Making the Most of Your Professional Organisation

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Making the Most of Your Professional Organisation
CILIP RoadshowUniversity of Sheffield

• Sheila Corrall
• Director of Academic Services
• University of Southampton
• President
• CILIP

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CILIP RoadshowUniversity of Sheffield

• Trends and developments in
• library and information services
• Competencies and proficiencies for
• the modern information professional
• Benefits of CILIP membership
• in supporting your career
• EDUCATION, ENTERPRISE, ADVOCACY

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Trends and developments

• Traditional activities given fresh impetus by
  technological developments
• fresh interest in cataloguing, indexing and
  knowledge organisation systems collection-level
  descriptions, metadata, thesauri, semantic
  networks, ontologies
• new digital reference services email, chat, web
  contact centres, consortia
• creative use of web technologies for reader
  development and outreach

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Trends and developments

• Professional abilities recognised and creatively
  applied in related areas
• provision of assistive technology and personal
  help with learning difficulties
• growth of information skills teaching and
  expansion to cover research, learning and key
  skills
• introduction of e-print archive services offering
  bibliographic support and technical assistance

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Trends and developments

• Formal partnerships used to extend and enrich
  service provision
• collaborative resource evaluation (eg Resource
  Discovery Network)
• digital reference consortia based on strengths
  and timezones (eg CDRS)
• related services and activities in library
  buildings, eg homework clubs, learning cafes,
  video-conferencing, IT help, one-stop-shops,
  art galleries

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Trends and developments

• Establishment of director-level posts combining
  libraries with other services and/or giving
  librarians influential roles
• Director of Information Services (Library and
  Computing Services)
• Director of Libraries and Learning
• Head of Libraries and Heritage
• Head of e-Government
• Chief Knowledge Officer

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Professional competencies

• Professional/technical knowledge and skills
• Information management (content)
• Information technology (conduit)
• Business awareness and understanding
• Managerial generic/transferable skills
• Contextual organisation-specific knowledge
• Personal qualities and abilities
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Self-awareness and self-management
• Research findings point to significant skills
  gaps/
• shortages in business and personal competencies

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Professional competence model
Behavioural Interpersonal Managerial Contextual
Professional Technical
Knowledge Skills
Understanding Motivation
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Important new proficiencies

• Achieving new methods of collaboration
• Understanding capacities of d-technologies
• Thorough grounding in use of information and
  technologies by different disciplines
• Willingness to eliminate territorial barriers and
  work with other specialists
• Ability to design and teach creative educational
  programmes
• P M Battin. Librarianship in the twenty-first
  century. Syracuse University LibraryAssociates
  Courier, XXXIII, 1998-2001, 43-61

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Key development messages

• Information specialist knowledge and skills are
  necessary, but not sufficient, to achieve
  professional competence
• Librarianship at every level involves
  management of something people, budgets,
  collections, projects, time, etc.
• (Patricia M Battin, op cit)
• Information services staff need to be more
  outward-looking and proactive
• (isNTO/TFPL, 2001)

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Why join CILIP?

• Formal admission to membership of a professional
  body is one of the defining characteristics of
  being a professional
• Your professional organisation will alert you to
  new thinking and developments especially useful
  in times of rapid change
• Professional activities can extend and complement
  your day-to-day work
• Involvement in a professional association helps
  to develop your skills and career

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Why join CILIP?

• Participation provides opportunities to form
  rewarding contacts and friendships
• Professional organisations are entirely dependent
  on membership engagement for their strength and
  vitality
• CILIP is not a remote body in London, but a
  professional community with a potential presence
  in every information service
• CILIP is what we make it and its a great deal
  for students!

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Levels of involvement

• Passive paying your subscription, skimming (or
  binning) mailings, ignoring developments
• Responsive reading the literature, attending
  conferences, assimilating ideas, enhancing
  practice
• Proactive writing articles, giving talks,
  joining committees, stimulating debate,
  influencing developments

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Benefits of engagement

• Comparing experience and practice with colleagues
  working in other organisations
• Assn of Assistant Librarians (Study Tours)
• Gaining understanding of new specialisms after
  changing jobs and/or moving sector
• Aslib Audiovisual Group (Publications Officer)
• Library Info Research Group (Publicity)
• Forming a broader cross-sectoral view of library
  and information service provision
• IIS Sthn Branch (Chair/Meetings Organiser)

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Benefits of engagement

• Developing/pursuing personal interests and
  influencing professional practice
• LA Personnel Training Education (Vice-Chair)
• IIS Professional Ethics Working Group
• Library Association Publishing Board
• Contributing to national policies and strategies
  for libraries and information
• IIS External Affairs Committee (Vice-Chair)
• Learning about conduct of meetings and dynamics
  of groups in different settings

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Benefits of engagement

• Gaining experience and skills in new areas, eg
• designing and drafting promotional literature
• editing and writing material for publication
• preparing budgets and organising events
• taking minutes and chairing meetings
• leading workshops and giving talks
• Making contact with people willing to offer help
  and support with career development by acting as
  contacts, mentors and referees

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Tips and pitfalls

• Sample the publications and events of several
  groups before deciding to join
• Negotiate with your employer for time out but be
  prepared to invest your own time and money in
  professional development being a professional
  is not a 9-to-5 job!
• Dont join a committee unless your are prepared
  to do your share of the work being a passenger
  will harm your career . . .

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Value to students

• Update keeps you up-to-date with service trends
  and current issues (useful for course assignments
  and job interviews)
• LI Appointments makes you aware of employment
  patterns and job openings
• Branches and Groups offer reduced student rates
  for attending events
• LIS-CILIP enables you to observe and take part in
  professional debate

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References

• Collaborative Digital Reference Service
• www.arl.org/newsltr/219/cdrs.html
• Reader Development
• www.boox.org.uk/YouthBOOX
• www.4ureaders.net
• www.whichbook.net
• Resource Discovery Network
• www.rdn.ac.uk

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Sheila Corrall CILIP PresidentEmail
S.M.Corrall_at_soton.ac.uk
Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E
7AE Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
0501 Textphone 020 7255 0505 Email info_at_cilip
.org.uk Website www.cilip.org.uk