Update

In one of my previous posts I wrote about the idea (stolen from colleagues in another library) of people having to fill in a form if they want to dispute their fines. Our line manager also seemed to be quite keen on this idea (she also attended the visit to the library in question) and asked me and a couple of my colleagues to design our own version of the form. We did so, she commented on it and we then sent it back to her to take to the library management at their team meeting in mid-January. We haven’t heard anything about it since, so we shall have to wait and see if its use will ever be implemented.

Since Christmas, I’ve been trying to find out about workings of the library that I don’t know very much about. So, I’ve been talking to a couple of people in the Academic Services team about evaluating library services and the library budgets. Both chats were quite enlightening and helpful. I just need to make sure that I write up my notes before I forget all about them.

I’ve also spoken to another of my colleagues who has completed her chartership and is now mentoring someone else. Talking to her was particularly helpful, as I was feeling that I’d lost my way a bit. Before Christmas I was feeling quite confident about completing my chartership on time, but then over Christmas I looked at the CILIP website and my PPDP again and thought, ‘Oh, dear!’ or words to that effect. Now, however, I’m feeling better and I have at least a vague plan (no, not my PPDP) of what I’m going to do.

More worryingly, it seems that either I forgot to send in or CILIP have lost my Mentor Agreement Form. As I’m no longer at the beginning of the chartership process I have no idea what to write on it. I’ve emailed my mentor for assistance in this matter. I’m not sure what she’s going to say as I’ve only spoken to her once (maybe twice) in three years and only emailed her about half a dozen times. The form is supposed to outline things like “the nature, frequency and pattern of communication”.  How can we fill this out in hindsight when we’ve hardly communicated? Our lack of communication has been my fault, because the onus is on the person chartering to contact the mentor, rather than the other way round. We’ve definitely missed the date for reviewing the agreement, as this is supposed to be 3-9 months after the outset of the mentoring process. 

 I don’t think I’ve really understood the mentor/mentee arrangement, which might well mean that I never filled in the form in the first place. Oh, dear. Again.