A day out of Hawick is a day wasted *

When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill,
And July’s eve, with balmy breath,
Waved the blue-bells on Newark heath;
When throstles sung in Harehead-shaw,
And grain waved green on Carterhaugh,
And flourished, broad, Blackandro’s oak,
The aged Harper’s soul awoke!
Then would he sing achievements high
And circumstance of Chivalry,
Till the rapt traveller would stay,
Forgetful of the closing day;
And noble youths, the strain to hear,
Forsook the hunting of the deer;

I did, dear readers, warn you that I would lapse into the world of Sir Walter Scott and those are my favourite lines from the output of the great man. Well, I have just had the most splendid time visiting the Scottish Borders Library Service. This was part of the country I really wanted to come to visit during my year as president. I spent many happy childhood holidays in Kelso and know this part of the country very well indeed and, rather like Orkney, is a part of the country I'd quite like to live in.

I am eternally grateful to Margaret Menzies and all her team for organising the visit and for the amount of time they gave up. I am always very aware of this when I make any of presidential progresses around the country. It is always lovely to be made to feel so welcome wherever I have visited.

After meeting some of the team at Library Headquarters in Selkirk, Margaret and I went to the Heritage Hub in Hawick. This is part of the Heart of Hawick Project which has seen the regeneration of this part of the town. The Heritage Hub is the home to Borders Archives, next door is the Tower Mill which has been transformed into theatre-cum-cinema with coffee shop, exhibition space, and tourist information and the third part is the Borders Textile Towerhouse. The three buildings are beautiful and the modern additions of glass atria look stunning. At the Archive I was taken on a tour by Ian Brown, Cultural Services Manager for Scottish Borders Council and Julie Baird the Assistant Archivist. I saw the Hawick Missal, a recently discovered piece of thirteenth century monastic chant which had incidentally been performed the night before. The Heritage Hub is wonderful and must surely be the envy of many of other towns and authorities. It reflects very well on Scottish Borders Council’s foresight in recognising the value of archives in pulling in heritage tourists. Hawick is very lucky indeed to have three such a wonderful facilities at the end of its main street.

Then it was on to Hawick Public Library where Julia met us and showed us round. This is a Carnegie library but has remarkably flexible, open spaces for a building of that vintage. The Bookbug session was just coming to and end as we arrived and a long stream of young mums with babies in prams were leaving the library. How fantastic it was to see so many participating in this. This has been a real success story for Borders Libraries with sessions regularly over-subscribed.

We then called at Selkirk Library which has the distinction of being in the old jail. Surely this must be unique in Scotland. Inevitably, such a building poses challenges for the delivery of a twenty-first century library service in terms of access and layout. Morag, who is currently looking after the library Selkirk, is about to start our Masters course in January.

Then it was back to headquarters for lunch with Ian, Keith, Gill, Norman and Cameron. In the afternoon, we visited the library and Peebles High School. Now this was one place that I had mentioned to Margaret as being somewhere that I particularly wanted to go. My reason for this was straightforward: Ruth Fry, the librarian at Peebles High, is quite simply one of the best ambassadors for our profession; her enthusiasm for the role of the library in the life of the school is infectious and you only have to spend a few minutes in her company to realise how central a part of the learning community the school library is.

I have previously blogged about the role, value and impact of school libraries and the school librarians on students and their attainment but there is something more that is also apparent at Peebles and that is the impact that it has on the lives of those who use them. Ruth was telling me about a student who has Asperger's Syndrome and how she asked him to do a Friday talks in the library about what is like to have the condition. it was hugely successful and it allowed him to explain to others the reality of the condition. That takes bravery but it also takes trust and demonstrates more clearly than any performance indicator the impact that Ruth has on the students in her school. Sean, the student in question, has been asked to do the talk again in other venues. She also told me of someone else, brought to reading because of a trip to the Edinburgh Book Festival she organised and how that student felt his life had been changed because of it. Decision-makers please take note: school libraries are all about young peoples' lives and life chances.

