Unlikely beginnings

From an unlikely start I have been fortunate to enjoy 38 years in a variety of library roles working in four different authorities (one even had me back a second time!)

My parents were brought up in the Second World War and didn’t have the benefit of a good education, and were keen that I did! On Christmases and Birthdays I received books as gifts. I loved encyclopaedias, Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Mallory Towers and children’s adventure books bought from a stall on Leeds market. My favourites were Alfred Hitchcock’s Investigator series, then Agatha Christie. I was a regular at my local library, both for borrowing books but also using the ‘reading room’ for cold winter nights with friends from the neighbouring houses swapping stamps, asking to go up to the reference library where I honed my cartwheeling skills on the vast expanse of floor and kept warm and dry! At school I disliked reading in class, a shy and nervous child. I hated reading out loud and was afraid of pronouncing things wrong, though I am not much better at that now!

Starting out in libraries

My first role was a children’s community librarian in Salford. I went back to my childhood library to ask for popular children’s books I could talk about at interview. Despite a Roald Dahl faux pas (I called him Ronald), I got the job! Highlights include an annual Northwest Children’s May Book Festival meeting some great authors and illustrators. Jacqueline Wilson, a new author, had just published Tracy Beaker. As committee member and later chair of the Library Association Youth Library Group (YLG), I organised training events, talked to Manchester University students about librarianship and met some great colleagues, several of whom also became heads of library Services. 

In North Yorkshire I managed the Schools Library Service then moved to Harrogate as Senior Librarian. Memories here include coordinating the National Year of Reading 2008 with guest speakers such as Janet Street Porter at Harrogate library (she arrived at the exact time the talk started. I was sweating!). I also ran the funded ‘Art of Reading’ at the Mercer Art Gallery which saw me organising original paintings and illustrations from such greats as Anthony Browne, Tony Ross and Pat Hutchins. 

Dealing with changes

Wakefield, where I was for the next six years saw great changes including the introduction of the People’s Network, ‘Ask a Librarian’ rotas, saving work on floppy discs and emailing instead of memos. Librarians worked together to help provide accurate and authenticated information for our customers, produced lists of useful websites and worked across the region in YOGI (Yorkshire Online Gateway to Information) before the widespread use of search engines.

I was keen to pursue my career and move towards making more strategic decisions, shaping services and when an opportunity arose in nearby Kirklees I took it. Kirklees was in the process of developing Library and Information Centres, co-locating libraries with council information points and children’s centres. I was instrumental in opening a refurbished site and a brand new Library and Children’s Centre, both of which were challenging but enlightening. There was lots of community consultation and audience development.

Returning to Wakefield

My final post saw me move back to Wakefield as head of the library service. I have had almost ten happy years where I feel I have been able to make internal departments and external organisations ‘think libraries first’, ensuring Wakefield libraries are truly at the forefront of local activity and offer something for everyone. This has been some of the most challenging times due to local government budget reductions. As a head of service I was able to get involved and give back to the library community by being Chair of Libraries Connected Yorkshire and Humber, representative on the Universal Offer for Information and Digital, Society of Chief Librarians (predecessor of Libraries Connected) executive member, part of the advisory committee and finally a trustee and honorary treasurer of Libraries Connected.

Final reflections

I have been fortunate to love my job, and to have had enough independence to develop my roles. I have benefited from inspiring managers who modelled good leadership and management, helped me overcome my weaknesses and actually enjoy statistics! Those who were less good showed me how not to treat staff, which I hope has enabled me to inspire staff development and create a happy workforce with mutual trust, respect and integrity. I have enjoyed many training and networking opportunities, been involved in regional and national initiatives and feel I have helped develop the library landscape. The success of the library service depends on all the players involved, and I hope my colleagues feel empowered to make suggestions, improve the service and work on their own initiative. 

Libraries have developed and changed quite significantly in my 38 years, from different formats for how we loan to how we operate our business. I am sure there are many more changes to come.

I will be keeping a watchful eye on the library landscape, continuing to use my library service and keeping in touch with colleagues near and far via social media.