Library Professional Cadet Program

About the Cadet Program

The Library’s Professional Cadet Program offers a wonderful opportunity to combine work and study over a 3 year period. Cadets actively participate in a comprehensive, three year on-the-job training program targeting all Divisions of the Library, gaining practical experience and leadership development, whilst completing formal study.

Cadets receive an annual salary with increments each year, plus an annual allowance to partially support tuition fees and a text book allowance. Cadets are granted study time in accordance with the University Study Time guidelines.

The program includes a structured approach designed to equip cadets with the necessary skills and experience to be competitive for future employment in this highly dynamic sector.

Cadets work in the following teams:

• Client Services – 6 months
  Delivering services to enable clients to access resources through loans; collection maintenance and the provision of information services.
• Resource Sharing - 4 months
  Facilitating responsive, cost effective access to supplementary content through resource sharing services including Document Delivery, ArticleReach and BONUS+
• Collection Development – 4 months
  Developing and maintaining strong, focused, core collections to meet the teaching and research needs of UOW through acquiring and enabling access to hardcopy and electronic information resources.
• Scholarly Content – 4 months
  Source, preserve and provide access to UOW content through: coordination of the annual Higher Education Research Data Collection, managing the institutional repository, and digitisation of unique archival collections.
• Technology Services – 3 months
  Delivering information and communications technology (ICT) services throughout the Library, implementing and maintaining the Library's desktop computing environment.
• Marketing and Quality – 3 months
  Business planning, development, quality evaluations and promoting targeted services to enhance and sustain the Library's reputation.
• Liaison Services – 6 months
  Liaison Services consists of 3 teams, Outreach, Learning and Research Services and Educational Technology.
  • Outreach: fostering relationships with Faculties, Schools and Research Centres to enable services to be tailored to meet their needs (cadets will meet with individual staff for an overview)
  • Learning and Research Services: providing research help; information skills classes; selecting information resources; tailored consultation services; providing publication reports. (cadets will work closely with this team)
  • Educational Technology: creating and maintaining Guides, online tutorials, learning objects; providing bibliometric reports to support Research. (Cadets will work closely with this team)
• Cadet choice – 6 months
  The cadet is given the opportunity in their last 6 months to choose an area they feel they may like to gain extra experience, with an emphasis on developing leadership skills.

Throughout the program, cadets will work closely with the students and staff of the University. Cadets will be regularly rostered at services points.

Performance reports

The Cadets are required to maintain a Job Portfolio in consultation with the Team Leader. Monthly review meetings with the team leader allows for setting key monthly learning’s, learning strategies and to discuss issues relating to the Library’s identified competencies and personal attributes. The Manager, Administration will meet regularly with the Cadet to monitor progress against the monthly review meetings.

Testimonials

Jennifer McLean, BA (UOW), MInfoStud(Lib)(CSU)
January 2009 - August 2011

The Library Professional Cadet program is perfect for gaining on the job experience in a rapidly changing environment, while progressing through a Library Science degree. Over 3 years I gained skills and knowledge from various teams over the whole library, which would not have been possible outside of the cadetship. The cadetship also meant that I was working full time while completing my Master of Information Studies. This meant that I had on the job experience to bring to my university work, and also the support of colleagues who had great knowledge of the industry. At the end of my cadetship, I found myself open to and eligible for a variety of jobs in the Library and Information services sector, which would not have been possible without the cadetship.

 

Kristy Newton, BA (English)(Hons)(UOW), GradDipAppSc (Lib&InfoMgt)(CSU), MAppSc(Lib&InfoMgt)(CSU)
June 2007 - June 2010

I was the first cadet to complete the full three year program. The Library Professional Cadetship was an invaluable learning experience which allowed me to develop a range of professional skills across varied areas of the Library. The cadetship also furthered my personal development, through developing my confidence and interpersonal skills. The support provided by the Library allowed me to complete my Masters degree in Library and Information Management while working in the field and reinforced my practical learning experience with an academic understanding of the profession.

The experience and knowledge I gained through the cadetship was instrumental in my development as a Library professional, and equipped me with a vision for my future career development. I was given several development opportunities including conference attendance, in-house training and Library committee membership, and was able to contribute to a variety of stimulating and valuable projects. I would strongly recommend the cadetship to any person keen to enter the Library profession.

 

Kristen Rumsey, BA Informatics (USyd), Grad Dip AppSci(LIM) (CSU), M.AppSci(LIM) (CSU), AALIA
February 2006 – August 2008

The UOW Library Professional Cadetship program was a great opportunity to learn a wide range of skills on the job whilst studying for my Masters degree in Library and Information Science. During my time in the cadetship program, my experiences in the work environment greatly enhanced my studies as I had real life cases to draw upon in my research and analysis. I gained valuable experience in all library teams and in library processes which gave me the opportunity to discover which areas of librarianship I wanted to pursue in the future. Most important of all, the program involved working with a wide range of Library staff, managers and clients, which has greatly improved my interpersonal and communication skills. Towards the end of my cadetship I found that I was most interested in the area of information literacy and instruction.

 

Rebecca Daly, BA (UOW), BAppSci (CSU)
September 2005 – July 2008

In 2005 I became the first cadet to commence the 3 year UOW Library Professional Cadetship program. The opportunity to receive comprehensive training within a dynamic academic library, and build the knowledge and confidence to assist me in achieving my career goals, are elemental to the cadetship program. I enjoyed the variety of challenges in the 3 year Cadetship and embraced the opportunities it gave me for progressing skills that would allow me to take on bigger responsibilities. The Professional Cadetship program will allow me to develop a rewarding and challenging career within the Library and Information sector.

More information

For more information about the Professional Cadet Program, contact Jo-anne Lombardi (jo-anne_lombardi@uow.edu.au), Manager, Administration.

Content by: Administration Coordinator