After two weeks things are starting to progress, I definitely still have some to go to be fully familiar with my job but I can see definite signs of progress. This week has seen me go round all the branches in the authority and this was enjoyable and made me feel more part of the overall structure. We are also aiming to achieve learndirect branding in the near future, this is a chance for me to make a real mark and my task has begun by listing all the evidence I'll need for it for collection this week. Having an assistant has also meant I will need to develop my management skills, this has begun with me settling into my position and holding constructive conversations with my assistant to define our rolls fully and I think we have managed this. I have also spent this week e mailing a lot of people to arrange meetings to develop projects and learning. This has been good although I realise as these meeting arrive my idea generating will have to go up and this will be an enjoyable challenge.

Started new job on Tuesday so I am now a Librarian for Lifelong Learning. I work within the main library within an authority that has 6 libraries varying in size. My first week has been a vast introduction to people, places and tasks. Initially I have been advised to look through the main drive and also the piles of docs left by my predecessor. There seems to be a huge amount to do and a real variation in tasks from meeting partners who supply courses to dealing with funding and coming up with new initiatives. Within my first week my objective was to absorb what is going on around me and try to get a handle on as much as possible and my assistant has helped massively with that. I have also compiled a list of all the tasks I aim to work through so the real work begins in earnest on Monday after I have visited libraries and done more reading tomorrow.

What I have taken from this is that one of the key challenges for me will being pro-active in creating my own ideas and tasks. This will be a real oppurtunity as I haven't been given such freedom and responsibilty before and my university training will really come in to play. All the info for the job seems like a giant puzzle that can be solved in a variety of ways and I can't wait to get stuck in!

A beginning

I will be using this blog to record my journey towards chartership in the library profession. I have recently completed my post graduate degree and, in the next week will start my role as People's Network Librarian for a Scottish Council. I will use this blog to record my progress and ideas as I go on.

I am a dedicated and enthusiastic Information and Library Studies graduate, with professional experience within academic libraries, public libraries and with learndirect Scotland, and also a member of CILIP.

I have also written and edited for a variety of magazines, including The List, Skinny Mag, Clash Magazine and Mixmag, plus editing and cataloguing the online pages for the Skinny Mag online site.

I have experience of cataloguing, archiving, reference services, database searching and all other day to day library tasks in public libraries. I have also carried out systems testing within a digital library and built resource lists for a digital library within an academic library. At a key government learning provider I worked in the field of information literacy and e-learning resources and specialised in this within my studies. I also created courses material that could be used within Public Libraries.

I plan to transfer these skills and learn new ones in my new role and I aim to keep this blog updated with all I do.