Viewpoint: LIANZA Professional Registration could serve you well
Hear this from someone who initially voted against registration: LIANZA Professional Registration could serve you well.
Although I have never invoked my professional registration to qualify for a job overseas (back when travel was possible) or explicitly to prove the worth of my work programme alongside other professionals, registration can support those. What I’ve appreciated is using the registration framework and the bodies of knowledge (BOKs) to validate my ongoing practice and learning as an information professional. Even more valuable were the times I coached colleagues to apply for their own registration and realise the worth of their evolving experience and skills. These were conversations we wouldn’t have had without the impetus and structure of professional registration. Isn’t sharing recognition a great feeling? I don’t nowadays work in libraries. However, I’ve chosen to renew my LIANZA membership and my professional registration is current.
In 2015 I was part of the group led by Helen Renwick that recommended changes to the process of revalidation. These made it easier to map activity against six groupings of the BOKs. Strands of knowledge are necessarily interwoven. The introduction of Route C and widening the eligibility criteria have made the professional registration scheme more accessible to the range of people working professionally (that is, in positions of trust) in the library and information sector.
Although I have never invoked my professional registration to qualify for a job overseas (back when travel was possible) or explicitly to prove the worth of my work programme alongside other professionals, registration can support those. What I’ve appreciated is using the registration framework and the bodies of knowledge (BOKs) to validate my ongoing practice and learning as an information professional. Even more valuable were the times I coached colleagues to apply for their own registration and realise the worth of their evolving experience and skills. These were conversations we wouldn’t have had without the impetus and structure of professional registration. Isn’t sharing recognition a great feeling? I don’t nowadays work in libraries. However, I’ve chosen to renew my LIANZA membership and my professional registration is current.
In 2015 I was part of the group led by Helen Renwick that recommended changes to the process of revalidation. These made it easier to map activity against six groupings of the BOKs. Strands of knowledge are necessarily interwoven. The introduction of Route C and widening the eligibility criteria have made the professional registration scheme more accessible to the range of people working professionally (that is, in positions of trust) in the library and information sector.
From the outset the strengths of New Zealand’s professional scheme included:
- the meaningful inclusion of mātauranga Māori and recognising the importance of indigenous kaupapa, tikanga and te reo Māori
- room for a variety of on the job activities and interactions to satisfy the different domains in the BOKs. You don’t have to attend expensive conferences or training. LIANZA professional registration enables you to find and pursue learning and development where you are and to be intentional in reflecting on the value you gain from it.
Dr Greg Morgan. Image credit: Divina Paredes https://cdn.cio.co.nz/article/641347/career-built-bridging-digital-divide/
Yes, to remain registered you fill in the revalidation journal. Sure, there are useful tools to help you. Indeed, most people leave it later than they should and end up having to remember back over three years of professional effort. The process steps are not what professional registration is about. They are just the mechanism through which to evidence integrity and a commitment to ongoing professional development and reflective practice. My experience is that chatting with colleagues around what to put into your journal highlights the positives. Having someone read over and validate your journal is illuminating. The journal is your chance to shape a narrative of your learning. Nothing that goes into the journal needs to stay there, of course. Maybe there’s a wider, nuanced or differently packaged story to tell and the requirement to reflect on learnings will help you. RLIANZAs continuing to evolve how registration requirements are met and presented is doubtless necessary to ensure that registration stays and looks relevant to a diversifying profession and its stakeholders. Don’t confuse the method with the outcome – which means, let’s not grumble about making a few entries in a spreadsheet every few years. The power is in the reflection. People leaders: are you optimising the potential of registration? Use the framework to recognise your team members and guide their career development in iterative and innovative ways. Organisations that do not currently support registration should seriously consider its value for money.
You might ask why, all those years ago, I voted against professional registration. It was unbelievably discourteous of me to entrust my proxy vote to my colleague and friend Allison Dobbie. Allison had been the tireless leader of the initiative to bring a robust professional registration scheme to the LIANZA membership. At the time I felt that as no one required librarians to sign legal instruments as lawyers, engineers, auditors and other professionals did, registration was unnecessary. Eventually I realised, without coercion I might add, that it was my leadership duty to become registered to honour the worth of our collective work in a public library network that sought to demonstrate the social contribution of library and information services. We used professional registration to make the case for the positioning of certain roles in the council’s job banding and remuneration systems. That wouldn’t have been possible without a registration scheme independent of the claims we were presenting.
The hallmarks of a professional are integrity and judgment/discernment in the application of knowledge, skills and creative problem solving that is also ethical and risk-based. Inspiring trust, reflective practice and principle-based agility characterise professionals. Information is everyone’s business – we receive it, trade it, make it, drown in it every day. Being able to demonstrate that you are an information professional shows that you have an intentional shaping or facilitative part to play in the whole business. You are not in the professional misinformation game. It was the comedian George Carlin who quipped that ‘I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.’ So it is for me.
You might ask why, all those years ago, I voted against professional registration. It was unbelievably discourteous of me to entrust my proxy vote to my colleague and friend Allison Dobbie. Allison had been the tireless leader of the initiative to bring a robust professional registration scheme to the LIANZA membership. At the time I felt that as no one required librarians to sign legal instruments as lawyers, engineers, auditors and other professionals did, registration was unnecessary. Eventually I realised, without coercion I might add, that it was my leadership duty to become registered to honour the worth of our collective work in a public library network that sought to demonstrate the social contribution of library and information services. We used professional registration to make the case for the positioning of certain roles in the council’s job banding and remuneration systems. That wouldn’t have been possible without a registration scheme independent of the claims we were presenting.
The hallmarks of a professional are integrity and judgment/discernment in the application of knowledge, skills and creative problem solving that is also ethical and risk-based. Inspiring trust, reflective practice and principle-based agility characterise professionals. Information is everyone’s business – we receive it, trade it, make it, drown in it every day. Being able to demonstrate that you are an information professional shows that you have an intentional shaping or facilitative part to play in the whole business. You are not in the professional misinformation game. It was the comedian George Carlin who quipped that ‘I recently went to a new doctor and noticed he was located in something called the Professional Building. I felt better right away.’ So it is for me.
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Greg Morgan; FLIANZA, RLIANZA, DipLIS, MA(Hons), PhD has held senior leadership roles in public, tertiary and NGO libraries and in community development. He led the national talking book and braille library at the NZ Blind Foundation, managed law and health library teams, and held lead team roles in service development, professional development and digital services at Auckland Libraries. Greg has a strong interest in inclusive service design and has served on numerous library and digital working groups and advisory committees. Greg was awarded a LIANZA Fellowship in 2018. Currently Greg is Head of Response and Recovery in Auckland Emergency Management. In readiness and response he is the Group Welfare Manager for the wider Auckland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group. |