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HERE’S a frequently quoted proverb “If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”.


It’s usually quoted as an African proverb, although if it is, its exact origins have been lost. However, regardless of where it comes from, you find it emerging over and over again. People keep saying it because it rings true. Over the last couple of months, the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network have been trying to put this proverb into practice. In order to go far, we need allies, and we need community. With the ever-growing pile of work that faces us in libraries it’s often easier to just keep your head down and plough on. You’ll work through that pile more quickly, but will anything change? Will you make a lasting impact on your organisation or sector?


Those who work in CILIP networks and groups have already taken the first step towards working together to go far, connecting with others across the sector to work towards a shared goal. The LGBTQ+ network decided now is the time to take it even further and we’re encouraging other groups to join with us in collaborative projects. Recently we’ve been working with the CILIP Information Literacy Group, helping them to celebrate 50 years of information literacy and helping us to make people aware of misinformation around LGBTQ+ issues.


To mark LGBTQ+ History month in February 2024 we held a webinar with three different speakers. Matt Akersten talked about the fight for marriage equality in Australia and how those fighting for social justice had all the good stories. The side asking for equality didn’t need any misinformation because the truth was more compelling than the lies – and their success proved it.


April-May 2024


Those who work in CILIP networks and groups have already taken the first step towards working together to go far, connecting with others across the sector to work towards a shared goal.


Tom Doyle and Patrick Hands from Yorkshire MESMAC talked about information and misinformation around HIV/AIDS, particularly from the viewpoint of the media during the 80s and 90s. Many of those attending highlighted that they could still see the media playing the same tune today. I took the third slot speaking as Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ network and as someone who grew up during Section 28, particularly highlighting the role that government had played in misinformation and disinformation during this time. Which led us nicely into the second of our collaborative efforts.


In March, we collaborated again with the Information Literacy Group. The incoming co-chairs, Anne-Lise Harding and Laura Woods, joined me at the LILAC conference to give a talk about misinformation and disinformation around the LGBTQ+ community in the present day. As well as giving the audience concrete examples of what to look out for and how to combat this, the question of how to educate and influence our political leaders was raised and the excellent work the parliament library has been doing to work with politicians was highlighted.


Both of the talks have been shared online. The webinar can be found at https://infolit.org.uk/cilip-lgbtq-x-ilg-panel/ and the slides for the LILAC talk at https:// doi.org/10.25418/crick.25610358.v1 Taking part in these two events really brought home to me the proverb and showed how much easier it was to keep going when you’re working with someone else. So frequently we push forward on our own, thinking that collaboration will slow us down, but having someone to turn to keeps you strong. The LGBTQ+ community has known this for a long time, as have many other minority groups involved in their own social justice campaigns.


We fight because it directly affects us, but our allies fight even though it doesn’t and that is a very special kind of support.


In this same spirit of going together to go far I’m particularly pleased to be able to say that the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network now has a new co-chair, Jackie Thornley Hancock, to support their work. Keep an eye on us over the next year, we’re setting out for a journey. If you’d like to collaborate with the LGBTQ+ Network this contact us at cilip. lgbtqnetwork@cilip.org.uk and if you’d like to join us you can find all the details at https://tinyurl.com/CILIPLGBTQ” IP


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 39


Beth Montague-Hellen, is Co-Chair of CILIP LGBTQ+ Network and Head of Library and Information Services at The Francis Crick Institute.


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