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Autumn 2010 Volume 13 Number 3
www.cilip.org.uk/cdg/impact
Chris RhodesView from the other sideof the pond
Kathy EnnisBrand the ‘BEEP’ out of it:developing your personalbrand for career growth
Eva HornungNorthern (de)lights
Bronagh McCruddenWould you work for free?Unpaid work and how to
make it count
SPECIALCONFERENCEISSUE
Remembering Bob McKeeCDG Past President, CDG Honorary Fellow
1950 -2010
PRESIDENTJon Scown
Libraries West Development OfficerCultural Services Admin Centre, Mount Street,
Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 3ESTel: 01278 451201
Email: [email protected]
SECRETARYStella Wisdom
Project Manager Collection Storage NorthThe British Library, Boston Spa, Wetherby,
West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQTel: 01937 546873
Email: [email protected]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUTTHE GROUP
Béatrice Coveney / Louise GordonEmail: [email protected]
ADVERTISE IN IMPACTAdvertise here and reach nearly 4,000
potential customers, it’s so easy!(source: CDG membership, January 09)
If you are interested in advertising in Impact,please contact Stella Wisdom.
2009/10 charges for advertising in Impact:Full page colour: £330Full page black and white: £230Half page colour: £200Half page black and white: £140
20% discount available for non-profitorganisations
VAT will be charged at the standard rate onthe advertisements.
ISSN 1468-1625
Impact, the official journal of the CareerDevelopment Group of CILIP: theChartered Institute of Library andInformation Professionals; formerly theAssistant Librarian, the journal of theAssociation of Assistant Librarians.
Copy can be submitted to the Editors inplain ASCII text format, MS Word format,or in the body of an email message. Ac-companying photographs of a resolutionof no less than 150dpi (mono) or 300dpi(colour) are welcome. Please contact theHonorary Editor for further information.
Views expressed in Impact are notnecessarily those of the CareerDevelopment Group or the Editors.
SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIESJanice McQuilkin
The LibraryUniversity of Ulster
Magee College, Northland RoadLondonderry BT48 7JL
Tel: 028 7137 5299 Fax: 028 7137 5626Email: [email protected]
Annual subscriptions 2010United Kingdom £42.74Overseas £61.22North America $121.28
Impact Copy Dates 2010
Issue Articles PublicationWinter 21 Oct 25 Nov
Career Development GroupWebsite:
http://www.cilip.org.uk/cdg/
Registered charity number: 313014
Impact Autumn 2010 45
CONTENTSMARIA COTERABob McKee: A tribute
CDG HONORARY FELLOWSHIP AWARD:Call for nominations
JOHN SCOWN & ALISON BARLOWHard financial decisions for CDG. Yourchance to join the debate
KATHY ENNISBrand the ‘BEEP’ out of it: developingyour personal brand for career growth
BRONAGH McCRUDDENWould you work for free? Unpaid workand how to make it count
NOTICE OF CDG ANNUAL ELECTIONS
STUART WILKINSON & JON SCOWNGrowing membership in difficult times
EVA HORNUNGNorthern (de)lights
CHRIS RHODESView from the other side of the pond
PREMILA GAMAGEDevelopment of Macaldeniya TamilVidyalayam and Estate CommunityLibrary
DATES
AcknowledgementsImages of Bob kindly supplied by CILIP and AmandaQuick. Images in Bronagh McCrudden’s article fromFlickr by x-ray delta one. Social media icons fromIcondock (http://icondock.com). Other imagessourced from contributors, CDG Flickr collection,Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu), Wikimedia Commons,and Morgue File (www.morguefile.com), under freelicence.
Printed in England by Headley Brothers Ltd, Ashford, Kent
Welcome to the Autumn issueof Impact. It is fitting that thisspecial conference issue of Impact isdedicated to Bob McKee, who we hon-
our as one of our own, being both a Past Presidentand an Honorary Fellow of the Group with ourleading article; a tribute from our present PastPresident, Maria Cotera.
In this edition we give you a taste of two of ourfour conferences this year. Kathy Ennis, speakerfrom Raising the Bar II (also speaking at Raising theBar III in London in November) talks about brand-ing and how to use it to stand out from the crowd.Then Bronagh McCrudden, Winner of the NewProfessionals’ Conference Paper sets us a chal-lenge; ‘Would you work for free?’
Other articles come from further afield; withChris Rhodes reporting on the SLA Conference inNew Orleans, Eva Hornung, an IFLA Satellite inBorås, Sweden, and Premila Gamage introducing anew International Project for the Group in SriLanka.
This issue is one of two issues which will be bothin print and available online via our website atwww.cilip.org.uk/cdg/impact. Jon Scown and Ioutline our present financial issues and the deci-sions we face, to give you the opportunity to getinvolved in the debate. He also discusses, withStuart Wilkinson of Hall Associates, a new pilotprogramme working with CILIP to help grow ourmembership.
All in all a bumper issue. I hope you enjoy it.
Alison Barlow
Honorary Editor
Information LibrarianNottinghamshire County CouncilBeeston Library, Foster Avenue,Beeston, Nottingham, NG9 1AEEmail: [email protected]
Autumn 2010Volume 13 No. 3
EDITORIAL
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Impact Autumn 2010 46
The sudden loss of Bob McKee,CILIP Chief Executive, has left usall numb.
Bob, who was a CDG Past Presidentand Honorary Fellow, passed away onFriday 13th August 2010 in Gothen-burg, Sweden, where he was attendingthe International Federation of LibraryAssociations and Institutions (IFLA)Annual Congress.
As well as trying to cope with the terriblenews, those of us who were in Gothen-burg were tasked with two other verydifficult duties. The first; to keep it con-fined out of respect for Bob's family andCILIP staff, until they had been in-formed. This was hard to do as Bob wasvery well known and much loved withinthe IFLA community, and colleagueshad started to notice his absence andkept asking after him. The second; tocommunicate Bob's passing to some ofhis closest colleagues and friends, ofwhich he had plenty, both in the UK, inGothenburg and all around the world.
Bob would have been 60 on Monday16th August, and had planned to cele-brate with his IFLA friends, as he and
the other ‘IFLA babies’ did every year.Ironically, the sad news was officiallyannounced on CILIP, IFLA and CDGwebsites that very same day.
As colleagues gradually found out, trib-utes quickly poured in. One of the firstmessages I received summed him upreally well. It read:
'He packed about three lifetimes worth into one'.
Bob was certainly full of life, andfeeling really optimistic about the future.
On the days before his passing, he hadbeen inviting colleagues to his retire-ment party on 28th October, while talk-ing about how much he was lookingforward to remaining active within theprofession, both in the UK and interna-tionally.
His future plans included working as avolunteer IFLA expert trainer for thenew ‘Building Strong Library Associa-tions’ programme. The programme, as-sisted by the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation Global Libraries Initiative,was sending him to the Ukraine. Bob
Bob McKee:A tribute
Maria Cotera
Impact Autumn 2010 47
Bob McKee1950 - 2010
Impact Autumn 2010 48
was enthusiastically training for therole, while arranging opportunities tofind out more about the country.
Bob was an inspirational leader, andmentor and role model for many of usin CDG. He worked alongside, support-ed and mentored many generations ofAAL / CDG activists, including severalPast Presidents of the Group, up untilthe very day he passed away. After all,the Association of Assistant Librarians(AAL former CDG) had been his breed-ing ground; he served at divisional leveland National Council for several years,culminating in his Presidency in 1985while working at Solihull College ofTechnology.
