Summer 2009

Summer 2009 Volume 12 Number 2

www.cilip.org.uk/cdg/impact

Anne Turnbull:Newcastle Libraries andNorthumbria University:bespoke CPD programme

Nicola RushtonIf I can do it, you can do it!

an article aboutChartership

Vincent McDonaldA volunteer in India

NEWPROFESSIONALS

CONFERENCE

MARTIN AWARDWINNER

IN THIS ISSUE

INTERNATIONALSTUDY TOURPASSPORT TO ANOTHER

WORLD

Vijay ChopraA Wiki for New Professionals

Joanna PtolomeyTips for encouraging

growth in you as aNew Professional

Helen RehinCareer Development Group

Annual Conference 2009

ANNUAL RE-

PRESIDENTMaria Cotera

Cataloguer, Library Services, UCL, GowerStreet, London WC1E 6BT Tel: 020 76792302

Email: [email protected]

SECRETARYKerry Benstead

Information manager, Library Services, KAIStrategic Analysis and Coordination, HM

Revenue & Customs, LG 75, 100 ParliamentStreet, London Tel: 020 7147 0848


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUTTHE GROUPPaul TovellLibrarian,

Nottinghamshire County CouncilTel: 01909 472408


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Impact, the official journal of the CareerDevelopment Group of CILIP: theChartered Institute of Library andInformation Professionals; formerly theAssistant Librarian, the journal of theAssociation of Assistant Librarians.

Views expressed in Impact are notnecessarily those of the CareerDevelopment Group or the Editors.

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Registered charity number: 313014

Impact Summer 2009 27

CONTENTSANNE TURNBULLNewcastle Libraries and NorthumbriaUniversity: bespoke CPD Programme

CDG SCOTTISH DIVISIONPassport to Another World: ReadingChallenge

VIJAY CHOPRAA Wiki for New Professionals

PROGRAMMENew Professionals Conference

AMANDA QUICKCDG Annual Report (Summary)

JOANNA PTOLOMEYTips for encouraging growth in you as a NewProfessional

AMANDA QUICKMartin Award 2009

HELEN REHINCDG Annual Conference 2009

VINCENT MCDONALDA volunteer in India

NICOLA RUSHTONIf I can do it, you can do it

CDG STUDY TOUR MALTA 2009Notes from one small island to another

DATES

Joint Honorary EditorsCheney GardnerReading Development ManagerEmail: [email protected]

Victoria McAraCommunity LibrarianEmail: [email protected]

Printed in England by Headley Brothers Ltd, Ashford, Kent

Welcome to the new look summeredition of Impact.

In this extended edition we bring you articlesfrom a host of contributors, update you withofficial reports and bring you lots of news ofwhat’s going on.

On the CPD front we have Anne Turnbull’sinteresting article on Newcastle Libraries andNorthumbria University Bespoke CPD Pro-gramme. Nicola Rushton offers a frank accountof her Chartership experience and JoannaPtolomey shares her tips on encouraging growthin you as a New Professional. Vijay Chopraupdates us on progress of the Wiki for NewProfessionals and Helen Rehin talks about herexperience at the Annual Conference.

You get a chance to read all about our new VSOin India Vincent McDonald, there is also a greatwrite up on the International Study Tour toMalta. The winner of the Martin Award 2009 isannounced and if you want to help raise moneyfor CDG charitable projects overseas then whynot register for Scottish Division’s Passport toAnother World Reading Challenge.

Finally, We hope you enjoy the new lookImpact, and if you would like to contribute tofuture editions please contact us.

Have a great summer!

Victoria McAra and Cheney Gardner

Summer 2009Volume 12 No. 2

EDITORIAL

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Those of you who have been toNewcastle Upon Tyne recently willno doubt have been struck by the

wealth of cultural activities, as well as by theextensive redevelopment and investment inthe city, especially in the Arts. Missing outon the title of ‘2008 City of Culture’ did notdampen Newcastle’s spirits or it’s initiativesand the city has gone from strength tostrength in terms of leading the way in at-tracting high profile cultural events, as wellas in the commissioning of cultural venues,which are designed to excite and inspire.

Newcastle Library Service is no exception.During 2007-2008, the service rebuilt notone, but three community libraries andmoved a further branch library into a moresuitably located community centre. Howev-er, the jewel in the crown has been thebuilding of a new City Library. Opened inJune 2009, this state of the art buildingdesigned by local architects, ‘Ryder’, is thelargest Library PFI project in the country todate. It offers a range of new services andfacilities, including a 180 seat performancespace, as well as an environmentally con-trolled area to showcase rare material fromthe Newcastle collection.

As a result of all these changes, the pastthree years have been a time of hugechange for the library service. It has meantnot only the introduction of new workingpractices throughout the whole city, but alsothe retraining of staff to reflect these newways of working. How do you ensure there-fore that your professional staff are up tospeed with current professional issues and

are empowered to tackle both local andnational changes head on? Commissionthe Information, Communication and Man-agement (ICM) School from NorthumbriaUniversity to design a bespoke, CPD pro-gramme of course.

October 2008 saw fifteen Library and Infor-mation Officers gather round in a seminar

room at Northumbria University wonderingwhat the next 12 weeks would hold. Someof us had recently graduated from master’scourses and we were therefore used tobeing in an academic environment. Howev-er, for others among us, our universityyears either seemed like distant memoriesor we had never partaken in higher educa-tion before and therefore didn’t know whatto expect.

In the first session, Tony Durcan, Head ofCulture, Libraries and Lifelong Learning atNewcastle, explained why our senior man-agement had asked Dr Alison Pickard andher team to produce and deliver the pro-gramme. He stressed the vital role wewould have as both individuals and as ateam in the new City Library and the needfor us to have the confidence and the skillsto come up with inventive solutions to theproblems, which inevitably arise with newways of working.

‘The past three years have been atime of huge change for the

library service’

Newcastle Libraries and NorthumbriaUniversity: bespoke CPD programme

Anne Turnbull


To say we were apprehensive about the 3hour weekly sessions would be an under-statement, but who would have thought that9 months later we would not only haveachieved more than ourselves, our seniormanagement or ICM staff could have everhoped for, but also started to fundamentallychange the way we work?

ICM staff designed a brilliant, hands-onprogramme, which covered topics fromWeb 2.0, community engagement, presen-tation and management skills to reader de-velopment. Each 3 hour session washeavily steeped in relating the theory ofeach topic to our every day, working livesand therein lay the success of the pro-gramme. This wasn’t training for the sake oftraining; this was a chance to be introducedto and to understand the theory of eachconcept and then apply it directly to ourwork.

How many of us in the public library worldare asked to deliver community engage-ment projects for example, without evenknowing what our Council’s definition orprocesses for community engagement are?This was certainly true of many of us on thecourse, but we not only came away fromthat session knowing what Newcastle CityCouncil’s vision for community engagementis, but also having a detailed knowledge ofthe Council’s toolkit and how to practicallyapply it to our work.

However, the most valued and practicallesson that we all took away from the pro-gramme was the importance of reflectivepractice. As we were taught the theory ofthis discipline, we realised that we did inher-ently reflect on a day-to-day basis, but ourreflection was not systematic and it wasoften isolated and lacked any real focus.We rarely reflected intentionally as individu-als, let alone as a team, thus missing out onthe opportunity to not only share good

practice, but also to learn from more chal-lenging situations. Motivated by this knowl-edge and realisation, we immediatelystarted to meet an hour before the course inorder to reflect as a whole group.

