Council Briefings: May 2008 [Longish posting]
The new CILIP Council had its 5th meeting on the 22nd May, and the following is a short report on our current work. Log on to the ‘Members only’ section of the CILIP website and read the Decisions/ActionsList and the full Minutes of previous Council meetings.
Council meetings are normally held at Ridgmount Street, London, but forour 17th June meeting we have been invited to Cardiff by the ExecutiveCommittee of CILIP Cymru. Come and join us, as with all Councilmeetings, observers are very welcome.
Thursday’s meeting was busy and productive, and what follows is a brief summary of some of the most important business covered.
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- As mentioned in the previous meeting report on here, Council is very aware of concern from Groups and Branches about having access to their members’ details, particularly email addresses. As requested by Council, senior management reported on progress with the CARE database issues. Though still brand-new in post, finding the technical solution to this issue is a top priority for the Database and ICT Managers. Other factors, such as Data Protection compliance are also being addressed. A ‘road map’, with timescales and estimated costs will be reported to the July meeting of Council.
- Standard guidelines have been agreed by Council about who funds visits to a Group or Branch by the CILIP President, as practice varied in the past. In brief, if the event is free to attend, then Ridgmount Street pays. If the event is being charged for, then the Group or Branch will meet the cost of the President’s visit. The Council also endorsed a proposal from the Office of the President that the temporary role of Immediate Past President should continue until the scheduled review of the new governance structure takes place after its first year of operation. This allows for continuity and support while the new structure beds down.
- As members know, CILIP had to undergo radical and painful change in the last few years to safeguard its financial future. The fruits of that are now being seen, as senior management were able to report healthy finances, as long as we continue to act prudently. Any surplus at year-end, will enable CILIP to do even more to deliver on its Corporate Plan for members and for the public benefit.
- The scoping document for the planned Corporate Communications Framework was endorsed by Trustees, and a new Task & Finish Group was set up to develop the Framework itself. The project team will be inclusive, with members drawn from the Branches, Groups, Four Nations Forum, Ridgmount Street staff, and individual members. It will deliver the Framework in September.
- A key element of the current Corporate Plan is the development of a robust Advocacy Framework for CILIP. Senior management reported on progress to date, having received input from the various constituent parts of CILIP. The comprehensive report included detail on the immediate and mid-term plans for advocacy, focusing on the value of LIS in Society (eg during this National Year of Reading) and with employer engagement. The Council commended the substantial work already done by the Policy & Advocacy Department and looks forward to receiving further updates, including priorities and outline timescales at future meetings.
- That fundamental tool for organising all human knowledge in the world’s libraries, the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR) is about to be replaced by a completely new web-based product - RDA: Resource Description and Analysis [http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jsc/rda.html]. As with AACR, the RDA is owned jointly by CILIP, the American Library Association (ALA) and the Canadian Library Association (CLA). The CEO brought the Council up to date with progress towards finalising the new Code and how the group developing it is constituted. A further progress report will be made to the September Council meeting.
- Oral progress reports were received from the ICT Review project team and the FOQA Task & Finish Group [Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation], who are both on track with their projects. Regarding the latter, members can now read both the list of recommendations and the full report of the FOQA Review commissioned by CILIP, which are under consideration by the Task & Finish Group by following the links at: http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualificationschartership/foqareview.htm
- Other Business reports were received from senior management, including a report on the level of CILIP membership, which is running ahead of the levels seen at this time last year.
- Finally, Council is looking forward to the opportunity provided by our colleagues in Wales to meet with the Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Heritage, Rhodri Glyn Thomas. It is not very often that the LIS profession has the undivided attention of a Minister, and we shall endeavour to see that he goes away with an understanding of the value of LIS to society and enterprise, both in Wales as a devolved nation and across the UK, and how our profession enhances that value.
Notes
CILIP: the Chartered Institute ofLibrary and Information Professionalsis the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists andknowledge managers. It forms a community of around 36,000 people engaged inlibrary and information work, of whom around 21,000 are CILIP members andaround 15,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises.
CILIP Council is the body of Trustees responsible for the goodgovernance of CILIP, and these briefings are a means of reporting back to the community on our activities.