Reflections on being a CILIP North West Student Representative by Helen K

When I started studying for my MA in Library & Information Services management I was working as the Knowledge Services Assistant at an NHS Foundation Trust. I chose the distance learning route, studying via the University of Sheffield, because it suited my needs best.

I signed up to be a student rep after speaking to some of the CILIP NW team at the CILIP conference in Manchester 2017. I had previously been to the CLIP NW Study day, which was the first proper event I’d been to and I’d really enjoyed it. I was interested in getting involved, as it seemed to be a good opportunity to meet more people in the network and help to form a link between my fellow students and CILIP.

By being a student rep, it encouraged me to liaise with my fellow students in our online spaces (the University of Sheffield uses Google+ for a huge amount of student communication and find out what kind of things they were interested in and learn more about their thoughts and expectations.

Despite having had a Saturday job in public libraries for some years, prior to starting in the Knowledge & Evidence Service I’d never heard about CILIP and I was keen to make sure that my fellow students knew more about it than I had while they were studying and when they entered the workforce. This was particularly relevant in our 2nd year modules, which included creating a reflective portfolio and mapping skills to the PKSB: I could see from my more senior colleagues how much this would also benefit anyone working towards Chartership in the future.

I met many great people as part of the CILIP NW team! I always felt able to also suggest ideas for future events and directions that would be useful to students and new professionals. These suggestions were based on my experience and also the informal feedback and conversations with my fellow students.

I would definitely recommend the experience to others, as it gives you a great opportunity to liaise with professionals from many different sectors and discuss with them ways in which students would benefit from CILIP. It also helped me to gain confidence in meeting people in the network and speaking to others to share ideas and best practices about different events and work I had been involved in.

Although I am sad to step down from my post of student rep I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied at present. I have recently started a new role as Evidence Reviewer for an NHS Foundation Trust and will be attending mental health library events and getting to grips with a new area of health, having been at an acute hospital for many years.
I am also part of the team involved in a health libraries project called the Essential Sites List. The project team was actually formed with my fellow CILIP NW student reps at the time! The aim of the project is to ensure that sites that we need are (and remain) accessible.

I’m also delighted to be part of the team involved in planning a north west health libraries conference.

I would love to return to the CILIP NW team at some point in the future. At the moment I have so many other things keeping me busy, alongside getting to grips with my first professional role. I certainly hope to be back!