The result of these meetings led not only tothe creation of a team Wiki (as we identifieda need for a forum to share CPD informa-tion), but also to the production of a newlibrary checklist. This toolkit was tested outon the relocation and building of one of thenew Community Libraries. As a result manyof the problems encountered at other libraryopenings were avoided and a moresmoother set up was experienced.

Bolstered by this success and the evidencethat reflective practice does lead to a moreeffective and efficient service, we wanted tocontinue to have dedicated time set asidefor reflection after the course had finished.We consequently used the final session ofthe 12 week programme to deliver a grouppresentation on how we used to work, aswell as reflecting on how the course hadimpacted on our working lives.

‘These meetings have become afundamental part of our working

lives’


We also used the presentation to set forth aproposal about how we wanted to continueto reflect as a group in the future. Our seniormanagement were so impressed with thepresentation that they agreed to our requestfor fortnightly reflective, group meetings, aslong as we ensured we had measurableoutcomes. These meetings have becomea fundamental part of our working lives andthey have enabled us to find those inventivesolutions that Tony Durcan talked about atthe start of the course.

However, the course did not only benefit theLibrary and Information Officers at Newcas-tle Libraries, but it also reaffirmed to theICM school that their teaching is relevant totoday’s library professional. It also provideda stimulating and creative working environ-ment for the lecturers themselves, with theresult being that they were just as motivatedby the course as we were. As Dr AlisonPickard commented:

“The Team members delivering the ses-sions were rewarded by having their teach-ing contextualised by the CPD group. TheLibrary and Information Officers enthusi-asm for, and commitment to the programmeproved to be a highly rewarding and moti-vating experience for the Team. Our disci-pline is undoubtedly a vocational disciplineand we feel it should be firmly rooted withincurrent practice, as well as theory and re-search. Feedback from the group both dur-ing and after sessions reaffirmed thecurrent, relevant and dynamic nature of ourteaching practice”

So what about you? If you are positionednext to a university that delivers library andinformation courses, have you ever thoughtabout getting in touch with them and seeingif you could share skills and come up with asimilar CPD course for your staff?

Or if you’re not fortunate to be in this posi-tion, why not consider setting up reflectivepractice meetings within your workplace to ensure that you continuously and system-atically grow and learn as team?

With lack of time, increased workloads andthe need to evidence viability and efficiencyever more a reality, can we afford to doanything else but to reflect on where we’vebeen and where we’re going?

From our experience at Newcastle Librarieswe would argue that reflective practice andCPD is not a luxury, but a necessity forsuccess.

Anne TurnbullLibrary and Information Officer

Newcastle Libraries

[email protected]


Passport to Another World

ReadingChallenge

for further details or enquiries contact:

Career Development Group Scottish Division presents


Not all that long ago, I heard theNew Professional’s Coordinator“Chris Rhodes” suggesting that weuse new technology to help NewProfessionals settle into the world

of LIS. Being a New Professional myself(and a tech geek) I was thoroughly im-pressed by his suggestion that we use awiki to foster dialogue between New Profes-sionals and allow established professionalsfrom across the country to answer ques-tions and give advice to those of us juststarting out. Why has no one already donethis I thought? And immediately offered mytechnical skills for Chris to use as hepleased; he took up the offer and we’ve runwith the idea.

Progress has been made towards gettingthe wiki up and running by this September,if not sooner. We’re currently in the processof starting it up and involving the DivisionalNew Professional Representatives and willbe marketing it on the CILIP website assoon as it is ready to go live.

After that it’s all up to you! Come and askquestions, give answers and edit away.This project will be whatever we can makeit. Our hope is to establish a lively commu-nity of New Professionals and old handsexchanging ideas and helping each other,whether it’s New Professionals writingabout the benefits of new technologies, orthose already established giving tips onhow to complete ACLIPs and MCLIPs.

We hope to build a resource for the wholeprofession but we can’t do it without you,

our members. So start spreading the wordand keep an eye out for announcement ofthe launch of this new source of LISinformation.

If you have any questions or queriescontact:

Vijay [email protected] or

Chris [email protected]

Vijay ChopraAssociate New Professionals

Coordinator

A Wiki for New ProfessionalsVijay Chopra


"What is it like to be a Library & InformationProfessional in the 21st Century? Forum and debate

from a New Professionals perspective"

Monday, 6th July 2009, London Metropolitan University

This is a joint conference, organised by the Career Development Group and theDiversity Group of CILIP: The Chartered Institute of Library and InformationProfessionals, in partnership with the Department of Applied Social Sciences,London Metropolitan University (as part of their consultation for the Library Skillsfor a Globalised World Project, funded by the Linking London Lifelong LearningNetwork).

Programme

10.00 - 10.30 Registration, Coffee & Networking

10.30 - 10.50 Opening: Maria Cotera, President, Career Development GroupWelcome: Prof. John Gabriel, Head of Department, Applied Social

Sciences, London Metropolitan University

10.50 - 11.15 The New Generation:

� “The Consumer Generation and How it is Changing the Library andInformation Profession”: Katie Hill, Serials and E-resources

Assistant, University of York

11.15 - 12.30 Meeting the Challenges:

“Attracting Young People into the Profession”: Sarah Newbutt, Assistant Librarian, The Grammar School at Leeds

“Gaining Skills in the Social Aspects of Libraries”: Lydia Mayor,Knowledge Advisor: Research and Training Support, Eversheds

“Why Are We Still Defined by Our Buildings?”: Ned Potter, Digitisation Coordinator, Leeds University

Followed by panel discussion chaired by Christopher Rhodes, New ProfessionalsCo-ordinator, Career Development Group

New Professionals Conference:


12.30 - 13.30 Lunch

13.30 - 14.45 Marketing Ourselves:

“Unleashing the Potential: New Professionals in the Workplace”:Emma Illingwoth & Sarah Ison, Assistant Information Advisers, Uni-versity of Brighton

� Beyond the Counter: What Skills Can New Professionals Offer inthe Public Library Sector”: Kath Aitken, Reader Development andStock Management Librarian, Derbyshire County Council“Market Yourself Using Online Tools”: Joanne Alcock, ResourcesLibrarian, University of Wolverhampton

Followed by panel discussion chaired by Dave Percival, Vice-Chair, Diversity Group

14.45 - 15.15 Tea & Networking

15.15 - 16.30 Career Profiles:

� “From Old School to New Profession”: Hazel James, Librarian,Dame Alice Owens Secondary School, Hertfordshire.

“New Technologies, New Professionals”: Nicolás Robinson, Graduate Trainee, EC3: Science and Scientific Communication Evaluation, University of Granada, Spain.

� “Wanted: New Professionals for Public Library Service”: AnneSherman, Literature & Reading Development Officer, Cheshire EastCouncil

Folowed by panel discussion chaired by Sylvia James,Treasurer & Board Liaison to theFirst Five Years Council of the Special Libraries Association.

16.30 - 16.40 Feedback and Best Paper Vote

16.40 -16.55 Closing Remarks: Shiraz Durrani, Senior Lecturer in Information Management, London Metropolitan University

Sessions will be presentation–based, with opportunity for delegates to share experiencesand ask questions, and to vote for the best paper. The winner will receive £100 and abottle of Sue Hill Fizz, generously sponsored by Sue Hill Recruitment.

