Information Literacy, the profession and CILIP

I recently participated in a Round Table discussion on

the growing importance of information literacy to the profession generally and CILIP’s policy and advocacy activities in particular.

The session was very ablly chaired by Biddy Fisher, Vice-President of CILIP and Chair of the Policy Forum.

This was

primarily a scoping exercise to identify the place of information literacy within professional practice and the body of professional knowledge, its potential to be a defining characteristic of the work of the profession and its contribution to society, the implications for the policy development and advocacy activities of CILIP and also to determine recommendations for a future strategy for the profession.

Taking part were representatives from different sectors and CILIP's Information Literacy Group (they organise LILAC - the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference). The project work is well known thus the invitation to attend and I (unfortunately John was not able to make it) shared our experiences of the work in Scotland - what has worked for us and the importance of advocacy, using your professional and personal contacts (they are after all invaluable sources of information), cross sector working plus working in collaboration with partners. 

The session was recorded and I'm looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the discussion and will share any news with you.