PRINCE2

My course textbook

For the past few years I have been interested in gaining a qualification in project management. In my previous job, there were a few times I felt a knowledge of project management principles would have benefitted me and prevented several moments of panic! In 2011 the library moved into a new build and although we were only a small part of the overall project, I was intrigued with how it was managed. A few years later in 2013, I was the library lead on a year-long project involving our online authentication provider and whilst it went fairly smoothly, at times I felt I wasn’t quite sure of my next step. Whilst not crucial to these projects, an understanding of project management concepts may have given me a little more confidence that I was moving in the right direction.

Two months ago, I finally attended a PRINCE2 course. There were about 20 of us in the class and I was the only one from a background completely unrelated to project management. From the offset I felt like the class dunce! The Foundation course is pretty intense and the handbook is quite hefty for a 2 day course. At the end of the first day I studied the materials and the concepts started to make sense. I did two hours of practice exams and was pleasantly surprised at my marks. This gave me confidence for the second day of the course. I no longer felt intimidated by the other delegates, especially when we compared marks for the practice exams and our scores were evenly matched.

I was worried about the exam as it had been 15 years since I last sat a formal one. I’ve done practical assessments for first aid and an observed micro-teach for PTLLS, but that’s as near as I’ve been to an exam since 2000. During my degree back in the late 90s, I used to enjoy the challenge of an exam and knew I could trust myself not to panic. As soon as I entered the examination room I was relieved to find that old fighting spirit returned! My score was 86% and apparently this is good enough to progress to the next level – the Practitioner course. I have decided not to do this as I only wanted a general grounding in the concept of project management, not anything too in-depth.

I enjoyed being in a classroom again and had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed learning. The course was interesting and the PRINCE2 concepts are based on common sense, so the course is quite achievable for people without a project management background. I know of a few librarians who have attended the course but I’m not sure how valuable it is in their daily roles. The course content isn’t particularly relevant to me in my current role, but I am glad to have consolidated my knowledge on this topic. It would have been useful when working on previous projects and will give me confidence should I ever lead such a project again in future. Also, this course was a reminder not to allow myself to be intimidated and that I should trust my own abilities more than I do.    

Webinar wonderings

 

In recent months I have viewed 4 webinars, which is a fairly new experience for me. I attended a webinar back in 2011, and presented one in 2014, but other than that I’ve never given them much thought. When I changed jobs earlier this year I became a solo librarian, meaning it is not easy for me to attend CPD events in person. I needed to think of alternative activities I could engage with, and this is where webinars have proved useful.


Good and bad.
Image by Carl Carpenter. Used under a CC licence.

HE versus FE: my top 5 observations

Still learning.
Image taken by Chelsea:( Used under a CC license.

Last week I passed the probationary period in my new job. I felt uneasy with the direction FE was heading, so I was glad when changing jobs meant leaving the FE sector and joining the HE sector. I loved working at the college, but had long wanted to try my hand in a university library and was excited at the chance to do so. Now that I have been here almost six months, I have had chance to reflect on the differences between libraries. My initial top 5 ponderings are below:

Evolving CPD needs

Attendees at #hugsm15. Image by @HeritageUsers

Back in June I attended the Heritage User Group (HUG) meeting. These meetings are twice-yearly - this year’s Winter Meeting was held in March and the Summer Meeting held in June. I started attending meetings in 2011 and haven’t missed one until this year. (Previous HUG blog posts are here.) Due to changing jobs, I was unable to attend the March meeting. I was really disappointed by this and was glad to attend the next meeting in June.

Looking back, I can see that over the years the meetings have been of benefit to me in various ways. When I first started using Heritage the meetings were an incredibly useful source of information on how to use the software. I was thirsty for knowledge and the HUG meetings satisfied this need. Over the years, my knowledge of the software increased considerably and as a result my development needs changed also. Last year, I presented at a number of external events for the first time, one of which was a HUG meeting. I felt confident enough to deliver presentations exploring Heritage usage. By accepting the opportunity to present at HUG, the meeting met my development needs but in a slightly different way to how it usually did. I really enjoyed presenting and would like to continue doing this on occasions.

MCLIP revalidation

Last week I received an email telling me my chartership revalidation was successful. I originally chartered in 2010 and this was the first time I had revalidated. I attempted to do so back in 2012/13 but it didn’t get off the ground. Gathering evidence was time-consuming and knowing it was optional meant I didn’t prioritise it.

The new regulations are far more user-friendly and an online portfolio is much easier to maintain. I originally found CILIP’s VLE difficult to use but with perseverance I now have no trouble navigating it. Since submitting my revalidation I have continued to log CPD activities online in preparation for my next revalidation. I much prefer this new way, the process is less hassle and as a result I aim to revalidate annually.