(Self)evaluation during the trials and tribulations of an international cooperation project
1st slide – Title slide: Let’s not do long and complicated sentences that – being fancy is not as important as being understood and being able to communicate). I will make this presentation short and (bitter)sweet. I will let my friends from around the world speak for me. But first a few thoughts… 2nd slide – What are our actions worth? During this, very long and, at times tiresome and scary, experience, I learned a very important lesson – sometimes our actions are only valued by ourselves. And this is ok. Because, thanks to Raija, whose methods may sometimes, at first glance, appear un-orthodox and confusing, helped us all learn something very important – how to value what we do and how we do it, even if sometimes our only reward is that moment when you sit in your chair in the evening and let out a long sigh. 3rd slide – Here is a mindmap that I drew in the middle of the project, upon Raija’s request. At first I did not see the importance of doing a drawing expercise. But then, in the middle of it, it dawned on me – how I experience this project and how confident I feel in doing my tasks, is directly connected to what is happening in my personal life. This is hardly a big revelation. But what was quite a new realisation for me personally, was that this is important not only for me but for the rest of my team. A team works better if a team is open and flexible for all members. A library works better if personal needs are not disgarded as irrelevant to work needs. It is all connected and it all makes for a better librarian, if correctly focused. 4th slide – Another thing that I learned during this project was that feedback matters! We had 5 project activities – series of events („Skype book club“, „Different or special“, „To understand or to condemn“, „Speak to me!“) and a video project („Chainstory“). That was quite a good amount of things to do. But it gave us an amazing opportunity to test what works and become better with each event. The previous events mistakes made the next event better. We evolved with the project. We became better with every bump in the road. 5th slide – Methods are many. Don’t be afraid to try them and find the ones that work for you. 6th slide – Here are just a few examples. 7th until 11th slide – Evaluation methods – some examples of what we did. 12th slide – Just have fun and remember to like what you do because that is how you make others enjoy what you do for them. And here is a little message from me and my friends – the final product of our video project „Chainstory“. So, we could consider this a premiere. VIDEO TIME! 13th slide – Thank you!