CILIP Professional Knowledge and Skills Base, and Vitae Researcher Development Framework

A couple of years ago, I helped a research supervisor colleague plan some research skills training for doctoral students.  The framework was based on a handy diagram, available from the Vitae website.  (Vitae is a research support organisation, and their diagram is called the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.)

Now, here I am in my librarian capacity (and a CILIP mentor), looking at CILIP's new Professional Knowledge and Skills Base.  It's a great idea.  And guess what?  We have our own circle too, now!  Here's a brochure about it - you have to be a CILIP member to download the fuller document.

All about professional knowledge and skills in librarianship:-
http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/jobs-and-careers/professional-knowledge-and-skills-base

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My name is Karen and I'm a CILIP Mentor

Earlier this year (2013), I attended a CILIP mentoring course.  Although I did supervise someone through the chartership process some years ago  (I was on maternity leave, and that baby is now nearly 18!), this was long before supervisors became mentors.  Somehow it never occurred to me to become a mentor under the present system.  I suppose if someone had asked me to be their mentor, it would have jolted me into action.  Anyway, now I've been a Fellow for a couple of years, and younger colleagues have expressed interest in becoming chartered, it seemed like the right time to take the necessary steps.

So here I am - a mentor at last.  I have two new mentees, another would-be mentee that I am meeting later this month, and a fourth initial approach.  I feel like 'the old woman who lived in a shoe'!  I don't know how many mentees a mentor normally takes care of - if you're a CILIP mentor reading this, I'd be interested to hear from you.

I thought it would be a good idea to put a few thoughts on this blog, since it's devoted to CPD things.  I set it up when I was participating in the "23 Things" initiative.  I won't try to cover everything in one posting, so do revisit it.

Meanwhile, I'll repeat what I've said to my mentees already.  Do keep a journal of significant achievements, or problems and subsequent solutions.  Blog about them if you like - obviously, there's no need to bare your soul publicly if something went pear-shaped and you'd rather it remained private!  Keep a record of what you set out to do, how it turned out, whether you got any feedback from colleagues or library patrons, and whether you'd have done anything differently in retrospect.  And keep a folder of any handouts, guides or reports you've written - or courses you've attended.  It's all 'evidence' for your portfolio.  If you've put things online, do keep a list of the hyperlinks.  (I use Diigo for favourites, and Academia.edu for my more scholarly outputs - the latter is probably more useful if you're in an academic environment.)  If you've written journal articles or book reviews, keep them - and make sure you keep proper bibliographic citations so they can be traced or cited later. 

Also - I'm a great one for social media in professional development, so I warmly recommend joining Twitter and following discussions like the #chartership chats that take place on Thursday nights.  You get to meet other people following the same journey as yourself, and I hardly need to spell out the benefits of that!!

ACRONYMS

Sadly, librarianship is full of acronyms.  I expect every profession has its share of them, though.  If you've stumbled across this and you're not a librarian, here's a quick key:-

CILIP  Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
CILIPS is the Scottish branch of CILIP
CPD    Continuing professional development (in any profession!)

WEBSITES

Diigo.com (and here's mine)
Academia.edu (look me up if you like!)
CILIP chartership wiki
(The wiki is for candidates, so I haven't joined. However, it offers sample portfolios, which I think is a great idea.  It takes away some of the fear of the unknown.) 

A Question of Continuing Professional Development

August 2013

I see from my stats that this blog was visited yesterday, despite having been dormant for several months.  The fact that someone looks but finds nothing new, will never do! So, in case anyone else happens upon this blog, which I started when I was following the 23 Things initiative in 2012, I thought I'd just post an update.

Since completing 23 Things, my contract has changed. (The change is unconnected with 23 Things, I hasten to add.)  My working week has been modified, as I am currently 60:40 music librarian : postdoctoral researcher on an AHRC-funded project.  A new professional covers my non-library days.  Spending two days a week on music research is work, not specific, scheduled training, but it nonetheless develops my research skills, so you could argue it's a kind of Continuing Professional Development. 

Also since completing 23 Things, I've signed up to be a CILIP Mentor for new library professionals embarking upon their Chartership training.  It's time to put something back into the profession.  I already have one shiny new mentee, with the prospect of a couple more.

