Hi there. Ian Phillips - Consultant, puzzler and library lover. Welcome to an assortment of my observations on the role, work and impact of public libraries.

Every few weeks I plan to publish a short piece drawing on our work in the public library sector – observing libraries in action, compiling statistical data, conducting library reviews and developing strategic plans. I think about this stuff a lot, so I thought I’d share my ideas as part of the conversation about one of our most well-loved, well-known and misunderstood civic and cultural institutions.

Being a keen reader and statistician I would have liked to call this series Letters and Numbers. But that name has been taken*, so I opted for ANALibrarYSE. It’s a portmanteau** which seamlessly combines the two things that are central to my musings – analysis of public libraries. That is, what makes them tick, what makes them strong, what makes them vulnerable and what makes them so important to the communities they serve.

Please read along. And as you do I hope you find something interesting, something that makes you think. Maybe you’ll find something that makes you scream at the screen. And if you do, feel free to discuss – I’m happy to learn. I just don’t want to put you to sleep.

* If by chance you stumble across the SBS quiz show of this name, in Season 5 Episode 81 I am the nerd who finds a 9-letter word in CSRTAUEON.

** Now there’s a word – a term first used by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.