Bob never forgot his activist roots, andhis involvement with and support for theGroup continued throughout his life.This was formally recognised in 2007when he was awarded a CDG HonoraryFellowship for continued services,which reaffirmed the bond between himand the Group.
Bob had a wonderful way of makingeveryone feel welcome and included.He remembered who you were andwanted to discuss your ideas; he madehimself available whenever he was in-vited to speak or attend events, whenwe wrote to him for advice, wheneverhe felt he was needed.
Bob was especially supportive of thenewer generation of professional activ-ists, and always ensured we were rep-resented and that our voice was heardwith CILIP and in IFLA.
Bob was a kind and generous friendand colleague; in 2004 he enthusiasti-cally volunteered to take part on the‘CILIP Heavy-Weights Sponsored Slim’to raise money for the Career Develop-ment Group International Projectsalongside CILIP President MaggieHaines. They were weighed in and pho-tographed in public at CILIP MembersDay and other public events to recordtheir progress. Bob was shameless,especially since he knew what a goodcause it was. He did it once again in2008 loosing an impressive 14.6 kilo-grammes in five months and raisinganother thousand pounds towardsCDG's African Prisons Project.
Just a few days before he passed awayhe had told me he wanted to do it againand we should speak about organisingit. Unfortunately we did not have thetime to discuss it.
Bob touched many hearts; he was atruly charismatic man and an inspiringleader with a great sense of humourwhich helped him not to take himself tooseriously.
He will be sorely missed by many in ourprofession who shared his values andloved his zest for life. He will never beforgotten by those who had the privilegeof knowing him, working with him, andbeing counted among his many friends.
Maria CoteraPast President, Career Development Group,
Convener,Women, Information & Libraries
Special Interest Group of [email protected]
Impact Autumn 2010 49
CDG Honorary Fellowship Award:Call for nominations
The Career Development Group is the only Group of CILIP, which awards its ownHonorary Fellowship award to recognise individuals who have rendered distinguishedservice to the Group.
New Honorary Fellows receive a certificate, can use the postnominals Hon FCDG andare invited to the Presidential Reception each year. Previous Honorary Fellowshipshave been awarded to:
� Dr. Bob McKee - CILIP Chief Executive and former President of the Group� Carol Barker - CDG Honorary Learning Coordinator, instrumental in CDG
gaining CILIP Seal of Recognition� Kath Owen - for her commitment to CPD and her continuous support to
the work of the Group� Sue Hill - regular sponsor and loyal promoter of the Group� Paula Younger - former Honorary Web Officer, Honorary National Secre-
tary and developer of the popular Deep Web course� Mandy Hicken - long time compiler of Adult Sequels� Kate Wood - long term CILIP Liaison Officer for the Group� Dr. Mike Freeman - former International Officer and long time supporter of
our international projects� Timothy Marshall - for his services to the Group, including his work as
subscriptions officer for Impact
We are now seeking nominations, from CDG members, for individuals whom theyconsider have offered exceptional and significant service to the Career DevelopmentGroup.
The criteria are:
1. Significant support for the Group enabling us to meet our aims and objec-tives.
2. Evidence of their own continued professional development.3. Supporting the professional development of others.4. Helping the Group achieve its aims in the area of learning opportunities.
5. Contributions to debate and professional developments by bringing aboutpositive changes, focusing on particular issues or campaigns.
Impact Autumn 2010 50
The Panel, chaired by the Past President for 2010 and will consist of the PastPresident, President and Vice President. The President will make recommendationsto CDG National Council in February 2011*. The decision of National Council will befinal, and an announcement will follow; published in Impact and on the Group’swebsite.
*Fellowship Awards are given at the discretion of the Honorary Fellowship AwardsPanel to one or more persons. If no suitable nomination is received the Panel reservesthe right not to make an award.
How to make an nomination:
Download the form from www.cdg.org.uk/cdg complete it and email or post it by 13thNovember to: Maria Cotera, CDG Past President, 33 Ferndale Road. London N156UF or email to [email protected]. Alternatively, blank nomination formsmay be obtained from Maria on request.
Hard financial decisions for CDG Your chance to join the debate
Jon Scown & Alison BarlowThe Career Development Group is thesecond largest special interest group inCILIP and the largest group with a divi-sional structure. However, in commonwith CILIP and many of its other groups,CDG is currently experiencing financialchallenges.
As a result of declining membership, theamount we receive in capitation (a setamount per member) from CILIP has fall-en. At the same time our main source ofincome; conferences, is falling as poten-tial delegates are finding it increasinglydifficult to get time away from work toattend and organisational training budg-ets are being squeezed.
The result of this is that expenditure is
currently exceeding income. We are man-aging to keep afloat by eating into ourreserves. This is not a sustainable longterm strategy.
So what are we doing about this?
We have an obligation to members toensure we are spending your moneywisely so are currently in the process ofreviewing everything we do to see if wecan identify ways of spending less, whilstmaximising our income.
Our expenditure falls into two main areas:
� Impact; Journal of the Career Devel-opment Group
� National Council meetings
Impact Autumn 2010 51
Impact has an illustrious history; thegroup in its many guises has been pro-ducing a printed journal since January1898.
The journal is our main tangible mem-bership benefit and means of communi-cation, published quarterly anddistributed to all our members withUpdate.
Impact gives the Group and its membersa voice by:
� highlighting the breadth of the work of theGroup including our International Projects� promoting the views of our members; giving
them the opportunity to publish in a journal� being a unique forum for professional de-
bate with articles illustrating issues bothacross and within all sectors.
As well as members, the Journal alsogoes out to subscribers in 14 Americanstates reaching nine countries in total,with issues travelling as far afield asPuerto Rico and Australia. Subscribers,,who are a source of revenue for thegroup, include public and national librar-ies, schools of library studies, and otheracademic institutions includingUNESCO and the Vatican Library.
We print over 3,500 copies per issue ata cost of approximately £1,400.
We have been keeping costs down bykeeping the number of pages to a mini-mum and investigating advertising possi-bilities, with mixed success.
We are exploring a number of options forthe future:
1. Publishing online
Historically we have only made a limitednumber of articles available online.
This issue and the Winter issue will be availablein both print and online via our website at;www.cilip.org.uk/cdg/impact.
2. Finding cheaper printing options
3. Charging an additional subscriptioncharge for a print issue
4. Reducing the number of print issues
An option is to follow Update’s example and tohave less regular print issues with perhaps oneor two issues being electronic only.
5. Reducing print issues to just abstractswith full papers online only.
6. Getting more advertising / sponsorship
We are continuing to explore this option but dueto the financial situation we are finding it ex-tremely difficult to secure advertising.
7. Cutting out colour
We have kept limited colour in Impact to helpsecure advertising/sponsorship.
Impact:Journal of the
Career Development Group
What do you think?
Can you think of any other options?
Do you value a print issue of Impact?
Do you know anyone who would beinterested in advertising or sponsor-ing Impact?
Please contact the Honorary Editor,Alison Barlow with any [email protected]
Impact Autumn 2010 52
Maximising Income
The main way of doing this is by runningconferences and training events. So far thisyear we have held three conferences:
� National Conference in London
� New Professionals Conference in Sheffield
� Joint conference with PTEG (Raising the Bar II)in Newcastle
A huge amount of effort has gone into run-ning these conferences by group activistsand as a result we have raised some muchneeded income. However, the number ofdelegates we are able to attract to theseevents is falling so we cannot rely on gain-ing the levels of income from conferencesas we have in previous years.
