Our second guest blogger from last week's CPD25 Development Day is Nicola Cook, Library Assistant at the Wellcome Trust. It's always great to hear that someone is inspired and ready for action from an event like this - take it away Nicola!
I attended CPD25: Career Development Day for Library & Information Assistants for a number of reasons. The main aim was for a reaffirmed sense of value for the career I had unintentionally embarked upon nearly 7 years ago, as well as to discover how I can push myself forwards and progress upwards in a constantly evolving sector. Unsurprisingly and positively, CPD25 gave me exactly what I’d wanted. Since I graduated in 2010, I must admit I have easily avoided the daunting prospect of thinking about my future. To make the decision to whole-heartedly focus on what I want to be now means that maybe I have finally grown up…
The day was divided into 4 parts. Keynote Speaker Robert Hall began by discussing the current trends in the socio-economy and how they are affecting Higher Education, Universities and academic libraries as well as how the role of the librarian needs to adapt to these changes. I was most interested in how the academic library, much like the university itself, is becoming more business-like, increasingly money-driven and associating itself with consumable culture.I don’t think that this is necessarily negative, in fact it ensures the library does not segregate itself from the ‘real world’ and maintains its importance, relevance and high standards of (customer) service.
The hardest part, for me, was concentrating on taking away the most relevant pieces of information to relate to where I am working now and where I’d like to be in the near future.This proved to be a little challenging as I work in an academic research library that is not in a university, but instead is part of a research institution and collection, and the latter I’m still unsure of. Helpfully however, the case study speakers covered the broad spectrum of libraries and information services and I genuinely could learn from the enthusiastic museum librarian Helen Williamson, the unconventional archivist Karyn Stuckey and the self-titled reluctant librarian David Pearson. David is a current Masters student and was refreshingly honest about combining study and work.
As a Library Assistant who has not yet embarked upon a postgraduate professional library qualification (but knows exactly where they would like to study,) it was beneficial to hear of the disparate routes into success in the Information/Library sector. It was useful to learn of the importance of collaboration, self-evaluation and promotion and utilising the digital technologies employed in libraries to enhance our own careers. Using the web to document and audit achievements and research, be it with a blog, twitter or even Facebook, is increasingly important as a form of mass communication to reaffirm the importance of libraries, and the skills of the librarian, at a time when their value is being questioned in the public arena.
The day was rounded off with Sue Hill Recruitment consultant Donald Lickley who guided us through our skills, possible careers outside the library walls and advised us on effective CVs, applications and (the dreaded) interviews. It was participatory and took us out of our comfort zones, but allowed questions to flow and doubts and concerns to be addressed. SHR was the first agency I signed up to when I moved to London. Their consultants sourced out part-time work in public libraries for me during university, as well as for the job that I am working in now. The emphasis was on selling ourselves, marketing our skills and providing a real approach to applying for jobs in the current economic situation – all of which simply boils down to the basic fundamentals of continuing personal development; working collaboratively, actively engaging in professional networks, seeking out mutually beneficial opportunities exploiting technology and being willing to keep on learning to stay one step ahead. It is becoming increasingly obvious that a career in the Information sector will continue to be rewarding just as long as you put in the effort to gain the reward.
Thanks to all of the speakers of CPD25 who have (slightly) diffused my fears of the future and left me loving libraries and wanting to tell the world (wide web) about them…
- Nicola Cook
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