Public Servant Lifestyle

National competition to find the top ten 21st Century librarians finds today’s librarians are more 'Buffy' than 'stuffy'!

What do you think of when you think of librarians? Aged women with buns in brown cardigans? Bespectacled boffins with a tendency to ‘shush’? Well, a new national competition launched by the Love Libraries campaign to find ten 21st century librarians has found that popular perceptions are totally out of touch with today's reality.

Pictured (right): Jen Bakewell from Staffordshire Library Service, one of the winners for 2007, who said: “I’m full of ideas for getting people into reading and want to put them into action! In one week I can be a singer and a dancer, a teacher, a learner, a researcher, a careers advisor, a statistician, a collage artist, a storyteller, a story editor and art critic, a book reviewer, a shopper, a pub quiz master, a box packer and delivery driver, a community outreach worker, a manager, a graphic designer or an event planner. I genuinely love libraries!”

Passionate, Ambitious, Inspiring

The competition has revealed a group of ten passionate, ambitious and inspiring young librarians who are reinventing the nation’s public library service bringing with them new energy, enthusiasm and spirit to the service – including Michael Stead, 26 from Bolton, who was so inspired by the librarian character of 'Giles' in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a teenager, that he chose to pursue a career in libraries!

Jake Hope, who works with Lancashire County Library and Information Service said: “Libraries are changing and evolving and whereas that poses challenges to the service, it also provides great opportunities for finding new and exciting ways to engage people which can give a near-electric ‘buzz’ that is very exhilarating.

"Libraries are cultural hot-houses, that display a keen awareness of the importance of reading; as individuals we learn to read pictures, music, art, literature (in printed or electronic form) and thereby to better ‘read’ the lives of ourselves and others surrounding us...

"Librarians of the future must no longer be stereotyped as quiet, staid or severe, they must instead be viewed as key-holders and guides to the vast empires of human knowledge and achievement, to the portals of imagination that present us with unparalleled possibilities for both innovation and inspiration.“

The official top ten 'Love Libraries' librarians for 2007 in fulll are:

Jen Bakewell (27) from Staffordshire Library Service

Cheney Gardner (28) from The London Borough of Lewisham Library Service

Anthony Hopkins (26) from The London Borough of Merton Library Service

Jake Hope (27) from Lancashire County Library and Information Service

Lucy Kitchener (28) from Wiltshire Library Service

Sandeep Mahal (28) from Sandwell Library Service

Richard Pemberton (26) from Medway Library Service

Simon Smith (27) from Reading Borough Libraries

Michael Stead (26) from Bolton Libraries Service

Tabitha Witherick (27) from Somerset Libraries Service

The competition, launched in April of last year, aimed to find and celebrate the young individuals in England’s libraries who are making a difference, bringing new energy and positive models for change to the public library service.

The panel of six judges were looking for entries that demonstrated innovation, originality, passion and creativity.

Love Libraries is a campaign to improve libraries, led by the MLA, in partnership with Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); Reading Agency; and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL). Its core objectives are:

To communicate a positive image of public libraries to the public, both direct and through the media

To influence attitudes and spread awareness of what libraries have to offer the modern citizen, generating consumer demand

To act as a coherent brand for such activity, promoting a modern library service

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