Media Releases

"ONCE IN A LIFETIME" UNIFICATION OPPORTUNITY TO BE TRAILED AT ONLINE INFORMATION 2001

Formation of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals will allow whole industry to speak with one voice

April 2002 is the date set for the most significant event for the library and information profession since the formation of the Institute of Information Scientists in 1958 and the Library Association as long ago as 1877.  Unification of the IIS and the LA, to form CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, will result in the creation of a new professional body with upwards of 24,000 members, and a powerful organisation ready to meet the challenges of a twenty-first century information society and knowledge economy.

In special presentations for Online Information 2001 on Wednesday 5 and Thursday 6 December, Tim Owen, the LA’s Head of External Relations, will be outlining the background to unification and explaining what it will mean for workers in the information industry. 

“The IIS is looking forward to the benefits that CILIP will be able to deliver in the future,” comments IIS Director Mary Shearer. “IIS members will be able to bring a great deal to CILIP to make it the united voice of library and information professionals.” 

 “Building CILIP as a professional body fit for purpose will be a challenging but rewarding task,” adds Bob McKee, the LA’s Chief Executive.  “There are tremendous opportunities for library and information professionals in this information age, but we have to have the capacity to grasp those opportunities.”

“Unification represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for this profession,” Tim Owen will say during his presentation, which is entitled Love at First Sight? Unification: What’s it all about?  “With the LA’s large membership, infrastructure, staff and prestige premises for the new organisation, and IIS members’ specialist expertise and credibility in areas such as advanced online searching, patents, scientific and commercial information, we can build on each others’ strengths.”

For further information contact:

Tim Owen, Head of External Relations, The Library Association.  Tel: 020 7255 0652.  Email: tim.owen@la-hq.org.uk.

Mary Shearer, Director, Institute of Information Scientists.  Tel: 020 7619 0624/5.  Email: iis@dial.pipex.com.

Notes to Editors

Tim Owen’s presentation, Love at First Sight? Unification: What’s it all about? will run twice in Theatre C, Gallery Level, Grand Hall, Olympia, London, on Wednesday 5 December from 12:30 to 13:30 and again on Thursday 6 December from 13:45 to 14:45.  Copies of his presentation can be made available to the media, and a shortened version will also run during the exhibition on Library Association stand 168 (ground floor).

Visit the IIS on stand 638 (gallery) or the LA on stand 168 (ground floor) to learn about CILIP – including membership, jobs and recruitment, careers and professional advice, training and development, conferences, information services and publishing, and much more.

Joint media release from:

Institute of Information Scientists, 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP.
Tel: 020 7619 0624/5.
E-mail: iis@dial.pipex.com

The Library Association, 7 Ridgmount St, London WC1E 7AE.
Tel: 020 7255 0500.
E-mail: info@la-hq.org.uk.

December 2001