CPDo or CPDon't

2010 is the year for me to finally get serious about my continuing professional development (CPD). In particular, get some extra letters* to put after my name by becoming a chartered member of my professional organisation, the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP).

I'm a very good example of how not to 'do' chartership.

I took the first step of registering way back in 2005, full of enthusiasm in my first job as a qualified librarian. Five years later, I have still to submit my portfolio. It's not an immensely difficult task and I was almost there last April. I took some study leave and after a solid week's slog (see my blog posts from that week for slog confirmation) I'd selected the evidence I needed for my portfolio and just had the evaluative statement to write. Then I ran out of study leave. I've not done anything since.

I had a resurgence of enthusiasm towards the end of last year when CILIP announced its eportfolio pilot...with the added incentive of waiving the submission fee if you could submit before the end of December. The thought of getting hard copies of my evidence (a lot of it is in electronic format only) and getting it bound was filling me with terror. The opportunity to put the portfolio together electronically was not one to be missed. So I signed up. And did nothing.

I've been reflecting on the reason for all this doing nothing ness. And the conclusion I've come to is a pretty simple one. It's nothing more than a lack of motivation. I've written recently about how busy I am. And I am very busy. And I feel like I've been very busy for the past 5 years. But, I could have made the time. If I'd been motivated enough.

Those letters would be nice to have (I know my gran would be very pleased), but I don't need them to do my job. I won't get any more money if I charter. I'm unlikely to be looking for another job in the near future. And as I'm now in a non-traditional librarian role, it's not always easy to justify CPD activities of a librarian flavour to my management.

But that's what's now providing my motivation. The very fact that I'm no longer doing 'traditional' librarian works makes my CPD all the more important. The 'traditional' librarian skills are very relevant to my current role. And my future as an information professional rests on my ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Which is where the CPD comes in. It's not about the letters, it's about the process involved in getting those letters.

So, yesterday, I attended a CILIP portfolio building seminar and got myself back on track :-)


*MCLIP