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January 1, 2009
Are we about to see the reformation of CILIP?
I hope so. It has seemed to me, over the years that radical improvement was needed in the public library service, that the one body that stood as blocking doorkeeper was CILIP. They could have encouraged reform and change on so many occasions and each time they have fumbled the opportunity. They have until now been unable to give the leadership that they were in such a strong position to provide. As James Christie, who is one of their most experienced members, with characteristic lucidity, points out in a comment below "They should just start with 'a public statement that they like books and no question about it... and (make) a ban on the use of jargon'. James so often points out the profession appears obsessed with the pursuit of new and transient technologies instead of concentrating on the immediate needs of readers to have access to books and other available material.
The public should be assured that the trustees want CILIP to start acting like a body which genuinely exists as a charity in the pursuit improving the library service to its library clients. In the case of public libraries that means books, buildings and knowledgeable staff there to help the public if they ask for help. We want to hear that the newly reorganised CILIP council wants to play its role in improvement and to promote the value and use of public libraries and literacy in the population. We should encourage them to use their experience and knowledge as librarians to assist councils to make change, and not to prevent it or hide from what it means.
Quite right. Bring it on quickly.
Posted by Perkins at January 1, 2009 4:19 PM
Comments
David Nobbs recalls visiting Peru and being told by a university friend, John Medcalf who had become a priest there, that "a Peruvian had approached him and said that he'd heard of a thing shaped like a brick from which you could learn things. This had inspired John to set up a rural library in the north of Peru. Later he would be employed by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua to do the same. Books are valued in Central and South America. Books are classless. Books are about spreading knowledge, not keeping it to oneself."
We could do with the MLA etc hearing about those things shaped like a brick from which you can learn things.
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at January 2, 2009 12:45 PM