search.noResults

search.searching

saml.title
dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
it? The story I tell to illustrate this is that of my husband’s godmother, now sadly deceased, who felt that she was not informed enough about Brexit to vote one way or another. She took it upon herself to read everything she could in a variety of publications to enable her to make a decision. She chose to vote in a way that I did not agree with, but I would go to the barricades to defend her decision and the steps she took to ensure it was an informed one. After Dr Prochaska’s lecture, the Q&A session focussed a lot on looting in the past; not only that done by the Nazis, but also the Benin Bronzes and the inimitable Elgin Marbles. However, the one contemporary project that Dr Prochaska did refer to was the destruction of the University Library in Mosul in Iraq. Some of you may remember that the keynote speaker at the CILIP conference in 2022 in Liverpool was Dr Sayf Al Ashqar, Secretary General of Libraries at Iraq’s University of Mosul. Last year, while in Northern Ireland talking to library staff at the University of Belfast as President of CILIP, I heard about the work being done by Jessica Bates and her team to support the training of new library staff for the Mosul University Library. This made me think about some of the other initiatives being undertaken to support libraries in areas of conflict which are happening right now as I write.


Campaign Last year, Libraries Connected embarked upon a fundraising campaign to enable them to send three Mobile Libraries to Ukraine. These are now flourishing in that war zone. In 2022, Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) launched a new library campaign, Books Unbanned, to help teens across the United States have access to materials owing to increased censorship and book bans in some states that affect library collections. Young people aged 13-21 could apply for a free eCard from BPL which unlocked access to their extensive range of 350,000 ebooks, 200,000 audiobooks and over 100 databases. Teens were encouraged to share videos, essays, and stories on the importance of intellectual freedom and the impact that book challenges and bans have had on their lives. They are also invited to join the Intellectual Freedom Teen Council whose primary aim and objective is to defend the freedom to read.


“Access to information is the great promise upon which public libraries were founded,” said Linda E. Johnson, Pres- ident and CEO, Brooklyn Public Library. “We cannot sit idly by while books rejected by a few are removed from the library shelves for all. Books Unbanned will act as an antidote to censorship, offering teens and young adults across the country unlimited access to our extensive collection of e-books and audiobooks, including those which may be banned in their home libraries.” The initiative was conceived in response to an increasingly coordinated and effective effort to remove books tackling a wide range of topics from library shelves. The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom counted more than 700 complaints in 2021, the most since it began keeping records more than 20 years ago.


“Brooklyn Public Library stands firmly against censorship and for the principles of intellectual freedom – the right of every individual to seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction,” said Nick Higgins, Chief Librarian. “Limiting access or providing one-sided informa- tion is a threat to democracy itself.”


This work has been complemented by their award-winning podcast Borrowed and Banned and leaders of the project presented at the British Library’s conference ‘Press Play’ in March 2024.


Democracy Closer to home, we saw the power of democracy at work after the appalling incident at Spellow Library when it was set alight and destroyed during riots after the murder of the three


Summer 2025 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 47


schoolgirls in Southport. Those riots have been in the news again following the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana for the three murders. A crowdfunding campaign set up for the library raised over a quarter of a million pounds to rebuild the library, which included a considerable sum from Arts Council England as development agency for public libraries. The interviews with local people who were vocal in their support of the work that the library was doing in the community were inspirational and for me, as a librarian who frequently feels that our profession is no longer valued, extremely moving. Recently, I have been proud to be part of the judging process for the new Nibbies Award for Library of the Year – again and again I read submissions by libraries doing their best to help those who feel isolated alone, whether through age, frailty or disability, or through being forced from their country and their home. I found myself reflecting that for many, the library will have become a symbol of the UK and the welcome they have received, while for others, it will have been their abiding safe space.


Trusted Libraries matter; literacy in all its forms and information matters; fighting mis and disinformation matters; ensuring access to all infor- mation matters. Library staff were named as the third most trusted profession to dispense information in the 2023 Ipsos Mori Veracity poll. We need to remember that and use that argument strongly while advocating for our profession.


In terms of local government expenditure, public libraries cost a fraction of the worth they have if used properly. In the UK, we spend £12 per capita on our library services; in Europe that averages out at £25 per capita while Finland spends £50 per capita per annum on their library provision. We need to value these amazing community assets appropriately, conserve them and ensure that staff training keeps pace with the rapidity of change in information provision so that they in turn can demystify those changes for the general popula- tion and fulfil their potential to help safeguard democracy. IP


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68