Independent equality review of Carnegie Medal

CILIP, the library and information association, will be reviewing the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals as part of its wider Equality and Diversity Plan, following controversy over the absence of a BAME writer in this year's shortlists.

CILIP is due to publish its Equality and Diversity Action Plan this summer, following previously published research commissioned in by CILIP and the Archives and Records Association, that outlined diversity issues in the library, archives, records, information management and knowledge management sector. The gender split in the library workforce, for example, is 78% female to 22% male with 97% of the workforce identify as 'white, compared to the overall UK workforce where 87.5% identify as 'white'. CILIP's Action Plan will identify steps to improve and champion equality and diversity within CILIP, its governance, membership and the wider library and information sector. It will now include details of the review process for the Medals. Nick Poole, CILIP Chief Executive, said: "We are committed to championing diversity, equality and inclusion through all of CILIP's activities, from the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals to the wider library and information sector, while also confronting and challenging structures of inequality. "We know there are long-standing and embedded challenges and we see this as a tremendous opportunity to promote positive change for ourselves and the sector." The review will inform the annual evaluation process for the Medals as well as long-term planning around the Medals and accompanying shadowing scheme. The review process is expected to provide recommendations about how diversity, equality and inclusion can best be championed and embedded into its work. The review will begin following the announcement of the 2017 winners in June and follow the 2018 prize cycle. Tricia Adams, Chair of the Youth Libraries Group National Committee and Chair of the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards judging panel, said: "We are completely committed, as Medals judges and librarians, to championing diversity, equality and inclusion and challenging issues of structural inequality in a positive and constructive way." The shortlist for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals will be announced on Thursday 16 March 2017. The winners of the Medals, and the Amnesty CILIP Honour (which commends human rights in children's literature), will be announced on 19 June 2017.