Role on the CILIP NW Committee: I’m the New Professionals Support Officer so my role involves working with our student representatives to represent the views of students and new professionals in the North West.
On a practical basis this means that I attend the induction at library schools to introduce the students to the work of CILIP and explain the benefits of membership. I keep a look out for bursaries, events and opportunities that might be of interest to new professionals and promote them. I aim to connect them to opportunities so they can get the experience they need to get their careers off to a great start. I’m in regular contact with our student representatives so we can gain feedback from the students on their courses and see how CILIP NW can help to supplement their learning. Last year, I helped to arrange visits to the Portico Library and the John Rylands Library as a result of this feedback.
Work: I work as an Electronic Resources Assistant at the University of Manchester Library. This involves working on a busy frontline enquiry service where I answer enquiries from our staff, students and alumni on how to access the library’s many databases, e-resources and e-books.
I also advise other teams in the Library on the more technical aspects of subscription activation such as IP registration and configuring resources to work with our proxy server.
Which other CILIP member networks do you belong to?
When I first joined CILIP I found it hard to just choose two groups so I’ve made the most of the recent changes to the membership model! I’m now a member of:
- Academic & Research Libraries Group
- Information Literacy Group
- UK eInformation Group
- Community, Diversity & Equality Group
- Knowledge and Information Management Group
- Multimedia Information & Technology Group
How has your career developed up to now?
I studied law at University and I did not consider the library and information sector as a career until I had an email exchange with an extremely helpful librarian at the University of Salford. This involved using Harvard Referencing for a particularly tricky government publication that I had quoted in an essay. I had always liked academic study and enjoying conducting research so it was a light bulb moment when I realised that I could help others to do this.
A Google search led me to CILIP and the career pages and I haven’t looked back since. I started to build up experience by volunteering to help at library events like the Summer Reading Challenge and I attended events ran by the New Library Professionals Network (NLPN).
I obtained a temporary summer job working in the institutional repository at the University of Salford. I really enjoyed the work and could picture myself being happy working in that environment so it gave me the confidence to apply for the masters’ course.
I completed the Library and Information Management course at Manchester Metropolitan University whilst undertaking a number of projects in the Collections team at Salford. The mix of academic study and practical experience helped to build my knowledge of the complexities of library management systems, reading list software and licences for e-resources.
I started my first professional post at the University of Manchester in 2017 and I am now working towards my Chartership.
What’s been your best professional moment?
I helped to organise and run the CILIP North Careers Day in 2017. It was the first time I had been involved in planning and coordinating a nationally promoted event so it was a great way to develop my event management, problem-solving and communication skills.
What drives you on?
I find satisfaction in helping people to achieve their goals. In my day job this can be helping one of our academics to get an e-book up and running before they assign reading for a seminar or helping a student to access a database they need for their dissertation.
In my CILIP NW role I enjoy meeting the new cohort of students each year as they are so enthusiastic about the profession.
Do you have any career advice or top tips?
For those at the start of their careers I’d advise them to find out as much as possible about the different areas of the library and information profession so they can see where would suit them best. I attended a speed network event run by NLPN and it was a great chance to speak to new professionals in a wide range of sectors. The events are run on Saturdays and are free to attend so they are a great way to get experience.
If you have time, I’ve also found it beneficial to do work experience. My library offers formal work experience but there are a growing number of professionals, including me, on the NLPN job shadowing list (see below).
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
We joined the National Trust this year so we are making the most of our membership and seeing how many visits (and walks with Robin the dog) we can squeeze into one year.
What would be your Desert Island read?
It would have to be a Jane Austen novel – it would be a tough choice between Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice.
Robin
Resources:
NLPN job shadowing opportunities: https://nlpn.wordpress.com/job-shadowing-opportunities/
Work experience at the University of Manchester Library: http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/about/widening-participation/work-experience/
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