Council Matters: the CILIP Council Blog

Council Briefing - Notes from the September Meeting

2008-09-30T08:55:00Z

It seems a long time since I put together the last summary of Council business, but in between there has been a summer of sorts, the IFLA Congress in Quebec, and a lot of work behind the scenes: Task and Finish Group (TFG) meetings, and so on. Council came together again on Thursday 25th September, and so it is time to report back on some of the main topics.

At our last meeting we had asked for further work on the issues surrounding the use of members’ e-mail addresses by Branches and Groups – this work was undertaken by the Membership Support Unit and a report with four options was presented to us by Jill Martin. There was lengthy discussion focusing on the needs of Branches, Groups and the Celtic Nations, from which emerged the decision that two (rather than one) of the options – the initial provision by CILIP of a dedicated mailing service, backed up by a trial of exporting data from the CARE database in read-only format – would be taken forward. There are real issues surrounding data protection and liability which have to be addressed in whatever approach is taken, and the options agreed were seen as providing a satisfactory (from the members’ point of view) solution while offering CILIP a secure, manageable and cost-effective way forward.

The final report from the Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation Steering Group was also received and its recommendations unanimously accepted. The hard work undertaken by this Task and Finish Group has been a huge success, and will guide CILIP forward on such matters as revised documentation, the use of ICT to enhance candidate’s experience and to streamline the process, and a simplified fee structure.

The Task and Finish Group on Branch, Group and Celtic Nation Funding reported back on their opinion survey on options for future funding models; the responses had been diverse and often reflected strong views. There was agreement on the need for change but disagreement on what should be done, though there was support for the proposal to introduce a membership recruitment reward scheme. Respondents also clearly wanted a dialogue with the TFG, and Council agreed that time should be set aside for this at the scheduled meetings for Branch and Group honorary officers later in the autumn. In the interim no changes were proposed for 2009 in the funding mechanism; while the possibility of an increase in capitation would be considered in the budget discussions starting in November. Council also noted a statement on the rationale for the funding arrangements for CILIP's offices in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; this would be circulated to branches which had enquired about this subject and would be published on the web.

The Task and Finish Group on Branch and Group Regulations met two days before Council, and agreed on the need for clear and simple rules which are easy to use and understand; in the same vein they felt that it would be easier for Branches and Groups if each category was provided with a separate set of rules, despite the inevitable duplications that this would involve. The TFG noted that the arrangements pertaining to CILIP in the Celtic Nations are different to the arrangements pertaining in the English Branches, and thus separate consideration should be given to the regulations governing CILIP in each of the Celtic Nations. The TFG agreed that this lies outside their remit and is a matter to be taken forward by CILIP Council. The TFG worked through the existing Rules and agreed that the Chief Executive would produce a draft text, reflecting the views expressed by the TFG, by the end of October. Next Council (20th November) will receive a full report and there will then be full consultation with Branches and Groups on the proposed revised text with a view to finalising proposals in the Spring of 2009.

The Policy Forum (PF) met on 4th September at Ridgmount Street, and Peter Griffiths, as its Chair, reported on the meeting. PF recommended that Council should endorse the MLA Guidance on Dealing with Controversial Stock, while establishing a PF Task and Finish Group to produce guidance for library services on issues to do with access to information, privacy and surveillance. PF also recommended the endorsement of the Libraries and Public Health Policy Statement, but decided that further work was needed on the draft policy statement presented to them by the Joint International Task and Finish Group. The PF aligned itself with Council on debates over professionalism – acknowledging that their discussions and those of the Society of Chief Librarians and the more broadly-based discussions around changes to the Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation needed to be brought together to create an overall CILIP view on the nature of professionalism in the modern world. The next PF meeting is on 27th November.

In a wide-ranging agenda item on Advocacy, Council received and noted a policy statement on public libraries drafted by the Chief Executive, who also presented a more general “think piece” on Professionalism in a Post-Modern World, which he introduced to stimulate the future discussions on professionalism called for in-part by the PF. There was a general discussion on advocacy, including a review of a composite list of skills of professional librarians in public libraries resulting from the Society of Chief Librarians/CILIP Workshop on Professional Standards, and an update on dialogues with major stakeholders concerned with the Conway Report. The upcoming CILIP Public Library Authorities Conference 2008 – Culture Connects – 8th - 10th October (http://www.cilip.org.uk/groups/plg/pla2008/index.html) will be the source of much interesting debate! Following concerns expressed by a number of school librarians about the need for chartered librarians in schools, the CILIP School Libraries Summit in March evolved a set of action lines including the development of a web-based resource (http://www.cilip.org.uk/policyadvocacy/learning/Schools.htm), work to show where school librarians contribute to the new curriculum, and the development of an evidence base showing the contribution of school librarians/libraries to the quality and outcomes of learning. A delegation from CILIP will be meeting with the Training and Development Agency for Schools to ensure that it has a clear understanding of CILIP’s qualifications framework and the skills and knowledge of chartered school librarians. The CILIP/SCONUL Health Strategies Group (which reports to PF) has responded positively to Peter Hill’s “Report of A National Review of NHS health Library Services in England”. Finally in this area, Trustees agreed to work with Government Libraries & Information Group and the Office of the President to prepare a work plan linked to Information Matters, the Government's forthcoming strategy for improving professionalism in knowledge and information management.

