A passion for equity and excellence

After all that food and wine it was time for something more ascetic.  So last weekend, I turned to a book which had been lying on my desk at home for sometime - Bob Usherwood's Equity and Excellence in the Public Library (Ashgate 2007).

Bob has always  used his research to advocate for the value of professionalism and the importance of public libraries.  In Equity and Excellence these themes intertwine in an extended polemic in favour of public library provision shaped by enduring professional values. 

Which is timely because professionalism is going to be a big issue for CILIP in 2008 - both in our work on professional education and also in our focus on policy and advocacy.  There is growing public disquiet about the deprofessionalisation of some types of library and information services (particularly but not exclusively public libraries and school libraries) and during 2008 CILIP will be putting serious effort into finding out what is going on out there - and speaking out about what we find.

The work we've already commissioned on public libraries is beginning to ripple out into the national media and this - plus the work we'll commission on school libraries - will give us evidence.  The National (for England) Year  (beginning in April) of Reading will give us opportunity - an excellent platform on which to build the case for the value of LIS professionals.  It may be my exposure to a succession of alpha males on TV during the holiday season - Doctor Who, James Bond and Che Guevara in one evening ! - but I am feeling very bullish about our professionalism at the moment.  I want to see CILIP speaking out with pride and passion for the value of professionally delivered library and information services and taking a stand on the importance of our professionalism in society.

And by CILIP I mean all of us, not just the Usual Suspects.  Employers and politicians - and parents and the general public - value professionalism as they experience it personally in the professionals they meet.  Those of us based at Ridgmount Street will do what we can - to gather evidence, exert influence, and empower colleagues in their places of work - but to make a real impact we need collective endeavour from the whole CILIP community.  And that means you!  We're all in this together and, to misquote the last line of one of the better modern Christmas classics, "the future we get, we deserve".  Let's work together to make it a good one in which our professionalism is recognised and valued.

In the meantime, I commend Bob Usherwood's book to you.  It is (to borrow a phrase which should resonate with Reader Development Librarians of a certain vintage) well worth reading.