CILIP Governance Review

I have decided to blog about the recent events surrounding the proposed changes in CILIP Governance … even though I’d much rather be talking about school libraries, books or reading initiatives and I’d much rather be spending my time reading or knitting. But there have been a lot of online comments about this recently, following the resignation of a council member, many of which are half-truths and misconceptions and, as an information professional, I’m appalled at how some people (who are information professionals themselves) are assuming these are correct and retweeting without checking or verify the facts. I tell my students from the age of 11 years to always verify anything you read online and this is certainly true of anything written in blogs or on Twitter (so please don’t assume that what I’m saying is the truth … verify it with other people!).

I’m also aware that people will assume that I’m “following the party line” as I’m currently CILIP President but those that know me will know that I try to explain how I see situations from my own perspective. If I was writing this as President then I could understand that reaction but I’m not. This is MY blog and, whilst I’m tactful and try not to be rude or offensive to anyone, I try to write honestly … and I’m also very good at seeing the other side (this trait is not always an advantage I may add)!

So … I am going to try and address some of the issues that have come up recently …

Last year, when I became VP, it was only meant to be for a year as the Governance review was due to be voted on in 2013 and introduced in 2014. However, after the renaming episode, CILIP decided to postpone it for a year to ensure that members were informed, consulted and able to respond. Thus began an extensive round of meetings, emails, articles in Update, etc. I don’t have the exact figures to hand but I know that CILIP SMT, together with trustees, have engaged with as many Member Network groups and SIGs as possible, going to meetings to give presentations on the Governance Review and gathering feedback. I attended 4 myself in an official capacity and spoke unofficially at several others. As well as asking for questions, I also said I would be happy to answer any emails and pushed for members to send comments (positive or negative) to CILIP. And CILIP have taken on board these comments, producing an online FAQ, although some of them were unable to be answered immediately as the legal situation needed to be checked. And I know that CILIP have engaged with branches over this, being proactive and pushing for a response rather than just sending information out. There have also been regular emails sent out to members and articles in Update so for anyone to say now, at this late stage, that they have not been consulted is ludicrous. If they really think like that then I would suggest that they are not engaged with or connected to any of their branches or SIGs, are not registered for email newsletters and do not read Update regularly. And if this is the case then why are they so upset about any changes in CILIP as they are obviously not that bothered about the organisation?

When I became VP, I wasn’t really involved in CILIP other than being on the SLG London & SE committee and attending occasional branch meetings. It was a steep learning curve! And I can remember, at my first meeting, discussions about the Governance Review … so this has been under consideration for a long time. I am not an expert on governance although I have sat on various committees, been involved in several charities and am currently a school governor. And, although I have had training on governance and included this aspect in my CPD this year, I do not consider myself an expert which means I am completely happy to accept the recommendations of the Governance Review Board. These people have far more experience than I do and I could not imagine why they would suggest a structure that would be damaging or detrimental to CILIP. The Chair of the review board was Phil Bradley and I will not accept that he would suggest anything untoward or undemocratic. Further, these proposals have been scrutinised by the Privy Council and Charities Commission and they find them acceptable. And who am I to argue with them?

Much has been said about these discussions happening in secret. As I see it, there are various reasons for this. One is that they were just proposals and ideas, and needed to be firmed up after consultation regarding their legality. If these were made public then we would end up with the situation we have now with everyone putting in their ideas as to what we should have … and I have to say that I’ve read about so many variations on this that I am totally confused! It wouldn’t be so bad if everyone wanted the same thing but they don’t! I also think it’s important for council to be able to discuss things in a private conversation, especially if it’s at the development stage. Sadly there are people who are quite happy to take statements out of context giving the words a completely different meaning. And the problem with this is that a tweet of just a few words is often taken as being the definitive statement on something … a lot of damage can be done this way and it is hard to redress the balance. And what about somebody who may originally be against an idea and says so but, after discussion and research, changes their mind? There’s bound to be somebody who picks this up and attacks them with being indecisive! Besides, I don’t want to have to spend my time defending myself against a malicious tweet or blog comment. Because, let’s face it, if people think it will help their cause then they’ll happily twist words and statistics. Politicians do it all the time!

