Media Releases

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SECTOR “MUST SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE” TO REGIONS

Policy group recommends library development agencies in England

Library and information services should have the capacity to speak with one voice at a national and regional level if they are to be truly effective advocates, says a report published today by The Library Association.

Prepared by a special Policy Advisory Group (PAG) composed of leading members of the library and information profession, Devolution and Regionalism in the UK identifies policy issues that it believes should be pursued by the Library Association and subsequently by its successor body CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

Lifelong learning, economic regeneration and citizenship and culture are issues that the PAG identifies as relevant to the library and information sector in a regional and sub-regional context, and it welcomes Library Association initiatives such as engagement with the local Learning and Skills Councils, and public library successes in forwarding the Modernising Government agenda.  However, the report says, the sector has been “strangely silent in looking at the information needs of the new Regional Development Agencies”.

Singled out for especial attention is the joint initiative by the Library Association, the British Library and Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries to create a post of Regional Development Officer for library and information services in the English regions (whose appointment was announced in a joint media release issued by the three bodies on 10 January*).  “We welcome the leadership the three organisations are prepared to exercise,” the report states.

Following an outline of the new constitutional framework throughout the United Kingdom, and an assessment of the emerging regional landscape, the PAG’s report makes a total of 23 recommendations for action by the library and information sector generally and CILIP in particular.  “The new professional body should identify what its Branches have to offer to the regional library and information sector agencies and ensure that the Branches have the skills and resources to deliver,” the report concludes. 

Devolution and Regionalism in the UK: report of the Library Association Policy Advisory Group (ISBN 0 9537404 5 5) is available direct from the Library Association, and its text is on the LA Web site.

Contact: Guy Daines, Principal Policy Adviser.
Tel: 020 7255 0632.  
E-mail: Guy.Daines@la-hq.org.uk

Notes to Editors

The Library Association is a leading professional body for librarians and information managers, with around 24,000 members who work in all sectors, including business and industry, further and higher education, schools, local and central government departments and agencies, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries.  On 1 April, it will unify with the Institute of Information Scientists to form a new body, CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

*Geoff Warren has been appointed from 3 March as Regional Development Officer for the library and information sector.  His brief is to encourage collaboration and representation, within and beyond the library and information domain, in order to influence wider regional agendas.  He has been Director of The Libraries Partnership, West Midlands (TLP-WM) since 2000.  He will be seconded to this national post, which is jointly funded by the Library Association, Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries and the British Library.

Monday 21 January 2002