Let’s celebrate our librarians this #LibrariesWeek

Category: Blog

Blog by Sean McNamara, CILIPS Acting Director

Libraries Week is here once again to celebrate libraries across the UK and the theme this year is wellbeing. Our libraries should be celebrated: they are places that bring communities together, combat loneliness, and provide a space for reading, creativity and support for people with their mental health.

Libraries save the NHS a fortune, provide an incredible return on investment and are proven to increase empathy, happiness and life satisfaction. In Scotland, the many ways both public and school libraries support wellbeing are highlighted within their respective national strategies.

However, the impact that all our libraries make is defined by the people who work in them: those essential people too often undervalued by decision makers.

Let’s celebrate our public librarians for the way they understand their users’ needs and often form a vital part of library members’ lives. They provide one-to-one support, develop readers, manage complex projects, plan events, innovate constantly and promote social and economic wellbeing throughout so much of their work.

The same is true across education. Higher and Further Education librarians support vast student bases with varied and complex needs, providing vital support, resources and tailored services. In schools our professionals are doing incredible work in support of closing the attainment gap, providing a safe and trusted place for pupils and supporting social and mental wellbeing.

Prison librarians are on the front line in supporting the literacy needs of those who need it most.  Health librarians ensure medical staff have the right information to make decisions that support the wellbeing of the country as well as developing online content for users. Across the National Library, local and national government, the private sector, workplaces and many other organisations there are professionals carrying out varied, skilled and essential work.

There is no question that the last 10 years have been immensely difficult for many of those working in libraries. However, despite this, so heartening to witness has been the innovation shown by all our members working across Scotland. Staff have continued to prove how dedicated they are to the wellbeing and needs of their users while standing up for the professional skills and ethics that they have and believe in.

There is no doubt that more challenges may lie ahead, but this week, for Libraries Week, we shouldn’t just celebrate the incredible differences libraries make to peoples’ lives, but also the essential input of the people who work tirelessly within them. The next time you hear proposals for replacing public libraries with community-led or volunteer libraries, do what you can to oppose them. If you hear of school librarians being replaced by pupils or self-service, hold decision makers to account and ask them to justify those decisions. When you hear of staffing reductions in any library, do what you can to challenge it with the wealth of evidence available. We at CILIPS will do the same.

Libraries are wonderful places but they are often nothing without their librarians.