CDEG bursary recipient Corin Peacock shares their experiences of CILIP Conference 2022

CDEG elects new Chair for 2022

The Community, Diversity and Equality Group is very pleased to welcome our new Chair, Oliver Jenkins. 

We asked him to tell us a little about himself, and what his involvement in this group, and community work more generally, means to him. 

I’m Oliver Jenkins and I’m the new Chair of CDEG. As someone with autism especially I feel passionately about the need to ensure our libraries are champions of equality and diversity in their patrons and staff. Libraries have always been a cornerstone of our communities and the crucial status of that role has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m the librarian of a through school for 11–18-year-olds, a role I’ve carried out for three years now. I’ve had no official training thus far, everything’s been on the job and I’ve made it up as I went along. While I may be green, I’m also incredibly keen and over recent years have been steadily discovering and increasing my CPD, to now becoming Chair of this group and setting off on my Chartership journey.

Our school has a mainly caucasian cohort, so representation of the full spectrum of humanity has been a key concern. A year ago I submitted an entry to Penguin’s Lit in Colour giveaway initiative and won a wide selection of books featuring BAME authors, characters and issues. Every year I try and include new stock of not only BAME representation but also disabled and LGBTQ+ authors, characters and issues. Of the latter, our display for LGBTQ+ History Month recently gathered great interest and members of the community have been rushing the desk to take out books ever since. I run book groups for Reading Rampage and Carnegie that help introduce students to viewpoints that they might not have considered before. I’ve also involved the school over the past few years in the Empathy Day initiative, which also supplies students with a great mixture of books from different cultures and perspectives.

I wanted to join CDEG because of both my personal investment in equality and diversity being a person with autism and also because I know that libraries are essential hubs for the communities they serve, and because of that should reflect and promote the acceptance and celebration of the diversity of those communities. This is a cause I think is particularly important in a time where people are becoming more and more divided and less understanding of others.

I don't have any particular ideas or goals as of yet, but a general wish to further the use of libraries as a crucial cornerstone of communities and a vital force for championing equality and diversity within those communities. I'd also like to bring more people that don't currently use libraries to libraries so they can discover their wonder and brilliance for themselves.

There’s a somewhat brief introduction to me and what I do. It’s an honour and a privilege to be given the responsibility of such a position and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the future.

We look forward to upcoming opportunities for Oliver to get to know our members and learn more about the great work they are doing.

Call for interviewees: Addressing classification system bias

Has your library undertaken a reclassification project related to the wider decolonisation aims of the institution?

I am in my final year of the LISM programme at Sheffield and am currently working on my dissertation: "Exploring the impact of addressing classification system bias in UK higher education libraries".

I will be conducting interviews with higher ed librarians who have undertaken reclassification projects, or activity related to classification system bias (e.g., awareness-raising workshops), specifically related to decolonisation in the UK. My aim is to learn more about the outcomes of these projects – what the impact has been and how the projects are monitored and evaluated.

Interviews will take place in July. If you are interested in being interviewed, I would love to hear from you!

I can be reached at tsmith16@sheffield.ac.uk.

Nabila Cruz joins the CDEG committee

by Trista Smith

We are delighted to introduce one of the new members of the CDEG committee, Nabila Cruz.

Nabila joined us in March and we are so pleased to be getting to know her, and to have the benefit of her knowledge and experience on the committee. We had a quick chat so the rest of the group can get to know her as well.

What is your current role?

I have 2 jobs at the moment: Research and Development Data Officer at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and also Part-time Library Supervisor at City, University of London. I am actually moving to a new position in King’s Social Sciences and Public Policy Faculty in June, when I start as Senior Faculty Research Officer and will continue working in research information management.

How did you get involved in equality, diversity and inclusion work?

