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August 30, 2006
Reform of CILIP
Councillors come in all shapes and sizes. Being a local councillor in England is not going to make you famous unless you do something very naughty; but on the other hand the role gives some councillors the centre stage and other councillors the opportunity to do a lot of good. I have met many councillors in my pursuit of better libraries and on the whole I like them. I am sure there are rogues, but most have a sense of decency and democracy which is worth some respect.
By and large they are completely deceived by their officers and, if I do have a criticism, I am surprised by the extent of this. One would have thought they would not be quite so naive- but on the other hand, when you see how most are handled and misled, you would not have expected such skills of deviousness by civil servants and government officers paid to perform civic duty.
Councillors allocate taxpayers' money to officers and professional librarians so that they can run a decent public library service. They don't know the detail of how to do that, they expect the professionals to do their best and to give them guidance as to the role councillors need to play. Councillors don't expect to have to correct the actions of library professionals but they do expect to be able to participate in and advise on the sensible and well informed direction of the service.
So nobody, for years and years, has managed the library professionals. They have been trusted to use the money effectively. They have a professional body, called CILIP, with whom each can confer. CILIP have a responsible role to play in the library service. Nobody manages CILIP or demands anything of it; it is expected that they will be honourable and public spirited. They should provide the collective guidance that will give the country a decent set of public libraries
So what happened to our public library service? Now that it has all gone wrong, where do the changes need to be made? Of course we have to look to councillors to insist upon changes- but that is difficult when the only source of advice they receive is from the people who need to change. It is very difficult for councillors to correct what has gone so horribly wrong. However much they want to see improvement, they aren't in a position to manage it. They can only insist on it.
The problem lies with CILIP. Its influence has to be completely transformed. Its collective inherited view of how to operate libraries has to be flushed away and replaced. The senior staff of CILIP have deceived themselves into believing that they represent the commune of library professionals. They don't: they are not a private club, for if they were they were they should play no influential part in the public service. They answer to ordinary people for a service for which the people pay. The public are their stakeholders. It is CILIP that is destroying the public library service by its disconnection from the public need, from its blindness to the problems of the service and its denial of influence from the outside which could help.
If the public library service is to survive another 5 years, CILIP must either be totally reformed by its own members- which would be better- or its influence removed and replaced by some other management mechanism, which is probably a much more realistic plan. The people of the country should not have to wait any longer while library professionals make up their mind whether they wish to give good service. It is time for some action.
There needs to be new management preferably drawn from outside the sector, not just elected by members, but also appointed by councillors; a revision of such charters as are represented by the body; a completely new approach to management training and development and whole new sets of skills training and work experience. There needs to be a new definition, by Parliament, of what the role and responsibilities of the professional body are and a new set of regulation to make sure that high standards are achieved and maintained.
Only then can councillors possibly begin to do the job we ask of them.
I call upon all parties in Parliament to seek urgent and radical reform of the professional bodies of the public library service. The Parliament in Scotland and the Assembly in Wales need to do the same.
Posted by Perkins at August 30, 2006 8:38 PM
Comments
After my 17-year-old daughter Rachel met Tim Coates in London in the spring, she pronounced him "awesome." Reading this blog provokes the same reaction from me, and Rachel is proud, I know, to have set up the blog for Tim. (In addition to being a techie she is a passionate and sometimes multiple-book-a-day reader.) Go Tim!
Posted by: Karen Christensen at August 31, 2006 7:26 AM
It is obvious from your comments on CILIP that you have absolutley no understanding of CILIP's role in relation to public libraries. If I had the money I would take you to court for your, in my opinoion, libellous statement concerning librarians working in the public sector.
You do your cause no good by these gross over generalised statements and only antagonise potential allies. Time to grow up?
Posted by: Philip Wark at August 31, 2006 8:56 AM
Seems to be strong on assertion that public librarians have got it wrong, but very weak on alternatives. It is only too easy to make destructive and ill-informed assertion. I suggest that many public librarians have done their very best to engage with their very varied actual and potential clienteles, and bearing in mind the local and national political realities within which they work. Two examples which have recently impressed me are Hillhead in Glasgow and Newbury in West Berkshire.
Posted by: David Alcock at August 31, 2006 12:16 PM
The public library service is the bedrock from which those of us in other sectors take our examples of service to users. Perhaps you had your tongue in your cheek when you posted this most recent entry. I dont think that public librarians will need to put up a robust response to your remarks - there are plenty of the rest of us, with backgrounds in all sectors, who think you have got yourself into a bit of a tangle
Posted by: Lesley Kumiega at August 31, 2006 2:25 PM
Philip
When the Culture Select Committee last year said that the public library service was in distress and in need of urgent remedy did you tell Sir Gerald Kaufman, the chair, that he was making over generalised statements and that it was time to grow up? When the Audit Commission and LISU on several occasions reprort that there are serious and terminal problems in the public library service- did you respond to them?
My evidence to the Select committee is firmly on the record- they carry it at the front of their report and refer to it frequently in their analysis- and so are its recommendations about CILIP
Which allies are you talking about?
If we are to argue this out- and we should - please tell us about the role of CILIP in public libraries that I have so misunderstood. Libel is a crime against a person, I believe, I wish no unfair criticism of any person.
David,
This blog is full of alternative approaches to the management of the public library service. I do not make assertions, I hope, I draw conclusions from clear evidence as best I can. But if you have some encouraging data from Hillhead and Newbury, please tell us what it is.
But it's very good to hear from you !
By the way CILIP stands for "Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals"
Tim
Posted by: Tim Coates at August 31, 2006 2:25 PM
Lesley
Jolly good to hear from you. So where, and in which sector do you work?
I didn't have my tongue in my cheek at all.
Tim
Posted by: Tim Coates at August 31, 2006 3:03 PM
I’d rather not comment upon the management of CILIP but in the interest of fairness I’d lie to point out that it is supposed to represent all information professionals, not just those of us who work in public libraries.
To be fair to my profession, those of us who chose to work in public libraries (generally) chose to do so because we want to provide a good service to the public. We believe that libraries are an important part of the communities they serve and because we wanted to use our skills to benefit society.
When you criticise "professional librarians" then you are also damning people like myself who work with the public everyday and do our utmost to provide a good service (often under trying circumstances). As David points out above, we have to perform a delicate balancing act trying to provide for as wide a range of potential users as possible. We are very much aware of the threats that public libraries face.
I think that there are probably quite a few members of CILIP who would express more sympathy toward your cause if they knew that you have some respect for the profession and the work that they do.
Posted by: Miriam Palfrey at August 31, 2006 11:37 PM