Sarah Webb's CV - Word version

Covering letter
Dear library manager,
Re: Assistant librarian post with Millingtonshire public libraries
I am applying for the position above as advertised in the recent edition of
CILIPs Information Update.
Having completed my PG/dip MSc in Library and Information Studies at
Robert Gordon University, I feel ready to take my library career to the next
level and to move into a different sector at a crucial time for the provision of
a national and universal public library service. Such an opportunity would
build on the skills I have acquired throughout a varied career and honed with
my current postgraduate studies and enable me to contribute to the
continued success of your service.
As a senior library assistant in a popular university I have enjoyed the day to
day interaction with users from all backgrounds. The skills, as an
experienced senior library assistant and recently qualified librarian, I can
bring to your organisation include:
O nthusiasm and a willingness to help users fulfil their information
needs at the appropriate level; from an unfamiliar customer to
academic users.
O I always go beyond baseline service requirements to add value to
every transaction - every occasion is an opportunity to sell our
services and what our profession can do for people.
O xperience of information literacy classes: from basic library inductions
to postgraduate research classes and bibliographic management
advice.
O In my work I have proved myself to be popular and effective, able to
work with many different people from local and international
backgrounds in large teams or in smaller groups.
O rought cross-sector skills to my current position with, for example,
the transformation of the librarys new stock displays into line with
current commercial practice including customer recommendations.
O illingness to undertake special projects. I have recently been asked
to catalogue our university archive and hope to link this project with
local groups and heritage organisations using local libraries and local
studies units.
O As a trustee of local museum I have had an increasingly managerial
role and have relished the opportunities it has given me. I have had to
take responsibility (at short notice) for day to day running of an office,
of volunteer teams, steer volunteer forums, run training and updating
skills sessions, face to face venue enquires and HR matters involving
sickness and absence monitoring.
O I am an enthusiastic user of my own local library and a vocal advocate
of reading for pleasure, for fun, enjoyment and education. So much so
I was one of the founders of our university library book group.
I enclose a copy of my current CV and thank you for your time and
consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Sarah ebb








.ademi. goals
Having completed the first year of my PG/dip MSc course in Library and
Information Studies I would like to match this success in year two and go on
to complete my dissertation in year three.
In addition to this I want to pursue the subject area of my dissertation
research, library history, at a more advanced level. Majoring in history as
my first degree means that I can combine a historians skills with a
professional qualification and working experience of libraries to bring insight
and relevance to the library historians craft. In a time when public provision
of a universal library service is under threat and when the era of the book is
coming to an end, the reflections of library history are more than ever
relevant.
ith the ig Society being asked to take on more state provision, library
history can tell us whether this is a danger or a superb opportunity. The
many different forms of library in the past - monastic, university, country
house, proprietary library, coffee house, corner shop to mechanics institutes
- tell a story of the restriction of information and the struggles of the
information-disenfranchised to gain the humblest of access to learning. The
author Hannah Moore was clear that some people did not merit literacy: `I
allow of no writing for the poor. This is the implication of many councils
closure plans because without free access to books and electronic
information their less affluent constituents are stranded without information
for learning and leisure. One local library I have studied was given to the
townspeople through the American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and then
taken over by the local council. ith the threat of closure a small Northern
nglish town faces the reality of no library provision (including the peoples
network) and going back to before 1904 when Carnegie stepped in. That he
did step in argues for a role for both public-spirited individuals and big
business but this will change the relationship between users and providers of
information just as the passing of the codex changes the relationship
between the reader and what they read.
.ademi. skills
The results of the first year of my Masters (passed with a distinction) showed
my ability at this level. Returning to education after a large gap I was
pleased with this result. I realised early on that it takes real dedication to
combine full time work, family life, heavy course load plus volunteering and
to perform to the best of my skills. Hopefully in my second year I will do
even better.
ith a historians training I have sensitivity to detail and concern to respect
sources. This is backed by the ability to trace hard to find information and
using it effectively.
I work well alone but also enjoy the interaction of group work and the ability
to discuss and hone ideas with other students.
A heavy workload does not really phase me; having trawled three centuries
of family papers (volunteering with the National Trust) means having an eye
for the nugget of relevant and usable information in hundreds of archival
sources.
The conclusions I come to are never hasty and always considered on the
evidence before me.
I love writing and have proved that I have an ability to write well at a
Masters level. The challenge of a Masters dissertation is something I am
looking forward to with anticipation.
My Masters has reignited by interest in academic research and, apart from
furthering my professional standing this is something that I want to maintain
throughout my library career.
Career goals
I would like to create a purposeful and hopefully lasting career in the library
and information world. Professionally I have moved quite swiftly from
shelver to library assistant to soon to be professional qualified librarian within
a university library. Once qualified, I would seek my first professional
position as an assistant librarian either within my own institution or another
academic library.
I find the day to day activities of a busy academic library endlessly
interesting and challenging however a career in the public library service is
equally attractive. On a daily basis a public librarian works with users from a
wide variety of backgrounds demanding disparate answers to questions,
providing a range of services - books clubs, community information,
ookstart, reading in the home etc - under pressure of falling resources and
political support. Unlike the academic library service public libraries need
dedicated and enthusiastic advocates now and I feel I could be a much
needed voice here to help maintain a valued and pressured public service.
The truncation of a public library service is a threat to universal learning and
leisure activities and, unfortunately, gives the impression that such services
are not important in our current society. I would argue that a national
information service is as important as the NHS.
One of the interests I can bring from my academic background, in whichever
sector I enter, is an interest and zeal for user education. The ubiquity of
information in todays society often hides poor information comprehension
and manipulation skills. In order to ensure the democratic, economic,
cultural, sporting and personal life of any, and every, community,
information access and understanding is vital to ensure its health.
These are exciting and crucial times for information professionals. The
increase in electronic provision means we must change how services, such as
those in academic library and public libraries are delivered and also how we
interact with our users. eb 2.0 means that every user is important as an
individual and tailoring our services to each users requirements is crucial for
their satisfaction and the fulfilment of our professions remit.
I have an enthusiasm for the importance both of information provision,
advocacy and education and am eager to take up my first professional post.

