WITH the release of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey today, librarians across the UK may soon be asked which version of the Odyssey they’d recommend. Rob Mackinlay asks Paul Howarth what versions are on offer in public libraries and Mary Beard which ones she'd recommend.

For any public librarians struggling to decide between about 60 full translations into English (The first was in 1615 George Chapman)classicist Mary Beard has given us her preferences and some tips for anyone making their first foray into the Odyssey.

But first… what is available from a public library?

Already public libraries have waiting lists for Emily Wilson’s 2017 version – the first translation into English by a woman and the version cited by Christopher Nolan as an influence.

In Kent demand is rising fast. Here the wait for its four ebook copies of Emily Wilson’s Odyssey had gone up from six weeks to nine weeks between 9 and 16  July.

Demand is a little lower for this version in Suffolk. Paul Howarth, Library Content Engagement & Development Manager for Suffolk Community Libraries said they have waiting lists too: seven reservations for three physical copies of Emily Wilson’s Odyssey, and four reservations for their two ebook versions – also via OverDrive’s Libby App.

Across all their physical books he said: “We currently have 27 active reservations across 15 different editions (including direct translations, adaptations, children’s versions, graphic novel versions etc.)

Across Ebooks he said: “We have 25 current reservations – across 5 versions - the most popular version is actually the recent Steven Fry retelling.”

Paul says in most cases demand falls short of the five reservations per copy trigger point for ordering more. However, it does mean that keen new readers will still have to wait for in-copyright versions.

Free?

Dating back as far as 3,500 years, first fully translated into English just over 400 years ago and with about 60 English translations since then, anyone keen to read it shouldn’t have to pay or wait.

Paul said that Suffolk and other public library services are able to make out of copyright material available through public libraries without stretching budgets.

For example, although OverDrive’s Libby app is mainly for in-copyright material there are two routes for providing access to locally selected or free content.

The first route is a facility to upload local content onto OverDrive itself. Paul said: “We could in theory use this to provide access to out of copyright content if we have the right files, but we have not used it for this kind of content, only for content related to local projects.

He said another in-library route to out-of-copyright material is via their subscription to Duke Classics which can provide a library service’s readers access via the app. These very low cost copies of texts from Duke will have no waiting list because they allow simultaneous users to access the same copy.

Paul added: “Obviously our preference is for readers to use the library but we want people to be able to access what they need. So another source of completely free books is Project Gutenberg.”

Mary Beard recommends….

Asked if it was fair to expect library staff to be able to recommend a version of the Odyssey Paul said it would depend on their personal knowledge, but they would be able to tell library users what’s new, what’s popular and what’s available.

Mary Beard stepped in to offer recommendations.
Asked what factors a reader or librarian should take into consideration when choosing different versions of the odyssey to read or put on their library shelves, she said: “It’s hard to say. Currently people like the Wilson version and the even more recent version by Daniel Mendelsohn. But I think that we can get too hung up on the ‘best’ translation. It’s more a question of a translation that draws you in. There is still life in the old E V Rieu prose version in Penguin Classics (After WW2 an amazing best seller). Other people I know like the version by Fagles.  

For her own favourite translations/versions or accompanying books she said: “I still love M I Finley’s world of Odysseus. It is a little out of date now, but it first prompted me to think “What kind of society is represented in this poem?” It was recently reissued by the New York Review of Books”.

When asked about free versions online she said: “It is not often that very up-to-date versions appear online. But I wouldn’t let that bother you too much. I actually found this version of the E V Rieu online.”

Leg-ups and helping hands

Mary said: “It is one of the most accessible works of ancient literature. But you still might need a bit of help getting into it.” She said: “A little ‘leg up’ is helpful. In print, B Graziosi’s ‘Very Short Introduction to Homer’ would help too… it’s not a big hurdle to get into, but a helping hand is a good idea.”

Mary, who hosts Instant Classics podcast with Charlotte Higgins added: “We have our Odyssey Bookclub – Exploring the Odyssey – in which we have been "reading along" through the Odyssey together over the last few months”.

A NEW public libraries workforce strategy puts ethics and professional development front and centre to face the sector’s many challenges.

CILIP has worked alongside Arts Council England, Libraries Connected and Libraries Rising to develop the strategy which they want to be used as “a toolbox, designed to strengthen the skills of the public library workforce.”

In it’s introduction, the Developing the future public library workforce: Realising our shared ambitions strategy says that public library skills are “constantly evolving” in response “to ongoing societal change”.

It said “Underpinning these evolving skills and practices are the ethics and values of the library and information profession, such as inclusion, impartiality, access to information, and freedom from censorship. Public libraries are a cornerstone of human rights, lifelong learning, and social cohesion. While we recognise the many challenges facing the sector (which include an ageing workforce and the current funding climate), we believe that the key to a thriving future lies in strengthening our workforce.”

The strategy sets out a response focusing on widening access and creating clearer routes into the profession. This includes an emphasis on attracting younger people through pathways such as apprenticeships. It also emphasises the need to promote library careers to a broader and more diverse range of people.

It focuses on five key areas for action:

• planning for a diverse and future-ready workforce
• identifying skills needs
• development pathways
• leadership
• preparing for the future

Each section gives provides practical ideas and goals for library leaders. It then does the same for sector organisations. Each section also provides links to relevant resources.

The authors acknowledge there are gaps in understanding the sector’s workforce and that the document will evolve to address them. It said: “There are important areas of work that need further attention, but these are beyond the scope of this document. A key limitation is the lack of a centralised and comprehensive approach to workforce data collection across the public library sector, particularly in relation to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) indicators.” It said most available data comes from the CILIP 2015 and 2023 Workforce Mapping surveys. While valuable they relied on voluntary self-reporting and contain significant gaps.

Another knowledge gap is how varied the recruitment approaches and practices are across local authorities. It said: “While this local flexibility is valuable, it presents challenges in building a clear national picture. As such, this issue also falls beyond the scope of this piece of work.” Also big structural issues like pay and long-term reductions in staffing “have a considerable impact on workforce sustainability and morale” but fall outside the scope of this document for now. However it said: “This work is a starting point. We are committed to continuing this journey collectively and working with partners to advocate for further research and improved, consistent data collection to help build a more inclusive and representative workforce.”

Luke Burton, Director Libraries, Arts Council England said: “Library staff should represent the diversity of the communities that they serve. Enabling library workforces to develop and strengthen their skills through coaching, training and research and via peer networks so that they are ready to face the sector’s current and future challenges is paramount to ensuring that public libraries can continue to meet, and exceed, the needs of their users. Working with our partners, the Arts Council hopes that this strategy will help to encourage those working in libraries to undertake professional development so that there is a diverse, inclusive, and future-ready public library workforce in our much-loved libraries.”

Sonia Ramdhian, Chief Development Officer for CILIP, said: “This co-created practical framework supports workforce development across the public library sector. It promotes multiple entry routes into the profession and cross-sector learning to support a broader and more diverse talent pipeline. It advocates for inclusive leadership development, succession planning, and the removal of barriers that prevent progression for underrepresented groups. It shows that by working together we can be more ambitious, invest in our people more strategically, and achieve more.”

CILIP’s collaboration with Google to deliver the Super Searchers initiative, launched in summer 2025, is continuing to grow with a fantastic offer worth £200 — and we would love more colleagues to get involved.

We are now looking for trainers from a wider range of sectors, including further education, health, public libraries, and school libraries, to join the current cohort. We are especially keen to recruit, but not limited to, library and information professionals working in further education settings who are passionate about supporting learners and staff with digital and information literacy. As an incentive to register, you’ll receive £200 for approximately 5–6 hours of training. This is a great opportunity to develop your own skills, support your peers, and help strengthen digital confidence and information literacy in your sector.

Super Searchers is a national training programme designed by Google to strengthen information literacy and critical search skills across schools, libraries, and communities. Delivered through a train-the-trainer model, it is open to anyone working in a library or information setting who is able to go on to train at least 10 people within their organisation.

At its heart, Super Searchers is about helping people feel more confident online. The initiative gives young people and communities practical tools to evaluate and contextualise online information, understand AI-generated content and build stronger information literacy skills.

Developed by Google in 2022, Super Searchers is already active in North America, Europe, India, Japan, and Australia, and has reached more than one million people to date. In the UK, the programme is being delivered free of charge through CILIP’s professional network.

The interactive training helps participants build digital resilience, information literacy, and confidence in search. It also aligns closely with CILIP’s Ethical Framework, which champions trust, transparency and equitable access to knowledge and information. Together, these principles create a strong platform for library and information professionals to support citizens in making informed, confident choices in their digital lives.

What’s involved?

You are a library and information professional who is passionate about supporting learners and staff with digital and information literacy.

Join a Google-led training session on Thursday 23 July, from 1pm to 2pm. You have until Wednesday 15 July to register your interest to be a Tier 1 trainer.

The deadline is for Tier 1 training. The registration form will remain open for anyone who wishes to participate in Tier 2 training (October–December 2026) or Tier 3 training (January–March 2026). These training sessions will be unpaid and delivered by Tier 1 trainers within their respective sectors.

