Ian Snowley's blog

Gather under the Umbrella

Well its (almost) the eve of the CILIP Umbrella 2009 conference, and I'm looking forward to seeing the Programme I designed come alive.

All the groups and individuals involved have put a huge amount into the planning so I'm confident that it will be a great event.

No doubt I'll be rushing around, trying to take it all in - but if you're there do say hi.

I'm hoping the conference will have a good presence online, so even if you can't make it to Hatfield I hope you'll join in.

Books Change Lives

To the London Review of Books Bookshop last night for a event to launch Book Aid International's new strategic framework. The event was hosted by author Sebastian Faulks, and with Julian Fellowes spotted in the audience amongst a large turn out of publishers, librarians and BAI supporters,we were guaranteed an interesting evening.

The new strategy has three main elements: Supporting public, community and educational libraries; Supporting organisations working in development and human rights; and Supporting improvements to the quality of primary education in sub-Saharan Africa.

This is an ambitious increase to BAI's activities, particularly the move into supporting primary education and Director Clive Nettleton confirmed it will require the organisation to raise £5 million over the next three years. So they are working hard to find funding from all manner of sources (remember Government funding stopped last year).

Which makes it all the more important to join the excellent 'reverse book club' - pay £5 for four books which get sent to someone else who will really benefit from them!

What was really moving at the event was hearing the words of African children, beneficiaries of BAI's work, spoken by London schoolchildren - explaining how books really have changed their lives.

All in all a very inspiring event, and a reminder why organisations like BAI really do matter.

City of Culture - City of (Mobile) Libraries

We're just back from a long weekend in Liverpool - where I was involved in the judging for the Branch and Mobile Group's Annual MobileMeet.

I enjoyed my experience at this event last year (in Wales) so much that I decided to inaugurate a new prize (for the best small mobile library); and attended this year to award it.

The event was held at Aintree race course, and a superb turnout saw well deserved victory for the entry from Shetland in the best small mobile category. You can see more photos of the event and the other winners in the Liverpool 08 photo album. Author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce spoke to delegates and together we awarded the prizes.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying some of the events organised to mark Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture. Including two plays, 'Running the Silk Road' at the Everyman a very thoughtful and highly recommended collaboration between Yellow Earth and Beijing Opera Theatre (it is touring and due at the Barbican at the end of June); and a Watermill production 'London Assurance' a witty look at society and social mores in the 1840's - again its on tour but not (yet) coming to London.

In addition to this we also caught some of the art on offer including 'Gustav Klimt: painting, design and modern live in Vienna 1900' at the Tate - which whilst very good, maybe overplays the coverage of Klimt in the show; Anthony Gormley's captivating 'Another Place' on the beach at Crosby; Richard Wilson's 'Turning the Place Over' a dramatic intervention to the facade of an office block in the City centre; and Ben Johnson's 'Liverpool Cityscape' an amazingly detailed photo-realistic panorama of the Liverpool of today at the Walker Gallery - a fascinating and intriguing 'portrait' of the modern city that is now beginning to emerge.

We had a wonderful time in Liverpool, and this report should make it clear that there is a great deal going on throughout this year of culture which makes it, I think, a perfect time to visit.

There are photos in the Album Liverpool 08.

"no librarians were killed"*

In a fascinating, and inspiring, article in the Guardian on Thursday, Clarie Armitstead described how  libraries (and publishing projects) are helping to raise living standards in Colombia.

The article, which should be required reading for politicians in the UK (especially right now) explains how libraries are being developed across Colombia - 691 new libraries built since 2000, and quotes Minister of Culture Paula Marcela Moreno as saying "I believe there are minimum standards for quality of life, and access to a library is one of them."

Even though Colombia's total of 709 public libraries leaves it a long way short of the UK's c3,500, it feels a lot more encouraging to see a country (and its government) actively supporting their development, rather than the situation here where they are under threat.

*Quote from an article 'Colombia's Libraries: modernizing amidst a drug war' (American Libraries, v22 n7 p620-23 Jul-Aug 1991) by Ron Chepesiuk where he suggested that librarians were respected (and therefore not targeted) by the paramilitaries active in Colombia between 1986 and 1988.

New Chapter

Well as I've already mentioned I'm starting a new job next month, as Head of Higher Education at the British Library, you can read the formal announcement here.

