CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
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News from CILIP
Thursday 2 December 2004
For immediate release  (Please copy to online discussion lists)

New information professionals show how to energise your career

Winners of the CILIP/Online Information Personal Development Award feted at International Information Industry Awards  

A Librarian with Cheshire County Libraries and an Information Consultant with HM Customs & Excise are the winner and runner up in this year's CILIP/Online Information Personal Development Award.  Winner Karen Crook received her award from CILIP's President Maggie Haines at a Gala Dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London to celebrate the International Information Industry Awards for 2004, hosted by TV personality and museums champion Loyd Grossman.

"A journey of natural progressions."  That was how Karen described her route from deciding on a library and information career to reaching the professional milestone of Chartership.  Currently based at Nantwich Library, Karen began working for the library service as an assistant while studying for her library & information studies qualification.  Subsequently achieving Chartered status resulted in an important change in her career.  "Being Chartered meant that I was eligible to apply for my current position, within the same organisation, when the vacancy arose only a month later," she points out.

Runner up Patrick Bell describes himself as a "born again professional developer".  An Information Consultant with HM Customs & Excise in Salford, Patrick felt at first that the benefits of putting letters after his name seemed too insubstantial.  However that changed once he started working on his Chartership submission.  "I have had a busy career," Patrick continues.  "Preparing the submission reminded me of... what I had done well and what I had done not so well.  Putting my work in the context of the headings of the professional development report helped me see how I could have done those things better."

All members of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals who achieved their Chartership between October 2003 and September 2004 were entitled to enter for the Award.  To compete, candidates had to write a statement of not more than 500 words explaining how gaining their professional qualification had energised their career.  Entries were judged by a panel consisting of Margaret Oldroyd (Chair of CILIP's Chartership Board), Katherine Allen of VNU Exhibitions (which runs the Online Information Conference and Exhibition) and Sophie Graham (Head of Medical Information at Pfizer Ltd and a Fellow of CILIP).

Commenting on Karen's application the judges said: "We liked this candidate's long view of CPD, and got a real sense of the milestones on the 'journey' of their career." They particularly liked "the candidate's emphasis on the fact that Chartership has made a real difference to the way she is perceived; overall she met and indeed exceeded the judging criteria."

The judges agreed that Patrick's application offered a "...frank admission that Chartership encourages a 'warts and all' assessment of one's strengths as well as weaknesses." His entry conveyed "a sense of the real benefits of using the Chartership process to take a step back from even mundane day to day issues". His  "mention of revalidation indicated an ongoing commitment to CPD" and they were impressed with his engagement with the professional community.

"The journey to Chartership has been one of both personal and professional discovery," Karen Crook continued in her statement.  "Initially, I did not fully appreciate the skills and knowledge that the events I attended and the activities I took part in were equipping me with.  I certainly didn't realise that they would feature in the development of my career so soon."

"My personality tends to be self-reliant," added Patrick Bell.  "Sharing my experiences helped me to identify and highlight their contribution to my professional development.  I now look to networks of fellow professionals far more readily than I once did."

"Chartership has encouraged me to take on new challenges, and taught me the value of keeping an up to date portfolio," Karen concluded.  "I do not think I have reached the end of the journey yet, but I am proud of my achievements so far.  Chartership... has definitely energised my career."

Contact:  Tim Buckley Owen, Head of Membership, Marketing & Media.
Tel: 020 7255 0652.	
Email: [log in to unmask] <Mailto:[log in to unmask]>

Notes to Editors

CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers, with around 23,000 members working in all sectors, including business and industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries.  For more information about CILIP, please go to www.cilip.org.uk or visit us on stand 168 at Online Information 2004.

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