National Council; which consists of allthe national Officers and a representa-tive from each of the 13 divisions, cur-rently meets three times a year. Eachmeeting costs around £2,000 to hold aswe can have up to 26 people present.Much of this cost is travel and accommo-dation, with members coming from allover the country.
Reducing Costs – National Council
We are using a number of measures toreduce costs:
� use free meeting venues /sponsorshipto cover the costs of room hire andcatering where possible
� use advance booking of rooms in budg-et hotel chains
� set meeting dates well in advance totake advantage of cheap travel fares
� in the process of reviewing subsistencepayments for meals
We also reduced the number of Officerposts by two earlier this year. The Pub-litions Officer post was deleted as we
took the decision that having a publica-tions programme was a historic postand no longer part of our core business.We also removed the Advertising Offic-er post and incorporated this into otherexisting roles.
With declining membership there is aneed for increased participation and di-visional support. Last year, in these in-terests, and in the interest of greatertransparency and democracy we optedto hold two out of our three NationalCouncil meetings outside London.
For the last two years we have also heldan ‘Activists’ Training Day’ to help sup-port and develop divisional activists intheir roles. These were held next toNational Council meeting to minimisecosts.
Whilst we recognise that both face toface meetings and delivering training tothe 100 plus activists in the divisions areimportant, we need to find ways of deliv-ering this in more cost-effective andsustainable ways.
Among the options we are investigatingare making use of alternative ways ofdelivery such as using teleconferencingfor at least one national meeting nextyear and using podcasts for training.
National Council
Impact Autumn 2010 53
Raising the Bar Conference III 2010Career Development Group Senior Professionals Conference
In memory of Bob McKee 1950 -2010
In partnership with thePersonnel, Training and Education Group of CILIP (PTEG)
Monday 1st November 2010, at CILIP Headquarters, Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE
Following the success of Raising the Bar in June 2010 in Newcastle we arepleased to announce our new joint conference with PTEG
specifically aimed at middle and senior managers is coming to London.
Raising the Bar III includes keynote speaker Maxine Miller, ‘Women to Watch’ in theCultural Leadership Programme 2010, followed by small-group interactive workshopsdelivered by experienced and engaging facilitators who will encourage learning throughparticipation and sharing of professional experiences.
Themes include:
Closing remarks by CILIP President Biddy Fisher
Best practice when managing change
How to tackle the job market
Assessing marketing potential
Personal brand for personal and profes-sional development
Delegate rates
CDG/PTEG members - £120 + 17.5% VAT = £141.00CILIP members - £150 + 17.5% VAT = £176.25
Non CILIP members - £180 + 17.5% VAT = £211.50Unwaged - £50 + 17.5% VAT = £58.75
For further details contact Conference Chair, Maria Cotera: [email protected]
As a result of feedback we are triallingre-running conference programmes in othergeographical areas to reach different audi-ences. This may prove to be a way of rais-ing more income with minimal effort. Thefirst example of this is the slightly revised‘Raising the Bar’ in London in November(for more information see below).
The big challenge for us as a group is to findnew ways of raising income. We always
have this in the forefront of our minds butwould be extremely grateful for any ideasmembers may have for raising more in-come, so please feel free to contact us ifyou have any ideas to offer.
Jon ScownPresident, Career Development Group
Alison Barlow, Honorary [email protected]
Impact Autumn 2010 54
What is a brand?Is a brand simply a logo or atrademark?
No, a brand is an identity.
A brand can take many forms:� a name,� a sign,� a symbol,� a combination of colours,� or even a slogan.
From its early beginnings, as a shapeseared onto cattle using a red-hot iron to tellone farmer’s herd from anothers, the wordhas evolved to encompass identity. It is the‘thing’ that gives a product, company orservice a personality and which creates inthe customer a collection of thoughts andfeelings about a particular product, compa-ny or service.
Why is branding important?
In marketing terms branding is importantbecause it:
� helps customers recognise a company,product or service
� helps customers and staff understandwhat the product, company or service isall about
� differentiates a product or service fromother competitorshelps build loyalty
� makes what is on offer relevant to par-ticular target markets
� enables a focussed marketing message
Brand marketing
Louis Cheskin, scientific researcher andclinical psychologist, is regarded as thefather of brand marketing. Back in the1930s he began working on what became alife-long obsession; to understand how acustomer’s perception of a product moti-vates their purchasing behaviour. He wasone of the first marketers to test and meas-ure how people buy products and servicesand observed that purchasing decisionswere directly linked to their aesthetic de-sign. He described this as ‘sensation trans-ference’.
Cheskin spent most of his life investigatinghow design elements could significantlyimpact perceptions of value, appeal andrelevance. He also discovered that mostpeople could not resist transferring theirfeelings towards the packaging to the prod-uct itself.
One of his most famous interventions wasthe recommendation that margarine prod-ucts should change their colour from white,which was associated with lard and notparticularly appealing, to yellow and thatthey should be wrapped in foil, a silver,shiny material associated with science and
Brand the ‘BEEP’ out of itdeveloping your personal brand
for career growth
Kathy EnnisCDG/PTEG RAISING THE BAR CONFERENCE 2010
Impact Autumn 2010 55
cleanliness, rather than waxed paper. As aresult sales of margarine products soared.We still use these techniques today.
When discussing the power of first impres-sions in his book Blink (1), Malcolm Glad-well writes about the work of Cheskin andothers who followed him:
‘people give an assessment of somethingthey might buy … without realising it theytransfer sensations or impressions that theyhave about the packaging of the product tothe product itself … most of us do not makea distinction – on an unconscious level –between the package and the product. Theproduct is the package and the productcombined.’
What is personal branding?
Personal branding ‘borrows’ all the princi-ples of product branding and applies themto the individual. It is about focussing atten-tion on personal core values and how theyshould be displayed and understood by atarget market. The target market could bean employer, a potential employer, custom-ers, work colleagues and so on.
As with branding a product or service, it isessential that the key elements of the per-sonal brand are applied consistently. This isachieved by ensuring that the message youare sending; the sensation transferenceyou are creating, is congruent.
What is congruency and why is it impor-tant?
Congruency is consistency, alignment andharmony. Congruency builds credibility.Credibility builds trust, respect and loyaltyand is an absolute requirement for all pro-fessionals. This convergence of congruen-
cy and credibility is the cornerstone ofpersonal brand development.
Having worked in personal branding andpersonal impact development for manyyears I have identified the four key areasthat create congruency and build credibility.This process is The Four Vs Principle©.
Why is personal branding important?
Much of what is written about the impor-tance of personal branding centres directlyon its importance in terms of job hunting,career development or job security. Howev-er, there is a more fundamental reason fordeveloping a personal brand; it is importantbecause it celebrates individuality anduniqueness. As with product branding, per-sonal branding is about identity.
The Four Vs
1. Values. Congruency flows from thisV; it is the bedrock as it defines beliefs,attitudes and behaviours. It is theUnique Selling Point or USP.
2. Visuals. This V is visual identity; itdetermines the look, appearance andactions of a personal brand and must beused consistently.
3. Vocals. This deals with what is saidand how it is said; from formal presenta-tions and the elevator pitch to the ‘hello’in the corridor.
4. Verbals. This is the written part of apersonal brand; it is about having aview; this is magazine articles, blogs,Facebook™ and other forms of socialmedia and social networking.
