Thing Seven - Professional Organisations

There are three professional organisations of which I am currently a member. One is LISNPN, which I have written about in my previous blog, Thing Six. Secondly, I belong to CILIP, as I am lucky enough to have an employer who is prepared to pay for the membership (I'm not sure if I'd be able to afford it's steep rates otherwise). And, lastly, my library is a member of the School Library Association.

CILIP

I do appreciate CILIP for its professional magazines; though this last year, their system seems to have been a bit confused - with half of them online, half of them not - I'm never sure which ones to expect through the post (which incidently, I much prefer; I don't like reading them online, especially as it requires you to log-in each time). But the content of their mags is always interesting and informative, and it does make me feel more up to date to read them.

I've only attending a couple of events/courses through CILIP (through the special interest groups, fex, recently, the New Professionals' Conference organised by the Career Development Group); however, you don't get a huge amount of discount through being a member, and so most of the events are still too expensive.

Generally, I am glad to be a member of CILIP. I think it does bring me several benefits, not least that the membership could demonstrate (if it needs demonstrating) that I'm invested in professional librarianship. I also think it will be invaluable when I decide to begin chartership. However, I can easily understand why some people find the membership fees too steep - especially for new professionals in their first posts.

SLA

The School Library Association is of course particularly pertinant to my current role in a school library. We recieve a regular magazine which is especially relevent, and always interesting. I've also attending a couple of small events as the representative of my library. These have been helpful for networking within the sector, and for discussing different situations and ideas. I think it can be very helpful to join a sector-specific organisation, considering the often significate roles and contexts of the various sectors. For instance, at larger, general library events, school libraries seem (to me) to be often under-represented in terms of attendence, due in part no doubt to (exceptionally) low budgets; so it is useful to have a specific network available to meet librarians who have the same kinds of issues and roles.