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30 April 2008

A good day

Yesterday was a Good Day. Let me share it with you.

It began with some decent coffee at Apostrophe, round the corner from the office, to stiffen the sinews for the task ahead. It ended with a couple of decent pints in Mabel's Tavern opposite the British Library, reflecting on a day well spent - and a rather good goal by Paul Scholes.

Most of the day was spent in the latest meeting of the new CILIP Council where there was a real sense of progress being made. We're moving forward with our ICT, including the new membership database, and with work on the Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation. We're planning work on the regulatory and financial framework for Branches and Groups to tidy up some of the matters which were left incomplete at the end of the old governance arrangements last year. And there's real progress on diversity (with endorsement of a planned affirmative action pilot programme), on policy (with approval of a crisp and comprehensive policy statement of CILIP's position on libraries and learning), and on professionalism - with positive work around public libraries, school libraries, and the National Year of Reading.

In the evening the focus moved from Ridgmount Street to the British Library for a CILIP/BL sponsored screening of Hollywood Librarian - followed by an excellent discussion session involving the audience, Ian Snowley (now with the BL and also CILIP Immediate Past President), and Bruce Madge (current CILIP President). The discussion generated lots of good ideas about how we might take the Hollywood Librarian concept further - both using the existing film and also seeking to developing a UK equivalent (Ealing Librarian? Carry on cataloguing?).

Both events generated lots of follow-up work, but that's a good thing; helping CILIP to move forward positively in terms of our infrastructure, our governance, our membership, and our advocacy of the value added by our profession in society. I was pretty tired by the time I came to rest in Mabel's with a pint at my elbow: tired, but happy.

Ah, happiness... now there's an elusive concept. I think - looking ahead to the forthcoming weekend - that could be the subject of my next piece of blogthink...

 

 

 

Comments

# diananutting said:

Hollywood Librarian was brilliant, and everyone who gets the chance should see it. I was expecting the "Hollywood" part to show a much more negative image of librarians than it actually did. For me the real librarians were such good examples of strong and dare I say it, middle aged librarians. The woman from Hewlett Packard could rule the world. But in a UK version we should have some younger people and more men.

I was reminded on the train home afterwards; when I was young librarian working at the then North London Polytechnic, our library was used for filming an episode of The Professionals. What on earth Bodie and Doyle were doing in a library I can't remember. We were all promised roles as extras playing the library staff. When the film crew got there they took one look at us and sent us away because we "didn't look like librarians". Pointing out that as we were librarians that was what librarians looked like cut no ice at all.

Diana Nutting

02 May 08 at 18:10
# cclayton said:

We are showing The Hollywood Librarian in Sheffield on the 19th June.  Would someone from CILIP be available to attend and say something about taking the concept further - the Pinewood Librarian?

07 May 08 at 15:30
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