A couple of years ago, I successfully applied to be a Gender Co-Champion at the IoPPN, representing professional services to try to advance pay parity and promotion opportunities for women. I then started attending the Athena Swam meetings in the faculty which opened my eyes to the immense amount of work still needed to achieve equality of opportunity for staff and to stop bullying and harassment. This made me even more passionate to achieve real change and I recently chaired meetings for a newly created Race Equality in Research in South East London network with fellow research managers to try to find solutions to underrepresentation of racialised people research, both as researchers and as participants in research. We still have a lot of work to do.

What made you decide to join the CDEG committee? What are you hoping to do as member of the committee?

I was looking for opportunities to get involved in EDI in libraries and enquired about the advert for the position Secretary. I quickly realised that with 2 jobs, it would be too much to take on but Karen was kind enough to invite me to join the committee, which I was excited to accept. I am keen to learn more about the work of the committee and help influence change in our profession so that we better serve the diverse communities we work in.

What do you get up to when you're not working?

Unfortunately not much at moment, apart from going for a run or trying to relax by bingeing any new series in Netflix. In pre-pandemic times, I would probably be at a museum or trying a new restaurant with my friends. In all honesty, I completely failed at finding a new hobby during lockdown and I am envious of anyone who did! (Editor's note: You are not the only one...)

_____________________________________________

Welcome, Nabila!

CILIP Conference 2020 - Reimagined: impressions of a new professional

by Jamie Yu

     The CILIP Conference 2020 - Reimagined is an e-conference held on an interactive online platform. The platform allows attendees to join conference sessions in Zoom, browse exhibitions and interact with speakers and participants via web chats. What is special about this conference is that, in contrast to the traditional two-day CILIP conference held in past years, it happened all in one day - on the 19th November 2020. One could feel the intensity of the conference if one was determined to make the best out of the rich content created by a total of 54 speakers. Fortunately, CILIP provides conference attendees with access to the platform and the recordings of all conference sessions until next year. The conference organisers keep their audience in mind and make the best use out of the video communication platform to ensure a rich experience.

The conference has gathered information and cultural professionals’ voices to say how librarianship is a mission to uphold core values and what we can do to accomplish this mission together. The keynote speakers took their lead in advocating for this message. Richard Ovenden’s opening keynote reminded us of the fragility of information and the core role of librarians in protecting information and preserving knowledge. He took us trips across time and space, where we revisited the origin of the nature of our work. Other keynote speakers’ discussions explained how this core role of preserving knowledge extends to many sub-levels and how modern issues leave us with important tasks within this role. Tracie Hall from ALA interpreted the modern mission of a librarian as one to stand up against information redlining. Her powerful speech drew our attention to the impact ethnic minorities face due to the disinvestment in libraries. With the loss of these valuable resources in society, the normalisation of literacy, socio-economic mobility, and democratic engagement also lose their ground to grow.

Speakers for CILIP including Head of Sector Development Jo Cornish and president Judy also outlined some strategies to tackle challenges we face in this profession. Jo argued that for us to make sure that we achieve our mission as information professionals, we need to connect to society and the people we serve. It is essential to highlight elements such as representativeness, diversity, and accessibility as some of the critical elements of a future profession of information professionals. Judy quoted Nick Poole, CEO of CILIP, to say that “professionalism is nothing without critical reflection”. We need to maintain a questioning attitude towards our profession and the values we hold, keeping in mind the interrelationships between our identity at an organisational, professional, and national level. By doing that, we continue to explore how we share experiences on different levels and improve our services. By doing that, we also ensure that we know what unites us as professionals and be comfortable in the culture that we drive to maintain.

On the other hand, speakers in the self-chosen sessions highlighted important issues that we should be working on. They discussed in detail what professionals have been doing and some practical actions that should be done in the future. Bridget McKenzie, Harri Sahavirta, and Petra Hauke (Dr) enlightened us on how librarianship is incorporated in local and foreign (Finnish and German) institutions to approach a green economy. It was interesting to learn how librarianship combines with the values of sustainability. In Bridget’s case, librarianship comes into play in her non-library roles such as a cultural manager and an activist in the Climate Change Museum. Her sharing inspired me to see the values and skills behind librarianship in a broad sense and their potential in contributing to unconventional careers. My curiosity to explore librarianship has grown. In Harri and Petra’s case, they actively pursue the goal of disseminating accurate environmental information and reducing energy consumption in their libraries with strategic planning. Reflecting on the potential ways in which libraries could contribute to making changes, I started to think of ways different roles within a library, including non-leadership roles, could participate.

