Just in case you're not aware, there are some important campaign events peaking up over the horizon at the moment. There is a mass lobby of Parliament on October 29th in which a group of school librarians are planning to lobby parliament for school libraries to be made statutory. This isn't a protest, but a lobby, whereby people will ask to speak to their MP in order to discuss the issue. A template letter is available and there is a Twitter account to follow: @schliblobby Finally, there's a Facebook group, organised by Barbara Band (CILIP VP Elect); The Mass Lobby for School Libraries.
Scotland has their own lobby, with a Facebook group; Lobby for School Libraries Scotland, and this is taking place a couple of days earlier on October 27th.
There is also the Speak Up for Libraries conference, taking place on Saturday November 10th. I quote from the website: "The day-long event will pull together library campaigners and supporters from across the UK and give them the opportunity to build on their existing campaigning skills and tactics, share ideas and strategies, and focus on a way forward to make their local campaign as effective as possible, with the goal of ensuring library services are supported and protected, now and in the future."
There are speakers and workshops, including authors Philip Ardagh and Bali Rai as well as Alan Gibbons. The event is widely supported by groups such as CILIP (at which the event is being held), The WI, Voices for the Library, Campaign for the Book, The Library Campaign and UNISON.
If you are able to attend any of these events, please consider doing so - or if you can't, please offer support by blogging or Tweeting as you feel appropriate.
Edited: I was asked to add the following: For the Speak Up for Libraries conference people need to book in advance. There's only 100 places, as they need the money upfront, and people need to choose their 2 workshops. They are also imposing a bookings cut-off date of Nov 2, after which they can neither guarantee places or the price.
Thanks for covering this and adding the details about cut off. We've agreed to finalise details for CILIP but the sooner we get the bookings the better.
I'm booking workshops places as they come in so anyone booking soon should get their first choices. I'm happy to take any queries at thelibrarycampaign@gmail.com on 020 8651 9552 or tweet me directly at @ElizCro
Last year's conference, run jointly by The Library Campaign and Voices for the Library, was a huge success, and this year's conference should be even better. Those booked so far include library users/supporters, library campaigners, Unison members, librarians and library staff.
All involved in Speak Up for Libraries are passionate about libraries but come at it from different perspectives so the event embraces that diversity. The aim of the conference is to open up the dialogue and debate, listen to views and to plan a way forward to speak up for libraries.
What Phil Bradley hasn't mentioned is that he is also addressing the conference on the day. I look forward to hearing him speak in person, having only followed the twitter feed as it has lit up when he has spoken at other events.
If you are on twitter you can follow @SpeakUp4Libs and the hashtag is #SUFLConf You can also join the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/SpeakUpForLibraries
Posted by: Elizabeth (@ElizCro) | October 16, 2012 at 12:12 AM