You’ll receive £200 for approximately 5–6 hours of involvement. This is a great opportunity to develop your own skills, support your peers, and help strengthen digital confidence and information literacy in Further Education.

Deliver training to 10 fellow library professionals within your organisation between September and November 2026.

Register your interest by completing the sign-up form. For further information, contact Matthew Dwyer, Projects and Programme Manager.  

This initiative forms part of CILIP’s wider mission to promote ethical, inclusive, and informed engagement with knowledge — from early literacy through to digital citizenship. By joining Super Searchers, trainers can play an important role in helping people navigate today’s information landscape with curiosity, confidence, and care.

Find out more about the Google Super Searchers programme  

The latest issue of CILIP’s Pen&inc. magazine is out now, bringing you the latest in inclusive and representative children’s publishing.

With features, interviews and hundreds of listings, Pen&inc. is an essential guide for children and young people’s librarians, school librarians and teachers working in literacy and reading. Every issue is packed with insights and talking points, helping to shine a light on key issues and inspiration.

This issue has a focus on early years reading, and opens with Camilla Reid discussing the importance of building a strong foundation to help parents and young children connect with books from an early age. She looks at some of the techniques that help to foster engagement and grow confidence and a love books.

Commissioning Editor with Tate Children’s Publishing, Cherise Lopes-Baker talks about her own journey from human rights law to publishing and how that is informing the choices she makes now when looking for new titles.

Long-time friends, artist Yu Rong and author and childen’s reading expert Jake Hope work together for the first time on a new book. In separate interviews they discuss how the project came together and what the experience was like for each of them.

We also look at modern interpretations of the fairytales that are bringing the stories up to date and introducing more representative characters. Jake Hope talks to Ella McLeod, Rachelle Falconer and Peter Bently about their own re-working of the traditional favourites.

We also hear form Nathanael Lessore, who looks at toxic masculinity and how connecting to a good book could offer a solution; and Alex Strick and Sharon King-Chai talk about their own techniques and inspiration when creating books for young children.

With features on this year’s Carnegies and Tir na n-Og Awards and deep dive into the latest theory on the power of “slow reading” from CLPE’s Anjali Patel, there is plenty to inspire you and your users.

And don’t forget every issue includes hundreds of listings of the latest inclusive and representative books.

In the National Year of Reading, Pen&inc. is free to read for everyone - open the latest copy here.

photo: Nicola Tree

LIBRARIES minister Baroness Twycross has said that Arts Council England will remain as public library sector’s development agency. She also said that the long-awaited public libraries strategy should be published soon.

In a speech at the Libraries Connected conference on June 10 she addressed a significant unknown raised by the Hodge Review of the Arts Council which suggested that the public libraries development role should pass to the British Library.

Baroness Twycross said: “One thing I did want to say ahead of us publishing the Libraries Strategy formally is to give you some assurance about the national development agency function.

“After consideration and discussion with the Arts Council, sector bodies and the British Library, and with a number of representations from some of you in the room, we have decided to retain the function with the Arts Council. The Arts Council are really keen to keep this function as well.

“We know that there is work to be done together to understand what the sector wants from its development agency and to build a refreshed offer that serves your needs. But I hope that this allays any concerns you may have had and we look forward to taking the next steps on this together.”

Commenting on the timing of the public libraries strategy, she said: “We had hoped that we’d be able to unveil the strategy today. We’re not quite there, but hopefully we’ll get there soon.”

Later in the speech she said: “Over the next five years I want the ambitions outlined in our strategy to shape our work plan for the future. I want us to work together to realise these ambitions.”

Sonia Ramdhian, CILIP's Chief Development Officer, said: "We welcome the clarity that this brings ahead of the publication of the forthcoming Libraries Strategy and that we (CILIP) look forward to continuing to work with ACE in delivering and supporting Workforce Development through guidance and skills for the sector.”

Isobel Hunter, CEO of Libraries Connected said: “This is a hugely positive outcome for the sector. This decision reflects the strength of feeling across our membership, and we are grateful to the minister and her team for taking those views on board.

“This follows a period of discussion prompted by the Hodge Review, in which Libraries Connected set out our members' concerns about the potential impact of moving the role to the British Library. The announcement was met with clear enthusiasm from heads of service in the room. We look forward to working with ACE and partners to strengthen and reshape the development role for the future.”

by Marianna Volioti

As this Libraries Change Lives Week 2026 draws to an end, we hear from Marianna Volioti, Edge Grove School Librarian, about how the school’s library is embracing this year’s theme of Reading and Literacy.

At Edge Grove School in Hertfordshire, three libraries serve a wonderfully multicultural community of children from Nursery to Year 8 – a vibrant mix of ethnicities, backgrounds and abilities that each library reflects and celebrates. As the school’s librarian, I know that our libraries are far more than rooms full of books: they are sanctuaries, community hubs, and places where children discover who they are as readers and as people.

Research shows that reading for pleasure is declining among children, with serious consequences for academic achievement and mental health. Reversing that trend is the mission at the heart of everything I do. Every week, pupils from Nursery to Year 6 enjoy a half-hour library lesson, browsing shelves organised by genre, exchanging books, and listening to stories.

Our libraries change lives in three distinct ways. Firstly, they are wellbeing and social hubs. For neurodiverse pupils who find busy break times overwhelming, the libraries offer a safe haven. For older pupils, alongside books and magazines we have Connect Four, Dobble, Jenga and cards – attracting a whole new community of young patrons. Groups of Year 5 girls and Year 6 boys spend break together, laughing, socialising, and quietly thriving. Watching them grow in confidence is amongst the most rewarding parts of the role.

The second is matching each pupil with the right book, cultivating a lifelong love of reading and putting reading at the heart of everything we do at Edge Grove. A Year 5 girl recently spotted a graphic novel in my ‘Book of the Week’ assembly presentation; when I united her with the book she left with a wide smile – a small moment, but a life-changing one where a young reader felt seen.

The third is in the development of life skills. Pupil Library Assistant write job applications to secure their roles, present book recommendations in assemblies (public speaking and oracy), run books clubs (leadership and organisation), and take responsibility for a shared space. In 2024, one dedicated Year 6 Assistant won a special commendation as SLA Primary School Library Assistant of the year – his confidence built, in no small part, within these walls.

Sustaining this work requires both resourcefulness and community. Regular fundraising book sales run by our Head of English enable me to buy new stock, while a fortnightly ‘Book Corner’ slot in the parent newsletter keeps families engaged through recommendations that tie into our school values, and curriculum-linked reading. The school is a member of the FCBG NW London Group, a consortium of 7 Judging Schools for the national Children’s Book Award, so all Edge Grove pupils are encouraged to be critical readers. Professional connections through LIPSSEE, SLA, and CILIP – where I volunteer as an assessor, and will support organising the WLIC 2027 – ensure the service stays current. I am also developing an outreach programme in partnership with the drama department and nurturing the next generation of readers before they even set foot in school.

A library, at its best, plants something in a child that grows for a lifetime. At Edge Grove, that is exactly what we set out to do every single day.

 

By Eilish Purton, Chair of CILIP LGBTQ+ Network

I’m sure you’ve seen the news coverage around The Lowry Academy’s specious “safeguarding” measures that had the school’s management leveraging an AI-generated list of 200 titles of books to be banned. This came after management directed the school’s librarian to conduct an audit and remove “inappropriate” books, without any kind of clear definition.

It’s troubling that the librarian’s qualified opinion was overridden by something an agreeable AI model put together in response to a reactionary input. Unsurprisingly, many of the 200 titles were “queer” books.

A PEN America study from last year found that 25 per cent of the books banned in US public schools in 2024 included LGBTQ+, Transgender or genderqueer characters. The refrain that such books are “inappropriate” is straight out of the American conservative’s playbook and has been proven to be hugely overstated, according to the PEN study among numerous others.

AI lists

Historically, you’d see individual books getting banned rather than lists; The Catcher in the Rye, 1984, The Bluest Eye etc. The format is and of itself, a matter of concern. The Lowry Academy’s list of 200 books was the AI spawn of identikit lists from across US states. Lesliediana Jones, associate director for public services at Harvard Law School Library, has studied these lists extensively. She talks about the practice of “copycat challenging,” which via social media, allows one group to lift a list of bannable titles compiled by another group to wield against their area’s public schools and/or libraries. The objectionability is corroborated state-by-state, strengthening the ideological base that underlies the bans.

Author Maia Kobabe, who wrote the widely banned Gender Queer, wrote on their experience of copycat challenges for NPR. After a first print run that sold out within the first week and two awards from the American Library Association (one of which was the Alex Award, which recognises books for readers “aged 12 to 18”), it seemed safe to say that the book was well-received and had been subject to very little pushback for a work of its kind. However, a few years and print-runs later, Kobabe’s book became a lightning rod.

