INTERVIEW
The horizon scanning department for public libraries
Luke Burton, Director, Libraries at Arts Council England, talks about his career in libraries and explores how and why the Arts Council acts as the sector’s ‘big picture’ department while staying connected to the frontline.
THE appetite for horizon scanning among public librarians is huge – as we have recently seen at the CILIP Conference – but the number of public librarians paid to do it is minimal. “There really aren’t many of these types of roles,” Luke says, “There are only a handful of national roles for example, at Arts Coun- cil England, CILIP, Libraries Connected, the British Library and DCMS. We are in a privileged position to be able to support and advocate at a national level.”
At the local level senior public librarian roles often focus less on public libraries and broaden out to include other sectors and professions.
“For me the next progression would have been outside of the library world. I was already
responsibleforquitealotofstuff that wasn’t libraries: playgrounds, church- yards, rec grounds and maintenance of green spaces. In order to progress I would either wait for an opportunity to become more generalist within the council I worked in, or look for something that was more libraries focused.
“Getting this job was a progression to a national role that gives me a lot more time and space to digest and understand the strategic side of the sector.
“As a head of service you don’t have that time, you spend so much of it dealing with budgetadjustments,staffingissues,support teams, and just leading your organisation.
32 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL
Rob Mackinlay(
rob.mackinlay@
cilip.org.uk) is a journalist at Information Professional
And that’s part of our role at the Arts Coun- cil, to do that horizon scanning for the sector and then try and put that on the radar of people who are living services day-to-day.”
In the blood
Luke’s route into librarianship might appear inevitable. “Both my parents are qualifiedlibrarians.Theybothgraduatedin 1969astwoofthefirstlibrarianstoqualify with a BA from Strathclyde. Mum and dad both worked in academic and public libraries. Mum then spent the last 25 years of her career as a school librarian – in the secondary school my sister and I went to just outside of Glasgow. Dad was a lecturer in library and information management at Strathclyde and I still meet people who
July-August 2023
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