APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING
Radical LIS journals
Date: Tuesday 11 November 2003
Time: 6.30 pm
Venue: The Sekforde Arms, Sekforde Street, London EC1
Speakers: John Pateman, Information for Social Change, and Gill Harris,
LINK.
There is a history of radical LIS journals in the UK, from Librarians
for Social Change, to the Assistant Librarian under the editorship of
Bob Usherwood. This tradition died out in the 1980s, crushed, like so
much else, under Margaret Thatcher. But the 1990s saw a renaissance in
radical LIS publishing and two organisations which were to the fore of
this new progressive movement were Information for Social Change and
LINK.
John Pateman will talk about Information for Social Change (ISC).
Founded in 1994 ISC was launched to challenge the dominant paradigms of
the library and information world. These were being infected by 15 years
of Tory misrule, characterised by tenets such as "greed is good" and
"there is no such thing as society". ISC was created as a counter to the
increasing individualism and consumerism of the UK LIS profession. Now
nearly ten years old, ISC is as radical, progressive and necessary as
ever.
Gill Harris will discuss "link-up", the journal of "LINK: a network for
north-south library development". LINK was created in 1989 by group of
returned volunteers from such organisations as VSO, APSO and UNAIS. The
volunteers had worked in Asia, South America and Africa. This network
aims to link librarians and libraries in the "South" with colleagues
worldwide, to facilitate the sharing of ideas around library management.
John Pateman has been described as "perhaps the UK library world's
best-known leftwing iconoclast". He has worked in public libraries for
25 years in five London boroughs, from Library Assistant to Head of
Service. John is committed to internationalism and tackling social
exclusion. He advised the DCMS on Libraries for All (1999) and was part
of the research team that produced Open to All? (2000). He was Head of
Libraries and Heritage when Merton won the Libraries Change Lives Award
(2001) for services to refugees and asylum seekers. He was presented
with the National Culture Award (2002) by the Cuban government, and he
shared a platform with Fidel Castro at the closing session of the 3rd
International Congress of Culture and Development (2003) held in Havana.
John is a Fellow of CILIP and the Institute of Public Sector Management.
He is a member of the Communist Party of Britain and the Cuba Solidarity
Campaign, and founder of the Cuban Libraries Solidarity Group.
Gill Harris is Head of Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service. She has
organised LINK and edited its quarterly journal "link-up" since its
inception.
LHCB evening meetings are free and open to all with a professional
interest in the topic. They are a follow-up to meetings held by IIS
Southern Branch. Refreshments will be available afterwards. As space is
limited, please let us know if you are coming. Contact Phillip Powell at
[log in to unmask] or on 020 7416 5345.
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