My experiences so far...

I got into librarianship by sheer luck, I finished my undergrad degree and realised that I would have to get a job, having very little experience in my chosen field (Geography) my aunt was kind enough to get me a job through an agency to work on a book move in the library that she works at. I started here, found I liked it and was fortunate to get a permanent position when one came up. After working here for a year I realised that I wanted to be a librarian and had completely gone off the idea of being a geographer (the idea of bugs and mud did it), looking at job adverts I came to 2 conclusions: the first was that I would need a degree in librarianship to get where I wanted to be and I needed to look into Chartership.

As I knew that I wanted to continue in education for a higher degree I decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and applied to do a Masters in Information and Library Management by distance learning at Northumbria. The best part about this was not so much the course but the way I got to know more people at work as I asked for them for help on various aspects of my assignments, I now have a better idea of who does what and why.

When the MSc was finished I knew I wanted to do more, I love learning things and like to go training courses and events, so Chartership seemed the logical next step. I am now past the half way point and have benefitted from the goal setting imbedded into Chartership. Previously I had simply attended courses/events which were relevant to my current post, after writing my PPDP I found it was better to have a section for the future so I could have aims and direction to achieve my goal of becoming a librarian. At this time I am at the start of my career but I have a plan of how to get where I want to be.

So although I ended up doing temp work at a library by chance it's been really good for me as I've found a career i'm interested in and can see myself being interested in long term.