Wider Context


The guide states: “Enhance your knowl- edge of the wider professional context of your work and Reflect on areas of current interest.”


This is about finding out more about the profession beyond your own area of expertise. This can be done through read- ing, visiting, engaging in conversation, joining webinars or attending conferences and networking. It is about demonstrat- ing that you have knowledge of the wider profession that you are part of. We want you to expand your horizons and gain an insight into other areas of the profession that you would never come in contact with otherwise.


Enhance your knowledge of the wider professional context of your work – are all libraries the same, offering exactly what you do? Has this inspired you to find out more? Why could you not see yourself working in that area? Have you made yourself aware of the problems of the profession and are they similar to yours or not? What have you learnt?


Reflect on areas of current interest. Are there areas of the profession that you would like to learn more about? Why did you want to find out more about law libraries or prison libraries or school libraries? Did you find what you expected to find or were your eyes opened to new learning and understanding? Did you make connections with people you would otherwise not have ever met? How has this changed the way you feel about the profession as a whole?


What am I looking for when I receive a submission?


Evaluative statement: When I first get a submission, I tend to do two things. First- ly, I look at the sector the candidate is from. This could be any area and obvious- ly I have more expertise in school libraries than in any other.


I love getting submissions from areas I am not familiar with because it is an opportunity for me to learn too. Assessors are from many sectors but not necessarily from your sector so when you are explaining something you need to take into account that what may seem obvious t o you is not always obvious to your assessor. Simple things like giving a list of abbreviations will help enormously. Or if you are talking about a system you use, explain a little about what it is and does.


Secondly, I take a look at the evaluative statement. We get them in all shapes and sizes and it is a huge relief when they are set out in a way that is recognisable. Three sections clearly headed as Personal Development, Organisational Develop- ment and Wider Context. If I can see this then I know that this person has under- stood the process.


44 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL October-November 2024


We are looking for a story of your journey with links to your evidence where you can tell us more. We are interested in why you embarked on this journey and what you learnt and achieved as you went along. We don’t expect everything to be wonderful. Life is not like that. We know you may try something, and it might not go as you expected. This is valuable learning too. You only have 1,000 words, which is roughly 300 words per section, so you need to keep this succinct and link well to your evidence so we can read your journey more fully. Your evidence is of huge importance in your portfolio. We are only interested in pieces that you believe explains your story. What works best for me is a written reflective piece that explains:


What – What did you do?


So what – Why you did it? What differ- ence did it make?, What did you learn?


Now what – where does this learning take you now?


Within this you will add your evidence. This makes it easier for me to read as it is breaks up the block of writing. Including but not limited to:


l A screenshot of an email that got you started (with names removed);


l a first slide of a presentation (we don’t need the whole thing);


l photographs of you doing some- thing… Just a couple will do;


l a screenshot of something on social media that links to what you are talking about;


l a screenshot of the front page of your report (don’t give us a link to the whole report).


All of the above should come with an explanation on why they were impor- tant pieces of evidence. We don’t want links to any of these as whole docu- ments. We believe you have written a report and will accept your front page. What we want is your reflection on it and why this piece of evidence is important.


Finally, I look at how large it is. We recommend that it should be able to be read within two hours. If you ask a friend to read through it and to stop at two hours where did they get to? We do read everything but if you can make it easy for us to see your learning journey it will really help.


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