CILIP Council Briefing - April 2008

For UKeiG members who are also members of CILIP here is the latest news from CILIP Council via Chris Armstrong. Note that there is a new Council Matters Blog and that Council papers and minutes are available on the CILIP Web Site, but you have to be a CILIP member to be able to access them.

Date: 30th April 2008:

The new Council met yesterday for the 4th time, and it was agreed that this briefing which appears on our blog and forum, should also be forwarded directly to Groups and Branches. Here, as agreed, is a short report on our current work. In due course, members will be able to read
the full Minutes on the CILIP website.

In my introductory blog post, I set out the dates for future meetings – in June we are in Cardiff as guests of CILIP Cymru and it now looks as if we may have second out-of-London meeting – we are trying to organise the September meeting in Liverpool.

We had a very full agenda yesterday; what follows are notes on the most important business covered.

• Following earlier discussions, an International Task and Finish Group has been set up with 6 members.
• Council has been aware of concern from Groups and Branches as to their access to members’ details and this issue was discussed sympathetically and at length in the light of the project already underway to improve the ICT infrastructure – CILIP has new Database and ICT Managers in post, and an ICT Project Board with agreed terms of reference has already met twice. (There is a short report by the Project Board in the CILIP Update which members will receive this week.)
• In previous years there has been preliminary (and unfinished) work to unify Branch and Group Rules, and the Governance Task Force and Implementation Group recognised that this would remain a requirement under the new governance. Council has now set up a small Task and Finish Group to work on this – ‘plain English’ and consistency are to be the key words.
• A second Task and Finish Group has been set up to consider all of the issues surrounding future funding for Branches and Groups, to report back in July or September.
• Work on a Corporate Communications Strategy is progressing and the May Council will receive a scoping document for discussion.
• In previous Council meetings, the *Framework of Qualifications and Accreditation Review* (FoQA – see http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualificationschartership/foqareview.htm) was established with a Steering Group, which has now had two meetings and is liaising with the ICT Project Board as some of the FoQA requirements will have ramifications for ICT. A dissemination strategy for the Group’s report has been agreed.
• The Encompass Initiative: Towards an Inclusive Profession – picking up on threads in the CILIP Corporate Plan – was presented and a pilot Positive Action Training Scheme for Public Libraries in England was approved unanimously by Council.
• Colleagues will recall that under the new governance structure the Policy Forum is – as its name implies – the source of policy recommendations, and Council received, through the Forum’s Chair, CILIP Vice-President Peter Griffiths, recommendations following from their first meeting. Council was unanimous in adopting a Policy Statement on Libraries and Learning; and in approving an Action Plan to Support Learning and work to establish an appropriate evidence base.
• Councillors have been concerned that they should receive appropriate training as Trustees of CILIP and work has begun to develop a programme of training for this and future Councils.
• Finally, Council reviewed and approved ongoing work being undertaken in the area of professionalism in the profession.

This is a necessarily brief overview of the main points discussed yesterday. I hope colleagues find it useful.

Chris Armstrong
National Councillor (CILIP)