CILIP North West Member Network Blog

Name: Marg Charlesworth  Role on the CILIP NW Committee : Blog Editor Work: Public Librarian  Which other CILIP member networks do you belong to?   I’ve joined lots of CILIP special interest groups, for example the School Libraries Group, Public and Mobile Libraries Group). It' s a great way to find out what’s going on across different sectors. Over the past year or so I’ve enjoyed going to some of the really interesting (often free) events they have hosted. There are bursaries for the annual CILIP conference available through these groups that are definitely worth applying for.  I’m always keen to learn how libraries can best market the many amazing things they offer and have just signed up to go to the Publicity and Public Relations group conference in January 2019 to get some more inspiration for how to market events I'm involved in. How has your career developed up to now?   After doing a language degree (a long time ago) I spent two yea...

What was it like being a student rep? I started as a CILIP NW student rep in September 2017 alongside Helen Kiely and Kathryn Graham. When we started, the role was very flexible in terms of how much input we could put in. This worked in our favour because it meant we could really make the role our own. Throughout the year we helped organise two visits: to John Ryland’s Library and The Portico Library, as a result of feedback from a student needs survey we conducted. We also took turns to attend CILIP NW committee meetings throughout the year where I developed a better understanding of the internal workings of our professional body. What are the benefits of being a student rep? The committee is made up of LIS professionals from various sectors so it is a great way to learn about different types of libraries. It is empowering to be able to say how the network can support students and actually make this happen. It’s not as scary as you think because …t here’s loads of support from the...

Name: Kathryn (@kakafrin) Briefly describe your role on the CILIP NW Committee:  I am one of the Student Representatives, acting as a channel of communication between the students on the Library and Information Management MA at Manchester Metropolitan and CILIP NW. My aim is to find out how CILIP NW can help library students and inform the students how CILIP can benefit them. Work : Library Assistant at a large NHS Trust Brief summary of work role/responsibilities :  As one of the six Library Assistants across the Trust’s three library sites I am responsible for a lot of the front-desk and patron-facing interaction within the library. I complete the day-to-day roles of issuing, returning, reservation fulfillment, inter-library loans, and general queries as well as assisting with reclassification and wedding of the stock and helping to administer OpenAthens accounts for the whole of the North of England. I also regularly update our 1300+ followers on Twitter and acti...

In order to increase my knowledge of the wider profession I recently attended a tour of the British Library alongside seven other Library and Information Professionals from the North of England. Our tour guide for the afternoon was the friendly and informative Chris. Chris started the tour by introducing us to the history of the building at St Pancras. We were told that when the Library was constructed it was the largest public building project in the 20th century and it took over 30 years to reach completion. It was designed by architect Sir Colin St John Wilson and has a number of nautical features such as port hole shaped windows.  The collection The visual centre piece of the Library is the King’s Library Tower. The 85,000 books displayed in the six-storey glass tower formed King George III’s personal collection. The collection can be used by readers and whilst we were visiting we saw one of the Library staff retrieving a book via the internal lift and retr...

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...

Name: Christine (@Christine_LIS)  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...

Although I enjoy attending CPD events, I was apprehensive about attending the CILIP 2018 conference in Brighton as a) it was so far away from where I live b) it was being held in such a big venue c) I’d never been to a conference before and d) I didn’t know anyone else who was going. Pre-conference Preparation  To alleviate my apprehensions, I looked at the conference overview online and at the networking events that were being held throughout the conference and made a brief plan of what I wanted to attend. I decided on the Hidden Brighton guided walk on the Tuesday evening as I hoped I might be able to meet someone in a similar situation to me, so we wouldn’t be on our own for the whole conference. I ended up meeting 5 people, all from different sectors and we ended up spending quite a lot of time together and have since become good friends and even have our own WhatsApp group! Keynote Speakers  Each of the keynotes was inspirational in their own way and I left each sessio...