The following email from Melanie Brebner about journal discussion groups may be of interest.  As Melanie writes, “Everyone is welcome; you do not need to be a tertiary librarian, professionally registered, or a member of TELSIG or LIANZA to join”. It’s a great way to meet other librarians and it is informal and relaxed. To join a group, please email Melanie

Kia ora koutou, ngā mihi o te tau hou,

I hope you have all had a good break and are ready to start working on your New Year’s resolutions. What better way to start on your professional development off on the right foot, than to join a  TELSIG Journal Discussion Group?

It’s a great way to motivate yourself to regularly read LIS literature, communicate ideas with other librarians, and network (the physical groups usually manage to squeeze in a dinner or two throughout the year).

Many group members have also been able to take new ideas back to the workplace. And, it’s a good way to fill in an activity or two in your revalidation journal.

Everyone is welcome; you do not need to be a tertiary librarian, professionally registered, or a member of TELSIG or LIANZA to join.

If you are interested, just send me an email.

Here are the article and questions for January’s journal discussion group meeting:

BoK Cluster 1: Understanding the Information Environment

Greenland, K. (2013). Negotiating self-presentation, identity, ethics, readership and privacy in the LIS blogosphere: a review of the literature. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 44(4), 217-225.

Discussion questions:

• Do you write a blog? If so, why? What about? Is it private or public? Is it personal or for your job?
• Do you read blogs? If so, why? What are they? How do they help you professionally?  If not, why not?
• Can you maintain your privacy if you write publicly?
• Are you, as blog author, accountable for the comments on your blog entries? Should they be mediated by you to ensure you control the content?
• Do you agree that publicly blogging as a librarian, means you potentially are representative of all (or a subset of) librarians as a result of your writing? If so, how might this affect what you write?

Ngā mihi,

Melanie

Melanie Brebner

(TELSIG Journal Discussion Group Co-ordinator)