Mentor, Mentee, (CILIP) VLE

Mentor, Mentee 

I spent some time with one of my mentees yesterday - it was great to catch up with each other, and I gave her the Grand Tour of first our Library and then the rest of the Conservatoire.  After that, it was on to visit a neighbouring library - quite a busy few hours for my mentee!

VLE

Having jointly set the world of librarianship to rights yesterday, I decided that I had better set a good personal example too, so this afternoon I logged on to the CILIP website, and started using the e-portfolio to monitor my own professional development too.

CPD 2013

Although  it's based on Mahara like the portfolio side of the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) that we use at work, I am still fumbling around the CILIP one a bit, so I haven't got far yet.  I must look at the screencasts that are there to help!  However, I've noted my key CPD activities for 2013, and it looks as though I was reasonably busy in that regard.  My next challenge is to work out whether I can create a new section for 2014, or just keep adding to the 2013 box and change the name of the box!

CPD 2014 - a Course and 4 Conferences!

I'm looking forward to logging my 2014 CPD, because I'm doing a short credit-rated postgraduate course entitled 'The Teaching Artist' as evening classes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, from February to May.  I was lucky enough to get a Creative Scotland bursary towards the fees.  Now, I've given countless talks, lectures and seminars, but I've never really gone into the pedagogy behind teaching, so although it's a bit of a sudden gear-shift for me, it's certainly thought-provoking, and it's particularly interesting being in a small class of teaching artists, all of whom bring different backgrounds and performing arts to the discussion table.

The week after next, I'm flying down to Cambridge for part of the IAML(UK and Ireland) Annual Study Weekend, so it'll be nice to catch up with old friends, new trends, and join the Executive as a Committee member for the first time.  In my case, it's because I've agreed to convene a working group to initiate a new corporate website.  (I'm also practising what I preach: volunteer to get more involved in your sector!)  And I'm talking at the Academic Music Librarians' forum on the first afternoon, so I'll be killing two birds with one stone by talking about the Teaching Artist course!

There's a Musica Scotica conference in Aberdeen a couple of Saturdays later; and I'm off to give a paper at the International IAML conference in Antwerp in July - the first time I've 'been abroad' to give a conference paper, apart from one I gave in Dublin.  I know that Dublin is in Eire, still another country, but somehow it still feels more a Celtic neighbour, than truly 'abroad', so I am quite excited about spreading my wings further afield.

Finally, I heard yesterday morning that I'm one of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland delegates to an international conference that's coming to Glasgow in November: ELIA is the European League of Institutes of the Arts, and this will be the biennial international conference.   The conference theme is LOCATION/AESTHETICS, which might not sound like the kind of thing a librarian would be drawn to, but at the moment I am 60% librarian and 40% musicologist researcher, so believe me, I find this a very exciting theme indeed.  I can get very excited about discussions of nationality, nationalism, geographical borders and cultural perceptions of borders, so this conference might get me quite fired up!

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?!) 

Award for early career music librarians

Folks, I want all newly-qualified librarians to know about this - do YOU know an early-career music librarian, or someone who did a dissertation about music librarianship?

E.T. Bryant Memorial Prize - details on the IAML(UK and Irl) website.