Grow and Learn with Professional Registration

An upgraded skillset, a new set of challenges, and long-term career goals are some of the benefits Shanice Muir, Library Services Adviser at Anglia Ruskin University Library Services, gained while undertaking Professional registration at CILIP.

Shanice was awarded CILIP certification ten months ago. Although her educational background and initial work was in education, a career in libraries is where her professional interests and ambitions came together.

“I enjoy challenges, adapting my skills and learning new ones, and I’ve always been an academic, so most of my professional life has been in education.

“After eight months in teaching, I decided it wasn’t exactly the right career move for me and volunteered at Anglia Ruskin University Library Services, where after just a few weeks volunteering and observing how to help students on the front line, I realised I wanted to make a career out of this.

“The idea of adapting to lots of different tasks over the course of a day keeps things interesting and was definitely an attractive factor for applying for a volunteering position at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).”

From Inspiration to Action

Her volunteering experience inspired Shanice to apply first for part time work, and then for a full-time role, at exactly the time when COVID hit.

“My first two-week induction was memorable because we had to work remotely due to the start of the Covid pandemic. This meant my induction training was very different working on a remote basis, and it took me a lot longer to grasp the main processes of my role and included a refresher induction.

“I knew I wanted a connection between a qualification and a career, so during the pandemic I helped to arrange virtual community building and employability awareness events, which really which really bolstered my confidence in my new role, and gave me new skills.”

The Challenge: Professional Registration

After two years, Shanice felt she knew her role quite well and was seeking a new challenge that connected with her previous professional experience in education, so Professional Registration with CILIP was the obvious next step.

“I was considering a postgraduate or masters library course which cost at the time upwards of around ￡9000. After realising that this CILIP Certification was also a library qualification I could complete alongside work at a fraction of the cost it was a no brainer!

“Professional Registration brings and requires new opportunities for growth, and cataloguing was an area of interest to me, so I took a module in cataloguing as part of the qualification.

“Gaining a CILIP qualification gives you an edge on your CV, and it has helped to me to realise the value of being a reflective practitioner.”

The Reward: An Upgraded Skillset

Professional registration not only inspired Shanice to learn new skills, but also provided her with new perspectives and pathways to professional development in her current role.

“Professional registration has helped me manage staff and set expectations while also giving me new skills in a leadership capacity.

“I have also gained new approaches to problem solving, and have built a rapport with other professionals outside my place of work which brings real value to exploring new career opportunities.”

New doors and paths for a future career in libraries

Shanice is keeping busy at work undertaking a lot of activities with the aim of completing Chartership as the next step in her professional career development.

“I’m leading the summer visits programme as a voluntary learning and development coordinator to network, gain knowledge and ideas from different operations that benefits the whole of Student and Library Services.

“I’m volunteering as the New Professionals Support Officer for CILIP East to plan new online sessions with the team and to create new online sessions, such as the ‘Shut up and Write’ series that helps people focus on their CPD portfolio.

“Now I’m in a place where I’m confident in my role and can line manage the Graduate Trainee and teach others. My professional Certification shows a commitment to the sector and the feedback received from my portfolio recommended me for Chartership which I’m considering in the future.”

A longer version of this interview will appear in the April/May issue of Information Professional Magazine