I knew 2023 would be a busy year for me as I took on the role of President of Special Libraries Association (SLA), and it certainly turned out that way. This was a year for a lot extra hours and hard commitment to get through extra work-load, on top of taking on a new role and responsibilities in my day job at the British Library. I was fully aware that I needed to be conscious of time for my own wellbeing and my family commitments too for when the going got tough. I didn’t do as much socialising or partying as I have in the past with my London or Caribbean diaspora communities, but found time to make sure I had some fun along the way, as well as visited new places – Milan, India, Toronto and Detroit. Therefore, I will give you a run through on some of the highlights of this special year for me.
The first few months of 2023 I spent having clear targets for getting back to as normal as possible after the pandemic years, and this meant that although we had resumed our services by this time, we had to also incorporate the changes and the digital transformation that were gained in the years prior. I was genuinely excited by having in-person events again and we were able to resume our normally workshops, groups, one-to-one meetings and events. We also started a new project with London Boroughs, so it was great to outreach our services in areas, especially ones that I have not been to before and even in my own borough. It was great to see some of the bigger events at the library too as we hosted large meeting with entrepreneurs and celebrated 50 years of the British Library in July with a staff reception. One of the most popular library events I went to this year was the Fashion Retailing event which hosted Patrick Grant from The Sewing Bee television services as a star speaker – and he certainly had groupies who came to see him!
I started doing a new role which meant I began going to various subject areas and physical spaces in the library which I won’t normally need to go. It made me see how a large national library like this operates, and how important our staff and processes are to maintain our services. Sadly and annoyingly, the British Library came under a major ransomware cyber-attack at the end of October, and this has really slowed us down in a year when we were making many gains after the pandemic. Despite this, the lessons learnt in pandemic have enabled us to be more flexible, however it is our users and the sharing of knowledge and information that has paid the highest price. I hope to learn from this experience too, and intend to resume our mission and purpose for sharing our collections, resources and expertise with our customers to the level that makes us one of the best public libraries in the world.
In April, it was great to visit Milan for the first time. I have always wanted to go to see a football game as a fan of Italian football since the 1980s. It was great to see a game at the San Siro Stadium in Milan and get some of the fan’s atmosphere of the Curva Sud that you see on TV screens. Ideally, I should have gone in the 1990s when I really was into Italian football but you can’t always do the things you want… when you want to do it. I am pleased that I was able to tick this off my bucket list.
I also like the modern and residential parts of Milan. It certainly has an urban feel with green spaces, great metro system and cosmopolitan feel with tourist as well as residents. The food is always something to look forward to in Italy, and I particularly like that you can walk around easily too. We also visited Bergamo by train and it was nice to walk around the medieval areas and the nice promenades that are great for a passagiata. I am unlikely to visit Milan again, but my decades of curiosity on what it was like has been fulfilled.
I literally flew back from Milan to London, and the next day I flew out to Delhi for a conference that I was invited to attend by our SLA Asian Community based in Delhi. It was great to spend time with dear friends and great professionals such as Debal C Kar, P K Jain and Ravindra Sharma, Parveen Babbar, Meenal Oak, Sushmita Chakrabarty, and so many more in Delhi at the conference held at Galgotias University in Noida. It was extra special to spend time with Liz Jolly (Chief Librarian at the British Library) and Barbara Lison (President of IFLA 2022-2023), as well as the other Asian and international delegates at the conference. I was also able see the Museum of India and Rail Transport Museum with special tours with the curators. Thank you to our hosts for showing us around Delhi, and the special trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra. Many thanks to Mr and Mrs Santosh Gupta and his colleagues for showing me around Jaipur and letting me stay as their guest at the University of Rajasthan. The city was also beautiful to see, and the architecture was so distinctive and unique. I was able to present and speak to various hosts in India, and the trip was truly educational and work-related too.
I haven’t had time to reflect much this year but I know going to India has been on my mind since forever as an Indo-Caribbean whose ancestors were from India – as well as growing up with lots of Bollywood movies in Trinidad and Tobago. I am also a Hindu, and therefore will always think of India and its’ special link to my heritage and identity. I hope I can see again some of the great people I met in India, and I would happily show them around London as they did for me for India. May their lives be blessed with happiness, and I am very grateful for their kindness on my visit to India.
I had a few weeks in Spring to get back to normal but then I was off to Toronto on my way to Detroit for the MLA|SLA Conference. It made sense to stay a few days in Toronto as I was unable to get a direct flight to Detroit. I haven’t been to Toronto since 2009, so it was good fun to check out the sights again in the lovely Spring weather. Toronto is very modern compared to Europe, so there is a different vibe. It was great to see all the Blue Jay fans after the game to bring some vibrant life to the downtown walk. It was also great to meet a friend I met on work related social media over a decade ago in a pub in Toronto, and I hope we can meet again as I own him lunch! It was also great to see family and spend time with them.
Detroit at the MLA|SLA Conference was a very memorable time for me as I was going as SLA President 2023! I literally worked for five days in Detroit as there was a lot of preparation and meetings whilst I was there. I certainly was very focussed in making sure I covered our board duties, meetings with our old and new association management companies, our joint partners for the conference (who were very welcoming to me) and most of all – all the great people I met at the conference. The conference educational sessions were more relaxed for me to attend although I was there as president – luckily board business meetings were kept to a minimal, and therefore I was able to get a lot of conference insights and personal development aspects whilst at the conference too. I am still to contact some of the connections I made as this year as I have been to busy but I hope to have more time soon. I was also able to check out the some of the social aspects of Detroit at a couple of bars and restaurants, and the Detroit Museum of Arts. I didn’t get to go the Hitsville Museum for the birth of Motown Soul with its’ proud cultural heritage. I do have some great photos of Detroit and I am proud that SLA were able to meet in 2023, and will cherish these memories for the rest of my career.
Obviously, my work for SLA carried on until the rest of the year and at times, it was inspiring with the many meetings and discussion, and other time it was extremely busy where I had to put in those extra hours into the early hours of the morning. I know my health, exercise routine and social activities had to be put on hold for a little while this year, but I certainly would not have given up this opportunity to lead and serve and organisation the has been around for 114 years. I am still very committed to SLA and the profession, and therefore hope that I can continue the great work. Some of the board top level achievements this year are – closed and transition to a new association management company, new infrastructure such as tech and operational (scholarship review, magazine relaunch, new tech etc) and the joint MLA|SLA Conference. The challenges are still there but hopefully the foundations are firmer, and we can aim for stability and growth. Wish us luck too! Thank you for putting the SPECIAL in my year.
Apart from this, I did go to the jazz Love Supreme Festival in June, visited some sights such as the Docklands Museum when my brother visited in summer, and I also checked out a few gigs in the autumn such as Mica Millar at the Union Chapel. I am hoping that 2024 will being some more opportunities to go out socially and get more exercise. I already have four things lined up for January and February with family and friends.
As I close 2023 – I wish you all the best for the new year. I have reflected broadly here on a year when I was awake more than I slept… but I am honoured, learnt a lot, and do realised we achieved somethings, if not a lot in transition. In this personal sense, it was certainly very special.
Connecting the Dots 