Joeyanne McLip
On: October 23, 2012At: 10:15 am

OK, I’ve not actually become Scottish (though the name does have quite a nice ring to it!). In actual fact the capitalisation should really be MCLIP – I recently received confirmation that I have passed my CILIP Chartership. This now means I’m a bona fide chartered information professional and have therefore achieved the goal I set out to when I declared at my graduate trainee interview in August 2005 that I wanted to study for my MSc in Library and Information Studies and then go on to charter (hmm, maybe I do plan things after all!).

I posted earlier some initial reflections on the process, and still feel the same. I did find the process incredibly useful in terms of focusing my development. I’ve continued to update my PPDP, CV, and other information relating to professional development on a monthly basis, and I’m finding this really useful. I’ve made some decisions which will change my professional development activities going forward (more to come on this soon) and I think chartership has really helped in that respect as it’s encouraged me to be more reflective and to take action based on where I’m at and where I’d like to be in the future. I have no grand master plan, but I’m in a much better place now to know what I have already achieved and what I still hope to achieve, as well as understanding what I really enjoy doing.

I found it really useful to look over other peoples’ portfolios whilst I was working on mine, so I thought I would share mine for anyone who would like a look. I’d recommend taking a look at a variety of portfolios to get some ideas for structure and format, but essentially each one will be different and may well not work for your situation. That’s absolutely fine, just go with whatever you find works best for you. Anyway, here’s my final portfolio:

Jo Alcock - Chartership Portfolio

Jo Alcock – Chartership Portfolio

If you’re working on chartership and could do with some moral support or have questions to ask, remember to use the LIS-CILIP-REG mailing list, and if you’re a tweeter you can ask questions on there using the #chartership tag – a number of us are keeping an eye on the tweets to help people out. There’s also a #chartership chat organised for this week –  just set a saved search and start tweeting using the hashtag from 8pm on Thursday 25th October. Good luck!

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  • http://twitter.com/niamhpage Niamh Tumelty / Page

    Well done Jo, and thanks for sharing your portfolio!

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      No problem – I found it useful to view other people’s portfolios so thought it might be useful to share mine. Good luck with yours! :)

  • Sarah

    This is a really useful post, thanks for sharing Jo. And well done on your achievement! Time to put your feet up for a while? ;)

    I agree with the principle of chartering, and it sounds good from the perspective of encouraging CPD planning and professional activities. Personally, I feel that the nature of my role as an Academic Liaison Librarian means I have to reflect upon my performance, I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t – as a teacher, and a collaborator – and chartership wouldn’t change that, though I appreciate that it might formalise it and provide an ‘outlet’ for making it explicit. I do already feel like a ‘bona fide information professional ‘ though – I believe that experience, a PG Cert in Learning and Teaching in HE (particularly useful for my job) plus an MSc in librarianship ought to count, and dismissing a job application on the basis of not being chartered (or not paying someone as much despite those other attributes) might mean that employers are missing out on a good candidate. This was an interesting little debate that came up at #libcampuk12 , it was useful to hear different perspectives. I’ll keep mulling this one over… :)

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Sarah – definitely time to put my feet up for a bit! :)

      For me it was more the professional development activities outside of the day job (committees, writing articles, voluntary projects etc.) that chartership helped me re-evaluate and also to set that in the context of my job role. In my previous job role the two were very separate, but in my current role I’ve been working on bringing them more in alignment and chartership helped that process along. I was able to consider the skills I want to develop and focus my professional development activities on those areas, rather than just haphazardly getting involved in everything which sounds interesting (which is totally impractical!).

      I don’t think chartering makes someone more of a professional (I wrote ‘bona fide *chartered* information professional in the blog post). However, I do think it adds an extra string to your bow as it were (in the same way the PG Cert does for academic librarians involved in teaching), and demonstrates your continued commitment to professional development. In my job role chartership is not at all necessary (though neither is a background/qualification in librarianship), and there’s no advantage to me doing it other than personal satisfaction and a sense of commitment to CPD. I feel it was worthwhile personally, though completely understand that it’s not for everyone.

  • Tracey Totty

    Well done Jo. I’m still tweaking my portfolio ready for submission.

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Tracey, good luck with the final last bits!

  • Kelly Quaye

    Hi Jo, Congratulations again! Thanks for the tips and for sharing your portfolio. I’m curious to know what’s next for you… I’ll be watching :) Talk to you soon, Kelly

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Kelly :)

  • Rosie Hare

    Congratulations Jo! You now must put MCLIP after your name at all times! ;)

    Also, thanks for posting your portfolio up here. I can imagine I’ll be embarking on chartership in a couple of years after I’ve done my MA and it’s good to know that people are willing to share experiences and examples so us newbies know where to start!

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Rosie. Hopefully there will continue to be lots of support out there – I’ve found Twitter so helpful for motivation and advice.

  • http://twitter.com/KatieDFlanagan Katie Flanagan

    Congratulations! I found chartership invaluable – I didn’t get CPD opportunities at work at the time, so it made me do things and focus on where I was going, which has definitely paid off.

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Katie – great to hear.

  • bumsonseats

    Thanks for sharing, Jo! It’s good to see a variety of examples and you know how much I value your tips and encouragement :)

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      I certainly found it useful to see different types of examples so glad it’s helped you seeing mine too :)

  • Erica Beache

    Congratulations Jo! Thanks for sharing your portfolio with us.

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thanks Erica, I hope you find it useful.

  • Elizabds

    Just found your blog. Thanks for sharing this info; it’s terribly interesting (and new) to me.

    • http://www.joeyanne.co.uk Jo Alcock

      Thank you, I’m glad you find it interesting.

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