A talk given to the Historic Libraries Forum conference 'Hard Times' on Tuesday 15 November 2011.

1. 23 things
for professional development
training and networking in hard times
Katie Birkwood
University Library Cambridge

2. „23 Things‟ is a type of training…
…which started at the Public Library of Charlotte &
Mecklenburg County (North Carolina, USA) in August
2006.

3. the PLCMC course aimed…
“…to encourage staff to experiment and learn about the
new and emerging technologies that are reshaping
the context of information on the Internet today”

4. new and emerging technologies

5. new and emerging technologies
a 23 things course gives participants 23 tools to try out
and asks them to write a blog post about each of them.
things are introduced according to a schedule, but
participants choose when to do each thing.
blogging is intended to encourage support and
communication amongst and between participants.

6. 23 things has been hugely popular…

7. 23 things has been hugely popular…
483 versions have been noted by the PLCMC organisers,
including:
public libraries, university libraries, school libraries, health
libraries, archivists, parents, museums, school administrators,
teachers…
USA, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Poland, Italy,
Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Australia…

8. 23 things for prof dev (aka cpd23)
is the same… …but different

9. cpd23 in a nutshell
“doing for continuing professional development tools
what other 23 Things programmes have done for social
media and web 2.0”

10. the people

11. the people
this is Niamh Page
cpd23 was her brainchild

12. the people
these people
all
volunteered
or were
invited to
help

13. organisation

14. organisation
like a patchwork quilt
different people contributed different skills:
organising the course
writing the blog posts
entering data
helping with publicity
engaging with & supporting the participants

15. who is cpd23 for?

16. who is cpd23 for?
everyone and anyone who‟s interested
any age, any sector, any level of employment, any level of
prior knowledge, anywhere in the world
from those just starting to consider a career in libraries &
information to seasoned professionals nearing (or
beyond) retirement

17. the things
Start a blog Meet the other participants
Online presence & personal brand
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
Keeping organised: Google Calendar
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
Filesharing Collaboration: wikis Catch-up week
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

18. the things
the 23 things chosen for cpd23
were selected to help people with
Start a blog Meet the other participants
their career development and
also to help them learn new
Online presence & personal brand
technological skills.
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
these two goals aren‟t mutually
Keeping organised: Googleexclusive, and the use of the
Calendar
technological tools for
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
professional life was always kept
Catch-up week
Filesharing Collaboration: wikis
in view.
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
the things fell into a number of
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
different categories…
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

19. traditional cpd
Start a blog Meet the other participants
Online presence & personal brand
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
Keeping organised: Google Calendar
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
Filesharing Collaboration: wikis Catch-up week
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

20. technology & web 2.0
Start a blog Meet the other participants
Online presence & personal brand
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
Keeping organised: Google Calendar
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
Filesharing Catch-up week
Collaboration: wikis
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

21. social
Start a blog Meet the other participants
Online presence & personal brand
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
Keeping organised: Google Calendar
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
Filesharing Collaboration: wikis Catch-up week
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

22. personal
Start a blog Meet the other participants
Online presence & personal brand
Current awareness: RSS, Twitter, Pushnote
Online networks Offline networks Reflective practice
Keeping organised: Google Calendar
Formal training Informal training organised: Evernote
Keeping
Filesharing Collaboration: wikis Catch-up week
Events References: Zotero, Mendeley, citeulike
Publication
Presenting information: Prezi & Slideshare
Podcasts and screencapture
Integrating 1-19 into daily life
Career paths
Job applications
Final reflection

23. venue
cpd23.blogspot.com

24. venue
an introduction to each tool or
idea was posted on the cpd23
cpd23.blogspot.com blog.
the blog also has a list of
participants, details of the
organisers, extra-curricular
information (e.g. meetups,
conference papers…)
we set up places for participants to talk to each
other:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook

25. timetable
20 June 2011 Thing 1 was posted
10 October 2011 Thing 23 was posted
30 November 2011 certificate deadline
1 December 2011-- cpd23 blog remains available for
anyone who wants to work through
the course or dip into individual
Things

26. publicity

27. publicity Twitter
blog posts
mailing lists
LIS new
CILIP branches and professionals
groups network
other library word of mouth
associations (explicitly
conferences encouraged)

28. mid-presentation interval

29. mid-presentation interval
remember to look
away from the
screen now and
again to prevent eye
strain!

30. participants
we had

31. participants
we had

32. participants
we had
registered participants

33. participants
there was no obligation to register to participate.
registration meant that other people would know you
were participating, and could find your blog.
we created a feed of participating blogs, so that people
could see who was writing what.
we kept a structured list of those taking part, tagging
them according to location and sector (information
supplied voluntarily at registration).