Impact Autumn 2010 56
Building a personal brand is an objectiveprocess of discovering a set of key personaland professional assets, which are thencommunicated consistently and passion-ately in person and across all media.
The results of personal brand developmentare varied and can be used to achieve avariety of outcomes.
Personal branding is often used to:
� enable employers to recognise a po-tential employee
� create immediate recognition� build a loyal following� communicate core personal and pro-
fessional values� demonstrate personal relevance and
value
The starting point for any personal branddevelopment is to identify and understandthe desired outcome.
It is essential that these initial outcomeschange and evolve over time.
‘Clothes maketh the man’
The idea of creating the right im-pression is not new; how manypeople who never wear suits de-cide they are the appropriateclothes for an interview! The use ofthe term personal branding is rela-tively new and is about much morethan wearing the right clothes.
As Tom Peters (2) wrote:
‘Regardless of age, regardless ofposition, regardless of the busi-ness we happen to be in, all of usneed to understand the impor-tance of branding. We are CEOs of
our own companies: Me Inc. To be in [work]today, our most important job is to be headmarketer for the brand called You… Thegood news -- and it is largely good news --is that everyone has a chance to stand out.Everyone has a chance to learn, improve,and build up their skills. Everyone has achance to be a brand worthy of remark.’
Personal branding is about an individualidentifying their core values and communi-cating these beliefs consistently to ensurepersonal and professional credibility.
Kathy EnnisManaging Director
Envision Training – a training and personalimpact development company
See Kathy in action at Raising the Bar III
References(1) Gladwell, M. (2005) Blink: the power of thinkingwithout thinking, Penguin.
(2) Peters, T. (1997) The brand called you. Fast Com-panyhttp://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html.
Impact Autumn 2010 57
How do you get a job without experi-ence? How do you get experiencewithout a job? This is the Catch 22
that greets many new professionals seek-ing their first jobs or looking for careeradvancement.
If our day job does not allow us the free-dom to realise our potential, how can wedevelop our skills and use our ideas?
Can we get out of the ExperienceCatch 22 by working for free?
A short survey and series of semi-struc-tured interviews revealed that many li-brarians have instructional experiences ofunpaid work. The themes that emergedcoalesced into a nine point guide to get-ting a return of investment on unpaidwork. But closer analysis of individuals’experiences provides insight into the par-ticular challenges and opportunities thatunpaid work presents for librarians.
The following three stories, two of whichare drawn from interviews, show librari-ans who have managed to prove theirworth while working for free; and eachstory illustrates a theory.
My story (theory one: unpaid work al-lows you to grindhop)
I used to think that my career as a librari-an was going to be like a baker’s: I wouldprogress through an apprentice period tolearn the special skills I needed beforeassuming a position of responsibilitywhere I could practice them.
After a traineeship and library school, myfirst post-qualification job was not a pro-fessional position. Nevertheless, it was ajob. I checked in books; I checked outbooks. I shelved; I labelled.
My job did not challenge me, but I toldmyself that I was paying my dues and Iwould eventually get a job which gave memore challenge. In reality, I was in theExperience Catch 22. Eventually I be-came demoralised and started to wonderwhether I had made the wrong careerchoice.
One day I was reading a post by blogger,Penelope Trunk, entitled ‘Paying dues isso old school’ (1) which introduced me tothe concept of grindhopping - a termcoined by Laura Vanderkamer to de-
Would you work for free?Unpaid work and
how to make it count
Bronagh McCrudden
Winner of Best PaperCDG NEW PROFESSIONALS’ CONFERENCE 2010
Impact Autumn 2010 58
scribe a method of skipping the bottomrung of a career and getting out of payingdues by taking personal responsibility forone’s career goals and thinking in termsof projects rather than jobs (2). I won-dered whether I could use voluntary workto grindhop. To gain the skills I wanted, Idecided to leave my job for an unpaidinternship; a cataloguing project in a spe-cialist law library. Living at home helpedto keep my costs down.
My gamble paid off as within a fewmonths of finishing my internship, I man-aged to get my first professional positionas a cataloguer.
John’s story (Theory two: informationwork is invisible)
The second story is about John who took ona volunteer project to set up a library at a
small non-profit organisation that was suf-fering from a severe information manage-ment and housekeeping problem.
Though nervous about taking on such alarge project, he began it with great enthusi-asm. John planned to develop a classifica-tion system, a simple catalogue, and tomake the library as accessible and attrac-tive as possible to the public.
However the organisation had underesti-mated the work involved and appeared notto appreciate John’s effort. He started tosuffer from volunteer fatigue. But havingalready put months of work in, he felt thatquitting was not an option. He had to get hismotivation back.
John had discovered the second theory:that information work is invisible. He askedfor a progress meeting with the director toexplain his plans and raise his profile as avolunteer with the organisation. He alsostarted to evaluate his progress using ablog allowing the organisation to see behindthe scenes of the work. The finished librarywas a great hit with both staff and the public.
John used the skills he had gained inproject management, cataloguing, classifi-cation and organisation, as well as the blog,to demonstrate his worth to prospectiveemployers, and also himself.
As a volunteer, it is important not to letpeople forget about you. Find ways to dem-onstrate your value: schedule progressmeetings, write for the in-house magazineor use the project to launch a blog.
Christine’s story (Theory three: not allunpaid work is created equal)
The third story is about Christine whowarned that if you are not being treated
Impact Autumn 2010 59
fairly as a volunteer, to get out and try adifferent tack.
Christine wanted to work with rare booksand historical material so she became avolunteer in a small local studies library.The position had been advertised as a wayto gain experience in areas such as cata-loguing, welcoming visitors, fundraising,events management and marketing.
She was therefore disappointed when shefound her work consisted mostly of mun-dane and menial tasks such as luggingboxes and shelving. Despite approachingone of the staff who gave her assurancesthat she would soon be introduced to otheraspects of the library’s work, nothing muchchanged. Christine eventually quit.
She was wary about further unpaid workuntil chancing on an opportunity to serve ona committee on which a colleague sat. Thisopportunity proved much more rewardingand she developed skills in event manage-ment and finance.
Christine’s story illustrates a valuable les-son: not all unpaid work is created equal.Choose your projects with care. Make surethey are providing you with the personaldevelopment opportunities they are sup-posed to.
So what does it all mean?
It is possible for new professionals to provetheir worth when working for free. Ensurethe current job market does not zap you ofyour momentum as a new professional. Bythinking creatively about the concept ofunpaid work, and choosing your projectsjudiciously, you can use it as a tool to getahead.
Nine point guide to getting a return oninvestment on unpaid work
1. ScrutiniseLook for gaps in your experience and skillson your CV. Assess each opportunity byasking how it can help you fill specific expe-rience gaps. Talk to the organisation abouttheir expectations and your expectations.Never be afraid to ask questions.
2. GambleAccept that you when you take on unpaidwork, you do not know exactly how it willpan out. But remember you have more togain than to lose.
3. EconomiseMake sure you always get your expenses!
4. Boomerang‘Boomerangers’ are adults who return tothe family home after leaving to attenduniversity or get a job. It can be a way ofeasing the financial burden of doing unpaidwork. If you can handle the stigma of beinga boomeranger, a temporary move backhome can be a good career move.
5. ExperimentUse unpaid work at an early stage in yourcareer to try out different types of roles andfind out what suits you.
