Libraries: torches for the community

Well folks, here we are. Your President sits here utterly exhausted. He is still in Dundee as he is off down to Newcastle first thing tomorrow morning and it made no sense whatsoever to go north tonight only to go south again. I did, somewhat naively, imagine that I would find a few spare moments here and there during the conference to tweet or, even to make the odd (odder than usual?) blog posting. How stupid was that? If I am feeling tired then I guess that Elaine, Cathy, Rhona and Gillian must be feeling doubly so. That said, I think we can say that our annual conference for 2012 was a success on so many different levels. I found the last three days (for it started for me on Sunday evening) really enjoyable indeed and I will elaborate on the principal reasons for that in a moment.

Before I do I would just like to reiterate some of the things that I said in the concluding remarks and single out the speakers in both keynote and parallel sessions who made our conference what it was. Klaus Tochtermann got us off to a fantastic start with so many interesting ideas and I heard many people discussing geocaching later in the day. Norma McDermott rounded everything off superbly this afternoon and, no doubt, winning herself even more fans than she had already. And, of course, Steve Wheeler gave us such an entertaining presentation , full of ideas that I imagine many of us will hasten away to try out. It was also really important to hear from Rosemary Goring about the significance and centrality of reading at the heart of the library.

We had superb speakers in our parallel sessions too and these contribute so much to the success of any conference because they enable the sharing of ideas and experiences amongst peers. And that, as we all know, is right at the heart of what makes a good conference. So many people contributed to make our conference special and I would like to thank them all.

What made it really special for me? Well, that is an easy one to answer: all of you. You came along, you were supportive, you were engaged, you were enthusiastic, you were participative, you came from all sectors, all levels, all ages. You are Scotland's library community and you are brilliant. One of the things that I love about our professional life in Scotland is the intimacy of it. Our profession is close-knit in the best sense of that phrase.

So CILIP Scotland, thank you very much for making our conference what it was. I ended by referring to libraries as Andrew Carnegie saw them, beacons of learning and education in the community (and I extend that to all types of communities and environments) and he, of course, used the symbol of the torch, carved in stone above the door of many of his libraries. An appropriate analogy for the day that the Olympic Torch entered Dundee. I spoke also about my friend Gregor who was about to carry that torch over at Cupar in Fife. Gregor is a beacon for his friends and family. I'm delighted to say that Gregor had a great day carrying the torch (and I promise carrot cake next time I see you); I think we had two great days carrying ours too.