| Editorial:
"Chartership: a personal and professional odyssey"
This special issue of Impact focuses on chartership : explaining its mysteries, suggesting survival strategies, and representing the range of chartership activity which goes on in the membership of the Library Association and the Career Development Group. Like many others, I submitted a PDR for my chartership - not without much pen-chewing. It’s interesting to see the other opportunities available for chartership submission which we highlight in this issue. Yes, portfolios and proformas are possible - and Eddie Hughes and Christopher Milne provide a detailed and practical guide to how they can be achieved.
This issue also demonstrates the way the Career Development Group has been pro-active in supporting chartership. The articles by Anna Atkinson, who has been closely involved with supporting chartership for many years, and Laura White, RLO for Scottish Division, are examples of the contributions of Career Development Group members, who have always supported chartership candidates on a voluntary basis. The list of RLOs and the number of chartership events listed in the dates section demonstrate the opportunities available for chartership candidates to find support and advice. The Group’s commitment to chartership is also demonstrated by the amount of material submitted for this special chartership issue - the editors could practically have filled two issues worth. The material contributed will form part of a new chartership resource area currently being developed for the
Career Development Group web
site. Watch this space!
The Career Development Group continues to work in liaison with PTEG, the Personnel, Training and Education Group, who support chartership supervisors in the same way as the Career Development Group supports chartership candidates. Sheron Burton‘s article on the role of the SLO provides an insight into this ‘other side’ of chartership support.
While they may be supported by supervisors, chartership also requires candidates to be proactive in their professional development. The recent emergence of informal chartership get togethers is one example of this. Carol Wurcbacher’s article fills us in on the chartership candidates who are getting it together by getting together - usually in the pub. Many of these get togethers have been enabled by communicating on the the e-mail discussion list, lis-la-charter, the benefits of which are mentioned by a number of contributors in this issue. Chartership is an active learning experience which requires the learner to take on new challenges and reflect on what they have learnt. It also requires learners to see their job role in the context of the whole Library and Information Services profession - which is where professional involvement becomes key. Liz Lewis highlights in her article how being on a Career Development Group committee is not just a convenient thing to put on your CV but a vital means to personal and professional development. Chartership is an odyssey without an end, because learning needs to continue even after the ‘Accepted’ chartership submission comes through the door - and the Career Development Group provides one means for this learning to happen.
We are a learning profession currently going through a time of tremendous change. Marion Huckle’s article highlights how vital professional development is, not only to survive this change, but to thrive upon it. Continuing professional development could have a new meaning if, as has been discussed, chartership becomes subject to periodic revalidation. This might happen in the brave new world of chartership in the new Library and Information organisation of 2002. What do you think? Don’t forget to let Impact know!
Christine Love-Rodgers
|