6. Typecast yourselfUse unpaid work to build a strong personalbrand for yourself: for example if you dreamof a job as a cataloguer, look for catalogu-ing projects.
7. CreateLook for finite projects that allow you tocreate something tangible or produce re-sults. These allow you to fill an experiencegap, put it on your CV, and move on.
Impact Autumn 2010 60
Notice of CDG Annual Elections 2011Honorary Officers of the Career Development Group
Nominations are invited for the following posts to serve from 1st January – 31stDecember 2011:
Please note:(1) Nominees for the post of Vice President must have previous experience as a CDG National Councillor.(2) Nominees for the post of Honorary Learning Coordinator are required to be Chartered members of CILIP.
Nominations must include details of service to the Career Development Group as an
Vice President (1)Honorary Website Co-ordinatorHonorary TreasurerHonorary New Professionals Co-ordinatorHonorary Membership & Marketing Officer
Honorary Learning Co-ordinator (2)Honorary International Relations OfficerHonorary Events Co-ordinatorHonorary Editor
8. BroadcastIf information work is invisible, then unpaidinformation work is particularly problematic.Find ways to broadcast the value of whatyou are doing to stakeholders and the worldat large.
9. Be professionally loyalThe role of volunteers in libraries is a thornyissue. In a market-based economy that as-signs value only to work that can be ex-changed for compensation, unpaid work issometimes seen to be of little value. We donot want to send a message that our skillsshould not carry a price tag. We have a dutyto ourselves and the profession not to allowourselves to be exploited when we work forfree. Ultimately, the individual must assesseach opportunity and make a personal deci-sion about whether an opportunity is worth-while, challenging and ethically sound.
Bronagh McCruddenAssistant Librarian
Public Record Office of Northern Irelandtwitter.com/fieldvole
You can read (or listen to) the full-lengthversion of Bronagh’s paper, and find outabout her experience at New ProfessionalsConference 2010 on her blog:www.shinyforager.com
(1) Trunk, P. (2007) Paying dues is so oldschool, Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist, ac-cessible via,http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2007/04/15/paying-dues-is-so-old-school/
(2)Vanderkam, L. (2006) Grindhopping: Build-ing a Rewarding Career without Paying YourDues. New York: McGraw-Hill
Honorary Officer nomination forms and job descriptions for all posts are available atwww.cilip.org.uk/cdg. Nominations must be submitted in writing, to be received by 30thOctober 2010, to the Past President, Maria Cotera, 33 Ferndale Road., London N156UF signed by two or more members of the Career Development Group, and counter-signed by the nominee.
Impact Autumn 2010 61
Honorary or Divisional Officer or Divisional committee member; any active involvementwithin CILIP, its Branches and other Special Interest Groups; CILIP membershipnumber; and a statement of not more than 200 words indicating what you could bringto the role. Please note that the 200 word statement is not required from currentlyserving Honorary Officers who are seeking re-election to the same role.
Divisional ElectionsNominations are also invited for Divisional Officers to serve from 1st January – 31stDecember 2011 for the core roles below :
for each of the following Divisions:
Please note:(3) Candidate Support Officers are required to be Chartered members of CILIP.
Please include details of service to the Career Development Group as an Hon. orDivisional Officer or Divisional committee member, and any active involvement withinCILIP, its Branches and other Special Interest Groups; CILIP membership number; anda statement of not more than 200 words indicating what you could bring to the role.Please note that the 200 word statement is not required from currently serving Division-al Officers who are seeking re-election to the same role.
General Guidelines:If there is only one nominee for a post, that person shall be declared elected. If more than onenomination for the same post is received, there is the possibility of role-sharing. In case of severalnominations, or in roles where sharing may not be practical, a public election will be held. Thecandidate with the highest number of votes shall be elected.
As part of its Equal Opportunities policy, the Career Development Group welcomes nominationsfrom all members, and in particular from currently under-represented groups such as membersfrom diverse ethnic backgrounds and new professionals. We will respect and affirm diversity ofall kinds and will challenge and confront discrimination and prejudice.
ChairVice-ChairSecretaryTreasurerChartership Support Officer(3)
New Professionals Support OfficerEvents OfficerNewsletter EditorWebsite Officer
Devon & CornwallEast MidlandsEast of England
London & South EastDivisionsNorth WestNorth East
Northern IrelandScottishWalesWest Country
West MidlandsYorkshire & Humberside.
Divisional Officer nomination forms and a complete list of posts are available atwww.cilip.org.uk/cdg. Nominations must be submitted in writing, to be received by 30thOctober 2010, to the Honorary Secretary Stella Wisdom,The British Library, BostonSpa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ signed by two or more members andcountersigned by the nominee.
Impact Autumn 2010 62
CILIP is embarking on a pilot pro-gramme called ‘One for One’ explor-ing growing membership through
personal referrals working with Hall Associ-ates, a group who works with professionalbodies, trade associations, societies andcharities and has an excellent track recordin achieving improved membership recruit-ment, retention and growth.
The Career Development Group has beenasked to be involved in the early stages ofthis pilot, which gives us a great opportunityutilise Hall Associates’ external expertise toexplore ways of growing our membership.
Six degreesof separation
Six degrees of separation,also referred to as the ‘HumanWeb’, refers to the idea that, ifa person is one step awayfrom each person they knowand two steps away from eachperson who is known by oneof the people they know, theneveryone is at most six stepsaway from any other person.
When we apply this idea to membership itbecomes a very powerful force.
As a member you already know the benefitsof CILIP and Career Development Groupmembership. Most members will be in regu-lar contact with colleagues who are pro-spective members who do not currently seethe value of membership.
At a local level we do what we can as agroup to raise awareness of our activitiesand what being part of the group can offerindividuals.
But if we could help existing members towork together to spread the membershipmessage to everyone they collectivelyknow, we could bring lots of new memberson board. Put simply, if each CDG memberwere to recruit one colleague from theirworkplace we could double our member-ship overnight!
Growing membershipin difficult times
Stuart Wilkinson &Jon Scown
Impact Autumn 2010 63
But it is not always that simple! We are allhaving to reassess our financial priorities atthe moment and membership of anotherspecial interest group, or even CILIP itselfmay not be high on everyone’s agenda.
So why is it worth being a member of theCareer Development Group?
The chances are that if you are reading thisarticle you are already a member, so to anextent this article is preaching to the con-verted. However, if you are trying to per-suade a colleague who is not a member ofthe benefits of joining what argumentswould you use?
The most tangible benefits are this journalwhich is published quarterly and the manycourses and conferences we run up anddown the country each year, which mem-bers can attend at a reduced rate.
A real but no less tangible benefit is theopportunity to ‘get involved’. As a group weoffer the opportunity to gain a portfolio oftransferable skills, that you may not be ableto get in the day job, which can help youdevelop your own career. Here are just afew examples you can use to persuadefriends and colleagues that CDG member-ship really is worth every penny!
� Learn how to run successful events,from a good idea to putting an engagingprogramme together, marketing it andthen making it happen on the day
� Gain skills in chairing and contributingto meetings
� Improve your communication skills,both written and verbal, with the oppor-tunity to write papers and articles,present at conferences, and contributeto meetings and online discussions
� Get experience in financial planningand management
Of course you can gain many of these skillsby being an active member of other CILIPgroups and branches but membership ofthe Career Development Group has twoimportant advantages:
1. As the largest special interest groupwith a divisional structure we can offermore than 100 opportunities to take ona committee role around the UK at anyone time
2. We are cross sectoral so divisionalcommittees comprise members fromthe public, academic and corporatesectors so you can gain, often withouteven realising it, a far greater under-standing of the breadth of the profes-sion, and maybe even get a new job inanother sector!
