Why I joined CPD23 (Thing 1)

Today I started with CPD23
CPD23 is a self directed learning tool where I hope to learn a lot. For anyone interested check out the link, it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun!

Our first "assignment" is to start a blog about our experiences and our first post is to be about why we joined this endevour.

So here's my little story;
I graduated in 1989 and went to work in the library field pretty quickly. In 1990 I started working as one of two librarians in a small prison library. (Before you ask - yes, some prisons have libraries.)
For the past 20 years I have worked almost exclusivly in this Region's prison library system. Most of that 20 years was spent working at the same site I started at and since 1995 I have worked alone at my site. This led to a lot of isolation and eventually some stagnation.
3 years or so ago I moved to another prison library and really saw how stagnated I had become. I didn't like it.

So I decided to do something about it. LOL (big surprise there, huh?) I decided it was time to do more than just put in the hours and float along.
So how to change, to un-stagnate? The first thing I decided to do was to step up to the plate a little more in our Regional meetings, to be a little more pro-active and to actually offer to work a project or two (even if it seemed that no one was interested in the project!).
At about the same time I found out that my Alma Mater (UFV) was looking at somehow bridging the large gap between Library Technicians and MLIS' with some continuing education (for a start) and that intrigued me. I hadn't been back to school for over 20 years....could I even do it???
Well I checked it out and signed up for the first course they offered (Emergent Library Technologies) where I not only rediscovered a passion for learning (part of the reason I work in libraries!) but learned about some really neat stuff on the internet including blogs and RSS feeds.
That eventually led me here.

I'm hoping that CPD23 will introduce to me more exciting things I haven't seen before and if what I find is half as fun and valuable as what I found in Emergent Library Technologies I will be happy.
Hopefully it will also teach me to be a better blogger. I have a personal blog but I don't write as often as I should/want to. I"m hoping that by blogging for CPD23 regularly (and being accountable to someone other than myself) I will get in the habit of blogging and will carry that over.

So that's me and why I'm here!

Ta!