Is it really grim up north?
It seems to be an age old question in the library profession and has no doubt been pondered many times before but it is one that has been bothering me recently; why is it so difficult to find professional development opportunities, and engage with the profession if you live beyond reasonable travelling distance toLondon?
Engagement with the profession outside of the daily job can take many forms such as:
- Being an active member professional organisations such as CILIP andSLA
- Reading, writing and thinking about current writing about the sector in the form of journals, blogs, newspapers etc
- Going to talks, seminars and conferences. Or speaking at these events.
- Engaging with other information professionals either in person or online (or both!)
There are many, many other ways too.
I try to do the things listed above. Some are easier than others. Some feel more worthwhile than others. Last year I was a member of CILIP and SLAbut I’ve let my subscriptions run out and haven’t renewed them because I wasn’t getting anything from my money except for a magazine. Not great value for money on the professional development front. Twitter on the other hand is free and offers awesome things like #uklibchat. The internet is great because physical geography is not an issue.
Location seems to be a big problem, or at least it feels to me like it is. I can’t travel far for events without taking time off work and paying for expensive train tickets. But I really really want to be involved. When I moved to Yorkshire I was excited because I’d heard fantastic things about the regional Yorkshire branch of CILIP. Regional branches are a great idea in theory as they prevent the organisation from being tooLondoncentric creating networking opportunities within regionalised communities. The CILIP regional branch reality was disappointing. As far as I’m aware theYorkshirebranch doesn’t do that much but I’d love someone to prove me wrong. Perhaps I’ve been looking in the wrong places for extra curricular library related activities to engage with and have missed out on everything so far. Perhaps CILIP regional branches aren’t the place to look in general for engagement with the profession.
Similarly location is a big issue when it comes to engaging with the profession throughSLA. I love the idea of being a really activeSLAmember. I’m definitely part of the special libraries community but SLA stuff is on the whole London based (although I did go to a Manchester based event last year and would love to see more northern based events, I’d even volunteer my services for organising one if it meant extra curricular library based fun!)
To look at the situation in a more positive light, whilst it often feels like everything happens in London, there is plenty of anacedotal evidence to suggest professional engagement takes place in all corners of the country. LISNPN meet ups seem to happen inBristolon a fairly regular basis with success. It seems from Twitter that the librarians over in Cambridge have some cool things going on outside of the job, similarly I know when I was in Oxford there were opportunities to get involved in things outside of work. In the CILIP regional branches corner, CILIP West Midlands seem to have a good thing going on with social events, library visits and interesting publications. The first ever library camp took place in Birmingham last year whilst a mini northern version will happen in Manchester later this month. Then there is the brilliant idea of LIKENorth which I really hope will take off and be as great as the original London based LIKE seems to be. That list is by no means exhaustive but just to indicate that things happen outside of the M25.
Things just don’t seem to happen where I am. Either that or I just don’t know about them. I suppose the solution is to take more responsibility for making stuff happen.
Image credit: Alex Noel-Tod at http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1724304
Great post – and your conclusion is bang on! #makeithappen
It’s nice to hear positive things about CILIP West Midlands but those things only happen because there are a few of us who want things to happen (e.g. I like quizzes so arranged for a team to enter our local quiz). We just arrange a time and place and see who turns up. Sometimes there’s only a very small number (once there was only two of us!) but I still find that useful. If you’re feeling like there should be more going on, I bet others will be feeling the same too – it’s just a case of making it happen and hopefully your regional branch (or other groups) will be able to help you help you organise or promote it.
Hi, can I just ask where you got the picture from, is it near to where you work. I’m just asking as it looks as if it is from my corner of the world, thanks.
The image is from here geograph.org.uk. I believe it was taken near North Elmham in Norfolk. I picked it because it was the best creative commons image I could find of a sign showing London as quite far away!
I’m not really that far from London, but it’s still an hour by train which is kind of pain when you want to go in after work. I find that events tend to happen just as I’m getting on the train at half five, so I would have to take time off to get there. Hence my failure to attend events
So, I guess it’s up to me to work out a Surrey/Berkshire library group! I wonder who else is keen in the area…
Good luck with your plans!
I think you’ve made a great start with your involvement in social media, library camps and LIKENorth.
I agree that CILIP is a bit disappointing but maybe we need to get more involved ourselves, like you and Jo say, to get what we want. I had that conversation on my blog and twitter before (tag is “membership” if you want to read up on it) and am not much further with it yet.
Your post was also excellent and I’m happy to report that the issue of not knowing who our members are (in CILIP branches and groups) has been raised with CILIP. There’s not a resolution yet but I’m going to be Chair of the West Midlands branch this year and will be involved in a CILIP project to discuss issues such as these. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to improve communication and better understand the needs of our members soon (and hopefully be able to accommodate them!).
That sounds very promising, thanks
Why not come and help us out at the Career Development Group for Yorkshire & Humberside? We’d love to have you on the team and we have a vacancy for an events co-ordinator (plus other vacancies for anybody else who may be interested!). We rely on enthusiastic volunteers who are committed to developing others and themselves, this has kept us going through a difficult year and we are currently planning events for 2012.
We’ve been active this year organising qualifications events, meet-ups, library visits and training events. Like many other CILIP groups this year we’ve had issues with finance, group membership and issues with the CILIP website (trying to get current information onto it). We’ve tried to keep our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/groups/cdgyh/ up to date to help with this (despite Facebook deciding to archive the original page we’d created!).
A number of us are on Twitter, so you can also get in touch via @debbiemn or @millieshoes.
“I suppose the solution is to take more responsibility for making stuff happen.”
Yes, exactly! Couldn’t have put it better myself.
For example, you mention the CILIP local branch – I’m fairly certain that the reason they don’t do much is because their committee is very short of volunteers! Why not get in touch with them and see what you could do?
I think LIKE North has got off to a good start, and I’d like us to do more this year. Got any ideas?
Also, you mentioned LISNPN meetups. I organised a few in Leeds last year but for personal reasons took a bit of a step back from it mid-way through the year. No reason you couldn’t start organising them if you wanted to though! One of the great things about LISNPN is that literally anyone who wants to can arrange a local meetup. It’s pretty easy to do as well – all you need to do is find a pub with a decent amount of space, and let people know when and where to turn up.
Hope that helps! I agree with you that the North is lacking in networking opportunities compared to London – when I moved here a year ago that was my first impression too. It’s great that there’s a few of us now with an interest in making this happen – I tried arranging stuff when I first moved here, but it’s a bit exhausting to do alone! Do drop me and Michelle a line about LIKE North by the way – I’ve been meaning to do so since Christmas, but life keeps getting in the way. Just needs one of us to get the ball rolling I think!
I noticed that Y&H Career Development Group are also looking for volunteers for their committee to help organise meet-ups – see https://twitter.com/#!/DebbieMN/status/157082797171937281
Thanks for all the excellent comments and suggestions. I’m definitely in need of a bit of gentle pushing in the right direction to start getting more involved.
To all those suggesting I should put myself forward for committees which are in need of more volunteers. Part of the problem is perhaps that if opportunities aren’t made visible then people won’t come forward? I think that is true in my case anyway although I am aware it doesn’t explain the shortage of volunteers. I have considered getting in touch with CILIP etc (when I’ve renewed my membership of course!) but I feel wary of the fact I might not be living the area for long and joining a committee and then leaving a couple of months later to somewhere new, doesn’t seem very committed.
As for LISNPN meet ups, this is something I fully intend to do so expect to see a Leeds based meet up coming soon. It is true that these things can be exhausting to do alone, and seem near impossible to know where to start if you know hardly anyone in the first place. But now I’m aware that a little group of us exist I’m sure we can make more things happen.