Busy week

This week has been a busy one, but so is my next week- including a trip to London for a 3 hour meeting.
This week has seen several meetings, including performance appraisals. We've been staff down due to sickness, which is always a problem when we have so few staff to start with.

Having been audited for 6 weeks by the CLA, this ended this week. Which is at least one thing off of my do to list. I am just hoping that nothing comes back, saying that we have infringed copyright.

With the added pressure of having to visit two school. With my son starting primary school in September, this seems like another pressure.


Next week I need  to start work on reorganising students on the library system, moving them from one code to more specific ones, so I can then collect data on usage. Tuesday I am off to London for the ARLIS meeting. Wednesday back for more meetings and working on staff performance appraisals- 3 to do.

I think next weekend I will need a rest and a glass of wine or two.

Chartership completion

Having completed my chartership about a month ago, after two years of struggling and battling with word counts. I have hand it in and last Friday I was contacted rather unspectacularly and told I have passed, or being successful in completing your chartership. So I am now Donna Gundry MCLIP. 

But working in education and post chartership manner of thinking, I am now wondering so what and what next. In terms of so what, I will now, fingers crossed, when I need to, be a more appealing candidate for another job position. As for what next, I want to move on to being a mentorfor for someone else. Hopefully more than one person. 

When I started working in a library 7 years ago, my manager was great at helping other people, so this would be my way of me continuing her ethos. Plus I want to see what it's like on the other side. My first library manager was a great woman who I a proud to say I worked alongside her. Sadly she passed away, 6 years ago. Paying a good deed forward was something she would have not only approved of but welcomed.

One thing my chartership has told me, is stopping every now and again and reflecting on what you have done is a good idea. Not just at new year and your annual performance appraisal. 

Thing 21 cpd23

This task is all about job interviews and applications as well as how you promote yourself for these. This is perfect timing, as I am currently doing my chartership and one of the things I have been working on this week is my SWOT analysis. Having previously done one or two during my working life, I've always struggled with the strengths aspect, I can easily rattle off my weaknesses- lack of confidence, limited archiving skills, poor delegation ability, fretting, unable to speak a second language, can't throw a frisbe. Etc. but strengths is harder.

Firstly how do you define a strength. Is it something you have improved at, excell at above others, or is it something your are good at, but others are better at it than you. Here's where my confusion starts. For instance my knowledge and use of online resources has improved since starting cpd23. But I'm no expert and would struggle to define and explain them all to other person, but there has been an improvement. However I feel I excell at collection management, and I am better than anyone else in my organisation ( rightly so being the librarian) and better than the previous librarian. Alternatively I am good at covering books to extended shelf life, but I'm slower than anyone else in my team. But I can still do it. Personally I'm thinking one and two are relevant, once explained, three is a developing skills area.

Having just completed the lengthy professional knowledge and skills base from CILIP, I have managed to add in more strengths- financial control, collection development, collection management and understanding of relevant legislation. Aspects of my role that I had ever see as strengths before.

In conjunction with this I am also reading - Alire and Evans book academic librarianship, chapter 15 on career development.

Tips for interview

I've been on both ends of interviewing, applying for positions and recruiting, I find recruiting more nerve raking than applying. In applying you sell yourself, so it's about boosting those confidence levels, even if only temporarily. Or a bit like a driving test, all you have to do is convince the people I front of you, at you can do this. In answering the questions, I find be honest, answer the questions with concise detail, enough to explain the situation but not enough to make it feel like they were there as the interview panel is likely to get bored. One tip I find useful is stand out. In my current role I made them laugh, by accident. The question was - describe yourself in 3 words, mine were on- time, polite and short. At 5'1 the last one is hard not to notice.

Why I become a librarian

Having worked in libraries for 6 years, it's time to reflect on why I started this journey.

1. Wanted to work in education, but not as an academic
2. Enjoyed the sense of doing something worthwhile
3. Liked the variety of the role
4. Enjoy the link to technology
5. Something very British about the job
6. Outlet for obsessive behaviours, such as the ordering of items
7. "fun" of finding things
8. Enjoyment of using libraries when. I was young, plus the traditional love of books.

I am sure if you asked anyone else their reasons would be more sophisticated, but I'm happy with my reasons.

Job description

Having to look again at my current job description, to alter in, so where I work can recruit a suitable replacement, whilst I am on maternity leave.

Wish list 
A qualified librarian, ideally with Chartership
Copyright and information literacy, so we have someone who is knowledgeable in both fields.
Experience in FE and HE education- you never kow when Ofsted are going to turn up.


Useful points to consider from Laura about the job advert.

http://darkarchive.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/writing-a-job-advertisement-that-will-attract-the-candidates-you-want/