The Governance Review was discussed at the July council meeting, not for the first time but in detail, because this was when we were taking into account the member feedback received (and if anyone didn’t feedback their objections or concerns then it’s a bit late to do it now … everyone has had several opportunities to do so). And the majority of this was positive. Yes, there were a few who didn’t like certain aspects of what was proposed but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Again I don’t have the statistics to hand but they will show that of all the responses, very few were negative. Council listen to these responses and have changed the proposals so that the Chair/President will now only be elected from those council members who have been elected and not appointed.

So … let’s have a think about the office of the President. There has been much made of the fact that if the changes go through then the President would not be elected by the members. Well, I’m sorry to inform you but I wasn’t elected by members and neither was our Vice President, Jan Parry. The reason being … that no-one else stood for the position! And I’m not sure what members think the President does? Judging by various comments I think a lot of people are confused over this role, that of the trustees and the fact that CILIP also have a paid staff who carry out the strategic decisions of council. But it’s an ambassadorial role, the President doesn’t have any voting rights and yes, I do speak up at meetings but I don’t have any power or influence. At least under the proposals you’d end up with a President who had actually been elected! And, as political analogies have been used by various people, I’m going to use one now … people do not vote for the Prime Minister, he is selected by other MPs who have been elected by the public. If it’s good enough for parliament then it should be good enough for us!

Another issue that has arisen is membership figures. The statistics being quoted have obviously been taken at a time when the figures were at their highest (lies, damn lies and statistics people!!!) … if I went far enough back I’m sure I could find a year when the figures were lower than they are now! And these are taken completely out of context. How many libraries have closed since then (280 school libraries closed last year) or professionals replace with para-professionals or jobs downgraded so that you no longer need to be Chartered? And I’m not getting into the discussion about libraries closing as it’s not what this blog is about but I’m also tempted to ask how many of those are members who have died because we seem to be in danger of becoming a top-age heavy organisation with fewer younger professionals joining us … and no wonder when all they hear is this in-fighting and bickering! That said the CILIP staff responsible for membership are doing a fantastic job with a range of strategies and initiatives, and to suggest that CILIP aren’t doing anything about this is not only rather insulting to all their hard work but shows a lack of knowledge. Maybe instead of focusing on numbers we need to think about quality over quantity?

There are a lot of other things that I’d like to comment on but I’m aware that this blog is becoming rather long.

Things like the fact that, once a decision has been made by a council or committee, then it’s not usual practise to reopen the discussion when new members join. If you did this then you’d never move on from anything. I’ve been in this situation and it is so frustrating to rehash everything!

Things like the fact that every committee runs along the lines of a majority decision. How else could you do it? If you insisted on a complete majority then you could find yourself in a situation when nothing moved forward. I’ve been on committees where I don’t agree with everyone else but accepted the final decision – this is part of what being on a committee is about. And if it’s something you feel strongly about then you build up relationships with other committee members (which takes time) so that you can discuss issues from a stronger position – advocacy doesn’t happen overnight!

Things like the fact that much has been made of the four appointed council members and yet the current constitution already allows for three appointed members so it’s not really such a big change (and check on the CILIP website if you don’t believe me). Anyway, every committee has appointed members … can you imagine what it would be like if a school governing body consisted of just parents and teachers? And yes, I know we could buy in the expertise but the costs could become prohibitive … much better for the finances (ie: member’s money) if people could be co-opted. This would also mean a much better engagement from them than if someone was paid to deliver a service.

The final thing I would like to say (and well done if you have read this far!) is that why on earth do people think that council would appoint people who would damage CILIP. We are all volunteers, giving up our time (and yes we do get our expenses paid but is that so bad? My salary as a school librarian is not exactly huge and I would not be able to do my Presidential activities if I had to pay for my own travel) and any appointments would be scrutinised by the Audit panel anyway.

