The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

ed CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a

professional body A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and the ...

for

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

information specialist An information professional or information specialist is someone who collects, records, organises, stores, preserves, retrieves, and disseminates printed or digital information. The service delivered to the client is known as an information service ...

s and knowledge managers in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It was established in 2002 as a merger of the Library Association (LA, sometimes LAUK) and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS). CILIP in Scotland (CILIPS) is an independent organisation which operates in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in affiliation with CILIP and delivers services via a

service level agreement A service-level agreement (SLA) is a commitment between a service provider and a customer. Particular aspects of the service – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed between the service provider and the service user. T ...

. CILIP's 2020 goal is to "put information and library skills and professional values at the heart of a democratic, equal and prosperous society".

History

CILIP was formed in 2002 by the merger of the Library Association (abbreviated as LA or sometimes LAUK) – founded in 1877 as a result of the first International Conference of Librarians and awarded a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

in 1898 – and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS), founded on 23 January 1958. The first President of the Library Association had been

John Winter Jones John Winter Jones (16 June 1805 – 7 September 1881) was an English librarian. He was Principal Librarian of the British Museum between 1866 and 1873. He was the first President of the Library Association in the U.K. Biography Jones was bo ...

and other notable Presidents had included Richard Garnett (1893), Frederic G. Kenyon (1910), W. C. Berwick Sayers (1938),

Lionel McColvin Lionel Roy McColvin (1896–1976), commonly referred to as Lionel McColvin, was a British librarian. He has been described as "the dominant figure in British public librarianship" in the mid-20th century and a "world leader" in the profession ...

(1952) and Douglas John Foskett (1976). The jubilee (50th year) of the Association was celebrated in 1927. Library associations from fourteen European countries and the United States signed a resolution at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Library Association of the United Kingdom held in Edinburgh which brought the

International Federation of Library Associations The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of people who rely on libraries and information professionals. An independent, non-governmental, not-for-pro ...

into existence. The Library Association offered professional recognition at the level of Associate of the Library Association (ALA), the basic professional qualification, and Fellow of the Library Association (FLA), awarded for a higher level of professional achievement. Membership of the CILIP on unification in 2002 was estimated at around 23,000.

Sheila Corrall Sheila Mary Corrall is Professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in scholarly communication, collection development in the digital world, professional competence, and intellectual cap ...

was the first President of CILIP, succeeded in 2003 by Margaret Watson.

Description

CILIP Headquarters in Ridgmount Street, London

CILIP has its headquarters at number 7

Ridgmount Street Ridgmount Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London. Location Ridgmount Street runs from Chenies Street in the north to Store Street in the south. It runs parallel with Gower Street and Alfred Place. Ridgmount Place joins Ridgmount Street on ...

, London, in the building purpose-built in 1965 as the headquarters of the Library Association. In 2022 CILIP announced that it would sell the building and relocate. CILIP is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

Activities

CILIP launched a monthly journal, ''Information Professional'' in 2017, providing news, interviews, and analysis. This publication succeeded ''Library & Information Update'' which was published from 2002 to 2017 and the ''Library Association Record'' published from 1899 to 2002. CILIP publications also include Lisjobnet (a recruitment website), and Facet Publishing (professional books). CILIP hosts an annual conference for members and non-members. Past keynote speakers include Dr

Carla Hayden Carla Diane Hayden (born August 10, 1952) is an American librarian and the 14th Librarian of Congress. Since the creation of the office of the Librarian of Congress in 1802, Hayden is both the first African American and the first woman to hold t ...

(Librarian of Congress in the US), Professor

Luciano Floridi Luciano Floridi (; born 16 November 1964) is an Italian people, Italian and British people, British philosopher. He holds a double appointment as professor of philosophy and ethics of information at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet In ...

and Sir

Nigel Shadbolt Sir Nigel Richard Shadbolt (born 9 April 1956) is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. He is Chairman of the Open Data Institute which he co-founded ...

