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.

Introducing CILIPS President 2012: Peter Reid

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a librarian in possession of a presidential chain must be in want of a blog. Through the good offices of Mistress Hanlon, letting agent in Glasgow, I have now taken possession of the presidential blog from my predecessor, Alan Reid.


I really must begin with an apology for not having been on the blog sooner. February and March are my heaviest teaching months and I have just completed delivering my big Masters module on Managing Library Services which has been good fun, well the students perhaps remain to be convinced about the fun aspect.

I am looking forward to the coming months very much. Being selected to be the CILIPS President is the greatest possible honour and I do sincerely hope to be worthy of the trust that has been shown in me and that I represent our profession to be best of my abilities.

The diary is already filling up with events and I am really excited about attending these and meeting as many of you as I can. Next month, I will be reporting back on the blog about LILAC in Glasgow, the Irish Library Association / CILIP Ireland Joint Conference in Belfast, the Scottish Local Studies Day School in Perth and other events. I also hope to use the blog to give you a bit of an idea about the life of a “library school” academic.

I would really like to pay tribute to Alan for the sterling job he did as President in 2011. He was a superb CILIP Scotland President who exhibited dedication, hard-work, enthusiasm and sheer professionalism at all times. He has been inspirational to all of us and particularly to those of us who have had the opportunity to work closely with him both in Policy and Resources Committee and in CILIPS Council. I would also like to pay tribute to Susan, or Mrs Reid as followers of this blog have come to know her as, who has steadfastly supported our organisation and our events over the last year.

I am also thrilled to have my good friend Dr Audrey Sutton from North Ayrshire as my Vice President for the year and know that she will be a fantastic ambassador for CILIPS in 2013.

We know that times are tough but in choosing Enriching Society as the theme for the year, I want us to be able to showcase how good we are as a profession, to shout about the fantastic contribution that libraries and information services make to our communities and to our society on so many different levels. I am confident that through our events, both nationally and locally, we will be able to do that loudly and clearly; National Libraries Day last month was a starting point but let’s keep that momentum up and shout loudly about how fantastic libraries (and librarians) are.