Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

- Acquisitions
- Cataloguing
- Document Delivery
- Electronic Services
- Library Management System
- other library systems and technologies

I manage a team of twenty staff who deliver technical and support library services to the whole institution.

A typical day would involve
- email management
- project work
- dealing with HR issues relating to my team
- dealing with strategic issues relating to Library service provision

I plan my own time and (within reason) choose my own projects. I am responsible for helping deliver the strategy of the Library and promoting what the Library does to the institution and beyond.

Developing staff and coaching others are two areas I have to continue to work on.

Keeping abreast of technical developments and looking at how they can be translated into practice is an ongoing challenge.

Resilience - a buzzword but it does accurately reflect an area of personal development I've needed in order to deal with constantly changing deadlines and conflicting demands.

It's varied and rewarding and the academic library sector is near the cutting edge of developments in the world of information management.

Analytical skills
Human resource management skills
Information specific skills, e.g. systems analysis
IT skills
Project management skills

Internal training is available (e-learning modules) and the ability to attend external training courses and conferences is provided.

Information Advisor:
Cardiff Metropolitan University (formerly UWIC)
Educational Institution

September 2002 – February 2006 (3 years 6 months)

Responsible for information literacy and collection development for the Business School.

Information Advisor (Electronic Services):
Cardiff Metropolitan University (formerly UWIC)
Educational Institution

March 2006 – March 2008 (2 years 1 month)

Responsible for procurement and management of electronic resources, including databases and electronic books.

Central Services Librarian:
March 2008 - February 2015 (7 years)

Responsible for a team of 7 who provided technical services.

In the same field and sector. Possibly with additional staff/project responsibility.

Managing Through Complexity course offered by Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

Be flexible around pay/permanence of the job when starting out - sometimes it's best just to get your foot on the ladder.

Experience is key so volunteer at libraries throughout your course and try and obtain experience in as many varied roles as possible.

Practical skills are really useful so make sure you know how to create an app, build a database, write a script.