Meet the committee - Suzie Williams

We wanted to introduce our committee members and enable them to share their experience of being a part of the North East Regional Member Network. Inspired by the CILIP Information Literacy Group we'll be asking our committee members some questions. 

Thanks to the Information Literacy Group who have kindly let us re-use the questions they use on their blog.

What is your day job?

My role at the University of Sunderland is as an Academic Liaison Librarian for our art, design and performing arts programmes. This involves supporting our students and staff in those areas, doing information literacy teaching to groups and individuals, liaising with academic colleagues, collection development and much more! I am also Chair of our library’s Staff Development Group which along with the rest of the group involves me in promoting and organizing staff development opportunities for our staff.

What is your role on the committee?

I am the Secretary of the North East Regional Network committee. 

When did you join and why?

Previously I had been on the CILIP Academic and Research Libraries Group north-east committee for nine years, mainly as Secretary and Chair. I joined that committee as I had recently relocated to the north east and wanted to get to know other library and information professionals in the region. I decided to train to be a CILIP mentor for Professional Registration so focused on that role whilst I took on my first mentee. I joined this committee as Secretary in November 2019 as I wanted to get involved in a local group again as I love meeting up with people and hearing about their library services. The Regional Member Network is cross-sectoral and I am really enjoying learning about what is happening in non-university libraries.

What do you do in your role?

I keep the committee in check! A significant part of my role is to arrange committee meetings, servicing those meetings by preparing papers and writing minutes, and taking on related activities. Along with the rest of the committee I take part in organizing our events – this year I have organized and hosted two webinars with John Vincent on social justice and diversity in the profession. Recently I introduced an annual planning meeting each summer where we brainstorm potential ideas for events and visit, using a Padlet to help prepare for this and present these in a visual manner. This helps us with managing our events to ensure we have a wide range of events relevant to a wide range of library and information professionals in many different sectors.

What are your other interests?

Outside work my garden is my happy place! I have gardened since I was really small, and enjoy pottering round, growing vegetables and enjoying a cuppa and reading my book in between jobs 😊. I volunteer with my local Methodist church doing our web site, have recently joined the leadership team and taken on responsibility for helping keeping the church garden maintained. Music is another love and I enjoy singing in my church, online through several virtual choirs that were set up during lockdown and in a local choir in Durham.