Meet the President: Anne
Partridge
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Anne
Partridge is this year’s Career Development Group
President. Impact caught up with her and asked her about on
the information profession, and the challenges and opportunities
facing her as president. |
1. What made you decide to enter the profession and how
rewarding has this been for you?
I can't really say what made me decide to enter the profession as I didn't really make a conscious decision to enter the profession. To give you a potted history, after 'A' levels I embarked on a Chemistry degree at Leicester University. I had no pre-conceived ideas about a future career when I started but by the time I left I was convinced I didn't want to work with 'smelly chemicals'! A chance coming together with a leaflet on the SCONUL
(Standing Council of University Libraries) trainee scheme in the University Careers Service started me off on road to where I am today. I thought I'd give it a go and see! I
spent the following year being inducted into the ins and outs of information work at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Library. The next stop was Loughborough University where I completed a MSc in Information Studies. My first professional job was the newly created Assistant Librarian
Systems post at the then called Nene College in Northampton (now University College Northampton). I couldn't have asked for a better grounding. The team within
Learning Resources was relatively small and as a result I gained a wide variety of experience. The library had just installed a new library system and the knowledge gained
from this was to hold me in good stead in later days. After a year at Nene, I applied for and was successful in being appointed to the post of Assistant Systems Librarian at
Leicester University Library. At Leicester my role was entirely concentrated on systems administration and whilst I found it enjoyable to devote my efforts entirely to this
area, the experience I had gained in other areas of library work whilst at Nene proved to be invaluable. Three and a half years later on, I moved to my current post as Systems
Librarian at Cranfield University. My first task was to oversee the migration to a new library management system. Nowadays, as well as looking after the library management
system, I am also responsible for overseeing other IT applications in the library service and leading a small team of staff who undertake various acquisition and
cataloguing functions. The library has recently invested in a digital media archiving system which will no doubt be taking up much of my time in the coming months! I find the
second part of this question hard to answer. I enjoy my job and I get satisfaction out of doing it. I wouldn't go as far as to say its my vocation in life, as those who have
seen me rush off from a National Conference to catch a plane to go motor racing will no doubt have already of guessed!
2. What do you see as being the main role/s of the profession and how has this changed during your career?
I'm not sure that the main role of the profession really has changed. To put it simply, I see it as organising and locating information in such a way to make it accessible to
the person who needs it, in a timely fashion. What has changed is the ways in which this is achieved and the terminology used. Rather than being a librarian, members now tend to be called knowledge managers, information analysts, intelligence officer and the like. I believe that the profession has an increasingly important role to play
in the 'electronic age'. Technological aids are being developed that can help information retrieval but I don't think they'll ever take over. For example, in the academic
situation, it is the investigative questioning by and experience of information staff that enables the student who is cannot clearly explain his needs to locate the correct information that is required.
3. What benefits have you derived from your involvement in the Group and how have these helped you in your career?
I've been involved with the Career Development Group in one way or another for about seven years now. Although I can vaguely remember being told that student representatives
were being sought to serve of the East Midlands Division of the Career Development Group whilst I was studying at Loughborough University it wasn't until some two years
later that I got involved. At my first Divisional Committee meeting I managed to 'volunteer' to become Divisional Secretary, the previous incumbent having just immigrated to
Australia. In the next few years I also held the posts of Vice-Chair and Chair within the Division, represented the Division at National Council and got involved in a whole
variety of events including the organisation of a National Conference. At the end of 1997, the then President asked me to stand for the post of Honorary Secretary in 1998. The
post although very labour intensive was extremely rewarding, mainly due to the increased communication with members all over the country. As Vice President, I worked with divisions on restructuring some of our internal procedures, notably the Divisional Performance Review. I've learnt many things through my involvement with the Group that I have then been able to apply to work situations. However, I believe the most important benefit I have gained
is a large circle of friends and contacts from many different sectors within the profession. When you are working your way up the management ladder there are plenty of pitfalls. Talking over some of the problems and issues with fellow members of the Career Development Group at
informal gatherings has helped me avoid some of these, approach others from a different angle and get support - all from people who are outside of the situation and who
don't make judgement calls. Similarly, I've been able to help other members out.
4. With unification looming what impact do you think this is going to have on the Groups and Branches?
Let me begin by saying that I'm strongly in favour of the unification between the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists. A unified strong voice
for our profession can only be beneficial. It is a shame that negotiations with Aslib didn't come to fruition and result in a truly united body. I believe that the new body once formed will have to act quickly in order to ensure that it is able to attract and retain members in coming years. New technological advances mean that new ways of working and communicating are changing the way that people get involved professionally. One only has to look at the
myriad of email mailing lists and online discussion forums to see that this is the case. I think that this will be the biggest threat to professional organisations as we know
them today. The new body, its Groups and Branches will have to face this challenge head on. I often hear people asking why they should join a body such as the Library Association, what's in it for them? The new body needs to ensure that it is responsive to its membership and give them a value added service at an affordable cost if it is to survive. The Branches and Groups at grass root level need to spearhead this change. The structure of the
Branches and Groups within the new organisation still has to be finalised, and I hope the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists will work quickly and
with full consultation with the Branches and Groups to resolve this early in 2001.
5. What do you see as the main issues you wish to highlight through your Presidential year?
Well, obviously supporting the transition of the Group through the unification of our parent body is going to be one of my major tasks. The Group itself (under its previous name of the Association of Assistant Librarians) merged with the Library Association in 1929 and as a result has a number of differences to other Groups in the way that it organises itself and is represented within the Library Association. The Group is keen to ensure that these rights
and privileges are not lost. I'd also like to work more closely with the Divisions of the Group, to make sure that those at National Level within the Group do truly represent
the views of the members as a whole. I'd like for the Group to start working with other Groups and the Branches of the Library Association. As a Group we are often linked with
PTEG but I believe the Group can benefit from close working relationships with all the other Groups; there are many ways in which we can learn from each other.
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