Welcome to another edition of Central News. This new look issue ispacked with lots of news relating to events and activities that the CareerDevelopment Group (West Midlands) has been involved in over the lastfew months, including a report from the CDG WM AGM and CILIP WMMembers Day and a reflection on the CDG visit to Worcester Cathedrallast Autumn.The Career Development Group, West Midlands has undergone somechanges within the committee, and this issue welcomes Preeti Puligari asthe new Candidate Support Officer, and Lesley Allen as the NewProfessional Support Officer.In addition there is the cut-out-and-keep dates for your diary detailing allthe upcoming CDG WM events.

Editorial

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Spring 2009

Central IssuesThe Newsletter of the CareerDevelopment Group West Midlands Division

The Career Devel-opment Group is a

special interestgroup of CILIP,

The Chartered In-stitute of Library &Information Profes-

sionals.Registered CharityNumber 313014.

Inside this issue:

Editorial 1

CDG—A Viewfrom a SpecialistLibrarianWorcesterCathedral Library

2

WorcesterCathedral Library

3

LanchesterLibrary Visit andWM BranchMembers' Day

4-5

Central News 6

New Profes-

sional?

7

Profile of the

CSO

7

Dates for your

Diary

8

Career Development Group (CDG)A view from a specialist Librarian

Page 2 Central Issues

I first became involved in West MidlandsCareer Development Group (WMCDG)following my decision to Charter.At that time I was working in a non-traditional library role, and felt that Ineeded to broaden my knowledge ofother areas within the profession.

AS CDG committee comprises membersfrom all library areas, and are willing todiscuss and share their work and issues,they seemed the best people to satisfythat need.

I also attended several courses run byCDG which enabled me to gain the skillsnot encompassed within my then workrole. For example, I particularly found theMoving into Management and MarketingSkills courses not only informative but ofpractical use in furthering my career.

My employer also benefited, as I broughtthat knowledge back into the workplace.and of course, in these credit crunchtimes, it helped that the courses were lo-cal (no long hauls to London!) and cost-effective.

Following Chartering I remained (and stillam) an active member of the committee.Why?

Well, CDG gives me the chance to widenmy outlook of the profession, to learnabout different sectors, but also to realisewe are all tackling similar challenges.

I also enjoy being a part of a network ofinformation professionals: particularly theopportunities to share best practice withthem and the chance to discuss and con-tribute to work-related issues. As the soleLibrarian in my organisation, I rarely getthat much-needed prospect of being ableto talk shop.

However, committee membership is notnecessary to benefit from your CDGmembership. Regular informal Charter-ship meetings welcome everyone to joinus to look at submission examples, askquestions, share experiences or just talkto other information professionals. It is achance to make new contacts and to bepart of the wider information world.

WMCDG are very friendly group, andwelcome new members from all areas ofthe profession. If you cannot join us atour committee meetings why not join usat our other events?

Vanessa BellDefence Estates Librarian

The summer visit this year was to the library at Worcester Cathedral. On a wet Satur-day in early September a group of librarians meet up with each other on the ancientcloisters of Worcester Cathedral. An added dimension to visiting this ancient buildingwas the sound check going on for the rock concert going on in the main Cathedral thatevening.

We were taken to small door in a walland climbed up stone spiral stair case, itwas almost like going back in time (if itwasn’t for the sound check going on),before coming to another door and intothe Cathedral Library.

As you enter thought the door a smell ofold paper and wood hits you. If you tookthe computer out of the room it wouldlook just as it had for hundreds of years,walls lined with books and other docu-ments, wooden tables and chairs all ready for scholars to come and study and re-search.

The librarian spent time showing us a number of things. This included music manu-scripts and concert programmes of Elgar’s who preformed concerts in the Cathedralduring World War I. We were also shown medieval manuscripts – the university text-books of the of the day, the monks from the Abby took them the Paris when they wentto the university to study. Included on the manuscripts is what is thought to be shorthand that the monks wrote to each other in the margins to help them study. (No onehas yet worked out what they all mean). We also got shown some very early paperback books from the time of the civil war.

Hundreds of years of English history are contended within the Cathedral Library wallsand we got to see just a small part of it. Thanks go to Georgina Hardy for organisingthe day and to the Cathedral Librarian for taking time to show us around. Further infor-mation about the Cathedral Library can be found at:http:www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/index.php?pr=Library

Catherine McLarenSeptember 2008

Worcester Cathedral Visit

Page 3

Page 4 Central Issues

"It's a huge yellow building. You just can't miss it!" was the first description I

had of the Lanchester Library when I asked a student for directions. I waslooking forward to my tour of this multi award winning library belonging toCoventry University later in the day.

We had a chance to do some networking as we collected our coffees. It isalways a pleasure to speak to library colleagues working in such a wide va-riety of sectors. The first speaker was Peter Griffiths, CILIPpresident for 2009. He informed us about his presidential themes for theyear, which included professionalism for librarians, new ground and oppor-tunity, activism, leadership, and collaboration with others. After his talk, Pe-ter invited discussion about these themes and welcomed further correspon-dence about them by giving us his email address.

This was followed by a celebration of achievements by librarians in theWest Midlands region. Five people received certificates for chartership, andseveral professionals had successfully completed revalidation.

The time for our library tour had arrived, and we were divided into smallgroups and taken outside by a team of five friendly subject specialists whohad agreed to be our tour guides. The Lanchester Library is eight years oldand there have already been changes to suit the changing needs of stu-dents. There are three subject floors housing science and health materials,business and law, and another floor with art and media information. Someof the art and media collection includes very precise pictures for industrialstudents. These are not kept with the main collection, but are kept lockedas they can cost up to three hundred pounds each!

I was particularly impressed with the way in which space had been care-fully allocated for different types of study. There are group study rooms allaround the library, separate silent study areas, and also a basement floorwith a large group work area that had been furnished with soft sofas andrefreshment machines. The ground floor has curved desks so that studentscan work together in pairs on each computer. There are purpose builtrooms for inductions and staff training, and also an interactive computerlab.

Lanchester Library Visit and WM Branch Members' Day

Page 5

Some good examples of collaboration can be identified in theLanchester Library with weekly drop in sessions being offered in thelibrary from both the Academic Writing and Mathematics Support de-partments. Longer out of hours access has been tested out during ex-amination periods, and the statistics showed that there were aroundtwo hundred students in the building at 3am! We really enjoyed our in-formative library tours and I would like to thank the Lanchester Librarystaff for organising them.

The library tour was followed by three AGMs. The first was for CILIPWM, the second one was by the Career Development Group, and thethird one was for CofHE WM. The day ended with a talk by Ayub Khanon meeting the needs of migrant workers. Personally, I learnt a lot ofnew things from this presentation. The statistics on migrant workersraised my awareness of the largest communities, and I enjoyed hear-ing about creative ways in which libraries in Warwickshire have beenworking with particular migrant groups to improve their use of libraryservices.

Anita Phul, Training Librarian, Birmingham and Solihull Mental HealthTrust.

The Career Development Group, West Midlands , edition

of the Central News is now available online! Have a look

at the special Winter Bumper edition of the newsletter

on the Career Development Groups webpage:

http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/

bysubject/careerdevelopment/sub/wm/gettinginvolved

If you have any items that you would like to see in

future editions of Central News then email Jess Duf-

field at ppowestmids@googlemail.com or

jessica.duffield@warwick.ac.uk

Central News Available Online

Page 6 Central Issues

New Professional? Read on……

You may not have heard much about the New Professionals Support Officer role(NPSO), but that is about to change!

My name is Lesley Allen and I am the NPSO for the West Midlands. I am one of a net-work of people throughout the country who have been recruited to help support newlyqualified librarians.

The aim is that I will be your main contact for the West Midlands, and offer you what-ever support I can as you start out in your career. Being a new role, the jury is still outon what exactly this support might be. But this is where you come in….

As well as letting me have your contact details so that I can build up a contacts list forthe West Midlands, I would also be interested in hearing your views on what sort ofsupport you would like to see. You already have a Chartership Support Officer (CSO),Preeti Puligari (preeti.puligari@heartofengland.nhs.uk) so I am looking at what othertypes of support you might find useful. I am also keen to hear from you if you are livinglocally but undertaking a library degree by distance learning.

