deal of work, as much of the data was scattered. Taking bits and pieces from the coding, we were able to piece together a cohesive analysis through which we derived a unique argument.
It is not very often that a project will involve “re-inventing the wheel”, but more often includes building on foundations previously made. This is also the nature of collaborative work, to be able to take pieces of information and be able to seamlessly merge it into something else. I personally find this type of creative works to be more interesting. It is one thing to be able to imagine something completely new, but it is much different to see something that exists and imagine it is something else. In my future endeavors, I expect that I will be called to make adjustments to existing foundations rather than a novel creation. As information professionals pride themselves on adhering to best practices, drawing on previously existing frameworks for crafting new, innovative structures is a skill that is highly prized.
Listening to direction
Posted on: 05/05/2012
When working on a group project, sometimes it is not possible to always be the leader. In any given group, there must always be those who lead and those who follow. I have chosen to showcase my digital library poster as an example of a time when I followed instead of lead. While the majority of my group projects in SILS resulted in me leading, as I am generally forthright in my opinions, in this particular project, I chose to listen to direction. I feel that this is an important skill to have. Group projects will turn sour very quickly if there is too much of a power struggle. The politics of a group may ruin an otherwise efficient group if people are not willing to take direction.
For this project, I was assigned to research the methods and implications of funding on the ISOS digital library. In our group, there were two people who were more qualified at taking the lead since digital libraries was an area of their expertise. Whenever additional support was needed, I complied with whatever was needed of me. This included reviewing sections of written material for the report and general consultation. While these tasks were not initially part of my required assignment, it is important to remain adaptable and be flexible to change as it comes.
By listening to directions of others, I feel that I was also valuing the expertise of others on my team. When working in a team, using the myriad abilities of all to complete a collaborative project is necessary. This is more important than maintaining a usual status position.
I find that my personal career goals have taken a somewhat winding road. When I first had the notion of becoming a librarian, I was a child, looking up at my primary school librarian. Mrs. Fair was amazing; she even had us call her “The Library Goddess”. I remember being delighted at the world of creativity that was opened to me, all through the books that “The Library Goddess” revealed to me. Even at the age of 5, I knew the value that creativity had for the imagination, and in turn, the value that it made for people. I knew that I wanted to join that world, and when I grew up, I wanted to be “The Future Library Goddess” for some other child.
Over the years, I have worked in a public library for 6 years, where I discovered the joy of life-long learning. I also learned the value of working in a team-like organizational culture. When I was choosing my library school, as I was still on the library path, I knew that being able to work collaboratively and communicate with other librarians would be a treasure. Upon entering the SILS programme, I learned about the concept that librarians were actually information professionals. While one might not think that a change in terminology would have that much of an effect on professional development, I felt a bit lost amdist the multitude of horizons that I could cross with this degree.
Many of the speakers, especially those within this final semester, introduced new exciting jobs that fit for an information professional. I particularly began to like the idea of an embedded librarian within a non-library organization. I liked the idea of leading others, having general free reign of the organization of information, being a solo-librarian working in the back with special collections. I feel like I was beginning to lose sight of why I wanted to become a librarian in the first place. While each of these other careers are very interesting, I now feel like they are not the right fit for me. Throughout the readings and class discussions of this module, I found myself being drawn back to a user-centric design, creativity and being the best support service that I can be. Issues like disintermediation do not scare me as they seem to have with some of my other colleagues. Instead, it inspired a renewed sense of uber-professionalism that I would aspire to employ in my own professional career. The readings and discussions helped me gain a sense of my professional goals and mission.
In particular, the individual assessment where we looked into a particular information professional career we were interested in, helped me make up my mind as to where I want to go. I realized that I preferred to work collaboratively, or at least have a tight team where everyone has the same service-oriented goals. By putting my users first, and not the interesting collections that various organizations have to offer, I am able to narrow down what I would like to do. I feel that the skills I have learned throughout my coursework in SILS will be of use to me, in my pursuit to provide the most viable information to my users. The coursework has also introduced a great deal of new ways to express and think about that information. I feel that the competencies of teamwork, research skills, organization of information and creativity/innovation define my professional career. While I am also proficient at a number of other skills and competencies, I feel that these are the most important ones that will help me during my career. They all link together in ways that will assist me in becoming someone else’s “Library Goddess”.
