I advocate for libraries every day. I love my local library, the library where I work and libraries in general and this is probably obvious every time I talk about them, which is a lot. But that personal advocacy is clearly not enough, especially in the 'current climate'. It's easy for people to agree that libraries are a Good Thing, on a par with cake and hugging. But unlike libraries, neither cake nor hugging are having to compete for public funds during a recession. It's less easy to get people to a) agree that libraries are an essential public service even (especially) in times of austerity and b) actively campaign to save them from being cut to pieces.
I almost lost my job last year, along with most of the other staff in our information department, and it's partly down to the brilliant advocacy of our head of library and others involved in writing our proposal for renewed funding that we're all still here and running a bigger and more innovative library than ever. But pretty much every day we're asked to justify our existence in the wider institution. Here the best advocacy seems to be to excel at your job, get results, exceed targets, and find new ways to make a measurable impact.
Being good at your job doesn't do much to influence public opinion though, and it's deeply impressive to me how members of the library community have come together online and in real life to lead strong campaigns, write eloquently in defence of our profession, and talk to the media. I'm afraid that my own advocacy here has been mostly armchair-based (although I don't want to apologise too cravenly for spending more of my minimal spare time with my family than going on marches). I have signed petitions, put up posters, and promoted the #savelibraries message on every online forum I have access to as well as to my Unison branch, friends, family and colleagues. And I think I can make the moral, social and economic case for libraries if asked to (something every librarian should be able to do really).
Since I call myself a writer as well as a librarian I often think about getting published in some form or other. My dissertation research was almost turned into an article until childbirth and various other things got in the way, but I still remember the excitement of writing it and the prospect of getting my work 'out there'. There's no obvious subject for me to write about right now but it's on the long-term agenda, definitely. When I publish a poem or a book review I may make a handful of people muse on an idea or consider buying a book, but if I could publish meaningful research or educate someone on the value of libraries that would be a whole different ball game :)
Picture by Phil Bradley on Flickr
