This year’s CILIP honorary fellowships represent the breadth and scope of the information, knowledge management and library profession. CILIP is delighted to announce that the 2021 honorary fellowships are being awarded to Professor Chris Whitty, Matt Haig and Amy McKay. These three very different individuals are being recognised for their contribution to this sector in the face of unprecedented global challenges.

As Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, Professor Chris Whitty has been at the forefront of health information keeping the public informed throughout the pandemic as the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession. He is a practising NHS Consultant Physician and represents the UK on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization. Chris was the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) from January 2016 to August 2021, with overall responsibility for the department’s research and development, including being head of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). He was the interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2017 to 2018, including during the Novichok poisonings. Before that, he was the Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID), which included leading technical work on the West Africa Ebola outbreak and other international emergencies.

Chris has been awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in recognition of his services to the role of evidence in public health.

On receiving news of his Honorary Fellowship, Professor Whitty commented:

“I am very honoured to be awarded this. The role of library and information professionals in the NHS, government and the academic sector during the pandemic has been superb, and a clear demonstration of how information and data should underpin decision making at all levels.”

Matt Haig is an English novelist and journalist. He has written both fiction and non-fiction for children and adults and his novels are often dark and quirky takes on family life. From the publication of his first novel in 2004, Matt has enjoyed popular success with his fiction for adults and children including his most recent novel, The Midnight Library.

His style is highly readable, switching seamlessly between humour and poignancy, but this conceals his pursuit of deeper literary concerns. In his adult fiction, in particular, Matt employs a succession of unusual narrators to dissect family life and dysfunction, exploring notions of anxiety, suppression and control in the context of familial relationships. He advocates reading for mental health and actively supports public libraries.

Matt is awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in recognition of his services to literacy, mental health and wellbeing.

On receiving news of his Honorary Fellowship, Matt commented:

"I am absolutely honoured to receive this. This means so much to me, as libraries are more important now than ever. They are one of the few public spaces where we are seen as people more than as consumers, and for me they were always a place where I would discover books I would somehow not come across elsewhere. Huge thanks to every CILIP member for the work they do."

School Librarian, Amy McKay has been an active member of CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group for over a decade. She has judged the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals (CKG) and is the national co-ordinator of the awards, a role to which she brings unparalleled energy, commitment and enthusiasm. Amy has recently taken up a new position at Ullswater Community College, Penrith. Against the challenging backdrop that Covid-19 has presented, she has transformed the library into the heart of the school, securing new funding for stock and layout and encouraging use and integration of the setting by staff and students alike. She has worked tirelessly on the CKG Awards organising regular virtual meet-ups and additional training for judges. This has resulted in an incredibly close-knit group who were supportive of one another’s wellbeing through a particularly challenging year and felt supported to adapt the challenge of virtual judging.

Amy is awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in recognition of her services to readership and mental health.

On receiving her Honorary Fellowship, Amy commented:

“I was overwhelmed and absolutely delighted to hear I had been awarded an Honorary Fellowship. School libraries have played a huge part in my life, and it has been a privilege to be involved in the Youth Libraries Group, the delivery of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals and being part of the team adapting the awards to a virtual event. The past couple of years have been extremely challenging and I would like to thank those colleagues who have put me forward for this honour.”

Honorary Fellowship has been awarded by CILIP and its predecessor the Library Association since 1896. It is the highest recognition given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the library and information world.

Recipients of the title join a roll call of important figures including three time former Prime Minster Rt. Hon Stanley Baldwin, Scottish philanthropist and library founder Andrew Carnegie, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal system used in library classification, Melvil Dewey; the poet, novelist and librarian Philip Larkin, novelist Dame Catherine Cookson, children’s illustrator and author Shirley Hughes and our Library Champion, Bobby Seagull.

Commenting on the 2021 Honorary Fellowships, CILIP CEO Nick Poole said, “This year’s Honorary Fellows all demonstrate in different ways the powerful role our sector can play in health and social care. Whether it is leveraging evidence to support informed decision-making in the NHS and public health or exploring the role of reading in building empathy and improving mental health – the pandemic has truly shown the power of libraries as the ‘hospital of the soul’”.