Throughout society people elect committees to make decisions on their behalf. There are times when you have to let go and trust those people to make the right decision for the whole. It may not be what you personally want but most people aren’t in a position to see the complete picture. There are also times when you have to let go of the past …

 

My Carnegie Greenaway Speech

On Monday I had the extreme pleasure of being at the Carnegie Greenaway Awards ceremony although this time I was attending as CILIP President and was due to give a speech. Normally I get asked if I could talk about something specific or I pick up the theme of the event but this time I was told I could talk about school libraries. I didn’t need to be told twice!

During the past few months I’ve got quite used to talking in public, delivering keynotes and workshops but this 8 minute slot has been harder to write than anything else I’ve done so far. Why? Because I was aware that the event attracted a lot of media coverage and it was an opportunity to deliver an important message …. and I wanted to make sure that I got it right. Not so much for me but for all the wonderful school librarians I know who do such a fantastic job in their schools; working way beyond their contracted hours, delivering services outside their job descriptions, and often for a rather low salary (management please note – if you advertise for a qualified or Chartered librarian then what you are getting is a professional who deserves a salary and status that recognises this). And all for the benefit of the students …

The speech was live streamed but I’m not sure if it’s available anymore so, as promised, I have replicated my speech below for those who didn’t manage to see it.

I am extremely excited and honoured to be here today. Of all the events I have in my diary, the Carnegie Greenaway Awards is top of the list.

Last year somebody remarked that they had never been to a children’s book award at which there were so few children and so many adults but what I think they failed to realise was that the audience was comprised of people who live and breathe children’s books, who are surrounded by them every day and for whom the Carnegie and Greenaway Awards are one of the highlights of the year.

When the nominated titles, both the longlist and shortlist, are announced it causes a flurry of discussion amongst children’s librarians which increases in intensity as we work our way through the books. Discussion that is mirrored in the 5000 groups that have been participating in the shadowing scheme this year. 5000 groups! How amazing is that???

And what a wonderful array of titles there are? All very different and each with its own merits. I have been reading them alongside my shadowing group and, as is usually the case, we have agreed to disagree as to which we think will win. I’m rather glad I’m not on the judging panel as I think they have an almost impossible task. Besides, every year I make a start on the longlist and I haven’t yet managed to select anything that then makes it onto the shortlist … I suspect because I choose my favourite authors or genres … so I probably wouldn’t be a very good judge. And I find the Kate Greenaway award even harder as I’m in total awe of these artists who produce such incredible work.

But how about some more statistics? These 5000 groups have involved 95 – 100,000 children reading books with over 10,000 reviews being posted on the website. That’s a lot of children reading a lot of words yet without school librarians most of this wouldn’t happen because we are the people who organise the majority of the shadowing groups in schools throughout the UK.

Mr Gove has stated that he wants all children to leave primary school fully literate and I actually think this is a commendable idea.

Children need a certain level of literacy to be able to access the curriculum, to achieve academically in both further and higher education, and to be successful in their career choices. A child that leaves school with a low level of literacy becomes an adult with literacy problems. Someone who is unlikely to become an involved, informed and socially mobile member of society. Someone who is excluded.

One of the main components of increasing literacy is reading. And I may be stating the obvious but in order to read you have to have access to books and other reading material.  Books that will start a child on its reading journey, that will enable them to advance their skills, challenge them as they increase in confidence and help them to discover the pleasure of reading. Because it is this last thing, the pleasure of reading, that will turn them into lifelong readers and give them  the manifold and well documented benefits of reading – things like increased attainment across the curriculum, increased self-confidence and communication skills, improved concentration and an impact on their wellbeing, together with helping them become independent learners.

But this is where we have a problem because, even though access to books is implicit in children’s literacy development, not all children have equal access and some actually have none.

National Literacy Trust research shows that 1 in 3 children do not have a book of their own at home.