Of course, we also offer members:
� the opportunity to attend courses at areduced cost
� support them through the process ofgaining CILIP qualifications
� help facilitate networking opportunities.
Above all else, active membership of thegroup allows you to connect and belong toa supportive community, and you get tomeet and work with some great people!
So the challenge for all of us is this; identifya colleague who is not currently a memberand talk to them about why you are a mem-ber and why you think it is important. Youmay be surprised at the results!
Stuart Wilkinson, Hall [email protected]
Jon Scown,President, Career Development Group
Impact Autumn 2010 64
Every year, the International Federa-tion of Library Associations and Insti-tutions (IFLA) organises what has
become the biggest annual gathering oflibrarians in the world; the World Libraryand Information Congress.
This year’s meeting took place in Gothen-burg, Sweden. I attended one of two IFLAsatellite conferences held at the SwedishSchool of Library and Information Sciencein Borås. Organised by IFLA's sections forEducation and Training (SET) and LibraryTheory and Research (LTR), the Associa-tion for Library and Information ScienceEducation (ALISE) and the European Asso-ciation for Library and Information Educa-tion and Research (EUCLID), around 70delegates met for two days in August todiscuss ‘Co-operation and Collaboration inTeaching and Research: Trends in Libraryand Information Studies Education’.
The focus was the global mobility of stu-dents and librarians and the internationalrecognition of degrees. One aim was todiscover new ways of supporting teachingand learning across the LIS domain. Sowhat was I doing among all these eminenteducators, researchers and scholars? Well,one of the platforms for discussion was aposter session and I was accepted topresent some of the findings of my ongoingstudy on one-person librarians in Irelandand their continuing professional develop-
ment (CPD). And, of course, the prospect ofa trip to Sweden was very attractive!
Day one – Sunday, 8th August
Peter Lor, a former Secretary General ofIFLA, opened the conference by introducingthe 'iceberg model'. He argued that aresearcher must always address the fullpicture and reflect on all dimensions of aresearch project and that methodology,which usually gets a prominent place, onlyrepresents the tip. Other aspects includingethical, ontological, epistemological,teleological and sociological should also begiven due consideration. He alsoadvocated more international research,which led to a lively discussion about post-doctoral mentorship programmes forinternational students and the obstaclesthey experience when trying to implementwhat they have learned when returning totheir home countries.
Sheila Corrall, Head of the InformationSchool at the University of Sheffield,presented one of two parallel sessions withan overview of the current higher educationenvironment in the UK discussing howonline distance learning has resulted in an
Northern (de)lightsEva Hornung
IFLA-ALISE-EUCLIDSATELLITE MEETING 2010
“I was accepted to presentthe findings of my study on one-person
librarians in Ireland and their CPD”
Impact Autumn 2010 65
export of UK higher education into othercountries. She cited the example ofNewcastle University which recently opened areplica campus in Singapore.
James M. Turner's paper focused on atransatlantic course on audiovisual materialfor students at his home institution, theUniversity of Montréal in Canada, and theInstitut National d’Audiovisuel (INA) in France.Here participants benefit from having accessto lectures being held simultaneously in bothcountries. James raised some of the logisticalissues involved, like problems withtechnology, terms of different lengths anddifferent time zones. The programme hasproved a huge success with over 90 per centof graduates finding work within a couple ofmonths of finishing the course.
The last session saw Eileen Breen (EmeraldPublishing) summarising the Emerald-IFLApartnership. She encouraged attendees toconsider writing for them.
Day two – Monday, 9th August
Day two started off with a presentation byScott Nicholson, Syracuse University, andLinda Smith, University of Illinois, on the WISEConsortium (Web-Based Information ScienceEducation); a group of schools in the US, theUK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada whooffer online courses to graduate-level LIS stu-dents in participating organisations. This serv-ice gives students access to specialisedelective courses, which their respective homeuniversities cannot provide and has recentlybeen extended to include library associations.Back in the lecturing hall, the session on na-tional collaboration offered three excellent pa-pers.
The first, a fact-finding exercise on the Aus-tralian LIS landscape with Helen Partridge ofQueensland University of Technology (QUT)reporting on an ambitious community-basedparticipatory research project, which aims, tomap students' experiences, the future of li-
brarians and the underlying political agenda toestablish a framework for the profession inAustralia.
The second, looked at targeted education andtraining for health librarians down under. AnnRitchie, Australian Library and InformationAssociation, and Gillian Hallam’s (QUT)project aims to design a post-graduate spe-cialist qualification and CPD structure for theworkforce of the future.
Finally, Ursula Georgy, Dean of Cologne Uni-versity of Applied Sciences, told attendeesabout the proposed creation of a LIS compe-tence centre for Germany, a centre of excel-lence for information science built oncollaboration between universities.
After lunch, I listened to three more casestudies: Mathews Phiri explained the prob-lems and future direction of LIS education andtraining in Malawi, Zinaida Manzuch and Ra-mune Petuchovaite examined graduate cur-riculum development in Lithuania and DijanaMachala looked at competency-based lifelonglearning for librarians in Croatia.
Mathews noted that since Mzuzu Universitystarted offering graduate degrees in LIS thecareer structure for librarians in the civil serv-ice has improved. Zinaida and Ramune out-lined the situation in their country, a youngdemocracy which is feeling the pressure ofthe economic recession. They conducted asurvey on employment trends and the de-mand for LIS competencies. One interestingfinding was a lack of interest in becoming amanager. Dijana and her colleagues had alsodone some research into lifelong learning forlibrarians. Their findings will lead to a redesignof the existing CPD programme in Croatia.
“If you have never attended an IFLAsatellite conference before
you should really consider it.It is a great first introduction to IFLA.”
Impact Autumn 2010 66
The final session was a roundtable discus-sion. Representatives of IFLA, EUCLID andALISE gave their views on how the recogni-tion of academic degrees could be improvedfor professionals who wish to move country.They also discussed the kinds of collaborativeproject, which could be undertaken by thesethree associations.
If you have never attended an IFLA satelliteconference before you should really considerit. It is a great first introduction to IFLA. Theyusually take place in the same country as themain conference but are much more focussedon specific aspects of LIS so are a greatopportunity to meet a lot of people from similarfields.
I learned a lot by just talking to my colleaguesover lunch. There is plenty of time for network-ing both in organised visits, cultural eventsand meals and in the poster sessions and as
there are fewer delegates, this makes gettingto know people a lot easier and more informal.
This meeting really tied in with my studies, butI also gave me new ideas for providing CPDopportunities at the Library Association ofIreland, through potential collaborations be-tween practitioners and library schools. Thereis a lot of expertise among librarians, whoperhaps would be willing to train their peersand also share some of their experiences withLIS students.
Eva HornungLibrarian, CDVEC Curriculum
Development Unit, [email protected]
For more information on the conference:http://www.hb.se/bhs/ifla.
I would like to thank the Information School,University of Sheffield, for their support.
Impact Autumn 2010 67
The Special Libraries Association(SLA) conference is held once ayear in a North American city. In
June 2010, I was lucky enough to win aplace to attend the conference in NewOrleans. The Early Careers Award is giv-en annually and presented jointly by SLAEurope and an SLA division (which arecomparable to CILIP Special InterestGroups). I won an award presented bySLA Europe and the Leadership and Man-agement Division, and Philip Gatzke (aninternational student at Brighton Universi-ty) won one presented by SLA Europe andthe Business and Finance Division.
