Well, the dust has now settled on the Election for 2011 and I find myself in the slightly strange situation of not being entirely sure what to say next! However, I shall do my best. I'd like to thank the people who nominated me; Chris Armstrong, Ned Potter, Caroline Roche, Bruce Royan and Sheila Thomas. I'd also like to thank everyone who has taken an interest in the election, by asking questions on the hustings, viewing the CILIP WM event either in person or on live stream, by talking about the elections on Twitter and in their own blogs, and for raising the profile, not just of the election, but of CILIP itself. I'd also like to thank Edwina Smart; although our visions for the future are perhaps rather different, she cared enough about CILIP to put herself on the line, and spend her own time on the campaign and energising people to vote as well. It was a pleasure to meet her at Birmingham, and I hope that our paths cross again in the future.
Oh dear, this IS turning into a speech isn't it, because I'd like to thank everyone in CILIP Governance for their work, and everyone at CILIP who was involved in any way at all. Thanks to everyone who cared enough about CILIP to vote for any of the candidates; CILIP needs as much active involvement as it can possibly get, and I'm delighted that so many more people voted this time than have done previously. We still need more voting next year though! Very obvious thanks to everyone who voted for me, and sent emails, DMs, tweets and congratulations - it's very much appreciated. Congratulations to all the candidates, particularly Katy, Gaz, John and Andy for getting elected.
I believe that this election shows that people within the organisation want change, and they want it quickly. We are in a parlous situation, both within the organisation and more generally, and there's lots of hard choices that need to be made. I don't know what they are yet, but I can take a good guess. All of us who work within the industry are under threat - from public library closures, to school libraries being disbanded to the 'why libraries when we have Google?' viewpoint and beyond. We ALL need to work together to support each other, and without wishing to be overly dramatic we need to stem the tide now. It's not a 'oh, we can think about it in a decade'. It's not 'we're ok for the next five years'. It's *now*. The membership of CILIP has to increase - now. If you're wondering 'what can CILIP do for me?' it's a perfectly acceptable question, but at this point in time I'd counter it by saying 'If you want CILIP to do anything for you, it has to be in a position where it actually can'. If you're not a member (and I'm holding up my hand here, because I wasn't), then please consider joining or rejoining. I'm very proud that I can call myself a librarian, and I'm betting that most of you are as well. However, if we don't have a strong professional body, which is able to define, set and maintain professional ethics and qualifications, and to promote the profession, we're not going to be able to say that for much longer. If you want CILIP to advocate, and to have a strong voice in the profession, it needs to be in a position to HAVE a voice - the louder the better. It will only have that if people join and keep their membership. If you have colleagues, friends, co-workers, ask if they are a member of their professional body. And if not, why not? The more that CILIP is diminished the more that the profession in diminished, the more that our jobs are diminished, and the worse we will all be for it.
I got asked a really good question during the hustings, which was along the lines of 'What is the meaning of life?' My answer was that I wanted to leave the world a slightly better place than that in which I found it. I want to leave the Presidential team in 3 years time by saying that I left CILIP in a better state than I found it in. I believe that if we all work hard, for ourselves, for each other, for our libraries, that is possible. No-one is going to do it for us. Libraries are about books. Libraries are about knowledge. Libraries are about access to the internet. Libraries are about supporting our communities. Libraries are about making everything just a little bit better. Libraries are about US. If you believe that, shout it out loudly. In the street. When talking to a taxi driver. In the queue at the post office. To the cashier in the supermarket. In the letters column of the local paper. On radio phone ins. CILIP can do it, and will do it, but it can only shout as loudly as the size of the membership let it.
"The librarian must be the librarian militant beore s/he can be the librarian triumphant" M. Dewey.
A simple New Year resolution. Get a colleague to join CILIP. Or rejoin yourself.
Oh dear. Sometimes I shouldn't be left in charge of a keyboard should I! Just think how terrifying it's going to be when I'm not speechless! :)
Oh dear, this IS turning into a speech isn't it, because I'd like to thank everyone in CILIP Governance for their work, and everyone at CILIP who was involved in any way at all. Thanks to everyone who cared enough about CILIP to vote for any of the candidates; CILIP needs as much active involvement as it can possibly get, and I'm delighted that so many more people voted this time than have done previously. We still need more voting next year though! Very obvious thanks to everyone who voted for me, and sent emails, DMs, tweets and congratulations - it's very much appreciated. Congratulations to all the candidates, particularly Katy, Gaz, John and Andy for getting elected.