Studies by The Reading Agency indicate that 40% of 5 – 10 year olds and 23% of 11 - 15 year olds do not visit public libraries.

Which means the only place that many children encounter books is at school. To encourage them to read they have to be able to browse and make their own choices so they need, not just a few books on a shelf, or even a list of 50 titles but a wide range of books at different levels for all abilities, encompassing a variety of genres and formats. Books that have been selected by someone who has the knowledge and expertise to ensure a balanced stock and who can guide a child towards the right book. This is why school libraries and school librarians are so important – because they are at the forefront of developing children’s literacy and have an impact on their lives in such a fundamental way. But school libraries are not statutory so many schools do not have libraries at all. Others think they have libraries when all they have is a room full of books. And some have wonderfully stocked libraries and even librarians but the children never have a chance to explore them fully. All these situations are denying children the means to increase their literacy skills via reading.

The provision of school libraries must not be left to chance because it is children who are the ultimate losers.

They should be embedded in the Ofsted framework with a minimum level of provision underpinned by statutory requirements. And I know the government response to this is that they cannot tell schools how to spend their budgets yet they are quite happy to tell them what children ought to be eating or drinking and what books they should be studying.

School libraries should be strategically supported by senior management, an integral part of the School Improvement Plan and their use secured in schemes of work for every department. It is no good saying that the library is open to use at breaktimes because the only visitors you will get then are readers and those looking for a safe environment. The ones you need to get into the library, the non-readers and reluctant readers will be nowhere near it. I work in a library that is supported within the school and where the younger students have timetabled lessons giving them that opportunity to explore and browse, and make their own selections … for many this will be the only time outside the classroom that they encounter reading material or actually sit down and read. These lessons also enable me to work with those that need encouragement and direction, where the barriers of “being in the library” and “reading is not cool” can be broken down.

School libraries need to be run by a professional librarian – somebody whose tools of the trade are books; who knows their stock and the children; who, every day, sees the difference school libraries make. Someone who is aware of the value of running a Carnegie or Greenaway Shadowing group and the impact this can have on encouraging children to read more challenging titles, introducing them to a wider range of authors and, perhaps, moving them outside their comfort zone.

We are asking that people who work with books - in education, libraries and publishing; people who work outside this environment - in businesses and organisations, - in fact, everyone who recognises the value of reading, its role in literacy and the importance of having a literate society to get behind school libraries and support us.

Einstein said “Not everything that counts can be counted” …

School libraries count.

 

The Necessity of Life - the benefits of reading

I recently gave a presentation, entitled “The Necessity of Life” to the CILIP YLG South East Unconference in which I spoke about reading and its many benefits: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8FBwOgn-Y-8V0lNWUlMSnh5dFU/edit?usp=sharing

To me, reading is as essential as breathing and an immensely pleasurable activity. I have always been an avid reader, one of those people who, if they don’t have a book or magazine (which is rare) will read anything: that abandoned newspaper on the underground, adverts, cereal packets – and it’s hard to explain to a non-reader quite how wonderful it is. That feeling of settling down with the latest title from a favourite author, the thrill of opening a new book that you’ve been looking forward to reading, the way you get immersed in the story, the way it takes over your brain so that all you want to do is carrying on reading to find out what happens next …

Reading is also a basic life skill. It is needed for education, employment, to be able to become an active, involved member of society - without a basic literacy level you are excluded, on the outside and not able to participate in so many things – and research has shown that reading increases literacy. And surely reading needs access to books (or a source of reading material – I use the term “books” generically) and books equals libraries. Yet this reason doesn’t seem to be a good enough argument for keeping libraries, and therefore access to reading material, open.

So what about the other benefits of reading? Below are links to those I mentioned in my presentation and more … I only had about 45 minutes and there were far too many for me to use them all, you could spend the whole day researching and investigating this topic – but if you need evidence, then it’s here.