Another self-chosen session that left me a strong impression was “The everyday activists of our profession who are driving change” led by Marilyn Clarke, Adenike Johnson, and Angela Short. Marilyn’s experience in advocating for decolonisation, particularly the “liberate my degree” campaign in the Goldsmith University of London, was felt by me as genuinely personal. A library led movement on this subject sounds new, but it makes logical sense since resources for learning are managed and partly curated by the library. According to Marilyn, diversifying collections and creating subject guides and reading lists representative of different cultures are some of the ways libraries could participate in combating a eurocentric curriculum.

Having studied in Hong Kong as the ethnic majority and in the UK as an ethnic minority, it felt strange to remind me of the two experiences studying in a eurocentric curriculum in two different identities. It is important to be aware that white supremacy in the history of higher education has left a legacy around the world. The changes we are trying to make are not merely about the local curriculum but the heavily biased idea of scholarship and wisdom. The journey in making changes could be a long one, but this is why informational professionals need to be always wary of the power of the resources we preserve, the resources we disseminate, and the resources we curate. We need to be careful of the power and be appreciative of it at the same time.

I hope to develop further the insights I got from the conference via discussions with fellow librarians and accumulate my experiences. I found the CILIP conference 2020 - Reimaged a great opportunity to understand different aspects of the library profession, a great starting point for me to imagine my future career, and a great encouragement for achieving the values we hold as information professionals. I am grateful to the Community, Diversity and Equality Group for sponsoring me to attend the conference.

Kristīne Pabērza: „ Everyone smiles in the same language“

Always with inquisitive eyes and a warm smile on her face, sincerely engaged in conversations with colleagues, and, with even greater sincerity, sharing library stories from across the globe - that is Kristīne whom some of you may have encountered in international meetings dedicated to IFLA’s Global Vision. Kristīne is a professional librarian with an international reputation. When she speaks of library problems in different regions of the world, Kristīne is inclined to notice the common ground that unites us despite differences in religion, culture, citizenship. She doesn’t base her work on prejudice and isn’t afraid to set off into unknown territory.

Earlier in May, Kristīne kindly answered CILIP CDEG’s questions from her office at IFLA HQ in The Hague, where she serves as Member Engagement Officer for a second year.

1.      Dear Kristine, you are an example of an extremely versatile, yet “classically” trained librarian, who finds herself at a young age with an impressive portfolio of positions in public, governmental and private sectors, academia, high profile national and international projects. What professional positions were most rewarding for you? And what important lessons have you learned when exploring the library field?

Yes, I am truly blessed with my professional experience. It is almost 20 years since I started my professional career as a public librarian at Riga Central library. During my early career, I had a chance to apply and practice my skills in all types of library that we had in Latvia at that time. One of the positions which really changed who I am as a librarian was as a news librarian at one of the Latvian newspapers. This is when I learned to adapt to change, to be able to refocus fast, to respond to needs and requests quickly, and to make responsible decisions within tremendous time constraints. Every day for me was like a separate project that resulted in the next day’s newspaper and to see a librarian’s contribution to how it looks was really rewarding. Every day.

