I don’t use my LinkedIn account as much as I probably should. I am sure I am missing out on something, but quite frankly it doesn’t draw and engage me like Facebook or Twitter. Who knows maybe a year from now I will be saying “Oh Facebook and Twitter those are soooo 2011. The new whatcha-madoodle plugin or enhancements have made LinkedIn my new must use tool.” But one of the things I like about LinkedIn are its discussion within groups. I get nice little emails informing me of a new post to the discussion. I can’t explain really why I like the discussion groups in LinkedIn and how I find them different than Facebook conversations. I just do.
I am signed up to multiple groups in LinkedIn most for personal interest like U.S. Masters Swimming and St. Louis Cardinals Fans. I am a member of the Medical Library Association group, but ironically most of the groups I belong to on the “professional” social networking site are personal. Some of the groups are a little more chatty than others but I guess one of the reasons I like the discussion part of it more than Facebook is that the chatter tends to remain on topic and even the chattiest of my groups isn’t nearly as busy as Facebook (at least in my groups).
The Medical Library Association group is not chatty at all. In fact I think it is more of a gathering of medical librarians instead of a group discussing things (that is much the same on their Facebook page). Perhaps that is because we medical librarians still do most of our chatting on Medlib-l.
As new topics and trends come to light, groups often emerge from them. The latest one to emerge that might be of interest to librarians is the Career Sustainability group. It appears their are two Career Sustainability group, this one is for librarians and was created by Deb Hunt.
About the group:
I see my colleagues struggling with layoffs and job insecurity. Yet there are vast opportunities for information professionals and I want to see us benefit from those opportunities.
We must add flexibility, insight, and recognition of opportunity to our essential core skills! We need to move outside our comfort zone and reflect on our accomplishments so we can communicate them to current, future and prospective employers or clients. Else, how will they know what we can do and what we bring to the table?
It is a new group but it already has a lively discussion regarding tips people can share on keeping your career sustainable. While I haven’t chimed in yet, I enjoy reading the responses. I hope the group continues to grow and discuss things. If you are on LinkedIn or are thinking of joining it, ou might want to consider joining the Career Sust
Sustainability Librarians is a new LinkedIn group.