 

·         Interesting article on reading facts from The Reading Agency: http://readingagency.org.uk/news/reading-facts003/

·         National Survey of Culture, Leisure and Sport, DCMS, 2011: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/77395/Taking_Part_Y6_Release.pdf

·         Children who read for pleasure do better at school: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/newsEvents/89938.html

·         Literacy levels of adults (16 – 65): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24433320 and if you want to read the whole document: http://skills.oecd.org/OECD_Skills_Outlook_2013.pdf

·         Deep reading (as opposed to superficial reading such as we do on the internet) exercises the brain and increases capacity for empathy: http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/03/why-we-should-read-literature/

·         Benefits of reading every day: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/12/health-benefits-reading_n_4081258.html and  http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html

·         Reduces stress: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5070874/Reading-can-help-reduce-stress.html

·         Preserves memory: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130704094454.htm

·         Reduces risk of dementia: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2001-03-05-alzheimers-hobbies.htm and http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022252#t=article

·         Can help with depression: http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f540

·         Reading books is only out of school activity linked to getting managerial or professional job: http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2011/110804.html

 

Eread or Eloan?

One of the current CILIP campaigns is the “Right to E-Read” http://www.cilip.org.uk/cilip/advocacy-campaigns-awards/advocacy-campaigns/ebooks/let-libraries-lend-ebooks which has generated a lot of interest and comments. I have to admit that some of these are about semantics - as in “this is a right to e-loan rather than a right to e-read campaign” – which is quite ironic as the very business itself (ie: publishing) plays around with words to attract people. After all, how many of us have picked up a book with a rather interesting title and tagline only to discover that the story itself bears no resemblance? Besides, the campaign has a byline “let libraries lend e-books” which is self-explanatory.

This campaign is nothing to do with the desires of librarians, it is to do with people’s right to borrow and read books, regardless of their format. Imagine if a publisher decided not to let school libraries buy and loan books by a specific author? There’s probably enough other authors that we could use to stock our shelves but I would not be happy with the fact that my students were being discriminated against and I would argue for their right to be able to borrow said books. And what if a book is only published electronically? By preventing it from being borrowed, you are, effectively, preventing people from reading it.

I’ve also read comments such as “there’s nothing stopping anyone in our country reading words electronically generated” … but there is. It’s the same thing that inhibits people from just going out and buying any books they want whenever they want them, and that’s money. And, once again, it’s the disadvantaged and vulnerable that will lose out. Not to mention the disabled, those who physically cannot get to their local library. It’s also important not to assume that because somebody has an ereader they can afford to buy ebooks. Ereaders are relatively cheap and most electronic gadgets are capable of downloading ebooks. Besides, anyone who lives with or works with a voracious reader will know that there’s no way you can financially keep up with their book consumption – I’m a good example of this. I couldn’t afford to buy all the books I read. And I know many students with ereaders who still borrow numerous books from their school library each week; and I’m sure their parents could not pay for all these books outright.

We do need to think about the financial impact on authors and publishers but I’m not sure why this would be difficult. Borrowing of ebooks could be done in the same way as physical books (ie: with a certain number of “copies” bought by the library for loan and each book loaned for a specific time) and borrowing statistics could be generated by the LMS, regardless of where the reader was when the book was borrowed, thus enabling payments to be made under PLR. But it’s a fact that libraries create readers and readers become book buyers so how can an author not benefit from having their books available to loan as ebooks? Surely this opens their work to a wider audience?

And would having ebooks available for loan reduce the number of physical visits to libraries? Maybe, for some of the public. But many would still go to the library, for all sorts of reasons. You’d think, working in a library and having access to all sorts of books (I’m often sent proof copies to read and books to review) that I wouldn’t need to use my public library. But I do. Frequently. And often I don’t really know what I’m looking for, I go in to browse, have a mooch around and always come out with an armful of random titles! I have also, subsequently, bought books that I have borrowed and read, books that I have decided I want to own personally. So the argument that if you could borrow ebooks then you’d never ever buy a book again isn’t quite true. Because I’m sure that I’m not the only person who does this …