“A video of a parent railing against Gender Queer in a school board meeting in Fairfax, Virginia went viral and sparked an immediate series of copy-cat challenges elsewhere… There were so many challenges in such quick succession before the end of the year that I literally could not keep track of them all.” Jones says that the escalation of book challenges in the US is partially down to the group’s ability to organise themselves online, whereas previously: “You didn’t have the mechanisms and the media methods you have now...”

Outrage

The Lowry Academy’s been roundly condemned (you know you’ve been brought low when The Daily Mail is denouncing your arch-conservative offensive) and many have expressed their outrage on behalf of the school’s librarian who left their position due to the stress caused by the safeguarding investigation that followed the book banning. It’s encouraging to see that the British media and public are on the right side here in backing the librarian who’s been victimised by their employer.

Homophobia

Additionally, the banned list’s implicit homophobia (one of many bigotries evinced) has been called out for what it is. It should go without saying that the only reason someone shouldn’t be able to check out a copy of Heartstopper from their school or local library is because it’s already on loan to someone else. But this case also provides yet another example of boneheads outsourcing their thinking with no regard for the how the outcome effects real people.

The new AI “mechanisms” that are increasingly relied upon in professional settings, provide a laissez-faire way for those at the top to legitimise structures that marginalise queer individuals. Our qualified, conscientious, and compassionate librarians should lead the conversation on user needs. The Lowry Academy’s mistake has shown us just how wrong the inevitably AI-sourced alternative can go.

This article was first published in Information Professional Magazine

As the HE sector digests the recent round of publisher deal rejections, David Prosser, executive director of Research Libraries UK says potential silver bullets – like regulation or centralised purchasing - have their downsides.

UNIVERSITIES have rejected sector deals negotiated with Springer Nature, Wiley, Sage and Taylor & Francis, but most of the attention has been on the 10 universities known to have rejected the deal from Elsevier, the biggest academic publisher.

These are Essex, Kent, Lancaster, London South Bank, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, Surrey, Sussex, Swansea and York. Four of them – Lancaster, York, Sheffield, and Sussex – are members of RLUK.

In an article published in Information Professional, David Prosser, executive director of Research Libraries UK (RLUK), said the volume of rejections hadn’t reached a level to change or accelerate the current, ongoing shift to open access: “There are no quick fixes. The vision is the continued shift towards open access… there are some new models coming through. It’s just doing it very, very slowly. And for somebody who’s been an open access advocate for a long, long time that’s very frustrating.”

He said the decisions to reject sector deals were financial and when asked if splitting of the sector into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ warranted oversight from regulators or politicians, he said: “It is a big question. And I’d answer with another question: what are we asking for? What is it that we want a regulator or politician to do? What would an intervention look like?

“Because politicians like a solution, they don’t want another complex problem. And to give them a reasonably clear solution you would need universities to be unified and clear in what that vision was. And you could look for that, but institutions are not even unified internally. The library may say ‘we want to cancel the big deals’ while the administration says ‘no, we want you to keep them’; so there’s not even agreement within institutions as to what the solutions are.

“We would be keen to be part of any conversation that seeks to gain consensus on what a regulatory solution would look like. But I’m a bit cynical as to whether this is an area where there is the will amongst regulators or politicians to engage positively.”

Regulation problem

Some university librarians say that regulation may be needed precisely because the sector cannot reach a position on its own. They believe that it is distrust and competition between universities not diverse views over the merits of publishing models that has stood in the way of value for money in publisher negotiations. But David says that whatever the reasons for wanting regulation, if it took the form of centralised purchasing it would always come at a cost to flexibility and diversity.

“Let’s say that at some high level, somebody says let’s deal with the big publishers and get access to everybody in the UK to all of Elsevier’s material (such as the Indian One Nation, One Subscription initiative has done). In that scenario my fear is that it entrenches existing big publishers and gives them a dominant position making it harder for others to move in and for new models to work. Everything is funnelled straight to the big publishers and there’s less wiggle room for change.”

But he added: “I think it’s one of those things that’s always worth exploring and seeing how it would work. If there are clear benefits that can be shown to offset the risk of ossifying the market in an unhelpful way.”

In the article David also discusses how publishers ‘try it on’ – like offering universities deals to drop post cancellation access, unilateral AI policies implementation and unflagged changes in contracts.

He also discusses whether publishers will leave the universities that have rejected big deals to find their feet, which they seem to be doing – or try and make life outside the big deals as uncomfortable as possible.

Learning at Work Week

Learning at Work Week is a great opportunity to celebrate how we can share skills, understand each other and learn together every day. In libraries especially, learning isn’t confined to courses or classrooms — it happens through collaboration, curiosity and connection.

This week, we’re highlighting how practical, peoplecentred learning activities can encourage us to step outside our usual roles and see our work from fresh perspectives:

Job Shadowing / Role Swap

Ever wondered what a colleague’s role really involves? Job shadowing allows staff to spend time seeing another library role in action, building empathy, understanding workflows and appreciating how each role contributes to the bigger picture. If you’re undertaking a level of Professional Registration, job shadowing a colleague from a connected department or team could really help when you’re gathering evidence for criterion 2. Observing how different areas connect will help you build a clearer understanding of how your role and service contribute to the wider organisation

Reverse Mentoring

Learning goes both ways. Reverse mentoring creates space for junior colleagues to share knowledge with senior staff — whether it’s new technologies, emerging trends, or fresh ways of working — reinforcing that everyone has something valuable to teach and there’s always something new to learn.

CrossDepartment Taster Sessions

How does the library support IT, research, or teaching teams? Crossdepartment taster sessions highlight these relationships, helping staff better understand our impact across the organisation and encouraging stronger collaboration.

Experience a different library

Discover a completely different library service to your own! Book onto one of our tours (British Museum Library & Research Centre, Highgate School Library, University College Library), take part in a special interest libraries group webinar or join a regional network group where you’ll meet people from a wide range of sectors. Connect with people, go behind the scenes, compare challenges and approaches - spark new ideas and broaden your professional approach. This is great for criterion 3 if you’re gathering evidence for a level of Professional Registration and looking at the wider professional context.

Learning at Work Week reminds us that there’s always something new to learn - and it doesn’t have to be formal. Sometimes, the most powerful learning happens simply by listening, sharing, and stepping into a colleague’s shoes.

#LearningAtWorkWeek #ProfessionalRegistration

CILIP Relaunches Accreditation Programme

We are delighted to announce the relaunch of our accreditation programme following a comprehensive review to ensure the service remains fit for purpose in the years ahead. The programme, which was temporarily paused, has now resumed with several key updates.

At its core, the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) continues to underpin accreditation. Developed in close consultation with employers and sector experts, the PKSB ensures that accredited courses are directly relevant to workplace demands, equipping graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the field.

A Streamlined and Robust Process

Under the revised process, institutions seeking accreditation must supply copies of existing quality assurance reports, streamlining the validation process. Additionally, institutions are still required to meet with CILIP assessors to discuss submitted documentation. The process also places a strong emphasis on capturing the student perspective, with interviews conducted to gain insight into the student experience on accredited courses.

To ensure the robustness of the new approach, a pilot involving a sample group of institutions was carried out, confirming that the redesigned process is both effective and efficient. This relaunch marks an important step in maintaining high standards across the sector and ensuring that accredited programmes continue to meet the needs of both students and employers.

We are pleased to announce that several institutions have already successfully navigated the updated accreditation process. These include:

• Manchester Metropolitan University’s MA in Library and Information Management
• University of Manchester’s MA in Library and Archive Studies
• NHS Knowledge for Healthcare Learning Academy short course programme

CILIP Launches New Online Mentor Training Programme

We are delighted to announce the launch of the first two modules in our new online mentor training programme, designed to strengthen support for Professional Registration (PR) candidates and expand our mentoring capacity.

Mentorship has long been recognised as a vital component in professional growth, providing mentees with guidance, networking opportunities and a trusted space to explore their career development. Whether mentorship is sought for a short-term goal—such as achieving professional registration—or as part of a longer-term professional journey, its impact can be significant.

CILIP defines mentoring within the context of professional registration as "facilitating the personal and professional growth of Professional Registration candidates through the sharing of their own knowledge, skills and experience." This collaborative relationship not only helps candidates define and identify how to develop their skills but also supports them in building confidence and expanding network connections. Effective mentorship depends on mutual trust, open communication and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback.

A New Suite of Online Training Modules

To better equip both new and experienced mentors, CILIP has spent the past 12 months developing a suite of online training modules. The newly released introductory modules provide a grounding in mentoring principles and outline the key skills required to guide PR candidates successfully.

These two modules, due to be available in early May 2026, are the first phase of a wider development programme. They will be followed by a third online module, focused specifically on mentoring for professional registration, and a skills enhancement webinar scheduled for the final quarter of 2026.

We hope that the new training will empower more professionals to step into mentoring roles, strengthening the support available to those pursuing professional registration and advancing within the sector.

