Member interview with Rebecca Dorsett

 Rebecca Dorset is currently the Chair of the CILIP Government Information Group and can be contacted at: Chair.GIG@cilip.org.uk.

Could you tell us about your background and how you became involved in the information profession?

I first started working in a public library (Langley in Sandwell to give a shout out!) as it suited my university hours at the time and was precisely a 6-minute walk from my parents’ house as well as my childhood library that I had fond memories of. Little did I know that I would fall in love with library work and change my career plans to want to be a librarian as my aim in life. It was a bit of a turnaround as I was doing an Interior Design degree at the time, but I have always maintained it has helped me do some great shelf displays. It was the first job I had had where I had really enjoyed what I did and the people I worked with (before that I had been in retail, a bad waitress, a civil servant in DWP and a lifeguard) and I still attribute all of my ‘core skills’ to things I learned in that job and have never lost the passion for the library (and now also information) profession.

Where have you worked and in what sorts of roles?

I started out in public libraries where I genuinely changed from being very quiet (!) and introverted to being confident and far more organised with a penchant for wine and dancing learned from fabulous librarians. I then moved into FE libraries for a few months before moving down south to Bristol where I then worked in a Hospital Library whilst also working in a public library on the weekend out of love and taking on my Library and Information MSc. The things I learnt and saw working in an NHS environment have stayed with me ever since as I still maintain it sets a precedence for information management fundamentals. When I had finished my degree I wanted a full time role and so I applied for an ‘Information Manager’ role in Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) because it sounded to me like librarian skills in a new package and I saw an instant crossover. I still believe I have been proven right after working in Knowledge and Information Management ever since. I have since worked up through the civil service working as an information manager in a nuclear project team, air safety team, and larger military air domain, and then moved into private industry to work at Boeing Defence as Information Lead. However I am one of those mythical people you hear about that actually wanted to return to the civil service and came back into government in 2018.

Since then, I have led a records management programme and then moved into ‘capability’, looking after the training and development of all Information Management and Information Technology Staff within DE&S. I am about to start a new role in the Ministry of Defence as Deputy Head of Profession for Digital/Digital Delivery Programmes Manager (what a mouthful) looking at the professional landscape across MOD, supporting professionals in their careers and championing how key the profession is as a whole by channelling my personal passion.

What is your experience from volunteering for the CILIP Government Information Group?

If you have ever had the pleasure/displeasure of hearing me talk, you will know that I am ridiculously passionate about this profession, and so I wanted to channel that somewhere and joined GIG to try and make that energy useful.

What I discovered was a genuinely dedicated group of people in the committee who work hard on their own volition out of a personal drive to support and improve the profession, who are as passionate as me about the profession within government and a wider context, and I knew I had found a group I was proud to be part of. It makes you feel like you are making a difference in your profession, which is very rewarding. Over the past year in particular, I have seen the committee come together to be stronger than ever in a time of change and crisis. It has been a measure of the group that I have found our meetings the highlights in some bleak times throughout the pandemic that has given me a real boost to keep going. GIG gives me a real drive and motivation to really support our profession and role in Government, and on a personal note the committee are a fantastic group of people who I cannot wait to have a face-to-face drink with again one day along with the rest of GIG!

What are you mostly excited about in our profession? Are there any challenges or success stories you would like to share with us?

It is an understatement by now to say the last year has been challenging, but one thing it has done is highlight yet again the key role that Knowledge, Information and Library staff have at all levels of the country whether that is providing key knowledge into running a national pandemic operation, providing vital medical information to support clinical care or highlighting the ever-important power of community contact and support in local libraries. I would like to see the profession building on that over the next year as we return to places of work and drive the importance of our profession across sectors.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career as a librarian/information professional?

Never feel like you have to be pigeon-holed into one sector and take the time to invest in the process of continuing professional development (CPD).

Librarians and Information professionals are more aligned than many think. Many information management programmes and ambitions I have been part of or witnessed have essentially wanted librarian skillsets/mindsets and wanted to replicate these tried and tested ways of working in an organisational setting. I also found it very valuable for my own development moving between different types of libraries and I brought different skills into different arenas. It can be tempting to settle on one niche of the sector, but a librarian skillset is one of the most valuable I have seen and it makes you very adaptable – it is amazing the options you have for your career so believe that anything is possible and take chances.

I feel like the library and wider information profession has a natural leaning towards the idea of CPD and this has been a powerful tool that has really helped me in my career and one that I now try to teach to others to help their development. When I moved out of libraries the idea of most learning not being through classroom training seemed to be a foreign concept and yet it is where I find the most value and a lot of organisations are now finally realising this. This is not a plug, but the process of going through CILIP Chartership and learning the art (sometimes frustration) of reflection is a powerful tool so try to carry that with you throughout your career.

What are your (personal/professional) plans and expectations for the future?

As I start a new role I look forward to championing and developing the profession within the Ministry of Defence across both civilian and military environments and look forward to not only leading the development of the profession, but also supporting the drive for information literacy and exploitation skills across the department to enhance working practice. I am, also, very much looking forward to working with the military again, who bring a different, but fresh perspective to our profession from their unique environments which I hugely respect. On a personal note, I hope to be able to do more outreach and be more active in the wider profession through CILIP to continue to celebrate and support the profession alongside being more personally active in Diversity and Inclusion improvements in both CILIP and the Civil Service. I would also like to explore the relationship in skillsets between ‘traditional’ library roles and information roles to really break down professional barriers.