I delivered this paper at an L2L event called 'Best Practice for Communicating Library Initiatives and Research; How to Get Noticed' at the Instititute of Technology Carlow. This was one of the L2L (Library Staff Learning to Support Learners Learning) events run by Carlow IoT, DKIT & DIT Libraries in their National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education funded seminars.

1. Building your profile
one word at a time.
Presented by:
Michelle Breen, Glucksman Library, University of Limerick

2. About me
• I’ve written a lot of words
• I transcribed the RTÉ GUIDE
• I won a ‘Super A’ writer prize in primary school
• Fortunate to have had 2 excellent bosses who were
expert writers and benefited from having them
correct what I wrote
• One word at a time, I’ve written myself the online
story I want the world to see

3. Activities that underpin an online profile,
my examples:
2000 - 2006
Prepared slideshows, talks and training
material.
Wrote for an internal company magazine;
introduced me to writing and captioning.
2006 – 2012
More slideshows, training, conference papers.
2013 – 2018 Conference posters, magazine
article, 2 peer-reviewed journal articles.

4. Activities that build your online profile,
my examples:
• Always put my hand up for new opportunities and
volunteered for things
• Became actively involved in LAI & CONUL
• Stayed in touch with my professional network
through listservs and events
• Actively engaged in Twitter
• Always have an up to date LinkedIn profile
• Used SlideShare and set up my own blog
• Set up an ORCID ID and a Research Gate profile
• Am a serial networker and regular presenter/public
speaker

5. Despite all of this . . .

6. Reality Check.
Do an incognito
Google Search*
*this might hurt

7. Establish
presence
Enhance
discovery
Increase
dissemination
Tell your story
Tell the world about the things that you are proud of

8. • ORCID
• Research Gate
• Your Institution’s Research Profile page
• Your Institutional Repository for
Research Output
• LinkedIn
• SlideShare
• Google Scholar
For full time researchers I would
recommend some or all of the following

9. • LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Own blog or other blog e.g. LibFocus to
get noticed online
Library staff could focus on

10. Establish
presence
Enhance
discovery
Increase
dissemination
Tell your story
Remember.
Tell the world about the things that you are proud of

11. Your online profile
has a cornerstone.
It’s you.

12. You
Twitter
account
LinkedIn
page
Blog

13. 5 golden rules for your online profile
1. Use one consistent name, there is no excuse for a
Twitter account called JingleBells76.
2. Use a good quality photo of yourself – get a friend to
take one and update your online accounts.
3. Complete your profile, whether it’s LinkedIn, your blog,
or Twitter. If you can’t sustain 3 profiles just use one.
4. Be active, participate, reflective and friendly online.
5. Tag people, say thank you, be generous in your
comments and share useful and interesting things,
from interesting people.

14. Thank you
Happy to take questions,
now or later
michelle.breen@ul.ie