By Rachel Huskisson, Library Services Manager at Derby College, is a Chartered Librarian and was recognised as a CILIP 125 Leader in 2023

After a decade immersed in the world of secondary school libraries, 2024 marked the year I took a leap into the unknown. I transitioned from the familiar, often self-contained ecosystem of a school library to the expansive, fast-paced environment of Further Education (FE) as a Library Manager.

FE is a unique sector; it is a post-16 environment serving a broad, diverse population. We often support students facing higher levels of disadvantage than those in traditional schools, and we operate under entirely different funding and governance structures. While it may seem like a small sectoral shift, 18 months in, I can confirm it feels like a different world entirely. This transition has required a fundamental recalibration of my professional approach.

1. Scaling Up: From Single Site to Systems-First

Moving from a small independent school of 400 students to a multi-site college serving over 13,000 required an immediate shift in mindset. In a small school, you can often survive on "heroics" – the librarian who knows every student’s name and every book on the shelf. In a multi-site FE college, success relies on robust, scalable digital systems.

With four site libraries and a team of 10, many of whom work part-time, consistency is key. While each site possesses its own unique student personality, the service must feel seamless. I have spent a significant portion of my first year "listening and learning"—understanding the why behind our legacy processes before attempting to align them. Ensuring that workflows are documented and standards are high across different geographical locations is an ongoing challenge, but it is the only way to ensure equity of service for every student, regardless of which site they call home.

2. The Pedagogical Pivot: Vocational and Technical Depth

The second major shift was moving away from a purely academic focus to embrace vocational and technical education. This was a steep learning curve. With over 200 courses spanning six national levels, understanding the resource needs of each "academy area" is a complex puzzle.

In a school setting, the focus is often on literacy and a set curriculum (GCSE/A-Level). In FE, the requirements are vastly more specialised. Some technical qualifications require access to industry standards, specialist databases, and niche platforms. Conversely, our vocational courses often demand highly visual resources to support students for whom English is an additional language.

Furthermore, "Digital First" is a necessity. For our apprentices and distance learners, the physical library might be a place they never visit. We must proactively dismantle barriers to access, ensuring our systems work for those who may not regularly log on to college systems. Staying relevant means staying alert to the constant changes in industry requirements.

3. Stakeholder Landscapes and Strategic Advocacy

In my previous role, I knew almost everyone by name. Now, the library sits within the "Quality for Education" directorate. The focus has shifted toward ensuring that educators have the support they need to perform at their peak.

This requires a different type of relationship building. I am no longer just focusing on the collections; I am a consultant to departments. We work horizontally across the organisation with learning support, student development, estates, and wellbeing teams. Navigating multiple layers of senior leadership and contributing to organisational performance reviews adds pressure, but it also provides a seat at the table.

I have always enjoyed a strategic view, and aligning library priorities with the broader College Strategic Plan has been my primary focus. Interestingly, this is where the roles overlap most: whether in a school or a college, the librarian must be a tireless advocate for the service’s value.

4. Letting Go of the "Doer" Identity

Perhaps the biggest personal shift has been moving from a "doing" mindset to a "leading" one. In school libraries, you are often a solo act or part of a tiny team; you do everything from shelving to strategic planning. As a manager in FE, I’ve had to learn to let go.

I’ve had to trust the systems and invest in the team’s growth rather than jumping in to fix every small issue myself. By fostering a culture of curiosity—where staff feel comfortable sharing ideas and raising concerns—I have been able to shift my focus to the "big picture."

As I look forward to continuing the development of the libraries at Derby College, I am reminded that whilst the "world" of FE is different, our mission remains the same: to empower and enrich our students' lives through access to knowledge.

This article is from the April/May issue of Information Professional - out later this month. Sign up to our newsletter

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(Image shows web traffic for AI bot blocker Anubis between May and October 2025 from a Koha system. 2.67 per cent in green represents users / bots who successfully proved they were legitimate – everything else is suspicious behaviour.)

Jonathan Field, founder and managing director of open source library technology firm Open Fifth has written about some of the challenges AI poses to libraries (AI-wars – The libraries fight back) – here he discusses more of the pros and cons AI brings to the sector.

Jonathan Field

AT Open Fifth we hold quarterly open discussions, online events for our customers to share ideas and experiences around set topics.

Recently we decided to tackle AI and it was probably our best attended online event of 2025 (which gives you an indication of how interested people are in this topic).

During the discussion it was interesting to hear how libraries are already experimenting with AI in their workplaces, with examples such as:

• Chatbots to handle routine library enquiries, such as opening times;
• Automated bibliographic record creation;
• AI-assisted components built into discovery tools;
• Report generation for LMS data;
• Administration and planning support, such as note and minute-taking.

As you can see, these are all well thought through and useful applications of AI. We also heard about how librarians are assisting patrons using AI tools. For example, informing students that their reference lists consist solely of hallucinations or being asked to do the fact-checking for AI output.

At the darker end, some libraries spoke about being asked to use AI to essentially fill gaps in capacity due to staff cuts and freezes – a fear plenty of us have of AI across sectors. For many organisations, AI tools have appeared faster than we can write a policy for them. We really don’t have to think back very far to a time when it wasn’t there. Now we are being bombarded by marketing messages saying ‘Can you afford NOT to have AI?’

As we have been having our own internal discussions, many of the same issues have been raised. For us, there is also the ethical and environmental element as bigger and bigger servers are required to run these services. There are also commercial pressures from AI companies to use their products, or new AI features stealthily appearing in otherwise non-AI software. Right now, we are being teased into them as access is given freely to train the tools and foster a dependence.

However, at some point someone will have to “pay the piper” as the providers expect a return on investment. When asked if they would be prepared to pay for AI, there’s reluctance, value is questioned, and the ethics of (largely US) tech companies is doubted. Many of us are now getting AI as part of pre-existing corporate subscriptions (which won’t be going down in price!), for example, Microsoft Copilot.

For me (and many attending the discussion), the ‘Digital Divide’ is a big issue. We are widening the gap between users who have access to or can pay for personal subscriptions for technology, now including AI tools, and those who can’t. There are still many in society who either can’t afford or aren’t comfortable using technology. Related to this, there was a recent and very interesting article by James Marriott entitled 'The dawn of the post-literate society'.

In this, he argues that the rise of the smartphone revolution and the decline of deep reading are creating a “post-literate society” where people lose their capacity for critical, analytical thinking, which, in turn, could have serious consequences for democracy and culture. I’ve heard similar concerns raised by people working within the library sector about AI tools.

Copyright theft?

You may have seen our article last year on fighting AI bots. This described the ‘arms race’ for LLMs to get as much metadata as possible. There are a number of reasons why open access repositories and library catalogues are so attractive and therefore heavily targeted.

First, they are open by their very nature (not behind paywalls or authentication systems), the content is peer-reviewed (written by experts), and the metadata is structured (and therefore easy to interpret). Problematically for us maintainers, this data has rich links (subject, author headings, etc.) which the AI tools can pretty much continue indefinitely following ultimately bringing servers to a halt.

Historically, and to this day, our library catalogues and repositories maintain a robots.txt file which essentially says we are happy (or not) to give permission for our collections being indexed. The AI crawlers we are seeing are ignoring this file entirely and retrieving the content with or without permission. I have also seen similar articles about how the creative industry is concerned about copyright theft. There are still unanswered questions around stolen content by AI tool creators, which will no doubt continue to play out in court cases over the coming years.

Another library I spoke to recently asked about ‘pay per crawl’. There are ways of doing this now but, hopefully, as some rules and regulations start to emerge around AI practice, there will also emerge opportunities to leverage content, particularly content which is in open access repositories (or just library catalogues). With library budgets so tightly stretched, why shouldn’t libraries be able to ask AI companies to pay for each crawl of their content?

Digital sovereignty

Digital sovereignty is a topic I think we will hear more and more about in the coming years. Much of the technology we use in our day to day lives comes from big tech which are largely sovereign outside of the UK (primarily in the US). Our world feels like a fragile place right now, where there seems to be more division than cooperation.

How comfortable do we feel being tied into this technology and how would we manage if it was turned off tomorrow? I recently wrote an article about this topic and highlighted the important role that open data and open source plays in achieving digital sovereignty. In the EU, there’s a growing movement towards ‘digital sovereignty’ or ‘digital autonomy’.

This was specifically driven by a desire to reduce reliance on non-European tech giants for critical digital infrastructure and services. The European Commission’s ‘Open source software strategy’ 2020-2023 said ‘Think Open’. I use my local farm shop as I am supporting my local economy, I know it will be there if there were ever to be food supply issues and I pretty much know where everything has come from. Will the same become true of our digital consumption? If these tech giants ever went away, would we still have a sustainable, local technology infrastructure?

The recent Cloudflare outage also highlighted our reliance on these US companies. Although the outage was relatively short (around two hours for us), Cloudflare now protects around 20 per cent of internet traffic, including library applications like our own.

We actually use both Cloudflare and Anubis to protect our sites from an influx of largely AI traffic, which meant the impact was a bit more distributed, but it does highlight the double-edged sword of one group of tech companies firstly bringing down systems by bombarding them, and then the company brought in to protect against this also bringing systems to a standstill!