From there I moved to the Culture Information Systems Centre (CISC), an implementing agency for national ICT and training projects in libraries, archives and museums. This is where I spent the last 10 years before moving to The Hague; it really wasn’t easy to say goodbye to the team who had become my professional family. The CISC provided me with an invaluable experience and opportunity to realize my passion, both in public libraries and in data and evaluation. For the first time in Latvian history, we measured the social and economic value of our public libraries. It was all possible thanks to the Global Libraries grant that Latvians received for public library development project called “Father’s Third Son”. This project has changed libraries and librarians in Latvia and widened the doors to international cooperation. We learned that our libraries are not that much different from Chilean or Romanian libraries; no matter in which continent or under which circumstances we work, we all have a shared goal of making our communities stronger. I trust in sharing and learning as the way to be more successful in what we do. We are all more similar than different.

2.      Before accepting the role of member engagement officer at the International Federation of Library Associations, you were the President of the Library Association of Latvia. Was this transition from involving library professionals of one nation to embracing the global community of colleagues smooth and straightforward?

The fact that I have been in this role was and still is very helpful in my work at IFLA. I want to believe that it gives me a better understanding of our members’ challenges and needs. In fact, because of having experience in leadership of a national association, I can now better understand what is and what is maybe not possible in certain national contexts that can influence our ability to reach global goals. This is very helpful now when we are planning and implementing actions that we believe will lead to a stronger and more united library field.

One of priorities of the Library Association of Latvia during my presidency was building partnerships and closer collaboration with other library associations in the region, not just in the Baltics but across Europe. We were learning from each other and building networks to become stronger library advocates. During the “Library Advocacy for EU” project, that the Library Association of Latvia implemented together with EBLIDA, I became friends with many presidents of library associations in Europe, which is helpful now when it comes to communication and engagement in global initiatives. IFLA as a membership organisation has all the same challenges and opportunities as any national or regional association, it’s just that the scope is different, it’s global. As far as we all, no matter in which region of the world we live and work, share a common purpose, it’s easy to find a common language even if we speak in different native languages. Everyone smiles in the same language.

3.      IFLA Global Vision is a unique initiative for promoting libraries’ inclusivity around the world: 190 United Nations member states from 7 continents, all library types and employee generations, 22, 000 libraries in total. What were the management strategy and greatest challenges when bringing the world library community to one table? What is the timeframe and milestones of this project and what are the main expected outcomes?  

I want to say that I admire the visionary thinking of Gerald Leitner, IFLA’s Secretary General, who came up with the idea of having a Global Vision discussion, an initiative that gives every single librarian in the world the chance to contribute to this global conversation about the values, opportunities and challenges of the library field. The participation statistics clearly demonstrate how much such an initiative was needed, how much we are all willing to engage with each other and to take part in the creation of something unique – a united library roadmap for the future.

For me it’s also a unique opportunity to be part of the team at IFLA HQ who made this possible. My responsibilities in the Global Vision projects relate mainly to data analysis, and it is a unique experience. Never before I have worked with data files which exceeds 600,000 lines of data or aggregated responses generated by more than 30,000 respondents (this is the number of participants who either voted in the global online vote or contributed their voice through workshops and meetings). Data analysis was a challenging but very exciting process. For me personally, it was also an opportunity to learn a lot about what happens in libraries and what is important for librarians in many different parts of the world, that I previously knew very little about.

The first phase of the Global Vision is finished. Based on its results, IFLA now is creating the biggest idea store for actions that will be a source of inspiration for all librarians and for IFLA in planning for the future. The second phase has started with the kick-off workshop in Barcelona in March this year that will be followed by workshops in all regions of the world. Through workshops and an online platform, we want to gather ideas from librarians that would let us identify how all regions and library types can play their part in the implementation of the Global Vision. Between September 2018 and March 2019, we will again analyse the input and will design Global Vision actions. IFLA will then create a strategy and action plans that will turn the Global Vision into reality: a strong and united library field powering literate, informed and participative societies.

4.      In the recently published IFLA Global Vision report, 10 highlights and 10 corresponding opportunities were presented for further discussions. We’d like to pick out some of them and learn your thoughts. Focus on serving communities was defined as common to all libraries around the world. Better understanding of community needs is considered to be directly linked to having a greater impact on peoples’ lives through library services. Are library outreach programmes less developed in certain parts of the world? What regions / countries, would you say are at the forefront and more successful than others and why?

