Louis Coiffait-Gunn

20 insights from helping small businesses start and grow Recollections, lessons and moments that stayed with the Business & IP Centre team.

Happy 20th British Library Business & IP Centre (BIPC);
- 70 BIPC hubs in libraries across the UK 
- supported 300k people 
- helped launch 68,800 businesses 
-  28,300 additional jobs 
- £1=£6.63 to the economy 
www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

Professional Registration Professional Registration demonstrates your abilities, knowledge and experience with three levels to suit every stage of your career.

To be clear, you don't need to have gone to “library school” for a Library & Information Studies degree to do CILIP Professional Registration (Certification, Chartership or Fellowship; including for Knowledge Management) www.cilip.org.uk/general/cust... It's open to all & fits around your day job

both 8-) www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=20...

Primary libraries pledge includes converted cloakrooms and corridors Treasury has committed to ensuring that every primary school has a library by 2029, but these facilities could include former ‘storage spaces’, Tes can reveal

Fantastic to see £12.5m from HMG to NLT & schools for library spaces, James Bowen of NAHT & Caroline Roche of CILIP School Libraries Group are right though, to have a larger & lasting impact it must also come with investment in staff www.tes.com/magazine/new...

World Book Day There will be a debate on World Book Day at 3pm on Thursday 5 March 2026. This debate will take place in Westminster Hall, and will be led by Helen Hayes MP.

Debate 3pm Thurs 5 Mar on World Book Day, by Helen Hayes. Make school libraries & professional librarians statutory commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri... Commons research briefing (by professional librarians), shouldn't our kids get the same support as politicians? #GoAllIn #WBD #NYoR

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Upcoming FREE UKSG webinar "Why we all need to #DefendResearch" starring alicemeadows.bsky.social,
@louiscoiffait-gunn.bsky.social, @tteleen.bsky.social
and @lschiff.bsky.social dub.sh/csknxSv.

Public libraries to receive £150k government cash boost with new strategy promised The government has announced it will give public libraries a cash boost of up to £150,000 in support of the National Year of Reading, including £5,000 to be split across the five regional winners of…

An ambitious new public library strategy should unleash the potential of staff and volunteers across the public library network, and better link them to school, prison and other local library professionals www.thebookseller.com/news/public-...

Catch Ep453 of #TheAuthorityFile podcast
In the final segment of our series, Camille Gamboa at Sage Publications and Louis Coiffait-Gunn CEO of CILIP discuss supporting information professionals in the push for stronger public trust in science. ow.ly/5oCv50XNCPu @sagepub.com @cilip.bsky.social

Great report on the life-changing positive impact of prison libraries pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/studentTh... Jayne Finlay, Ulster University #PrisonLibraries

Volunteering in Public Libraries: Insights from the Libraries Connected Surveys | Libraries Connected This report presents national insights into who volunteers in public libraries, why they get involved and how their contributions support community engagement, digital inclusion and wellbeing. It…

With mounting workforce & infrastructure pressures, use of volunteers in English public libraries continues to rise. The evidence across all sectors is clear that to get the most from volunteers requires investment in professional staff time & skills www.librariesconnected.org.uk/resources/vo...

Public libraries set to benefit from cash boost to support National Year of Reading The government has announced up to £150,000 cash boost for public libraries to support the National Year of Reading

Fantastic it's now revealed a new public library strategy is coming, something we've been pushing for years www.gov.uk/government/n... plus £150k for NYoR so public libraries can better #GoAllIn

The National Year of Reading celebrates the ‘joy’ of books. But let’s not forget they can also be deeply troubling, too | Charlotte Higgins Encounters with great art can be absorbing, unsettling and even painful. How has this been tamed into ‘reading for pleasure’, asks Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer

'I cannot overstate my luck in having grown up in a family of readers, close to an excellent local library' www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... National Year of Reading celebrates the ‘joy’ of books. But let’s not forget they can also be deeply troubling, too | Charlotte Higgins

Grants & Awards - IFLA | WLIC 2026 Calls for grants and awards to assist in attending IFLA WLIC 2026 in Busan will be listed on this page. Check back for the most up-to-date opportunities.