Ruth, thank you for your time this week and please, please, just keep doing what you do and, Peebles High, you have a fabulous school librarian. You said something else that has really stayed with me and that was your comment about your own daily protest against apartheid when you worked in Cape Town: that you dealt with people in the order that they queued and didn’t give preferential treatment to the whites. There is metaphor for our profession there – it is all the little things that we each do in library services that make such a difference to so many people’s lives.

It was then back to see the library in Melrose and it is lovely. It was a former draper’s shop but has been refitted into a really nice space with a great area for children and, as with every other library in the Borders, super art work from the kids themselves. Margaret and I ended the day in with a meal at Marmion's (is commercial advertising permitted on this blog?) which is just round the corner from Melrose Library. This is place I haven't been at for about fifteen years but had very good memories of it and the meal didn't disappoint in any way.

So, what did I see in the Borders? Well, I saw a fantastic library team and I emphasise the word team. There has been a restructuring recently and some significant changes to the delivery of provision including co-location with other Council functions but this team is giving it their all and are demonstrating their commitment to and enthusiasm for library services across the region. The Heritage Hub is a gem; yet another ‘must see’ for our profession. Bookbug is a real winner with the community and it, like the other school and public libraries I visited, are changing lives. Thank you Scottish Borders and keep up the good work.

On Friday I went, under my own steam, to Kelso – a place I know so well – and then went on to Yetholm. That was a wee bit emotional as I’d always been there with my father and, by coincidence, today is the fifteenth anniversary of his death so there was something a bit poignant about that. Afterwards, I went to the new Sir Walter Scott Visitor Centre at Abbotsford which I loved, all glass and wood and not at all incongruous next to the House itself. Finally, I went back to Hawick to have lunch with my good friend James Sugden at Johnston’s new visitor centre, shop and restaurant and very good it was too. So, I returned home a happy president absolutely delighted with my visit and, to paraphrase Sir Walter, pleased to sing of achievements high in Borders libraries.

* A well-known Hawick proverb

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.

City of Discovery

Well, here we are on the verge of CILIPS 2012 Conference and excellent the programme looks too. I'm delighted that we are taking this year's conference to Dundee and our venue looks good. We have a range of really interesting speakers in both the keynote and parallel sessions and there should be plenty of time for networking with friends old and new. We are delighted that we have a large range of exhibitors at the conference, significantly more than we had originally anticipated for.

As you will imagine, I have a folder crammed full of copious notes of all the things that I have to do and say at various points. As a bear of very small brain, please be tolerant of your president should he become befuddled at any point. Hopefully, I will manage to get through it unscathed. I have polished the Presidential Chain and very nice it is looking too ;o)

So, let's enjoy CILIPS Annual Conference and celebrate how library and information services enrich our society. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of you there, and please come up and say hello and tell me how lovely the chain looks.

Fit a rare efterneen

Es efterneen, I maun hae gaun throuw tae Aiberdeen. E day wis e "Meet the President" we e North East Branch. A pucklie o ye will hae jaloost thit a cos it wis Aiberdeen n e North-East branch thit I'm claikin awa in e Doric. Es for e rest o ye, ye'll aa hae thocht thit I jist hiv haen an affa mishanter we ma keyboard n the wirdies maun be comin oot in a richt sotter.

That, dear readers, is what we call Doric and that's the way many of us born and brought up in the North-East were fortunate enough to speak at home or in the playground and some of us still do, of which more anon.

What that opening paragraph says is this afternoon I was meeting the North-East Branch at Aberdeen Central Library. As I noted the other day, it was full of friends, many of whom were former students. I spoke about the role of President, some of the things I've been up to and some of the things that I've found really inspiring during the visits that I've been making. We then had a really lively discussion about some of the current issues for our sector. Michael Charlton asked what I thought about the use of volunteers in libraries. A really interesting issue. My answer? Well, they can have a role to play and many libraries use them effectively as, for example, mentors in basic IT training or in local studies projects but they are not and they can not be a substititute for real staff. Apart from anything else who will manage the volunteers and, for example, sort out the problems when a volunteer simply decides they have something better?