du.ation history
2009 2011

PG/dip MSc course in Library and
Information Studies at Robert
Gordon University
First year passed with a
distinction

1995-1998 A (Hons) Combined Studies at
Glyndwr University
Upper Second Degree -
majored in History final
year dissertation was
%e Stamford Peerage
Case of 1892: race and
ineritance in te fine
de sicle.
1994-1995 A Level nglish Literature at
Stockport College
grade
1988 1990 A Level History at South Cheshire
College
C grade
1988 1990 A Level Religious Studies at South
Cheshire College
C grade
1988 1990 A Level General Studies at South
Cheshire College
C grade

mployment .areer
2005 (Aug-) Full time Senior Library
Assistant
Manchester Metropolitan
University

2004 (Dec) 2005 (Aug) Part time Senior Library
Assistant
Manchester Metropolitan
University

2004 (Dec) 2004 (July) Library shelver Manchester Metropolitan
University

2000 (June) 2004 (Dec) Illustrator Self-employed
1990 (Sep) 1995 (Aug) ookshop assistant Cloister ooks, Crewe


Certifi.ations, ..reditations, and ards
2006 uropean Computer Driving Licence

Publi.ations
2011-2012 Cesire History 'People Must Marry and Go Away': the
Victorian Marriages of the Leicester
arrens of Tabley.

2010 Friends of %abley
House
Panting Heart and Coronets: Romance
and Scandal and the Leicesters of
Tabley.
2009 Friends of %abley
House
'Ring up the Curtain! The Theatre
Royal, Tabley House
2009 Tabley House Collection
Trust
Restored dining room guides: Queen
mma Dined Here, John Lipscombe -
the utler, Obadiah Hewitt - the
Footman.
2009 Friends of %abley
House
Dining la Leicester
2008 Friends of %abley
House
Cristmas at %abley
2008 Friends of %abley
House

A Year with the Leicester of Tabley
2007 Friends of %abley
House

Queen mma Slept Here
2006 Friends of %abley
House

Leaves from a Journal
2006 Friends of %abley
House

The Tale of Trim
2005 Friends of %abley
House

Lady de Tabley and `Poor Susan L
2004 Tabley House Collection
Trust
Victorian Tabley: xtracts from the
Diaries of the Hon. Margaret Leicester
arren
1994 %e Dodo: te E F
Benson Society Journal
Lady Charles eresford
1992 %e Dodo: te E F
Benson Society Journal
Marie Corelli: Queen of the Lending
Libraries
1990 %e Dodo: te E F
Benson Society Journal

Margot Asquith
nterests
In my spare time I am a founding member of the MMU book group -
ookilicious. Im a volunteer at Tabley House, a Cheshire country house -
www.tableyhouse.co.uk. I write regularly for the Friends of Tabley House
newsletter, on all aspects of the history of the house, collections and families
who used to occupy the estate. ere working towards HODs 2010 and its a
brilliant but scary undertaking.
I collect eighteenth and nineteenth century engravings (theatrical stars and
fashion prints from Ackerman's Repository) and municipal bookplates from
public libraries. The charities I support include Oxfam, ook Aid
International and the National Trust. I am a member of:
O The Friends of Tabley House
O The Cheshire History Society
O lizabeth Gaskell Society
O Charlotte M. Yonge Fellowship
O The . F. enson Society
O The Angela Thirkell Society
I love baking and jam making, drawing and LibraryThing -
http://www.librarything.com/profile/Sarahursula.
#eferees
Dr Margaret Robinson,
Faculty Librarian MMU Cheshire,
Crewe Library,
Crewe Green Road
Crewe
Cheshire C1 5DU
Tel: 0161 247 5138
mail: m.g.robinson@mmu.ac.uk
Mrs Clare Pye,
Chairman Tabley House Collection Trust
Tabley House
Tabley
Knutsford
Cheshire A16 0H
Tel: 01565 750151
mail: Clare.Pye@manchester.ac.uk