So we march on to raise our voice because we are left with no choice

THING 16: ADVOCACY, SPEAKING UP FOR THE PROFESSION & GETTING PUBLISHED.

While I’m all for advocacy, I have to admit every time I see people fighting and standing up for the profession it makes me feel a little sad inside.  Why is this a profession that is so undervalued?  Why do people need to have rallies and petitions to keep libraries open and the people that work in them paid?

At the same time, the volume of the people at these rallies, signing these petitions, writing about libraries in the media and keeping them at the forefront of public knowledge with regards to free education/information for all, makes that sadness that little bit easier to deal with.  I remember exactly why I chose to work in this profession and why it’s important to remind others why it’s important too.

When I first got into library work I started out in public libraries.  Although I didn't really use them at the time, I always had respect for why they are there (most schools at that time barely had two books to bang together, let alone have a library) and working in one opened my eyes to what real work is done beyond shh’ing and stamping books.  They reach all corners of the community, be it by school or by mobile library, and let people have (free) access to stuff that isn’t just books (shock horror).  

My last job before this one was also at a public library.  I started out there at the worst possible time with regards to the Cuts and no-one really knew if their job or the service would survive the long-haul.  And it was at this time I started following library things on Twitter; Advocates, professionals, campaigners, groups, make-shift societies, authors…  I whole-heartedly support the work of Voices for the Library.  But my colleague at the time was also an inspiration.  A genuine public library lover (and then worker) – had she not of been bound by The Man she would have been a voice to be reckoned with.  In fact, we still talk about libraries in the pub to anyone who’ll listen (see more later).  It was important for people to see that libraries were beyond a brick box with books – they are a hub, a meeting place, a warm space, and inspirational mystery, forever changing and providing those worse off with opportunities.  People just didn’t know it.  The more cuts happening the more people were finding themselves without jobs… Did they know they could join a library for free, get books to help them back into work for free, use a computer to make CVs and covering letters for free, email them for free, find out about opportunities FOR FREE?  

It felt heart-warming to see so many people taking forceful action.  And it felt crazy weird to see people talking about libraries on the TV and (for a while) it was in the papers (nationwide) on a daily basis.  What’s more, it made me realise that librarianship can definitely be one of those all-or-nothing jobs – people literally live and breathe libraries, and isn’t it great to be associated with that, even if we aren’t as involved ourselves? 

I am yet to come into ‘advocacy’ as part of my job description, rather than an extra-curricular type of thing, but at least I can be girl scout about it.  I’m lucky to have some go-to-guys-and-girls who work for trade unions in advocacy as well as being involved in local councils or proper activism stuff, if I ever need it.  And I have just taken that ‘presenting course’ (more on that later!) should I need to engage in some pr-activism soap box skills.   The advocacy skill set of course is quite desirable (public speaking, constructing arguments, communicating with different stakeholders, using social media effectively, designing online and print materials etc.) but the ‘get published’ part seems a very long way off.  I guess genuinely trying to keep up-to-date with this blog is a good start to keep the writing skills on the burner, and when the time is right engaging with library advocacy on a more serious scale than just ‘getting mad’ and not doing anything about it.  Or just being a library assistant. Or wearing awesome library badges and doing library pub crawls…

EDIT: Ignore what I said about library pub crawls not being enough... @hipporebecca and I have decided we want to repeat the library pub crawl we did on NLD12 and we are seeking to involve more people this year to celebrate libraries in all their gloriousness... We did a library/book themed pub crawl around London and it, really surprisingly, got people talking.  We spoke to teachers, library users, library lovers and people who didn't even know their local library existed and, at that time, the library campaign was full throttle in the media, so lots of people genuinely supported our cause!  It was library advocacy at its most deadly - subtlety is key! Who would of thought we would find all that at bar, pint and peanuts in hand...?! Follow @librarypubcrawl for more info (although it's pretty thin on the ground at the moment) on the next one.