The worlds of country music, and the library and information profession collided today as global superstar and philanthropist, Dolly Parton was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from CILIP, the library and information association, alongside library professional Pamela Tulloch and CILIP’s former CEO, Nick Poole.

Honorary Fellowship

Every year, CILIP invites Honorary Fellowship nominations from its membership to recognise professionals and individuals who have made a lasting impact on the world of libraries, and information and knowledge management. A tradition that began in 1896 it is CILIP's highest accolade recognised across globally across all library and information management sectors.

Dolly Parton is an inspirational multi-million-selling singer-songwriter, actress, and humanitarian who successfully combines her multi-million-selling global music career with support for good causes, including reading. She is nominated for a CILIP Honorary Fellowship in recognition of her enormous and ever-growing positive impact on children’s reading in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and Ireland with her Imagination Library that has gifted over 251 million books, for free, to over 3 million pre-school children since Dolly started the scheme in East Tennessee in 1995.

Nick Poole has been awarded Honorary Fellowship for his work within CILIP and across the sector. Nick was instrumental in establishing CILIP’s strategic commitment to changing lives through inclusive, participatory, socially-engaged libraries. Committed to inclusivity and diversity, Nick led CILIP to embrace initiatives to widen access to the profession, including new levels of apprenticeship and launching CILIP’s Diversity Networks. He was also integral to introducing a knowledge management (KM) route to qualification, achieving industry recognition of KM skills.

Pamela Tulloch is nominated for her outstanding contribution to the profession both in her role as SLIC (Scottish Library and Information Council) CEO, and formerly in Glasgow public libraries. She has been an instrumental partner for much of CILIP’s work including being part of the Youth Libraries and Public Libraries Groups, where she was also chair.

Presidential Citation

Also announced at CILIP’s AGM were the recipients of the 2024 Presidential Citation. This is a tradition in the gift of the CILIP President who honours two people who have excelled in their work in the sector, and to celebrate their achievements. This year’s citations go to Liz White and Sarah Mears.

Liz White is cited in recognition of her services to partnership working across the library sector, both nationally and internationally. She is the Director of Library Partnerships at the British Library and has overseen groundbreaking work in support of developing the sector such as the hugely successful Living Knowledge Network and also for leading the initial pioneering work on LibraryOn, the digital platform funded by Arts Council England.

Sarah Mears, a Chartered Fellow of CILIP and Programme Manager for Libraries Connected is awarded the Presidential Citation in recognition of her services to library services for children and the development of Empathy Lab. Sarah is a strong advocate for the work of public libraries and is a brilliant ambassador for Empathy Lab, promoting empathy amongst children and young people and the role that books and reading can play in developing this.

Louis Coffait-Gunn, CILIP CEO commented:

“I am delighted that today we are recognising these five very different individuals who have all contributed, in their different areas, so much dedication, expertise and energy to the library and information profession, to literacy and to the wider sector. The positive impact that our Honorary Fellows and those awarded the Presidential Citation have made on the lives of people they may never meet, cannot be under-estimated.”