. CILIP works to raise the profile of the work of librarians and information professionals through campaigns, public affairs activity, and awards and medals, as well as promoting best practice. Campaigns have included My Library By Right (publicising local government's statutory obligation to provide library services), Facts Matter (championing the value of quality information during the 2017 UK General Election), and the annual Libraries Week campaign and Libraries Change Lives Award. CILIP awards the Carnegie and

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

s for

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

. CILIP works in partnership to award the Amnesty CILIP Honour, a special commendation which is part of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals. Special interest groups also make their own awards, such as the

Jason Farradane Award The Jason Farradane Award is made each year by the UK eInformation Group (UKeiG), a specialist group within the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. The award is given to an individual or a group of people in recognition ...

and

Tony Kent Strix Award Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

of UKeiG. There are over 20 special interest groups for members working with, for instance,

rare books Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

and prison libraries and a similar number of 'organisations in liaison' with CILIP, such as Information for Social Change, th
National Acquisitions Group
and the

Society of Indexers The Society of Indexers (SI) is a professional society of indexers based in the UK, with its offices in Sheffield, England, but has members worldwide. The society was established in 1957, while its quarterly journal, ''The Indexer'' has been publ ...

. CILIP, in its previous incarnation as the Library Association, was a founder member of the

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of people who rely on libraries and information professionals. An independent, non-governmental, not-for-pro ...

(IFLA) in 1927. Some specialist groups organise conferences such as the annual LILAC (Librarians' Information Literacy Conference), held since 2005 by the CILIP's Information Literacy Group.

Professional development

CILIP accredits degree courses in

library and information science Library and information science(s) or studies (LIS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that deals generally with organization, access, collection, and protection/regulation of information, whether in physical (e.g. art, legal proceedings, e ...

at universities in the UK, as well as a number of overseas programmes in China, Germany, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Oman, Thailand and Qatar. There are three levels of professional registration with corresponding

postnominal letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

: * Certified Affiliate (ACLIP), suitable for

paraprofessional Paraprofessional is a title given to individuals in various occupational fields, such as education, librarianship, healthcare, engineering, and law. Historically, paraprofessionals assisted the master professional of their field. In more recent tim ...

s without an accredited qualificationWatson, Margaret; ‘Professional qualifications: a CILIP perspective’ in ''AIDAinformazioni''; Vol. 23, no. 4, (2005), pp. 25-26 * Chartered Member (MCLIP) * Chartered Fellow (FCLIP) Honorary Fellowship (HonFCLIP), akin to an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

, is granted to a small number of people who have rendered distinguished service to the profession. CILIP provides opportunities for

continuing professional development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning opportunities situated in practice. It has been described as intensive ...

and a self-assessment tool, the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base. Registered members may revalidate their registration annually. Membership of CILIP is not compulsory for practice.

Membership

The following information on CILIP membership is taken from CILIP Council reports with the exceptions of the estimates for 2002, 2003 and 2005. Membership numbers for 2004 and 2006 are not available. The method of calculation was changed in 2018 to count 'Life Members' as a separate category in published membership statistics and hence these figures do not represent a continuous series. As at January 2019 there were approximately 1,000 'Life Members' of CILIP.

CILIP in Scotland

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland (CILIP in Scotland, or CILIPS) is a

charitable incorporated organisation A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is a corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) charitable organisations in England and Wales, similar to (but with important differences from) a Scottish Charitable Incorporat ...

affiliated to CILIP. All CILIP members working or living in Scotland are automatically members of CILIPS. Policy, finances, operational matters and advocacy are devolved to CILIPS Trustee Board and staff and CILIP services are delivered via a

. CILIPS works with the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), the advisory body for the Scottish Government on library and information matters. CILIP in Scotland was originally established as the Scottish Library Association in 1908 and affiliated with the Library Association in 1931. When CILIP was established in 2002, the Scottish Library Association voted to change its name to CILIPS. CILIPS published a professional journal, ''Information Scotland'' (), between 2003 and 2009, which subsequently became a newsletter.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Charities based in London Education in the London Borough of Camden Library associations in the United Kingdom Library-related professional associations Organisations based in the London Borough of Camden Organizations established in 2002 Library and Information Professionals 2002 establishments in the United Kingdom