I don’t want to say that one region is better than another. And I should admit that I broke some of my own stereotypes of European libraries being at the forefront while serving as a trainer in Ghana, Uganda and Kenya; it happened when I realized that many African libraries are much more focused on understanding and meeting their community needs than some Latvian libraries.

There are things that work very well in one region while the same approach may fail in another. We must be keenly aware of cultural differences and the various contexts and environments in which we work and how we make things possible. Someone may simply have different priorities at the moment. Therefore, acknowledging regional characteristics and requirements will be essential in our future efforts to unite the library field in addressing common challenges.

What I believe, and this was fully supported by the Global Vision data and results, is that impact measurement is still a challenge; many countries and libraries lack understanding, skills or simply resources and tools. Inability to measure outcomes and to demonstrate impact evidence to stakeholders lead to other challenges. Our vision in the library field is to be more united. In my opinion, it is also being more united in our abilities and capabilities. We can start helping each other by just simply sharing our intelligence and resources.

5.      A focus on the younger generation of library professionals was another highlight in the report. IFLA calls to give young professionals more opportunities to learn, develop and lead. Could you name any initiatives within IFLA activities targeted at promoting young professionals? Are there any success stories that you’ve encountered while serving at IFLA? Have you ever thought of your own young age as a disadvantage and obstacle?

Actually, I have personal experience of such an initiative. In 2016, I was one of nine young professionals selected for the second cohort of IFLA International Leaders Programme (ILP). The Programme was designed to increase the cohort of leaders who can effectively represent the wider library sector in the international arena, and to develop leaders within IFLA. I left the Programme when I accepted the position of member engagement officer, but I’m happy to have an opportunity to being able to continue working with the Leaders; that’s what we call them. Leaders or ILP Associates have a project, called “Stories that Matter”, through which they contributed to the development of a Storytelling Manual which IFLA recently released to help librarians to tell and submit their stories to the Library Map of the World. Leaders are implementing many amazing activities; it would require another article to tell you about them! In my opinion, ILP is a great opportunity for both, the Leaders and IFLA. During the first year of the Programme, two leaders were elected President of their respective library associations, and others were elected to and served on a number of important library-related committees in their home countries. Leaders are engaging with IFLA professional units and working/advisory groups thus contributing their intelligence to IFLA’s international agenda.

I would also like to promote IFLA’s New Professionals Special Interest Group (NPSIG), affiliated with the Management of Library Associations Section (MLAS). NPSIG is an initiative for and by new professionals. They facilitate international networking opportunities for early career librarians and LIS students around the world; host virtual and in-person workshops, information sessions and conference events. This is a group which always make IFLA’s General Conference attractive with their events. This year, at IFLA WLIC in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, they will host a session on Librarians Fashion and will discuss what the way we dress says about us. Isn’t it exciting?

IFLA also supports EIFL in their IYALI (the Young African Library Innovators) initiative which aims to expose emerging public library innovators in Africa to experiences and ideas from other developing and transition economy countries. Last year thirteen African public librarians visited Lithuania and Poland to attend workshops and visit libraries.

6.      Besides the current involvement with Global Vision, what else is member engagement in IFLA involved in? Could you tell us more about the day-to-day work of your department?

My main work at IFLA is with the Library Map of the World (LMW) – the source of basic library statistics and a platform providing access to stories demonstrating how libraries in different countries contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serve as partners in meeting local development needs. This is again an area where we are driven by the shared vision, the vision of having reliable global library statistics. We are saying that IFLA is a global voice for libraries, and my work is to make it possible one day to tell how many libraries exactly we are representing. National library statistics is still a challenge in many countries, affecting our ability to have representative regional or global numbers that we would confidently be able to use in our data stories for advocacy.