CILIP has recently negotiated an agreement with the Open University that will enable CILIP members to claim a 10% discount for Open University continuing professional development (CPD)courses. Many of the courses offered through the OU CPD programme will be of specific interest and benefit to members working towards CILIP qualifications, but are likely to appeal across the whole membership. Details and a full up-to-date list of the OU CPD courses are available at http://www.open.ac.uk/cpd. Follow the “If you belong to a Professional Body” banner..

Trustees were also alerted to the re-design – following consultation with members – of the CILIP website home page, which will be launched at Members’ Day on 16th October (http://www.cilip.org.uk/training/membersday/).

Police Surveillance and Freedom of Access to Information

2008-08-10T13:13:00Z

Greetings from Quebec City, where Chris, Ayub, and yours truly from the Council are attending the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Congress.

Following on from Council discussions on Police, Surveillance and Libraries, it may be interesting to know that IFLA FAIFE have produced a Manual and a set of PowerPoint slides for a one day workshop on the values of freedom of access to information and freedom of expression with regards to the Internet, explaining why it is our responsibility as librarians to ensure that access to the Internet remains as free, equal and unhampered as possible.

Council Briefing - Notes from the July meeting

2008-07-31T14:56:00Z

This was the first meeting of Council under the second of our two 2008 Leaders, Caroline Moss-Gibbons and – unsurprisingly – began with thanks to her predecessor, Judy Broady-Preston for a job-well-done.

A previous meeting had asked Ridgmount Street to prepare a report on the issues surrounding the use of members’ e-mail addresses by Branches and Groups – and the means by which this use could be facilitated. After much discussion Council asked that more work should be done in consultation with Branches and Groups to offer some further options. The point was also made that ‘one size does not fit all’ and some Branches and Groups may have different requirements to others.

Council also approved recommendations assuring the future of the Accreditation and Chartership Boards and the CILIP Assessment Panel (CAP) as currently constituted, approved recommendation on ‘light touch revalidation' and agreed to establish a small Task and Finish group to develop and test a revised CPD Scheme – which will be the new name for what is currently called the Revalidation Scheme. Further information will shortly be available on: http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualificationschartership/foqareview.htm.

International Policy. Council was invited to note the draft policy statement, which – in its final form – will be presented to the next Policy Forum. Suggestions were made that the final version might include the words “learning” and “culture”. An evidence base and action plan are currently in preparation.

The consultation exercise on Branch and Group Funding was approved ready for sending out on Monday 28^th July (and, as some members will know, has duly been sent out). In order to make a recommendation to the Membership at the AGM on Members Day, 16^th October 2008, the timetable is as follows:

28^th July to 18^th September – Discussion Paper and questionnaire circulated to English Branches, Celtic Nations and Groups for consultation and response
25^th September – Final recommendations of the Task and Finish Group to Council

Council very much hopes that replies will be received from all those who received the papers so that a true member-led solution can be delivered.

The Chief Executive stated that Patrick Conway’s Professional Standards of Service in public libraries report had been very positively received by members and sister organisations, and Council agreed that a position statement on public libraries should be drafted for circulation and comment immediately; a separate paper drawing together the various strands of CILIP’s work around “modern professionalism” should be produced for the September Council meeting; and work on professional standards and on the skills mix would be reported to the same Council meeting. They also endorsed the six action lines:

Define what CILIP regards as a professional standard of local public library service;
Define what CILIP regards as the roles for library and information professionals within the skills mix of a modern public library service;
Identify what alternative models for the provision of public library service can be developed, which do not compromise quality, accessibility and accountability;
Find out what is happening ‘on the ground’; and continue CILIP’s dialogue with government and associated bodies;
Develop CILIP’s position on what constitutes a modern form of professionalism;
Develop a general statement of CILIP’s position towards public libraries.

