Seal of recognition

Porridge again .... Sorry I forgot, this Blog is not going to be about what I had for breakfast but will bring you news of SINTO activities and discussion of professional developments!

Well today we are running a half day course on Effective Enquiry Desk Work with Tim Buckley Owen author of Success at the Enquiry Desk. This is the second time we have run this event and it is fully booked so we may have to run it again. The course not only looks at useful reference sources but also presents a strategy for handling any enquiry and finding an answer. I have created a page for this course on the SINTO wiki for comments and discussion of the issues raised.

Both this course and the Social Computing course featured in the SINTO application to CILIP for their new Seal of Recognition. The aim of this Seal is to recognise the content and relevance of a range of training and development activities and it is awarded by CILIP to providers of CPD that demonstrate "engagement with CILIP's Body of Professional Knowledge".

The SINTO Executive Board and Training Group debated if there was any point in SINTO applying for this. We believe that most SINTO members trust the quality of SINTO events and do not need external accreditation.I like to think that Gilly and myself are pretty good at organising and running events. More to the point, SINTO members have a good structure for deciding what our training needs are and how we can meet these needs through the Training and other Groups. We also carefully consider the feedback from events. However, we did recognise that the Seal might be a good marketing tool for people who are not familiar with SINTO and how we work but would recognise CILIP as a guarantor of quality. Having said that, there does seem to be some uncertainty as to whether CILIP is looking to guarantee the quality of a training provider or of individual courses. When you apply you have to send in details of some of your events but you are not asked about how you identify and meet training needs. SINTO does not deliver most events directly, we buy them in from other training providers. SINTO should not be accredited on the content of the courses alone but also on how we assure that we buy in good quality courses. I am not sure that CILIP has thought through this distinction.
Anyway, our application for the Seal is with CILIP and I am awaiting their decision.

Do you think that SINTO meets your CPD & training needs - either as a library service or as an individual? Do you get the information you need? Do we run the sort of training you want? Are you happy with the quality of the events we run? Let me know.