Now that I’ve submitted my portfolio, I thought I’d add a few thoughts on the whole process. Was it worth it? Did I enjoy it? Have I learnt anything? The answer to all these questions is yes. I still believe that Chartering is a worthwhile process, as for part of my library Master’s dissertation (which I submitted last year) I completed a content analysis of information literacy job roles within FE/HE institutions in the UK. Chartership came out as the top desirable category found within person specifications. Obviously, this was only representative of the sample I used, nevertheless this was still one reason that I thought trying to achieve Chartered status was worth the effort, as employers are clearly recognising Chartership. Another reason that I wanted to enrol for Chartership was to demonstrate my commitment to the profession, and importantly, evidence that what we do as library and information professionals is worthwhile and makes a difference to the places we are employed in. Over the current academic year I have been collecting my evidence, and whereas before embarking on Chartership I would never really think about how what I was working on impacted on the bigger picture, Chartership has made me evaluate and question (in a positive way) what I have been doing and the facilities and services that we provide within the Learning Centre, and why these are necessary. It has also ensured that the extra things I have been working on (such as studying a Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies) have been worthwhile, as Chartership has made me see how these are relevant and how I can use my learning and transfer it to my job.
It has also made me think about the things that frustrate me, and those things that perhaps I would like to change. While it may not always be possible to change everything, Chartership has allowed me to critically evaluate situations, and come up with solutions to some of the challenges that we face (such as proving that Learning Centres are a necessity). I now realise that evidence of what we do and the feedback we get from our users are vitally important to secure our future.
Completing Chartership has also given me greater confidence within my role, as I realise now that within the Learning Centre we are doing some really positive things, and also working really hard! Sometimes it is easy to just keep going, day-in-day-out, and never really step back and evaluate things. I realise that actually I have achieved quite a lot so far in this academic year, and there are definitely things that I am really proud of completing and implementing, like the proofreading service. It has also been lovely to work with my mentor, Sue, who was my line manager in a previous job.
Although I created this blog to document my Chartership progress, I feel that being reflective within my role shouldn’t stop, and therefore I intend to carry on with this blog. In fact, the process isn’t quite finished yet as I need to await the decision of the assessors to see whether I have been successful. Over the next few weeks I also hope to share some of the things that I included as part of my evidence for Chartership.