Professional Mission & Goals
Posted on: 05/05/2012
Professional Mission
To be able to assist others in their pursuit of life-long learning
Provide innovative ways of displaying information that appeals to users
Promote imagination and creative thinking of users
Remain a support service for other’s personal development
Inspire the love of reading for pleasure
Be able to give the right information to the right person in the right way
Professional Goals
Always be aware of my user community in all aspects of my career
Work collaboratively with stimulating colleagues
Be able to overcome problematic hurdles in creative methods
Recognize other’s contributions and value to projects
Maintain professional skills in all work that I do
Continue to learn and find new ways of performing my career
Uphold the connections made through PLN, SILS programme and career
Organization of Information Artifact
Posted on: 26/04/2012
As an example of displaying organization of information, I would like to display my editing skills, as evidenced in my Metadata Consultation group project for Organization of Info, Metadata and Cataloguing module. As the name of the module implies, our tasks frequent around organizing information into logical means. I have chosen a group project in which I was responsible for the majority of editing the words of 7 different people, attempting to achieve a single voice for the final product. Each member had very different, individualistic writing styles that needed to be wed together. Our task was to write a consultation report that would address the metadata needs of a specific collection. I was also responsible for setting the parameters of the collection. I feel that this was beneficial to the editing process as it enabled a certain framework for which the others could adapt and justify their writings. As each section was added to the lengthy document, I reviewed it for consistency and general ease of flow. Sections of the report were added at different times, causing multiple edits to occur, rather than one final, blanket edit.
I believe that multiple edits to the project enabled a better product. It can be overwhelming to edit one final document without having the benefit of reviewing the sections as they came along. It is also very easy to miss elements that need to be changed if careful scrutiny is not given to each and every section. I am quite satisfied with the result of our efforts, as I feel it is quite cohesive in voice and content. The work was a lengthy document, and would have taken an individual a great amount of time to complete it. By working together, it was able to be completed to a higher standard.
I enjoy seeing the efforts of a team come together to a final culmination. It is this part of the process that interests me the most. It is important for me to acknowledge all of the hard work that members completed on the way. I find that laying the ground work for projects and then editing the final product are great strengths of mine. This project reveals my love of organizing information.
Communication & Teamwork Artifact
Posted on: 26/04/2012
Throughout the course of this master’s programme, we have been asked to work in teams for collaborative products. While I have worked in teams and group projects before during my education, I have never done so to such intense extent. I feel as though I have learned to appreciate the intricacies associated with group work. The values of compromise, constant communication and appreciation for other’s hard work have been sparked within me. Having these values is key to working in any sort of truly collaborative work. True collaboration goes beyond merely working with other people and getting along, collaboration is when your ideas develop and merge with another’s to form a product that is not entirely one or the other’s responsibility. Disjointed products, or those which are easily identifiable as a particular person’s work are not examples of a collaborative work. The benefit of working with a team means that collectively you would be able to create a finished product that is better than the sum of its individual parts, and better than what any one person alone could have created.
As an example of this type of collaboration, I have chosen to showcase my Children & Youth Services Group Report. We were tasked with evaluating different resources for children that addressed a certain information need, in our case academic literacy needs. We were supposed to evaluate which programmes and services were examples of best practice. Realizing that we each had something unique to offer, we split to evaluate programmes accordingly. After our solo research, we came together again to reveal our findings. Our group quickly assessed how our individual parts could piece together to make a whole, complete document. Noting how the sections fit into larger product, we curtailed our sections as needed around each other. After piecing the disjointed sections together, we realized that they fit into a larger scheme, one that would have otherwise gone unnoticed by any one individual. Throughout the writing process, we remained in contact via drop box, emails and meetings which allowed great visibility of how the product was coming along.
The final report turned out to be an excellent example of collaboration between the 4 group members. Drawing on the strengths and compensating for the weaknesses of each individual, the group was able to produce a valuable product. This project helped me realize to greater extent, my love of team work. The scenarios of constant communication, seeking advice and giving it, and developing a product with highly efficient people, appeal to my sense of professional intrigue. Although not every group project will work as effectively as the one for my Children & Youth Services, I feel that everyone in a group has something of value to offer, and should therefore be respected. It just might surprise you what skill even the seemingly most in proficient person might have that you lack.