This article was taken from a longer version published in CILIP's Annual Buyer's Guide and the original includes a closer look at AI in library applications.

Libraries Change Lives in June and Green Libraries Week in October

It’s time to start thinking about how you can get involved with CILIP’s annual library campaigns, with Libraries Change Lives Week set for 1-7 June, and Green Libraries Week taking place from 21-28 October.

This year’s Libraries Change Lives week will join forces with the National Year of Reading as we Go All In to showcase how libraries promote literacy and reading. Later in the year, Green Libraries Week will focus on Climate facts for a green future.

Libraries Change Lives through literacy and reading

Monday 1 June – Sunday 7 June 2026

Our 2026 theme is Libraries Change Lives through literacy and reading. During this week we will be supporting the National Year of Reading and putting libraries at the heart of a national celebration.

Libraries Change Lives is an advocacy campaign capturing and celebrating the impact of libraries, putting the sector on a public platform where libraries, library staff and library users can showcase the value of their service - both locally and nationally. This week is an opportunity to inspire people to visit their local library across the UK. This nationwide push reconnects people with the power of libraries and everything they make possible.

Watch this space for more information, downloadable resources, and key events about this week of advocacy including opportunities for partners to engage.

Green Libraries Week: climate facts for a greener future

Wednesday 21 October to Wednesday 28 October 2026

Green Libraries Week 2026 will focus on climate change and climate facts with the theme: Climate facts for a greener future: navigating mis- and disinformation in libraries.

The week is a showcase of the very best that libraries have to offer, where they explore and celebrate inventive and inspiring green activities engaging with local communities and the media to highlight the diverse ways that they are working with users to build skills and confidence at every stage of their lives.

We look forward to promoting Libraries Change Lives Week and Green Libraries Week to get more people and decision makers talking about how information professionals are at the heart of business, education, healthcare, and society.

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Richard Ovenden, Bodley’s Librarian, is a founding partner of the UK’s new Libraries Alliance and explains what it is and why now.

A BROAD alliance of organisations that represent libraries and library staff does not sound particularly revolutionary. Libraries share common values, serve similar needs and offer vital support at every stage of people’s lives – so the idea that they should advocate together seems obvious. Yet it was only this year, as part of the 175th anniversary of the Libraries Act, that a UK wide alliance was launched.

Richard Ovenden, Head of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, explains: “The thread that binds us all together? There’s one very simple answer to that – and that is we’re all libraries. Whether we’re school libraries, prison libraries or national libraries like the British Library and the National Library of Scotland, or great research libraries like the Bodleian, we’re all libraries. We all have that same mission to serve our communities with knowledge.

“That mission varies from institution to institution and from sector to sector. Some more at the preservation and acquisition end, some with more of a focus at delivery and service and most of us with some combination of that within that spectrum. But we all share that common goal, and we all share increasingly similar challenges.”

The Libraries Alliance features nine key partners so far – Bodleian Libraries, University of Cambridge, CILIP, Independent Libraries Association, Libraries Connected, Libraries Alliance, Libraries Rising, The National Library of Scotland, Research Libraries UK, and the School Library Association, with others considering joining. Each bring their own experience and expertise to the alliance, representing a huge array of services and providers.

Richard said: “We’re on a journey, and I think that seeing ourselves increasingly not as an isolated institution, not just as an HE library, but part of that broader ecosystem is something which I hope that the Libraries Alliance will cultivate and foster and make more evident, not just for the Bodleian, but for every library in the country.”

The catalyst for the alliance was twofold, the first an article written by Richard in Prospect magazine Prospect magazine and the 175th Anniversary of the Public Libraries Act. Richard says that researching the article gave him a new awareness around libraries outside of his own sphere, saying: “During the course of writing my piece for Prospect, I spoke to a lot of different people, particularly in the public library sector, which I didn’t know particularly well. Obviously as a user I know it, but I’ve never worked in the public library sector. And so I spoke to Isobel Hunter at Libraries Connected, obviously to Louis at CILIP, to various public librarians, including Neil McInnes in Manchester, and got intelligence from them.

“But it occurred to me just how interesting and enjoyable and horizon broadening it was to have those conversations. Louis, Isobel and I had a little discussion and we thought, let’s try and bring the rest of the community, the different sector bodies, together to start having a conversation.”

Describing the inception of the alliance as “organic”, Richard says that those initial meetings helped cement the idea that there was a greater power in advocacy and influence when working together.

The full article is available in Information Professional Magazine

You can hear more from Richard on CILIP’s The Info Pro Podcast.

How to assess and then influence the environmental footprint of your suppliers was explained by Jon Ray, Oxford University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Environmental Sustainability Manager, at the Green Libraries Conference.

SUSTAINABILITY remains a big goal for universities and their libraries. Most of them are doing what they can with the levers they control but what can be done when it comes to their suppliers?

Jon Ray, Oxford University’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) Environmental Sustainability Manager, was one of the speakers in the Green Procurement session of CILIP’s Green Libraries Conference 2025.

"We set ourselves a goal, particularly on our carbon side, of wanting to align our spend with suppliers who are essentially carbon net zero."

Jon showed that in 2023/24 a significant proportion of the carbon footprint related to things like buildings and fuel but said “the biggest single category is how we’re purchasing things. If we add procurement to retail it’s coming close to 50 per cent of our footprint.”

He said this means: “The single most important thing that we could be focussed on is the sort of suppliers and the partners that we’re working with.”

And he said that the proportion of an institution’s carbon footprint derived from the goods and services it buys in was likely to increase “because everyone talks about buildings and most people’s focus is on buildings – turn the lights off, and what energy are we using, that portion is shrinking, which means that the purchase spend portion is going to get bigger and bigger”.

Devil in detail

In his talk Jon explained the wide diversity of functions at the University with each one needing to be fully understood. For example he said: “In GLAM, we sell over 300,000 hot drinks a year and we are starting to think about things like coffee that we sell, where’s that coffee grown? How’s it grown? Is it shaded coffee? Is it wet processed or dry processed? These things have a huge impact on the amount of water that’s used further down the supply chain.”

He said the carbon footprint still mostly relates to physical material being bought in but “the digital side is becoming increasingly important”. Another variable is that while the University has a carbon footprint goal, it also looks at its harder-to-measure biodiversity footprint.

“Here at the Bodleian Libraries we have two goals,” he said. “One is to be carbon net zero, so to reduce our footprint as much as possible by 2035. We also have a goal of biodiversity net gain by 2035.” And with the proportion of these footprints increasingly in purchasing, he adds: “Understanding what our suppliers are doing is really critical. We’re interested in what are our suppliers’ goals are, if they have a clear carbon reduction target and if we align to that?”

Assessment and alignment

He said: “We set ourselves a goal, particularly on our carbon side, of wanting to align our spend with suppliers who are essentially carbon net zero. So we started identifying who our top suppliers were and then going out to them to either see what they’re already talking about online or, if they are not saying anything, running a survey to ask what are you doing. We asked about carbon and biodiversity, and we then used a very simple scoring mechanism to classify this.”

But there are areas of contention like offsets and whether they should be factored in. He said that the university’s own policy is to buy no offsets before 2030, adding: “I have a degree of nervousness around organisations buying offsets, so we gave them a negative score, but that’s quite contentious and some people fundamentally disagree with me.”

He said there were two key reasons for scoring suppliers: One to give an idea of how suppliers are doing now. Two, to give a sense of what suppliers need to do next.

He showed how the scoring worked – not showing supplier names: “It gives a sense of what we’ve spent and our carbon score. It’s quite varied. We have plenty of suppliers who are doing nothing. We had some surprises who were making good progress.”

Another challenge is resellers. “Some of our suppliers are resellers, and so they’re responding to our surveys on their own behalf. They’re not responding on what they’re actually buying and passing on to us. So this becomes increasingly murky. Because of this reseller dynamic, we need to push into this much more.

Internal buy-in

Jon said push back can be expected at the start of a project like this as many organisations will have hundreds of suppliers so it can appear overwhelming and hard to see where to start. “But once you start to break it down, it becomes much more achievable,” he said. “Once you look at who your top suppliers are, often you’ll find there’s an 80/20 rule.”

He also suggested using purchasing categories. “For the Bodleian Libraries, the biggest single category is content acquisition or library materials – books, journals, ebooks, ejournals. And once we start to break it down into those categories, what we find is a relatively small number of suppliers in those categories that we need to go and talk to. So it becomes much less overwhelming.”

External buy-in

“From my experience asking the question is the single most powerful thing you can do,” Jon said. “For library materials, many of these suppliers are large, multinationals, global organisations and they’re getting hit by all these questions, all the time. It might be me one day, it might be Cambridge the next day and another library the next day. Often, we’re all asking the same question.