A selection of papers will be published in the professional journals.


Venue

London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre, one of the most exciting new buildingdevelopments in London. Address: Room GC1-08, Graduate Centre, Tower Building,166-22 Holloway Road, London N7 8DB. Details and map at: http://tinyurl.com/cfjs8j

Artsline Access codes:

W - Venue with un-stepped access via main or side door, wheelchair spaces andadapted toiletE - Infra-red hearing system (advance warning required to organise receivers)G - Provision for guide dogs.

Delegate rates:

· CDG/DG members - £55 + 15% VAT = £63.25· Non members - £75 + 15% VAT = £ 86.25· Students & Unwaged - £35 + 15% VAT = £ 40.25 (20 places available on a first-

come, first served basis – book early to avoid disappointment!)

Delegate rate includes morning and afternoon refreshments and buffet lunch.

Booking

To make a booking please contact Karen Berry by Tuesday 30 June 2009:

Karen Berry, 40 Stanway Road, Coventry, CV5 6PJ or email [email protected]

Registered charity 313014


IntroductionA shorter year than usual, as we realignedour calendar with CILIP, but still action-packed. We remain one of the largestSpecial Interest Groups, representingaround 20% of CILIP membership.

1) MembershipA key priority has been to increase mem-bership. During April-December, CDGgained 100 extra members, bringing totalmembership to 3819. Ten Divisions in-creased their membership during 2008.

2) DivisionsOur 13 Divisions provide CPD and network-ing opportunities for members, organisingevents, courses, visits and social activitiesand publishing regular newsletters.

Social events included meals out, spon-sored walks and quizzes. Six Divisions tookthe opportunity to screen the film HollywoodLibrarian, often working with CILIP or otherpartners.

Visits included BBC studios, National Oce-anographic Library, Horniman Museum Li-brary, Hexham Old Gaol, Glasgow Schoolof Art, Wells and Worcester Cathedral Li-braries, Birmingham Central Library, LeedsLibrary and The Mount Annex MentalHealth Library, University of Ulster, Cole-raine LRC and Lisburn City Library.

Courses included the Deep Web with PaulaYounger, Effective Relationships, Writingfor Publication, Writing Bids for Funding,

Teaching & Training Tips for Librarians andcourses for qualifications candidates.

65 events were available for members.Those attending Divisional events andcourses improve their current awareness,widen their perspective, and meet like-minded professionals.

3) Framework of QualificationsOur 16 dedicated Candidate Support Offic-ers provide guidance and support to candi-dates working towards Certification,Chartership or Revalidation. Over the past9 months, CSOs answered over 2000 emailenquiries, made and received 241 phonecalls, read 79 draft submissions, delivered34 courses, and had 35 meetings with indi-vidual candidates.

4) CILIP’s Seal of RecognitionLearning Coordinator Carol Barker master-minded our successful application for theSeal of Recognition. We can apply the Sealto National or Divisional events that engagewith CILIP’s Body of Professional Knowl-edge, including Framework courses andmany other training events. We need tomaintain a high standard of professionalismin our organisation, course materials, deliv-ery and analysis of feedback, complyingwith all requirements for using this badge ofquality.

5) PublicationsAfter a protracted period of negotiation, wehave finally been able to recover in full the£14,000 owed to us by Remploy. We areexploring options for developing our

Career Development GroupANNUAL REPORT (Summary)

April-December 2008


publications programme.

5.1) ImpactWe continued to publish Impact quarterly.Issues contained quality articles on topicssuch as the National Year of Reading, thebenefits of Chartership, the Clore Leader-ship Programme, changing sectors, diversi-ty and beach cleaning as networking.Despite financial pressures, all issues werepublished in hard copy.

6) CommunicationsCDG Bulletin has 382 subscribers. Thismonthly email is proving a popular andeffective way of advertising events.Members can sign up at:http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/CDGBULLETIN.htmlWe continue to reflect on how to makemeetings accessible and how to maximiseDivisional participation. National officersand Divisional committees continue to usethe Files Area to share documents.

6.1) Our ImageThis guide aims to ensure consistency ofstyle across Divisions. The full range of newand updated templates is available from theCDGDivisions Files Area.

6.2) AAL/CDG ArchivesWork has begun on an archival policy. Thiswas developed in liaison with CILIP andwith UCL where the bulk of the older mate-rial is held.

6.3) Website We have decided to transfer content to theCILIP CMS but we retain ourcareerdevelopmentgroup.org domain with aredirect. Our new Web Coordinator,Tameem Ali, has expended considerableeffort in structuring the new site.

6.4) Web 2.0Tools are available for members to networkand share content. We have a Facebookgroup, Flickr photo pool and Slidesharespace. More information is on our website.

� http://www.facebook.com. Search for CILIP Career Development Group

� CDG photo pool at:http://www.flickr.com/groups/398516@N22

� Slideshare presentations fromevents:http://www.slideshare.net/CareerDevelopmentGroup

7) National Events

7.1) National Conference

Our National Conference was held at Car-diff City Hall under the title The keys to time:Workforce development in the 21st century.It brought together five engaging speakersfrom various sectors. Particularly pleasingwas the level of debate and cross-fertilisa-tion between sessions. 24 delegates at-tended and feedback was extremelypositive.

7.2) AGM

Our AGM followed the National Confer-ence. We welcomed Judy Broady-Preston,Leader of CILIP Council, as our speaker.

7.3) Raising the BarA new venture was the joint delivery, withPTEG, of a conference for senior profes-sionals. This took place at University Col-lege London and was attended by 21delegates. UCL kindly sponsored the day.Speakers and workshop leaders were of ahigh calibre. It is hoped to run a similarevent in 2010.


8) International WorkAnother fruitful year, with the consolidationof previous activity and exciting new op-portunities.

8.1) African Prisons ProjectWe continue to partner the APP, whichpromotes education and health in Africanprisons. In 2008, APP has continued workin Uganda to set up a legal library. Althoughour direct financial support is complete, wecontinue to support the projects indirectly.For the latest news go to the APP sitehttp://www.africanprisons.org

8.2) Jose Marti National Library of CubaProjectWe continue to support the Biblioteca Na-cional José Marti. CDG aims to help im-prove BNJM’s infrastructure, and has thisyear raised funds for computers for thepublic library service.

8.3) VSO LibrarianSheila Rudd remained at Katoke TeacherTraining College in Tanzania. The Group’ssponsorship continued. Sheila has im-proved bookstock, with items sourced local-ly and from the UK. A collection of films onHIV/AIDS education has been acquiredwith a view to starting a peer educationprogramme. Sustainability is a high priority:Sheila has trained college staff to ensurecontinuity following her departure.

8.4) Partnerships in Health Information(Phi)The Group remains an Institutional Friendof Phi, supporting them annually.

http://www.partnershipsinhealthinformation.org.uk/

8.5) Host DirectoryIn October the Group welcomed GloriasAsiimwe, newly graduated from MakerereUniversity, Uganda, for a UK study visit.CDG provided a SIM card and funds forinternal travel. Vice-President Maria Coteraorganised a full and varied programme.Glorias’ itinerary included visits in the aca-demic, government, health, prison, schooland not-for-profit sectors. She was accom-modated in the homes of seven differentLIS professionals. Prior to her visit, Gloriasgained experience in Uganda working withthe APP, and was sponsored by PrisonLibraries Group to attend their conference.Glorias derived enormous benefit from hervisit, developing transferable skills and in-creasing in confidence.

