And to think, I thought I was the only one having these problems! I've
just registered on the route B Chartership programme, despite having
qualified in 1996 (a 2 year stint in Japan followed by ill-advised
secondary teacher training followed my qualification!) I was told by
the LA that I can't use four years spent as an Information Officer in a
TEC (I was completing my Postgraduate Diploma for the last two years);
I also can't use the two years on a cultural exchange and teaching
programme in Japan, both of which stick in my throat a little, as if
interpersonal and communication skills aren't necessary in a country
where you don't speak or read the language, I don't know when they are!
Yet I _can_ use six months I spent doing part-time shelving for 7
hours a week between January and June 1999!
Although I'm now working in an 'information environment' for six months
at least (though it is a very 'non-traditional' one), and have offered
my services to a local volunteer bureau to help them compile a database
and directory of international volunteer opportunities, I've
encountered the following problems already.
1) I have no idea how to go about getting a mentor in the North-West
who can verify that the voluntary work I'm doing would not otherwise be
completed and is not taking work away from a chartered librarian
2)I've found that advice from the LA and that from the RLO has not
always been the same, particularly with reference to the voluntary
work!
I'm just glad to see from the list that I'm not the only one having
these kinds of problems, though so far I have to say that obtaining a
professional teaching qualification, management qualification, and
living in Japan for 2 years was considerably easier than trying to get
clarification on what exactly is required for me to charter as a
librarian!
I do find the whole thing rather odd when surely the majority of us
these days work in 'non-traditional' library jobs outside public and
academic libraries.
Paula Younger
Getting Online Course Administrator
Manchester institute for information Design
Room 103
Manchester Metropolitan University
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