The definition of ‘special libraries’ is quitebroad in America, where any library that isnot a public library counts as a ‘speciallibrary’ (in Europe this would also excludethe academic sector). So academic librar-ies, government libraries, law libraries,business libraries, science libraries, andany LIS professional working in an infor-mation context are all catered for by theSLA conference.
The SLA conference in New Orleans wasthe largest conference I have ever attend-ed, with over 3000 delegates and enoughsessions to fill a schedule from 7am until5pm for four days, several times over.
With such a variety of styles of presenta-tion and topics covered a neat summary isimpossible. There are some aspects, thatI would like to emphasise, which I thinkdistinguish it from other conferences Ihave been to and elevate the experienceof attending.
Although conferences in the UK certainlydo involve speakers who are genuine pro-fessional leaders, at SLA, the number ofpeople like this, combined with the factthat the sessions are for the most part heldin seminar-style rooms, means that youget many more opportunities to interactwith them. I went to quite a few Leadershipand Management Division sessions(maybe a division to which leaders areattracted in greater concentration), andone of the most interesting aspects ofthese were the discussions which alwaysfollowed the main presentation.
On one occasion, during a session called‘The Future of Government Libraries’,there was a long and detailed discussionof ‘risk’ in libraries. This is a concept or
View from theother side of the pond
Chris RhodesSPECIAL LIBRARIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE 2010
“The largest conferenceI have ever attended
with over 3000 delegates”
Impact Autumn 2010 68
methodology that I have never heard ap-plied in the library context (the idea is thatevery decision should be assessed interms of what benefits may come of it,weighed against the risks associated withit). It was interesting to hear people at thevery top of their respective organisationsbringing their own experience to bear onthis matter, and exchanging approaches ina way that instantiated the true, practicalvalue of face to face conferences.
In another session, this time on ‘The Li-brary of the Future’, there was an extend-ed discussion on the idea of ‘just in time,not just in case’, with various senior fig-ures describing applications of this mantrato their organisations and highlighting var-ious strengths and weaknesses of theapproaches that they had taken. The per-spectives that senior figures were able togive the discussion provided valuable les-sons on how to think strategically aboutlibraries, as well demonstrating how ideassharing and informal collaboration can behighly advantageous to organisations,clearly one of the key benefits to an organ-isation of sending employees to confer-ences like SLA.
The SLA conference provided unrivalledopportunities to network. At conferencesin the UK, explicitly stating that one of youraims is to network is very uncommon, andI still feel somewhat craven going up topeople and introducing myself with theexpress intention of adding them to my listof contacts. But at the SLA conference,quite the reverse was true. The fact thatpeople’s position and affiliations at theconference were clearly indicated on theirbadge meant that much of the pressure
was taken off someone in myposition (with a ‘first-timers’indicator on my badge); itseemed to be universally ac-knowledged that I knew barelyanyone, meaning that peoplewere constantly approachingme and beginning conversa-tions.
The way these interactionswere often followed up wasilluminating as well. At confer-ences I have been to here, acontact has been followed up
at the next conference we have in com-mon, or on chance meetings in the future,whereas several people I met at SLA hadalready contacted me in a professionalcontext by the time I got back to England.As well as the apparently higher level ofnetworking skill at SLA, there is also thefact of elections to positions within theoverall SLA organisation which meansthat senior figures give significant atten-tion to newcomers and all the other dele-gates alike. This is a very effective way ofstrengthening the link between the peopleleading the organisation and the mainbody of its membership, and it is also quitefun when one candidate forgets that theyhave already met you and gives you their
Impact Autumn 2010 69
card multiple times, often during the samesession.
The confidence with which SLA approach-es its status amongst other professions isalso illuminating. SLA is comfortable withthe fact that it is a major organisation,representing significant people in an im-portant profession. SLA operate in theknowledge that they have a considerablecontribution to make to the professionaldebate in America, and that their membershave a skill set that marks them out ascritical players in the modern economyand in society more generally.
This is perhaps related to American self-confidence, or perhaps the lack of thisconfidence over here is a function of theprofound status-anxiety that UK librariansare subject to, but it was refreshing to beat a conference where information profes-sionals did not feel obliged to defend theirright to convene, their abilities and theirvery existence against often only potentialdoubters. SLA completely disregards thedoubters, which enables them to moreconvincingly argue for the future impor-tance of information professionals, and tomore coherently discuss the increasinglysignificant roles that we are well placed toadopt.
As is often quoted, the LIS profession is ina period of significant change, meaningthat professional bodies must offer arange of new and original opportunities if
they are to remain relevant. But this will beexpensive. It would be a mistake to as-sume that CDG are alone in wanting tooffer high quality opportunities to theirmembers, all professional bodies are keento do this. In financially constrained times,it would make a great deal of sense towork more closely with organisations suchas SLA to ensure that we can continue toprovide our members with the opportuni-ties to which they have become accus-tomed and to broaden the appeal of theservices we offer.
I think there are many ways in which SLAand CDG can co-operate to share theburden of costs, and, perhaps more impor-tantly, the expertise we have each devel-oped.
The network of active new professionalsthat CDG has built up could be very valua-ble to SLA in developing their own pro-gramme of new professional activities.Conversely, CDG could learn from theexpertise that SLA has in organising largescale events and, crucially, attractingsponsorship to these events. The way inwhich the senior figures within SLA inter-act with the ordinary and newer membersof SLA is something that CDG and CILIPmore generally could certainly benefit fromstudying. I think the challenges that we asa profession and as a professional bodyface at the moment present us with a greatopportunity to become closer professionalallies with our sister organisations. Thiswill enable CDG to grow and develop andso will help our members to achieve theirprofessional potential.
Chris RhodesNew Professionals Co-ordinator
Statistics Resource UnitHouse of Commons Library
“It was refreshing to be at a conferencewhere information professionals
did not feel obliged to defendtheir right to convene, their abilities
and their very existence”
Impact Autumn 2010 70
The Lanka Community Information Ini-tiative (LCII) is a not-for-profit organi-sation committed to promoting
appropriate and meaningful access to infor-mation services and communication tech-nology to enhance the capabilities ofdisadvantaged and marginalised communi-ties.
It aspires, through introducing progressiveknowledge management initiatives, to em-power communities, allowing them to havetheir voices heard in development process-es at local, national and global levels. LCIIhas started a project to assist in the rehabil-itation of libraries and information servicesfor marginalised communities in rural areas,where people experience high levels ofsocioeconomic disadvantages and alsowhere digital inequality is clearly evident.
Macaldeniya Tamil Vidyalayam is a smallprimary school with approximately 70 stu-dents located on the Macaldeniya Tea Es-tate; a remote estate in Sri Lanka’s centralhill country, close to the town of Koslanda.The community is composed largely of Indi-an Tamils, who came to work in tea estatesas labourers from southern India duringBritish colonial rule.
The Macaldeniya Tea Estate is home to
approximately 600 people. The vast majori-ty of adults earn their living as estate la-bourers. Women are primarily tea pluckers,rising early and working in both sun and rainto harvest new leaves from tea bushes,which are then gathered and sent forprocessing. Their pay is minimal—225 ru-pees a day (just over £1) for 20 kilos (45pounds) of leaf. Though the majority haveguaranteed employment, more than a thirdare hired on a casual basis. These womenand girls are also responsible for most do-mestic labour in the home, including cook-ing, cleaning and childcare. Men, who areslightly better paid, earning £2 per day,often travel several hours to work at a near-by sugar cane plantation, while others workat a local tomato farm.
