Invaluable connections
A great start for the first tweetup. Busy with people I didn't know, people I only know digitally and people I have known in the past and are now doing other wonderful librarian and information jobs. I made a connection with someone in schools library and invited them to a workshop I am running soon - their background is ideal and yet I would never have considered them before. A law librarian who travelled from Dundee shared the pros and cons of being a solo worker with me. I hear too that someone was so motivated by the evening that they are pushing to submit their CILIP Chartership soon.
What other attendees are saying
Blog posts about the event, written by Lynn Corrigan and Cathy Kearney, have already appeared.
In addition, the organiser Anabel Marsh has shared her thoughts and learnings about the running of the event itself.
1. Twitter may not be the best method for marketing an event. People drop in and out of twitter and even with RT'ing it is not fool proof.
2. People signed up without twitter names - made it trickier for contacting (even tho folks were asked to supply)
3. Venue and timing can be difficult - not really knowing how many folks will turn up or even sign up for
4. Venue wasn't ideal - was a room but not great for a lot of moving around for the ice-breaker. Tied into point 3 as to what to book.
An epic win!
Our first attempt at being more socialable librarians (#GLTU) was informally assessed as being a winner. I met an interesting bunch of people, we had a good laugh and I came away with ideas that affect my work. #EPICWIN as we say on twitter.
Joanna Ptolomey is an information specialist and librarian with over 10 years professional experience. She is involved in SHINe (Scottish Health Information Network) and is a contributing editor for FreePint.
Image courtesy of eldh via Twitter.