Reading Changes Lives conference

I recently attended the Booktrust “Reading Changes Lives” conference in London. Two pieces of research were presented, by DJS Research and the University of Sheffield, which showed that there were significant minorities of adults with negative attitudes towards reading, those who did not read had lower literacy levels, and were more likely to be from disadvantaged backgrounds and lower socio-economic groups. The research also highlighted that a person’s reading history impacted on their habits and attitudes. The reports can be found here:   http://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/270/

This research hasn’t really told us anything new; studies by the National Literacy Trust have said much the same thing as have enquiries from the US, Canada and Australia, although I guess it’s good to have UK-based results that are up-to-date and that have been established using a higher sample of the population than previously.

But I have to admit that my immediate response was “what next?” Because it seems to me that it’s a bit pointless and a waste of both time and money if nothing is done, if no-one utilises the results to inform policy regarding libraries and if all they lead to is lots of well-meaning conversations.

The presentations were followed by a panel discussion with Children’s Laureate, Malorie Blackman; the Commissioner of Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, Anne Marie Carrie; former Education Secretary, Alan Johnson MP; NIACE Director of Research and Development, Carol Taylor; and Liam Fox MP. This started off well with all of the panellists singing the praises of libraries and telling us how they used them when younger and what differences they’d made to their lives. But as the conversation progressed, I found myself having to bite my tongue at some of the comments made – I didn’t dare put my hand up to respond for fear of not being about to stop the tirade!

For example, the suggestion made by Liam Fox that perhaps it would be cheaper to order everyone books from Amazon rather than have a public library system. Putting aside the fact that a library is NOT just about books, what would people do when they’ve finished with them? They could hardly just pile them up on the coffee table as they’d soon run out of room (and yes, I know my coffee table not to mention three bookcases and several random places around the house have huge piles of books filling them but I think librarians are an exception) so I guess we’d have to organise some sort of swapping arrangement, whereby they could bring their books and exchange them for something else. Oh … hang on … isn’t that what people do in a library?

Liam then suggested that we could give every child an e-reader instead of access to a range of books! Despite the fact that not every book is available as an e-book, that a physical library gives children contact with a much larger number of books than can be stored on an e-reader, that you would lose the wonderful art of browsing and self-discovery, and that somebody would have to select the books (and I dread to think what would be chosen if the Government were involved … Mr Gove’s 50 books comes to mind … shudder!). This comment from a man who only minutes before had told us how he’d benefited personally from libraries. Malorie Blackman was her usual magnificent self, the voice of reason amongst this lunacy, supporting books and libraries, both school and public.

Research shows that people with low literacy levels are at a disadvantage both socially and economically; research shows that reading increases literacy levels; research shows that access to libraries increases reading. If the decision-makers are really concerned about literacy, then they would invest in public libraries and not close them, and they would ensure that every child has access to a school library managed by a professional librarian. When is someone going to join the dots?

Why school libraries should support NLD14

I wrote this last January in support of National Libraries Day 2013. UK school librarians and their students organised a successful Guinness World Record attempt of "the most people writing a story at multiple locations" which generated a lot of media interest and raised the profile of libraries. This year we are organising a Big Library Takeover whereby we hope to take the library out to as many departments as possible using this as an opportunity to promote NLD14. What I wrote then remains equally valid now ...

Most people associate National Libraries Day with public libraries and, being on a Saturday, the majority of schools will be closed so you may wonder why school libraries should get involved. Nonetheless, according to the website http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/ it is “a culmination of a week’s worth of celebrations in school, college, university, workplace and public libraries across the UK” which encompasses almost every sort of library. But there’s a wider issue here why school libraries should participate.

The library profession across many sectors is facing a crisis, with libraries being closed, hours being cut and professional staff being replaced by volunteers. There has been public outcry about this but there have also been comments such as why do we need libraries when people can read books online, books are dead because everyone is going to have an eBook reader and people can get books from a charity shop if they don’t have a local library or can’t afford them. These comments show the lack of understanding that many people have as to what a library is and what it does. Those that work in them know that they are more than just a room full of books – from the small local public library that provides a focal point for the community to the school library that offers a safe haven for vulnerable children but the only way we are going to get more support is by educating people about what we do … and that means taking every opportunity to participate in events that publicize libraries. Of any sort!