8.6) FundraisingDivisions continued to provide enthusiasticsupport for the Group’s international activi-ty, raising around £1500 during the summeralone, through sponsored walks, confer-ences, quizzes, AGMs, donations, Holly-wood Librarian screenings and thePassport to Latin America Reading Chal-lenge.

The Group now has an online donation sitethrough Charity Choice:

https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/donation.asp?ref=158224

9) Supporting Students and NewProfessionalsFollowing declining attendance at Studentconferences, the Group has focused on agrassroots approach to student involve-ment. The boundaries between students,paraprofessionals and new professionalshave blurred. We aim to develop new strat-egies for reaching this target audience, andhave introduced the post of New Profes-sionals Coordinator. This role embraces


outreach to students and new profession-als, complemented by a Divisional networkof New Professionals and Support Officers.

10) CDG Honorary FellowshipsHonorary Fellowships recognise longstand-ing contribution to the Group and to thewider profession. Nominations were invitedfrom members, and two new Fellows will becreated in 2009: Paula Younger and SueHill.

11) Equal OpportunitiesEqual opportunities are embedded in thework of all National Officers and DivisionalCommittees. I attend CILIP’s Equal Oppor-tunities Panel on behalf of the Group, andact as a point of contact for any specificissues.

12) PartnershipsWe continue to work with partners includingthe Affiliated Members National Committee,ILIG, PTEG, Prison Libraries Group, TheBritish Library, Chapter One Network forgraduate trainees, CILIP Branches andCeltic Nations.

13) CILIPThe Past President represented us on thenew Policy Forum. We contributed to theFunding Review and the Task & FinishGroup on CPD. Three representatives at-tended the Group Officers’ Training Day.

ThanksCDG could not deliver this range of servicesto our members without tremendous sup-port.

Thanks to CILIP staff, particularly MarionHuckle, Michael Martin and all at Qualifica-tions & Professional Development, withspecial mention of Heather Taylor whosteered us through the Seal of Recognitionprocess. Thanks to Rowena Wells, who has

advised on finance and to Bob McKee forongoing support and encouragement. Sev-eral organisations provided sponsorship,for which we are very grateful: the BritishLibrary, CILIP, Sue Hill Recruitment andUCL.

Warm thanks are due to Officers who re-tired this year. Between them they repre-sent many years of hard work andcommitment: Rowena Macrae-Gibson(Past President), Martin Edwards(Treasurer), Charlotte Hobson (Editor),Carol Barker (Learning Coordinator), MartinKidds (Associate Learning Coordinator),Derek Mackenzie (Student Coordinator),Carol Wurcbacher (Web Coordinator), andJon Scown who retires as Secretary butbecomes Vice-President.

I would like to thank the University of Aber-tay Dundee for giving me time to attendCDG meetings. I also wish to express myappreciation to National Officers and Divi-sional Committee members for their supportduring my presidential year.

Amanda QuickPresident, April – December 2008

[email protected]

The full report is available on our website.


Irrespective of whatever employment situation you find yourself in, who do you thinkhas the most control over your career and personal development? I am hoping thatyou will say “you”, but perhaps with the caveat that you do not always feel that muchin control. Is it lack of time or momentum? Each day comes packed with paidemployment and personal commitments and it is sometimes difficult to “feel like” you

are in control never mind actually “taking control”. I know exactly what that feels like, Iwork part time and have two small children. But a couple of years ago I tried toconsciously start to incorporate some changes into my daily work with the intention oftaking more control of my career. This article is based on my journey and includes someof the processes I found really useful and had tangible success for me as a person andmy career as a library/information professional.

Learning from yourselfWho knows you the best? Without a doubtthe answer is yourself. But lets be honestself reflection is hard, and is it that easy toaudit ones self? However, one of the foun-dations I have discovered for being more incharge is better understanding my needs,desires, skills and experiences. Try this,over this next week, make it your primarygoal to understand and appreciate you. Ifthis sounds too daunting as a solo task then“chum up” with a colleague or friend. Askyourself some simple questions

· What is important to me profes-sionally and personally?

· What work or industry sectors am Ireally interested in?

What skills do I have: LIS industry specific,generic and niche?

What is your success criteria?One of the most important things I discov-ered was to start being specific about mysuccess criteria, is it making 50 grand a

year or having flexibility to drop off and pickup my children from school and nursery orhaving published my first peer reviewedarticle? Over this next week work out whatyour success criteria looks like.

Reacting to changeWhat is your reaction to change; fear,suspicion, annoyance or upset? Could thisbe a reaction to the lack of control we feelaround it. Managing your career is a con-stant change situation and by taking chargeof your career you will be in a more empow-ering position. Over the next week identifya situation where you feel a lack of powerand this affects your career, then for thenext 5 days spends 5 minutes with off thetop of your head ideas on ways in whichyou could place yourself in a more powerfulposition. Re-assess the list on day 6, it maybe surprising how you feel about it andgood ideas that you have come up with.

‘Managing your career is a constantchange situation’

Tips for encouraging growth in you asa New Professional

Joanna Ptolomey


Commitment versus interestWrite down a list of all the things that youare committed to, such as learning a newskill etc. Now write down the actions youhave taken beside the commitments listed.The key thing here is that if you are commit-ted to a goal you will be doing somethingabout it almost daily. Here is a tip, startthinking about commitment again this timein terms of a verb (you know the action anddoing word), immediately this will start youthinking about how you will accomplish yourgoals in terms of a series of tasks. And justfor the record there is nothing wrong inbeing interested in some things, but don’texpect real tangible outcomes from theseinterests.

CreativityCreativity is something that we all have(honestly), we just need to understand awee bit more about how to unlock it. Let mestart by giving you the good news; the keyto unlocking your creativity is to start show-ing your ignorance on many subjects. In-stead of feeling that we should know theanswers to questions (and fast) sit back andenjoy the fact that you don’t. The caveathere is that creative processes require inputfrom others; this is not a solitary state. Hereare 2 ways that you can start the processwith a current issue

1. Start immediately working out how youcan fail to solve an issue, sometimes byidentifying the steps that we don’t want tohappen we realise what we need to happen

2. Take 5 minutes and immediately write asmany ways (even if they sound far fetched)in which you can tackle an issue, do this forthe next 3 days. On day 4 ask a colleagueor friend to sit down and go through yourideas, this will give you some perspective.Look out for how the ideas start flowing andthe connections that may be made. If you

feel comfortable enough take this a stagefurther and connect with someone outsideyour organisation or industry.

Outside your comfort zoneAs LIS professionals we tend to make nich-es or interests for ourselves. This is greatand has its many uses, but it can make usa little cosy for particular environments andless likely to take chances on unusual ordifferent situations. So how can we makeourselves more ready to “try somethingnew”? Start slowly by looking for a situation(something small but different) that will takeyou out of your comfort zone; it could betaking the minutes of the staff meeting,reporting on an interesting article for thenext team brief, representing the librarymanager at the next faculty meeting, orbeing the key contact for the contractorswho will redecorating the library. Day onday, doing small but different tasks will instillconfidence that you can work outside whatyou feel comfortable at.

