Valerie Hill discusses the importance of professional networking in the digital age. As information has become decentralized online, librarians must adapt their roles and curate information through participatory culture. Hill emphasizes developing an authentic online presence through networking tools like Twitter and virtual worlds to share knowledge and stay informed of emerging technologies. She models digital citizenship for students by maintaining distinct personal and professional personas online, and urges other information professionals to explore new formats for sharing information and prepare students for online participation.

1. Building Your Professional Career
with Networking
A school librarian’s perspective.
Valerie J. Hill, PhD
Ethridge Elementary Librarian
Lewisville ISD
TWU Adjunct Instructor
A Panel Discussion
Texas Library Association Convention 2013
Fort Worth, Texas

2. Why is aWhy is a
PLNPLN
imperative?imperative?

3. Professional Networking
in Digital Culture
My school library is now in my pocket.

4. The Information Hierarchy has Toppled.

5. In the old hierarchy,
information had gatekeepers.
There were both pros and cons.

6. Who were the gatekeepers?
(publishers, librarians, experts)
If anyone can curate and publish
online, what happens?
“…the news ethic that once propelled
these organizations is being displaced
by a focus on dollars and cents, and by a
resultant shift toward entertainment
and superficiality over investigation and
analysis.” p. 183

7. What is our role now?
We can blaze new trails through professional networking.

8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fonsen/4892731839/sizes/l/
The flood gates of participatory culture have opened.

9. http://robcroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2595497078_4f6d5367bc.jpg

10. Quick Side Note:
Finding out who said it is NOT unimportant
(intentional double negative here).
Today, in addition to “citing” we can follow
on twitter.
I looked up who said the quote on the last
side and now follow him.

11. Now we live in participatory
culture.
We are online 24-7.
My library is in my pocket.
The only way I can learn how
to prepare my students for
“thriving online” is through
professional networking.
This book was written way
back in 2012!

12. JOB #1: Preparing students for participatory culture

13. Two Personas
Not just 1!
Identity in Physical Space Identity Online

14. WhereWhere are you virtually visible?
You certainly do not HAVE to be on any single content creation/curation site.
Choose purposefully.

15. WHO are you online?
Consider a personal mission statement.
Do your digital footprints reflect your
purpose, your vision, your passion
(expressed or inferred)?

16. Valerie Hill, PhD
Adjunct Instructor Library Science
School Librarian
Information Literacy Specialist
Past President Beta Phi Mu
ACRL VWIG Convener 2012-2013
Valibrarian in Virtual Worlds
Blog: Valibrarian
Twitter @valibrarian
Machinimatographer
Virtual Exhibits, MOOCs, Emerging
Technology

17. Who is Valibrarian?
“My goal is to help students and lifelong
learners navigate the “sea of chaos” as
information seekers in physical, virtual
and augmented worlds.”

18. “Val” + “Librarian”= my professional brand.
I put my professional image in my online name.
It just happened, but now I am glad it did.
Anne Frank Virtual World Museum & MOOC

19. Be who you are!
Physical, Virtual, or Augmented
Physical World Librarian Virtual World Librarian
Be willing to explore and share new formats: Augmented
Reality, Gamification, User-generated Content, Content
Curation, MOOCs and whatever else emerges.

20. Professional Networking
Topics to Follow (currently):
• Information literacy in the digital age
• Emerging tech trends in information &
education (example- MOOCs, Augmented
Reality, Gamification)
• Best tools for sharing content (Web 2.0,
Content Curation)
• Digital citizenship
• 21st
Century learning standards

21. How can you develop your online professional image?
Authenticity, Transparency, and Trust (Are you the real YOU?)

22. Professional networking is open-minded.
We learn from
a variety of perspectives…..
Many colors!

23. Learn from our colleagues.

24. Balancing personal / professional

25. Can we information professionals model digital citizenship?
“Young people announce every detail of
their lives on services like Twitter not to
show off, but to avoid the closed door at
bedtime, the empty room, the screaming
vacuum of an isolated mind.” p. 180
“What “self-expression” does not mean is the
making of art- of any kind of art, popular or
high.” p. 53

26. Participatory culture contributes to the flood of
information online.

27. Teaching Digital Citizenship
& 21st
Century Learning

28. We all live in virtual communities now
(whether or not you have an avatar).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luc/1824234195/

29. My current favorite networking tools:
• Twitter
• Virtual worlds (Cost effective presentations)
• Content curation (ScoopIt, Zite, Flipboard)
• RSS (Google Reader RIP- now Feedly)
• Slideshare, Google Hangouts, Youtube
• LinkedIN
• Google apps
Be willing to learn a new tool and let go of an old one.

30. WIKIS

31. Example: Ning

32. Professional Organizations
Personal Choice: Where can you learn and where can you contribute?

33. “It may be that the great age of libraries is waning, but I am
here to tell you that the great age of librarians is just
beginning. It’s up to you to decide if you want to be a part of
it.”
~T. Scott Plutchakhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/7255333900/

34. Bibliography
ALA (2012). Standards for the 21st
Century Learner.
http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandard
s/standards
Barlow. A. and R. Leston. (2012). Beyond the Blogosphere: Information
and Its Children. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.
Bigfoto (2012) http://www.bigfoto.com/
Gant, Scott. (2007). We’re All Journalists Now. New York: Free Press.
Lanier, J. (2011). You are not a gadget. New York: Random House.
Rheingold, Howard. (2012) Netsmart: How to Thrive Online.
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Seigel, Lee. (2008). Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of
the Electronic Mob. New York: Spiegel &Grau.
Solomon, Laura. (2011). Doing Social Media so it Matters :A Librarian's
Guide . Chicago: American Library Association.