Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 2, 2016,
In :
Professional
A couple of days ago I attended the annual Design Futures Forum (agIdeas), hosted by Ideas On Design at the Melbourne Convention Centre. It was a great event, and the calibre of the speakers was amazing.
Nick spoke about his career in automotive design, including some cutting edge futures work. He finished with a 5 minute live demonstration of creating a new car design, which was really interesting to watch.
Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, May 30, 2016,
In :
Creativity
Wow, time has really flown this year! All of a sudden #blogjune has come around again and it's time to dust off all the draft blog posts that I've been cogitating on (sometimes in writing, but mostly in my head) and hit that publish button again and again. But before that starts, I just wanted to share some long overdue news properly ...
This year I've taken a year off work to study visual arts full-time :)
As many of my friends will know, I love creating and making. Although for many years I'v... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Monday, November 9, 2015,
In :
Professional
Last week I finished work at OCLC, having been there for just over 18 months. It's been a great experience, doing something different to any library-related job I've had before. I love to learn and take on new challenges, and I'm proud of the work I did at OCLC.
One of the best parts about working there is the people. Such a fantastic team of professionals who really care about providing high quality service to libraries. People who are intelligent, dedicated, passionate, knowledgeable and gen... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 5, 2015,
In :
Professional
This year I passed my 10 year anniversary of working in libraries. I've been thinking about the journey I've taken over that time - the things I've done, the skills I've learned, the places I've worked, the people I've met, and the friends I've made. So please forgive the listy-listy-list nature of this blog post, as I take a trip down memory lane ...
I have worked in university, parliamentary, TAFE (vocational education), special, and corporate libraries. I also did a work placement in public... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, May 6, 2014,
In :
Professional
A lot has happened since my last blog update, and life has been stupidly busy. But a little bit of breathing space has finally opened up again, and I'm finding my way back towards a (hopefully) manageable routine.
My sisters and I have been working really hard to prepare the family home for sale. It's sad for all of us to part with this house that has been in the family for nearly 80 years and is full of memories. We also haven't had much time to work with, as we need to raise the bond for the... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, January 29, 2014,
Long time, no blog.
We arrived back in Melbourne in July last year (gosh, 'last year' makes it sound so long ago!) after an amazing holiday in the Kimberley. We're now back in our own lovely home, and have enjoyed settling back in to the house and working in our garden. Melbourne's predictably unpredictable weather is certainly a change that takes some getting used to, but it's nice not to be hot all the time (although it's very hot some of the time!).
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, May 30, 2013,
In :
Professional
Well, we are on the move once more! This is a short post for a lot of news, but time is limited so here goes ...
Just after Easter, I submitted my resignation at the university I've worked at for the last 3 years. It was both a hard and easy decision. Hard because I loved my job and the team I worked with. Easy because I miss my family, and as time went on I struggled more and more with the Darwin climate.
So we're returning to Melbourne (again). My last day at work was a couple of weeks ago, a... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Sunday, April 7, 2013,
In :
Travel
Last weekend (the Easter long weekend) marked the end of the busiest time of year for a liaison librarian in an academic library. The beginning of first semester is incredibly busy, with heaps of classes to plan, prepare and deliver - as well as an orientation program to run, lecturers to assist with unit readings, and of course lots and lots of students needing help.
So it was lovely to have a few days off to relax and enjoy myself, for what felt like the first time in months!
Posted by Sally Cummings on Saturday, June 2, 2012,
In :
Professional
I returned to Darwin at the end of April, and also to working on campus again after 6 months of working remotely from Melbourne. It's great to be back :)
On my first day back on campus, my fellow liaison librarians surprised me with a wonderful office makeover! How lucky I am to work with such amazing people, and to be welcomed back in such style!
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, December 29, 2011,
Wow. What a crazy couple of months it's been.