Planning to deliverThere is one thing in life that never chang-es; you will always be measured by youractions and people (including yourself) willalways remember what you failed to deliver.Life is not a bed of roses and things do gowrong; this is not what I am talking about.Let me be clear. Always take the responsi-bility for delivering on your promises(especially to yourself) or indeed your jobdescription, meet deadlines full stop. Beclear about what your role is in a team andwhat you will deliver. When things startgoing “pear shaped” as they can, then takeactions straight away and keep all partiesup to date.

‘Be surprised at how creative youcan become’


Your role in a businessDo you feel connected to your organisa-tion? Understanding how your organisationworks and functions can actually help youfeel more connected to the overall goals.So whilst I appreciate that “your small cog”in say a very large academic library wheelcan cause problems with connection, hav-ing an appreciation and understanding of

how you as professional does indeed relateto the success of the service can make youfeel more inclined to understand that “youreally do matter to the success of a busi-ness”. Over the next week try and under-stand your organisation better and how doyou contribute to it’s success, by what youdo.

Final thoughtsLets’ be clear, Rome wasn’t built in a day,but in my experience making small changeseveryday in attitude, actions, and on whatyou want to get out of your career will havea good effect and tangible outcomes. Whathave you got to lose? And if you feel likeletting me know how you get on I woulddelighted to hear about it. Best of luck!

Joanna Ptolomey is a qualified librarianand has held positions in the NHS and aprivate sector consultancy. Her book“Taking charge of your career. A guide forlibrary and information professionals” isavailable from Chandos Publishing.

You can contact her at: [email protected] and onFacebook http://www.facebook.com

‘You really do matter to thesuccess of a business’

I am delighted to announce that the win-ner of the 2009 Martin Award is Dr. AliceCrawford, Academic Liaison Librarian(Arts & Divinity), University of St An-

drews.

The winning article is entitled “Getting backin: returning to libraries after a careerbreak”, and first appeared in the Winter2007 issue of Impact.

The shortlisting panel noted that Alice’spiece deals with an important but frequentlyoverlooked issue. She touches on transfer-able skills, family responsibilities and thequest for flexible hours. She discusses thedilemma of being ‘over-qualified on paperand under-qualified in terms of recent

experience’, and writes honestly and enthu-siastically of the challenges of returning toa junior position before eventual promotionto a responsible professional post. Alice’sarticle is both inspiring and practical.

The Martin Award was established in the1950s in honour of two previous officers ofthe Career Development Group, Mr. andMrs. Martin. It is awarded every other yearto the writer of the best article in Impact. Weparticularly look to encourage new profes-sional voices. Since 2005, the award hasbeen generously sponsored by IntellidentLtd. (http://www.intellident.co.uk/)

It currently consists of £50 prize money, aday pass to CILIP’s Umbrella conference

Martin Award 2009Amanda Quick


and associated travel expenses. A far cryfrom the original award of £5!

This year’s award considered articles pub-lished during 2007 and 2008. The shortlistof four articles was drawn up by a smallpanel, after which time all Group memberswere invited to vote online for their favour-ite. All four articles were well-written piec-es on important topics, highly relevant tothe interests of Group members, and thefinal vote was extremely close.

Warm congratulations go to Alice Crawfordand thanks to our three other worthy final-ists: Jen Findlay, Anna Grigson and DanielPark. We hope to formally present theaward at Umbrella.

The Martin Award is decided by membersof the Group – look out for a new shortlistearly in 2011, and make sure you read theshortlisted articles and join in the onlinevote. Why not think about writing an articlefor Impact yourself - great to include in yourportfolio and you never know, in two years’time you could be the next recipient of theaward!

Find out more about the Martin Award,including recent winners, at:http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/careerdevelopment/whatwedo/awards.htm

Amanda QuickPast President

[email protected]

Career Development GroupAnnual Conference 2009

Your wish is my command: improving the customer experience

Helen RehinA key theme to emerge from the confer-ence was that a breaking down of barriers,both physical and mental, is needed inorder to continue to attract customers to ourservices. The first paper, by Maxine Mel-ling (Director of Learningand Information Services,Liverpool John MooresUniversity) was especiallyinteresting in its highlight-ing of these ideas. Thispresentation was titled “Usand them? Shaping a cus-tomer service culture inlibraries”. It used as acase study VancouverPublic Libraries ‘WorkingTogether Project’ in which

a community development approach wasused to build relationships with the local(very diverse, and often socially excluded)community in order to ensure needs werebeing met.

Maxine stressed thatthe ideas were veryrelevant to any li-brary, even in an ac-ademic setting with amore ‘captive’ audi-ence. The explicitand implicit messag-es we send - whichcan appear to librarystaff to be necessaryways of establishingthe rules and regula-tions we have creat-


ed to put in place our policies and strate-gies-can actually act as barriers to our us-ers, creating the ‘us and them’ mentality ofthe presentation title.

Such barriers are those of language, usingjargon, or language of crime / punishment(‘offenders’, ‘delinquent borrowers’ ), thoseof space (where the space is ‘controlled’ byus, and to find their way users must comethrough us - plus of course negotiatingactual physical security barriers, which canbe very worrying for some), as well as thebarriers we create by our obsessions withwhat people must NOT do in a library. Toillustrate this last point Maxine showedsome amusing images of the multitude ofsigns in some libraries, alerting users tovarious forbidden activities (eating, drink-ing, talking and so on).

Such notices are so often the first thingsusers see when entering a library, and theimportance of first impressions and stresson the physical aspects of library space inproviding a service to library users wastaken up by Rachel van Riel (Director oflibrary consultancy Opening The Book) inher presentation “A reader-friendly libraryservice”.

Rachel noted that all too often libraries areoperating under a number of erroneousassumptions, such as that users know whatthey are looking for, will ask if they cannotfind something - and will come back if theydon’t find it! The presentation emphasisedwhat we can learn from the retail sector, inmaking the experience of using librariesmore like ‘shopping for pleasure’.

Similar ideas came up in the presentationby Mark Freeman, (Libraries Manager,South Tyneside Metropolitan BoroughCouncil) on a regional project to developcustomer focus and standards in the North

East. The philosophy of retail had been akey aspect in the development of theseservice standards, and with it the impor-tance of both first and final impressions.Mark explained how the standards eventu-ally adopted were decided on with the par-ticipation of all library staff in the region,which related back to Maxine Melling’s em-phasis on the importance of shared values.She had stressed how vital it is that staffshare and adhere to the values of the serv-ice, rather than applying their own personalbeliefs and judgments when dealing withcustomers.

With its emphasis on providing ‘added val-ue’ to library websites by incorporating en-hancements to facilitate further discovery,Richard Wallis’ presentation “Connectingwith your online users – they won’t comejust because you build it” also stressedlearning from the commercial sector (forexample the way some library websitesnow incorporate staff ‘recommendedreads’ and so on). Ayub Khan’s “Better bydesign: a guide to planning new libraries ormajor remodelling of library spaces’ took astep back and focused closely on theproject management skills necessary inundertaking any such project, rather thanthe actual spatial elements necessary.

I found the conference really interesting,providing much food for thought, and dif-ferent perspectives on some similar ideas.The first three presentations discussedhere were particularly compelling, fore-grounding ideas about the – often uncon-scious – assumptions and judgements wemake in our day to day work, which needto be addressed or challenged if we arereally going to meet the needs of our cus-tomers.

