A change is as good...

I've recently returned from secondment with CILIP Cymru Wales. What did I hope to achieve from secondment and were these hopes realised?

Conference high-point. Celebrating the nominees for the Welsh Librarian of the Year

award. Image (c) CILIP Cymru Wales,  2013. 

I've been a member of CILIP for more than 20 years, and it's been a guiding light in my career, especially in providing a formal structure for professional qualifications. Having a chance to work more formally with CILIP in Wales, aside from my role with CDG Wales, I hoped would provide me with:

• opportunities to update my awareness of library policy matters in Wales and across the UK

• to develop my skills in Policy Analysis and in formulating official responses - gaining an "outside" view on these processes

• freedom to experiment with new technologies including web-casting, blogging and other social media

• practical experience of stakeholder management - CILIP's members and other key bodies in Wales and across the UK

• an "in at the deep-end" reminder of event management best practice - in organising CILIP Cymru Wales' two-day annual conference.

Were your aims met? 

Yes, and more so. I return to the Welsh Government with deeper enthusiasm for the wider roles of librarians in society. I hope that we can harness this energy in extending the important work of Library & Archive Services in promoting and improving WG staff members information skills, and in being internal advocates for the profession. I'm also keen to share some of my experiences in partnership working, and in using social media to develop and maintain effective two-way communication with stakeholders. My professional network of contacts has increased significantly, and so I'm hoping to continue using this to identify new ways of working, and in professional updating more generally.

And the high points? 

Definitely helping to establish the very successful Welsh Librarian of the Year Award. It was humbling speaking to all five of the shortlisted librarians and finding out about their successes and huge positive impacts on the communities that they serve. I also gained a lot in helping to organise the Annual Conference. It's great to know that over 200 people benefitted through attending this vibrant event, and had the chance to share their experiences with colleagues from across Wales.

What next? 

I'm looking forward to: re-familiarising myself with my role of Legal Librarian and Team Leader; sharing my learning and experience; and in helping Library & Archive Services develop for the future. I have also been asked to maintain my involvement with the Welsh Librarian of the Year Award and I'm really thrilled to have a further opportunity to celebrate the innovation, achievements and impacts of librarians and information professionals from across Wales.

Well they do say that a change is as good as a rest! It's true.

Thing 22 - Volunteering to gain experience

Hello! So Thing 22 encourages participants to consider volunteering to gain experience. I'm certainly not going to quibble with Jo's blog. I agree, sad as it may be, that in this time of infrequent job vacancy opportunities, volunteering may be the only way to get out of the Experience Gap Catch-22 situation. This may not only apply to new professionals. Established professionals, seeking a career change, may also be in similar situations. Or for that matter those returning to work after a career break! Volunteering can be good at whatever stage of your career! 

I also feel strongly that organisations which take on volunteers should provide lots in return to their volunteers and definitely not substitute paid professional roles for volunteers! CILIP have an excellent policy statement on using volunteers in public library services, but the principles will apply in other sectors too.

My experiences of professional volunteering have mainly been on CILIP Special Interest Group Committees at divisional and national level. These roles have provided me with wider professional knowledge, energy and transferable skills (chairing meetings, taking minutes, organising events etc). At the same time they have always been fun, confidence building and have left me with a network of fabulous, supportive and amazing contacts. I appreciate that the "day job" is becoming increasingly pressurised, stressful and burdensome. And although volunteering adds to these, it also provides huge rewards of wider perspectives, a different working regime, and a whole load of professional reassurance or inspiration. Although it can be hard work, for me at least, it's good to wear a number of "different hats".

Wearing a different hat. Rhododendron clearing in Snowdonia.
Copyright of the Author.  

I would also add that work can take up so much of our lives, and although I love my career and profession, it's a real bonus to have other interests. I use volunteering with the National Trust as one of these. My NT work enables me to mix with a different group of people, undertake very physical work and be outside at stunning locations. All of these in combination provide a very real tonic to life, and is something that I recommend to anyone who likes the outdoors, values our environment, and who want to give something back.