“We’re all running our own marathons and we need to come together and collaborate. We’re all trying to get to the same goal, we’re all trying to decarbonise and reduce our environmental impact. And so we thought rather than us trying to do this all individually, why don’t we come together, get some common language, common standards some shared positions? To do this we’re starting to talk to funders, trade bodies and suppliers to join forces.”

He said this would “reduce the amount of resource being put into this and get transparency… use the collective weight of what our libraries in the UK and Ireland are spending on services with these publishers, to see if we can we influence it.”

AI

One advantage of having a clear assessment tool is that it could be automated. “This may be heresy to some,” Jon said, “but I’ve started to play with using AI and building a ChatGPT query to do some of this. A lot of suppliers already put this data in the public domain – they want people to know about it.

“And if we take something like our scoring mechanism, we can use AI tools to just say ‘here are my suppliers, use this mechanism, go out and tell me what’s happening.’ I’ve experimented with this and it’s pretty good so we’re starting to take some of the leg work out and identify which suppliers we need to talk to about it.”

This article is from CILIP’s Buyers’ Guide Spring Edition – you can read more and find supplier listings for all your library’s needs.

The CILIP Member Network Forum is an annual event where members of the CILIP team and a representative from each CILIP group come together to connect, share ideas and updates, and celebrate being part of the CILIP community!

This year’s theme, Collaboration and Collective Impact set the tone for a day focused on working together to shape the future of the profession.

Lambeth Palace Library – a historic venue

We were delighted to be hosted at the beautiful Lambeth Palace Library, the historic library and record office of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the national library and archive of the Church of England. The day began with a guided tour from the Senior Librarian, and CILIP member Hugh Cahill, who shared insights into the library’s remarkable history, beginning in 1610 under the will of Archbishop Richard Bancroft.

We heard about the architecture and design of the building and how the library's collection was spread across various, often inadequate locations, but in 2021 a purpose-built new building was opened to house the entire collection.

There was also a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation and storage facilities, where staff explained the rigorous processes used to protect materials from environmental risks, pests, mould, and natural deterioration. All new items undergo a quarantine process where they are isolated in sealed boxes with pest traps, labelled and tracked. After about four weeks, they are checked, cleaned, and returned to the collection for cataloguing and shelving.

Talks and presentations by the CILIP staff team

After the library tour, CILIP CEO Louis Coiffait-Gunn opened the day’s programme with a session on CILIP's new strategy, Empowering Impact for 2026-2030. This session explored both the emerging opportunities and the key challenges facing the information profession, and highlighted the shared responsibility of CILIP and the wider CILIP community in responding to them.

Louis highlighted CILIP’s ambition to see more and even better-quality events, collaboration on brand visibility, to attract and retain new members, and to continue making a real difference to the future of the profession.

Later that day Louis also spoke about CILIP's advocacy and impact work, highlighting our continued ambition to raise the profession's profile and influence. He highlighted the opportunities for different parts of the sector to support each other in raising our collective profile

Delegates were invited to reflect on two key questions:

• What are your 2026 advocacy priorities and plans?
• How would you like CILIP HQ to empower you?

Update and timeframe of the digital transformation programme

CILIP's Chief Digital Transformation and Growth Officer, Tracey Taylor, gave a much-anticipated update on the progress of CILIP’s digital transformation programme. Key highlights included:

• Launch timeline: The new website and systems are scheduled to go live at the end of July (if everything goes to plan), with approximately one week of expected downtime beforehand
• New platforms:
• BlueCRM – a Microsoft Dynamics–based CRM to administer member records
• Umbraco – a modern website and events ticketing platform
• Customer Insights – replacing Dot Digital and fully integrated with the CRM so you can reliably contact all your members

Tracey outlined how the transformation is designed to:

• deliver a significantly improved user experience
• demonstrate clearer value for members, volunteers, partners, and funders
• and enhance CILIP’s internal systems, operations, and service delivery

A first-timer's view of WLIC – Making the most of the opportunity

CILIP’s Chief Development Officer, Sonia Ramdhian shared an energising overview of her first experience at the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC). She highlighted the event as a unique space for networking, peer learning, and international exchange, with additional opportunities through satellite meetings and library visits built into the programme. Sonia encouraged delegates to start thinking about how they would like to get involved, whether that is via satellite events or joining the national committee as a volunteer.

She reminded us that CILIP members receive a significant discount of around €200 on WLIC registration fees. Finally, she invited Neena Shukla Morris from the Health Libraries Group to briefly present on the upcoming International Congress on Medical Librarianship (ICML 2026) which they are hosting in Glasgow this July.

Event best practice

Our Events Manager Louise Greener gave a practical and handy presentation on events best practice with tips for a successful event including:

• Marketing lead times
• CILIP HQ marketing support
• Tips on exhibitors, sponsorship, venues, and catering
• And smooth presentations and timings

Interactive sessions and discussions

During the interactive sessions and during lunch, delegates had time to talk, exchange ideas, and share experiences from across the Member Networks. These conversations sparked new connections, collaborative thinking, and a renewed sense of community. Event feedback reflects this as attendees particularly appreciated the chance to meet other groups face to face, strengthen relationships, and learn from one another in person.

Batul Alsaraji, CILIP’s Community Development Manager (England), has captured some of the highlights from the comments, ideas, and plans shared by delegates on the day:

• Reviving their journal and exploring if it can be income generating
• Measuring impact - help from HQ in how to do that
• Boiling down the CILIP strategy and using their business plan to help create their own strategy
• Training opportunities around AI and misinformation
• Visiting heritage libraries as part of the WLIC 2027 satellite events offer
• Researching and promoting the story of CILIP's 150 years to understand how UK libraries have transformed
• Making the most of past work by making previous webinars etc. accessible
• How to improve event attendance

There were some practical suggestions such as creating an induction pack for the different committee roles and having a Member Network calendar that highlights all the key events throughout the year, to help committees plan ahead. Batul is already working on these and they will be shared in the near future.

The questions and insights shared throughout the day were incredibly valuable in helping us understand what matters most to our Member Networks right now. Your contributions highlighted emerging priorities, common challenges, and areas where further support or collaboration would make a real difference. This feedback directly shapes our planning and ensures that our work continues to reflect the needs and aspirations of the community we serve.

Member Network Online Forum

We hope the Member Network Online Forum becomes a space where CILIP Volunteers can continue these conversations, reach out to one another, and keep the momentum going. It's an ideal place to share expertise, seek advice, and connect around joint projects, helping to strengthen collaboration across all our networks.

Reflection

The 2026 Member Network Forum was a valuable reminder of the energy, passion, and dedication within our community. From exploring one of the UK’s most historic libraries to diving into strategy, advocacy, digital transformation, and global engagement, the day showcased the strength of our collective work. Thank you to everyone who attended, contributed, and shared their insights. We look forward to building on this momentum together in the year ahead.

Celebrating Professional Registration awards – an interview with…..

In our final article in this series, Jess Pawley, Knowledge and Evidence Specialist, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Vice Chair for CILIP K&IM Special Interest Group talks about her experience of Professional Registration and the benefits it has brought to her..

How did you start in the library and information profession?

I completed my school work experience at age 15 in our local public library. Later, I tried twice to apply for vacancies there but was unsuccessful. In 2006, I saw an advert for a part-time library assistant in my local hospital and I remember saying to my Mum, “I didn’t know they had libraries in hospitals.” And she said, “why don’t you apply, and see what happens?” So, I did, and I’m still here…!.

What made you choose to do Chartership?

At the time I began Chartership, there was a change of leadership within the Knowledge and Library Services Team which meant that the opportunity presented itself, and I was encouraged to enrol. .

What did you get out of doing Chartership, how did it support your career, how did it develop you as an individual?

In order to complete Chartership, you need to have opportunities to develop and demonstrate your skills. Having taken a perhaps “non-traditional” route into the profession (I don’t hold the full Master’s degree), Chartership has built my confidence, enabling me to reflect on my abilities and learn about myself and where my skills lie. Using the PKSB, I welcomed (and still do!) the challenge of developing areas where I am perhaps not as strong. There is a lot to be said for the practical, on-the-job training that I received, and the way I was then able to immediately apply it back into practice. Reflective practice is a skill that, once acquired, never leaves you. I also very much wanted to give something back, and upon completion of Chartership, I trained to become a mentor, a role I enjoy immensely because I learn so much from others and enjoy supporting them through their Professional Registration. I converted to KM Chartership at the end of 2023, reflecting the progression of my role as needing to evolve to meet the knowledge management/knowledge mobilisation needs of my organisation..

What do you feel employees who work towards and achieve Professional Registration bring to employers?

My role is an embedded Knowledge and Evidence Specialist role which sits within our hospital’s Improvement Team. This is a team looking at improvements to patient care and outcomes across not only our organisation, but the wider Somerset healthcare system. I am the only evidence specialist within the team, and although I work closely with the wider Knowledge and Library Services Team, my role means I can get myself involved with as much as possible (often, too much, because I want to do everything!) I also recently completed a postgraduate certificate in clinical data science from the University of Manchester. I see this autonomy and development of a wider skill set as essential to the embedded specialist role. In turn, I make sure to “wear” my CILIP badges with pride; to highlight to my organisation the varied skills I have and to advocate for our profession to make sure we have a voice at the table.

