Influences Along the Way

Thing 7 requires us to think about face-to-face networks, our experiences with professional organisations, how our careers have been affected and what we have learnt.   So, after false starts and long ponderings, here are my experiences.

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My involvement with professional organizations has ebbed and flowed according to the development of my library career.  I have been a member of CILIP for about six years.  As a new member in the profession I found the information and publications invaluable and the special interest groups good for introducing me to other people in the library world.   At this time, working within the wonderfully supportive network of Cambridge University librarians, I met many different library workers and observed the individuality of the various academic libraries.  I was in awe of the size of the stacks at the University Library and took every opportunity I could to tour within Cambridge and further afield.  This was a time of steep learning and I absorbed everything with an eye to planning where I wanted to end up.  

Having qualified and begun working as a school librarian ( a real culture shock to go from the University sector with a large number of library professionals to being the sole worker in a school)  I attended an incredibly energising and inspiring weekend by the School Library Association in Glasgow.  It was refreshing to be amongst so many other librarians who, despite all working in very different schools, understood the nature of the job.   I also joined ISLEC (Independent School Librarians Eastern Counties) to make local contacts and visit other school libraries.  I still dip into events by the Cambridge Library Group and take advantage of the diverse topics covered by the Arcadia seminars which explore the role of academic libraries in the digital age.

More recently I've been able, on an informal basis, to share my knowledge to newer professionals, with those who are thinking about joining the profession and those who have been deciding whether or not to take LIS qualifications.  Somewhere along the line I have gone from being the newbie to someone who can guide and inform.  But I can't finish this post without mentioning a few people who have influenced me along my way.

Firstly Chris RobertsLewis whom I worked with at Sidney Sussex College, a good mix of boss and friend, supported my aspirations and went out of her way to enable me to progress.  She also had a wicked way of  incentivising staff by supplying chocolate and almond croissants!  

Next John Crawford.  He opened my eyes to the history of librarianship by enabling me to attend a seminar on library automation and see my name in print in the Library History journal.  An enriching opportunity to meet real experts in the field with such collective wisdom.

Lastly Jane Henfrey, an almost scarily insightful and open person who helps me to understand the psychology of teachers and of myself.  A progressive voice who believes in putting the heart into education and a great lover of books.