Just 4 days left to apply for WLIC 2026 Busan grants & bursaries 2026.ifla.org/congress-par... #WLIC #WLIC26

New research on the positive social impact of Canadian public libraries, which have seen greater government investment in recent yearshttps://culc.ca/project/social-impact-study/ Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC)

Professional standards should be 'championed at heart of government' Letter to ministers says partnering with chartered bodies “will ensure public policy has long-term credibility”

We're pleased to have co-signed this letter calling on government to take a lead role in expecting & promoting registration, Chartered status, and codes of ethics & conduct for all professionals - to improve delivery & build trust www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/... #CharteredWeek Alliance

CILIP's 7 ethical principles for the profession are all equal, there's no ranking. It's for individual professionals to weigh them alongside each other for an issue, using their expertise www.cilip.org.uk/general/cust... We encourage all employers to include them in job descriptions

*tomorrow

Ethical and Professional Principles Underpinning Library Services | Libraries Connected Webinars This webinar focuses on ethical and professional principles underpinning library and information work. Our speaker is Dr. David McMenemy, a Reader in Information Studies at the University of Glasgow…

Excellent talk on #censorship from new CILIP Intellectual Freedom Chair David McMenemy for Libraries Connected, arguing for our ethical principles to be in job descriptions www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ64... with a 2nd session 1pm today www.librariesconnected.org.uk/events/webin...

CILIP Youth Libraries Group (YLG) annual conference, 12-13 Sep in Oxford #NYoR #GoAllIn www.cilip.org.uk/events/event...

Meanwhile, in the USA. The Right to Read Act #EveryLibrary #BookBans

Libraries Hacked Promoting open data and digital prototypes in libraries

Great meeting open data advocate Dave Rowe finally, runs Libraries Hacked on the side with lots of useful projects. Clearly much scope for data to help improve library services and data-backed advocacy, plus a need for data skills www.librarieshacked.org

Become a Volunteer - IFLA | WLIC 2026 On behalf of the Korean National Committee of the World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2026, we are honored to invite volunteers to participate in

Volunteering at the World Library & Information Congress (#WLIC) is a great way to meet international colleagues, share best practice from the UK, and learn from others. You also get a free ticket 2026.ifla.org/become-a-vol... Busan this August, UK next August (dates about to be confirmed) #IFLA

University libraries join forces to clear shelf space The UK Print Book Collection allows universities and museums to keep track of which institutions hold copies of books so that no rare items are lost

University libraries join forces to clear shelf space www.thetimes.com/uk/education... UK Print Book Collection (UK PBC)

If you want to go to #WLIC26 in Busan this year, applications are now open for the Alan Hopkinson IFLA Conference Award 2026, from CILIP International Library and Information Group (ILIG) www.cilip.org.uk/members/grou...

On feminist librarianship. Investment in libraries is investment in women. 🙌 Book out in March for #WHM26 www.thebookseller.com/comment/on-f... Kirsten MacQuarrie, Facet author, Chartered Librarian, CILIP Scotland colleague & general powerhouse

AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers Approved by the ACRL Board of Directors, October 2025 PDF Version Contents Foreword Guiding Mindsets Competencies

AI Competencies for Academic Library Workers ACRL ALA #AI www.ala.org/acrl/standar...

Thank you Edward Kemp of Royal Literary Fund for the reminder this October's the centenary of AA Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh www.rlf.org.uk/estate/a-a-m... 'When we were very young' & 'Now we are six' are storytime faves at our house. Bonus point if you know which two animals Winnie's named after?

'AI can help students with assignments but risks "metacognitive laziness" and a 17% underperformance in exams'. OECD Digital Education Outlook 2026 via Policy Commons policycommons.net/artifacts/42... #ai #edtech

Information Professional Information Professional is the magazine for information, knowledge and library workers, bringing you the latest news, insight and in depth reporting from across the profession.

Skills, advocacy and the Libraries Alliance. Richard Ovenden of The Bodleian, University of Oxford in the latest CILIP podcast www.cilip.org.uk/page/infopro

Cultural sustainability: A perspective from independent libraries in the United Kingdom and the United States - Kirsten Loach, Jennifer Rowley, 2022 As organisations that collect and maintain cultural artefacts, independent libraries make important contributions to cultural sustainability. Surfacing and elab...

How independent libraries sustain culture journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... Kirsten Loach and Jennifer Rowley, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science