Ian Snowley's blog

Policy, Policy, Policy

That's what most members would argue CILIP needs to concentrate on, and after the first meeting of the new Policy Forum, held in Birmingham last week, I'm pleased to say that CILIP is definitely addressing that need.

The Policy Forum is the last piece of the new Governance framework to come into being, and I was pleased to see representatives from groups and branches, joined by Honorary Officers, staff and Trustees all working together openly to discuss the key issues facing CILIP and the Profession.

Of course this was the first meeting of the Forum, and it will take a lot more work to develop policy statements across the key areas we discussed. But I'm confident that under Vice-President Peter Griffiths' firm leadership and with the enthusiastic support of staff and members the Forum will deliver in the coming few months.

The energy in the meeting room, and the high level of consensus over the ideas put forward certainly encouraged me, and even made the journey back to London, on (yet again) an overcrowded Virgin train bearable.

Popular Choice

I want to offer my congratulations and best wishes to all the successful candidates in the CILIP Council election (and my commiserations to those who weren't elected). The new Council will have a good spread of expertise, and therefore I believe we really are ready to launch the 'new' CILIP on January 1st.

I would (of course) have been even happier with the process if the turnout had been higher - but we just have to work on that, and look for ways to increase interest and participation in CILIP's governance. I was pleased to see the 'online hustings' in the CILIP Communities and I hope this will be a regular feature of the process - maybe even supported by real hustings too!

One Nation - in four parts

Recently I attended the periodic CILIP - CILIP Scotland Meeting; and the CILIP Four Nations Meeting (attended by representatives of CILIP Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Branches).

These regular meetings provide an important mechanism for the sharing of information - particularly important in relation to the devolved political structures in place in the UK; and for some joint planning - mainly in relation to conferences.

They also provide a useful opportunity to review trends in the information world across the UK, and ensure that all parties are aware of the similarities and differences that exist.

My Congratulations

go to CILIP Vice President (elect) for 2008 - Peter Griffiths, and I'd like to wish good luck to all 14 candidates in the election for the 12 places on CILIP Council for 2008.

Vote early - vote often*

*Well that bit actually comes later - but to make sure that CILIP members have someone to vote for, now's the time to get your nominations in for the post of Vice-President or for a seat on the new Council.

This really is an important opportunity - your Professional body needs you!

CILIP to the fore!

Following on from previous posts about advocacy, and fitting in nicely with reports in the latest issue of Update, I'm very happy to report further CILIP activity this week.

On Tuesday I participated in a meeting of CILIP's Executive Board where there was a lively discussion about the need for a sustained advocacy campaign focusing on public library standards and the role of professional staff, and which culminated in a unanimous vote to move ahead with a full campaign supported by a 'fighting fund' which we hope will be supported by other interested organisations too - so you'll hear much more about this from CILIP soon.

Then in the afternoon I found myself heading for West London, to speak in a TV discussion arising from the think tank report on 'extremist' literature in public libraries. Sadly it wasn't the BBC or Sky, but instead Press TV an Iranian based satellite and Internet channel!

I was a member of a four person panel, on the religious and cultural programme Nexus. The other contributors (Dr Taj Hargey; Theo Hobson; and Mal Fletcher) were religious or cultural commentators - so I found myself representing libraries in the debate. My invitation had come about thanks to the Press Release that CILIP issued, so it shows that this media activity does actually get noticed!

The debate focused on a number of areas - namely the coverage of the report in the media, was this biased itself, the question of whether 'extremist' materials should be censored, and what moderate Muslims can do to counter extremism. I confined my comments to a strong support for CILIP's policy that there should be no censorship of library materials (except that required by law) and the importance of professional librarians in building a balanced and appropriate collection. Both these points found favour from the other guests, so I don't think there was quite as much disagreement as the presenter (Rebecca Masterton) was hoping for!

I'm also not so sure what the viewers in Iran or Worldwide will make of my strong demands that the UK Government takes Public Library funding much more seriously - but you never know they might have some impact somewhere!

The programme was recorded 'as live' for transmission at the weekend - so with a health warning that I don't know how it will turn out (though I was grateful for my CILIP media training) you can see it this Saturday at 15.05; it will then be repeated on Sunday at 15.30; Monday at 1.05 am and 11.05 am - however it appears only to be shown at certain times, and not available for download from the Internet - which may be a blessing!

I certainly enjoyed the experience, even though I did feel that I had a fairly narrow range of things to say!

Update - Sunday: I watched the programme (on a shaky internet connection) and on the whole I thought it went OK - though I'm sure my Mother would say 'Sit up straight!"

Advocacy

CILIP took an important step into the current debate about Public Library provision by writing to new Culture Secretary James Purnell to remind him of his statutory responsibilities, and issuing a Press Release entitled 'Is your local library up to standard? Probably not says CILIP' I'm pleased to have contributed to the text and to be part of this important activity.

The release particularly focuses on the issue of staff cuts, and the important role of professional staff in providing the level of service required to meet local needs.

I hope that this is just the first step in what will be a wider campaign, CILIP has also sent evidence to the Hampshire Scrutiny Committee, and is in the process of writing to other authorities where cuts have been proposed.

Membership Matters

Well the CILIP Members' Day & AGM has passed off successfully, as usual it is good and encouraging to see CILIP members coming together to celebrate our colleagues' achievements, and to engage with the governance of the Institute. As usual not enough members attended - is that because the events are in 'work time' or London? I would be interested to know what might make a difference to attendance.

Despite that, it was good to see the new Fellows and Honorary Fellows collect their certificates, amongst them a number of friends, including Maggie Haines visiting from her new home in Canada.

For me the event also provided a rehearsal (in a way) for next year, as I was on the platform deputising for the Chair of Executive Board, so I got to see what the President has to do on the day from close-up, and of course it also gave me an opportunity to think about my speech for next year.

Future Profession?

Over the past few weeks I've been working as part of the CILIP New Business Model working group (details in July/August Update and recent issues of Gazette) - which has been set up to define what CILIP should do for the profession and for members, within realistic funding levels.

Obviously it's not right to comment on the work of the group in detail at this stage - proposals are due to be discussed at a special meeting of Council in October, and I hope after that to discuss the options and ideas in more detail. One thing I can say is that collectively the group is working very hard to produce far thinking and long-lasting proposals, that will secure CILIP's long-term future.

Are you talking to me?

Another aspect of my CILIP activity this week was coordinating a response to the Government's consultation exercise on the plans for a single health research budget.

This came about as part of my role as Chair of the joint SCONUL CILIP Health Services Group. Inevitably getting comments together for this kind of exercise isn't easy, and indeed would have been impossible without the hard work, dedication and knowledge of Guy Daines, but I'm also pleased to say, that we did get very useful comments from members of the committee and some 'outside' experts which made the response all the more useful.

Of course I doubt that the Government were looking for comments about libraries and how they impact on research, but if we are to ensure that libraries are resourced to support researchers then its a point we need to keep making - at every opportunity!