I am very grateful to Antoinette for allowing me to interview her to find out about the complexities and intricacies of her job. While I was originally keen on the idea of working as a special collections librarian, specifically of a religious collection, I have come to reconsider. Unfortunately, it would seem that the position is less suited for me than I would have hoped. Despite my initial interests in this type of collection and the appeal of being largely free to do independent work, I have found that Antoinette’s position does not suit my tastes.
When I began the project, I fondly remembered other religious libraries that I had been to and wished to pursue more research into such a position. Research that I completed revealed more about the types of collections religious libraries have and less about the specifics of what the position would entail. Upon interviewing Antoinette, I was again intrigued by the collection, but less so with the isolation and lack of support. Her descriptions of her job seemed to reinforce my love of organizing information and materials into efficiency, however it seemed like the job was likely to be a never-ending task. While I did enjoy the never ending indexing of information in the Heritage Centre of my library at home, the prospect that headway would be very difficult to see made me feel deflated.
Through Antoinette’s interview, I appreciated the importance of PLNs, multi-tasking, and learning from others, especially for solo practitioners. I was informed that the Redemptorist Librarian/Archivist position may also be known as a cataloguer or curator. As neither of those titles, or tasks as the name suggests, interest me, the position would not be a good fit.
This project has given me insight into the types of things that need to be assessed when looking for a position. It helped me realize what I am interested in, and what I am not. Like Antoinette maintains about the importance of weeding and developing specialist information, I am now able to weed certain types of jobs since I know that I dislike the idea of solo work. The project has made me aware of what kind of work I would like to do in the future. This will help me focus on positions in which I collaborate with a team to accomplish a common goal. While I may not have the variety that a position like the Redemptorist Librarian/Archivist affords, I know that I can specialize in my position and proficiently perform it.
Elevator Pitch
Posted on: 25/04/2012
Hi, I’m Sarah Nolan. I am a graduate of the UCD School of Information & Library Studies programme for which I have received a masters. I also have a BA in Liberal Studies, with a Thematic Plan focus on Creativity. I have worked in a public library for 6 years, holding 4 positions throughout. I am aspiring to earn a position as a public librarian where I can work with a dynamic team of colleagues, as collaboration and innovation are key interests of mine.
While this pitch may seem a bit wordy, I feel it accentuates my good vocabulary, my educational and professional background, as well as my future professional goals. I like to add the focus in my BA because it shaped my undergraduate education and continues to be a central feature of my professional interests.
Reflection 4
Posted on: 10/10/2011
This week the readings were based on communication, leadership and team work. These are all very closely related, as all of them are necessary when working in groups to accomplish different goals. Vandeveer seems to emphasize that is possible to achieve synergy even in the stormiest of groups. A leader that can manage through the conflicts that arise in group dynamics can lead through to synthesis. I agree that maintaining proper communication channels is imperative for group work to be successful. This however, can be very difficult when certain dysfunctions occur, as Vandeveer notes. An absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, no accountability and inattention to details are detrimental to team work. Of these dysfunctions, I believe that a lack of trust is the most harmful, and imperative to solve. When individuals feel that they cannot trust the others in their group, teamwork is impossible. If an individual is not certain that they can trust the other group members with their thoughts or work, they will eventually experience a negative reaction to even their own work. Even the quality of work that could have been accomplished before the degradation that is associated with lack of trust, is lost to the individual. I have had the experience where I questioned the value of my own work when I felt that I could not trust my group members. It is an extremely personal commitment to be able to collaborate with others since it requires faith that everyone will respect your individuality. It can only be accomplished when one feels that their thoughts and ideas have as much value as the others. It is important for the leader to be able to combat dynamics where a lack of trust is prevalent. Affirmation and making connections between different people’s work is a great way to overcome the challenge that an absence of trust creates. If connections are made between the work and ideas that people do, a sense of commandery can be made. In this way, a celebration of individuality brings about collaboration for a group. Trust is essential for teamwork. The other problems that may arise in a group can also be combatted if trust is present in group proceedings. As Katzenbach writes, to be in a team is to collaborate among a group of individuals in order to accomplish an activity together that would have otherwise been impossible for an individual to do alone. To be a team is to be greater and more productive than the sum of its parts.
Sarah Nolan 