‘‘ B
School librarians are remarkably agile and also very generous in sharing ideas.
INSIGHT
School Libraries Group
CILIP Member Networks - a chance to engage with the wider library profession
ECOMING involved with CILIP’s member networks is a great way for all of us to enhance our skills, develop our contacts and career prospects, and show that We Are CILIP.
As a CILIP member you can join up to as many groups as you wish, from the Devolved Nations and Regional Networks to the Diversity Networks and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Full details are available on the Communities pages of the CILIP website1
and
volunteering is a fantastic way that we can evidence our personal development whatever stage of our professional journey we are on – be that Certifi cation, Chartership or Fellowship. I think this is of particular importance to my sector – school librarianship – as we often work in very small teams or, as many of us do, as solo librarians, and it can be hard to show how we apply professional standards and ethics to our work and how we engage with the wider information profession.
The School Libraries Group (SLG) is perhaps one of the larger SIGs and is an active group representing school librarians across the UK. I fi rst joined the SLG committee during lockdown, having really benefi ted from their support as schools closed and librarians were left to adapt to completely new ways of working. School librarians are remarkably agile and also very generous in sharing ideas. Having the opportunity to see what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ working with the committee has allowed me to take on new roles and responsibilities that I might not have been able to do in my day job, and this in turn has led me to feed back to my school new ideas and resources.
March 2023
One great example is in diversity, inclusion and equality. Through SLG I have been able to speak with practitioners from other sectors and refl ect on how I can improve what we do at school. I was delighted to be able to represent the view from a school librarian’s perspective in an online discussion panel with the new LGBT+ Diversity Network, and follow this up at CILIP conference in Liverpool in a workshop on being a good ally. The key message – that EDI is not a tick box exercise and is in fact a journey, not a destination, is one that I hope to put in practice in my own library but also take to the SLG Conference later this year. At the start of the year I took over from Caroline Roche as chair of SLG having shadowed her for the past year as Vice Chair. I am rapidly learning how much Caroline did for school libraries and librarians during her six-year tenure and my aim is to continue her work in raising the standing and expertise of school librarians.
Our main focus this year will be our conference – School Libraries: Diverse, Inclusive and Agents for Change, which will be our fi rst in-person conference since 2018. This will take place from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 October 2023 at Kents Hill Park in Milton Keynes. Booking will open shortly, and we will be off ering a range of ticket options, from one-day passes to the whole weekend, with an early bird deal if you book early. We have worked hard to keep prices the same as in 2018, and we will be off ering a full programme of keynote speakers, seminars, workshops and publisher showcases as well as our Friday Night StoryFest and our Saturday Gala Dinner. Further details will be available on our blog2
and we look forward to welcoming
Nick Cavender is Chair, School Libraries Group.
chair.slg@
cilip.org.uk
you there for an opportunity to network face-to-face.
Other highlights to look forward to this year include a return of the Pupil Library Assistant Awards (PLAA)3
following
a break due to the Covid situation; nominations are open now at, with an awards ceremony planned for the summer term. In addition, phase two of the Great School Libraries campaign4
has
just been launched (see p. 12). This is a joint initiative run by CILIP, SLG and the School Library Association and will highlight the key role that school libraries will play in recovery and levelling up as we move forward.
We are looking for new members to join the SLG committee and be a part of these exciting developments. If you are interested in fi nding out more please email me
chair.slg@
cilip.org.uk. IP
References 1
https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/community 2
https://slgconnect.org.uk/slg-conference/ 3
https://libpupilaward.wixsite.com/home 4
https://www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk/
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 31
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