I have been working in libraries for over fifteen years in many capacities, studying firstly as a Library Technician and graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Science and Information Management in 2008. Until recently I was the Library Manager in a specialised library of a not-for-profit, non-government organisation. I have taken leave without pay to work for ten months in a Government Library as a member of a larger team. I am also the Queensland One Person Australian Librarians (QOPALs) convenor. You can hear more about me on my audio clip.

It became apparent to me very early on in my career that the skills and knowledge acquired from previous careers has an important place in the library professionals toolkit and that continued Professional Development is equally important in ensuring lifelong employability. For me ePortfolios is a way of recording transferable skills from my 'past lives' and also supports my desire to record my Professional Development in a format that can be used for a range of reporting activities including sharing with colleagues, CVs and job applications. By acknowledging the past, ePortfolios facilitate my work in the present and my career progression for the future.

As part of the Pilot Project, I created a blog. As well as enabling me to share my concerns and get help from my fellow participants it is a record for the Project Managers. I have also started a blog to record my progress in my 'secondment', this enables me to reflect on what I have learned, record my goals and achievements and process the challenges through reflective thinking.

My main reason for joining the Project was to record my Professional Activities for reporting to ALIA as part of the PD Scheme. This is the report I have been working on, I particularly like the way many different types of information can be included such as links to URLs and files. It makes the report more versatile and useful. I have used the QOPALs report on ePortfolios to send to colleagues who are interested in learning about the concept. This report was also used as part of the preparation for a proposal for using ePortfolios in my workplace.

Because I have been fairly settled in my work I hadn't worked on my CV very much but even this brief record only took minutes to collate from the data collected in the ABOUT ME section of PebblePad. The section on values was created as part of my induction tasks for my current position in a Government library, it is another example of how data can be re-used.

In the future I see ePortfolios as an important work tool that will support project management and other professional activities so that the activities that are part of the daily working life will become part of the permanent record of career achievements that inform career pathways.

he tangata, he tangata, he tangata

Acknowledge the past

Embrace the present

Advance the future