I'm Amy, the CILIP North East Students and New Professionals rep, and as well as having my committee role and full-time library job, I’m also studying for a professional library qualification. Now that I've nearly finished my course with just the dissertation to go, I'm reflecting on what it really means to study for a library qualification whilst working in the sector.
Taking
the plunge
I
was a few years into my library career when I first considered doing a
professional library qualification. It was something I’d heard colleagues
mention here and there throughout my time in libraries - either with rueful humour
as they wrestled with looming deadlines, or with a wistful smile as they reminisced
on having finished it years ago - but I had never seriously looked into it myself.
One of the main reasons behind my reluctance was that I felt I was only just getting
started in my library career, so I didn't want to take a career break to do it.
So, when I found a part-time, distance-learning route that let me keep working
while studying, it suddenly felt like a real possibility for me. I was also very fortunate
that my employer agreed to fund 50% of my course fees, which meant I could
start sooner than planned and stop worrying so much about the financial
side of things. That support made the whole decision considerably easier, and
in September 2024, I finally took the leap and made my way to Wales for
an introductory residential week.
Finding
my feet
One
of my biggest concerns going into the course was whether I’d be able to handle
such a big commitment alongside working full-time. Another stroke of luck was
my university offered a flexible two-to five-year route to qualifying, taking
some of the initial pressure off (though that freedom was definitely a
double-edged sword at times!). Some weeks I didn’t open a module book at all, others I’d
put in several hours across evenings, or dedicate a whole weekend to an
assignment. I could make space for other commitments when life got busy, then
catch up later without feeling permanently behind or overwhelmed by strict deadlines.
That
said, coming back to postgraduate-level study wasn’t entirely plain sailing. I’d
done a master’s degree back in 2019, but that was full-time and in person. Distance
learning was new territory, and the real challenge wasn’t the content itself so
much as learning to manage my own time and pace myself through the provided learning materials without the usual structure that lectures
and weekly contact hours had previously afforded me.
Joining
the dots
Going into the qualification was a little like walking into a dark room, hands against the wall fumbling for the light switch. I wasn't quite sure what I was letting myself in for, and just how strong the link would be between what I'd be reading about and what I'd be doing at work. But I found the two worked well together. Something that really surprised me was that the content turned out to be easier to get to grips with than I'd expected. Names, models and theories I'd heard bandied about at work were contextualised on the pages of my module units, and I had more than one lightbulb moment thinking back to conversations I'd had during meetings or in the office.
As I've gradually moved up the career ladder, I've encountered the reality of the library and information sector - that difficult decisions have to be made, and that we can't always do what we want to do for reasons that are entirely out of our hands: limited staffing, reduced budgets, increased workloads, and strategic decisions made above the library level that force us to pivot from our own plans. Simulating my response to this scenario in a service delivery module showed me how to work within these kinds of constraints, and think about things from an executive position, where budgets, staffing and outreach commitments were my responsibility to plan, deliver and get right. These kinds of exercises, where the course illuminated something about my day job, or vice versa, were some of the biggest advantages to studying and working in tandem.
What I was learning fed into what I was doing at work, and each made more sense because of the other. It also taught me that I had more real-world context and background knowledge going into this than I ever realised. It's easy to doubt yourself when you're still fairly new to a profession, so this helped me see myself as more of a professional, and less like I was still finding my feet.
The
highs and lows
It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. Earlier this year I was away travelling for several weeks, and coming back to studying afterwards was harder than I'd anticipated. What actually helped, in the end, was taking the pressure off myself to try and get everything done at once, and instead just picking one small task to get started with. Once I’d done that, the momentum came back and before I knew it I had polished off my final module and was submitting my dissertation proposal.
I also learned the value of asking for help early rather than struggling through alone. When I got stuck on how to approach a particular module assignment, I got in touch with the subject librarian for library and information studies, who was brilliant. Although I was always a regular visitor to the library in my previous stints as a student, I’d never so much as attended a drop-in session or approached the library directly for help (to my absolute shame as a present-day information professional). But this time, a half-hour conversation with my subject librarian got me unstuck and pointed me toward resources that helped me finish the assignment far more quickly than if I’d carried on wrestling with it by myself.
Looking
back
If
I'm honest, I'd built the whole thing up into a bigger challenge in my head
than it turned out to be in practice. The content itself was manageable, even
enjoyable at times (how could reading up on rare books ever be a chore?). The
real challenge was learning to study in a different way and on a different
schedule than I was used to. But looking back, I think I benefited from that
adjustment. It taught me things about pacing myself, working independently and
connecting the abstract to the practical, watching out for the concepts and
methodologies in my coursebooks and seeing them come to life in my day job.
Interested in a professional qualification?
If you’re weighing up whether to start a professional qualification, and you’re fairly certain you want to build a career in the library and information sector, my advice is straightforward: just do it. As strange as it may sound, now that I have, part of me wishes I’d started sooner, and a tiny part of me wishes it wasn't nearly over.
Amy Austin
Students and New Professionals Committee Representative
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