Divisional Write-Up - Scottish Division

After a quiet 2002, the activities of the Scottish division picked up in 2003 as we welcomed new committee members to the team. We meet in central Glasgow every six weeks or so, and are an active and friendly division.

As always, we held three extremely successful Chartership events in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Various members of CILIP staff came to talk at these, and there was also the opportunity to look at previous submissions, as well as get to know other local candidates. The Edinburgh event also included a fascinating tour of the host venue, the National Library of Scotland.

In addition to these, we also held courses on Marketing and Training the Trainer, in Glasgow and Stirling respectively, with a variety of speakers including David McMenemy of Strathclyde University, Steve Dolman of Stirling Libraries and Sheila McCulloch, an independent trainer. Both courses were well attended, and found to be both interesting and informative by delegates.

We held our AGM rather late, in Glasgow in early May, and we were lucky to have Elaine Fulton, Director of CILIPS and SLIC, present an informal talk on career development. Elaine outlined how her own career had developed, and what issues she sees as important at the present time for the profession.

After a short hiatus, we finally got our divisional newsletter, Focus, up and running again. This is published exclusively on the web and contains articles by local members, information about the committee and upcoming diary dates, as well as event write-ups by delegates.

We have not managed to organise a fundraising event this year, however we have plans for a pub quiz in the new year, so look out for details advertised in all the usual places. Also In 2004, we hope to forge greater links with both the Information Science department at the University of Strathclyde, and also the local SCONUL graduate trainees.

We have lots of events and activities planned for 2004, so watch this space! Better yet, join our committee and participate in all of these things for yourself! Committee work is an excellent opportunity for networking, learning new skills and is invaluable experience, particularly for Chartership candidates. If you are interested, please contact me at alana.macmillan@idoxplc.com.

Alana Macmillan
Customer Services Manager
i-documentsystems
alana.macmillan@idoxplc.com