Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2006 Volume 4(1)

President’s perspective

Promoting partnership

Ivor Lloyd outlines his priorities as new President of CILIPS.

A year is not a long time to be President – I've known a few and they all agree on that! It looks like it will be a bit like being a President of a University's Student Association, you've no sooner mastered the black arts and you're welcoming your successor. Nevertheless, as your President of 2006, I am determined at least to making myself available to as many members as possible by visiting your libraries and Branches, and at best to make some impact despite the limited term of the presidential office.

My immediate predecessors – Moira Methven and Alastair Johnston – managed to do both, demonstrating what an able President can do within these constraints, but they have also spent time fully advising me on my new role. So no excuses.
For those of you who do not know me, I'm Depute Principal at the University of Abertay Dundee, where I've worked for over 20 years, first as Depute Librarian, then Librarian, and then Head of Information Services. Before that I was an Academic Librarian at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Assistant Librarian at Kirkcaldy Technical College and in the long and distant past as a trainee in Hawick Public Library (perhaps worth highlighting that Alastair Johnston also started off in the Borders – but that, of course, was only in Galashiels!). I was Honorary Treasurer for the Information Services Group for many years, was on the old SLA Council, and have served on the Scottish Library and Information Council Management Committee. I have also been a Trustee of the National Library of Scotland for over five years, a fascinating experience given the enormous organisational change in the NLS over that period.

Although most of my professional career has been spent in academic libraries, I feel a strong affinity to public libraries, from early days as an avid young reader using Blackhall Library in Edinburgh, to an excellent grounding in the profession in Hawick to my close contact with colleagues working in public libraries throughout my career, especially in the Tayside & Fife Library and Information Network. And this brings me to one of the issues I would like to promote as best I can in my Presidential year – the value of partnerships in libraries and information services, especially those of a cross-sectoral nature.

I firmly believe that librarians are among the most collaborative of all the professional groupings and the environment is now such that we should be exploiting this strength to the full. There were two fascinating articles in December’s edition of Information Scotland – one by Jill Evans on SCURL as a ‘community of practice’ and the other by Wendy Ball on how ELISA is ‘fostering a community of practice’. They were both focusing on the profession’s ability to collaborate at all levels and I believe this is a real strength which we can exploit for the benefit of both our users and the profession.

There are three other issues which you will see me promoting over the year. The first is that of Information Literacy, and again this comes from a long standing involvement in delivery of information skills throughout my career. The second is an old chestnut – how do we ensure we’re recruiting the appropriate people into the profession to enable us to face the challenges ahead? And the third is the opportunities for library and information services to diversify into the area of corporate information management, consolidating our involvement in Freedom of Information and Records Management developments. No doubt there will be others as the year progresses.

I have been fortunate to have been closely involved with three major library institutions during my career – CILIPS, SLIC and the NLS. Their health and vitality is essential if the profession is to prosper. We are in a very strong position here in Scotland, but ultimately it is the professional librarians ‘on the ground’ – CILIPS members – that will make the difference. I see the profession in Scotland in very good heart, with many able, committed professionals adding significant value to the organisations they work for.

Of concern to us all then is that with our subscription renewal notice from CILIP is the report on the serious financial position which Ridgmount Street finds itself in. This should cause a collective sharp intake of breath. Many of you may wonder how this will affect CILIPS. For those of you who were not aware of it, a legal agreement has been in place between the Scottish Library Association and the Library Association since 1995. This gives Scotland policy and fiscal autonomy, with CILIP providing financial support to deliver CILIP services in a Scottish context – apart from membership and qualifications.

From the start of the process of addressing the financial position at Ridgmount Street, it was made clear that Scotland would not be affected. CILIPS has always been canny about its finances with priorities and business planning closely aligned to our resources. As a consequence CILIPS is in good order and looking forward to developing a range of membership services which meet Scottish needs, so it’s business as usual.

Finally, I see only one flaw in the greatly improved Information Scotland – a lack of letters from members. Can I encourage you all to post in your views (the more provocative the better!) to make this journal an even more interesting read. My predecessor, Alastair Johnston, wrote a particularly provocative piece in the December issue of IS about performance of CILIP London on the vexatious issue of delays in chartership development. It was the recurring concern he was getting from members and as President he raised the issue in IS. Feathers flew, it appears to have had the desired effect, but how many letters did it generate? No prizes! Let’s have the number of letters sent to IS as a performance indicator for the health and vitality of the profession in Scotland.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(1) February 2006

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