Ian Snowley's blog

Where's Snowley (been)?

This is my first post of 2008 and therefore also my first since a few days before Christmas! When I signed off for the seasonal holiday I didn't intend to stay away for so long - but since January I've been working through the arrangements for a new job (see next post for details) and I wanted to sort that out before returning to the fray here.

Thankfully all is sorted out and I'm back - and have quite a lot to say and catch up on, I hope to do that over the coming week.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Season's Greetings

We're off to Suffolk to celebrate Christmas with family, so there won't be any posts for a week or so - but before I go I wanted to wish all readers (!) Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for 2008.

Thank you to all of you who've supported me during my term of office.

Best wishes, Ian

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!

The future of the profession

What already seems an unnaturally busy week started with my 'annual' opportunity to speak to a group of first year students from the Department of Information Science at City University on Monday. I did this for the first time last year, and as I enjoyed it, and the students didn't complain too much, Lyn Robinson asked me back again this year.

As before I was keen to have an interactive session, so I posed some questions around the future of the profession, and discussed their responses with the students.

It's always interesting (and valuable) to discuss issues with our future colleagues, and I certainly found their answers enlightening and I hope the students did too.

In the news!

I've been 'fortunate' to have featured in two publications this week - the 'Independent on Sunday', in the feature on CILIP Qualifications, and in an 'end of term' interview for 'Research Information'.

The IoS article was a repeat of the feature in the Guardian last year, and once again I'm convinced that this is a useful and appropriate way to help spread the word about the value of librarians (and information professionals) and our qualifications.

Without sounding like I'm protesting too much! I do want to say that I had no say in the layout and would have happily traded a smaller photo for more quotes!

As for the interview in Research Information December/January (latest issue not online at the time of writing), I was really pleased to be asked to do this - and happy to reflect the importance of this sector of the profession.

Perhaps inevitably in a phone interview there are things that didn't come out quite as I had intended. So let me say that the membership figure I quote is my estimation of those involved in supporting research (not necessarily commercial) activity.

Regional Round-Up

Last month I had the opportunity to meet a number of CILIP members from a wide range of libraries through two events; firstly in at a Yorkshire & Humberside Branch Day held at the National Science Learning Centre in York. As well as meeting members from the region, I also got to see the very impressive Resource Centre at the NSLC and to take part in a practical session on Wikis!

The second event was one of my 'back to the floor' events, and I spent a day with the Library team in the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust based at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester. I was made very welcome by Brenda Goddard and her team, and it was very interesting to see just how wide the user base of the library was. Taking in clinicians in the hospital, medical and nursing students and a wide range of health professionals in the surrounding area.

As well as finding out about the library and its services, I got to tour the site and enjoy lunch with senior staff from the Trust and librarians (representing public, college and university libraries) from the Winchester area. This provided a great opportunity to find out what's happening in the region from a range of perspectives. All in all this was a very enjoyable and stimulating day.

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.

Normal service will be resumed...

after this message - I'm not sure what it is, but despite having plenty going on (oh that might be it), I've been very quiet on here!

I'll try to catch up, and stay caught up.

Famous conference delivers!

I'm writing this from the CILIP Publicity & Public Relations Group (PPRG) Conference ('Your Space or Mine') held as usual in the dramatic setting of the Waterside Hotel by the Lake in Grasmere, Cumbria.

The day started with a really fascinating presentation from Rachel van Riel - focusing on the idea of space for reading. She gave delegates lots of food for thought with some really inspiring examples of redesigns which have transformed outdated public libraries into really inviting modern spaces.

This was followed by an excellent presentation from Sue Sparks talking about her role in modernising libraries in Kent, and the really good community consultation and engagement that has helped to make a success of their projects.

After lunch I took off to explore the lake and village, but the programme continues with a workshop to the complete the afternoon, and the presentation of the Group's Marketing Excellence Awards before dinner tonight.

Sessions resume Saturday morning, before we all head back home eager to put some ideas into action.This is my first time at the conference, but I'm sure it won't be my last.

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.