We, librarians, should have a proper, compulsory efficient CPD system firmly based our core professional competencies.
This would mean:
1. Compulsory submission of CPD logs.
2. A list of core and specialist competencies which an employer can assume a qualified and chartered librarian has mastered (to different levels).
3. An expectation that all CILIP members will undertake a set number of hours of professional development activity with exceptions for serious illness and maternity leave etc.
I think that the ideal system would have five core competencies for all CILIP members e.g.
- Is able to use professional judgement to best meet the needs of the user group
- Is able to acquire and find relevant resources for the user group
- Is able to identify and apply best practice in their field of librarianship
- Is able to demonstrate non-information skills relevant to the role (examples may include training skills, people skills, IT skills)
- Is able to help users to help themselves
These (clearly) would not be the final version.
Then five for each group of librarians so academic, public, corporate, school etc, would all have their own set written in collaboration with the relevant CILIP special interest group.
So perhaps:
- Is able to align the library with corporate goals, objectives and plans
- Is able to train users in database and hardcopy searching
- Is able to perform efficient current awareness searching
- Is able to demonstrate a knowledge of the teams and functional groups within the firm
- Is able to perform in-depth desk research for users
Again, in need of someone who isn’t me and isn’t dashing this out over a lunch break writing them.
I would strongly suggest that the model we should set up would mandate 30 hours a year of CPD of which a minimum of two hours should be allocated to each of the five core competencies. The manner in which individual librarians got these hours would be up to them.
I don’t think that this is a massively onerous duty given that simply reading each issue of Update could count for 12 hours, you then (say) shadow a colleague for half a day (4), you attend a training course on project management (7), go to a CILIP SIG or branch seminar (3), read a few blog posts (1), write a response to one (1), engage in #uklibchat one week (2) and you’re done.
I’ll be honest, however, even if this were onerous and difficult and a massive problem, I would still be saying it. I work in a firm full of chartered professionals. I feel that it is massively important to be able to sit down next to an accountant or a solicitor or a surveyor or an engineer and show them that we are on the same level.
I am a CILIP member not because I think it does the most for me, nor because I think it is the most relevant body nor even to get a copy of Update. I am a CILIP member because I am a qualified professional librarian and as such I need to be a member of my professional body. The decline in membership is, I feel, a massive issue for CILIP and I have to suggest that to be take seriously as a profession we need that approval. We need a body to whom my employer can say “Is Tina a qualified librarian? Is she keeping to the CPD requirements? Has she got a core set of skills?”. Without that what are we?
I attended the North West Library Camp and attended the session on the Body of Professional Knowledge and found it immensely disappointing. People were saying that we all have such different jobs that the parallels between a school librarian and a corporate librarian are too far apart and that we need to include Knowledge Managers and etc.
To you all, I say no. No. The problem with the BPK currently is that whoever wrote it was trying to be all things to all people and ended up with a loose, woolly pointless mess. We cannot do this again. If we cannot come up with a handful of things that all librarians have in common then we don’t deserve to be a profession at all. If, for example, we can’t shoehorn in a particular type of job role then so be it.
I am pleading with CILIP to
- introduce compulsory annual CPD requirements
- come up with a sensible, core body of knowledge
- reform the manner in which we regulate members to ensure that an employer can literally tick off skills from the competency framework.
I hope they manage it because, to be honest, I see no reason to be a member of a professional body who can’t decide who they are.
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YES!!! Thank you for writing this out so clearly. I especially support the idea of compulsory CPD requirements. If we can't come up with a core definition of what it means to be an information professional then frankly there is no future for CILIP.
ReplyDeleteThanks - I really do think there must be at least a handful of things we have in common or we're just pretending to be one profession!
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head reaction: YES PLEASE.
ReplyDeleteI think the proposal, as you've indicated, needs a bit more thinking through in the details, but the basics are sound. It follows a similar layout to what barristers do, for instance, which is a nice strong amount.
I'd like to see 'contributing to a professional activity' count as CPD as well, e.g. organising training or being on a CILIP committee or something.
