RLUK

Manchester University 25 - 26 June 2001 I didn’t get where I am today without … career planning

The conference was designed to: give insights into different career paths, by learning from the experience of others provide participants with techniques for thinking creatively about their careers enable participants to share information about organisations and current projects which can provide assistance to information professionals in career planning help participants to identify opportunities for creative succession planning CURL library staff are operating in an environment of unprecedented change. We need to embrace new skills at a frantic pace while still maintaining many of the traditional ones.

The Conference was designed to help us consider how we can help ourselves cope with the pace of change by addressing the areas of continuous professional development, successful career planning and strategies for managing in a changing environment - issues of key concern to all CURL library staff. Through case studies, presentations and discussion the Conference explored a variety of new roles and skills, portfolio careers, the growing importance of project based work, and the skills and competencies needed to adapt.

The Conference provided excellent opportunities for evaluating and reflecting on skills and career directions, as well as networking with CURL colleagues!

'I didn’t get where I am today without … career planning'

Selected Resources list

CURL 
http://www.curl.ac.uk/

The CURL (Consortium of Research Libraries) mission is "to promote, maintain and improve library resources for research, learning and teaching in research-led universities … providing a framework of mutual support, enabling its members to develop individual and collective strengths."

Arts and Humanities Research Board 
http://www.ahrb.ac.uk/

"The Arts and Humanities Research Board provides funding and support in three programmes: advanced research; postgraduate research and training; and special funding for museums, libraries galleries and collections."

ASLIB 
http://www.aslib.com

"Aslib, The Association for Information Management is a charity registered in 1924 whose 2000 members are private and public sector companies and organisations throughout the world, concerned with managing information resources efficiently. Aslib has 14 Special Interest Groups, covering some 60 SIC areas. Our expertise is in helping and advising organisations, from SME's to large corporations and governments, on any of their issues and problems, information management great and small."

Careers Information and Guidance on the Web 
http://www.aiuto.net/uk1.htm

"A gateway for access to British web resources on Careers Information and Guidance."

CRAC 
http://www.crac.org.uk/

"The Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) is a registered charity with over 35 years of experience in helping to bring business and education closer together. CRAC brings together key organisations from industry, academic institutions, consultants and professional bodies into a network of career development opportunities in the form of Insight and Graduate Courses for Undergraduate and PhD students, postdoctoral courses, conferences, publications, career related learning for all key stages within schools and provides a wealth of career/training material through NICEC."

DeLiberations 
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/deliberations/

"DeLiberations is designed to act as a resource for educational developers, librarians, academic staff and managers in education, with material arranged Generically, by Discipline and by Other Educational Issues. [And is] a forum for readers to discuss and develop ideas, and identify resources that will aid their work."

EduLib
"EduLib is a JISC funded project under the eLib programme. EduLib aims to enhance educational expertise and teaching skills in the higher education library and information services community."

HESDA 
http://www.hesda.org.uk/

"HESDA - the NTO for higher education is the lead UK agency providing strategic advice, specialist resources and professional services for the development of people working in higher education."

HIMSS 
http://www.himss.bham.ac.uk/

"The University of Birmingham has been awarded funding to lead a project investigating Hybrid Information Management Skills for Senior Staff (HIMSS). The aim of the project is to contribute to the Higher Education sector's succession planning by identifying the skills set needed by senior information managers (in both converged and non-converged information services), and the skills gaps of aspiring senior information managers."

ILT 
http://www.ilt.ac.uk/

"The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT) is the professional body for all who teach and support learning in higher education in the UK. It exists to enhance the status of teaching, improve the experience of learning and support innovation. It also develops and maintains professional standards of practice. It is becoming the main source of professional recognition for all staff engaged in teaching and the support of learning."

jobs.ac.uk 
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/

"The Leading Recruitment Website for Academic and Associated Communities such as research staff in the public and private sector."

Library and Related Resources 
http://www.library.ex.ac.uk/internet/wwwlibs.html

"There are many resources available on the web that are maintained by libraries, museums and centres of research, as well as publishers. This page lists sites that are especially useful in this area. Additional sections include pointers to FAQ files, as well as web indexes that make the task of searching the ever-growing web that much easier."

Library Association 
http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/careers.html

Careers and qualifications section of the Library Association web pages. "Information management - all kinds of opportunities for all kinds of people." Site also includes training and development section (http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/training_dev.html) and InfoMatch, recruitment agency in the information and library field (http://www.la-hq.org.uk/directory/training_dev.html)

Library Association Career Development Group 
http://www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk/index.htm

"The Career Development Group [of the Library Association] encourages members to involve themselves in all aspects of professional activity and is committed to giving a voice to newer members of the library and information profession. Involvement in Career Development Group activities provides opportunities for personal and professional development and the chance for all members to debate lively and contentious issues such as freedom of information and the roles of women and ethnic minorities in the profession."

NTO (National Training Organisations) National Council
"NTOs are the recognised voice of employers on the skills and people development needs of UK industry and employment sectors. NTOs work to enhance the competitiveness and prosperity of the UK by improving the skills and competence of people in all sectors of the economy."

Netskills 
http://www.netskills.ac.uk/

"Netskills provides quality Internet training services to facilitate the effective use of Internet and Intranet technologies for teaching and learning, research, administration, marketing and other business activities."

Prospects 
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/

"The UK’s Official graduate careers website"

SCONUL 
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/

SCONUL (the Standing Conference on National and University Libraries) "works to improve the quality and extend the influence of the university and national libraries of the UK and Ireland." Every year SCONUL arranges training courses, some of them residential, for different levels of staff.

TFPL 
http://www.tfpl.com/

"TFPL is a global leader in the management of knowledge, information and content. Since 1987 the company has worked with organisations in all sectors to help them develop and implement information strategies and to recruit and train information managers and their teams. TFPL ... providing information and knowledge management people, skills and solutions to clients in all sectors ... around the world."

Some learning sites