Thing 23 - The last thing - Reflection

Phew - I finally made it to the end. I've been behind on most of the things but I've finally caught up!

I have enjoyed taking part in 23 things and feel I've been introduced to a lot of technologies that I hadn't even heard of. Some are useful and some I can't use due to workplace restrictions but each has been interesting.

The main thing I will take from this is reflection and looking at how I got to this point and the opportunities available to me. I have not been able to network as much as I'd like due to time restrictions but I feel if I had more time I could have made more of this course.

I am already taking my development forward with the PGDiploma in Library and Information Management. Other areas I would like to improve on are teaching as we are now teaching Library research skills and I feel a basic teaching qualification would help with my confidence and skills in this. Other members of my team have done or are doing the PTLLs course which is something I would be interested to do next. A basic teaching qualification seems to be desirable in a lot of academic library posts as research skills and teaching classes is taking on more emphasis.

At the College I work in, CPD is very important and we have ongoing CPD plans in place that are working documents. We have individual requirements, team requirements and college wide requirements. So for example an individual requirement could be my PGDip course, a team requirement could be training on a new piece of software we have had and a college requirement would be a college wide issue such as equality and diversity or child protection. I have also done a PDP when I completed my ACLIP but this is essentially my CPD plan for College in a different format.

CPD development plans are important so that you can identify areas you need more experience or training. In the Library and Information world I find these vitally important as Libraries are constantly evolving. With new resources and technologies it is important that Library staff are up to date and knowledgeable in order to be able to confidently help library users.