Thing 4: Twitter and RSS

So I've been busy again.  I've also been dreading Twitter.  I've used twitter while I was employed to keep patrons updated on what was new, when the Twilight books had been returned, when the laminating machines were working -- very pedestrian, but worthwhile sort of stuff.  Now that I'm unemployed, I feel like I don't have much reason to tweet.  I suppose I can set up a new account to just follow everyone else with.  It just seems odd. 
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Okay - Twitter account set up under KellyJPatton. Done.  Following everyone with #CPD23 = 167 tweeters.  Wow.

Now to RSS feeds.  I'm already using RSS feeds to keep up with education reform articles and local education news, so this isn't new to me.  But for some foolish reason, I have never made an RSS feed of all the blogs I like to read.  At this point that seems kind of silly.  I keep them all bookmarked in one folder, but I don't have them in a feed.  Okay, okay. Off I go to create an RSS for library blogs I read on a regular basis.
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Now I see I have an awful lot of reading to do.  Good grief.  It wouldn't hurt to organize those darned bookmarks either.  I have a delicious account, but at some point I decided it was just too much trouble to use it.  Now I think I'd better go back to it, or to something different, because my bookmarks are all messed up.

Next is storify.  I have a lot to learn about this one. But first, lunch.  Maybe a nap as well.

More Thing 3

The more I thought about it, the more I thought a personal logo sounded like a good idea.  Since I'm looking for employment in any kind of library, I really don't want to limit myself with a title like "teaching and learning" but I do want to be memorable in some way to a possible employer.  A nice visual logo seems like a good idea.  I think I've come up with one I can live with for the time being.  It's now at the top of this blog.  Let me know what you think.

Thing 3 - Creating Your Personal Brand

This is going to be an ongoing project for a while I think.  I have googled myself, and there are oodles of Kelly Pattons in the world.  At least three Kelly Pattons in Houston and more than one or two Kelly Jean Pattons in the United States.  However, if I google "Kelly Patton, Houston" or "Kelly Patton Librarian" I find myself in the top ten.

I try to use a fairly, conservative, current photo on my professional sites, and I'm changing them all to the same colors (I decided to use purples and greens from a tartan in the family tree.)  I'm not terribly comfortable with cutesy nicknames, but since my name is so common, I'm wondering if I shouldn't find a "title" for myself.  It's something worth thinking about.

I'm also thinking of designing a personal logo.  I have done some graphic design work in my life, but it's difficult when you are designing a personal logo rather than a targeted (business) logo.  Something I'm still thinking about.

Thing 2: Looking at the Blogs of Others

I've been looking not only at the blogs of other people doing 23 Things, but the blogs of other librarians in my area.  It seems like most librarians are employed and blogging about how things fit in to their jobs in the libraries they work in.  My problem is that I am between jobs.  I was a school librarian, but I have been laid off.  Now I'd like to go into academics, archives or a public library.  Unfortunately with a school librarian certificate and no experience anywhere else, making that change seems to be kind of difficult.

Anyway, learning more is always worthwhile and it has been interesting to see how people work different new things into their current practices.

Thing 1 - Starting Over

Blame it on the Holidays.  I got completely sidetracked in November and then started taking an actual face to face class in database searching which was really difficult, but fantastic. 

I'm also about three poems shy of a poetry book that I've been working on forever, and I'm working on a dissertation proposal, I think.  I'm not certain that's what it's going to be.  It may end up being a blog or a book. 

In any case, it is about overhauling - completely overhauling, not simply reforming public education PK-12.  I'm not ready to take on the higher educational system yet.  But, I do think I have seen an amazing amount of dysfunction in elementary and secondary education.  Unfortunately, until and unless some common sense is imposed on the system, or built into a new version of it, it will simply continue to get worse.

In the meantime, I'm trying to learn as many things as I can that are relevant to library services of any kind, K-12, Academic, Public, Archival, etc.  I have always wanted to be a librarian and I will be one wherever I can.  So, I'm committed to learning as learning as many things as I can about as many areas of librarianship as possible.

Besides.  I just like learning new stuff.