CPD23: Things 10 & 11: Masters, Charterers and Mentors

I’ve blogged about my, somewhat roundabout, route into librarianship before. I’ve recently started on the next step of my career, again doing things in possibly the ‘wrong’ order; I’m working towards CILIP Chartership whilst still in a para-professional role. However, I’ve come to realise that there is no right or wrong way to go about it. I’ve worked with and met librarians who have entered the profession through a variety of routes. I can’t say what’s ‘best’, only what I’ve gained from my experience so far.

I’ve always said that I wished I’d had some experience of library work before diving in and starting the Masters and I stand by this to a certain extent. However, I don’t think that I got less value from doing the course because of this lack of experience. I was pretty much single-mindedly focused on working in academic libraries and through looking at the person specifications for more senior roles, where a postgraduate library qualification seemed to almost always be an essential requirement, I realised that, for me, the Masters was the way to go. The course was a great introduction to the profession I was about to enter. It gave me a broad understanding of the profession as well as some useful practical skills such as cataloguing and classification.

So, why Chartership? And why now? My current job has given me the opportunity to get quite a varied experience and get involved in plenty of projects, so although not a professional post it has prepared me to progress in my career. I always wanted to Charter at some point and hesitated for quite a while over whether to do it while still in a para-professional role. Although not a requirement for many posts, Chartership often appears among the desirable criteria for a lot of positions I see advertised in academic libraries so I knew it was something I would have to do at some point. And, let’s face it, as jobs become scarcer and competition for posts becomes greater, there’s no harm in having something to give you an edge. That said I’m not just doing it because it’s a hoop to jump through, or to help me to get a job. That would probably be just a little bit too cynical. The main reason I’m doing Chartership is to give me a focus for my CPD activity. For a while after finishing my Masters I lost my way professionally as it took me some time to get a permanent, full time post. I didn’t have much opportunity for professional development through work, and admittedly lost some of my motivation to seek this out for myself. I’m now back on track with my professional development and believe that Chartership will enable me to get the best out of this through the necessary formal reflection. As a professional it is important to me to continually develop my knowledge and it is this commitment to professional development that makes us more employable; Chartership is just one of the ways of demonstrating it.

My experience of Chartership so far is that, well, it’s hard! I found writing the PPDP particularly difficult as I struggled to focus the areas where I wanted to develop into achievable actions. I really recommend looking at the example portfolios to help with this. Speaking with my mentor about this was also a huge help, which brings me neatly onto the subject of mentors. Chartership has been the first experience I’ve had of formal mentoring. We’ve only had two meetings so far so I’m hardly writing from vast experience but I think for Chartership it will be important to have a mentor to seek guidance from through the process. It did feel quite formal at first, especially as I’m fairly shy and hadn’t met my mentor before, but I’m sure this will get easier as it goes along. I’m finding it’s also valuable to have senior colleagues to seek out for advice along the way; sort of like having a few informal mentors.