For many children, their only access to reading material is via their school library. If we can encourage those children to become readers and users of libraries at school then they are more inclined to use their public library both whilst they are still students and when they become adults. Going to a library for books to read, for information, for research will be automatic to them and if their local library (or any other type of library they use) is threatened with closure, they are more likely to protest because they’ll know, firsthand, the value and benefits of a library. However, school libraries are not statutory and many are under threat so taking part in National Libraries Day is a chance to promote and raise awareness of them.

Many school librarians use their public and other libraries. Despite wide access to books and other material, I regularly browse my local library and always discover something new. I use it professionally, for my own research, as well as collaborating with staff on a range of projects from encouraging Year 7 to participate in the Summer Reading Challenge to taking my Year 9 HPQ students on a visit for extended research. I have also used other libraries outside school, such as arranging a visit for A level students to the local university library to assist them with investigations for their coursework and encouraging others to visit the Women’s Library (now sadly no longer in existence) and the BFI library. By working collaboratively, we can all expand the services we provide and sustain each other.

In the words of John Donne “No man is an island, entire of itself” and thus no library or librarian operates in isolation. If we all stand together, regardless of what sort of library we work in, we become stronger and our collective voice is louder because we are a more cohesive  group, rather than an assortment of unrelated, random libraries.

Children's Laureate Special

I have just listened to Radio 4's “Open Book” on iPlayer (originally broadcast on 2.1.13 at 3.30pm) – I don’t normally catch this programme as usually I’m at work at this time but it was a Children’s Laureate Special featuring Malorie Blackman, Michael Rosen and Jacqueline Wilson, so I was quite interested to find out what they were going to talk about.

As you’d expect, much of it was around the Children’s Laureate position, how it came about and what it was for. All three said that they felt children’s books needed champions (the more the merrier, I say); they also mentioned that it was necessary to “go on the attack” regarding children’s books and Michael Rosen declared that they needed “passionate people” for this.

There then followed some discussion about reading for pleasure and why it was essential due to the result of various studies showing all sorts of benefits. I was amused when Jacqueline Wilson said that reading aloud was also important although you couldn’t do it to “hulking teenagers” … she obviously hasn’t been in my library! I often read to my lower school library classes – sometimes a book extract, sometimes a short story or a picture book – and, when I do, every other student in my library stops what they are doing to listen, including the hulking teenagers and the sixth formers. It’s not as if I’m reading that loud as my library is sectioned into zones to allow for different activities! I know they should be getting on with their own work but I don’t have the heart to tell them to do so and judging by the pleasure they get from this activity, I often wonder if they were ever read to as children or whether the last time this happened was when they were in Junior School.
The programme wound up with a conversation about how teachers often don’t have the time to read to children, about how authors in schools reach those who don’t like reading and how important it is to change the attitudes of those who think reading is “boring” … to try and find that one book that will connect with them.

It’s great that children’s books have been given this media time BUT … not once was there a mention of the school librarian. The very person who is passionate about children’s books and reading, the champion that is so important, the person who usually organises the author visits and who  has the time and expertise to connect children with books, to change that attitude from “boring” to “this book is cool”!

I cannot understand this. Each of those authors has openly supported school libraries and librarians. Each of them must have met many librarians and been into many school libraries so it’s not as if they have no idea about the sort of work we do. Therefore why did none of them even hint at the fact that a school librarian is the one person you need to fulfil all of those things that they mentioned as being so important. Why are we so invisible … even to our supporters?

Malorie, Michael and Jacqueline … I love your books, the children love your books, I will tell anybody who cares to listen (and even those who don’t) about the importance of author visits and the impact they have. I also tell them about how vital a school library and librarian is but it would have more impact if you could also pass this message on!