I’ve been a member is CILIP and
its predecessor since my student days back in 2001. Since then I have had a
changing relationship with CILIP. In the mid 2000’s I stopped my membership for a
variety of reasons – problems finding a mentor, little or no accessible
training opportunities near me, cost of membership, the removal by my local authority of the non-chartered salary bar , and a perception that the
organisation had nothing to offer me. About 6 years ago I re-joined, partly to
be able to work towards becoming a chartered librarian and a change in my
attitude towards CILIP - If I claimed to be a library professional, I needed to
be part of the professional body that is representing me and keeping abreast of
current issues. At the time local authority cuts were starting to bite into the
service and keeping up to date on current library news, advocacy and training
took on a new incentive. I now have a much more positive relationship with
CILIP, and the assault on public and school libraries has made that
relationship stronger as the need for a strong professional body is greater
than ever before. CILIP is changing too, having recently undertaken a
consultation exercise with members to create a new vision for the organisation
including a much welcomed review of the membership fees which are now make
membership much more accessible. A clear statement to reach out to the whole
library sector including school librarians has also been a welcome message to
the sector I am in.
Being a member of CILIP and working
towards my CILIP chartership has had the biggest impact on my CPD and has led
me to be more involved in the wider library sector. Having to self-access
skills and knowledge has made me actively seek out information and undertake
training that I wouldn’t have if not for chartership. Looking into volunteers
in public libraries is now a key area of interest to me thanks to visiting a
volunteer run public library on holiday in Lincolnshire because I wanted to research professional issues outside of my
sector for chartership. I now have strong background and knowledge of this
essential as the use of volunteers to run libraries slowly creeps into
Scotland. I have also been lucky enough to be funded for the 2016 School
Library Association conference though the CILIPS Development Fund to support my
chartership. This was my first library related conference and I can’t believe
what I have been missing out on all the years I was actively avoiding them! I
have attended others since including the CILIPS Autumn Gathering, finding them
a real positive experience especially at a time of cuts and budget reductions,
and a way to network with fellow librarians and publishers and share ideas
which I can then share with my colleagues and school. Since attending I’m now
aiming for one conference a year whether school related of CILIPS full
conference. Through liking the chartership Facebook page I’ve been able to
access and share ideas and support, as well as links to training opportunities
and interesting articles. Rudai 23 course appeared on the site and has led me
to experience and try a whole host new web based technologies and tools I
didn’t know about or didn’t use, and a link to the Wyoming State Library training calendar https://library.wyo.gov/services/training/calendar/
introduced me to the world of webinars for library realted learning. The site has
webinars offered by library services and universities across America on a huge
range of topics. I have been able to use
these to find about libraries and services in America, new ideas and concepts
like floating library collections, links to whole day virtual conferences and
so much more. I actively search the collection every month to select ones of
interest. They are all free and a great way to add interest to your CPD from
home and increase awareness of the wider library world and contact other
library professionals. Without being a
member of CILIP and without moving towards become a chartered librarian I would
not have had these experiences which I am able to channel into my work to
improve my service and share with colleagues. I certainly value CILP member
much more than I did ten years ago.
I still have some reservations
regarding CILIP, mainly from being so far north of the central belt of
Scotland, where the few Scottish events tend to take place and the lack of
video conference and Webinar usage for training, meeting and conference. In the
past this would have been enough to make me stop my membership, but now I am
looking at what can I do about this and who can I raise these concerns with.
I’ve raised the webinar issue with our Moray CILIP SLG representative in
relation to recent training in Edinburgh, I’ve put my name forward to be
involved in relaunching the CILIP North group which will be on virtual basis,
through which I hope the group will be able to champion the cause of online
technology in support members and deliver training. It’s a start, and if we can
encourage CILIP to use this technology, the organisation will open up more
options for people, including myself to be involved with CILIP committees and
events and training, without having to travel a total of 8-10 hours to attend a
2 hour meeting. I look forward to
progressing with these proposals with CILIP.
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