I believe that this election shows that people within the organisation want change, and they want it quickly. We are in a parlous situation, both within the organisation and more generally, and there's lots of hard choices that need to be made. I don't know what they are yet, but I can take a good guess. All of us who work within the industry are under threat - from public library closures, to school libraries being disbanded to the 'why libraries when we have Google?' viewpoint and beyond. We ALL need to work together to support each other, and without wishing to be overly dramatic we need to stem the tide now. It's not a 'oh, we can think about it in a decade'. It's not 'we're ok for the next five years'. It's *now*. The membership of CILIP has to increase - now. If you're wondering 'what can CILIP do for me?' it's a perfectly acceptable question, but at this point in time I'd counter it by saying 'If you want CILIP to do anything for you, it has to be in a position where it actually can'. If you're not a member (and I'm holding up my hand here, because I wasn't), then please consider joining or rejoining. I'm very proud that I can call myself a librarian, and I'm betting that most of you are as well. However, if we don't have a strong professional body, which is able to define, set and maintain professional ethics and qualifications, and to promote the profession, we're not going to be able to say that for much longer. If you want CILIP to advocate, and to have a strong voice in the profession, it needs to be in a position to HAVE a voice - the louder the better. It will only have that if people join and keep their membership. If you have colleagues, friends, co-workers, ask if they are a member of their professional body. And if not, why not? The more that CILIP is diminished the more that the profession in diminished, the more that our jobs are diminished, and the worse we will all be for it.
I got asked a really good question during the hustings, which was along the lines of 'What is the meaning of life?' My answer was that I wanted to leave the world a slightly better place than that in which I found it. I want to leave the Presidential team in 3 years time by saying that I left CILIP in a better state than I found it in. I believe that if we all work hard, for ourselves, for each other, for our libraries, that is possible. No-one is going to do it for us. Libraries are about books. Libraries are about knowledge. Libraries are about access to the internet. Libraries are about supporting our communities. Libraries are about making everything just a little bit better. Libraries are about US. If you believe that, shout it out loudly. In the street. When talking to a taxi driver. In the queue at the post office. To the cashier in the supermarket. In the letters column of the local paper. On radio phone ins. CILIP can do it, and will do it, but it can only shout as loudly as the size of the membership let it.
"The librarian must be the librarian militant beore s/he can be the librarian triumphant" M. Dewey.
A simple New Year resolution. Get a colleague to join CILIP. Or rejoin yourself.
Oh dear. Sometimes I shouldn't be left in charge of a keyboard should I! Just think how terrifying it's going to be when I'm not speechless! :)
Phil, many congratualation on becoming VP. One question? Will you still be working with Voices of the library (http://www.voicesforthelibrary.org.uk/wordpress/) or is there a conflict of interest?
Posted by: les | December 02, 2010 at 01:05 PM
sums up what a librarain should be in a nutshell - we are in changing times and need to be surfing the wave not floundering beneath it
Posted by: bookburner09 | December 02, 2010 at 01:05 PM
Congratulations, Phil. I hope I can help you achieve your vision for CILIP.
Posted by: Diana Nutting | December 02, 2010 at 01:46 PM
Hi Les, thanks for the question. I don't see any conflict of interest between CILIP and VtfL at all, since they're doing different things. I'm still more than happy to support their activities, but I will be taking a back seat since I only have so much free time to dedicate to different things and I suspect that CILIP is going to require almost all of it!
Posted by: Phil Bradley | December 02, 2010 at 01:48 PM
Yay, great news, Phil. Definitely the right man for the job!
Posted by: Chris Atkins | December 02, 2010 at 01:54 PM
Congratulations again Phil - I feel really positive about what CILIP can offer us all now if we pull together, and being able to make a stronger case for joining to colleagues.
By the way, you are absolutely right about Edwina Smart. I was at the CIIP WM event and her genuine concern and commitment to libraries was obvious. I didn't vote for her, (like you, her vision was not quite the same as mine) but I was really impressed that she and all the other candidates took the time, trouble and expense of coming to talk to us. Impressive, and much appreciated
Posted by: andie | December 02, 2010 at 06:12 PM
Congratulations on your elevation. My personal view is that we need, as a profession, to be putting as much emphasis on the 'I for Information' as we are on the 'L for Library' element of CILIP. My particular interest is in the development of intranet managers - though they often do not have this title. In my view the work that they do marks them out as 'information professionals' and yet they would not for one moment consider CILIP to be their professional organisation. Since there are probably more people with a role of managing intranets than there are currently members of CILIP that is a significant new market that we should be targeting.
Which brings me to the need to take a very proactive view of information management, but that is far too long a polemic to add to this comment
Posted by: Martin White | December 03, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Well done getting elected. There's hope for us all.
My colleagues and I will need it as our authority is planning to replace us with library assitants.
Posted by: Kirsten Bax | December 03, 2010 at 08:01 PM
Glad to see you in.
As to the I and the L - well, it's interesting, from my point of view (as a public librarian) I see the "I" side dominating and the L side losing ground and perhaps being relegated to a premature burial. I was delighted to see you are a founding father of Voices of the Library though - they're (you're) doing great things with that.
Posted by: Ian Anstice | December 03, 2010 at 10:58 PM
I'm so glad you were voted in Phil, congratulations. It was great to hear you speak in Birmingham, we need people in positions of influence who are not afraid to speak out and who are not afraid of change. I'm really looking forward to what might happen in the next 3 years.
Posted by: Katharine Widdows | December 08, 2010 at 11:47 PM
I only know you virtually; but I was certain that you were a worthy V-P candidate.
Many congratulations. There are tough times ahead; people like yourself will be needed.
David W Bisset
Posted by: David Bisset | December 09, 2010 at 10:45 PM