Final call for nominations

There is now just ONE WEEK left to submit your nomination for the Welsh Librarian of the Year Award.

Don't delay - ACT TODAY!

Relutance and reticence?

As a profession we are, perhaps, reluctant to shout-out about our successes, our hard-fought achievements and the valued differences that we make to the communities that we serve. We underplay our unique professional skills, knowledge and abilities; preferring to "do the job" rather than celebrate our achievements and worth.

As reluctant as we are to broadcast from the rooftops about the achievements of our services or profession, we are surely even more reticent in celebrating personal achievement and contribution.

In CILIP Cymru Wales we would like this to change.

"At a time when there are news reports of library service cuts it’s great that CILIP Cymru Wales shouts loudly in recognition of highly skilled, dedicated and innovative librarians and information professionals. Our colleagues are constantly pushing at boundaries, enabling library users access to the information that they need in formats that work for the user, tackling the digital information divide,  serving all equally, furthering knowledge and understanding, enabling greater engagement in society, adding and enabling pleasure and interest in so many peoples’ lives". Karen Gibbins, Chair of CILIP Cymru Wales, and Principal Librarian, Swansea Public Libraries.

We see service excellence and innovation on a daily basis. We see and hear of librarians and information professionals doing fatastic jobs, achieving so much, and changing peoples' lives for the better. We also know that service development, innovation and achievement is occuring despite of the environment of staffing constraints, organisational turmoil and budget reductions.

If we don't celebrate the achievements of our colleagues who will? That's easy to answer! No one will.

Call to action 

So, please, please THINK and ACT:

• Do I work alongside colleagues who deserve the accolade of Welsh Librarian of the Year? The answer is almost certainly YES!!
• Please spare 20 minutes to celebrate your colleague by nominating them for the Award. It's a very straightforward and easy process and nominations may be submitted in English or Welsh.

In shining a light of recognition and congratulations on your colleagues you will be achieving so much:

• saying "thank you and well done" to your colleagues, recognising their achievements
• promoting your service, raising the profile of what you do and what you excel in with people who matter
• valuing what we as librarians and information professionals bring to contemporary Wales
• sharing your successes, and in doing so, enabling others to learn and build from your achievements.

We don't wish to only celebrate the achievements of the really well-known and senior professionals in Wales. A great deal of excellence, service innovation and development occurs at the "coal face" of the library floor, the service counter, online enquiry service, bibliographic services department, etc. Any professional colleague - someone with a recognised library / information qualification, or working towards one, whether a CILIP member or not, can be nominated.

Thanks to kind sponsorship from Sirsi Dynix the overall winner will receive a £500 cash prize. The winner will be announced at the CILIP Cymru Wales Annual Conference Dinner on Thursday 16th May at the Radisson Blu Hotel Cardiff. Nominations should be submitted by Thursday 28th March 2013.

Further information about the Award is available in this press release.

Nominations can be made  in English or in Welsh.

Welsh Librarian of the Year Award Terms and conditions