Member interview with Maria Thanigasalam

 

Maria Thanigasalam is a legal secretary for a law firm in Windsor and has been trained and qualified as a librarian for many years. Maria is passionate about making information more accessible through better understanding and use of search and retrieval tools. Long term, Maria aims to return to library work and specialise in the legal sector.  Outside of work, Maria is a busy mother of three and homemaker.

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

As a child I always loved reading and books. I did not know what I wanted to do as I was growing up, but a family member suggested that I should do something with books. After idling for a year in Bath doing a secretarial course and student jobs, I eventually enrolled on a library and information studies degree course in Birmingham. I particularly chose that course because it was a sandwich course with one year of work experience in the third year.

 

Where have you worked and in what sorts of roles?

I first went to London after qualifying, as I had previously completed my year’s work experience at British Gas in Marble Arch and knew that I wanted to work in business libraries. I contracted for several months, working variously at Clifford Chance, McCann Erickson, and Lehmann Brothers before landing my first permanent role as library assistant a small IT market research and consultancy in London. After four years, I moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers at Embankment Place to work in their Knowledge Management division for a couple of years.

Having made some lifestyle decisions, I quit London and PricewaterhouseCoopers and took a career break. I do not remember the exact dates, but I took on various volunteering roles, including helping creating web pages for Swan Adoption Network in Bristol.

In early 2007 my husband was offered work in India then Malaysia, so I followed him with our children for seven years. Although we enjoyed being expats, we decided to return and I found a part time job as a library assistant at BSRIA Ltd, a building services research and information association in Bracknell.

My role at BSRIA included abstracting journal articles, writing newsletters, and providing library and bookshop, as required. In 2017 I was promoted to Information Officer, co-running the library and bookshop on a day-to-day basis. My role had further morphed into web-page editing, blog writing and webinar hosting. As a member organisation, we really had to ‘sell’ our value proposition to our members so proactive enquiry handling, current awareness services and hosting events were key objectives.

Having decided to leave BSRIA for a career change in early 2023, I now work as a legal secretary in a law firm in Windsor, with a view to training as a paralegal and the long-term aim of returning to librarianship and knowledge management within the legal sector.

 

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

So far I have only had one meeting but I am impressed with the dedication, focus and organisation of the SIG, and feel we have a lot of potential to increase content for the web pages.

 

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

I am passionate about making information more discoverable through improved understanding and use of search and retrieval tools and have worked on a few digital projects, including:

• successfully introducing and co-leading initiatives to help install a new library management system, customer search portal (OPAC) and digital services.
• Enhancing services to customers by improving access to historical documents online. I initiated and led a project to convert documents held on microfiche to digital format. 
• Introducing and producing a legislation and news tracker to help customers with current awareness.

 

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

If you can, try and get work experience in a library during your degree course or postgraduate course. I deliberately chose a sandwich course where work experience was part of the course for a whole year.  The toughest part after qualifying as a librarian was landing a job; having completed that year in work experience made all the difference.  

Once qualified, continue to learn and continue to train.  There are many continuing professional development courses, and your employer should support you in that endeavour, so your knowledge and experience remain relevant.  Offer to write newsletters or create new trackers: it is an excellent way to keep up with trends within your profession and give you new ideas and new ways of working. Connect with fellow professionals on social media, Linkedin and be proactive within your organisation sharing knowledge and disseminating information. Try and volunteer your time, if you can, for it will be as rewarding for you as it is for them. Many libraries are struggling financially and need our support.

Once you have found your first role, do not lose sight of your customer needs, be they internal staff or external ‘customers,’ whether you are working a government library or public library. It is important to really listen to what people are asking you to do: it is one of the hard lessons to learn when one your brilliant ideas turns out not to be so brilliant because it is not actually meeting the needs of your intended audience.

Collaborative working and being a team player are also very important: working together and not in competition with colleagues, will mean a better result for the ‘customer’ and for yourself. Do not be afraid to continually seek advice and benefit from the experience of other library or knowledge management staff; think laterally and be creative as you can be with ideas.

Remember, everyone makes mistakes! Honesty and how you handle those mistakes, is what will earn respect.

Above all, be true to yourself, choose what you want to do and follow your heart.

 

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

I am hoping to complete a few years working in a law firm and am currently considering a paralegal qualification, with the long-term aim of returning to business libraries and finding a role within a law library.