Helen RehinDeputy Librarian

British Library for Development Studies


There are many reasons why people volunteer to work for VSO. Wanting to helppeople less fortunate than ourselves is something we often say we would like to dobut how many of us actually do it? The article below introduces us to our latestvolunteer, telling us a bit about himself and detailing what, after many years of

working in libraries eventually gave him the push to join VSO. We will be hearing abouthis role in India in regular updates and over the next year and I am sure you will all wishhim and the project success.

Tracey Ainsley

It is not original or profound to recog-nise that endings are also beginnings.Sometimes those things in life thatmight be a desperate blow can also be

for the best. Being made redundant bySuffolk County Council has given me anadventure that I never imagined when Iread Kim or A Passage to India or Mid-nights Children, or watched the Raj Quartet(I really must read it too).

In 2006 Suffolk reorganised three depart-ments into an Adult and Community Servic-es Department. One of these was Librariesand Heritage, where I worked. I haveworked in library services since I was 18,that is, for 40 years. Most of that time I wasdirectly managing libraries, but for the lastfew years following an earlier reorganisa-tion, I worked at Suffolk County Councilheadquarters, though still for Libraries andHeritage. My job included a number ofthings like organisational development, di-versity and inclusion, and internal and ex-ternal communications. I thought I ought tolearn a bit about the latter, as I had justdrifted into it, so I did a one year diploma

‘It is not original or profound to recognise that endings are

also beginnings’

course in Public Relations, which was moreinteresting then I expected it to be. I imag-ine it was just a coincidence that I wasawarded my diploma at about the time Iwas made redundant.

After I got over the shock to my ego fromrealising that Suffolk thought they couldpossibly manage without me, I was delight-ed and excited by this turn. I am old enoughto qualify for my pension, so I no longerneed to work to earn money. I took a yearout travelling and gardening and readingthe paper. And of course, thinking. My fal-low year confirmed an idea that sprang tomy mind immediately I was given the boot;I would apply to VSO as a volunteer.

Having the PR qualification was an advan-tage when it came to applying to VSO, asthere is a demand for people with commu-nication and PR skills. I might equally havegot a placement through organisational de-velopment, general management, humanresources or fundraising skills. All these arein great demand in the developing world.Something to think about for anyone whowants to expand their skills or is thinking ofvolunteering abroad.

The rewards for working for VSO are sub-stantial. It is a wonderful opportunity to do

A volunteer in IndiaVincent McDonald


something of value, while having an ex-tended ‘holiday’ abroad. You learn about anew country and culture while being paidfor your accommodation (albeit modest)and expenses enough to cover food andother basic needs, as long as you are ableto stick to a local diet. I adapted to a mainlyvegetarian diet quite easily, and have noproblems with cooking or keeping house.

The organisation VSO placed me with isthe Network for Maharashtra People withHIV (NMP+) based in Pune, India. It is anon-governmental organisation, akin to acharity, which was set up by HIV positivepeople to fight for better treatment, lessstigma, and greater dignity. In India theyhave suffered much, been sacked, refusedtreatment by hospitals, abandoned by theirfamilies, cut off with nothing and physicallybeaten. There has been progress, thingsare improving, and there is some draft leg-islation which if it makes it through parlia-ment should be a great help. But there isstill a long way to go.

My job is ‘Communications adviser’. I amtrying to help NMP+ improve their commu-nications internally with staff and otherparts of the organisation, and externally

with partner organisations, sponsors, mem-bers (i.e. HIV+ people) and the generalpublic. It took some weeks to get to gripswith this complex organisation. It dependsfor its income on donors (including the Indi-an government, and Bill Gates’ and BillClinton’s respective foundations). Money iscoming in from all over the place, withdifferent conditions and timescales.

It took 3 or 4 months before I producedmuch, but now there is a CommunicationsStrategy, and Style Guidelines (‘use Britishnot American English’). Whether anyonewill take any notice of these remains to beseen. We have a monthly newsletter. If youwant to see a copy it is available on thewebsite of a companion organisation, untilwe get our own website: go tohttp://aidssupport.aarogya.com and clickon Newsletter. We have a publications pro-gramme, producing various leaflets aboutHIV and our organisation. In the last fewmonths I have become more involved withadvocacy, drafting letters to governmentdepartments and others, trying to changethings. I have been working with the Human

Rights Law Network which is bringing acase to the Bombay High Court on ourbehalf. Also some classic PR work, organ-ising NMP+ attendance at publicity eventsand making press contacts. It is particularlyrewarding of course when some such activ-ity results in media coverage. I have pro-duced templates for things like minutes ofmeetings, and feedback forms for courses.This sort of stuff is commonplace in anywell run UK organisation, but appears quiteimpressive here. I help them with their writ-ing in English. Even those who speak it

‘In the last few months I havebecome more involved with

advocacy’

Uniting India against Aids.Vincent in background


reasonably well are weak on written Eng-lish. Many of our documents, particularlythose for donors, have to be in English.

To my amusement I am considered some-thing of an IT expert, my Word and webknowledge, such as it is, is greater thanmost of my colleagues. In Britain, organisa-tions like Suffolk County Council have beenusing computers for decades. The firstcomputer I learnt to use was a green-screened Amstrad. That experience givesa wealth of knowledge that we take forgranted. Staff in a non-governmentalorganisation in the developing world willsometimes have poor skills and little expe-rience, except for what the young socialwork graduates have picked up atuniversity, maybe some Word, Excel andweb experience. I am hoping to set up awebsite over the next year, somethingabout which I know next to nothing, so weare searching for a computer firm whomight do the donkey work as a good turnand provide a bit of training so the staff canmaintain it once I leave.

I have also been given responsibility for agreat cupboard full of books, reports, leaf-lets and other publications which havebeen shoved in with little regard for order.My boss has cottoned on that as a formerlibrarian I am the man for the job, and Isuppose I am.

‘That experience gives me a wealthof knowledge that we take for

granted’

Vincent McDonaldCommunications Adviser

Network of Maharashtra People with HIV


If I can do it, you can do it!Nicola Rushton

An article about Chartership by arecently Chartered Librarian

It was the middle of November 2008 and the notification came through that I’d finallybecome a Chartered Librarian- after the tears of relief and pride at what I’d achieved Irealised that it had taken me over 10 years... The tears of relief were justified, butmaybe not the pride! However, the more I think about it the more I do feel proud-

completing a Chartership submission is no mean feat especially with some of theobstacles that life throws at you to keep setting you back a year or two (or twelve). I hopethe following will inspire you to carry on, after all, if I can do it, you can do it!

I graduated in 1996 from UCE in Birming-ham (now Birmingham City University)with a Masters in Information and LibraryStudies. Not sure of my professional ca-reer plans I took a job as a Library Assist-ant at a local Agricultural and Horticulturalcollege. I worked there for 5 years andtook from it so much ‘professional’ experi-ence and skills that I decided to start workon my Chartership portfolio. This was onone of the ‘old’ CILIP routes. When Imoved into my first Professional post in2001 (as Deputy Service Manager of aSchool Library Service) I took with me allmy training certificates and evidence of‘guides’, etc. that I’d written and of courseall the skills I’d gained.

The important part of my early portfoliobuilding was the gathering of evidence andjust thinking about it! Its hard in our busylives to stop and look at what we’ve beendoing and where we’re going with it. I’dattended courses and training that I’d

identified ‘on the job’ and from these I de-veloped projects and gained skills. This isexactly the information needed in the port-folio submission – an ability to assess yourskills, access training and then use thetraining. This all goes into your PPDP(Personal Professional Development Plan)and then acts as your ‘Evidence’.

