PLN adoption

Currently I am mainly at stage 1 of Utecht’s PLN adoption, still trying to identify more people whom I can learn from, more websites where I can obtain information from, and updates of new service as well as latest research on topics that I'm interested in and relevant to my service in a theological school library. These I can achieve by subscribing via RSS to news and updates of personal blogs of information science experts and other librarians, institution websites like ATLA and their journal, and libraries of other theological schools. Moreover, I've created searches on relevant research in various databases and subscribed to alerts on these searches to keep myself updated. I use Netvibes to organize the information from these sources as I find it a very good tool to easily capture RSS from websites and blogs and provide access to my Twitter, Flickr and email accounts in one place.

While I read information online, bookmarking , annotating , adding tags (and sharing them with others) with Diigo, I'm actually experiencing information overload as I often discover new links from the blogs and websites I access. I've attempted to evaluate the connections I have established so far to see if it is appropriate for me to continue with them, realizing that I will not have sufficient time to learn everything. Even now I’ve embarked with stage 2, trying to learn from the resources I've discovered to equip myself to provide better reference service in our library. Theology and philosophy is a new specialty for me. I need to familiarize myself with the important works and references on the one hand, and consider how to reach out to our modest and not-so-eager-to-ask library patrons and provide tailor-made services for them. Aside from meeting them at the front desk, I often find the opportunity to proactively ask and listen to their research needs while having lunch at the canteen. I used to send emails to faculties when I come across information relevant to their subject specialties. Now I’m thinking about using social media to interact with them if our institution permits.

Besides, I also find myself reflecting on the connections I've made and information i’ve perused online while I’m away from my computing devices, pondering how I can use what I’ve learned on library service. I feel I need to learn more about safeguarding one’s social media accounts in terms of privacy and easier and reliable ways of spam detection. i'd also like to explore more on cloud service and its impact on the library. When I become proficient in using social media, I can recommend its use in our library to improve our interaction with patrons and promote the engagement of our staff and students. 

References
Smith, Bethany (2008, Oct 22). Creating an Online Personal Learning Network [slides]. Retrievied from 
http://www.slideshare.net/bethanyvsmith/creating-an-online-personal-learning-network-presentation

Utecht, Jeff. (2008, April 3) Stages of PLN adoption [blog]. The Thinking Stick. Retrieved from
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption/