Read about how other CILIP members have successfully developed strategies and plans to build effective campaigns to demonstrate the value of library and information professionals in their organisations. Discuss your campaigning issues with other CILIP members through CILIP Communities to help you plan and deliver your campaign and demonstrate your professional value.
Chris Rhodes, Enquires Executive, Statistics Resource Unit, House of Commons Library
I am an active member of CILIP and find volunteering to help other people achieve their professional potential interesting and rewarding. The variety of skills required for this sort of work and the challenges it presents are vastly different from those I am faced with in my job, but there are areas of overlap that help me to develop professionally in a way that I would never be able to without being an activist.
The most significant thing I have achieved whilst working with CILIP has been the New Professionals Conference. The success of the event lies in the unexpected, fresh and original ideas and methods that the new speakers bring to the conference, and as such is a perfect mirror for the importance of new professionals in the library world. I hope that the conference continues to exceed expectations as a forum for new voices and as a beacon of new ideas in the profession.
As Enquires Executive, Statistics Resource Unit, I provide bibliographic, technical and enquiry support to the Social and General Statistics and the Economic Policy Sections of the House of Commons Library. These are two of the busiest sections in the Library and provide MPs with information ranging over a wide variety of statistical and economic topics. I also produce current awareness briefings, such as, Unemployment by Constituency – a monthly email that is tailored to each recipient, giving details of the labour market in their local area. My job is constantly challenging and varied requiring high standards of accuracy, impartiality and promptness which means that I have the opportunity to contribute to work that is of an unparalleled quality.
I won the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Early Careers Award to attend the SLA conference in New Orleans June 2010 and would strongly recommend that other librarians consider applying this year. The award itself is very generous and provides a great opportunity to meet librarians from all around the world, raise the profile of your own institution and learn about the developments and opportunities in the wider library profession.
Nov 2010