Vote! Vote! Vote!

I know that this blog can be accessed by the world at large and not just Members of CILIP (mind you, if you’re interested enough to read this blog, why aren’t you a Member of CILIP?) but this is a message directed exclusively at CILIP colleagues.

Two years ago CILIP Council decided that our traditional system of governance didn’t match up to the needs of a twenty-first century membership organisation.  A year of deliberation (the Governance Review Task Force) has been followed by a year of planning for implementation (the Governance Implementation Group) and now we’re here – the new governance arrangements will become effective on 1 January 2008.

At the centre of the new arrangements is a radical shift from the traditional Council (fifty-plus Members, representative of various constituencies, meeting three times a year) to a new Council – twelve Trustees, directly elected by the whole membership, meeting regularly with senior management.  In addition there will be a Policy Forum (a representative body drawn from the various constituencies across the CILIP community which will deliberate on matters of professional policy) and an Office of the President to safeguard issues of scrutiny and probity.

In some ways I’ll be sad to see the end of the old-style Council.  It’s a model I’ve worked with throughout my professional career.  In the mid 1980s I sat on the Council of the former Library Association (in the dignified environment of Islington Town Hall) as a representative of the Group formerly known as the Association of Assistant Librarians.  So I know from personal experience the value of Branch and Group representation both for the organisation and also as a developmental experience for the individual.  From the late 80s to the late 90s I worked as a Chief Officer for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council in the West Midlands and so I also know from personal experience how well a traditional Local Authority Council (if it’s well run) can serve the needs of its local community.  And since 1999 I’ve worked with the Council at Ridgmount Street, which deserves great credit for taking some important and difficult decisions during a time of great change for our professional community – including the decision (taken last December) to disband itself in favour of the new governance arrangements.

But I’m also excited by the concepts behind those new arrangements.  The Policy Forum will provide a clear locus for a Member-let approach to professional policy development.  The Office of the President will provide a clear locus for those functions, which keep CILIP in good order – audit, elections, ethics, discipline.  The new Council will provide an opportunity for the Management Team to work closely with Trustees so that the link between governance and management becomes a continuous process of partnership and not a series of sometimes confrontational episodes.

Which brings me back to the title of this blogpiece.  Fourteen Members of CILIP have come forward to stand for the twelve places available on the new Council – all credit to all of them for offering their time and commitment to the CILIP community in this way.  I hope the CILIP community shows its appreciation in the best possible way – by taking the trouble to vote.  Ballot papers and manifestos will be arriving through your letterbox any day now and supporting statements will be posted on the web – see http://www.cilip.org.uk/aboutcilip/howcilipworks/elections/annualelections/annelect2008.  And there’s even a postage-paid envelope as well to return your ballot paper.

On 1 January 2008 CILIP moves into a new era of governance.  Be part of that historic milestone by exercising your democratic right – vote!  vote!  vote!