PEOPLE 60
seconds with...
John Vincent is Co-ordinator for The Network – ‘tackling social exclusion’,
www.seapn.org.uk john@nadder.org.uk
John says: I’ve worked in the public sector since the 1960s, firstly in public libraries, but now more broadly across the cultural heritage sector. I coordinate The Net- work which is 20 years old this year! This involves running courses and speaking at conferences, writing and researching (and producing regular newsletters and ebulletins), coordinating a number of JISCMAIL lists, and, most recently, becoming the co-chair of the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network Steering Group. Most importantly for me, my work now is almost entirely involved with social justice, and I love the variety of work it brings.
A couple of really exciting highlights from this year were being invited to speak to some 400 secondary school students about what it’s like living as a gay man and why we celebrate LGBT History Month; and running a series of training courses with the same groups of staff in a major UK public library service (thereby getting to know them well).
What was your earliest ambition? To be an actor – or dancer!.
Who has inspired you in your career?
Firstly, it was a group of wonderful women librarians in Hertfordshire (Lorna Paulin, Joan Butler, Ann-Marie Parker); then Janet Hill in Lambeth; and now all those people I’ve met who understand the social justice role that libraries should play, and who go beyond the traditional library/information role to develop this.
Career advice – what’s your top tip
Always concentrate on the people around you – your community and your colleagues.
Best professional achievement/ moment? My best moments have been those where I feel I go be- yond being “a librarian” – eg talk- ing to a library worker on an LGBT awareness course about what her son – who’d recently come out as gay as a young teenager – might need in terms of support; meeting some brave young people at the
October-November 2019
school I mentioned above, who were out in school and sharing their experiences. Writing about and highlighting issues that other- wise might not be widely known about in libraries, such as the Gov- ernment’s “hostile environment” strategy.
Worst professional moment (if you dare!)
Having my post deleted in a restructuring drawn up by a consultant who had claimed to be a friend!
What CILIP member networks do you belong to?
CDEG, YLG, HLG, SLG, PMLG, LGBTQ+ Network Steering Group, supporter of BAME Network.
What drives you on?
The need for so many things to be changed to achieve social justice for everyone.
A book you’ve enjoyed recently? I read newspapers in print or online most days, plus masses of journal articles – and try to grapple with 100+ emails a day! – so my
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ability to read books has rather diminished! However, I recently enjoyed Proud (compiled by Juno Dawson), Stripes Publishing, 2019 (an anthology of stories and poetry by top LGBTQ+ YA authors and new talent).
Have you got any hidden tal- ents?
I’m good at making compost!
Do you cook, if so, what’s your signature dish?
My partner and I share the cooking (with him doing more nowadays than I do). However, my signature dish is usually something from Madhur Jaffrey An invitation to Indian cooking (I have a battered Penguin edition from 1979).
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