The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a

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

for

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

s, information specialists 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. 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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in affiliation with CILIP and delivers services via a

service level agreement A service-level agreement (SLA) is an agreement 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, but ...

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 and other notable Presidents had included Richard Garnett (1893), Frederic G. Kenyon (1910), W. C. Berwick Sayers (1938), Lionel McColvin (1952) and

Douglas John Foskett Douglas John Foskett OBE (27 June 1918 – 7 May 2004) was a British librarian and library and information scientist, and author of several special faceted classification systems. Early life and career Foskett was born in London on 27 June 1 ...

(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 an international body representing the interests of people who rely on libraries and information professionals. A non-governmental, not-for-profit organization, IFLA ...

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 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. In 2017, the ''Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals'' was rebranded to CILIP: The library and information association.

Description

CILIP has its headquarters in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

in London. Until 2023, CILIP had been based 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, London, Store Street in the south. It runs parallel with Gower Street, London, Gower Street and Alfred Place. R ...

, in the building purpose-built in 1965 as the headquarters of the Library Association. 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, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

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 who served as the 14th librarian of Congress. Hayden was both the first African American and the first woman to hold this post. Appointed in 2016, she was the first professional ...

(Librarian of Congress in the US), Professor

Luciano Floridi Luciano Floridi (; born 16 November 1964) is an Italian and British philosopher. He is the director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale University. He is also a Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Bologna ...

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-founde ...

. 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 Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

s for

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

. 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 The UKeiG Strix award is an annual award for outstanding contributions to the field of information retrieval and is presented in memory of Dr. Tony Kent, a past Fellow of the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS), who died in 1997. Tony Kent ma ...

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 som ...

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. 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 an international body representing the interests of people who rely on Library, libraries and information professionals. A non-governmental, not-for-profit organizati ...

(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, or th
Health Libraries Group conference
held every two years. CILIP's archives are held by

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Special Collections, having been deposited with the institution between 2002 and 2007.

Professional development

CILIP accredits degree courses in

library and information science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with inf ...

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: * 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 ti ...

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 hon ...

, 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, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing praxis in addition to the transferab ...

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 Incorporation (business), corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) Charitable organization, charitable organisations in England and Wales. A similar form, with minor differe ...

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 The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

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

* * *
CILIP Archive
at

{{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