What really ‘kick-started’ my submission inearnest was attending the CDG course,‘Introduction to Chartership’ in Leeds in2002 (you will note that it had taken me 6years to get to this point!). This was one ofthe best things I could have done. I wasreliably informed that my time in a non-professional post still ‘counted’ towards mysubmission. Phew! All of that early evi-dence gathering wasn’t wasted. It alsomade me realise the importance of theChartership process and I returned to workfull of good intention! I think I managed towrite my CV and that was about it. Oh dear.However, the previous 2 years had beenvery difficult in my personal life (my Mumhad been in hospital with a terminal illness)and the constant 300-mile round trip everycouple of weeks had taken its toll.

‘I developed projects andgained skills’


A quick leap forward to October 2003 andI started in a new Professional post – thistime as a Sure Start Librarian. WOW –the amount of training and developmentopportunities, both personal and profes-sional, were immense. What an ideal op-portunity to get started on the Chartershipprocess again! However the amount ofbrain-overload from establishing a newpost put the portfolio on the back-burneragain.

What I needed was a motivational trainingday which would encourage me to finish myPPDP, contact a Mentor and really get thisthing started. So I attended another CDGgroup training day, in April 2006, ‘YourGuide to Chartership and Revalidation’.This day in York updated me on the newChartership process (the current one!), wasa great networking opportunity and gaveme great tips on preparing my portfolio.Attending one of these courses is now arequirement and I can certainly endorse it.

Shortly after this my employing authorityset up a ‘Chartership Support Group’ whichmet on regular occasions. It was a greatway of learning from people who were onestep ahead and inspiring those one stepbehind you. The senior members of staff‘mentoring’ the group were good at ensur-ing attendance by setting regular dates andsending out reminders. At around the sametime I managed to secure a mentor at thelocal University. Again this was a great wayof ensuring the portfolio moved forwardbecause regular dates were set for meet-ings and targets of achievement set. I wason my way!

Once again, however, there was a break inmomentum – I was pregnant with twins!Amazingly this didn’t actually set me backas much as it could have done. Because Ihad the two support networks set up I wasmotivated to get the process finished. Afterall, it had been 10 years since qualifying asa professional – pregnancy wasn’t going toput an end to it all! During the next twoyears I persevered with my portfolio, evenif it was only a few words on a page at atime. Luckily most of my evidence waswritten in retrospect, so the really hard work(ie. attending courses, running projects,etc.) had already been done. I think thefunniest moment must have been meetingmy mentor in her University library officewith twin babies scribbling all over her work– I think that was our last face-to-facemeeting!

Finally in the summer of 2008 I sent in mysubmission. The only set-back was that Ihad to complete a 500-word addendumwhich only took a month or so to researchand write-up. Within a week of sending thatto CILIP I received the news that I wasfinally a Chartered Librarian. After 12 yearsand lots of set-backs I’d done it. And I feelvery proud of my achievement!

Nicola RushtonSure Start Librarian,

North East DerbyshireChildren’s Centres

(Currently on maternity leave – again!)

‘It was a great way of learning from people’


Career Development GroupSTUDY TOUR MALTA 2009

Notes from one small island to anotherTracey Ainsley (Northumbria University Library & Learning Services), Alison Dyer(University of East Anglia), Louise Gordon (St Peter’s Library Sunderland University),Viki Lagus (South Tyneside Libraries), Mark Preston (Goldsmiths, University of London)

March 2009 saw Career DevelopmentGroup participants descend, from allcorners of the UK, onto the smallisland of Malta. Malta may be small

but we soon discovered that size doesn’tmatter. Although librarianship isn’t recog-nised with the same professional status asin the UK, the passionate library staff arefighting hard to stand up and be recognised.

We were greeted on our first evening byrepresentatives of the Malta Library & Infor-mation Association (MaLIA), including Lau-rence Zerafa, who together with TraceyAinsley, CDG International Officer, put to-gether the programme of visits. The

evening meal gave everyone the chance toget to know each other in a relaxed atmos-phere, before the next day which was thestart of the tour. Unfortunately, prior to ourmeal one of the participants had an acci-dent (broken ankle) and had to withdrawfrom the tour.

On our first day we went to the NationalLibrary. The library collection moved intothe current building in 1812 with the major-ity of books bequeathed by the Knights withmany being in French. One example beingthe First Complete Works of Shakespeare.We were shown a variety of artifacts andthose pertinent to us were collections rele-

Study Tour GroupUniversity of Malta


vant to our shared history including a 1561copy of the book written by Henry VIII indefense of the Catholic religion; an originalletter from the nephew of Queen ElizabethI announcing her death and the letter fromGeorge VI awarding the Maltese people theGeorge Cross for acts of courage and her-oism during World War Two.

A continuing theme through the library vis-its were problems relating to space. Wewere shown the areas where staff receivedand catalogued the books. In the last fewyears received books were still, in order ofreceipt, on shelves in their very small office.Another issue with the age of the buildingwas the environment, not conducive toholding rare manuscripts and books to saythe least.

Next we visited a Secondary school libraryin Mosta and the Malta Schools’ LibraryService, based in St Julian’s.

In Malta those who run the school libraryare teacher-librarians. It is the vision of theSchools’ Library Service (SLS) that allteacher-librarians will become dually quali-fied by undertaking a diploma in librarystudies by distance learning. In the schoollibrary we visited the stock which was pri-marily to promote reading for pleasure andconsisted of a range of classic and staplechildren’s fiction. The library did look under-stocked, but without a wide range of non-fiction on the shelves it was hard to makeany real comparison. Some of the refer-ence material was very outdated and led usto ask about funding issues in school librar-ies for book stock and periodicals. We weretold there was a budget of around €1000 forjust under 600 pupils, which was really onlyfor fiction stock. Teaching staff in their re-spective subject areas held budgets fornon-fiction titles, although it was the role ofthe librarian (the ‘book person’) to actually

organise and distribute text books! In com-parison to an example of a UK school li-brary funding per student was much lessand it was also noted that the SLS in the UKappeared to cater more for primaryschools, whereas in Malta the oppositeoccurred.

We then visited the SLS where we had atalk about the service and also a talk fromthe Malta School Library Association(MSLA). They hold monthly awarenesssessions for the teacher-librarians wherethey discuss common problems and haveregular training. They also have awards forthe teacher-librarians and the best schoollibrary.

What was really impressive was the initia-tives they have for the pupils. For the pri-mary school students they run a bookcompetition where the pupils not only haveto write their own original story, they haveto make the physical book and illustrate itthemselves. The selection they showed usindicated the imagination of the childrenand showed off their artistic talent. Second-ary school pupils have the opportunity tocomplete a quiz. Not only do they have tofind the answers they have to include thesource where they found the information.This gives them an insight into finding andevaluating information; gaining a useful life-long learning transferable skill ready forwhen they leave school to go to universityor college.

Both the work of MSLA and SLS was reallyimpressive and they have membership ofover 200 which is actually larger than Ma-LIA. Both Associations are run separatelywhich we indicated if they worked together

‘This gives them an insight intofinding and evaluating information’


their stronger membership would increasetheir voice on library issues and help raisetheir professional status.