Council also received a report on the CILIP survey on Police, Surveillance and Libraries conducted during June; the report is available on the CILIP website at http://www.cilip.org.uk/policyadvocacy/policypriorities/informationsociety/Privacy.htm; and will also be passed to the Policy Forum for their attention. In essence the survey found that there was little evidence of police ‘fishing’ although libraries are experiencing legitimate police and security agency activity. Nearly three-quarters of respondents reported that to the best of their knowledge, the police followed proper procedures and were making specific enquiries with good reason.

Peter Griffiths, Chair of the Policy Forum, reported that planning was well under way for the next meeting, which will take place at Ridgmount Street on 4th September - the meeting will include some important discussion as well as formal business. The morning session will be a discussion on libraries, extremism and surveillance and will be attended by Sue Wilkinson of the MLA. The meeting will also look at the Task and Finish Groups which the Policy Forum 'runs', and Peter went on to report on how much they had achieved. His final point was that there is a real need for Branches and Groups to bring forward proposals to the Forum about areas in which they feel CILIP lacks policies. A successful member-led CILIP under the new governance depends on a democratic Forum - and this in turn depends on Branches and Groups as the conduit through which the membership can speak.

The regular report on membership renewals shows a positive picture with renewals and membership subscription revenue comparing well with previous years and on target.

Council signed off the accounts for 2007 which show a hard-won surplus of over £300,000; this money is largely to be used in replacing or upgrading the Institute's web and ICT hardware and software – a long overdue investment. Council also noted that this year's cautious budget is on track, though the need to pay for urgent corrective work on the membership database and the effects of market volatility on our financial investments may yet have an impact.

The Council also adopted a revised Reserves Policy. This is not fundamentally different from the previous version but includes a slight change to the calculation of reserves, allowing for the fact that some direct costs vary in direct relation to the enterprise income, thus reducing the required level of reserves. The revised Policy does NOT affect English Branches, Groups and Celtic Nations as it retains the principle of allowing them to retain and manage their reserves in order to ‘give flexibility and encourage initiative’.

Finally, Council held a lengthy and useful discussion on risk management within CILIP, which will be continued later in the year at a Council Risk Management Workshop.

Notes

CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. It forms a community of around 36,000 people engaged in library and information work, of whom around 21,000 are CILIP members and around 15,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises.

CILIP Council is the body of Trustees responsible for the good governance of CILIP, and these briefings are a means of reporting back to the community on our activities.

July Council meeting agenda - 09:30-13:00 (Ridgmount Street)

2008-07-22T16:03:00Z

This is the agenda for the next Council meeting on THURSDAY 24th JULY. Please note that the meeting is MORNING ONLY this time round, 09:30-13:00. Come along and see your Council in action!

AGENDA

Preliminary matters

1. Welcome (Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Leader - CILIP Council)

2. Notesof previous meetings and any matters arising

3. Leaders matters and correspondence received

Main items for consideration

4. Progressreports:

4.1 CILIP members’ e-mail addresses (Bob McKee, Chief Executive)

4.2. FoQA (Isabel Hood, Trustee)

(i) The future of the Accreditation and Chartership Boards andthe CILIP Assessment Panel

(ii) 'Lighttouch' Revalidation

4.3 International Policy (Bruce Royan, Trustee)

4.4 TFG Supplementary Regulations (Veronica Fraser, Trustee)

4.5 TFG Branch and Group Funding (Nigel Macartney, Hon Treasurer)

5. Governance

5.1 Public Health Task and Finish Group and Policy Forum update (Peter Griffiths, CILIP Vice-President)

5.2 Reports from CILIP in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

5.3 2008 AGM (Daniel Sabel, Governance Unit)

6. Advocacy:

6.1 Conway Report (Bob McKee, Chief Executive)

6.2 Libraries,surveillance, extremism (Guy Daines, Advocacy & Policy Dirctor)

7. Membership (John Woolley, CILIP Enterprises Director)

8. Financial matters:

8.1 Statutory Accounts for 2007 (Rowena Wells, Finance Director)

8.2 Financial performance to date in 2008 (Rowena Wells, Finance Director)

8.3 Reserves Policy (Rowena Wells, Finance Director)

9. Any other business

10. Communications: Council briefing (Chris Armstrong, Trustee)

11. Dates of future meetings

CILIP website home page

2008-07-22T15:44:00Z

Only a few days left for members to complete the Ridgmount Street Information & Advice Team survey on what should be included in the upcoming home page re-design. Go and fill out their survey now!

http://www.cilip.org.uk/informationadvice/onlineresources/homepage.htm

Your thoughts and ideas matter!

Survey closing date: 25th July 2008