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I am participating in the "23 Things for Professional Development" and we are on week three. The assignment for week 3 is to google yourself and then reflect upon your personal brand. I dutifully googled myself, and imagine my shock when I did not show up in the first page results! I actually use to show up in the first page. Really! My name was on the second page, but it was from a libguide that I composed when I worked at the university. When I googled my name with the addition of librarian, well then, I was on the first page a few times. Much better. My LinkedIn account and twitter account were listed among the results.
I even did the optional part of the assignment which was to ask other people what my blog said about my personal brand. One colleague declined to comment (he suddenly became busy with other things) and the other said she thought it was very professional.
What does our personal brand say about us? I try to maintain a professional mien as I have been given negative feedback for diving into what one colleague called bleeding edge technology (Second Life? Who needs a Second Life? I have a first life!), and I am leery of additional bleeding. Do I come across as too dry? I certainly have no desire to add to the stereotype of a boring librarian. What I do know is that I am tired of sitting in meetings talking about technology with librarians who are disdainful of said technology. You should not be proud to admit that you do not know how to send a text.
But back to the topic on hand, am I too reserved with my comments because I am afraid of professional repurcussions? I would like to say no as I have always been a rebel at heart, but as I reflect back I do refrain from much that I would like to say. It has given me something to think about. To indulge in a few cliches, "There is no reward with no risk" but there is no sense in "cutting off my nose to spite my face."
