Hold still, 'til I brand you

Professional Branding, part of me gets excited at the prospect of this - the business head on me is thrilled at the prospect of developing a personal brand that differentiates me from other Information Professionals.  Something that gives me the competitive edge. 
The other part of me (the equine/farm background) has visions of a large branding iron been stabbed at my rear end forever establishing me as part of the herd! Something that doesn't give me the competitive edge just a sore bottom.

Perhaps branding is too strong a word for this element - our industry by its' nature is so diverse and so varied that to differentiate yourself by one thing is surely limiting yourself and selling yourself short in the eyes of employers. Perhaps we should look at what drives us, what is our passion and as business guru's say 'be true to that voice'.
We, as Information Professionals have unique skill sets, we have the ability to engage with communities and organisations to create worthwhile programs that affect peoples' daily lives.  We  can approach people with literacy problems and make them feel at ease in a library surrounding and ensure that they are welcome no matter what their circumstances are.  We can assist those students who are under pressure to find the right piece of research at the right time.  We do all this and we haven't even touched the 'professional' side of our work.  What we do impacts lives, that's more powerful than any brand a company can establish.

While updating my LinkedIn profile for an online course (Rudaí 23) I noticed that I've slipped into the business side of my brain.  I've completed all the major areas, assigned great buzz words and established a network that I'm professionally proud of, but that profile doesn't tell the real story of being a librarian, that doesn't show you the passion I have for helping others help themselves. It doesn't show you how thrilled I was when I established a support group for Special Needs Teachers and Assistants who hadn't anywhere to meet and discuss their daily problems within the classrooms, the Support group now receives funding to provide books, toys and learning materials through libraries. That group started with three teachers, myself and a pot of tea in the library one evening.

Another project was the development of a Toy Library in our County. I oversaw this from its planning, development and roll-out over two phases. I was responsible for the budgeting, purchasing and Ministerial launch but again LinkedIn doesn't tell you how wonderful it was to engage with Special Needs children and watch them use the toys and materials that I had researched late into the nights, the phone calls to teachers and assistants gaining valuable feed back and advice, the hours spent cataloguing, processing and assigning stock to each of the twenty plus libraries that were about to open their doors to children who never really availed of a library service.

I don't just read books and hate when librarians are just stereotyped as 'shy, retiring ladies who stamp due dates and read books all day'. I'd hate to be that person - yes, I can escape into another adventure, murder or romance and forget the dinner in the oven but that's not me 'professionally'. I have academic qualifications that can differentiate me from other people, qualifications that provide awareness of, and ability to strategically develop a service, management skills that cross-over industry lines and can be applied to any business/service setting. Project management skills, customer service skills, language skills - all help me deliver my role professionally but they don't 'brand' me. I'm not defined by my skills, they enhance my work but ultimately it's the ability to reach out, engage and assist others is what I'd liked to be noticed for.