Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is important for library professionals to stay updated on changing trends and technologies. There are 10 ways to engage in CPD, including talking with colleagues to learn from their experiences, keeping up with current library literature, creating and curating social media accounts, visiting other libraries to see how they operate, joining mailing lists in the library field, attending library seminars and conferences, thinking about presenting at an event to share expertise, mentoring others to develop skills, and checking the L2L website for those with teaching roles.

1. Continuing Professional
Development:
10 Ways to Keep Up To Date

2. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is
vital to keep your knowledge up to date with
changing trends and technologies and to
further your career in library and information
services.

3. 1. 1.Talk to your colleagues
Learn from their experiences. This type
of informal learning can happen
spontaneously when you see something
new or interesting happening in your
workplace.

4. 2. Keep up to date with
current library literature
Try and build time into your day/week
to peruse the latest library publications
and keep up to date with emerging
trends.

5. 3. Create and curate social
media accounts
Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedln
are all great ways of keeping up to date
with library developments and also
engaging with other library
professionals.

6. 4. Visit other libraries
It’s always interesting to see how other
libraries operate and pick up new ways
of doing things.

7. 5. Join a mailing list
There are lots of email lists and
discussion groups in the library and
information field. Pick out some you
might find interesting.

8. 6. Reflective Practice
Using this technique can help you find
new perspectives on how you work and
this could create a change in behaviour,
practice or your thinking.

9. 7. Attend library seminars and
conferences
This is a great way of learning about
new practices and meeting colleagues
from different libraries.

10. 8. Think about presenting at a
conference or seminar
Share your expertise with others. We all
benefit from sharing knowledge and this
is an important way to contribute to
your profession.

11. 9. Mentoring
Becoming a mentor can help your
communication and personal skills and
help develop leadership qualities.

12. 10. L2L
Check out the website dedicated to the
professional development of library staff
especially those who have a teaching
role within their organisation.