Reading for New Professionals

       

As a trainee/library assistant it can be difficult to know the best resources to use when preparing to undertake an MA course. It may be that you want to find out a little more about the profession before investing in a degree, or you may be just researching ways to develop in your current role. In either case, I've been lucky to have some really good reading recommendations from colleagues and friends and thought I'd share a few.

Prior to starting my graduate traineeship I had a browse around Facet publishing's website, on the lookout for a general introduction to the library and information sector that would give me an idea about the day to day skills I would need to develop during my traineeship and an overview of different cataloguing and classification schemes. I found the new professionals section of the site really helpful and invested in Librarianship: An Introduction which I've found useful in providing an overview of Librarianship, I think it provides a good starting point for further reading. Ordering books from Facet can be quite expensive if you are a student or just starting out, but CILIP members are offered a 20% discount if you enter you membership number when purchasing.

I was very lucky to have been recommended Bethan Ruddock's, The New Professionals Toolkit by the Information Services manager, which I found accessible, humorous and extensively detailed in coverage. After having a really interesting discussion with the Collection Development manager about her role, the college's collection development policy and the future of managing collections, she recommended I take a look at Peter Clayton and G E Gorman's Managing Information Resources in Libraries. This text is on the UCL Library and Information Studies reading list, along with Graham P. Cornish's Copyright which provides an extremely useful resource for understanding the copyright issues that affect the information profession and how to ensure information services adhere to legislation.

CILIP members (on proof of membership and ID) can get a readers pass for the British Library, who have a collection of Library and Information Science books and journals. I plan to make full use of the resources during my traineeship so I have a balanced understanding of all the basics before I start a course at library school.

I'd love to expand upon this list, if anyone can point me towards any more pre-course reading to add, I'll welcome all ideas.

Applying to library school- issues surrounding LIS vocational masters

Last Friday, I attended an event organised by the M25 Academic Libraries Consortium on 'Applying to Library School'. I was particularly interested in attending this event as it involved presentations from past and current students studying the MA and a selection of representatives from different library schools.

There were several speakers throughout the day, the majority being recent graduates of library school themselves. The speakers made some really interesting points about the pros and cons of different modes of study, allowing attendees a balanced view of what it is like to study whilst juggling part-time or full time work. The speakers included Sarah Maule (Ravensbourne), Sarah Ison (University of Brighton), Helen Murphy (Trinity Hall) and Sophie Pattison (UCL).
Vanda Broughton, Programme Leader for MA Library and Information Studies at UCL also gave a talk, which went in to detail about the types of skills that a library qualification provides and the different jobs and sectors a selection of UCL graduates had progressed to recently. Vanda suggested that prospective students should ensure that they are making sure the institution they apply to is right for them, by looking at staff and student blogs, researching courses and asking relevant questions at interview.

The course fair, which was held at lunch time, allowed me to have some interesting conversations with the course representatives from the different institutions. One thing I really wanted to clarify was the statement that I had heard from time to time in regards to funding, that being only students with a 1:1 at first degree level will be considered for AHRC funding, or in some instances funding in general. I've heard mixed opinions around this 'statement' but understand that universities holding AHRC block grant partnership awards have a great deal of pressure put on them to put forward 1:1 students for funding, even though the AHRC guidelines state that students with a good second class degree will be considered. I heard mixed opinions again from talking to the course representatives, but I did get the impression that course leaders are looking for well rounded individuals who are taking steps to develop themselves professionally outside as well as inside academia. This provides hope for the profession's development in encouraging new professionals with a host of  professional skills and experiences, from a wide range of backgrounds.
 I would be really interested to hear from anyone who had a different route in to librarianship, or managed to secure funding or financial support during their qualification without that 'elusive 1:1'.

 Funding a postgraduate qualification that is almost essential to career development seemed to be a hot topic at the event. Vanda Broughton explained that 2013/14 will be the final year for the AHRC's 'Professional Preparation Masters' funding, which LIS qualifications have fallen under for several years. Upon further research of the AHRC website and looking at their proposed plans for funding, it is made clear that UK research councils are pulling away from vocational MA/MSc's and looking to fund only at masters level where courses lead subsequently to PhD level study. You can find out more about the AHRC's plan's here.

I would  recommend the event to prospective students as it's a brilliant opportunity to learn a bit more about the application progress, especially in regards to what library schools expect from potential students. It also provides a chance for trainees and library assistant's to meet some new faces and share thoughts and ideas about their course choices. I found the panel discussion consisting of three very different LIS students really engaging, especially as they were all in very different services and holding down differing levels of  professional work and volunteering whilst studying.

Take a look at the hash tag for this event #applis12 to see other people's thoughts.

Month 2

I've just finished the second month of my traineeship. In two months I have had a chance to take on a multitude of different tasks and projects and get used to invigilating researchers and managing the enquiry desk. I do an average of three desk shifts a week. Desk shifts are organised in four hour shifts, 9.30-1.30 and 1.30- 5.30. This means that over the last few months I have had plenty of experience working on the enquiry desk. Our library has two enquiry desks and I am normally situated in the main reading room, meaning I get to meet the members and researchers that visit and say hello to the members of the public who might be stopping by to take a look at the library.
My day starts with the usual email and calendar checking, a coffee and then checking the email enquiry in-boxes for the library. This involves answering users enquiries regarding Athens, answering general queries and actioning requests. I find this a nice way to start the day and enjoy the opportunity to help and build rapport with users over email and phone. It's always good knowing you've helped a professional reach the information they require for an important case report, or given some much needed advice about e-journals.

Over the last week I've been given a new task to focus on, which incorporates both systems and user services. I've been asked to seek out and compile a list of open access clinical and surgical journals to be added to the library's catalogue. The aim of this, is to make finding open access material more accessible to users and to add relevant and complementary resources to the library's existing subscriptions. Rather than the users having to actively seek out OA material themselves, relevant journals will be added to the speciality journal lists on the college website. This additional service will help members of the library, but also make it a great deal easier for library staff when conducting research and literature searching. I'm excited about this project and it's addition to the website and will be prioritising it as my main user-services task over the coming weeks. Over the last month I have and boxed, labelled, organised and stock checked the print journal collection. I've really enjoyed doing this and have found it really useful, especially when a member asks me to direct them towards a particular journal.

October saw a number of trainee developments taking place, the first being the London graduate trainees meeting at Senate House library. Although not technically a University of London trainee, my managers very kindly set up a link with the scheme in order to provide me with the support of library visits and meet ups with other trainees. The other development came in the form of my library school applications. I started writing my supporting statement, which was a lot less scary than I had anticipated. Now I've just the CPD25 'Applying to Library School' event to attend and then it will be time to submit my applications!