Sometime it's seemed like a string of disasters ... but there have been highs as well as lows. I haven't blogged (and probably won't blog) in detail about some of the things that stressed me out at the time - partly because I'm a bit of a slack blogger (did you notice?), but mostly because I prefer not to vent on my blog. So I've waited until I've got a bit of distance on recent events, and can now provide you with a brief summary of the ups and do...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, October 28, 2011,
In :
Professional
I've made a few veiled references lately to being busy and making plans, but have been keeping the details under wraps until things were a bit more solid. Well, I think it's pretty well confirmed now, to the point where I feel comfortable talking about it online ...
For family reasons, we're coming back to Melbourne for about six months.
We're already in the middle of packing the house up and arranging the move, which is why we've both been so under the hammer lately. I'm flying out next week, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, October 28, 2011,
In :
Professional
Gosh, three weeks have now passed since I delivered my presentation on "Twitter for professional development and career progression" at the ALIA Top End Symposium. I didn't mean to wait so long before posting about it, but life has been so busy!
My presentation time was 10 minutes, so I didn't have time to discuss all (or even most) of the findings from my survey. So I selected some of the key results and findings that I hoped would resonate with my audience, along with a few of the fabulous c... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, October 5, 2011,
In :
Technology
I've been looking for a good excuse to use Wordle for ages, and I finally found one :)
This Wordle was created using the comments made by respondents in my recent survey about "Twitter for professional development and career progression". It will be part of my presentation to the ALIA Top End Symposium, 7-8 October 2011.
(click on the image to see a larger version)
Wordle generates "word clouds" (similar to tag clouds) that display the most commonly used words in the text that you provide. The ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, September 21, 2011,
In :
Professional
Whoops - I thought I'd already published this blog post, but I just found it still languishing in my drafts folder *slaps forehead*
I received an absolutely amazing response to my survey on Twitter for professional development and career progression. I'm so grateful to the many, many people who took the survey. And to all those who retweeted (passed along) my survey info to their own Twitter followers - you definitely helped the survey reach a wider audience than it would have otherwise, and I... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, September 9, 2011,
In :
Professional
I've created a short survey (about 10 minutes) that seeks to answer some questions relating to how library and information workers use Twitter for professional development and career progression. The results will be presented at the ALIA Top End Symposium on 7-8 October 2011, and may be extended into a paper at a later date.
If you work (or study) in the library or information industry, please help me out by taking this survey. I would really appreciate it!
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 23, 2011,
In :
Professional
Do you ever forget how good you are at your job?
I do. But today I had a nice little reminder.
A researcher needed help to locate a health questionnaire that had been published in a journal. She'd made some headway, but was stumped when it came to finding the full-text. I took her through a few steps about finding out which database holds a particular journal in full-text, how to navigate through a journal's archive to find an article, using the reference list in an article to locate source doc... Continue reading ...
For those who haven't visited my blog before, I work as a Liaison Librarian (Health Sciences) at a regional University in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. We're in the middle of our summer break, so there aren't many students ab... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, September 23, 2010,
Hello, did you miss me? ;)
I've been in Darwin for 7 weeks now, but the time has absolutely flown! I'll try to make this a quick catch-up, with more blog posts to come ...
We lived out of hotel rooms for the first 3 weeks, before finding and moving into a house here in Darwin. By Darwin standards, we were lucky to find a place so quickly! Of course, we're paying through the nose, but that's a given here. The house is close-ish to my work, it's got air-conditioning in every room, a plunge pool a... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, August 3, 2010,
When I first set up this blog, it was partly with the intention of using it to keep my family and friends up-to-date with my life when I moved interstate. Well, now it's finally time to start doing just that!
I arrived in Darwin last night. The weather is perfect. The serviced apartment that I'm staying at is great, and is centrally located in the CBD. Everything feels both familiar and unfamiliar. Love it!
Tim and I have had a crazy few weeks getting ready for this move. Unfortunately, Tim won...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, July 16, 2010,
Whee! We're off to Darwin!
