Melissa Wyatt is the Library and Information Manager at the Royal Town Planning Institute where she has ensured that the library service is the focus for knowledge management for the organisation and is recognised as an important resource for the planning profession. She is working towards Chartership.
Melissa Wyatt - at a glance
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Assistant experience at a public library
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Enrols on an accredited degree course at Brighton University
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Completes degree in another subject (Art History)
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Continues to develop professional experience Lewes music Library and Lewes Barbican House Museum
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Assistant Librarian in the local history library at Lewisham
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Registers with INFOmatch Recruitment Agency and finds post as Library and Information Manager at the Royal Town Planning Institute
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Enrols as extraordinary candidate for Chartership
October 2007 Melissa's application is accepted by the Chartership Board and she registers as a Chartered Member of CILIP (MCLIP) |
With a Diploma in Business & Finance and experience as a library assistant in the West Midlands, I enrolled on a library and information degree course at Brighton University. Supporting myself with jobs as diverse as selling ice-cream on the pier and working as a fashion model. A university placement provided me with an opportunity to catalogue a unique collection of Rudyard Kipling manuscripts and books, one of my best student memories.
Personal circumstances prevented me from completing the course but I was determined to pursue my career in collections management so I used my experience and knowledge to work in the music library at Lewes and then at the Lewes Barbican House Museum. At the same time I completed my degree as an Art History Bachelors with the Open University.
I had the opportunity to experience an intriguing variety of information work: the Royal Society, cataloguing historical documents in German, Latin and French; project work at the London Underground Library, and then becoming Local Studies Librarian at Lewisham. This was not just local studies but community librarianship, reaching all sections of the local community by exploiting the collection.
Whilst working in library management posts, I have managed information in subjects as diverse as town and country planning, architecture, history, transport, family history and art. I have experience in running information and library services as well as specialising in research and librarianship within a museum and heritage environment.
A diploma in Business helped me to focus, a degree in Library and Art Studies helped me to specialise and working and studying simultaneously helped me begin the path to Chartership.
Updated: 12 October 2007