Plans for 2014

Apologies for the delay in this post...Jan/Feb has been a busy time in my new life as Development Officer in Belfast. I could go on and on but I think it's best to give some insight into the successful CILIP Ireland Committee Meeting that was held on the 30th of January.

Marion Khorshidian (Representative for CDG Northern Ireland) kindly hosted our meeting in the University of Ulster and we had a special guest in the form of Guy Daines (Head of Policy, CILIP).

Guy gave us interesting updates on a number of CILIP plans. Strategic projects in 2014 include mapping the library and information workforce and working with CILIP in Scotland to look at the implications of the Scottish Independence Referendum. Other projects highlighted were communications, membership and staff development. One policy item I found of particular interest was the EBLIDA Right to E-read campaign. In a nutshell public and other libraries do not have an automatic right to lend e-books as they do with hardcopy books, who knew! Libraries are reliant on publishers granting them access and unless EU copyright law is changed this will continue in the future. More information about the campaign can be found through the following link: http://www.eblida.org/e-read/home-campaign/

Our campaign to make CILIP Ireland more visible and offer more to our members is well on it's way. As agreed at the committee meeting I emailed all CILIP Ireland members on National Libraries Day, supporting the celebrations, introducing myself and distributing a short survey. The survey will give us a better insight into members' needs and preferences for training and networking. If you received the email please do take part, it would be much appreciated!

In conjunction with a graphic designer I am developing some new marketing materials for CILIP Ireland...something to roll out at events, conferences and talks so you'll know who we are! I'm doing my best to keep you connected via Twitter @CILIPIreland , our section of the CILIP website CILIP Ireland and this very blog!

April will be a busy month for the Committee with a few events almost colliding. We will be launching the new Professional Registration for CILIP in both Derry/ Londonderry, the Magee Campus (31st Mar) and Belfast, the McClay Library (1st April). Very excited about this as a) Simon Edwards (Director of Professional Services) will be travelling from London to deliver the sessions, b) they are completely free and c), tasty refreshments will be on offer. More details will be on the website soon and emailed to members, non members are of course very welcome also. I was delighted to be asked by Dr. Jessica Bates to be one of the guest speakers for the Library and Information Management Course at the University of Ulster on the 3rd of April. I intend to promote the virtues of CILIP as a professional body and encourage students to join. Not long afterwards, on the 10th and 11th of April, the Library Association of Ireland/ CILIP Ireland Annual Joint Conference will be held in the Tower Hotel in the beautiful city of Waterford. The title for 2014 is 'Seizing Opportunities, Leading Change'. More details will also be going online very soon.

We finished our committee meeting by scheduling bi-monthly meetings for the rest of the year and picking tentative dates for another Open Forum on Library Cooperation (May) and Open Day/ AGM (June).

Lots to do and lots to plan!