Welcome back, Dr Jones

In a long career there are bound to be embarrassing moments - and, for me, being compared to Indiana Jones ranks high on the list!

Back in 1985, when Dr Jones was the biggest thing at the box office and I teaching at the estwhile (shame!) Birmingham Library School, I was interviewed by the Birmingham Post because I'd been elected President of the then Association of Assistant Librarians - AAL, now CDG.

During the interview we talked about the image of librarians and I suggested that we needed someone to do for the library and information profession what Indiana Jones had done for archaeology. And so when the article was published - there's a picture of me grinning happily and sporting the AAL Presidential gong (made in Birmingham); and there's the headline, Could this man be the Indiana Jones of librarianship? Oh dear. Did my students (not to mention the Editor of Assistant Librarian ) have a good laugh about that!

But - maybe because of that interview long ago - I've always enjoyed Dr Jones and his daredevil adventures in search of mythic artefacts. Sad to say (sorry about this) the Librarian movies don't come close.

And tomorrow, Indiana returns to our screens! Older but no wiser, with a lot more mileage on the clock but plenty of fuel still in the tank - and still in search of mythic artefacts. In honour of Indiana I re-read that 1985 article last night (yes, of course, it's in my personal archive, Birmingham Post, Saturday 12 January 1985) and the themes sound very familiar: the importance of access to information and the contribution that libraries can make to social, educational and economic objectives. "There's an awful lot of value in librarianship," I'm quoted as saying, "and the public should be told." I also, according to my interviewer, "attacked government policies which were closing libraries ... and called for libraries to be recognised as a force for democracy and social equality." I'd say the same, with equal vigour, today.

So Indiana returns, still driven by his passion for archaeology, to search for those mythic artefacts. And I'm still striving, driven by my passion for librarianship, to advocate for that idealistic aspiration for library and information services. It's good to know that as we get older we might get a bit more world-weary but our professional passion remains undimmed.

Next week, CILIP will publish the Conway report, written by Patrick Conway (another former AAL President whose professional passion remains undimmed), on Professional Standards of Service. It will make a significant contribution to the current debate around the future for our profession and the future for public libraries. And like Dr Jones ( but without the hat and the whip ) I'll be ready, with my CILIP colleagues, to fight the good fight once again. I think I'll get in the mood with a visit to the movies this Bank Holiday weekend...