My daily work consists of communication with our data partners – national library associations, national libraries, library support organisations and other institutions from around the world – to make sure we are able to put more countries and more data on the Library Map of the World. During the first year of the project we were able to engage with more than 100 countries which provided their existing library data, and I was very happy to learn from many other about their intention to improve frameworks for national library statistics in order to be able to contribute to the global effort. It is just a beginning, and we look forward to improving from year to year as it becomes a long-term activity.

Another big part of my time is spent on stories. We recently published a practical guide “Libraries and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Storytelling Manual” which was designed to help librarians and library advocates in telling compelling stories about their library activities, projects and programmes, showing their impact on communities and people’s lives. The guide is also intended to support contributors in the process of preparing and submitting their stories to the Library Map of the World. Many librarians across the world share the same challenge – we are very good at describing what we did at our libraries but not that good at telling why we did it and what has changed for communities and users as the result of it. This material is something that we believe will be helpful in meeting this challenge. Our goal is to have more stories online to build a stronger case for libraries that we believe will support our collective library advocacy efforts around the world. I’m very excited to read every one of those stories.

7.      You are very well travelled person and are privileged to see a global picture of libraries today. Have you yourself drawn any common trends relating to libraries around the world? Is it possible to compare the unique ways in which libraries operate on different continents? Would you say globalization may endanger diversity within librarianship?

For me, as someone who grew up and has lived for most of my life lived in a very homogenous society, travelling was not only a privilege to see a global picture of libraries, but in general to learn about and experience other cultures and diversity. Libraries are like mirrors of societies and the communities which they serve. As librarians, no matter in which corner of the world we are, we share the same value and role of libraries. The unique part is the way that libraries in various places express those values and roles, the way we do what we do, and how we do that to reach our shared goal – to help our users live more fulfilled lives and be happier. As long as we take care to preserve and practise our unique cultures, diversity within librarianship is not in danger. I also believe (and have learned from my own experience at IFLA HQ where our staff represents more than 15 different nationalities) that diverse cultural perspectives can inspire creativity and drive innovation. We must take advantage of partnerships and collaboration and learning from each other’s unique experiences to realize the full potential of our libraries.

8.      Your social media feed is mostly dedicated to advocating the library profession. What are your inspirations and examples you aim to follow? Do you have any role models and/ or mentors in the library profession? Would you ever consider being anything other than a librarian?

That’s a very strong statement. I never had a personal social media communications plan or a conscious intention to make it professional. I went back to my Facebook account and it’s true – my life is libraries. I am proud and very happy to be a librarian and to work for libraries, but it again never was my intention. I want to think that it was a coincidence while some may think that my early childhood librarian had a strong influence on what I became. Until this day I continue reflecting on what kind of impact librarians are able to make on subconscious decision-making.

On the first day of school, when every child was asked about what she or he wants to become, I wanted to be a teacher. I fulfilled that wish in my role as a lecturer at the LIS department of the University of Latvia and a trainer of librarians. My real intention was to become an architect. Geometry and technical drawing were two of my favourite subjects at secondary school. Luckily, I failed the entrance exams and ended up at the LIS programme.

I have been asked about my role models before and it may sound strange – I never had one particular person. There are different qualities in everyone. I believe we meet people for a purpose and are given an opportunity to work with people to learn from each other. What I was always interested in is how to take some behaviours or practices from other fields and apply and try out how these work in libraries. I’m interested in new approaches, new thinking and new unusual ways of working.

Now, when I’m already reaching the age when I’m not the youngest in librarians’ gatherings anymore, I’m very much interested in learning from librarians’ younger than me, people who are trained differently, who have different thinking and different approaches, different sets of skills. I want to hope that we will be successful in achieving opportunities related to giving a stronger voice to and opportunities for young professionals. They are the ones who will implement the future which we are now checking during the Global Vision project.

Thank you for your answers 

On behalf of CILIP Community, Diversity and Equality Committee, 

Ineta Krauls-Ward 

In the photo: Kristīne Pabērza promoting IFLA's Global Vision