> MEDIA RELEASE
> Wednesday 7 May 2003
> For immediate release  (Please copy to online discussion lists)
> 
> HOWARD PICTON APPOINTED TO CROWN COPYRIGHT ADVISORY PANEL
> 
> Will represent CILIP> '> s interests on Ministerial advisory body to open up Government information
> 
> CILIP member Howard Picton, Deputy Manager of the Information Centre at the Bank of England, has been appointed to represent the interests of CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals on the government> '> s Advisory Panel on Crown Copyright.  His appointment was announced recently by Douglas Alexander, Minister of State at the Cabinet Office.
> 
> Set up following a recommendation by the Cross-Cutting Review of the Knowledge Economy, the Panel is charged with advising Ministers on how to open up opportunities for greater re-use of government information by the private and voluntary sectors.  It will also advise the Controller of Her Majesty> '> s Stationery Office (HMSO) about changes and opportunities in the information industry, and will monitor the impact of complaints procedures under the Information Fair Trader scheme.
> 
> "> As someone with a keen professional interest in improving access to official information, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to represent CILIP> '> s views on the Panel,> ">  says Mr Picton, a long-standing member of both CILIP> '> s predecessor bodies.  > "> I would welcome views from CILIP> '> s membership on issues relating to the Panel> '> s work.> "> 
> Howard will join fourteen other Panel members representing interests as diverse as geographic information, statistics use, intellectual property, Government Trading Funds, local authorities, higher education, digital content, and the needs of visually impaired people.  His appointment is important to CILIP because it will ensure that the pressures and responsibilities that library and information professionals face in dealing with issues of access to public information are given proper consideration.
> 
> Offering his congratulations on the appointment, CILIP> '> s Chief Executive Bob McKee said: > "> This represents an important step forward in CILIP> '> s engagement with the knowledge economy.  Our Corporate Plan charges us with pursuing a leadership role, with influence and impact across all relevant sectors and in civil society as a whole, as the authoritative voice of the library and information profession in all relevant matters of policy, principle and practice.  It> '> s hard to imagine a more practical way of achieving this than through having someone to speak up for our members> '>  interests in such an important forum.> "> 
> 
> Further information on the Advisory Panel on Crown Copyright is available from:
> www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/news/2003/030417_apptsadvisorypanel.asp.
> 
> Contact:      Tim Buckley Owen, Head of External Relations.
>               Tel: 020 7255 0652.     Email: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Notes to Editors
> 
> CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers, with over 23,500 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.
> 
> Howard Picton has worked for the Bank of England since 1990, where he is responsible for Parliamentary Affairs as well as being Deputy Manager of its Information Centre since 1998.  His earlier career includes posts at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the Zoological Society of London and University College, London.  He has been a member of CILIP and predecessor bodies since 1975, and received the Library Association Centenary Medal in 1998.  He is also a long-standing member of UKOLUG: the United Kingdom Online User Group (now part of CILIP), the Standing Committee on Official Publications (SCOOP) and the City Information Group. > 
> 
>  - Ends -
> 
> 
> 
> Tim Buckley Owen, Head of External Relations
> CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
> 7 Ridgmount St, London WC1E 7AE.
> Direct line: +44 (0)20 7255 0652
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> 
>