LAS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (PDS)

A GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS [August 2008]

1= . Overview of scheme

1.1 The LAS Professional Development Scheme (PDS) is an award that recognizes the effort and achievements of librarians in their professional training and development effort. The award of “Practicing Professional (PP)”= is given to librarians who attain a prescribed level of training and professio= nal development activities. LAS will confer the award to individuals on the recommendation of the PDS Board and their names will be gazetted and listed in the official LAS website. Employers will be able to use this = as an indicator of a librarian’s ability in keeping up with the rapid changes in our field and his/her likelihood of performing their job competently. Employers are encouraged to use the scheme as part of their performance appraisal process and for recruiting middle and senior level professional staff.

1.2 To qualify for the PP award, a librarian needs to engage in 3 areas of professional development and training activities. Each activity will attrac= t a certain number of points. A librarian will deem to qualify for the award wh= en he/she accumulate the necessary number of points in the 3 areas. Evidence of the achievement will then be submitted by the candidate to the PDS Committee who will then verify and recommend to LAS Council to award the PP status.

2= . Procedure for obtaining award<= /o:p>

2.1 The PDS scheme is designed to be simple for applicants to register and for LAS = to administer. All information regarding the scheme will be available in the L= AS website <www.las.org.sg>. Appli= cants only need to follow the 4 simple steps below:

a) &nbs= p; Be familiar with the types of professional development activities that qualify= for endorsement by PDS [see Section 3]

b) &nbs= p; Engage in these activities [see Section 4]

c) &nbs= p; Keep proper records of these activities [see Section 5] and the number of points accumulated [see Section 3] using the PDS Activities Record Form (PAR Form) [download from LAS website]

d) &nbs= p; When the minimum points required is reached, complete the print out the PAR Form, sign the declaration and send to PDS Board for endorsement. Ensure that you meet all pre-requisites before submission [see Section 6]=

2.2 After verification, the PDS Board will recommend your application to the LAS Coun= cil for the award of Practicing Professional status. Your name will be listed on the LAS Website for a period of 2 years.

3= . Professional development activities=

3.1 Ap= plicants need to engage in 3 types of professional development activities:

	Expertise development (ED)<= /o:p>	Activities that will help to upgrade and improve the skills and knowledge of practitioners
	Industry Knowledge Development (ID)	Activities that keep the practitioner informed of current developments in the information industry=
	Personal Development (PD)	Activities that helps the practitioner improve on his work productivity, personal management skills= and general knowledge

3.2 Each activity entitles the applicant to a number of points. To qualify for the Practicing Professional (PP) Award, the applicant needs to accumulate at le= ast 500 points for ED, 300 points for ID, 100 points for PD and another 100 poi= nts from any of the categories within 2 years.

	ACTIVITIES	POINTS	CAP
A)	Expertise Developme= nt (500 points)	<= /span>	<= /span>
	Training		350
1	Participate in course/workshop on specif= ic LIS area (half day)	27
2	Participate in course/workshop on specif= ic LIS area (1 day)	34
3	Participate in course/workshop on specif= ic LIS area (2-4 day)	48
4	Participate in course/workshop on specif= ic LIS area (5-10 day)	70
5	Participate in course/workshop on specif= ic LIS area (>10 day)	160
6	Participate in Conference/seminar (half = day)	17
7	Participate in Conference/seminar (1-day)<= o:p>	24
8	Participate in Conference/seminar (2-day)<= o:p>	38
9	Participate in Conference/seminar (> 3-= day)	52
10	Participation in e-learning course or online conferenc= e	27
11	Participate in library internship (3-5 day= s)	62
12	Participate in library internship (> 5 days)	124
	Professional activities		350
13	Chair conference session and seminar	29
14	Speaker at professional forum or seminar=	70
15	Participate as ad-hoc committee member (= at least 3 months)	54
16	Participate as committee member of profe= ssional body (per year)	125
17	Participate as committee chair or council member of LAS (per year)	146
18	Participate as office holder of LAS Coun= cil (per year)	176
19	Participate in LAS mentorship scheme	88
	Authorship		350
20	Write and/or present paper at a conferen= ce as main author	184
21	Write and/or present paper at a conferen= ce as joint author	174
22	Present paper only at conference	50
23	Edit conference proceeding or book<= /o:p>	162
24	Prepare and present poster at conference=	92
25	Publish scholarly article in refereed journal or publication as main author	220
26	Publish scholarly article in refereed journal or publication as joint author	200
27	Write short article in published magazin= e or news bulletin (> 1,000 words)	44
28	Write feature article in published magaz= ine, news bulletin (>2,000 words)	68
29	Write course materials for professional development activities	44
30	Conduct professional course or workshop (half-day)	117
31	Conduct professional course or workshop (> 1 day)	180
	Professional reading and Self study=		200
32	Professional reading as evidenced by certified reading= log or contributed annotated bibliography or reviews in LAS website (per year)	100
33	Participation in study group or reading circle (regist= ered with LAS) (per year)	100
34	Maintain news or reading blog (per year)	100
35	Independent learning project with documentation (per y= ear)	100

B)	Industry Knowledge Development (300 points)