The most recent formal training event I've attended was the Scottish Storytelling Workshop's Stagecraft Workshop: How to be the Social Glue.  It was basically about hosting an event - being the compere - as I thought it would be a good idea to brush up my presentation skills for non-academic audiences.  And why?  Because I've done various talks for special interest groups, and I had a book-launch of my own in April 2013!  My husband has since reflected, 'You basically used that book-launch as an excuse for a full-scale concert'.  He's half-right.  I was introduced by a senior manager, then gave an illustrated talk.  The performers were our students, a former colleague of mine, and me at the piano. 

For years, I've represented the Whittaker Library at SALCTG, the Scottish Academic Libraries Cooperative Training Group, and last summer I became Convenor of the group, so that's the last piece of news in my CPD update.  I'm not just updating myself, but helping develop other libraries' staff too.  I gave a pecha kucha presentation about SALCTG's aims and objectives, at a seminar earlier this summer.

It's possible that CILIP may have a new name soon.  The voting at the AGM will be whether to accept Information and Library Professionals UK: the Chartered Institute for the Knowledge Professions, as our new name.  I'll index this update under both the present name and the potential new one, to aid retrieval.  (Once a librarian, always a librarian?!) 

Thing 7: Getting involved professionally

This is an easy "thing" for me to write about, because I've always been professionally involved.

1. CILIP.  I got chartered (ALA) in the Library Association as soon as I'd put in the requisite amount of experience, and written my professional development report.  Actually, it wasn't nearly as difficult as some people would have you believe, so if anyone reading this is still working towards chartership, then my message to them is, 'Please don't worry about it!'.  I'm happy to be a sounding-board for anyone with any concerns about it.  Anyway, I've been a member ever since, and I also supervised my maternity cover's chartership.  Although it wasn't easy getting away to attend events when I had young children (I only had 3 months' maternity leave after the birth of each child), I tried to keep active at arm's length, and I did write a couple of articles for Personnel Training and Development, in 2001.  I've nearly always subscribed to more groups than the minimum two, though my choices have changed from time to time.  More recently, I submitted my Fellowship application a couple of years ago.
2. IAML (UK and Irl).  I joined IAML at the same time as I joined CILIP - as a librarianship postgrad at College of Librarianship Wales, Aberystwyth.  Within a year, I was working as a music librarian in South Tyneside, and at that stage I became IAML (UK and Irl)'s Newsletter Editor and Brio Reviews Editor.  This meant trips to London for Exec meetings - which I managed until the kids came along.  If you begin to see a theme emerging, I'm afraid it's that people without children inevitably get more involved in group activities and committees, whilst full-time working mothers with three young children tend to get less involved!  I was Brio Reviews Editor from 1989-1992, but withdrew slightly from involvement in professional organisations while the kids were young; there was a dip in my conference attendances, although I did get away to day-events from time to time.  More recently I've written for the Newsletter and Brio, spoken at a couple of conferences, and written a review and a paper for Fontes (the international organisation).
3. Locally, I've represented the RSAMD (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, since our namechange) at SALCTG (Scottish Academic Libraries Cooperative Training Group) for many years, and I've just become Convenor of that group.  It's good to be involved in something local, where you get to meet people with similar interests over an extended period of time. 
4. For quite a while I also represented RSAMD at the SCURL Disabilities Group, addressing access issues for disabled readers, but the group has disbanded now.  (I gave a paper and published an article for that, too.)
5. In 2002, I found three nineteenth century Dundonian flute manuscripts after a library refurbishment.  You might ask why I'm mentioning this here: it's because it marked the reawakening of my interest in musicological research.   In one sense, it is coincidental that this marked the start of my youngest son's school career - in another, it's perhaps just as well!  From 2004-9 I studied part-time for a PhD, alongside my full-time job.  This has led to a lot of networking in musicological circles, particularly the Royal Musical Association.  I'm currently on the Council for that, too.  I've attended RMA research students' conferences, and published a paper in the RMA Research Chronicle.  I'm also a member of the international specialist Eighteenth Century Scottish Studies Society - I've written a paper and a couple of book reviews for them, too - and I attend Musica Scotica conferences locally in Glasgow.  More presentations and another published paper.
6. I now lurk on Twitter, which is a great way of keeping abreast of professional concerns.  More so for librarianship than musicology, I have to say.  Maybe I'm just not following the right Twitter trends.  It's more vital to my day-to-day existence that I keep up with librarianship stuff.  I haven't given up on the research - indeed, I have a book at the publishers' right now - but I earn my daily crust as a librarian.

Sometimes, I feel I haven't made much progress professionally, having been in the same job 24 years.  But looking at this lot, I certainly haven't stagnated.  That's something I can be proud of, I suppose!