interest to those well known to them, such as friends, relatives and colleagues.1 Although it is possible that a Char- tership candidate may benefit from the kindness of someone who, as a result of their super-encountering abilities, has accessed material that they anticipate will be relevant to them and passed it on, by no means all of us will be so fortunate. We should note, too, that people gener- ally – not only super-encounterers – come across without looking for it information that may be welcomed to others. Con- sider, for example, how often we might browse casually for our own interest in a bookshop and stumble on a volume that we know at once would make an ideal Christmas or birthday gift for someone close to us.


Enhancing serendipity via social contact


Undoubtedly, much information super-encountering takes place in solitary contexts and one of the most obvious strategies to facilitate it – that of reading widely, beyond what is required by or expected in our regular day-to-day work – may not involve others at all. Still, there is also much that we can do proactively to improve our chances of becoming informed in some way by people with whom we communicate. Increasing the number and diversity of our interpersonal interactions is one such method. Progress towards meeting the third Chartership criterion may be made by, for example, networking, attending confer- ences or taking part in online discussions to give us access to the thoughts of other professionals, whilst affording, too, opportunities for us to receive recom- mendations regarding sources that have hitherto gone unconsidered and thereby stimulate further reading.


Some insights may be incidental; dis- coveries we make in one area frequently come from conversations ostensibly deal- ing with another. Or perhaps a tangential remark prompts our brain to forge a con- nection with a matter more meaningful to us. In terms of satisfying the second Char- tership criterion, we should be vigilant of opportunities to learn from clients and others in our organisation about short- comings in the service we offer, as well as how it is useful to them and how they value it in ways that might have escaped us. This awareness can come from chance exchanges, as “throwaway” lines reveal people’s previously undisclosed thoughts. The issues which emerge may ultimately become foci for more formal evaluations that can lead to new initiatives.


Final Thoughts


I am sure many of us work in organisa- tions where few formal CPD events are presented to us as a matter of course. We


50 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL


must seek out our own ways to learn and, in these circumstances, it is sen- sible to maximise our opportunities by being receptive to the potential contri- butions of other people, either through direct contact or via electronic commu- nications devices. Less personal media like radio, television and traditional paper materials can be equally helpful. We can look to orientate our habits and hobbies in ways which make a ben- eficial contribution to our Professional Registration efforts. The work of Hartel on “serious leisure” reminds us that the links between recreational pastimes and the pursuit of information are often close.10


I have long spent much of my spare time writing about information issues. As I feel insufficiently expert to write authoritatively on any matter involving information without at some point turn- ing for illumination to books, journals, magazines or the Web, I view my every writing enterprise as a CPD activity. Interacting with the literature begins the process of my becoming more informed but it is the integration of the additional material in the developing


piece that allows me to construct new sense in my head. A cornerstone of our work for Chartership, Fellowship and Revalidation, I have discovered, can be to convert our routine practices into active learning experiences. IP


References


1 Erdelez, S. Information encountering: It’s more than just bumping into information. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science, 25 (3), 1999, pp. 25-29.


2 See, for example, Mediawatching: The truth is out there... Information Professional, July/August 2019, pp. 56-57; Mediawatching: Glasses and a late return. Infor- mation Professional, September 2021, p. 56-57.


3 Wilson, T. and Walsh, C. Information Behaviour: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. British Library Research and Innovation Centre, 1996.


4 Bradford, S.C. Documentation. Crosby Lockwood and Son, 1948.


5 In the Studio: Wayfinding Experts. BBC World Ser- vice, 21 May 2024. URL: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5tkl


6 Inside the Bermuda Triangle. Part Two. BBC Radio Four, 30 March 2012.


7 Call Yourself an Impartial Journalist? BBC Radio Four, 26 April 2019. URL: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ m0004f5s


8 Gooding, D. Libraries and librarians in fiction. 8 parts. Information Professional, November 2017-October 2018.


9 Erdelez, S. Information encountering: A conceptu- al framework for accidental information discovery. In: Vakkari, P., Savolainen, R. and Dervin, B. (eds) Information Seeking in Context. Taylor Graham, 1997, pp. 412-21.


10 Hartel, J. The serious leisure frontier in library and information science: Hobby domains. Knowledge Organization, 30 (3/4), 2003, pp. 228-38.


October-November 2024


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