CILIP: a twenty‐first century association for the information profession?
| Pages | 48-65 |
| Date | 01 January 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120610647947 |
| Published date | 01 January 2006 |
| Author | Judith Broady‐Preston |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
CILIP: a twenty-first century
association for the information
profession?
Judith Broady-Preston
Department of Information Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth,
Aberystwyth, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role, purpose and effectiveness of CILIP in the
UK.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a review of key issues in relation to the
library and information profession in the UK based on available documentary evidence.
Findings – The paper establishes an eval uative framework for asses sing the concept of
professionalism, and the role of professional associations, in relation to the contemporary library
and information profession. It discusses the work of CILIP post-2002, and assesses the extent to which
it meets the criteria for a successful professional association. The paper concludes that, whilst CILIP
has a number of useful strategies in place, it is too early to evaluate its long-term prospects.
Originality/value – This review is a useful source of information in assessing the contemporary role
of professional associations.
Keywords Libraries, Professional associations,Information organizations, UnitedKingdom
Paper type Case study
1. Introduction
This paper assesses the current role and relevance of professional bodies for the
information and library profession from a UK perspective, using the Chartered
Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) as a case study. CILIP is not
the sole membership body for the information profession within the UK; arguably,
there are a range of professional membership bodies performing similar roles and
function, with some combining both a professional membership role and a trade union
function[1]. Bodies such as The Society of Archivists and the Records Management
Society perform very similar roles and functions for the archives and records
management sectors of the profession to those offered more generally by CILIP.
Furthermore, there are numerous other specialist bodies, such as the British Computer
Society, for example, which, arguably, are also of relevance to certain sectors of the
information profession.
However, by its own definition, CILIP is:
[...] the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge
managers, with up to 23,000 members working in all sectors, including business and
industry, science and technology, further and higher education, schools, local and central
government, the health service, the voluntary sector, national and public libraries (CILIP,
2005a).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
LM
27,1/2
48
Received 30 June 2005
Revised 28 September 2005
Accepted 17 October 2005
Library Management
Vol. 27 No. 1/2, 2006
pp. 48-65
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120610647947
Therefore, as it constitutes the largest umbrella body for the sector, this paper will
focus predominantly on a critical evaluation of the roles and relevance of CILIP to the
contemporary information profession.
It must be stressed at the outset that this review represents the personal views of the
author, albeit based on an evaluation of available documentary evidence. However, the
views outlined below do not reflect the official policies of CILIP, or those of the
University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
2. Professionalism and the role of professional associations
Before assessing the contemporary relevance of CILIP to the information profession, a
useful starting point may be ask two more general questions, namely:
(1) What is a profession?
(2) What role should a professional association perform for its members?
2.1. What is a profession?
The first question is one that has been posited for a number of years in relation to a
wide range of professions. There have been various attempts to define models of a
profession and to delineate a typical process by which professional status is sought by
varying occupational groups (see Wilensky, 1964; Goode, 1969). More recently, deba te
has centred on the attributes of professions in relation to characteristics that
distinguish them from other groups (Watkins, 1999). Indeed, Watkins (1999, quoted in
Gold et al., 2002, p. 47) suggests that professions possess the following three
distinguishing features, namely:
[...] the possession of specialised skills, the requirement for intellectual and practical training
and the maintenance of the integrity of the profession through a professional body or
association.
Goode (1969) adds autonomous expertise in relation to a specific knowledge base, and
the ideal of service to the above list of criteria. Interestingly in contrast, Wilensky
(1964) viewed the service ideal not as a constituent element of professional statu s, but
rather as a barrier to professionalism, coupled with that of organisational threats to
professional autonomy. Again, this latter point is echoed in more recent research,
suggesting that the impact of new manage ment structures and the rise of
“managerialism” in both the publ ic and private sectors have resu lted in a
curtailment of professional discretion. Such control, and the resulting limitation on
the exercise of professional skill and authority, is often deeply resented by the
professionals themselves (see Brock et al., 1999; Exworthy and Halford, 1999).
Furthermore, echoing current wide-ranging debates concerning typologies of
knowledge, both Abbott (1988) and Eraut (2000) are concerned with issues in relation
to knowledge acquisition and application by professionals on behalf of “ignorant”
clients. Distinctions between abstract and tacit knowledge are clearly of relevanc e in
this context, but beyond the scope of this paper to outline in greater detail. The now
famous binary classification of knowledge into the explicit and the tacit, originally
conceived by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) has been assessed widely for its relevance,
particularly in relation to differing typologies of knowledge and managing knowing
within organisations (see Broady-Preston, 2005).
CILIP
49
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