CILIP Chartership event

Our CILIP event this month was focused around Chartership. We had five speakers, talking about all different areas of the process. First up was Franko Kowlaczuk, who is the candidate support officer for the South East. Franko spoke about the role of the CSO and how they can help anyone undertaking Chartership; whether it’s advice on what to include in your portfolio, or more general information about the qualification itself. From 1 November, there‘ll be some changes to professional registration. For one, the new VLE will offer online submission and assessment, and new assessment criteria have been written up for certification, Chartership, and revalidation. 

Next up was Natalie Guest, who is fully chartered and also works as a mentor for others. Natalie mentioned that it may seem hard to collate evidence needed for your portfolio, but chances are you have plenty of material to use in your everyday working life. Perhaps you tweet regularly (about libraries and library work, not so much cat videos on YouTube), have improved an aspect of the library service at work, or attended a local CILIP branch meeting. All of these can be used in your portfolio! In regards to choosing a mentor, both Franko and Natalie agreed that it was ideal to pick a mentor who wasn’t closely linked to you. A line manager as a mentor could be offended if you’ve been critical of particular practises at work, and it can really help having someone from a different library sector to work with– that way are you are given a certain level of objectivity when the mentor is looking through your work.

Last up was Anna Richards, Ruth Jenkins and Erika Delbecque, who are doing their Chartership as a group! They noted that undertaking the Chartership process alongside other people can really help motivation, plus their place of work allows them time to study together. They encouraged anyone going through professional registration to speak to people who are doing it too – whether it’s at work, on Twitter, or local groups. 

To get more information on the new changes to Chartership, there are details up on the CILIP website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/jobs-and-careers/qualifications-and-professional-development/cilip-qualifications

Thanks to all our speakers for a fun and informative evening!