We also discussed the co-location of services and, that familiar subject of other agencies being keen to work with us because our brand is so trusted and valued. There was also some discussion about continuing professional development and the mix of skills and personal attributes that the successful librarian or information professional needs. A good, lively debate and the future of our profession is very much in safe hands judging by the people who gave up their Saturday afternoon to come and meet the president. Unfortunately, the President has had a rotten cold all week and was still croaking, coughing and sniffing today.

One of the most distinctive features of life in the North-East of Scotland is Doric, that wonderful, lyrical form of Lowland Scots that is spoken up here in various forms. For many unfamiliar with it, the dialect, vocabulary and accent can often seem inpenetrable. For those of us brought up with it, the Doric is a cherished part of our cultural inheritance. But, my word, how it has declined since I was a child and I often hear local students going about the campus who just speak what I would describe as a sort of non-descript "standard" Scottish. I was fortunate to be brought up in a household that encouraged its use without that ever prejudicing the importance of speaking correct English (spikkin proper).

There are, however, many great champions of the Doric not least people like the incomparable Sheena Blackhall and Norman Harper whose columns regularly capture the distinctive essence of the north-east. And, my own favour piece of Doric literature? Well, I think you have to go a long way to beat the poetry of Charles Murray (1864-1941) and, in particular, The Whistle.

Libraries enriching society - plenty of that at East Branch

Last night I attended a meeting of East Branch at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. I really enjoy these "Meet the President" events. Again it was lovely to meet friends old and new and, yes, of course there was a good number of former RGIT/RGU graduates in the audience and it was lovely to catch up with them. Thank you so much to everyone at East Branch for making me feel so welcome.

I spoke a little bit about my own background and how honoured I am to be the CILIPS President for 2012 and also spoke about the theme of Enriching Society and how it is so important that we talk ourselves out of time of difficulties rather than talk ourselves into more It is so important that we are positive and upbeat about our profession and about the role, value and impact that libraries have on communities and individuals.

I mentioned some of the visits that I have made of recent months, in particular the trip of North Ayrshire which I have blogged about previously. I mentioned some of the really inspiring things I've seen and people I've met and how each of these visits demonstrates, very visibly, the role that libraries play in communities and how valued they are by the public. I also mentioned how libraries (in every sector) were doing lifelong learning and social inclusion long before these terms were consciously applied by those formulating the policy agenda. In fact, both of these concepts are actually fundamental to what we have always done.

To illustrate this, I mentioned John Miller who has researched extensively the Lithuanian community in Scotland and continues to do so although well into eighties (and I'm sure he won't mind me saying that). Mr Miller has directed his own investigations, become an adept researcher and writer and has used libraries fantastically to pursue his interests. He is for me one of the best examples of a lifelong learner, highly motivated, passionate and dedicated to his subject. He is also a wonderful ambassador of his library service and, indeed, a great advocate for everything it does.

As you will imagine, East Branch members had lots of other inspiring examples of things that we've done and people whose lives have been transformed by libraries or librarians. We spoke a lot in the discussion afterwards about how much of a hindrance that the stereotype of librarians is. We also discussed the other fundamental truth of our profession that although a love of books and reading is really, really important, our profession is all about people and that being people person is a key to success as a librarian.

I really enjoyed last night so thank you East Branch once again.

Sometimes, dear readers, your President has moments when he thinks "what have I really done to be worthy of being the CILIPS President" and the old adage "those who can, do and those who can't teach" floods into my mind. In such moments, I'm also reminded of a story about the 2nd Duke of Wellington, the son of the hero of Waterloo. He remarked days after the death of his father: "Imagine people's reaction when they announce "The Duke of Wellington" and only I walk in".

These thoughts are particularly the case when I hear of the excellent things going on in so many different parts of our profession and the enthusiasm with which library and information professionals approach their work. "I love my job" was a phrase I heard several times at East Branch last night and that's just so cool.