Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal October 2006 Volume 4(5)

Widen your horizons

You know you should get more involved but what will it really mean? Amanda Quick explains that professional group activity is immensely fulfilling – and its fun.

I was fortunate to get involved in professional activities before I gained my professional qualification. As a library assistant at Oxford Brookes University, I was encouraged to join in ‘brown bag lunches’ at libraries around Oxford, and I was invited to numerous CILIP events. There always seemed to be something going on, whether it was a pub quiz or a look behind the scenes at the Windsor Castle library.

Once I qualified, I discovered the Career Development Group. In three years I went from being a casual observer to Chair of the West Midlands Division. As Chair, I participated in CDG’s National Council, which led to national roles of Advertising Officer and now Events Coordinator, as well as trying my hand at being Treasurer for the Scottish Division. I have also been involved with Libraries for Nursing, a subgroup of the Health Libraries Group, as Membership Secretary and helping out with events, award judging and bulletin articles.

I am a busy person with a husband, cats to feed, Booker prizewinners to read and half a dozen other interests and commitments. So what do I get out of all this professional activity? Why do I keep going back for more?

Skills development.
My membership of group committees has enabled me to develop my skills in many areas: chairing meetings, strategic planning, budgeting, event management, PR, communication, human resource management, diplomacy and more. I feel that I have grown in confidence and discovered some leadership potential. I have had the opportunity to publish articles and speak at conferences, even if only in a modest fashion.

Enhanced employability.
The natural corollary of developing a wider skill set and greater confidence is that this will be evident to potential employers. I have used knowledge and experience gained through group activities in my job applications and interviews, and my personal experience has been that employers appreciate the benefits of professional activism.

Fun.
This is what keeps me going even when group responsibilities loom after a tiring day or week at work. I thoroughly enjoy meeting other professionals, working together to plan an event or accomplish a task. I find it rewarding to get to the end of an event and feel that all the hard work has resulted in something that was beneficial and stimulating for delegates. Plus there are ample opportunities for socialising, sampling cheese in Chesterfield, linguine in London or pastries in Peebles! LIS professionals are a diverse and dynamic bunch.

Continuity.
I have twice had to relocate, most recently for my husband’s new post in St Andrews. During five months of unemployment, my involvement in professional groups helped to maintain my sense of professional identity and current awareness. During that time, group colleagues provided moral and practical support. Contacts in Scotland kept their eyes open for opportunities, with one kind friend even posting me the job pages of the Scotsman and Herald every week.

A wider perspective.
As well as working day-to-day with academic library colleagues, I meet regularly with colleagues from public libraries and from legal, commercial, health and other sectors. This gives me a greater awareness of what’s going on in the information world as a whole – and could be valuable if I decided to change sector in the future. I have also been involved with fundraising for Career Development Group’s international projects, most recently supporting a VSO librarian in Uganda and a school library in Soweto. It’s been fun to join in ceilidhs, a sponsored walk from Falkirk to Linlithgow, an African readathon and most recently a tour of Edinburgh’s Cow Parade, raising funds that make a real difference to colleagues overseas.

I started my working life as a secondary school teacher, a job that was so all-consuming that I had no energy to spare for the profession beyond the classroom.
I now feel there are two parts to my professional life: the day job, which challenges me, uses my skills and pays the mortgage, and my wider professional life, which offers a complementary set of challenges, the chance to develop new skills within a supportive environment, and which pays dividends personally, professionally and socially.

It’s easy to get involved: there are so many groups, each with a different focus, activities, times and places of meeting. Every group will welcome fresh ideas and an extra pair of hands. Look out for events or meetings on e-lists and in journals – go along, observe, chat to committee members. You may be surprised at the contribution you can make and at the opportunities and enjoyment that will follow.

Amanda Quick is Information Specialist, University of Abertay Dundee.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(5) October 2006

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.