Simon Francis
UK

Simon Francis
27 Whitehall Gardens, Chiswick,
London W4 3LT, UK

phone/fax: 00 44 (0)181 994 4465

Simon Francis is a professional librarian and library development consultant specialising in library management. He was, for many years, the Head of Library and AV Services at the University of North London and then became the first University Librarian of Universiti Brunei Darussalam in Borneo.

Simon has undertaken library consultancy and training assignments since 1976 for clients such as UNESCO, The British Council, and the Open Society Institute in over 25 different countries. From 1996-1998 he was senior consultant in a major library management development project in Siberia. He has spent much of his time in the last six years giving training workshops and consultancy on strategic planning and managing change, to university library staff in Siberia and the Russian Far East. He is also working with a multinational team to help the development of a university library in the Moldovan capital, Chishinau. In addition he has been working with a former ICIMSS student on a project to develop distance-learning courses in Slovakia.

He can be reached at torun@sfrancis.demon.co.uk.

Hello

The Module that I offer at ICIMSS is concerned with Managing Change in libraries and information services. Unless librarians can understand the processes of change and learn how to plan for the future they face being forced into decline and irrelevance. The Module is one of the first in the series because it provides a context in which the technical and specialist modules can be considered. Students from several countries and with varying backgrounds have found the Module an experience which challenges them to think about the purpose of the services they provide and to analyse their own styles of management and leadership.

I hope that you will come to ICIMSS and experience the challenges of rethinking your professional attitudes.

I look forward to seeing you in Torun.

Regards,

Simon Francis