Thing 22: Volunteering

This post is the penultimate task of the CPD 23 Things for Professional Development course I started way back in June 2011 - it was supposed to have been completed in a year but personal factors took centre stage [twice] and this highly enjoyable course was put on the back burner. Anyway, more of that in the final task which involves a little reflection write-up on what I have gained from the course.

I’m afraid my personal experience at volunteering is somewhat limited so I will begin with a bit of literature from a recent purchase of ours, The Complete Volunteer Management Handbook  [published by the Directory of Social Change 2012]. This is a comprehensive guide to organisations seeking to involve volunteers strategically and effectively in its work. One of the first subjects it covers is to list the many commonly cited reasons for volunteering; the main ones being: I wanted to gain work experience and learn new skills; I like meeting new friends and being involved and I felt I could impress my employer and show leadership

 

 

 

 

The first one is certainly true of the majority of volunteers we have had in our Library and they have covered the full spectrum of ages; from comprehensive school children to our current volunteer who is a retired librarian herself! For school children and students, it is an opportunity to test the waters, to dip their toes into the heady waters of librarianship whereas for retired people is it a chance to stay active and in touch their career.

Our museum has a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator and the website currently states the following with regards to our volunteering programme:

Volunteers get involved in all sorts of projects across the museums of Amgueddfa Cymru. Some roles might require skilled assistance, but for many projects you only need enthusiasm and willingness to learn!

Types of volunteering opportunities:

Public Programmes – opportunities can include leading handling sessions or guided tours with our visitors in the galleries, helping out with workshops and activities for all ages or dressing up in historical costume!

‘Behind the Scenes’ – this is often the busiest area, where the collections are managed and maintained. You could be sorting and labeling specimens, helping with cataloguing and archives, packing items or undertaking research depending on your skills and knowledge.

Other – you may also find opportunities to get stuck in at the gardens at St Fagans, carry out visitor surveys or support our learning and visitor services teams.

What's in it for you?

• Opportunities to develop skills and experience within the museum sector.
• Enjoyment in doing something you like while meeting new, like-minded people.
• Helping to support the work of Amgueddfa Cymru.
• Work experience that can be an invaluable addition to your CV.

I recently volunteered to help at the CILIP Wales Conference 2013 and enjoyed every minute of it. I had the opportunity to meet up with other Librarians and was able to sit in on lectures and workshops that I wouldn’t normally have attended.

This seems to be the whole point about volunteering, you do it for the experience. For the career minded, you do it for the line in your CV that states you thought some thing was important enough to do in your own time and without getting paid; and furthermore it highlights you as that kind of conscientious person who wants to learn and experience new things.

 

On a slightly negative note, I take on board the worries that an eccess of volunteerships can go some way to devaluing a profession but I'm afraid it's just a case of getting the balance right. Volunteering opportunites are too valuable and care must be taken to ensure they are maintained.

 

Images courtesy of Volunteer Centres, Pancreatic Cancer Action, University West of England and Volunteer Weekly

Thing 15: Attending, presenting at and organising seminars, conferences and other events

Attending conferences

The benefits of attending conferences are endless; from learning about new things and keeping up with stuff going on in your professional community to making the most of networking opportunities and forging valuable contacts. However, the downside is that these things tend to cost money. This is partly the reason why it has been a very long time since I’ve attended any. Even with discounts offered by organizing bodies such as CILIP, ASLIB and ARLIS, the costs can be pretty high. That said, if something came up that I felt I really needed to attend I think that my line manager would try and get it sorted.

The benefits were brought home to me recently when my colleague Kristine at Taken for binding went along to the very first Library Camp UK and came back with lots of new and interesting ideas. She has written a series of posts on the sessions she attended on her blog.

Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to attend some presentations and workshops organised by Cardiff Libraries in Co-operation [CLIC] and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Mostly they are presentations given by different kinds of Librarians in and around the South Wales area. In fact, the next one I am attending is this month and is on the subject of social media in libraries. CLIC events are very well organised but retain a relaxing and informal atmosphere and quite frankly, there’s nothing I like more than listening to other Librarian’s experiences especially when they work in a library so very different from my own. The great thing about these types of events is that they invariably conclude with a tour of the hosting organisation and I really enjoy a good old nose about!

 Speaking

This is something I have a serious problem with – speaking in public. I’ve always been the same. When I was doing my first degree we had to give weekly seminars to the rest of the class [only about 25] and I worked myself up into a right state over them. I struggled through but was always being told I rushed them and I got the most terrible headaches after doing them. Well, that was all a very long time ago and I have been fortunate enough not to have had to do anything like that since. However, things change and there will probably come a time when will be called on to talk publicly about my place of work and I would hate it if I had to cry off. I hope I’d be okay, I’m certainly not as nervous as I used to be and think that if I was 100% organised, I could get through it. I loved reading Phil Bradley’ article on speaking in public; it actually made me feel like I really could do it!

Organising

The exercise for this thing was to blog about experiences with conferences [which I have done] but also about organising them; which is something I have never done. I am a fairly organised person so I think I’d probably be okay [and enjoy] the leg-work but I can imagine that the actual event could be horrendously stressful but ultimately immensely fulfilling and exciting. Maybe I'll get the cahnce to organise something here in the near future, I do hope so.

Thing 7: Face-to-face networks and professional organisations

CILIP [Chartered Institute for Library Information Professionals] Our Librarian has always held a personal membership and donated his copies of the journal to the Library. However, since he will be retiring in the next few years [none of us likes to talk about itL] we have recently taken out an institutional subscription as well. The up side to this has been multiple copies of the journal [always a good thing] and the chance to sign to some of the CILIP special interest groups. We currently receive e-updates and newsletters from their Information Services Group. The CILIP journal is always a great read and I used it obsessively whilst writing up a thesis for my MSc in Library and Information Studies [via distance learning at Aberystwyth]. In the past I haven’t really considered taking out a personal membership but now I realise that I probably should.

ASLIB [The Association for Information Management] We have been members of ASLIB for many years and currently receive three journals [Journal of Documentation, ASLIB Proceedings and Information Management]. Apart from these journals we don’t really get any other benefits from this organisation.

IFLA [The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions] We currently receive the Forum for Interlending and Information Delivery Newsletter [FIL] which is produced in part by the IFLA.

ARLIS [Art Libraries Society] We are institutional members of ARLIS and receive both the journal and newsletter. ARLIS is very good at disseminating information via flyers through the post and emails and we are also signed up to receive emails from other members who wish to dispose of duplicate art journals. Again, since I have access through this membership, I have no need to take out a personal subscription.

LISNPN As already mentioned in Thing 6 I am a member [although I don’t check it out anywhere as often as I should].

CLIC [Cardiff Libraries in Co-Operation] We signed up with CLIC in its very early stages and my colleague and I have benefited from some really great workshops that have been both informative and social.

In conclusion

In writing this post I have realised that I’m not very good at making the effort to attend networking events [and it’s not like the opportunities don’t come up]. I am also rather lacking that personal interest in those professional organisations that could [if I put the time in] benefit my own personal and professional development.