Career Development Group: Annual Report and Accounts Notice 2003

Introduction

2003 was another challenging year for the Group trying to continue to provide a wide range of activities and benefits for members despite financial constraints and the ever increasing burden on the time of Officers, who volunteer to carry out the work of the Group. 2003 saw the finances of the Group improve and we reversed the downward trend on membership figures, which increased in 2003, making us the 2nd largest Special Interest Group of the Institute. Also detailed analysis we undertook in 2003 of our membership figures showed that over 50% of our members are Chartered and many are in senior posts within the profession. The scale of our operation is staggering, with thousands of professionals taking advantage of our activities to further their own professional development throughout the United Kingdom.

Divisions

Much of the work of the Career Development Group is carried out through its divisional structure. It is through the regional committees that many members can actively participate in the work of the Group and develop new skills which support their own career development. The divisions continue to offer a varied programme of courses, seminars, social events and library visits at local level. Topics included Deep Web, job hunting skills, presentation skills, and management skills seminar.

The Group has decided to realign its Divisions to map onto the boundaries of the CILIP Branches and the Regional Development Agencies from April 2004. This should allow the Group to work more closely with the Branches, sharing its existing expertise and contacts, while providing an opportunity to tap into financial support for events and training.

Registration Liaison Officers’ Network

The Registration Liaison network supported Chartership candidates all over the country, both through the organisation of local Chartership events and offering advice and assistance to individuals. The transition changes for Chartership candidates, continues to create considerable demand for advice and support through our network.

A second edition of the Chartership Reader has been produced in PDF format, loose-leaf copies will also be done for selected individuals who require this to support candidates during this transition period. This publication will be mounted on our web site for candidates to download at no cost.

Impact

The Group published 4 printed issues, and made production of printed copies a Group priority as it's one of the tangible benefits of CDG membership.

Group activities have been reflected well in the issues - International study tour, Umbrella, and also contributions from divisions - sharing of ideas and experiences and using Impact as a forum for reflecting regional basis of the Group. Issues such as co-terminosity and the framework for CPD have also featured. Back issues have also been published on our web site.

National Conference

We ran a very successful national conference on 10th Nov at CILIP in London which attracted a high number of delegates from all corners of the UK and some from overseas. A high profile range of speakers which included Bob McKee, Margaret Watson and Biddy Fisher spoke on the theme of "Skills for the Future", a timely exploration of the skills library and information professionals will need to develop in order to succeed in their careers. The evaluation we received was positive and the conference was also a financial success, raising approx £3,000 in much needed income for the Group. As a result of this success we plan to hold a national conference every other year, alternating with the biennial Umbrella conference to which the Group also makes a high profile contribution.

Students

Last year the Group created a dedicated post of Honorary Student Co-ordinator to support students. This post helped us to consolidate our work with students and focus on activities to encourage students to get involved with our activities and events. Most the work this year centred around organising a national student conference in Birmingham, which was a high profile event. The Career Development Group remains an important voice for students in the profession and their issues have been raised at CILIP Council through the Career Development Group.

Web site

The overall look of the Group's website has been substantially updated and made easier to navigate, taking note wherever possible of comments made by Career Development Group members. The update has included the addition of Frequently Asked Questions, Past Presidents and What's New pages. The site is updated regularly (at least once a month). Recent additions include details of the current international project supported by the Group and a full-text edition of Impact for Winter 2003. There are also several mailing lists for members, which include the Impact mailing list, a mailing list for officers, another for RLOs, and another for divisions. The website will continue to be enhanced in 2004. The Honorary Web Co-ordinator is also course leader for the half-day 'Deep Web' course which has been run successfully within Divisions three times so far and is due to be run again next year.

Publications

2004 will hopefully see the publication of the long-awaited Adult Sequels (13th edition) and also the Chartership Reader (2nd Edition) as both of the previous editions have now sold out. The updated Chartership Reader will be freely available online via our website. The next few years are set to be challenging for the publishing programme after confirmation that Remploy will no longer be advertising the Group’s publications. The Honorary Publications Officer is currently investigating other ways of publishing with the possibility of future titles being print-on-demand. The publication programme has again provided vital income to enable the Group to carry out its full range of activities.

International work

The Group continued to be active in the international sphere. We organised a successful study tour to Finland, visiting libraries in Helsinki and Tampere, attended by 14 participants. We continue our support for Alison Cooke, a VSO volunteer working as a Resource Centre Coordinator in Lusaka, Zambia. Further, we have now identified a new international project, a primary school in Soweto, South Africa. This project will be supported over the next two years. The Group also maintains, in cooperation with ILIG, a directory of hosts willing to offer short-term accommodation to visiting information professionals. Divisions actively raise funds for our international work.

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

As in previous years, the Group has been represented on CILIP Council and on the Professional Development Committee. Through the President the views of CDG have been heard at CILIP Council. Much of the work over the past year has been to do with the Framework of Qualifications. In addition, the Group responded to a number of consultation documents which the Chartered Institute is developing policy on.

Thanks

The contribution from the following colleagues is much appreciated.

Thanks to the staff at the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals at Ridgmount Street, particularly to Marion Huckle our liaison officer and Rowena Wells who has helped with advice and support on financial regulations.

Thanks are also due to Career Development Group Officers who are retiring at the end of March 2004, without whom the level of activity achieved within the Group would have not been so great – Tracy Long (Past President), Jon Scown (Hon Events Officer) and Christopher Cipkin (Hon Joint Editor).

Also Isabel Hood our joint Editor will be taking on a new role within the Group as our Honorary Equal Opportunities Officer, replacing Deb Holden.

I would also finally like to thank the rest of the CDG Committee for all the help and support they have given me during my presidential year.

Ayub Khan
President – Career Development Group
2003-4.

Career Development Group Statement of Accounts for 2003

A full version of the annual accounts will be available on the group's website (www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk) ten days prior to the Annual General Meeting. Hard copy versions can be obtained on reqest from:

Colin Sawers
Nottinghamshire County Council, Mansfield Library, Four Seasons Centre, Westgate, Mansfield, NG18 1NH
Tel: (01623) 627591
Fax: (01623) 629276
Minicom: (01623) 420675
Email: colin.sawers@nottscc.gov.uk

Correction

A figure was omitted from the accounts printed in the Winter 2003 issue of Impact. In the second column the value of publications held by Remploy should read £153,189.15.