Friday, March 12, 2010

Revalidating? Help is at hand!

Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Region invites librarians and information professionals to a presentation on professional re-validation.

Presented by Janet Upton, Manager, Knowledge Leadership at Land Information New Zealand
5.30pm Wednesday 14 April
Nau Mai Room
Ground Floor
Te Puni Kokiri
143 Lambton Quay
Wellington

There is no charge for this event.

For catering purposes, please RSVP by Wednesday 7 April to: anne.thompson@natlib.govt.nz

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 6

Week 6: Showing off your skills

Management and planning responsibilities are the name of the game this week. Take out your notes from week 3, and remember as you're going through to think of management in a broad sense, since our job descriptions don't always use that word. This week's section is quite a chunky one, so get yourself a cuppa and a biscuit before you get going.

We're working through part B in much the same way as we did with part A. The tricky thing here I think, is to get down all the main points succinctly. Resist the temptation to exhaustively list every little thing you've done, but rather try to hit the high points. There are a couple of ways you could tackle this. You may want to start with a job where you demonstrated several of these skills and write briefly what your role and responsibilities were in the different areas. Or, you might choose one area and talk pick out a couple of significant examples from your working life. Or, if many of the examples are from the same project for example, you may want to talk about the project you worked on and describe the responsibilties you had within it.

Remember, they're looking for the following:
(i) Staff management
(ii) Financial management
(iii) Resource management
(iv) Implementing and managing of appropriate and/or innovative library and information services
(v) Initiating or contributing to projects or changes/improvements in existing services
(vi) Marketing services
(vii) Evaluating and implementing appropriate technologies
(viii) Planning own work and that of others, setting priorities and aligning with organisational goals and objectives

Don't worry if you don’t have experience of all of these, the application does state, "Some of the categories below may not be applicable to the applicant. This will depend upon the applicant's work."

While the emphasis is on seeing that you've had responsibility in some of these areas, if you can, pick out achievements you've had or show the impact that you've made as well. These show that you have moved into mastery of the area, rather than just competence.

Best of luck this week with your write-up. Next week we'll be looking at professional development and contribution - one of my favourite topics!

Finally - an apology for the lateness of this column. Despite my best intentions to get this out by Wednesday, events overtook me! I hope y'all have ploughed on ahead anyway!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Associateship Event - Cancelled

Unfortunately, due to a lack of RSVPs, we're decided to cancel our Associateship event this evening (4th March). We're hopeful that we'll run the session again, but perhaps towards the end of the year instead.

But never fear! We'll continue to bring you the Eight Weeks to Associateship series to support you on your application journey, so stay tuned in!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Eight Weeks to Associateship - Week 5

Week 5: Telling your story


Congratulations - if you've made it this far you're well on your way to completing your associateship application! A lot of the hard work and thinking has been done, and now it's time to tell your story in the application process.


Take out your notes from week 2. We're going to start shaping them into your application. Although 1000 words can seem daunting, many of you will find that once you start writing it's an easy target to reach, so you will want to be fairly concise.


We'll focus on part A this week, which looks at "Practical knowledge and skills in providing library/information services", in particular "Competence and achievement in some particular aspect(s) of library and information services" and "a well–demonstrated understanding of the information needs of clients, and the delivery of services to meet those needs".


Firstly, you'll want to choose which aspect of library and information services you want to focus on for this part of your application. From your notes there might be a one very clear frontrunner (reference services, circulation or systems for example), or you may choose two or three where you can measurably demonstrate both competence and achievement.


For each area, briefly discuss your roles you've had, including levels of responsibility, and what higher level tasks were undertaken. From your list of achievements pick one or two, summarising the aim, implementation and outcome of each. You may want to select achievements or projects which tie into the second part, demonstrating a knowledge and delivery of service to, client needs. Also outline what additional work you do in this area to keep up-to-date or to spread your knowledge to others.


If you haven't addressed it in the first area (or maybe even if you have), you'll now want to demonstrate that you understand client needs, and can deliver services to meet those needs. Again, examples are the most informative, discussing the needs of your client base, how you keep abreast of their needs, what you've done to address these, and the outcome.


Don't worry too much at this stage if you find you've written quite a lot. We'll have a chance to revise and pare things down a little later. As you're writing up the next sections, you may find that many areas overlap, and that one example provides examples that fit several different criteria.


As you write things up, remember to take a little time to enjoy your achievements. Best of luck, and see you next week!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Thinking of applying for an Associateship? Let our panel show you how!

LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (Wellington) Regional Committee has organised an opportunity for you to hear more! We've brought together some inspiring Wellington librarians– Sue Sutherland who has served on the Credentials Committee and Moira Fraser, Rachel Esson and Kareen Carter who were the Wellington 2009 Associates – to tell you all about their experiences and why you too should apply to be a LIANZA Associate.

Where: The Moot Room, Level 3 Old Government Buildings, Bunny Street Entrance
When: Thursday 4 March, 5.30pm-6.30pm, nibbles & networking from 5pm.
RSVP: gabrielle.hikaka@tpk.govt.nz by Wednesday 3 March 2010