Evaluation of Leading Modern Public Libraries: Final report prepared for the Leading Modern Public Libraries Steering Group by Information Management Associates and the Centre for the Public Library and Information in Society, University of Sheffield, December 2006.

Presents findings of the external evaluation of the Leading Modern Public Libraries (LMPL) national leadership development programme, undertaken by Information Management Associates (IMA) with the Centre for the Public Library and Information in Society (CPLIS), University of Sheffield, February 2005-June 2006. The LMPL programme is a key component of the action plan for the Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) Framework for the Future strategy for public libraries in England and Wales. Evaluation methods included a literature review, document analysis, participant observation, critical incident interviews, and pre- and post-program questionnaires. The program was judged successful, with reservations about participant selection

Social Movements and International Relations: A Relational Framework

Social movements are increasingly recognized as significant features of contemporary world politics, yet to date their treatment in international relations theory has tended to obfuscate the considerable diversity of these social formations, and the variegated interactions they may establish with state actors and different structures of world order. Highlighting the difficulties conventional liberal and critical approaches have in transcending conceptions of movements as moral entities, the article draws from two under-exploited literatures in the study of social movements in international relations, the English School and Social Systems Theory, to specify a wider range of analytical interactions between different categories of social movements and of world political structures. Moreover, by casting social movement phenomena as communications, the article opens international relations to consideration of the increasingly diverse trajectories and second-order effects produced by social movements as they interact with states, intergovernmental institutions, and transnational actors

Ignorance is not our heritage

The public library has to be much more than a simple retail service and it should provide books, services and materials that commercial organizations will not. Moreover, it should seek to counteract the ignorance and prejudice engendered by a society that cultivates celebrity, cash and trash. This means that the politicians and professionals responsible for the service need to move on from the position of addressing agendas that have been suggested by others, to one where they argue for what is necessary and valuable. Some current professional debates about literacy, commercialised culture and the need for excellence are reviewed and it is suggested that as we enter a more serious age there are signs that Richard Hoggart’s arguments for “critical literacy” might be heeded and that librarians might use them as a compass to guide them in their activities. In promoting reading, the public library should seek to provide for all those who want to combat ignorance and intolerance and quench their thirst for knowledg