You may have seen publicity for a forthcoming event on 6th July. This is specificallyaimed at new professionals and will be considering ‘what it is like to be a library andinformation professional in the 21st Century’. It is taking place at London MetropolitanUniversity. I would like to encourage you to consider putting in a proposal for a presen-tation. Members of the CDG committee will be happy to help where they can. More de-tails can be found at:

http://www.cilip.org.uk/cdg

If you have new professionals or LIS students in your organisation, please pass my de-tails onto them.

To contact me:Email: Lesley.allen@hobtpct.nhs.uk or phone 0121 465 4820.

I look forward to hearing from you.

My journey into Librarianship started in India with myfirst professional post at the British Council libraries(1995-2000) in the capacity of Assistant Librarian. Apartfrom performing the usual library work – dealing withenquiries, inductions, issuing books, generating reports,compiling circulations statistics – I got opportunities toorganise cultural events, conduct exams, promote British

Universities, liaise with the press and the list goes on.I already knew more about Britain and its network oflibraries before moving to the UK in 2001. Since then I have worked in varioussectors – health information centre, schools and further education libraries- be-fore joining the health sector in 2005. I also completed a specialist Master’s de-gree in Electronic Services Management from University of Central England

(now Birmingham City University).

I was working in Dudley Primary Care Trust when I embarked on my Charter-ship. I found the process very exciting and rewarding in the end. Chartership hasbenefited me in many ways –it has made me more reflective, helping me identifymy developmental needs and gain a wider professional understanding than be-fore.With one kid, a job, portfolio work and a whole load of family commitments– I felt very satisfied and proud when I got the much awaited letter from CILIPthat I had made it to the Register. My desire to become a Chartered Member

was fulfilled.

After another short maternity break last year and a new job (now working asOutreach Librarian for Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust) I was continu-ously looking at ways to contribute to the profession. News about a possible va-cancy for the role of Chartership Support Officer-West Midlands, made me ex-

cited but I knew the previous CSO would be a tough act to follow.And finally, if you are already engaged in the Chartership process or are ‘thinking’of doing it, please do not hesitate. It really is worth it in the end!! If you want toknow more about the qualification, or need any clarification regarding the 2005regulations or just want to get motivated, please do email me on csowest-

mids@googlemail.com or Preeti.Puligari@heartofengland.nhs.uk

Committee Profile—Introducing Preeti Puligari (CSO Officer)

Page 7

O r g a n i z a t i o n

Your “cut out and keep” guide to what’s happening in the West Midlands withCareer Development Group over the next few months.

“Your wish is my command”: Improving the customer experience. Career Develop-ment Group UK National Conference 2009Date: Monday 20th April 2009Time: 10:00-16:00Venue: Liverpool John Moores UniversityCost: CDG £75 +VAT; Others £95 +VAT; Students/ Unwaged £45 +VAT

A cross-sectoral day looking at what we can do to improve our customers’ experience of ourservice, be it through changing staff culture, promotion strategies, new technologies, or improv-ing the environment. For more information or to book a place please contact Viki Lagusviki.lagus@southtyneside.gov.uk

………………………………………………………………………………………………….Love your Chartership IIIDate: Wednesday 22nd April 2009Time: From 18:30Venue: The Green Room Café Bar, B5 4TD. http://www.greenroomcafebar.co.uk/: Central Bir-mingham, 5-10mins walk from New Street StationCost: Free

Struggling with Chartership? Need some moral support? Fancy a chat about what to donext? Come along to one of CDG WM's regular, informal Chartership groups to talk to othersin the same situation, browse through some example portfolios and receive encouragement.No need to book—just turn up.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….Visit to Stafford College LibrariesDate: Tuesday 12th May 2009Time: 14.30 – 16.00Venue: Stafford College LibrariesCost: FreeMaximum 10 attendees

If you are interested in the highs, and occasional lows, of working in an FE Library, please join usfor tour of both libraries at Stafford College. There will be an opportunity for a cup of tea and anatter at the end.Please register your interest with Pamela Hanney (p.hanney@staffordcoll.ac.uk)

………………………………………………………………………………………………….Career Development Group...get involved!Date:Wednesday 13th May 2009Time: 18:00-20:00Venue: Birmingham Central Libraryg

Why not come along to the CDG WM committee meeting to find out more about the group.Please contact the Chair for more details—cdgwm@hotmail.com

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Dates for your Diary