Thursday 14 September 2017

Thing2, Class, Call, Dewey – What’s in a number?

A new academic year. New semester, new students, new systems, new courses, new terminology,
new “Things” all converging in this new Blogosphere. A new world of words for the Fresher, the Librarian, the Library Assistant, the Web Loggers and the New Bloggers….!

Returning last week after a two year leave of absence I could fully empathise with our Freshers. The world of the academic library can indeed be a daunting hurdle if you are new to it .
As a first year student you have only just begun to feel at home in the physical environment of the library , corralled into designated study spaces  and operating  in a new form of working silence  surrounded by book stacks and fellow collegians when you are also faced with the task of Logging – On.

The library world immediately takes off into the clouds of the wider world web and the library and you are for ever embedded in the another sphere … immersed in a world of secret passwords one day and open access another…..Confused….hang on please... this is only the beginning….!

 Freshers , take a bow , all of you are to be congratulated……..You have not only  managed in these first few days to find your feet, while securing your claim to  your favourite “spot” in the library but  you have allowed yourselves to stretch your imagination  to open to  the wider world of the embedded library.
This week with Thingy 2 hanging over  my head…the blogosphere waiting and the prospect of my “newness” exposed on the web I realise I had become complacent in my approach to these new “Fresher” Students.
 It has been their freshness and energy that has refocused my thinking and shaped my actions this week. Their ability to get on with it. “To Get it Done” has impressed me.
As  I attempt to enter this “ new world” as a Blogging Fresher I owe our students a great gratitude.

Watching them engage with the library this week, our terminology, our rules, our systems and our processes I have gained courage to face the task of entering the new world of the Bloggers.

My Blog today is dedicated to all first year third level students and especially to my son Robin (CIT FRESHER) who I miss this week…..as he, like thousands of others, begin a new way of living, laughing and learning in this wider world..
They can teach us much if we take the time to laugh and learn with them…they have helped me to embrace and embed myself  in this new world of  the blogosphere with greater courage....!

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