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April 20, 2006
Resistance to change
I have become used to fairly fierce dislike of my call for improvement in the library service to the public. (Libri website)
The resistance comes from some, but not all, members of the library profession and those who have positioned themselves in places of influence in government and defend the library status quo.
Rarely has it been more clearly put than in a message I received yesterday. A senior member of CILIPS, the librarians' professional body in Scotland invited me to Scotland a few weeks ago and we had a very agreeable and positive discussion with some others about how we could contemplate analysing the situation and planning changes. He suggested the next stage would be a private meeting with Elaine Fulton who is the head of the Scottish governmental and professional bodies for public libraries and he offered to approach her with the idea. I was delighted to agree- I thought it was a very sensible step.
Yesterday's message was:
"Tim, Elaine Fulton, Chief Executive of SLIC/CILIPS completely rejected the idea of meeting you or involving you in discussion about Scottish libraries."
I have never met nor talked to Elaine Fulton in my life! All she could know in anticipation is what she has read and what others have said. So much for trying!
Posted by Tim Coates at April 20, 2006 10:45 AM