Dr Safina Islam has been appointed head of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Trust (AIUC). Part of the University of Manchester, AIUC is an open access archive and library. Located at Manchester Central Library, it is part of the Archives+ partnership. Safina was previously at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, where she was a communities and


inclusion specialist. Safina succeeds director and education coordinator Jackie Ould, who has been involved with the organisation since its inception. Look out for a feature about the work of the AIUC in a future issue of IP.


Tina Reynolds has been appointed Knowledge & Information Manager at Kennedys. The newly- created role will focus on managing Kennedys’ Information Services function, partnership working with strategic


vendors and global liaison. Tina was previously Senior Information Officer at Clifford Chance.


My Fellowship


Ruth Elder explains that reflecting on her professional journey for her Fellowship state- ment has helped her to crystallise the values she wants to portray both as an individual and as an information professional.


Ruth Elder (@ruthelder2 ruth.elder@york.ac.uk) is Collections Management Specialist, University of York.


I MOVED to the University of York Library as a Lending Services assistant in 1999, following a career leap from retail management. I am still in residence in 2019. There was a short interlude to com- plete an MA in Librarianship at Sheffield University (2004) and a brief dalliance with pub- lic libraries, but the road then led back to York. I am current- ly the Collections Manage- ment Specialist at York, with a particular interest in analytics, collections analysis work and


collaborative collection management projects. I completed Chartership in 2016, revalidated in 2017, and the next step was to consider embarking on the Fellowship journey. I felt I had benefited from the reflective practice that is a key part of professional registration, and I appreci- ated the mental space it gave me to consider my contribu- tion to the wider profession. I was also keen to work with a mentor again. Those were the positives. However, I found the decision to work towards Fellow- ship a surprisingly difficult and emotional one. From my position as a Specialist, attaining Fellowship felt to be in a different league entirely and was perhaps untenable. Critically reviewing the assessment criteria around achiev- ing substantial achievement in professional practice and making significant contribution to the profession made me think that perhaps I may have appropriate evidence to submit. Nonetheless, this didn’t lessen the sense of vulner- ability and exposure I felt.


The Fellowship process was familiar to me in terms of completing the PKSB and identifying areas for develop- ment, and I had learned some good habits through Char- tership and revalidation. Ten months of collecting potential evidence took me to the place where I had to look in the mirror and decided if I was really going to do this. My final prevarication was resolved by contacting a number of


30 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL


Fellows. They were generous enough to respond to my questions with advice and encouragement, helping me to make a final commitment to completing. I composed the first draft of my evaluative statement on a train from Manchester to London on 21 June 2018. This rambling monster was then distilled over the follow- ing months through to 993 carefully selected words by November. For me the key to framing the statement was to reflect on and portray the professional journey I have made. Through this I was able to make explicit how the skills, experience, and knowledge I’ve acquired have incre- mentally contributed directly to the development of new services and collaborative communities.


The reflective writing involved in professional registration has helped me to crystallise the values I want to portray as an individual and as an information professional. A clearer understanding of my personal motivations now provide a different lens through which to view new opportunities, and gives me a significant sense of personal responsibility and autonomy for my decisions and actions beyond the role and the institution. I have increased confidence in my professional voice and in the value of my experience. So what advice would I pass on to someone considering Fellowship?


1 Reflect honestly: can you fulfil the criteria?


2 Ask yourself: is there something else you need to be doing in your life at this point? Fellowship takes time and commitment. It is a marathon, not a sprint and like a mara- thon, no one is ever obliged to do it.


3 Take the opportunity to work with an inspirational mentor. For Fellowship, your mentor does not have to be a registered CILIP mentor, so you have the freedom to select from a wide field.


4 Build a support team around you to give you encourage- ment (or a good talking to) when motivation dips.


5 Value the reflective opportunities that professional registration at any level gives you.


6 Enjoy the journey! April-May 2019


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