If this has piqued your curiosity, I strongly encourage you to speak to the CILIP team and PRSOs who will help you set a course for a journey you will not regret.

Celebrating Professional Registration awards – an interview with…..

In our second article in this series Nicki Forgham-Healey, Principal Knowledge and Information Manager, MOD talks about her experience of the Professional Registration awards and what they have given her. .

How did you start in the library and information profession?

My journey began at school, where I volunteered as a librarian during lunchtimes. I helped with issuing and returning books and supported students with any questions they had. After completing my History degree and considering my career options, I reflected on how much I had enjoyed that early experience in the library. This prompted me to explore pursuing a Master’s degree in the field. Before starting the course, I was fortunate to gain practical experience working in a college library over the summer. This hands‑on opportunity proved invaluable and helped me feel much more prepared for my postgraduate studies. .

What made you choose to do Chartership?

During my time at Aberystwyth University, I attended a presentation by Susan Kay from CILIP, who spoke about the benefits of Chartership. Hearing her insights early on gave me a clear understanding of what the process involved and what would be required for a strong portfolio. That early awareness stayed with me and played a part in my decision to undertake Chartership. .

What did you get out of doing Chartership, how did it support your career, how did it develop you as an individual?

I gained so much from the Chartership process. It encouraged me to reflect deeply on my work in a college library—how it supported students, contributed to the service, and aligned with organisational goals. One of the biggest personal benefits was learning to write more concisely. The evaluative statement is limited to 1,000 words, and after many revisions, I managed to refine my reflection to the word limit. This skill has been extremely useful in my career, enabling me to produce shorter, more focused reports that senior colleagues—who are often time‑poor—are more likely to read and act on. Chartership also helped me develop as a reflective practitioner. I’ve built the habit of reflecting on situations, whether they’ve gone well or not, which has strengthened my learning and continually developed my skills and knowledge. .

What made you choose to do Fellowship?

I chose to pursue Fellowship about five years after completing my Chartership. It felt like the right moment to look back over my career and consider the impact I had made within my organisation and through my involvement with CILIP. It also provided a valuable opportunity to think about my next steps and where I wanted my career to go. Additionally, having been a mentor for nearly six years, I wanted to be in a stronger position to support colleagues undertaking Fellowship. Completing it myself felt like an important step in being able to guide others effectively..

What did you get out of doing Fellowship how did it support your career, how did it develop you as an individual?

Completing my Fellowship demonstrated that I had made a significant contribution to both my organisation and to CILIP. I’ll admit—it took me more than five years to finish, largely due to a demanding workload. After seeing it appear on my appraisal objectives several times, I committed the time needed to complete and submit my portfolio. The process once again gave me the opportunity to reflect on my career, identify my strengths, and think critically about how I want to continue developing as a leader, mentor, and service lead..

What do you feel employees who work towards and achieve Professional Registration bring to employers?

Employees who undertake Chartership demonstrate a strong commitment to reflective practice. This mindset enables them to approach challenges thoughtfully, understand the root causes of issues, and identify ways to prevent them from recurring. It helps them become more well‑rounded information or knowledge professionals. Professional Registration also shows a clear commitment to career development and continuous learning. The wider professional development element of the portfolio can bring fresh insight from other sectors, helping organisations benefit from new ideas and avoid reinventing the wheel.

If this has piqued your curiosity, I strongly encourage you to speak to the CILIP team and PRSOs who will help you set a course for a journey you will not regret.

Celebrating Professional Registration awards – an interview with…..

In our next set of articles celebrating Chartered week, we will hear from professionals who have undergone Chartership and, in some cases, Fellowship as well, to find out why they did it and what it meant to them. Our first in this series of articles is an interview with Jo Cornish, Networks and Engagement Lead at the Institute of Directors and Independent Director on CILIP Pathways Board .

How did you start in the library and information profession?

I started as a Saturday Assistant in my local public library aged 16 and stayed in the role all the way through education, even holding onto it whilst in my first full-time role in events and sales. I enjoyed all of my work, but quickly realised my heart lay in libraries, so I transitioned into a full-time public library assistant role. This proved to be a great move for me and I stayed in public library work for over 20 years. I progressed into senior manager roles, and a key part of my success and progression was my CILIP Professional Registration. .

What made you choose to do Chartership?

Chartership was the next logical step for me once I had completed CILIP’s ACLIP Certification. ACLIP opened the door to new roles for me, but as someone who hadn’t followed the traditional academic route into the profession, Chartership was always the “gold standard” I aspired to. For me, it gave me parity and confidence. .

What did you get out of doing Chartership, how did it support your career, how did it develop you as an individual?

Chartership was a wonderful experience for me. It confirmed me as a committed values-driven, ethics based, information professional. It gave me foundations that have carried me through a varied and exciting career. It gave me the opportunity and confidence to pursue a wide variety of development opportunities, and it centred my work in reflective practice. I really believe the principle of reflecting and learning from all professional experiences, successful and challenging, has been transformational in my work. It is empowering and freeing. As well as my own development, it helped me understand how my work contributed to the success of my organisation and connected me to a brilliant, broad profession that adds value to individuals, communities and society. Chartership unlocked the path to senior management within public libraries and gave me the basis to move into my work directly as a CILIP staffer and the founder of CILIP Pathways, the sector apprenticeship end-point assessment organisation..

What made you choose to do Fellowship?

My work at CILIP included promoting the importance of Fellowship as a recognition of contribution and achievement, not a badge of seniority or length of service. In doing that and because of the amazing work I got to do supporting the whole information profession, I realised that I had the opportunity to really live my message and try for Fellowship. Having previously completed ACLIP Certification and Chartership meant I had a solid understanding of what the process meant for me. As such, I really enjoyed the process of learning, reflecting and recording my development for Fellowship. To achieve that status, as assessed by a panel of my expert peers, was enormously validating for me..

What did you get out of doing Fellowship how did it support your career, how did it develop you as an individual?

Fellowship afforded me the chance to push forward my development and challenge myself. It was sometimes uncomfortable but always rewarding. It also required me to concentrate on impact and significance, really thinking about how my contributions might make a difference for the wider community. Undertaking and achieving Fellowship made me enormously proud. It gave me access to remarkable people to work with and learn from, with opportunities both nationally and internationally. I also value the Revalidation process which I do annually. In a busy career, moments to stop and reflect on progress and contribution over a year are rare and important. It helps me connect to my ethics and practice and reminds me that Professional Registration is a commitment to ongoing professional development..

What do you feel employees who work towards and achieve Professional Registration bring to employers?

The process of achieving a Professional Registration award encourages a reflective mindset in individuals which provides you with people who want to learn, grow, develop and problem solve. It provides confidence to try, underpinned by solid professional skills and knowledge. It creates an employee who is well connected to people and best practice, to inform service development and drive improvement. What’s not to like?

If this has piqued your curiosity, I strongly encourage you to speak to the CILIP team and PRSOs who will help you set a course for a journey you will not regret.

MY connection with libraries starts off further back into an earlier point of my time at school, where the local college library was my first taste of work ¬experience.

Prior to becoming an apprentice, I had already completed my degree at university in Creative Writing and English and would describe myself as having a rather varied and eclectic background. I had many years of voluntary experience behind me – from serving on a number of advisory boards and project groups; working with charities, including the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Royal College for Paediatrics and Child Health (besides others!).

After working as a youth project worker locally and regionally on temporary contracts, coming into my role at Dorset County Hospital (DCH) was a fortuitous mix of chance and timing.

It is worth noting that my eventual colleagues were incredibly open to offering reasonable adjustments ahead of my interview and gave sight of the questions shortly before I faced them. I strongly feel that declaring any disability and needs in your potential role will prevent likely issues further down the line and create a sense of openness in confiding with your team. Indeed, for my apprenticeship, the overall course pathway was able to accommodate the adaptations to meet my needs, including 1:1 tutorials throughout the duration and support provided in my eventual End-Point Assessment (EPA).

As the apprenticeship began to progress, I felt it was vital to maintain a steady and methodical approach across all of my assignments. Whether it was exploring the library service offering or getting to grips with knowledge management, I always sought the insights of the team around me to gather information about the library itself, the function we played at DCH and the sector in which we were part of – Knowledge for Healthcare.

In many ways, this apprenticeship was the perfect starting point having a broad sampling of all that I needed to know about where I worked and the context of how we meet the needs of our varied customer base. Even when I had to reach out further afield to other local organisations, as we have no archival remit as a health library, it encouraged me to be curious about what I was writing about each month. I also had to ensure that I was not looking at it from a purely objective standpoint, but that I could also demonstrate my own involvement as part of the written output.

