Ministry of Defence, London.


mately helps them progress in the field. That being said, it can be difficult to know where to begin when looking at a move into information or knowledge management. For starters they are two different disciplines that often get lumped together as one. This does them both a disservice and makes it more complicated to understand where to start. There are not as many entry qualification opportunities for information management compared to other areas of the profession or other digital roles in Government. Formal Information management qualifications are mostly degree level and above, which can support those already in and around the informa- tion profession but make it difficult for those starting out or looking to transition from very different backgrounds. Train- ing below degree level for information management often focusses on technology and using the tools, but without theory or wider skills.


The Civil Service itself is also extremely large and can be daunting for those that have never experienced it before. Men- tion being a Civil Servant to someone and the stereotypical desk full of papers may appear instantly in their minds or even a throwback to a Yes, Minister scene, which whilst sometimes is not far from the truth, does not convey the sheer size that the Civil Service is and therefore what career options there are in any profession. It’s one that ministers and seniors alike try to tackle on a constant basis to show the true value civil servants bring to the country no matter what the political backdrop, but it can definitely seem like a complicated world to try and enter.


Ongoing options What came through very strongly in the April-May 2026


CILIP GIG webinar, was that all of the speakers came from completely different backgrounds. They had often started out in different fields or with different ideas of where they were going to take their career path. It also highlighted that working within government has provided routes to move around professional areas which don’t just include the information profession. For example, knowledge man- agement and what are seen as ‘HR topics’ such as organisational development and learning curation are very strongly intertwined and a lot of prominent figures in the world of knowledge management come from these different backgrounds. Working in government can cover every role you can think of in a professional setting. At the time of publication for this article there are 465 departments, agencies and public bodies in the UK Government alone. Depending on their size they will employ all kinds of librarians, informa- tion managers, chief information officers, knowledge managers, archivists, records managers to name only a few. Pretty much any role you can imagine will exist some- where in a UK Government organisation – with a slightly bizarre title.


Challenges


This diversity means that all issues that prevail across the wider library and infor- mation sector such as funding, advocacy, politics and professional standing are also present in government, on a large scale but potentially with less awareness. Then there are the challenges around working in government because these also extend into a lot of the roles it has to offer. For example, many Government colleagues will be (painfully) familiar with writing large scale business cases, lurching through com-


mercial and financial approvals, running large scale agile projects and programmes and writing briefing papers on a scale that would be inconceivable to those outside of a government department. This is what makes government such an interesting place to work, the topics – both national and local – that you can be involved in. They can seem incredible at times but this quality is not often captured well in terms of what it can mean for a career, instead it can really sound quite terrifying.


Thinking across sectors


My second event of the week was travel- ling to Birmingham for an all-day series of talks and discussions from CILIP West Midlands. As well as taking in the sights, sounds and accents of Birmingham like the gorgeous Library of Birmingham and Birmingham and Midland Institute library, where I was absolutely living my library dreams – I was taking part in a panel discussion to share a current big issue in my professional world. I can often feel like the odd one out at many events, not because of the people involved but because of stark reminders of how different the world of government can be to operate in and how vast issues are that I get to be a part of and I still struggle sometimes to even be able to dis- cuss my job, not because I’m working on anything top secret (although I suppose I would say that if I was), but because some of the things I work on are so strategic and complex. When you pose the question of “how do you better support the skills development of over 200,000 staff includ- ing those on the front line in a competitive digital and information warfare space?” it does tend to be a bit of a mic drop moment in some scenarios.


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 35


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60