I did a three year degree course at Loughborough University and took the option of doing and extra 'year out' to do the DPS (Diploma in Professional Studies) course. This involves working for a year in a library or information service and submitting a diary and a project at the end of the year ( is this starting to sound a little like chartership to anyone...?). After I finished my degree I then did a two year part time MA course. Six years at University is enough study for anyone! I still cannot apply for jobs where a chartership is required though I feel that, if the point of chartering is to prove your dedication to professional development and willingness to spend your own time and effort on it, then doing the DPS provides more than adequate evidence of this. Yet few employers know what the DPS is or accept it as an alternative to chartership.
The Library Association approves the courses run at Loughborough, yet many of its own members do not know what they are or what they represent! It seems to me that those people that do the DPS should either be given chartership on award of their degree or that this nominal course should be scraped.
Well, that's my two cents, anyway,
Claire Ryan
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
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