Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events

OK... as I need to channel off the excess energy from Wales beating the Irish someplace I thought I'd try catching up with my blog, at least a little bit!


Attending
I've attended a couple of things since starting at the National Library of Wales. I've probably attended more training days than anything else, though most of these have been internal, I did attend one external CILIP training day last November 'Moving into Management' but in general all my training has been internal. This has given me the chance to get to know people from other departments who I probably wouldn't have much, if anything to do with during my day to day work. It's also given the library the chance to ensure that I have the skills that they want when it comes to things like managing staff.

I have also attended a couple of NEWSPLAN Wales conferences, that is the ones that have been held in the National Library as my line manager thinks this is important to me. These events have been really interesting to see how things are being handled all over Wales. While I didn't really get the chance to socialise with people as much as I would've liked due mostly to shyness, I was lucky enough to get to talk to Ed King who had come to Aber for the event! And was very kind in beginning a conversation with the lonely shy person in the corner! :)

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to attend the Gregynog Colloquium which I've spoken about in an earlier blog. And I've also been to a cpd23 meet up in Cardiff which was great fun! These two events are probably the best I've attended for giving me contacts. Though it probably helps that some of the people were the same.

Presenting
Again this isn't something I've done much of. I had the opportunity to talk about the importance of digitising newspapers to NEWSPLAN Wales early last year, and did a presentation about the content of the volumes the library are digitising to the Chapters members of the National Library. I particularly enjoyed this one as the contents of the newspapers really fascinate me and it was interesting to see what other people were interested in. There was one lady who speaking about her Grandmother had experienced an earthquake back in the early 1900s which I'd happened to talk about, apparently the family had always though she must be mistaken!

I was also lucky enough to speak at the Gregynog Conference. Again see the Gregynog Conference blog or for the presentation itself see Thing 10.

My main problems with these was the actual Presenting as I'm rather shy and the idea of standing up in front of a bunch of strangers (even friendly librarian strangers) terrifies me more than you could ever believe. However I've a feeling that the more I do the better I'll come at doing it. I also like to make sure my hints to myself are actually a part of the slide. That way I just can't forget something or mix up any cards I'm holding or something dreadful like that. Maybe with time I'll become a confident public speaker but I have the oddest feeling that that is just not going to happen somehow.

Organising
I've never organised an event. And so I'm not going to comment on this. If the day ever comes when it happens I'll probably blog about it.

Love your Library? Give it a cwtch!

As I was saying the other day, the National Library of Wales is currently celebrating the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone. And as a part of that, today the staff and the public will be giving it a cwtch (this is better than a hug for the misinformed non Welsh people who've never heard of a cwtch before), to show our appreciation for this guardian of Welsh knowledge and history. Therefore this afternoon we shall all troop outside showing our colours (we'll be wearing Red) and give the National Library a cwtch. For more details click here.
____________________________________________________________

Fel yr oeddwn i'n dweud y diwrnod arall, mae Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru yn dathlu canmlwyddiant gosod y Garreg Sylfaen. Fel rhan o hyn fydd staff a darllenwyr y llyfrgell yn rhoi cwtch i'r llyfrgell, i ddangos ein gwerthfawrogiad o warcheidwad gwybodaeth a hanes Cymru. O ganlyniad fe fyddwn ni gyd yn cerdded tu allan yn dangos ein lliwiau (fe fyddwn yn gwisgo coch) ac yn rhoi cwtch i'r llyfrgell. Am fwy o wybodaeth gwasgwch fan hyn.

Teisen Penblwydd - Birthday Cake

http://yfrog.com/z/kjcqlzwej

Y Llyfrgell ar film

English at the bottom.

Dim ond nodyn cyflym i ddweud rhywbeth bach answyddogol am ddathliadau canmlwyddiant Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru. Nid canmlwyddiant y llyfrgell fel sefydliad neu hyd yn oed fel adeilad ond canmlwyddiant gosod y Gareg Sylfaen. Careg enfawr yn edrych mae'n rhaid dweud.

'Da beth dros i'r trydiau nesaf (yn cynnwys heddiw) mae'r llyfrgell yn dathlu gyda digwyddiadau yn y Drwm. Heddiw roedd yna rhai hen ffilmiau yn dangos y llyfrgell yn cael ei chwarae yn y Drwm. Fe es i ac eraill o staff y llyfrgell, ynghyd a'r cyhoedd i weld beth oedd "Y Llyfrgell ar ffilm" amdano. Gweld "patchwork" o hen ffilmiau gwnaethon ni, "patchwork" a oedd yn dangos hanes y llyfrgell, yr adeilad, y trysorau a'r staff.

Wrth wylio'r film fe wnes i sylwi ar faint mae pethau wedi mewid, does dim angen y "Card Catalogue" rhagor, 'na beth ma'r cyfrifiadur yn ei wneud. Does dim hyd yn oed rhaid i'r darllenwyr i ddod i'r llyfrgell mae 'na llawer o wybodaeth ar gael ar y wefan. Llawer o lawysgrifau a llyfrau pwysig ein hanes fel gwlad wedi ei ddigido ac ar gael i bawb yn y byd heb iddyn nhw orfod gadael ei cadair eistedd. A mae 'na mwy o wybodaeth yn mynd ar y wefan drwy'r amser, fydd yna 2 filiwn o dudalennau ychwanegol ar gael pan fydd y prosiect dwi'n gweithio ar wedi gorffen.

Ond mae hyn yn gadael y pwynt, beth o'n i'n meddwl dweud oedd er fod hyn i gyd wedi newid, er fod technoleg wedi neidio ymlaen dros i'r ganrif ddwethaf mae yna o hyd pethau sydd ddim yn newid. Mae'r llyfrgell o hyd yn gwarchod ac yn rhannu trysorau ein gwlad, hanes ein gwlad. Ac er fod llawer o bethau wedi newid dros i'r ganrif ddwethaf mae prif elfennau gwaith y llyfrgell wedi sefyll yr un peth. Rydym ni yma i warchod Hanes ein gwlad.

___________________________________________________________

Only a quick note to say something quickly and unofficially about the National Library of Wales's centenary celebrations. Not the centenary of the library as an institution or even as a building but of the laying of the foundation stone, which was prett massive I must say.

However over the course of the next three days (counting today) the library will be holding a series of events in the Drwm. Today there were a series of films from over the last century. Myself and some of my colleagues from the library, along with members of the public went along to see what the "Library on Film" was all about. What it was, was a "patchwork" of films all stitched together showing the history of the library, the building, the treasures and the staff.

While watching the film I was msing over how things have changed over the century. For example there's no need to use a card catalogue anymore, that's what computers are for. And then there is so much information on the web page that in many cases people don't have to come to the library building itself anymore. There is so much available on the website, the treasures of our country, manuscripts and books alike available all over the world, and people don't even have to leave their armchairs. All the time extra resources are being uploaded to the internet. The project I'm currently working on will contain an extra 2 million pages.

However this is besides the point. What I meant to say was that despite the fact that everything has changed so drastically, despite the giant leaps technology has taken over the last century many things remain the same. The library still protects and give access to our heritage, our treasures. despite everything the main aim of the library has stayed the same. We are here to protect out countries heritage.