| Editorial
In my place of work, this time of year is usually the quietest, which gives us the chance to catch up on everything that gets thrown to the wayside as the customers take over (how annoying it is when they do that!) However, I know from past experiences in former lives that not all library and information workplaces share this lull. And that I would argue is one of the great things about our profession: even though we (generally) all start out with similar training and the same theoretical set of skills, we all end up in jobs that are varied and unique and have their own special quirks. We are not able to make generalisations about our jobs easy. Kate O’Donohue writes spiritedly about what being a librarian means nowadays, and how her job demonstrates how far away we have moved from the traditional librarian stereotype.
The Career Development Group National Conference held in June in Edinburgh was well attended by a number of CDG members from around the country and from all sectors – again, a fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into how other professionals work in alternative sectors. The theme however, ‘demonstrating a business case for your information service’ obviously was common to all sectors though, and a sign that as a body of professionals we have to work with a business mentality to survive and excel. Catherine Johnson writes how the conference affected her, and some of the engaging speakers who took part on the day (Steve Borley, Elaine Fulton and Ivor Lloyd) have written up their thoughts so that even those of you who didn’t make it can apply their lessons in your own workplace.
If you have gotten this far and you are still interested, I’m presuming you are interested in CPD: this issue, we have two experiences of the newer qualifications, Certfication and Revalidation. Both are inspiring and show how CPD can be achieved, even in what would first appear to be less than favourable circumstances. We also have a guide to Certification, which many of you may find useful.
And lastly, speaking of inspiring, please read Sarah Ellis’s conclusions about her time on her VSO placement in Uganda – a truly humbling piece.
If you would like to contribute something to Impact, or have ideas about what you might want to read about in future issues, please let me know. Looking forward to hearing from you,
Catherine Davies
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