The Career Development Day for Library and Information Assistants organised by CPD25 has become a popular event, making regular appearances in the programme. Having been pipped to the post by other eager assistants last year I was very pleased when I managed to get a place.
The aim of the day was to give paraprofessionals an insight into a variety of careers, to give honest advice on getting your foot in the door, and to arm us with basic skills and ideas that will make our applications and CVs stand out.
The event had the secondary theme of ‘Current trends in Higher Education and the Future of Library Services’ to prepare us for very competitive application processes. Information workers have been hit hard in the recession. As we are often found working quietly within large organisations our work can be mistakenly seen as a ‘back room process’ just waiting to be trimmed down. Public libraries in particular have been hit hard, and academic libraries are currently undergoing a drastic makeover aimed at increasing efficiency.
For paraprofessionals, the decision to pursue professional qualification and move up the career ladder is one that must now be made in light of these changes. The job we had once hoped for may no longer exist in the form we had known it. The landscape of the information world is changing – are we prepared?
The day’s speakers came from a variety of backgrounds and had experienced qualifying and job hunting during this increasingly precarious climate. Their stories contained valuable lessons and warnings, but also great success and job satisfaction.
Our first speaker, Robert Hall, is Director of Library Services at Kings College London. Having previously worked at Southbank University he was able to describe the effect of rising tuition fees on students’ expectations of university services and how our roles are changing to reflect their changing needs and demands. Information workers in HE have been adapting their services to accommodate new learning and teaching practises - including VLE (e.g. Blackboard) and distance learning – and as our departments restructure, the librarian jobs that we have been aspiring to have changed too. Robert Hall’s lead presentation set the tone for the day perfectly by rationalising the changes.
Our second speaker, Karyn Stuckey, is a Special Collections Archivist for the architects, Foster and Partners. She gave insight to information work in the private sector, where the roles can be slightly more unusual and defined differently from the public sector. She suggested that this can be because private companies may not have a longstanding dedication to record keeping in the way that some traditionalist information workers can do! Stuckey’s work history was varied and interesting, comprised of both permanent positions in reputable archives and temporary project posts. Her story contained lessons for all of us who are faced with a tough jobs market and the possibility of temporary employment and slightly unorthodox positions.
The third speaker, Helen Williamson, had been working at the Horniman Museum since qualifying, first as a library assistant and now as the librarian. The recession hit during her studies and finding work in the museum sector became difficult. She fought a long and difficult battle to promote the library within the museum, organising educational visits and contributing material to exhibitions. She also came to compromises with practical changes in the library to save money, such as restricting public access. Williamson’s story was a fantastic example of why it is important for information workers to constantly promote the worth and relevance of our profession during a difficult economic climate.
Our final speaker was a current Information Science student, David Pearson, who spoke about his experience of balancing part-time study with full-time work. Pearson spoke in depth about the benefits of the course to his current work in SOAS library and why now feels that the qualification is a valuable one – an opinion he admits he did not have during his 10 years of paraprofessional work at SOAS.
The morning’s speakers were followed in the afternoon by a far more practical few hours with Donald Lickley from Sue Hill Recruitment. With two decades of experience working in libraries and another 10 years of HR and recruitment support for information workers he was well-equipped to speak with us about expanding our skill sets, job applications, CVs, and interviews. The afternoon was lively as attendees took on the advice from the morning’s speakers and considered the possible routes that Lickley’s advice could take them on.
The entire event was definitely a useful one to attend. Many paraprofessionals find themselves in assistant roles for years as they save money for tuition fees. Indeed there were some of us in the room that had begun to feel like it might just not be worth it. However the success of this event was in its anecdotal approach. The speakers, from their range of backgrounds and in their wonderful range of jobs, inspired many of us once again and reminded us why we wanted to become information professionals. They all proved through their stories that with ingenuity, open-mindedness, and determination, it is possible to enjoy working in the profession despite the murky economic climate.
- HJ McQuarrie
