CILIP North West: Summary of 2021

 As 2021 is coming to an end, let’s reflect on the year and look to what we would like to achieve in the future. The CILIP North West committee would like to thank our member network for your continued support and engagement. We wish you all the best for the new year.

Events

As we continue to adapt to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, collaboration for many of us continues to take place online. The CILIP North West committee has held a number of online events this year, which has allowed us to reach a wider audience and collaborate with other organisations. 

Our Professional Registration Support Officers, Gil Young and Victoria Treadway, have held a number of Revalidate in a Morning events this year:
• 2 joint sessions with CILIP North West & Academic Research Libraries Group North West (January and July 2021)
• 1 for Health Education England library team (July 2021)
• 1 as part of the Professional Registration Support Officer Network (September 2021).

As well as these events, we also hosted our annual Member’s Day and AGM on Zoom in May 2021. This event was open to members and non-members, and participants could choose to stay for the entire day or drop in to particular sessions. Speakers covered a wide range of topics, from experiences of working at the NHS Nightingale Hospital during COVID-19, to library apprentices, to pronouns in the workplace.

Based on feedback from new professionals and students in the North West, the CILIP North West committee held a Careers Panel on Zoom in April 2021. The aim of this was event was to give insights into different library and information roles, and the steps taken by speakers to reach the current point in their career. Participants heard from speakers working in multiple sectors, who gave advice on job interview preparation, gaining experience, volunteering, and career progression. 

This was accompanied by a collaborative session in March 2021 with Dr Geoff Walton, Programme Leader of the MA Library and Information Management at Manchester Metropolitan University. At this event, current and former students shared their experiences of the course, and gave advice on applying, completing the course, and using the experience when applying for professional roles. Dr Geoff Walton shared an insightful overview of the programme, as well as his own interesting career story, and advised potential students on how to apply and get the best out of the course.

Bursaries

As well as hosting our own events, CILIP North West has continued to provide bursaries to our members to events and conferences from other organisations. Our members have received bursaries to attend GLAM Intersectional and FestivIL this year.

Moving forward

This year we have collected feedback from our members on what you would like to see from us moving forward. Based on this feedback, we aim to use future events and blog posts to continue to provide insight into different sectors, to share specialist skills and information, and to build our network and promote collaboration. We will be starting off the new year with an updated series of ‘Meet the Committee’ blog posts, to introduce our new members.

Revalidate in a Morning – January 2022

We will also continue to offer our Revalidate in a Morning sessions throughout 2022. Do you hold CILIP Professional Registration (ACLIP, MLIP or FCLIP)?  Do you need to revalidate but don't know where to start?  Or just struggling to find dedicated time to prepare your revalidation submission?  Come along to this online session and complete your revalidation in a morning alongside other CILIP members, with support from the CILIP NW Professional Registration Support Officers (Gil Young and Victoria Treadway). Whilst a couple of hours doesn't sound like much, it is amazing what you can get done if you really focus. There will be short, scheduled breaks in between writing sessions led by Anna Theis to help keep you motivated and on-task. This event is free. Some pre-session work is required ahead of the session.

The session will take place via Microsoft Teams and run from 9.30am- 12.30pm on Tuesday 25th January 2022. 

Want to know more? Read the write up (including rave reviews from attendees) from the last Revalidate in a Morning event we ran in July: https://arlgnw.wordpress.com/2021/07/29/revalidate-in-a-morning-some-outcomes-and-feedback-from-the-july-event/

To book a place: https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1585861&group=
(the event is open to attend by any CILIP members).

Happy new year!