Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2002 as a merger of the Library Association (LA, sometimes LAUK) and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS).
CILIP in Scotland (CILIPS) is an independent organisation which operates in Scotland in affiliation with CILIP and delivers services via a service level agreement.
CILIP's 2020 goal is to "put information and library skills and professional values at the heart of a democratic, equal and prosperous society".
History
CILIP was formed in 2002 by the merger of the Library Association (abbreviated as LA or sometimes LAUK) – founded in 1877 as a result of the first International Conference of Librarians and awarded a Royal Charter in 1898 – and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS), founded on 23 January 1958.
The first President of the Library Association had been John Winter Jones and other notable Presidents had included Richard Garnett (1893), Frederic G. Kenyon (1910), W. C. Berwick Sayers (1938), Lionel McColvin (1952) and Douglas John Foskett (1976). The jubilee (50th year) of the Association was celebrated in 1927. Library associations from fourteen European countries and the United States signed a resolution at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Library Association of the United Kingdom held in Edinburgh which brought the International Federation of Library Associations into existence.
The Library Association offered professional recognition at the level of Associate of the Library Association (ALA), the basic professional qualification, and Fellow of the Library Association (FLA), awarded for a higher level of professional achievement.
Membership of the CILIP on unification in 2002 was estimated at around 23,000. Sheila Corrall was the first President of CILIP, succeeded in 2003 by Margaret Watson.
