Goodbye and thanks for all the fish!

Yesterday was the last day of my secondment with QUT Kelvin Grove Library Reference Creative Industries team as Reference Librarian. I'd been working as the reference librarian since May this year, and had also (in recent weeks) picked up another secondment as monographs assistant in Library Resource Services for one day a week - that is now also finished. So on Tuesday 3rd January 2006 I will return to my substantive position of Document Delivery Assistant at QUT Gardens Point Library

I have not been in my substantive position since May 2004 so it is almost like starting all over again. And considering I go on maternity leave in 5 weeks time, it seems hardly worth returning. However, I bring back many skills and experiences that I hope to be able to share with the Document Delivery team before embarking on maternity leave. See my full resume to track my secondment travels: http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann/onlineresumes.htm

This is the thing with secondments, they usually, at some point come to an end and it is not always easy for the secondee or the secondees teams to deal with. Depending on the length of secondment and level of enjoyment/challenge one has obtained from being seconded, the difficulty level varies. For me I think it will be difficult. It is definately sad leaving reference behind as it was such a great experience and I worked for such a great team - but then leaving Library Systems in May this year was also difficult due to the working relationships I built.

Alas, I take it in my stride and know that I will be facing a greater life challenge in the coming months, that of becoming a mother!! 8-) A challenge I look forward to but also am very nervous about.

Human Resources Policies - Secondments

I did some more searching today and came across many Human Resources policies concerning secondments. Unfortunately, the majority of the policies were University policies. This is good in that I have found some policies but most are very similar to QUT's. I'm interested in City Council policies, government department policies and the like.

I find it quite frustrating that in local, state and federal government websites, human resources policies are pretty much hidden from public eye. If anyone has a valid reason for this, please let me know. Also, if anyone knows of any policies out there concerning staff secondments within local, state or federal goverment departments, can you please forward me the details of how to find them!! http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann

At least my research is going somewhere now, as I have many policies to go on.

My other interest is to discover if it makes a difference if you are a librarian or a library technician as to how many secondment opportunities are available to you. If anyone has some comments on that topic, I'd be happy to hear them.

On a side note, I saw the new Harry Potter movie today and must recommend it!! 8-)

Surveys and more surveys

Being one of those people that hates being phoned in the middle of dinner only to answer and find that it is someone wanting to survey me, I've never been keen on surveying people myself. Probably why when I developed a short survey for my scholarship research I decided it would be in email format so a person could answer at the leisure.

The other day I sent off my first survey's to a list of contacts I'd put together for my scholarship. So far out of the 10 or so I sent, I have received 2 replies saying that they have either forwarded it to the person most likely to answer my questions, or they are unable to answer at this point due to workload but will get back to me in the new year. I probably chose the wrong time to send out a survey - being the silly season and all - with most people going on holidays, so I will send a follow up email in the new year to jog people's memories.

I have also called on my fellow LIS professionals to assist me. I have done this through utilising ALIA's email elists: http://alia.org.au/alianet/e-lists/ I am hoping people are in the Christmas mode of caring and sharing and they will be able to assist me with getting even more info on how libraries offer secondments.

I suppose my worst nightmare would be receiving very few responses and then I suppose I'd have to get drastic and start telephoning people!! 8-)

On a side note, I've reached the 28 week mark of my pregnancy and am rather large - although I know I will get larger. I am interested to see how I cope being a new mum and completing my research project and my studies and anything else I decide to take on. I'd like to hear from other mum's who've successfully managed to balance family and career - so please contact me: http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann

I have also thrown together a conference paper abstract for the upcoming New Librarians Symposium 3 - http://conferences.alia.org.au/newlibrarian2006/ I hope to be able to speak about how I have coped with doing my scholarship and being a new mum. I feel this topic will be of great interest to our profession which is predominately female. Many of us, me included, think that our careers have to be put on hold to create and raise a family, but I'm hoping that this is not the case. Regardless, I will be finding out!! And then writing about it!! 8-)

Enough reflecting - back to the real work!!

Blog Marketing Plans

Back again.

I was lucky enough to win 2 free career coaching sessions with Geraldine Barkworth - Bold Women, Big Ideas - at the ALIA neXt conference in September. I have completed the 2 sessions with Geraldine and got so much out of them that I have planned another session with her in 6mths time - just to make sure I'm on track.

The main reason I wanted career coaching was to gain some ideas of how to deal with the challenges of being a new mum and keeping a foot in the door whilst on maternity leave - i.e. not losing what I had worked hard to build up. I was a bit afraid of dropping off the radar once I start maternity leave. But with the scholarship to complete and some other ideas discussed with Geraldine, it is unlikely that will happen.

One of the things we discussed was creating a marketing plan for my blog - this one!! I have tried advertising on the ALIA elists but I only get short term responses. What I'd like to know is how do you ensure that people keep checking back with your blog to see what you've done since the last post, and how to ensure that there is constant feedback??!! If anyone has any ideas, please share them with me - http://www.alia.org.au/~suthmann for contact details.

For those interested in career coaching - something I'd recommend if you are a bit lost at which direction you are going, or you need some coaching in things like time management, then please contact me and I will forward you Geraldine's details!!