Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with my friend Lauren on transparency in the LIS profession. The salient point was that we'd both noticed an occasional reticence among people to share what they were doing to make their name known in the field. For example, I shared an interesting job post with a former colleague and received the reaction, "but aren't you applying for this too?" Yes, I am. May the best man win.
This seems a great shame to me. After all, collaboration and sharing knowledge is what binds our profession together. Recently, when putting together a conference proposal, my first task was to ask my old team for advice. Through doing this, I obtained sample proposals, copies of articles which were otherwise unobtainable, and perhaps most importantly, the acknowledgement that many professionals were interested in finding out what little old me had to say. I think it's almost impossible to undertake such a task without guidance from people who've previously been in your shoes. I will admit that I am very, very competitive, but if I gain something from denying other people, obtaining it is a rather shallow victory.
During my Masters, it has been gratifying that many coursemates are keen to share useful articles, or opportunities, via Twitter or the course's VLE. This is exactly the way I think it should be; I have nothing to gain from closing myself off from others, and everything to gain from letting everyone know what I'm doing on the five days a week I'm not at university!