The only minor criticism I can think of is that perhaps these should be the requirements for being chartered, not just for being a member: that way it mirrors the current system more closely, allowing for the same two levels of membership, with perhaps even more being required to attain fellowship, etc.
Yours,
Samantha
It definitely needs more thinking (and those competencies are atrocious!)
DeleteActually, I did think that myself but actually I wanted this to be a necessary thing for everyone as I think that is more in line with other professions. Maybe even moving into line with most professions by ensuring chartership is compulsory or at least more strongly encouraged.
But they are a starting point, which is great! The details, including the point about chartership, can be argued out by members - but the basic idea is definitely the way forwards.
DeleteUtterly fantastic post! Summed up an issue(of a few) I have with CILIP. Though I suppose this would require leadership...
ReplyDeleteI guess so. Do you think it would cover the sorts of issues you have or are they just too many to be fixed by a CPD log?
DeleteIt would be a start - it would probably help shake the feeling that CILIP membership is something of a requirement rather than a positive choice. There should be professional standards (as mentioned by post below) a basic level of capability.
DeleteTo an extent, I disagree. I think it should be a requirement. The problem is that in huge swathes of libraryland it is not seen as such. But yes the basic capability level thing is definitely key.
DeleteOh my, very well said - the words here to that jumped out at me are 'qualified professional librarian'! Yes, there are and should be different 'levels' of membership of CILIP, but to be a 'professional', you need to belong to a 'professional body', and for you to also be seen to act like a professional ...
ReplyDeleteI have filled in the BPK, but this fills in gaps I didn't get across. I hope this is read and acted on.
Karen (kdplee)
I'm really glad you agree! It was partly our discussion at the BIALL cheese and wine that made me write this so good to hear.
DeleteGood post. I like the idea of compulsory CPD. I also agree with the comments on the BPK - I found it very wishy washy while I was completing it.
ReplyDeleteWell even after intense study, I'm actually incapable of working out what it says! It really is just trying to be all things to all people, I think. And, of course, fails to be anything to anyone.
DeleteGreat post. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot myself recently, since I decided to go for Chartership. I think having mandatory requirements is a good idea. I think sometimes line managers are not always appreciative of the need for cpd, and so having a defined set of criteria that have to be followed would help to persuade them. Some really interesting ideas.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, chartership was the trigger for me too - the more I look at how we do things compared to other professions, the more I understand why no one realises we are one!
DeleteWell said Tina, I have been wondering for some time about why I stay in CILIP membership and you have hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I think it is really important to bear it in mind as all I seem to hear is "Why should I pay for CILIP? I've got BIALL/SLA/whatever and that caters to me much better". Well, this is why...easily forgotten though- I know I do from time to time!
DeleteMy main reason for staying in CILIP is because I'm Chartered, and I have to be a member to retain that Chartership. But while I'm sitting here, preparing to Revalidate, doing lots of CPD (as you'll know, when we both calculated our actual CPD hours a while ago!) and encouraging others to do the same, there are probably a ton of people who're also Chartered, yet do nothing to actively retain or improve that qualification. Where's the incentive to push yourself, and work to retain and improve your skills?
ReplyDeleteA standard which a library professional had to meet to retain the symbol of their professionalism (other than just "I paid the membership fees"!) would go some way towards librarians looking more like actual, active professionals.
Well very soon (I hope) I shall also be staying a member for that reason! You're exactly spot on. If you can do the MA then charter in two years and then sit there stagnating for twenty years why wouldn't you?
DeleteObviously, (or at least obviously to me) the fact that the professional body allows that to happen brings the rest of us down. We need to work harder to show that we actually are professionals and do improve ourselves and do care.
This is particularly the case when chartership is not about ensuring all members are at the same basic level but is all about self-improvement as it means that even chartership which should be a kind of gold standard saying this is a real librarian who can do X, Y and Z means nothing of the sort. It instead means, she is better than she was a year ago with no benchmarking against the profession.