One of the biggest hurdles was describing the role of archives and preservation. It became apparent that there would be little content that could be detailed from my own place of work. It was by good fortune that DCH happens to be geographically near the county’s archive facility, the Dorset History Centre, and where I had also previously worked for a brief period as part of a project. By reaching out and asking to get a tour of the centre, this was soon organised and I was able to gather the evidence I needed. I also kept a close eye on upcoming online events, whereby a relevant webinar was also held on this subject.

When it came to my EPA, I was heavily dependent on the participation of staff to attend an event – not always easy in a hospital! While the turnout was a small group, I found it was essential to provide good communication and ensure they felt informed about what was happening, which I did with a briefing pack. Writing a 4,500 word report afterwards should never be an overnight job – having the time to do it during your working hours is invaluable.

As I look forward now to the future of a career in the profession, any potential apprentice should use the time on this course to consider if it’s something they want to pursue after receiving the result of your EPA. It’s a way to also exercise your initiative – something to be mindful of in your off-the-job hours – and find out how to make the most of your professional development. What is most helpful is a willingness to explore the sector of your library’s purpose – if there was one common observation from our own colleagues in the hospital, it has always been more than just computers and books.

Professional Registration lies at the heart of CILIP. As part of our Royal Chartered status, we have the ability to bestow individual chartership status, which we do through our Professional Registration awards. The awards epitomise the attributes of professionalism, encouraging individuals to be committed to ongoing professional development, striving for continuous improvement in themselves and the services they deliver, whilst abiding by a code of ethics, leading and instigating positive change.

CILIP was a co-signatory along with 40+ chartered and professional bodies on an open letter to Government offering our support as key partners in building trust in the public and business services we all depend on.

We are asking the Government to take a lead in expecting and promoting Professional Registration and Chartered status for all professionals in the vital sectors represented by these organisations.

Chartered week

As we head into Chartered Week, we would like to celebrate a couple of the many CILIP members who have achieved Professionally Registered status.

Jack Welch is a Library Assistant at the Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

“I completed Certification (ACLIP) soon after my Library, Information and Archive Services assistant apprenticeship, with the guidance of an excellent mentor, (I put forward a nomination for him to be ‘Mentor of the Year’ in 2024 and he deservedly won!) I have since had open conversations with my manager about how I would like to progress in my career, which helped my application to be awarded a bursary from NHS England last year to begin an MSc in Information and Library Studies at Robert Gordon University, which I do part-time. I am very hopeful this will be the start of a big stepping stone to eventually qualify as a professional librarian and find a suitable role in the event I succeed with my degree. I will perhaps look into Chartership at some point too…”

You can hear more about the Library Information and Archive Services apprenticeship and the progression to ACLIP at our Members Fest webinar on Friday 6 March at 11am Book your place here.

Zoe Hurley is the Bibliographic Services Librarian at the University of Bath library

“We encourage ACLIP and Chartership within our staff. Graduate trainees are encouraged to work towards and achieve ACLIP certification. The traineeship has grown from a one-year placement to a two-year placement to support the achievement of ACLIP. The extra time allows them to settle into the role and then plan their training and development.  It tends to be in the second year when they are actively compiling evidence and developing their submission. 

“One graduate trainee has transformed an area of the library. There had not previously been an area for wellness and reading for pleasure, but this was an area the graduate was passionate about, and the Book Nook was created to support this.

“There is also an expectation for more experienced staff to work towards and achieve their Chartership if they have not already done this.

“To support those, both graduate trainees and more experienced staff on their Professional Registration journey, the appraisal system has been adapted to follow the CPD log that is used for the revalidation of Professional Registration. In doing this, employees have a ready-made CPD log that they can transfer into their submission or revalidation.

“Benefits realised from doing this include seeing an increase in professionalism of staff and engaged staff contribute more.”

To hear more from the team at the University of Bath library join our webinar at Members Fest on Monday 2 March at 12.30pm. Book your place here.

Find out more about the impact Professional Registration could have on your career path.

HAVE you ever seen those dirt pathways that cut across the grass in cities, ignoring the pristine and carefully designed paths?

Urban planners call these unintended, user-created shortcuts “desire paths” – routes people walk instinctively rather than following the prescribed walkways. Sometimes organisations can be like those urban planners. They build beautiful knowledge databases that sit empty or are unused, while information and knowledge flows through emails, Slack channels and Teams chats.

How can we avoid the waste of time and budget caused by our failure to follow the desire paths? How can we adopt the desire paths when it is safe to do so and get our users on their way efficiently and effectively?

The answer may lie with nudge theory, which can help us to remove friction from natural behaviours, and balance supporting the pathways that our users want us to build, with protections and nudging them towards the destination we need them to reach.

Understanding nudge theory

Nudge theory came into prominence in the 2000s and aimed to harness widely occurring biases and heuristics to design a “choice architecture” to guide people towards better decisions, without actually restricting their freedom to choose otherwise. Research has shown that people tend to stick with pre-selected options; choose the path of least resistance and the prominent, attention-grabbing option; and conform to social norms.

Classic examples include opt-out organ donation systems and cafeteria food placement. In knowledge management contexts, this might look like pre-populating a “lessons learned” template that auto-generates at project closeout, rather than asking practitioners to remember to complete one.

Paving the desire path

Desire paths reveal the authentic need of our users, rather than their assumed needs. In KM terms this means understanding the actual knowledge flow in our organisation, even where it travels by unofficial channels. Once this desire path is known, we can either support our users’ needs in the way that they naturally work, or, if there are governance, safety or other concerns, we can nudge their behaviours down a different path.

I recommend that you start with defaults that match the worn ground.

Recognise an existing desire path and make it easier, safer or more official.

The best knowledge systems are invisible to users. They don’t change their direction, they make the journey smoother. Stop building monuments to how you think knowledge should flow. Start paving the paths your people have already chosen.

I’d love to hear how you get on.

In the full article in IP magazine Hélène, a KM consultant at TheKnowledgeBusiness and Chair of the K&IM SIG, looks at what to do when a shortcut is dangerous, how to improve adoption rates and many other tips like opt-outs vs opt-ins, preferred alternatives and peer modelling.

Photo © dankeck via Wikimedia Commons

Join the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) National Committee and start thinking about hosting satellite meetings.

National Committee

As lead bid partner, CILIP is running an open call to join the National Committee for London WLIC 2027. If you are interested to get involved in the planning and delivery of the sector’s largest global event, check out the web page to apply.

A range of positions are available, covering areas of work across sponsorship, marketing, volunteer coordination, social events and visas.

All roles are voluntary and applicants must be willing (and able) to between one and three days per month to deliver key objectives relating to their subcommittee area.

Find out more and apply here. 

Deadline midnight Friday 13 February

IFLA World Library & Information Congress London 2027: Become a satellite meeting host

Could you host a UK meeting as part of WLIC 2027? Each year, the IFLA Congress programmes a series of satellite meetings which take place immediately prior to, or immediately after, the Congress. These meetings are typically 1-2 days in duration and feature workshops, talks and panel discussions, and are a collaboration between a regional host and an IFLA unit.

Satellite meetings are a great opportunity to connect with IFLA’s community groups; get involved with the Congress; showcase local venues and institutions; and network with a global attendee audience.

Applications to host a satellite event will open in March 2026, but in advance of that we are hoping to spread the word and to get colleagues thinking about how you can get involved.

Find out more here.

Applications open March 2026.

Ian Anstice has been a single source of sector news for 15 years, with his Public Libraries News blog. Why did he start, what did he learn and why has he stopped?

MOST Sundays for the last 15 years Public Libraries News – aka PLN – has delivered a list of public library related news stories and an editorial to its 2,230 subscribers and many other visitors. In an interview with Information Professional its creator and editor, Ian Anstice says: “I clearly remember being shocked by how little any of us knew about what was going on in other library services. We barely knew what was going on in a neighbouring service let alone any new ideas or news (good or bad) from anywhere else in the country…How were we supposed to know what was going on? To take advantage of good ideas and be warned about anything bad was happening.”

And he was right. His librarian peers wanted to hear about good ideas and know what crisis they’d be dealing with next. The most visited story in PLN’s 15-year existence was ‘When and how will libraries open in England (after COVID)’ which had 197,000 views – just over 10 per cent of PLN’s total visits (1.86m between 2010 and 2025). The second most visited page was his best practice page — ‘Ideas and innovations in public libraries’ – which had 104,000 views.

Bad news

He said the blog “Immediately started chronicling what very soon became the biggest attack on public library services in this country’s history. And others could access this, see what’s happening, and feel motivated to do something about it. The right thing at the right time… I know many librarians, many of them very senior, used it regularly.”

Hidden news

But he said that: “People will not share the bad news about their council or their organisation, they won’t say ‘this did not work’ or complain about deep cuts.”

He said: “Factual analysis of what is successful and what is not would be great. There’s too much gloss and good-news-only. The sector should be willing to publicise its failures as well as its successes, otherwise it cannot learn. Simply quoting statistics and avoiding the trend up or down is misrepresenting the actuality of the situation.”

Over the years Ian has witnessed a lot change and has developed his own views on the sector. He delves deeper into these in the full interview in Information Professional.