The majority of the population still live in linerooms; rows of small (10 feet x 10 feet)adjoining rooms with clay walls and dungfloors. These were originally built duringcolonial rule by British planters in the late19th and early 20th centuries. Here familiestypically share common water taps andtoilet facilities, though some have renovat-ed and have cement floors and electricity.
The remoteness of the estate comes withits own challenges, particularly for thoseliving in the ‘upper division’; the community
Development ofMacaldeniya TamilVidyalayam & Estate Community LibraryPremila Gamage
Impact Autumn 2010 71
of homes clustered near the top of the hill(rather than at its bottom). Transportation isa huge problem, being time consuming,tough, and costly.
The Macaldeniya school is one of numer-ous small schools that serve the children ofTamil tea estate workers, who are the mostimpoverished, disadvantaged group in SriLanka. Currently the school has a principalbut no government appointed teachers andis being staffed by volunteers paid for by theUniversity of Missouri-St. Louis Sri LankanEducational Fund.
At present there is no library in the schoolor in the estate, apart from a small collectionused by the nursery children. Both the own-er of the estate Mr. Radhakrishnan, and thevery dynamic, young school Principal, Mr.Narayanasamy Pillai Raju, are very keen ondeveloping a library as an opportunity toimprove educational opportunities for chil-dren at the school and the wellbeing of theentire community.
There is an abandoned building in theschool, which could be converted into asmall library. The Principal has obtained the
necessary approval from the authorities todo the major renovations required (see at-tached photos) but was unable to securefinance so made a request to LCII.
This was an ideal project for the LCII, as werecognise the importance of local commit-ment to the long term success of projectswe support.
The long term objective of the project is toguide and assist the library to function as amodern library using ICT, to be used amodel library for others to the benefit of thewhole estate community, including studentsand teachers of the school, women andchildren.
The initial phase of the project has anumber of steps:� To refurbish the library building, includ-
ing major repairs to walls, floor and roofand paint the building.
� To provide suitable furniture; shelves,tables, chairs, children’s furniture.
� To develop the collection by providingreference material, children’s literature,general and leisure reading, and peri-
odicals in all three local lan-guages.� To train a young volunteeras a librarian in managingthe refurbished library.
LCII is committed to provid-ing communities with rangeof educational and recrea-tional experiences beyondjust materials and supplies.We believe continued pro-gramming is the key to ex-panding horizons andopening up new opportuni-ties for the future for this
Measuring Group for the new library
Impact Autumn 2010 72
community. Thus the second phase of theproject will include:� Providing a computer with the necessary
accessories� Automating the library functions and pro-
viding ICT training� Developing programs to enhance infor-
mation literacy and lifelong learning inthe community, especially for studentsand women
� Conducting workshops on the effectiveuse of new media, such as digital story-telling to provide opportunities for chil-dren and women in the area to expressthemselves on the issues important tothem.
Where we are now
The LCII members visited the school at theend of June to begin renovations. However,as the result of heavy rains and flooding theabandoned building could no longer be re-paired and converted to a suitable room.
Instead it was proposed that we build a new20 x 20 foot room for the library. This left uswith two major challenges; the need to ob-tain a suitable piece of land to construct anew building and to secure the additionalfunds required for construction.
Mr. Radhakrishnan, the owner of the estate,helped us to solve the first issue. He verygenerously offered 10 perches (equivalent
to 253 square metres) of land from theestate just in front of the school. Mr. T.F.N.Pallie, a member of LCII, who had drawn upthe plans and bill of quantities for the pro-posed library estimated that a further £4000had to be secured to complete the construc-tion work of the proposed building. We re-doubled our fundraising activities; sellingnotelets, giving talks and working withfriends and partners such as CDG, andhave been able to secure a large portion ofrequired funds necessary for the new build-ing.
The groundbreaking and laying of the foun-dation stone of the library took place on the29th July with the help of Mr. Raju, Mr.Radhakrishnan, community members,teachers, students and LCII members. Con-struction work is now well underway withwalls built up to roof level and we are hop-ing construction will be completed by No-vember 2010.
You can keep up to date with regular arti-cles and photographs on the library’s devel-opment from the web pages of the CareerDevelopment Group and LCII(www.lcii.org).
Premila GamageProject Co-ordinator, LCII
CDG would like to congratulate Premila on herrecent award of a Honorary Fellowship of CILIP.
CDG International Projects are actively fundraising for this project.
If you would like to make a donation you can do so using Charity Choicevia the CDG website www.cilip.org.uk/cdg
or direct at https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/donation.asp?ref=158224
For more information or to get involved contact Tracey Ainsley,Honorary International Relations Officer
Impact Autumn 2010 73
NEW PROFESSIONALS’INFORMATION DAYS
Find the passion the career that lets you work with the things you love
Just starting to think about your career?
Want to do something challenging,varied and rewarding?
Find out what a career in Library and Information Servicescan offer you
CILIP’s Membership Support Unit and the Career Development Group inviteyou to a lively introduction to this exciting profession.
Sessions include:
As well as presentations and workshops given by established and newer pro-fessionals, there will be opportunities to meet other prospective profession-als and experts from CILIP’s Membership Support Unit.
Around the world twice on a library degree Online marketing for career growth� Do what you love, love what you do
Information days will be held
Friday 1st October 2010CILIP Headquarters, Ridgmount Street
Tuesday 23rd November 2010Newcastle Central Library
For more information, please contact the CILIP Membership Support Unit at [email protected]
Impact Autumn 2010 74
DatesDate: Thursday 30 September 2010
Event: Social Networking: Twitter, Face-book, MyspaceDivision: West CountryTime: 4.30pm - 6.30pmVenue: Kings of Wessex School, StationRoad, Cheddar, SomersetCost: £15 (£10 CDG members). Limited places.Contact: Alec CookEmail: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday 20 October 2010
Event: Visit to Ulster Folk and TransportMuseumDivision: Northern IrelandTime: 11.00am - 12.00pmVenue: Ulster Folk and Transport MuseumContact: Alex McIlroyEmail: [email protected]
Dates: Friday 1 October 2010 Tuesday 23 November 2010
Event: New Professionals’ Information DaysOrganisers: CDG and CILIP MSUVenues: CILIP Headquarters, Ridgmount
Street, London and Newcastle Central LibraryMore information: See advert.Contact: CILIP Membership SupportEmail: [email protected]
Date: Monday 1 November 2010
Event: Raising the Bar III Senior Profes-sionals’ ConferenceOrganisers: CDG and PTEGVenue: CILIP Headquarters, RidgmountStreet, London, WC1E 7AECost: See advert.Contact: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday 17 November 2010
Event: Mini Umbrella: Developments andinnovations - Responding to the challengeDivision: North East & North East Branch of CILIPTime: 12.00pm - 6.00pmVenue: Northumbria University, Suther-land BuildingContact: Biddy CasseldenEmail: [email protected]
The Career Development Group has beenawarded the CILIP Seal of Recognition,which recognises high standards in the con-tent and relevance of its training.
Career Development Groupwww.cilip.org.uk/cdg
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13th September - 1st October
Results will appear in Winter Issue ofImpact due out November 25th 2010
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