I'm obviously excited to be joining the BL, which has been something of an ambition over the last few years, and I'm looking forward to involvement in a range of projects including the UK Research Reserve. Of course its a shame to be moving on from the University of London after just two years, and whilst the refurbishment project is still very much underway. I do hope to keep in touch with former colleagues both formally and informally and to see the results of the building work.

My new role will involve me in lots of liaison work so I do intend to take the opportunity to build on contacts made at UoL and as CILIP President. With the usual proviso about taking care to avoid any conflict with my responsibilities to my employer I'm sure I'll be commenting on my activities from time to time here.

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.

Behind closed doors?

In addition to being President of CILIP, I'm also Honorary President of APML - the Association of Pall Mall Libraries - an organisation you may well not have heard of! However, from fairly small beginnings the Association has successfully brought a large number of private and member libraries in London together to share information and resources. I joined APML when I was Director of Information Services at the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM).

So I was delighted to return to the RSM on Thursday night to take part in the formal opening of the Association's first joint exhibition 'Treasures from the London Clubs' - hosted in the RSM's new Heritage Centre. The exhibition includes a fascinating range of printed books, manuscripts, archives and artifacts (including an Emperor Penguin and a piece of Everest!) from the collections held in a selection of the clubs in membership of APML. Along with RSM Director of Library Services Wayne Sime, and noted club and book man A. N. Wilson I had the great pleasure of formally opening the exhibition in the company of distinguished guests from the member clubs, on what was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The exhibition is on until October 25th and is open Mon - Thurs 9am - 7pm; Friday 9am - 5.30pm and Sat 10am- 4.30pm - admission is free!

If I do say so myself, this is an excellent opportunity to see some very interesting items and the RSM Library too.

Safari so good!

Well we're safely back from IFLA in Durban, where we had a great time.

The pre-conference safari was excellent, I even slept in a tent (albeit a four star one!), and you can see my wildlife photos in the album Safari South Africa.

The conference itself was really enjoyable, and there was an record-breaking attendance from African delegates, just short of half of the 3,000+ attendees. The event and the sessions had a great buzz, and the local organisers worked hard to delivery some excellent ceremonial and social events too.

All in all, a great trip.

CILIP under one roof or Arise Sir Knight!

There's a lot I want to say about the recent Umbrella conference, but that will have to wait until I have more time - for now its enough to say that I had a really enjoyable and stimulating time. The three plenaries were all excellent and very thought provoking, and all the sessions I attended were very interesting. The delegates I met seemed to be enjoying themselves too, and I hope that was the experience of everyone who attended.

The social events were fun, including the Medieval Banquet at Hatfield House where I became part of the entertainment, ending up knighted by Queen Elizabeth I - no doubt it makes better sense if you were there, but these photos from KN might help!

Last round-up?

Well not in the sense that I'm planning to stop writing - but more in the hope that I will stay on-top of things and not need to do catch-up posts in the future. I suspect that's something of a forlorn hope though!

I've been away in the US, and although I did have Internet access in the hotel - I just didn't manage to get down to some blogging - at least I take that as a sign of a good conference with plenty to do!

Before I headed off to New York, Philadelphia and briefly Atlantic City, I enjoyed some more Welsh hospitality at CILIP Cymru's Annual Conference held at the famous Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells. My stay was rather brief, but I did get to meet some interesting colleagues and hear about some of the particular issues affecting libraries in Wales. I even got to spend some time in Second Life, which I hope I will find time to return to soon.

After Wales I headed for the US and Philadelphia where I was speaking at the (US) Medical Library Association Annual Meeting. I think my talk went down well, and it was good to hook up with a number of old friends from the US, and colleagues from the UK, including CILIP President-Elect Bruce Madge who was once again performing with his band 'The Bearded Pigs'.

Back in the UK I braved some rather nasty cold and wet weather (a big contrast to the warm sunny US), to start my 100k Charity Run - with a rather modest 5k in Battersea Park. Despite the weather I managed a reasonable 24 minutes, and hopefully that's prepared me for the first 10k of the challenge, tomorrow in Greenwich.

I also found time mid-week to speak at the CILIP in London Branch AGM, and it was a great pleasure to speak about my career in London to a very welcoming audience. I do strongly feel part of the library community in London, and it was good to be speaking on home territory - having spoken in lots of other parts of the UK recently, including Manchester where I recieved a very warm welcome despite being rather late!