Thing 21 - Promoting yourself in job applications and interviews

Professional Knowledge & Skills Base

Maria's blog for Thing 21raises a great many useful tips and truths. I've sat on both sides of the interview desk, and I know that I'm not very adept at either, and I certainly don't enjoy either experience. The most successful, and least painful, interviews that I've had have nearly always felt more like professional conversations than some formulaic grilling. This of course comes down to the skills of the interview panel, the environment and culture of the organisation, and the compassion /  humanity of interviewers during interviewing.

Competence-based interviewing doesn't suit everyone, and there is certainly a specialist knack in answering  such questions appropriately. But practise and planning can mean that you should have a set of established examples and some answers to hand. Whether you can remember them all under the pressure of the interview might be a different matter! Fortunately, many interviewers are very skilled in their roles, inherently wanting candidates to give their best performance, and to be part of making a fair and appropriate selection decision. The interview can certainly provide a really fascinating insight into the organisation!

I do think Maria's emphasis on knowing your strengths and interests are good ones. For CILIP members the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) interactive tool provides an excellent framework for self-assessment and reflection on your professional skills and strengths. I will be looking at this in more detail after completing CPD 23Things!  But in summary:

• I enjoy undertaking thorough enquiry work and the challenges of trying to meet users' needs and expectations. This is probably why I love legal information work.
•  I work best when I'm appreciated and valued and can see benefits / impact / results from my outputs.  This means that the culture of the organisation, the people and the value systems are really important to me. In working with and managing others I hope that I enthuse these qualities too.
• I relish working with others and I am learning to value project management frameworks to plan, deliver and evaluate project work. The challenges of projects and change are positive stimuli for me.
• A big part of me is a perfectionist, and I'm a self-confessed work-aholic. I love to do things well, and to be shown how to improve things. I like to be challenged.
• I'm a terrible leader, but hopefully a capable, supportive and energising "second in command".

Knowing your strengths and interests is very valuable. But, I suspect in this day and age, where job opportunities are few and far between, it is often an economic necessity to accept what you can and try to make the best of it. Undertake the role with enthusiasm and dedication, and try to take opportunities for development and training wherever they arise. However, keep in mind your personal strengths and ambitions and try to work towards these as well. Know when to "jump ship"; don't get stuck in a less than ideal role for too long if you can help it.

I heartily agree with Maria's suggestion of keeping your CV up to date, and having a record of your achievements in a form that is easy to update, review, sort and search. I'm a poor practitioner in this respect. Again, I will consider following this up after completing the programme.

Thing 20 - Library roots / routes

Library roots

Trips to the mobile library after primary school. A great deal of fun and excitement selecting that week's reading from the children's section. The mobile library was a terrible grey colour, but was an articulated lorry trailer, and the children's section was in the bit above the connection with the truck unit. (A similar sort of vehicle is pictured here). It was always exciting going, and they used Browne Issue!! Mum was, and still is, a big reader and she spent many hours encouraging me through my dyslexia and opening up the wonderful world of the book.

Teenage years. Seeking solace in the high school library. A lunchtime library pass would mean that I wasn't beaten up in the playground, or my blazer chucked over the school fence. Asterix the Gaul books in French. Similarly, at weekends visits to the central libraries in Luton or Dunstable. The microfiche catalogue was a wonder to behold. The Library at Sixth Form College also became a place of refuge, although the Common Room and cheese toasties had growing allure. That, or joining the masses sitting in the main corridor, just watching the other students go back and forth, trying to perfect that teenage disinterested / threatening look. Never really mastered that!

Luton Sixth Form College
© Copyright Nigel Cox and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Undergraduate career. I worked incredibly hard at university driven by my love of study, poor social skills,  a general lack of balance in life, and most significantly, terrible A-Level results. Many happy hours in the Library, second floor overlooking the Loch and watching the mists and clouds dance over the Ochills. Biological Abstracts in hard copy became an absolute joy and I revelled in a catalogue on computer.

