CILIP North West Careers Panel - Sinead English, Assistant Librarian, University of Football Business Etihad Campus

Sinead English

Assistant Librarian, University Campus of Football Business 

During the CILIP North West Member Network Career Panel event on 23 April, Sinead spoke about her career journey, particularly about her early career and her move from a Health to Higher Education Library role. Here are some of her reflections on the event and some great tips! 

I was incredibly nervous about speaking at this event, filled with the dreaded imposter syndrome telling me that it was too early into my library career to be speaking. However, when I had looked back at my job experiences,  I decided that it may be useful to demonstrate to attendees the way in which I’ve managed to build up my transferable skills in order to get to my current role.

Volunteering Opportunities

Since giving my presentation I've been reflecting on the similarities between when I was looking for my first role in libraries (following the aftermath of the market crash) and the situation that many people are facing now due to the pandemic.  I decided to use my spare time volunteering in order to gain experience to help me to get a library role.  There may not be lots of volunteering opportunities around at the moment with covid restrictions in place, so I would advise approaching people who are working in sectors or roles that you would like to get into and seeing if you can shadow them. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking to switch roles or sectors or for students who are graduating. Like myself, currently working part in the library and part from home, I would imagine that there will be other information professionals who will have capacity to offer these opportunities virtually. 

Online Networks

Something I didn’t get chance to expand on due to time constraints was the online networks that I found useful when looking for professional roles. The New Library Professionals Network (@NLPN_) on Twitter are great as they have a list of people who are happy to be shadowed, and they also constantly share job opportunities. It was through following them that I saw my current role advertised. 

Taking the Plunge to Speak at Events

I'd also like to take the opportunity to mention the experience I've gained speaking at events. This was not only helpful for learning new skills but also for networking. When I was working as a library assistant, I spoke at a libraries marketing event about an award-winning marketing campaign that we ran in my library. I also spoke at a northern health libraries conference about the health and well-being initiatives in my library, and this led to a network being set up for sharing ideas and best practice. Another helpful initiative I've taken part in is giving ‘3 minutes of madness’ presentation; this is a good way to gain skills in summarising information and presenting all in one - plus as it’s over so quickly, there is less chance for the nerves to kick in!

Try Making a Plan

A final tip for people who are interested in role like mine is that, for me, it was really useful to make a plan of how I wanted my career to progress. Initially, I was working with a team in health libraries who really supported my development so I decided to focus on gaining experience and completing my MA before applying for professional roles. This involved presenting, leading projects and getting involved in delivering information literacy initiatives. My current role was advertised a month into me starting my job in health libraries but I didn’t apply for it as I knew it wasn’t my time. I always kept an eye out in case the role was advertised again, which it was and thankfully I was successful!

Differences Between Working in Health and HE Libraries 

A question that I was asked during the event (which I really struggled to answer at the time!) was about the main differences I encountered when moving from health to HE libraries. My initial response was to say that HE initially felt like working in a silo as there just wasn’t the community network there in the same way as when I worked in health. Reflecting on this since, I think this feeling might be partly due to that fact my HE library team is so small and we don’t really work with other HE institutions – but I acknowledge that this may not be other people’s experiences of HE. Other differences that I personally perceive relate to inter-library supply of documents, copyright issues, outreach and interactions. Information and digital literacy is something which I definitely feel is a constant, with just a slightly different approach in delivery between sectors.

Current Challenges 

In terms of the challenges that I face in my current role – I would say that, as we are such a small team, it’s been really tricky navigating all the changes that the pandemic has brought such as the lockdowns and ongoing developments in government guidance. We've tried hard to ensure that we are offering an in-person service as well as delivering a substantial online service. It’s been a challenge to avoid burnout and thankfully we’ve really pulled together as a team.

The Best Bits! 

What I enjoy most about my current role are the development opportunities that arise from working in a small team; I’m able to try new ideas and create new projects for outreach to students for example, in promoting information literacy.

Sinead English (She/Her)
secretary.nw@cilip.org.uk
@sineadfae