SCONUL and CILIP to work together: press release
8 April, 2005
Key associations to work together for the library and information profession in higher education and the national libraries
At SCONUL's annual conference in Brighton, 6-8 April, CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) celebrated their joint declaration for working together.
In a united presentation on 8 April Maggie Haines, outgoing President of CILIP, and Suzanne Enright, Chair of SCONUL, outlined a future in which policy development, and professional support for staff, would benefit from shared effort. The two associations have many common interests - for example, lobbying for better dissemination of scientific research results, using library resources to support e-learning, research in information, and supporting the role of the national libraries.
The joint declaration comes at a time of change in higher education and libraries. Libraries inform and promote the new impetus for learning and teaching which has learner support at its heart. Library staff are increasingly involved in curriculum planning, validation and development, and in teaching information literacy and study skills. They evaluate information resources before and after purchase to ensure value for money, and explore a more diverse use of technology both to manage their libraries and to make their resources available to students, teachers and researchers. Electronic information resources - apparently so easy to distribute - are in fact complex to manage. Yet desktop delivery of information is vital to underpin the 'learn anywhere, work anywhere' culture, which is leading students and researchers to expect more of their libraries.
Debby Shorley, University Librarian at the University of Sussex, hosts this year's SCONUL Conference. Almost simultaneously, she took office as President of CILIP on 4 April.