Toolkit: Continual Professional Development

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The training of all staff is essential so that they expand their knowledge and keep up to date with the latest developments in the field.

General training:

• Customer care skills are essential.
• Data protection, health and safety and cyber security are essential and normally part of all Local Authority roles.
• Senior local studies staff should receive training in management techniques, also organizational and promotional skills.

Many of these courses will be provided by your own authority. Other training providers include:

• https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/resources, though aimed at general public library staff, it is a useful guide for specialist staff, particularly sections on Talking to customers and The reader experience.
• CILIP and CILIPS

Specialist training:

Providers include:

• CILIP’s Local Studies Group
  • Conferences & Study Days
  • Posts
  • Local Studies Librarian archive
• LocScot
• CILIP’s Specialist Groups
• Historic Libraries Forum
• The National Archives
• The Institute of Historical Research Useful introductory courses to using databases, online tools and palaeography. Can work at your own pace and download the materials to keep.
• Museums Galleries Scotland
• Training providers covering particular aspects of local studies work are highlighted in the appropriate sections of the toolkit.

Current awareness (aka… why re-invent the wheel when you can adapt what has worked elsewhere!)

• CILIP LSG materials
  • LSG Blog
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Local Studies Toolkit
  • Local Studies Librarian archive
  • LocScot jiscmail list
• Other CILIP materials
  • Information Professional
  • Rare Books & Special Collections
  • Knowledge & Information Management
  • Visits organised by your regional member network.
• Jiscmail lists:
  • LocScot
  • Archives- NRA
  • LIS-Pub-Libs
  • Local-history
• Keeping up to date with new material released, especially Ancestry & Find my Past. The National Archives Podcasts are a useful way of keeping up to date with their latest releases.

Networking:

It is important to build relationships with a wide circle of fellow professionals, so you can identify potential areas of joint working and refer enquiries to useful services. Local Studies staff also need an understanding and awareness of other heritage professionals’ practices, especially as the divisions between fellow heritage professionals are narrowing.

For more information on networking, please read the toolkit section on Relationships with fellow heritage, library and local government professionals,

A little of what you fancy…..

You should also make time to pursue your professional interests and what captures your imagination, even if it is not initially clear how this would link in with your current role.

Formal learning is not normally the answer….. the question is, what would make you develop? Reading blogs, visiting other collections incognito, having a coffee with someone who you respect and talking over each other’s projects, or just sitting down and reviewing what you have done recently and how you could have made it better.

Making time:

Care should be taken to allocate sufficient time for training purposes, especially as training is one of the first things that slips off the end of a to-do list. A useful way to ensure that you do this is to take part in CILIP’s professional registration process. Applying for Associate and Chartered Membership of CILIP is an excellent way to ensure that you and your employers give enough time for you to develop. Once Chartered, you can revalidate each year – a process which is not as painful as it sounds.

Career progression

Many local authorities support library assistants to take a postgraduate qualification in librarianship, giving local studies assistants the qualification to move into a professional role.

Local Studies Librarians tend to stay in roles for long periods of time and their role is often reviewed once they leave their post. Ambitious local studies librarians can apply for management positions within library and heritage services.

Further reading

Diana Dixon, ‘Just One World – or is it? Information Skills for the small Museum’. A description of local studies librarians’ skills and how they transfer to the museum world and training, Local Studies Librarian Vol 28 No 2 p 10-14       

Got something to add?

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