Librarians ruling the world #libcampldn

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I was really disappointed last week that, due to some personal issues, I was not able to take part in #libcampldn and, specifically, to run the session on librarians ruling the world with Anna Brynolf.  I understand the session went really well and I’m grateful to Anna for picking up my idea for a session and running with it…particularly after I had to drop out.

The idea for this session was borne out of a personal interest of mine in terms of the profession and whilst it sounded like it was a light hearted session (one that might have included, say, supermarkets organising stock in Dewey Decimal etc), it had a serious intent.  What I wanted to explore was how society would be organised if it was based on our ethical principles (see CILIP’s list here - PDF).

So, for example, what kind of world would we live in if the pharmaceutical industry was forced to be transparent and provide information on drug trials (Bad Pharma played a big role in my thinking about this)?  What issues would it raise?  Would it be a good thing?  And what about transparency and freedom of information?  How and to what extent would they impact on society?  Should there be limitations?  Or should we ensure access to all information for everyone?  What system of government would we have*?  How would the publishing industry be orientated?  And what about privatisation?  Is it possible to have privatised industries under a system of full transparency? And so on…

The reason why I was particularly interested in these areas is because I so rarely see these sorts of issues addressed.  I don’t mean in terms of librarians debating the nature and role of government, I mean the extent to which we discuss the big issues in our society that we should be involved in.  And that not only should we be involved in these discussions, we should be leading on them, making clear our expertise and ensuring that we are seen as the experts.

I think, and this may be naive, but I think that getting out there and demonstrating our expertise and relevance is how we ensure that society understands our value and importance.  By getting involved in social issues and showing that not only do we have a deep understanding of these issues, but we have some ideas about their solutions, that is how I think we can ensure that when people think ‘librarians’ they don’t think books and silence, but they think of us as valuable information experts.  It is not done through making out we are somewhat self-obsessed.  We need to, in my view, look inward a little less and outward a little more.  We may not rule the world as a result but we can, perhaps, change it a little.

* For what it’s worth, I think it would be a slightly anarchistic society.

Ian Clark

A qualified librarian and co-founder of a leading national library advocacy campaign, I have written articles for The Guardian and the Open Rights Group on a range of professional issues.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/tracy.hager.privacy Tracy Hager

    Very interesting. We’re running our first YLG SW Unconference in June and have been wondering what kind of topics might be discussed. This topic would perhaps be a little on the ‘adult’ side but who knows? Also, (public) librarians are being placed closer and closer to the centre of things politically, though I would argue with greatly reduced power. What I mean by this is that libraries will more or less be the last (and in many cases only) place for people to connect to the organisations they need for their benefits, ability to make appointments, applications… The disparity between those with the technological know-how and those without are going to be driving desperate people into public libraries en masse. Those of us who have not lost our jobs, due to the cuts are left with very little capacity and quite a lot of stress. I’ve thought for a while now that CILIP would be smart to convince government that we should be the ones to organise a new model for information and technology. I’m personally not too happy about spending more time helping people with benefits than I am fulfilling my role, however, if I was asked to devise a new system of working, I would happily do it. I hope this fits with the topic you raised!

    • http://infoism.co.uk/blog Ian

      Hi Tracy. It’s an area I am very interested in and think it is one that people in our profession should be actively engaged in. In the current economic/political climate, the things we should be defending and the things that we believe in are under attack and we need to be able to defend the things that we profess to believe in in terms of our professional ethics (as much as possible, some people aren’t in a position to take up political positions). There is a key and very important role for libraries and librarians within the current climate. The question is: do we grab the bull by the horns or are we tossed aside due to perceived irrelevance? If we truly believe in our ethical principles then we need to act upon them wherever and however possible.