Our second day saw us visit the Universitylibrary, and we met Mr Anthony Mangionwho had visited Northumbria University Li-brary the previous year. First we had a tourof the campus which included a visit to theaudio visual library. The university runspostgraduate certificates and diplomas inLibrarianship and has recently started afour year Archives & Library ManagementCourse. The University library was havingspace issues and has an underground ex-tension in the planning stages. The currentlibrary has recently been refurbished andhad a familiar feel to it, being ‘inspired’ bythe earlier visit to Northumbria. Thechanged layout with flexible working areashas been described as ‘a crowd puller’ andwas certainly being well used by groupsand individuals.

The library seems to have great success inworking with the academics including suc-cessfully running seminars on specific da-tabases. They had been surprised that theacademics still thought of the library assimply being all about books and otherprinted resources. The results of the semi-nars not only increased academic usage,but in turn the academics promoted theresources to students. Hands on informa-tion skills programmes for both studentsand academics have been found to providethe best experience in encouraging ques-tions being asked which didn’t happen be-fore.

Later that day we visited the NationalArchives which are housed in a 13th centuryhospital building. The initial decision to setup a National Archive started in 1971 withthe settingup of a com-mittee on thepreservationof publicrecords. Thebuilding hasundergoneconsiderablerestoration and is worth a visit in itself. Theofficial opening of the archives was in 1994following the enactment of the NationalArchives Act.

The aim of the archive is to preserve thecollective memory of the Maltese nationand protect the rights of citizens throughaccess to essential evidence. The collec-tions are vast and growing rapidly and it isclearly quite a task keeping up with thework involved with the restoration and cata-loguing of the items. The work involved ismore than can be coped with by the staffemployed. Volunteers from the Friends ofthe National Archives are vital to its work.An example of recent restorations includedthe impressive Royal Warrants. Extra fund-ing from the Friends was gained whichprovided for not only the cleaning of theparchments but also the restoration of theseals.

The thing most impressive to us was thefocus on excellent customer service andnot only in making the archives accessibleto the public but also promoting its impor-tance and use. Some of these activitiesincluded research services, encourage-ment of school visits, microfilming and pho-tographing documents to make them morewidely accessible and help preserve theoriginals. The ‘Friends’ promote its activi-

‘The library seems to have greatsuccess in working with the

academics’

National Archives


ties, raise funds to provide volunteers andproduce an annual newsletter.

The overall impression was that this was awell managed department with a very com-mitted staff to the services they provide.

Our final planned visit was to the MaltaCollege of Arts Science and Technology(MCAST). Our visit started with a short andhumorous presentation by the deputy prin-cipal, Anthony Saliba. He explained that asa FE college they teach a variety of voca-tional and professional subjects in nineinstitutes, ranging from hairdressing totraining Master Mariners. The main qualifi-cations are BTECs but from September2009 four of the institutes will start to awardtheir own degrees. The college has in-creasing links with employers such asLufthansa and they have even bought aplane for the students to work on.

We were shown the main library, by ourhost and MCAST librarian Laurence Zera-fa. The library is a modern and well-provi-sioned building on four floors. The clearsignage and well planned layout makes youwelcome as soon as you arrive. The bookand periodical section starts in the groundfloor reading room, whilst the 1st floor con-sisted of seminar rooms, private studyspaces and specific collections for youngerfoundation students and trainee teachers.The 2nd floor has a learning support unitand a spacious reading area housing therest of the print collections. An impressiveaudiovisual collection is also housed in thelibrary.

All this was efficiently maintained by eightstaff who manage six MCAST librariesacross Malta and Gozo, doing everythingfrom desk duties, shelving and collectionmanagement, although only the main li-brary opens every weekday. In future alllibraries will be combined in a new purposebuilt library.

We returned to MCAST that same eveningto deliver a talk ‘Careering on-CPD from aUK perspective’. Small discussion groupswere formed and facilitated by us on topicssuch as professional qualifications; Char-tership, ACLIP; Conferences, tours andvisits; secondments, shadowing and on thejob training and the role of the professionalbody. The participants discussed their frus-trations at the lack of recognition of theprofession by the government and lack ofCPD opportunities. We tried to make thepoint that CPD is not just the responsibilityof the employer but it is often up to you totake control of your own development. Agood example we stressed was ’just doingit’ as our study tour was mostly funded byourselves and not by our employer. Thediscussions were lively and we could havetalked longer. Although the night endedquickly, email addresses were swappedand hopefully relationships have beenmade to continue a dialogue.

‘The overall impression was thatthis was a well managed depart-

ment with a very committed staff’

Malta


The trip wasn’t all work. We did have somefree time and enjoyed an evening at theopera, some of us went to see the WorldCup qualifying match between Malta andDenmark and we managed to use the hop-on hop-off bus to see the sights whichincluded the Hypogeum temples, Mdina thesilent city and the picturesque fishing vil-lage of Marsaxlokk. Some of the partici-pants even managed to fit in anunscheduled stop at a couple of publiclibraries in their free time!

We also did our sponsored walkin aid of our internationalprojects, only eight miles butthe hardest eight miles we’veever done. It was also hair-rais-ing as it was along the cliff topsso not the best when you don’tlike heights!

Sponsored Walk

Historic Mdina


We would like to take the opportunity to thank our hosts MaLIA and the SchoolLibrary Service and special thanks goes to both Laurence Zerafa for arrangingmost of our visits and to Joseph Boffa from MSLA. Thanks also goes to all the

staff we met on the visits who gave their time to show us with pride their workplaces.

If you would like to see some photographs of our trip see our blog at: http://communities.cilip.org.uk/blogs/cdgmalta/default.aspx

or the Career Development Flickr pages at:http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/careerdevelopment

End of sponsored walk


DatesDate:Tuesday 30 June 2009

Event: Your guide to Certification,Chartership and RevalidationDivision:Yorkshire and HumbersideTime: 10.00am-4.15pmVenue:Room 7332, Stoddart Building,Sheffield Hallam UniversityCost: Free. Light refreshments will beprovided, but not lunch. There is a can-teen in the buildingFurther Information: With MargaretChapman from CILIP and Jane Walton(Campaign Manager for 'Make Your Mark'in Wakefield). Info on Fellowship willalso be available.Contact:Julie SmithEmail:[email protected]

Date: Monday 6 July 2009

Event: New Professionals ConferenceDivision: NationalTime: 10.00am-5.00pmVenue:London Metropolitan UniversityCost: VariousFurther Information: Book by 30 JuneContact:Karen BerryEmail:[email protected]

Date:Wednesday 15 July 2009

Event: Chartership WorkshopDivision:East MidlandsTime: 9.30am-4.00pm (lunch not included)Venue:University of NottinghamCost: Included in Chartership Registra-tionFurther Information: Book by 13 JulyContact: Sue Grice

Email:[email protected]

Date:Thursday 23 July 2009

Event: Visit to Newcastle City LibraryDivision:North EasternTime: 3.00pmVenue:Newcastle City Library, NewcastleCost: FreeFurther Information:Tour will last foraround two hours with opportunities toask questions along the way. This tourwill incorporate all levels and areas ofthe buildings. Ask all those libraryrelated questions you’ve been dying tofind an answer for!Contact: Louise GordonEmail:[email protected]

Don’t forget....

Umbrella 200914-15 July

Hatfield

Making connections,The power of people

partnerships and services

For further information:http://www.umbrella2009.org.uk

Summer 2009

Documents

impact summer

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impact copy dates

email message

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library services

london tel

anotherworldvijay chopraa