It's CILIP election time. There's an area in CILIP Communities for e-hustings, and the candidates' manifestos are available too. One candidate, @votenickpoole is making good use of Twitter, and another, Isabel Hood also tweets. But I would no more vote for a candidate just because they tweet than I would because they happen to use a Mac, or drink the same brand of gin as me.
So it could be an interesting election, but for one thing: in the six candidates' manifestos, the most important issue facing library and information services is barely mentioned✝. To read these is to enter a world where the Wirral campaign never took place, where the commitment of all major political parties to slash public expenditure doesn't exist.
The closest I can find is one candidate, who thinks cuts are inevitable and that we need to 'demonstrate our long term value'. Where's the campaigning? Where's the alliance with trade unions and local and national users groups? I am left with the impression that if these six had been Trustees over the past year, CILIP would not have intervened in the Wirral and helped force the council to climb down from its proposed closures of eleven libraries.
I'm asking this question in the e-hustings. I hope to hear some answers.
✝If I were given to cliché, I would say this is the 'heffalump in the room'. Dear reader, every word written here is a finely polished jewel, and I would sooner walk naked down Wandsworth High Street, scourging myself with a cat o'nine tails, than use anything so tired. Same goes for perfect storms. If you ever find a perfect storm in this blog, have me taken away for treatment.
