This summer, CILIP’s public affairs and general election activities have been raising awareness about the value and significance of libraries in all sectors, and have placed libraries at the heart of the political conversation.

CILIP’s work and messaging about the sector has featured in national news and magazines.

In the last two months, CILIP has been featured in the Telegraph, the Times, the Guardian, the Bookseller, and the Big Issue.

Librarians told to challenge ‘paradigm of whiteness’ in Welsh Labour anti-racism plan

10 July 2024 - The Telegraph covers the Anti-Racist Library Collections project that CILIP secured funding for at the end of 2023. The article covers CILIP’s position that "library staff will be encouraged to see their diverse collections as powerful community tools." (paywalled)

Full story from the Telegraph

Libraries give us power. The next government must trust libraries to continue delivering for communities

4 Jul 2024 - “Whichever party forms our next government, we at CILIP, the library and information association have a simple pledge, to them and to the public – trust libraries,” writes CEO Louis Coiffait-Gunn in the Big Issue as part of the CILIP Election 2024 Campaign.

Full story from the Big Issue

CILIP highlights impact of libraries as part of Libraries Change Lives Week

25 June 2024 - The Bookseller covers the Libraries Change Lives Week campaign, which started during the run up to the 2024 General Election and beyond. The campaign highlights libraries across all sectors that are changing lives, through 180 case studies and counting, plus a social media campaign.

Full story from the Bookseller

‘If there’s nowhere else to go, this is where they come’: how Britain’s libraries provide much more than books

25 June 2024 - In a widely-shared article from the Guardian that shows how libraries do so much more than books, Nick Poole, former CEO of CILIP is quoted as saying “We risk becoming a social care safety net […] our staff are not clinical staff.”

Full story from the Guardian

Listen to the podcast version of this story from the Guardian

The books banned from libraries after one complaint

2 June 2024 - CILIP Chief Development Officer, Jo Cornish, comments on a banned book article in The Times: “There have always been items in libraries that have sparked controversy and debate, but anecdotally we are aware that requests to withdraw items are becoming more frequent and co-ordinated. And that there are real consequences being felt by individuals. We are aware of one school librarian reporting they lost their job defending the principle of providing LGBTQ+ positive book displays.” (paywalled)

Full story from the Times