Grounds of Stirling University
© Copyright Eva Forbes and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Present day. I still use my local public library, and have retained that magic and awe in visiting. It's a place that provides me with potential for escape, together with a feeling of belonging to my local community. My leisure reading helps me to escape to places or situations that I have slim chance of actually being at, and enables me to meet and experience people and lives whose paths I would not cross in real life. Library staff still inspire and guide my reading. However, the computer and smartphone take increasing amounts of my time and attention.

Library Routes

Another story of an accidental librarian (sorry!).

• Uncertain what to do at the end of my undergraduate degree, I stumbled across several posts for graduate trainees to work in libraries. Lady Luck shone and I was successfully appointed to a position, one of four, at the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster), working in the Engineering and Science Library on New Cavendish Street. Completed a very happy and informative year, and was accepted to study Librarianship at the University of Sheffield.

115 New Cavendish Street - site of the PCL Engineering & Science Library.
© Copyright Stephen Richards and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

• On completing Sheffield I was fortunate in being appointed to a Senior Library Assistant post in the Normanby College Library, supporting nursing, physiotherapy and radiography students, linked with King's College Hospital and King's College London. Three very happy years learning about health and medical information sources, gaining Chartership. Supported, guided and encouraged by a fantastic line manager and mentor, the librarians at the adjacent Medical School Library, and in the other health care libraries in the South East Thames Regional Health Authority.
• Took a giant leap of faith and relocated to South Wales to manage a small further education college library and learning resources service. Constantly inspired and  supported by other college librarians as part of CoFHE and a very supportive senior management team in the College.  Four happy years and my line manager suggested that I had achieved lots but that it was time to move on. 
• A further leap of faith, and probably more blind courage than was really sensible, I was appointed to manage a Campus Library at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff. New subject areas, managing and supporting professional colleagues, introducing three graduates to the profession via our own Graduate Trainee scheme, and finally a huge refurbishment project.  A fantastic environment in which to develop my financial management, team leadership and strategic management skills. However, the refurb project, although successfully completed, was my downfall. I ran out of enthusiasm and energy in the post-project phase - adapting  services and partnerships required of the new Learning Resources Centre, and saw my dream job wane into a buildings management, problems solving role. Made the best decision of my life, and resigned. Took time out, and after 6 months or so the yearning to return to the profession grew too strong to resist.
• A fortunate  sideways  step saw me appointed as an Assistant Librarian at Morgan Cole Solicitors. Despite having no legal training my colleagues supported me, and were extremely generous in sharing their knowledge, experience and friendship.  Being outside of my comfort zone in both subject area and the commercial environment was hugely developmental, but it was clear that this wasn't quite the right role or environment for me.
• Took up post with the Welsh Assembly Government in 2006 and have progressed through Policy Support Librarian and Legal & Business Team Leader roles, and other periods of temporary responsibility.
• Currently on secondment with CILIP as Policy Officer (Wales).

In writing this account I'm struck by a few key messages:

• Colleagues are so generous with their time and in sharing their knowledge and experience. Value these relationships and work hard to develop and retain them. If working in solo positions generate links with colleagues outside of your organisation.
• I have never regretted those giant  leaps of faith and those periods of living on my Dutch courage.  Resigning from the Campus Librarian's role was a brave move, and horrendous at the time. But this was the correct decision. The possibility of still being a very unhappy, dispirited and probably a very unwell, dysfunctional Campus Librarian is just too frightening.
• However, know your strengths and appreciate  your  weaknesses. I'm surer now that senior management just isn't for me.  Being at the "practical sharp end" of librarianship suits me well. 
• My "fit" with the organisation has been significant. If I feel I can contribute to the organisation, if I am valued and challenged then I am far more likely to love working there, and stay longer.
• Take opportunities when you can. Living outside your comfort zone for short periods of time can be positively developmental. Carpe diem!

(c) Lechoucas, 2012 - Creative Commons CC-by-sa
http://www.camptocamp.org/images/352093/en/carpe-diem