Career Pathways: Peter Murgatroyd
PETER MURGATROYD, SPECIAL LIBRARY MANAGER AT COUNTIES MANUKAU HEALTH
In this column we interview library and information professionals – finding out how they got to where they are and any advice they have for students or new professionals. Our latest interview subject is special librarian Peter Murgatroyd, a special library manager at Counties Manukau Health.
Q KIA ORA PETER AND THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR CAREER PATHWAY WITH OUR READERS. FIRST UP, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT
A YOUR CURRENT ROLE? WHAT DO YOU DO DAY-TO-DAY? My current role is Library and Knowledge Services Manager at Counties Manukau Health. I manage a team of six comprising three information specialists, a knowledge broker, a library assistant and an elearning administrator. We support evidence-based care and evidence-informed decision making by providing library and research services for the staff at Counties Manukau
District Health Board. This includes: literature search and reference services, curation, publication and dissemination of evidence, capability building and document supply. I manage a digital resources budget of approx. $750,000 and a wonderful physical library and learning space that can accommodate about 25 users. In addition to the management and oversight of library services I also manage the Ko Awatea LEARN elearning platform supporting elearning for approximately 50,000 staff across 15 District Health Boards. I am a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Ko Awatea, the innovation and improvement hub of Counties Manukau Health.
CAN YOU ALSO TELL US WHAT QUALIFICATIONS YOU HAVE?
I have an undergraduate degree in Social Work and Social Policy from Massey University and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from Victoria University of Wellington.
IS THIS THE CAREER YOU ALWAYS INTENDED TO GO INTO?
I originally trained as a social worker and spent two years working in the health and disability sector before putting that career on ice (at the tender age of 23!) and pivoting towards a career in librarianship. Having been born with a congenital disability I spent many years as a patient at Middlemore Hospital as a child and feel in some ways that I have come full circle returning to the health and disability sector and being based at Middlemore after many interesting years in a range of roles and sectors that took me away from New Zealand for more than 15 years.
It is sometimes hard to believe it has been 10 years since I completed my MLIS via distance while working in Samoa and almost 30 years since I completed my Diploma in Librarianship from Victoria University Wellington. In that time I have been a corporate high flying yuppie managing legal libraries in two of the
top law firms in New Zealand (Bell Gully and Phillips Fox); a ‘barefoot’ library volunteer in the Solomon Islands; a university law librarian and campus librarian in for the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu; an environment sector knowledge manager working for the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, a Pacific regional organisation in Samoa; an advisor to schools with the National Library of New Zealand; and now a library manager in the health sector promoting and supporting evidence based care at Counties Manukau Health, one of the largest DHBS in New Zealand.
The common thread in my career to date has been a curiosity for new knowledge and experience and a commitment to continually seek out opportunities to stretch myself personally and professionally. I am committed to the long held belief that access to knowledge enriches lives and empowers communities. I have been driven by both a deep seated desire to make a difference and a natural disposition to continually reflect, question and explore new ways of thinking and working.
I have been fortunate to have been in a position in my roles in the Pacific to contribute to a number of significant regional projects in law, environment, climate change, and marine/ fisheries that have leveraged new technologies to provide free and open access to critical knowledge across the island nations of the Pacific in these sectors.
WHAT WAS YOUR IDEA OF WHAT LIBRARIANS ARE AND WHAT THEY DO, BEFORE YOU BECAME ONE?
Before entering my first library role as a circulation assistant at Auckland University Library I hadn’t given much thought to what librarians are or do but rather I was attracted to being part of a profession dedicated to the fostering of learning and scholarship and the pursuit of new knowledge.
IF YOU WERE MEETING SOMEONE WHO HAD JUST FINISHED THEIR UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE AND WAS CONTEMPLATING DOING A POSTGRADUATE LIS QUALIFICATION WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THEM? WHAT SORT OF PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES DO YOU THINK YOU NEED TO GO INTO LIS WORK?
In my current role I regularly have the opportunity to recruit for new staff to join our team and, inasmuch as there will always be a core requirement for educational excellence and intellectual rigour, I strongly believe that it is the soft skills that are increasingly essential to ensure that our profession thrives and not just survives.
I am seeking team members who are curious, emotionally intelligent, collaborative, and agile.
Excellent communicators, with the potential and desire to grow their confidence in both management and leadership.
For a recent graduate thinking of a career in librarianship in the ‘special’ sector I would encourage them to explore sectors they are truly passionate about and to think about how they can grow and develop their ‘soft’ skills in addition to their technical expertise. We live in a rapidly changing, disruptive world and as a profession it has never been more critical that we demonstrate both agility and courage to embrace new ways of thinking and new ways of doing.
HAVE YOU GOT ANY LIBRARIAN MENTORS? WHAT DID THEY TEACH YOU?
I owe a debt of gratitude to Philip Calvert, whose lectures in international and comparative librarianship – regularly drawing upon his own experiences as a ‘barefoot’ librarian in Papua New Guinea and Fiji – set me on a path to 15 years of island hopping across the Pacific. I feel very fortunate to have been on a professional and personal journey that has been challenging, enriching and fulfilling.
NGĀ MIHI NUI PETER, WHAT A FASCINATING CAREER SO FAR!