CILIP Ireland advocates on behalf of members as a strong united voice of the Library, Information and Knowledge Management community in Northern Ireland. We are working to build influence among key decision makers in government at the NI Assembly, employers and stakeholder groups to increase awareness and understanding of the profession and to ensure the voice of our members is heard.

Advocacy Campaigns

Statement from CILIP CEO December 2023

CILIP CEO Nick Poole released a statement reflecting on the inadequate funding allocated to the public library service in Northern Ireland. Nick Poole highlights that "Properly funded libraries add value to communities and contribute positively to the lives of library users" Read the full statement here.

Libraries Week - October each year

Libraries Week is the annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer. The week provides a fantastic platform to ensure maximum impact and publicity for the valuable work that local libraries are engaged in.

To celebrate CILIP Ireland asked local libraries to share some of the many innovative ways they've been supporting their communities. Responses demonstrated the variety and breadth of work carried out creating a bank of evidence demonstrating the value of libraries and their services. You can read more here.

'Facts Matter' Campaign 2017 Westminster Election

With an urgent need for reliable information and evidence in political debate and democratic decision-making, in the run up to the 2017 General Election CILIP Ireland asked local political parties and candidates to endorse the vital role of facts and evidence in public life.

We called on them to take a public pledge that ‘Facts matter’ and to declare their commitment to running an evidence-based election campaign. You can see the responses here.

Northern Ireland Assembly Election 2017

CILIP Ireland produced an open letter intended for all candidates standing for election to the Northern Ireland Assembly on March 2nd 2017. The letter was Tweeted directly to the Twitter accounts of all 228 candidates standing. To read the letter please click here.

Electionwatch 2016

The CILIP Ireland election campaign successfully engaged with political candidates and key party spokespersons to encourage greater understanding of the relevance and opportunity our sector presents and to show them that libraries and information matter to many voters. The campaign also focused on empowering our members to undertake personal advocacy. To find our more about the campaign and to follow our activity please click here.

Consultation Responses.

April 2017

On 4th April 2017, the CILIP Ireland Development Manager attended a Stakeholder Engagement Event to discuss the delivery of functions by Arms Length Bodies for the Department for Communities and highlighted the vitally important role and work of Public Libraries.

December 2016

CILIP Ireland responded to the Northern Ireland Executive Consultation on the draft Programme for Government. We advocated that libraries make a positive and extremely valuable contribution and consequently have a vital role to play in supporting the Northern Ireland Executive to achieve its objectives.

March 2016

CILIP Ireland responded to the Education Authority Consultation in respect of the Education Library Service Interim Structure.

February 2016

CILIP Ireland has produced a response to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure’s (DCAL) Consultation entitled “Strategy for Culture and Arts 2016-2026 highlighting the fact that libraries are a vital part of the cultural sector and have an extremely important role to play in the delivery of the proposed Strategy.

January 2016

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Developments (DARD) launded a Consultation on proposals for a successor to DARD’s Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation Framework 2011-15. CILIP Ireland responded to this Consultation highlighting examples of the important role libraries play in rural areas.