Thanks for this article Tina. I've been surprised when I've found out what other sectors do to maintain their Chartership/professioanl status. Teachers have to do a set amount of CPD a year and I think this is organised fairly well - don't see why we can't too. Plus it would be good for those moments when you think what's the point doing everything I'm doing when others just sail by. I know the reasons but it doesn't stop the thought occuring sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIt could end up being easier for CILIP as they'd need to do far less with a log every year than the current revalidation process
DeleteAfter mulling it over, I have decided that I completely agree with you :p I am very vocal about not being a member of CILIP; I was a student member because I thought it would look good to potential employers, but then quickly realised that none of them cared. And that is a dreadful attitude to have towards what is supposed to be your professional body. It's not that I'm not engaged with my profession, in fact I think I'm more engaged than some of my co-workers who are CILIP members. Its simply that I don't really see the purpose, because currently there really isn't one. A compulsory programme of CPD, like you suggest, would certainly demonstrate a purpose and one I would certainly be prepared to join for.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would like to see better grading of the membership fees along with this, as paying to be a member of CILIP and of my Union could start to get expensive!
I would certainly agree with that. I'm sure that CILIP loses many members when the tiny student membership fee suddenly goes to hundreds of pounds. (That said perhaps picking battles is the way forward - I see no likelihood of them changing the fee structure in the current economic climate).
DeleteI can certainly see why you wouldn't be a member. There are other people I know too who are clearly committed good librarians but not CILIP members (sometimes even evidencing their commitment by joining and working on behalf of other professional bodies like SLA and BIALL)and it really depresses me because if you end up with the dregs of the profession who join CILIP and do nothing with it because work pays their sub and the quite committed ones who join a worthwhile organisation or organise their own CPD then you end up with just a tiny handful of librarians in the body that is meant to regulate us which doesn't work well for CILIP or for the librarians.
As a school librarian no-one cares if I'm Chartered or not. My CPD is less important than that for teachers in my school, and whereas they are provided with cover to attend training- I am expected to keep the library open all the time during term time.
ReplyDeleteThis year I shall attend the SLA/SLG/YLG Lighting the Future Weekend. My school are paying half the cost and the library will not need to be closed as it's half-term/weekend.
I fully support your aims, this should have been tackled years ago. But in the reality of my world my CPD is mostly done by me, at my expense, in my own time. My employers like my CPD to be cheap and cause the least amount of inconvenience to the school. About 6 years ago I considered revalidating my 22 year old Charter but couldn't justify it even to myself, I am no longer a member of CILIP.
I can certainly understand why you're not a member any longer. I'd say that we are all, to an extent, in the same boat. It is a very rare occurence to not have the Information Unit staffed and I pay for all my own CPD most of which consists of evening events.
DeleteIt should, indeed, have been dealt with years ago but as they're looking at it now, perhaps something will actually happen. I'll admit, though, that I'm not confident that anything much will change.
The aim, clearly, is to ensure that people like you are designated as professional staff and given the same rights to paid CPD, cover for lessons etc. as everyone else in the school.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI had wanted to reply to this much sooner, but unfortunately I have been out and about and not had much in the way of Office time.
I just wanted to say that as you are (hopefully) all aware. The future skills project (www.cilip.org.uk/futureskillsproject) will be reviewing revalidation as part of the CILIP Qualifications offer. We will be doing a wide consultation with members as well as holding specific focus groups with both members and employers.
I am excited that there are so many people out there that are as passionate as I am at reviewing the offer. I am happy to start having informal discussion now, but I would also ask you to ensure that you all feed you views in when we get to the formal consulation which will not be until the Summer.
In the meantime, we will be coming out to members at the beginning of April asking them to comment on the initial draft of the new Body of Professional Knowledge and Skills and I hope you will all take time to respond.
Simon
Hi Simon,
DeleteI think that the problem that I'm having is that I feel very worried that CILIP are going to make the wrong decisions.
I've heard that there isn't much support for compulsory CPD, and I will admit that if it is as hard work as revalidation looks then I probably wouldn't be keen either.
I really worry that CILIP is going to do another BPK that says nothing or very little and just tinker round the edges.
Obviously, I'm going to participate as fully as I can and I am trying to withold judgement as much as I can but it feels a little like CILIP fiddles with this stuff every five years or so but nothing worthwhile ever comes out of it.
I look forward to being proved wrong!