‘‘ F


Reading


It’s difficult for politicians to understand growing up in a chaotic household with neither books nor computers, but believe me, those households exist. Reading is a vital skill and yet we rarely credit the role of the school or public library in creating readers. Reading for pleasure makes reading for purpose seamless, but again, we don’t acknowledge that some children have neither choice nor access. Research by organisations like The Reading Agency, Book Trust and National Literary Trust proves again and again the contribution Libraries make.


And that is before we remember that Libraries delivered the People’s Network enabling everyone to become familiar with technology, regardless of their financial circumstances, just as they were universities for the poor 150 years ago.


Information


During the pandemic, health librarians collated and summarised huge amounts of information so that medics could digest it and respond


April-May 2024


In this era of fake news, libraries help people navigate the world of information and form their own opinions.


INSIGHT


President’s view A place where positive impacts happen


AMOUS people as disparate as Stephen Fry, Caitlin Moran and Billy Connolly cite libraries as having


had a transformative influence on their lives. We have no way of knowing who in the future will say the same thing, but I do know they’re out there. In any case, these names don’t seem to influence decision makers to recognise or capitalise on the value libraries bring to our society. So, I’d like to examine some of the ways that libraries have changed the lives of ordinary people profoundly.


swiftly to developments. The House of Commons Library distils information daily for our MPs, helping them make informed decisions. CILIP’s Green Libraries and International programmes raise awareness at community level of issues influencing climate change and the soft power inherent in international partnership. In this era of fake news, libraries help people navigate the world of information and form their own opinions. They can help us navigate AI as it develops. That role should never be underest i mated.


Programmes


Programmes run through our public libraries are equally transformative. The BIPC Network, written about so powerfully in The Big Issue by Jo Cornish, has helped to create over 18,000 new businesses over the past three years, but less well-known is that over 95 per cent are still trading after three years.


The norm is 60 per cent. Also, 72 per cent of those entrepreneurs are women and 26 per cent from ethnic minorities, while 25 per cent were aged 35 and under.


The Summer and Winter Reading Challenges, which keep children reading through the holidays, and Bookstart, run by Book Trust which provides books and reading advice to all new families, are enabled through our public libraries. These programmes are amplified by the work of school library staff supporting our children through school.


Over 68 per cent of problems dealt with by GPs in the over 60s are rooted in loneliness and yet the library Home Delivery Service, bringing books and companionship into the homes of those isolated and alone, is rarely mentioned, despite library staff acting as first


Sue Williamson is CILIP President.


alerters to deteriorating conditions. Still less are the book clubs, jigsaw groups and simply the free and unconditional space that help obviate loneliness for that same demographic.


There are also the individual stories from my 25 years of working in and for libraries. The child suffering from selective mutism, who uninhibitedly embraced the library staff because they’d been going to read and rhyme times since babyhood; the colleague who became a librarian because in a chaotic, large, loving family, the library was the place where she could think and dream and concentrate and hear herself; and the young shy person who turned her talent for Manga drawing into a club in her local library, won volunteer of the year and went on to University and successful adulthood.


I’ve seen so many examples, had letters from grateful customers too numerous to mention here, so I believe passionately in the transformative nature of libraries as community enablers, supporters and lifelines. Chris Paling’s book Reading Allowed depicts the wide and varying ways in which our libraries support their communities, I commend it to all our MPs, Chief Executives and all influencers. Libraries are neither irrelevant nor obsolete. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell: “We won’t know what we’ve got till they’re gone!” IP


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 13


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