We've been looking forward to this day for some time :) We had to postpone our plans a couple of times due to finances and family circumstances, but now the time is right and everything is falling into place!
I've landed a liaison librarian position at the university in Darwin - starting in about 2 weeks(!). I'm looking forward to it so much! :) And I'm getting some good vibes about my new employer too, everyone's been really helpful and friendly so far.
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, June 11, 2010,
Just a few days ago I was talking about plans on this blog. Well, Tim and I were pretty set on our latest plan, and excitedly looking forward to putting it into action.
And then ... I saw a job advertisement in my inbox. All of a sudden, we're looking at a completely different possible future - also an exciting one.
So instead of all the things that I expected to be doing tonight, we ended up hashing out the pros and cons of our two options, which included doing sums to figure out what we could... Continue reading ...
Man, oh man, oh man! It really has been ages since I last blogged!
Whilst I won't go into all the reasons why I've been a bit quiet online lately (let's just say I tend to withdraw from the world when I'm under stress), there have been a few changes in my life lately ...
Our long-anticipated move north is on hold (again), this time due to family circumstances. We may still be looking at moving in July/August, but it will very much depend on what else is happening at the time. We'll just have to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Friday, December 11, 2009,
I've just finished labouring over the job application that I mentioned yesterday. I've now sent it in, and I think it was a good effort in the end (although my chances for this position are only so-so). I'm kind of buzzing actually - a bit like the feeling you get after completing a work project or handing in a Uni assignment!
I'm also feeling very fortunate today. In the lead-up to submitting the application, I was lucky enough to receive assistance from several fellow librarians in different... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Tuesday, December 8, 2009,
In :
Professional
Woohoo! I spent a good-sized chunk of the last few months working on my e-portfolio for a Uni subject, and today I received my marks - a High Distinction! The lecturer's feedback was great too: "Excellent portfolio, well done, the best by far". Squee!
Alright, I'll stop showing off about it now ;). But it was great to hear that the work that I put into the e-portfolio paid off. Unlike most other Uni assignments, the e-portfolio involved a great deal of self-reflection about my past and present... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, October 7, 2009,
In :
Professional
A few weeks ago, a dear former supervisor of mine passed away. He was a good man, and I very much enjoyed working with him and learning from him in my previous career in the public service. He was someone who I considered to be a valuable mentor to me, although not in any formal sense.
My reflections on this sad event, combined with a discussion on Twitter at the time about mentoring arrangements, had me thinking about the mentors - in my case they were usually also supervisors - who have enco... Continue reading ...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Wednesday, July 22, 2009,
In :
Professional
This Friday is my last day at the special Government library where I work. My main role for 2 years has been a combination of conducting client (end user) training and reference duties, but I also spent 6 months selecting and indexing journal articles for an in-house database.
I've had such a wonderful time - I've learnt so much and gained confidence in my skills in several new areas. I'll be sad to leave this unique library and my first-rate colleagues, but I'm also looking forward to the nex...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, June 25, 2009,
Tim and I are now planning to move to Darwin early next year (probably February) rather than late this year. The reason is a mixture of finances, renovations required to rent out our house, and an aversion to moving to the tropics in the middle of the build up.
At the end of July I'll finish work at the beautiful library where I'm currently employed. Rather than do temp work until the move, I decided that this seems like a pretty great opportunity to re-enrol in my Masters in Library and Info...
Posted by Sally Cummings on Thursday, April 30, 2009,
Righto, I'll start with some information about myself...
I currently live in Melbourne (Victoria), Australia. I've lived there for most of my life, with the exception of four years spent in sunny Canberra (Australian Capital Territory). Later this year, my partner, Tim, and I will be moving to tropical Darwin (Northern Territory) - a place we've always loved.
I work as a librarian, and think it's a terrific profession to be a part of. I really enjoy helping others find information and resourc...
