Conference Report: CILIPS Branch and Group Day
Chloe Stewart
9th June 2004
Peebles Hotel Hydro
Mercifully for those of us determined non-drivers CILIPS had sent a bus, and 8am in Glasgow saw it filling with coffee-clutching librarians. 90 minutes later saw us decanted at the Peebles Hydro Hotel , a name to conjure a bygone atmosphere of bath chairs and dressing for dinner, which the reality of gilded columns, bacon rolls with coffee and innumerable sofas matched up to.
The day followed the CILIPS conference theme of ‘The power of partnership’, with SHINE as a quintessential example of partnership hosting one of the sessions, and the variety of speaker sessions and supplier displays fulfilling the promise of something for everyone. Attendance at the day was also markedly cross-sectoral, although this was not always reflected in the presentations.
The opening presidential address was packed, with late-comers thrust whimpering into the front row, and the introduction by CILIP President Maggie Haines was a skilful definition of partnership, based on her own experiences at King’s College London, emphasising the importance of internal and external cooperation and the need for a culture of evidence-based practice and learning, leading in to an introduction of CILIPS President Moira Methven.
Most of the subsequent address was uncontroversial – the need for library and information workers to learn from other professions, the need for an evidence base to lobby for support, the development of online resources and the poor image of libraries. However, some recognition that she was not speaking to an exclusively public library audience would have been welcome, and I felt that many of her recommendations as to tailoring services to user need were already common practice outside public libraries. I also have doubts about the wisdom for taking Tesco as a model for library services, or of advocating the retention of advertising companies for promotion of library services. Although there was acknowledgement of social role of libraries in changing lives and opportunities, I felt that the distinction between book shops and libraries was not adequately made.
I decided to revisit my past as a school librarian by attending the Youth Libraries Group session, and here had the ironic experience of a non-librarian illustrating the role of libraries in partnership. Dvaid Jones of COSLA offered a witty and anecdotal presentation on the Dialogue Youth project, which builds on the Young Scot cards and resources trialled in some local authorities to provide a service for empowering and informing young people. The Young Scot website (see below) has been developed to provide accessible information on issues which young people themselves have suggested, and web and journalism training means that the site is partly developed by under-eighteens. Other project strands are consultation with young people, training them in skills such as discount negotiation in shops in remote areas, and the card – which allows access to school meals, leisure facilities – and libraries.
The project is extending beyond the orginal pilot areas and is part of a wider Euro26 network (see below). Several issues of interest to health libraries came up – the single biggest health worry and need for information among teenagers is cancer, and at the suggestion of local youngsters confidential health advice from a nurse is available in a public library in East Renfrewshire. A promotional video for the scheme from East Renfewshire highlighted the public library service as a benefit to card holders, and it was clear from a number of people in the audience that the project has galvanised them into communicating better with their younger users and to providing innovative services which put libraries at the heart of communities.
After an excellent lunch, digested on the terrace overlooking a croquet lawn, and an unexpected meeting with a former colleague last heard of in Birmingham, came SHINE’s own session.
The first part of this session, chaired by James Beaton of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, was a talk by the Jackie Lord (chair of the Health Libraries Group) on the CILIP Health Executive Advisory Group, which advises CILIP on health matters. Jackie discussed the HEA’s recent report and her own views on the future of health libraries, how to ‘future proof’ the whole LIS profession, and what other sectors could learn from health.
The report is based on a workshop held last year (see below) and on subsequent interviews. It will be published in September and will look at issues in health, the LIS role and the role of CILIP and HLG. The current issues in health librarianship outlined by Jackie were familiar to most of the audience – the rise of evidence based practice and patient power, the role of politics, IT and the media. A role for LIS professionals in partnership with clinicians is foreseen, in supporting clinical decision making and research.
The example of Jackie’s own organisation, the RCN, where the LIS staff have been asked to devise the information strategy for the whole organisation, illustrated how librarians can develop new skills and use their existing ones. Future librarians (not just in health) are expected to need skills in finance, leadership, negotiation and project management, and to need to hone their existing skills to contribute to strategy and policy development. The report also urges CILIPS to take a lead in providing training for these roles, in benchmarking LIS quality against other professional bodies, in regulation and in advocating for LIS in government policy.
Annette Thain then presented the Managed Knowledge Networks project, discussing among other issues the knowledge mapping performed for cancer and mental health, the e-library and MKNs as an example of partnership working, and the role of the new Knowledge Exchanges in pinning down ‘tacit knowldge’ which tends to be unpublished or difficult to locate.
The final session I attended was chaired by the Information Services Group on the Freedom of Information legislation – this was one of the most well attended sessions, reflecting the anxiety this legislation is causing. Fiona Flett from the Records Management Offices in Stirling presented a detailed summary of requirements under the Freedom of Information Act, but again the tacit assumption was made that the audience consisted solely of those working for local authorities.
Despite the guidance published, and the fact that from 1st January 2005 the Act will be fully operational, there seems considerable confusion, partly due to the vague wording of the Act itself. A wide variety of publication schedules have been accepted, and it is unclear what is defined as accessible information – e.g. whether documents held only on a website or in a reference collection are defined as such. There were however salutary reminders that the requirements should be seen as promoting a culture of openness, and as providing an opportunity to audit an organisation’s records and management system.
I found the session illustrative to some extent of the difference between library and archive workers, with the latter relatively relaxed about the practical implications of the Act. The point made by an audience member that libraries are often seen as the obvious targets for a query but are not necessarily given access to internal material was not really answered, as was the case with points made about the issue of confidential minutes and the issue of intellectual property. I suspect that as with much other legislation there may be test cases in the courts before definitive requirements are pinned down. In the meantime I am reading the FOI guidance from the Executive and Greater Glasgow Health Board (see below). ...
Further reading
Information Scotland Online
http://www.slainte.org.uk/publications/serials/infoscot/contents.html
Dialogue Youth
http://www.youngscot.org
http://www.euro26.org/
Health Executive Advisory Group
http://www.cilip.org.uk/advocacy/eags/health.html
Freedom of Information
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/ggpct/foi/
Chloe Stewart
Library Manager, Clinical Services
NGD Library Service
Stobhill Hospital
Glasgow
0141 201 3357
email: chloe.stewart@northglasgow.scot.nhs.uk