Building Your Portfolio: The CILIP Guide

Citation

Tootill, C. (2008), "Building Your Portfolio: The CILIP Guide", New Library World, Vol. 109 No. 9/10, pp. 487-488. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800810910522

This guide has been written for a broad audience. It is intended to be of practical benefit to information practitioners working towards the professional qualifications awarded by CILIP (Certification, Chartership, Fellowship and Revalidation), to new entrants to information careers and their managers or mentors, and, indeed, to anyone seeking to establish and maintain a record of their Continuing Professional Development.

The book sets out to equip candidates with advice, hints, tips and the benefit of others' experience, to enable the building of a high‐quality portfolio of achievement.

It offers a mix of background and specifics; theory and practice, and sets out the fundamental starting points of the nature of the qualifications, the criteria for achievement, and the assessment mechanisms applied.

The book as a whole is accessible and easily navigable. The contents list contributes to this by displaying clarity and thoroughness in its function as a guide to the material covered. The index is adequate and covers topics from all probable search points.

The book presents a thorough step‐by‐step charting of the journey from setting out on one's career through to what happens to the Portfolio once it has been submitted.

The value, to building the all‐important Portfolio, of reflective thinking is given significance. The case is strongly made that the creation of a Portfolio is not just for the purposes of satisfying the criteria for achieving CILIP qualifications; it is a key tool for all practitioners, new and experienced, in monitoring professional experience, achievement and development to enable self‐understanding of one's personal and career development.

Following on from discussion of reflectiveness, are chapters giving practical advice on such topics as CVs, professional development planning, and collection of evidence.

Specific elements in building an effective portfolio are given separate chapters. The book can therefore be either read straight through or dipped into for guidance on particular aspects.

Information is presented as “hints and tips” which reinforces the key points made within the chapter.

However, there is a degree of inconsistency within the book's presentation that detracts somewhat from its overall impact as a powerful work of professional guidance. For example, there are different styles of presentation to personal development plans and to personal professional development plans. There is no explanation of the latter's being in chart form whilst the former was entirely narrative.

Although the book as a whole is accessible in character, some chapters demonstrate this quality more than others. For example the chapter on CVs might have offered more assistance had it given examples of model CVs in their entirety rather than short extracts. It is necessary to pick out specific practical points from within the narrative presentation and it is possible that an important point could be easily missed.

The chapter on Personal Development Plans explains SMART targets through use of bullet points, but all other information and advice on the subject of the chapter are presented purely in narrative form. Extended use of bullet points would have assisted identification of key points.

In contrast, the chapter on the Personal Statement exhibits clarity and consistency which lend qualities of dependability and reliability. The chapter on Supporting Evidence was also coherent, clear and accessible. The case studies offered clear examples and relevance for the reader to draw from. The Final Steps chapter was of practical value in its clear, step‐by‐step treatment of its subject matter.

Calling passages of text “Case Study” arguably did not actually add to the book. The approach led the reviewer to expect actual portfolio instances drawn from the preparation and submission of specific individual portfolios, rather than the rather general narrative which was offered.

The bibliography was comprehensive in its suggestions for further reading on several areas of relevance to the production of the Portfolio, including works on reflective thinking, lifelong learning, identification of training needs, and NVQs.

Overall, this work offers much to its intended readership and will be of assistance in understanding and meeting the criteria for achieving a successful portfolio.