Providing effective continuing professional development to United Kingdom academic librarians in the further education sector : outcomes from a national survey by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)

With more than 5 million adults engaged in learning, the further education sector is by far the largest education sector in the United Kingdom. Changes to educational delivery; the development of a socially cohesive society engaged in lifelong learning; the need to build a competent workforce to promote economic growth; and the importance of the development of the UK within the global knowledge economy have had a significant impact on the way post-compulsory education is delivered in the UK. These changes have had a significant effect on the political landscape of the further education sector and the information needs of students. As a consequence there has been an effect on the skills and competencies required of librarians working in further education colleges. As part of a recent CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) survey, UK Survey of Library and Learning Resource Provision in Further Education Colleges, Kathy Ennis (CILIP) and Dr Graham Walton (Northumbria University) have investigated the issue of access to continuing professional development for librarians working in the sector. The paper will identify why continuing professional development is currently crucial for further education librarians and also why specific barriers prevent easy progress. It will use the data from the survey to produce a model that informs how different staff development stakeholders (library associations, library schools, internal deliverers etc) need to work collaboratively. There are major challenges currently being faced by United Kingdom further education librarians and effective staff development needs to be in place for them to cope effectively.