34. where?
Germany (1)
France (1)
Australia (22) Latvia (4)
Hungary (1) Israel (1)
Italy (8) USA (182)
Ireland (24) Thailand (1)
Netherlands (1)
Sudan (1) Canada (9) Phillipines (1)
UK (511)
Belgium (2) Trinidad & Tobago (1)
India (1)
Serbia (1)
Sweden (1)
Spain (1)
New Zealand (15)

35. types of work?
corporate (33) graduate trainee (11)
arts (1)
FE (74) state library agency (3) unemployed (12) charity (11)
research library (5) architecture (2) special (13)
library association (2) health (57) law (15)
archives (4)
HE (316)
careers service (2) prison (1) information centre (1)
private library (3)
museum library (6)
government (11)
digital repositories (4)
information management (1)
consultant (2) school (61) advocacy (4)
learned society/professional body (3)
freelance (2) national library (4)
communications (1) media (1)
church (1) rare books/special collections (5)
EU information (1)
military (1)
historical society (1) volunteer (6) student/researcher (27)
public (135) IT/systems (4) newspaper (1) social care (1)
automation network (1) retired (1) library service (1)
school

36. relevant to the Historic Libs Forum?
corporate (33) graduate trainee (11)
arts (1)
FE (74) state library agency (3) unemployed (12)
charity (11)
research library (5) architecture (2)
library association (2)
special (13) (57)
health law (15)
archives (4)
HE (316)
careers service (2) prison (1) information centre (1)
private library (3) museum library (6)
government (11)
digital repositories (4)
information management (1)
consultant (2) school (61) advocacy (4)
freelance (2) learned society/professional body (3)
national library (4)
communications (1) media (1)
church (1) rare books/special collections (5)
EU information (1)
military (1)
historical society (1) (6)
volunteer student/researcher (27)
public (135) IT/systems (4) newspaper (1) social care (1)
automation network (1) retired (1) library service (1)
school

37. cpd23 in statistics*
participation:
780+ registered
78 completed evaluation survey
54 registered for completer‟s certificate
most useful Things:
consider your personal brand, creating a blog, meeting the
participants, reflective practice, job applications
*numbers as at 8.11.11

38. highlights
There were hundreds of brilliant blog posts written and
dozens of consistently amusing, thought-provoking or
just plain helpful posts.
Here‟s an exceedingly edited selection taken from
comments on the evaluation form…

39. highlights

40. highlights Helen Murphy‟s posts are
always funny, liberally
sprinkled with attractive
photos, and have plenty to say
about the Things in question.

41. highlights

42. highlights
Nikki was described as “a very
interesting and generous
blogger”

43. highlights

44. highlights A lot of personalities shone
through…

45. highlights

46. Several posts discussed issues
that are central in current
highlights debates about the profession
and stirred up plenty of
discussion themselves.
This one considered the value
of professional organisations
such as CILIP…

47. highlights

48. …this one sprang out of
highlights disagreements about just what
„advocacy‟ means, and how
central it is (or isn‟t) to
professionalism.

49. so, did people enjoy cpd23?
we asked participants to sum up their cpd23-experience
in a six-word story.
here are a few of them…

50. “
I registered, I blogged, I grew
always challenged. sometimes overwhelmed.
never bored.
useful, informative, flexible, enjoyable, quality
resource
jumped in, learnt loads, shared loads

51. “
made me do; made me think.
a positive, career-focused professional
experience
sharing begets sharing. everyone wins: result!
I feel part of a community

52. Complaints?
“I was slightly disappointed that there was less 'new to
me' content. But the new stuff was interesting and I'm
using some of it in my work routines.”
“Some things were a bit tricky to use because they were
filtered at my place of work and I wanted to see how I
could use them in a work context, e.g. dropbox and
Evernote”
“I struggled to keep up-to-date”

53. so what?
why is the „23 Things‟ model
of use or of interest in hard
times?

54. it‟s free

55. bite-sized

56. time it to suit you

57. time it to suit you
dip in and out
make use of small amounts of time
take time off when you‟re busy and
come back later

58. contacts and support

59. contacts and support
social media fosters communication, collaboration,
learning, understanding, recommendations, current
awareness, friendships...

60. tips & tricks: participants
it‟s not a race
engage with other participants: ask for advice, comment
on their posts, share your thoughts
or don‟t: several people took part „silently‟ by reading and
thinking about the Things but not blogging
work with colleague or friend to help each other out and
keep motivated
you don‟t have to like every Thing: keep the good ones
and bin the rest.

61. tips & tricks: organisers
use online tools to manage your workflows, organise your
material, share ideas, hold meetings and to get help
ask for help when you need it
embrace the unexpected and the serendipitous
do plan, but don‟t try to be perfect

62. all images adapted from Creative Commons photographs found on Flickr
Leo Reynolds (1-2, 4-5, 7-9, 12-14, 17-20), Simon Scott (3), CarbonNYC (6), greenchartreuse (11), always13 (10), opusinfinity
(15), duncan (16, 21), Leigh Harris (22), & fraumrau (23)
„wip‟ by Christiane Struck „Highland Theatre‟ by lesley middlemass „designer‟ choloates by Alex Gaylon
„Mankind‟ by Éole Wind ‟57 reasons to rob‟ by Niecieden „clock stencil‟ by Dan Machold
„Free stuff‟ by Lee Bennett „One Pound?‟ by Tom Lynch „puppies‟ by Muchał Grajkowski
See http://bit.ly/ttIvzu for details

63. find out more at
cpd23.blogspot.com
presentation by Katie Birkwood and shared under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence.