uPdAte

PPDP found...... and am now adding more interesting items on it after being inspired!

Aargh!

I can't find my PPDP! ......... :O

Focus!

The mentor meeting was very successful! It was very relieving to know that I am doing everything right, except that I am doing it at snail speed :)

1. Blog - is it any use? and if so, what to change?

This blog is not to be submitted as evidence, but will be used as a reference in the portfolio. It is used as a a selv-development log, instead of a hard copy diary, this is my tool to track my development and progress. Its the modern diary in other words.
My mentor said it was interesting to read, so if nothing else, it will give me blogging experience and at the same time also experience in reflecting.

2. PPDP - still in process of being updated (this is the 6 months review meeting! Argh!), will show changes next time......

My mentor was kind to actually give a list of suggestions for additions to the PPDP! So now I will complete the PPDP and look at it as a complete document (very soon!),

3. Take out a day (or just an afternoon) of the month for CPD, ask manager

I have actually asked my colleague as it affects him more than anyone else. Every Tuesday after lunch, I will work on my CPD with the phones being off and not replying to emails. UNLESS, there is a call waiting, as agreed with my colleague. That is one of the great things about my job, my colleague and I can cover for each other and out of everyone in the library we are the ones who can really do teamwork and take on each others tasks! Its a great feeling as you can rely on each other and help each other if you are getting snowed under.

I will be working on the actual putting together of the portfolio on Tuesdays, things like:

Getting the documents together (sorting out evidence - what I got and what I need to get)
Making a list of contents for the portfolio
Sorting out organisation chart, CV and so on

4. Chance to work on Intranet (ask manager)

Or internet for that matter. But for some reason things have been sidelined and I have not been envolved in the development in a way I had hoped. My mentor will look into this and guide on what can be done.

5. Criteria of assessment - am I still on the right track?

Everytime we have a meeting we will go through the criteria - just to make sure we stick to the criteria!

6. Does my portfolio have room for creation of a disability guidelines for the library document?

Yes. This is something that will go on my PPDP and will need to be started soon as it has been in the pipeline for too long.

7. I would like to try and make statistics for how much the library is used, eg. number of emails received in a month, number of book loans, number of enquiries (phone, face to face, email), but I am not sure what the information can be used for? (the monthly update??)

My mentor will try and think of an idea and so will I ......

8. What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong? Please enlighten me?

Nothing in particular wrong with what I do, but personally I think I should get some work done, LESS TALK MORE WORK! (......and even though my mentor never says so, and probably never will, I am sure she feels the same! :)

This meeting was also the 6 months review of the mentor agreement, and my mentor and I looked at what we had promised (and signed) and the only thing that seemed very unrealistic was the "meet up once a month to discuss progress". So we changed that to once every two months, everyone knows how quickly a month goes by! According to this "new" agreement our next meeting should be in August, but let's see if I can work a bit harder and organise things better.

Mission number one is to sort out the PPDP!

Moments before......

..... my mentor meeting is about to begin. Why does this feeling of guilt keep coming up? ....... could it be related to the fact that I have hardly managed to do any work on my CPD for the last oh say 6 months or so? Hmm....

The things on the agenda for today's mentor meeting are:

1. Blog - is it any use? and if so, what to change?
2. PPDP - still in process of being updated (this is the 6 months review meeting! Argh!), will show changes next time......
3. Take out a day (or just an afternoon) of the month for CPD, ask manager
4. Chance to work on Intranet (ask manager)
5. Criteria of assessment - am I still on the right track?
6. Does my portfolio have room for creation of a disability guidelines for the library document?
7. I would like to try and make statistics for how much the library is used, eg. number of emails received in a month, number of book loans, number of enquiries (phone, face to face, email), but I am not sure what the information can be used for? (the monthly update??)
8. What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong? Please enlighten me?

At least things are slightly more clear in my head!

I will come back in half an hour and write down the outcome......... fingers crossed! Arrgh why am I so nervous!!! I doesn't make sense....... :s

Wordle.net

I am not sure what I can use it for, but I am sure I like it! Its dynamic and fun tool, if only I knew what people use it for??

I copy and pasted text from my company's website, and this is the wonderful word cloud that came out. You can change the words, colours, font, cloud shape and so on......... but what for? beats me! :)

Search Engines: Is Google really white bread for the mind?

"Google is white bread for the mind"

said lecturer Tara Brabazon (Update magazine March 2008, p10)

There has been a lot of discussion on this topic and obviously these words became quite controversial. There were the loyal googlers (According to Wikipedia a "Googler may refer to:
1) A person who uses Google's features very efficiently 2) Fan of Google 3) An expert online searcher 4) A full-time Google employee.) and the hardcore librarians on the other side.

Even thought I am not a hardcore librarian (yet!) the white bread part did make sense to me instantly. Google has changed the way we search and our expectations of our searches. Put in a couple of words which you know by experience that will come up with a number of useful links, and wupti your information is presented to you after a few clicks!

That is how the Google world works, but that is not how searching really works. We do not charge people money for doing a couple of "quick and dirty" (that what we used to call them in uniy) searches and present to our users. Do we? No really, we don't: First of all we will be aware of the limitations of the source (in this case Google), we will combine terms according to our experience and the way the source is catalogued, we will consider searching for either separate words or phrase we will use search operators such as Boolean, truncation, limiters and so on. Once the search results appear we will carefully look at the sources before looking at the information on the link and after checking the credibility of the source we will select the article and rank its relevancy compared to other articles available. This can take anything from 1 minute to much longer.

I think it is clear in everyone's mind that the pros of Google is the simple search option, the listing of results and the speed of retrieving information. The downside is at times its credibility and ranking (most popular first) and the "clutter" of information that you get with your search results. I guess Google has affected the information world in such a way that it is changing the way we and our users search. When it comes to Google we librarians seem to be a bit redundant (or on the positive side, we can almost always assume that users who approach us have already tried to Google their results and now come to us in desperation!). There was a time when our academic theory of how to search and where to search was the practise, but now we are being told by new technology where to go and how to get there. It's as if we are adapting to the technology, and not the technology adapting to us any longer. That is probably the story in every industry.
I have a feeling that Google can only rely on this sort of behavior for a limited time, I am sure something will change for the poor websites which are on page 9.568 on Google search results. If they got the proper indexing terms, and we searched using a Google thesaurus, they would be given justice too, popular or not!

I wouldn't say that Google is database, such as a library database, it is more a dumpyard for information and although Google's techonology works on the same priciples as citation indexing, I do, along with other of my kind, feel that the future of IS in is doubt, because people's understanding of information retrieval is changing.

Last week I was in the local Gurdwara with my hubby, we were having langar, the "free meal", and a friend of my in laws came and sat with us. He is a very nice person no doubt, very jolly and very loving. He asked me if I was still working in Uxbridge, and I answered no no I am in Maidenhead now, working as a information professional. I often don't expect people to understand right away what it means to be a information professional, but his reply was "oh, so you find a document on the shelf and give it to people, here you go"?
I was left a bit shocked but jolly as he is, he started laughing and made me laugh too. But truth is that it is people's perception of information retrieval that has changed and we do not seem to have become part of that change. Maybe that is not so bad, because at the end of the day, when people fail to find the information they need on their beloved Google...... eventually they will turn to us won't they? Gives me hope :) We have to know the sources that go beyond Google and also look at Google's competitors.

This may be my thoughts presentend in a very messy way, but I have been inspired by something I read on a blog:

http://zerotwozero.wordpress.com/2007/11/12/non-google-day/ :

Here is a suggestion for something that I reckon, would prove a hit in any academic library. A ‘Non Google Day’. Google is now a verb in itself, to ‘Google‘ something is the act of looking up information on the internet, “What’s a multi faceted information architecture?” ”I don’t know, why don’t you google it!“ etc.
So here is the challenge. Make every student that you comes to you with an information query look for the information through another web based search engine other then Google, or even in a book/journal/magazine. This excersise should prove to students that there are other resources other then Google such as www.ask.co.uk, infotrac/other online journal database, hard copy journals, the list is endless.
Pros: Increases and promotes greater information literacy, fun to do, will help lecturers who find students increasingly rely on Google for information.
Cons: Needs promotion, needs understanding and support from lecturers, not enforcable without blocking Google from whole institution (through firewall).
Although we haven’t actually done this yet at our library, it would be interesting to see if anyone has done anything similiar and the results from that excersise!

and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/14/altsearch_google_boycott/

So from now on, every Wednesday, I will try different search engines, so I can learn what I miss out on when using Google or what I do not miss out on. It will broaden my knowledge of new and old search engines, and I feel that is the least a librarian can do!

I have made a note in my Outlook calender saying "Non-Google Day" and also made my colleagues aware of my new activity.

I will try and update this blog on the search engines I have used, also it will remind me of what I have used and still have to try.

Karen Blankeman's list on search engines will be quite useful: ttp://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/index.php

I would also like to try this one which I heard about at the Online Information conference in 2008: http://www.exalead.co.uk/search

Labels......

I probably should already know this...... but you do not actually get an insight into the classification system of the library (for books in this instance) if you only take books off the shelves or put books on the shelves which is what you do to books when you are a researcher. But after having taking on responsibilities of our missing library admins, one of them re-labelling the library books collection, I have realised that I am not very familiar with the indexing system we use (which is London Business School in case I forget later on....). So when looking at which sections needed new labels I realised how the system is actually put together! Now for the usability and design......

The fox and the explorer

I've got permission from my IT department to install Firefox on my pc (not sure if I really needed permission.....). I can now tick one of the things on my "to do list": to explore an alternative browser and not just the standard Internet Explorer *yawn*.

Firefox is fun because it is open source software and I feel like I am exploring a new world which my colleagues are *maybe* not using ( I like to be different!). I noticed how accustomed I have become to using IE (I vaguely remember using Mozilla as a browser back in 1998??!).
I have transferred all my bookmarks and customized the layout and added a couple of interesting add-ons such as visual search. I have not thought about switching for the time being I am just having fun by choosing the one I am in the mood for. I have read that IE has a add on functionality which I only found out when searching for Firefox add ons, so at least I know that now!
I shall continue my mission to explore the strange new worlds of Firebox, to seek out new functionalities and add-ons, to boldly go where I have never gone before.

Text Works by Soutron - Applied

Applied:
Looking back at what I learned on level one, I have actually applied the shortcuts into my daily searching routine, particularly the Alt+U and spell check. It saves me time and I am pleased that the training session has not been a repeat of what I already know and given me confidence that the way I am using the system is correct and optimal, but it also pleases me that I can integrate new routines which gives a bit of change and improvement.

How I use Textworks:
Creating a new user/updating user information
Logging enquiries
Searching for information
Catalouging newspaper articles/checking for duplicated etc.
Checking books in and out/renewing books
Sending overdue letters
Importing from Ms Word

British Library workshop and CILIP Library

Yesterday was a full CPD day for me. This was my plan:
9am to 1pm to work on chartership using the CILIP "library" in London.
1pm to 2pm: Walk from CILIP to BL and grab lunch on the way and make sure to get a reader pass made so I had to bring the necessary proof.
2pm-4pm: BL workshop "Knowing your market" in the Business and IP Centre.

Working on the chartership is harder than I initially thought, I am not going to deny that. I think the fact that the current workload in the Library is at its maximum as we do not have any admins (sigh!) has given me lots of opportunities no doubt. But one thing is to do a lot of work which is not part of your job, its another thing to actually take notes, think, reflect, learn and write down your reflection! When are you ever going to find the time when your 9-5 job is fully packed? This is what has left me rather behind in my 'reflection' process. So the purpose of going to the CILIP library to actually study was a good idea! I did get to sort out my papers, actually read some of my notes and locate notes which I feared I had lost forever. I also got a chance to see how another membership body's library could look like - yes it did make our library look like the superior, but that is a different matter anyway. I learnt that I need to learn to dedicate time for my CPD if I ever wish to finish it, it is far too easy to come with the excuse of never having time to write.....I've done enough of that. So just like all the other reminders in my Outlook diary at work, I am going to create a reminder of reflecting at least once a week!


I was keen on visiting the British Libary. Although I have been there before while doing my degree (2004 I think it was....) - it was a very brief visit and all I seem to remember is the public bench looking like an open book. To get to the point, the workshop I chose as Knowing Your Market at the Business & IP Centre. It was a workshop on the resources the British Library could offer (which was completely mind blowing!). They mentioned some of the sources which I am already aware of e.g. Mintel, Key Note, LexisNexis and so on. But I got hold of a list of the many other databases the centre subscribes to, for example FAME and Verdict, I am sure this will come in handy at some stage. I also grabbed some industry guides they publish, for example on different industries, I am sure these can be used when we update our links collection later this year: http://www.bl.uk/collections/business/bisheets.html
The centre has access to databases which I have used, heard of and never ever heard of: http://www.bl.uk/collections/cd-busin.html

To use the newly aquired skills, we would need to have a reader pass which I sorted out with my CILIP card quite quickly (it lasts 3 years!) and got a chance to play with the new tools introduced to me.

It has given me another thing to put on my list of "alternative options" when I cant seem to locate the information I need for an enquiry and I know many members as well as non-members who ask for more information than we can provide (particulary free information) who I can direct to the BL B&IP Centre. So this has helped me in knowing more resources for specific problems.

I am not to do a review of the BL or anything, but I guess I left the place feeling impressed and glad I got the chance to go there. Come to think of it, if it wasnt for this chartership I am doing, I would have staying in my own little world.....but now, I am looking for opportunities to continuesly explore the LIS world..................... I think my manager has realised that too! :)

CE - We read the news so you don’t have to!

Activity:
The library receives a large around of magazines/journals per week and 35 daily newspapers in one week. We also get a number of magazines which we don't actually subscribe to but receive for free. Any information that comes into the library is scanned by human eyes....... which is what makes the CE: "We read the news so you don’t have to". Cutting Edge is a weekly digest of marketing, business and other news from sectors as diverse as the environment, leisure and tourism, financial services, and transport and travel. It is a member benefit and has recently experienced 3139 clicks in the month of February 2008. Compared to other sections of the website this is a high click rate (...and as this part of the website "belongs" to the library I would like to say HOORAY!) Although Cutting Edge is to be going through many changes in the next couple of months, I got a chance to work on it. This is how CE works: 1) articles are scanned 2) articles are selected 3) articles are re-written 4) CE is proof read 5) CE is uploaded and emailed to subscribers.

Learned:
My colleague who does the CE every week introduced me to writing the CE and uploading the CE on Contentis which is the corporate web publishing software used. Although my colleague selected the articles (usually between 10-12 articles out of the 80 per week) for me, I took part in the scanning of the articles as well (The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian). I would then summarise the articles using my own words, give a new title and add the source.
Normally I look at what terms to use from the thesaurus to index a particular article, now I would have to think how to re-write it.

Example of a CE entry:
Give her a treatCadbury Milk Tray is to be relaunched and positioned as a gift for older women, aged 35-45. Will you thank your hubbie for giving you a box, knowing you’re considered to be an ‘older woman’?
Marketing, 2 April 2008, p8

I managed to squeeze this task into my schedule still dealing with my usual tasks as an information officer along with the admin tasks I have been taking on board. Despite all the sweating (English is not my first language but number 3 on the list! :s) and the complex I started with, it actually helped me improve my abstracting skills and given my written communication skills a boost!

I experienced that it is much easier to summarize the article, but difficult to choose different words, or "say it in your own words" .....
The outcome? I can include this experience in my portfolio as suggested by my Mentor. I better get some screen shots just in case changes happen quicker than I expect! It also means that in my colleagues' absence I can help with CE, writing it as well as uploading it. I actually like the internet related element in my role, so I am quite pleased I have had a go and maybe it will encourage more trys.
Working on CE increased my knowledge of the publications we receive and also what type of information our users tend to be looking for. This is something I can use in my research for users.
Cutting Edge is not only about latest news in the industry, but in a way also a a reminder of what the library subscribes to and what is new in our collection (excluding books of course) or new agenda papers. It also reminds people every week that "hey, hallo! the library is here if you need any info......" so I have also taken part in marketing of the library as well.

Applied:
I also had to use the style guide for consistency which gave me a couple of things to change when I write emails to users. I tend to keep a daily eye out for the type or articles I know would be particularly suitable for CE and which ones wouldn’t. I have also uploaded CE enough times to know what I am doing and to troubleshoot if needed, and I know what to do when, which means I can be used as a back up person when needed.

As I said, it has given me more confidence as I am shy writing in English and find it difficult to express myself, but the proof is out there in people's inboxs now, we haven't had any complaints yet, so I will assume my English can't be that bad?

Mental Notes II

Good to keep in mind:

CILIP CPD audio sheet: CPD Audit Sheet from the CILIP website:

Date
Activity
What you have learned from the activity
How you applied it in the workplace

TextWork by Soutron

Version 9, level 1 (6th February 2008)

Activity:
This was my first proper training (proper in terms of I was being trained by someone from Soutron and not one of my colleagues) therefore it was more at an introduction level than at an advanced level.....

Learned:
.....which is why I knew many of the things we went through. But if nothing else it was good to know how much I knew (which is almost 78 pages worth of level 1 manual) and good to have a theory recap because the one thing I am always on the outlook for are shortcuts - keyboard shortcuts that is! I learned that you can also use "not" when searching in the database. Although i know about the usual "and", "or" and "not" I have just never applied it when searching in Textworks. At least now i know that it is possible and if i ever need it i will consider doing it - to make my life easier and to process an enquiry quicker. Other short cuts are F5 which saves whatever you have changed.....I already use tabs to go either up or down in the query screen, I use F3 to open the thesaurus and I use the arrows and tab to move up or down, BUT I always have to click with my mouse in "List Shows" to go from terms list to thesaurus, now i know i can just use Alt+U. I like that! You can also add spell check when cataloging, but I have to make sure not to trust that too much (it has its mood) and to make sure that it is set as British and not as American. Oh and F11 is useful to seperate lines, eg. address and so on.

BBOD Seminar On the 5th February 2008

Activity:
I attended the BBOD evening seminar in Reading on information ethics. The talk was held by Jonathan Gordon-Till from Info Ethics and the topic was of course information ethics.

The CILIP's Information Ethics website: www.infoethics.org.uk has lots of case studies on ethical situations and it has a blog where readers can contribute with their issues and solutions at their workplace.


Learned:
Now, ethics are a very important part of our profession, so the issues of ethical dilemmas in libraries are something I have heard about since library school. We have an ethical responsibility as librarians. The typical public library situation is the man who visits the library and uses the library PCs to look up what seems to be pornographic material. If he is looking at pornographic material that is art, is it then still offensive?

Or from personal experience, the patron who photocopies more than the copyright law allows him to. I am not a police officer, so I cannot punish him for photocopying more than the copyright allowance, but does that mean I cannot stop him? Can I as a librarian refuse to provide information to a patron, on ethical grounds? and what would the implications be?

Example:

Patron asking e.g. competitive info, poison, explosives, suicides ↔ Can librarian provide this? ↔ Ethics? Rules and regulations. To be objective or subjective. Cilip guidelines, confidentiality.

Librarians own belief/professional belief/custodians of information >< Law/confidentiality

It is one of those dilemmas where you think you know the answer but you always bang your head against the wall. It is not always the ethical guide for each company is handy, and as Jonathan said "There is not always a right answer" but you can either be subjective or objective.
It is just one of them subjects which which we all have something to say about, but cannot always act on. It is good to keep it in the back on your mind, and also remember that there is something called infoethics I can turn. But until that day, I will leave this topic full of blurriness and full of dilemmas!

Another interesting aspect that Jonathan mentioned, was that as a librarian I do not merely provide a transaction, I provide a piece of advice! And that holds a certain responsibility! My actions have ethical contents. I don't think I understood what he meant to being with, but after a quick tour in my mental roundabout; It is true! I guide the users, I say yes to some things and no to other things, and I give them advise on what information would be more useful than another. I direct them, tell them where to look and select and deselect information on their behalf. This can be for important information for their businesses, it can be a matter of investment, entering new markets, competitor analysis, speeches, workshops, curriculum, published material, it could be for a a persons career, a job interview! In other words I am responsible for my "advise". My advise has consequences. That is where the responsibility comes in.
I inform users that this is today's information, this is current, although it may not be tomorrow - it is my "duty" to stay up to date with what information is current and what is not. It is my responsibility to make sure I widen my interests, knowledge and develop my profession - if I ignore this, I am being unprofessional, and this can have consequences. I am being trusted for my qualifications and it would be ethically wrong to be unprofessional because I will not be able to give my best advise.
It is now almost clear how information ethics links to me and my chartership:
On the CILIP website, under career advise, a section called Working in business libraries describes the work in a business library:
"Librarians working in business libraries carry out a mixture of research and enquiry work from both electronic and hard copy sources.The range of material is broad:
market research reports
company profiles
government statistics
trade journals
product directories
financial information
salary guides
worldwide trade information
European information
marketing information


Applied:
The important factor in using business information is its currency.It has to be available to its users very soon after publication.Users need enquiries answered quickly and accurately so ability in accessing both online and hard copy sources is vital."
I must stay up to date and continue developing my skills to stay professional and take responsibility for the work I carry out. I actually feel quite enlightened by all this. As if it is now clear why chartership is so so important for me. I am a carrier of responsibility - it is not only about getting a certificate or a MCILIP after my name, it is all about me developing as an information professional, making sure my skills can be trusted.

The result is that on my PPDP one of my development needs are to "acquire specialist knowledge in the field of marketing and business information".

Mentor Meeting II

The aim of my second meeting with my mentor (30th January 2008) was to get the mentor form completed and sent off which it has been! I have also informed my mentor (and Manager as well, in case the IT department has any concerns) about this blog, so she can stay updated as well. We concluded it is only worth backdating my portfolio till 6th September 2006 which is the day I started in my current role. Although, there is one thing from before this date, I would like to include : the work I did for IFLA/FAIFE yearbook which was in 2005. I somehow need to make a mental note of this as I will need to justify this. I think the research I did for that publication taught me so much about Internet research that it almost felt like my first proper research job after completing uni. It was even better because my research and text was all in English and from English sources. I felt i got to use the tools I had learnt and the acknowledgement and appreciation was a real reward. I will give some more thought to this and also speak to my mentor about it next time.

My mentor and I agreed to request some successful portfolios to look at. I have requested one to be sent to me and am eagerly waiting for it now. Initially, I wanted to look at portfolios from corporate or specialist libraries, but they were not as widely available so I compromised and chose a portfolio from a NHS librarian.

There is a new book out by CILIP, it is called Building your Portfolio: the CILIP guide by Margareth Watson. That has been ordered for me, so I am looking forward to that - so is my Mentor ;o)

My next aim is to deal with building the portfolio.

The next mentor meeting will be held in the end of February/beginning of March 2008.

Mental Notes

I may be slow at updating, but that does not mean that nothing is happening! Au contraire:

• I have had my second official mentor meeting


• I have attended a very interesting BBOD seminar on ethical information


• I have had some more training in the library software (TextWork by Soutron) we use


• I have been introduced to the website uploading of our weekly marketing newsletter


• I have had a thought on which libraries to visit to broaden my horizon

I will update each section in the next posts!

Recap and Forms - Which ones and where??

It seems I should have started this blog just as soon as I started the chartership, the day I registered, or any time sooner than now would have been great! Before starting this blog, everything seemed to be a blur, which is probably the reason I did no progress!

Me being late at this, means that I have some catching up to do, in terms of writing!

This is what has happened in the chartership process so far:

1. Mentor
I seem to be luckier than most, as I already have an excellent mentor who even works in the same company and the same department as me. Thank God I did not have to try out any mentors from the CILIP list! That is one task less!

2. Forms

Let's see......... So far ...... these documents have been sent to CILIP:

• Chartership Registration Form along with copies of my LIS qualifications from Denmark.
  
• PPDP (Although I have a feeling I will need to alter this)
  
• I am not sure, but it is possible that a CV has been sent too!
  

That means my mentor and I need to complete the mentor form and get that sent off ASAP. I believe this calls for a mentor meeting!

3. Log book

I have been advised to keep track of all my projects, including a record of meetings with my mentor. I have some notes here and there of workshops I've attended and a couple of emails which demanded in dept search and a couple where I got some nice feedback from customers. But I have no notes from the first mentor meeting, and not much recollection of what was said either I am afraid :s

This is what I recall happening:
My mentor and I looked at the PPDP (it always reminds me of Flanders saying "Pdidilidoo") and brainstorming what could go in which box. My mentor was kind to make a list of the possible developments I could do here at the library. My job was then to put fill in the boxes of the PPDP, and to send it to CILIP (The sending off part did not happen until December!!!). So technically my first mentor meeting was on Wednesday 5th September 2007.


Action Plan

Mentor meeting:

• Go through the draft of the mentoring agreement and send it off.
• Look at the PPDP - it looks a bit boring to me!?
• Inform mentor of my blog and other (if other) progression

General to do list:

• Request an example of a portfolio from the Qualifications and Professional Development (QPD) office at CILIP.
• Make of lists of workshops etc I have attended (e.g. I attended a CPD workshop at CILIP in London (14November 2007))
• Look at Criteria of Assessment in the handbook and get an idea of which direction I want to progress in.
• Keep track of evidence - make a folder!
• Update this blog and use it as a journal for thoughts, ideas, communication, so I don’t waste another 6 months because of blurriness.
• Network, find chartership lists, where are all the chartership people I need to talk to??!!?

Okay, there are a couple of more things before I can get the ball rolling - but if I follow this plan, I should be on my way - properly this time!

First Step!

Welcome to the complete mess in my mind. In the last six months I have had nothing but CILIP chartership on my mind, but have managed to do absolutely nothing about it. I just did not have the time (work, holidays, home, family etc), and promised myself to sort out my chartership in the new year.

It is the end of January now, so this is the beginning I have been waiting for. Let's get started with the chartership!

This log starts with confusion number one, what is the chatership report supposed to contain?

I may have to ignore that for the time being, as I believe there is a deadline for handing in the papers (PPDP), as well as the mentor form. So let's start with that first!