Reflections

Reflections
> > I thought that this was a group which worked together quite well. While there one or two small disagreements at times over exactly which angle we would take, we all got along very well and everyone pulled their weight. I did feel however, that there was an issue with some people occasionally talking over others. I think there were perhaps times when some of us could have been better organised (especially me!). However, we managed to get everything done on time without rushing anyone, or pushing people into doing things. Overall, I can say that I really liked working with this group and would like to do so again. > > > > I found the experience of working in such a large team challenging at times, but everybody worked very hard and pulled their own weight. A few weeks into the project, we decided to nominate a project leader, Ross Moriarty, who I feel has put in a lot of legwork. Choosing a project leader definitely helped, as Ross had a clear idea as to how the project was going to develop, and communicated this to us during meetings and via email. Our team attended meetings via Skype with the manager of RAHC, which we found helpful. We also consulted with the course co-ordinator over the duration of the semester to ensure our project was going in the right direction. The group met regularly outside class times to discuss the project, and emails were regularly circulated to keep everyone informed. As our project was done on the RAHC, we put a lot of energy into writing an extensive museum policy statement. Writing of this policy statement was divided between group members, with each person having to develop a specific section. I wrote the Education and Outreach policy, and needed to conduct some research into this area of museum user services. I searched the UCD catalogue and looked up British and Irish museum websites, where I discovered lots of useful information for writing up this museum policy. It was interesting to see other museum’s ideas, and how they had put these ideas into practice. As well as this, each group member chose a reference tool to evaluate. The reference tool I chose was evaluated in light of our genealogy policy. Through this task, I have learned how evaluation can dictate the exclusion or inclusion of a reference tool. > > Overall, doing this project has developed my ability to work as part of a team. The experience I have gained will be useful with regard to future academic studies and professional development. > > > I am glad that I decided on the option to work with the Rothwell arts and Heritage Centre. I feel that I have benefited both from the research carried out by me for my part on the project and from the information shared between the team, with regard to formulating a collection policy in particular. Because we were working on a "real-life" project we had to consider pre-existing factors e.g. premises, budget, existing collections. It was helpful to be able to have our skype meeting with the manager of the centre and also view photographs of the centre and some of the collection items. It enabled us to make a connection with the centre. > I came to the group late as one other member dropped out and I needed to join a team. I did feel like an outsider in the group intially but this remedied itself as the project got underway. > I feel that our project leader, Ross, was excellent in his role. He guided us throughout the project and co-ordinated the team's work very well. As all the group members are taking different modules and have other committments, it was sometimes challenging to arrange meetings at times that would suit everyone but this is always a challenge, even in a work environment, and I think we did well in being able to meet up several times during the project as well as communicating by email. > Teamwork is an important part of any job, and I feel that there is something to be learned from each new team that you are a part of, and from each new project that you work on, and I feel that I have benefited from working with this team on this heritage project. > > > The team was successfully led and directed by our group leader and worked well overall. Everybody made their best effort to attend the group meetings and also to communicate with each other through email. We all had a chance to discuss ideas regarding the policy, sample collection and the direction of the project. I found the members of the group to be very helpful, approachable and dedicated to working on the task. > I enjoyed writing the policy section and found the process of this project to be very interesting and informative. I feel that I have learned a great deal from this experience and have acquired valuable skills that will be important in terms of future projects that I may undertake. > It was especially enjoyable for me to work on and develop a real life policy for the Rothwell Arts and Heritage Centre (RAHC). I viewed this as a great opportunity to be involved in a project with the aim of actively helping the staff of the RAHC to achieve their goal of becoming a recognised accredited arts and heritage centre.I hope that the staff of the RAHC find our policy helpful, informative and of a standard that they would be willing to present to the MLA in hope of being accredited by this body. > > > > I really enjoyed working with all the members of group, Ross, Kirsteen, Ruán, Elaine, Linda and Marianne on the Rothwell Arts and Heritage Centre Collection wiki project. It was an enlightening and rewarding experience. I really appreciate the term brainstorming (instead of ‘brain cabbaging’ on my own). I think we achieved a lot together and everyone was very helpful. I was relieved to get help from others when I felt I was stuck on my part of the projects and the teammates were always available to contact. I liked the ease of information transfer of ucdconnect email service. It was always good to know that Crystal was available if we really got stuck I look forward to working with other class members next semester. > > > > Having completed the collection development project I find that it has provided me with experience that will prove invaluable in the professional world. With regard to the creation of the policies themselves the fact that our project was based on an existing collection proved to be quite beneficial. Because we were working with an existing collection we were aware of the fact that there were certain limitation already in place with regard to available resources. As a result of this we had to seek a compromise between what was needed for the purposes of accreditation and what was was in fact possible. While it is easy to say that something should be done in a certain way, considerations of cost and manpower allowed us to remain grounded. It is my belief that having completed this project our group now has a better understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in a museum or library. > As for the group aspect of the project, on the whole I again found it to be a source of much needed experience. Considering the nature of our group (being mostly composed of post graduate students) it soon became clear that we all had obligations outside of college. As such constant communication was a necessity in order to ensure that everyone was aware of how the project was progressing. Again this will be of use in a professional environment where we will most likely have to work around the needs of others. > > > > For my group work assignment in Information and Reference Services I participated in Group 1 Heritage Group. My group members were Ross Moriarty, Kirsteen Johnson, Izabella MacKeowen, Elaine Chapman, Linda Horan and Marianne Hennessy. Our project was to create an information wiki on the Rothwell Arts and Heritage Centre. Here is how I found the group. > As a group I found the participation of each member exemplary, they all worked very hard as fellow group members and were all most helpful. They provided constructive feedback on anywhere improvement was required and advised each other on how an entry could be developed within a context. > It was a pleasure to work within the group as they were most inclusive towards everyone at the meetings we had. In addition although they were masters students and I was a degree student they did not look at me as less of a group member. > Finally They were all very thorough on what work needed to be done and within what context, in short they were an excellent group to work with. > Bibliography>
 * 1) **Elaine Chapman (08566801) **
 * 1) **Marianne Hennessy (11271973) **
 * 1) ** Linda Horan (93218460) **
 * 1) **Kirsteen Johnson (11281391) **
 * 1) **Izabella McKeown (11271167) **
 * 1) **Ross Moriarty (07843925) **
 * 1) **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Ruán Ó hÓgáin (08103593) **