"Anyone who knows the old joke 'Who cares about apathy?' will appreciate that [the] accusation of membership apathy ... is just not good enough. Librarians would never be allowed to get away with that one - if they accused their readership of apathy, they would be asked why, and what they were going to do about it".
That was me back in 1992. As you can see, I have been going through my letters to the Record and Update ... and take your fingers off those DELETE buttons!
The LA membership was so un-apathetic that in 1979 it passed a resolution at the Annual General Meeting for the Council to bring forward democratic reforms. The Council refused on the grounds that it was the governing body, and no members had the power of direction over Council.
"The point is who or what governs the governors. This is not a mere policy decision ... but a constitutional problem". Do the electors (the grassroots) have any real control over those whom they elect or who serve them? We have voter "apathy" because voters do not believe their vote achieves anything (and, if you think about it, not just in CILIP). Institutions are apathetic in not doing anything about it.
Looking through my letters - that's enough self-quotation! - I get the impression that after 1979 Council increasingly surrendered to the embrace of Headquarters. Finally the Heag report distinguishes corporate CILIP, the membership, and non-members, and is mostly devoted to the first.
If CILIP wants to survive, it has to keep its members and attract non-members. It has to find out what their needs are (as everyone seems to agree).It also has to ensure it can attract their involvement for the future by giving them reasonable control over the organization (controversial?) - this means a proper constitution.
I am not hopeful that this will happen. If it did, you wouldn't have to endure me going on like this :-)
Gordon.
Gordon Smith
The Sally Howell Library
Epsom General Hospital
Dorking Road
Epsom, Surrey, KT18 7EG
Tel. 01372-735688, Fax 01372-735687
NULJ=HOWE, HLN=EP
The Master said, "Look at the means a man employs,
observe the basis on which he acts,
and discover where it is that he feels at ease.
Where can he hide? Where can he hide?"
- Analects of Confucius 2.10 (Slingerland)
>>> "Mcsean, Tony (ELS-OXF)" <[log in to unmask]> 17/11/2005 08:28:13 >>>
I think it is sad if people cast their presidential vote on a sectoral
basis. If everyone did this we would have a steady procession of public
librarians - the very thing that was specifically deplored earlier in this
thread. We certainly wouldn't have had Bob Usherwood and Margaret Watson -
excellent presidents both but only able to call on the thinning bloc vote of
library school lecturers.
In the financial plight that Cilip currently finds itself we need the wisest
heads available to be active on our behalf. With 44% of the membership aged
over 50, Cilip in its present form will not be around for long if we (and
Cilip is a "we" not a "they") don't start working on the types of comment
we've read in the past few days and start shaping services to meet the needs
of our younger colleagues.
On the whole, the essence of a successful professional association is that
its activists are not "here today, gone tomorrow" in the words of an earlier
post. Presidency is essentially and rightly a short-term business but is in
my view essentially figure-heading and a position for someone who has put
the hours in on Cilip/LA/IIS's behalf over the years. The real work of
Cilip, and its fundamental base, lies in the hard work and commitment of all
of us who work away in branch and group committees, and in nuts-and-bolts
working groups out of HQ. My past experience of involvement in BMA
committees was broadly that it was elected members setting policy and
deciding things, and the secretariat doing the work and providing the
support. On the whole Cilip doesn't have the money to do this and this
means that stuff like the health policy review is the result of loads of
working librarians, no different from you or me, did the work in their spare
time.
Financially, Cilip is in crisis. There's a hole in the operating budget and
a chasm in the pension fund, the membership is getting old and fewer and
conventional library work and structures may soon be a thing of the past in
most sectors. At the risk of sounding sententious and getting this week's
prize for stating the bleeding obvious, I hope that people will look at the
Presidential candidates and then vote on the basis of who they think will do
the best job in what promises to be a most difficult and fraught year.
Tony McSean
-----Original Message-----
From: UK medical/ health care library community / information workers
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 16/11/2005 13:15
Subject: Re: Don't forget to vote: CILIP - A Good Thing?
The problem is not necessarily one of voting... speaking as one of the
younger members of the profession, I have lost confidence that CILIP can
do anything for me. It has not done anything which has DIRECTLY
benefited me as a professional. I am still underpaid, I am still
overworked and I am still convinced that I do not need CILIP membership
to progress within my career... and I am not alone in this, as a
Librarian who has worked in Media, FE, HE and Health I have to say that
the majority of my collagues have always regarded CILIP skeptically, and
have always cancelled membership AFTER completing the chartership
programme... and to be honest, even the removal of the qualification
would not make me and many others consider re-joining... once the jobs
were published free of charge online my last reason for membership was
gone!!!!! if you want a professional organisaiton that is truly
representative then more must be done, or be seen to be done, to
champion the development of the profesison.. starting at grass roots and
not an entrenched executive sitting in a london-based ivory tower.
Nigel Brook
Library Services Manager
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
_____
From: Ian Snowley <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Ian Snowley <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Don't forget to vote: CILIP - A Good Thing?
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 11:00:58 +0000
>I would like to (attempt) to refute Gordon's claim that it "doesn't
seem to
>matter whether you vote or not". Voting is the most effective way (but
not
>the only one) that Members have of showing that they are involved and
>engaged with the organisation. You may feel that not voting is showing
your
>dissatisfaction - but it just ends up being seen as members being
>apathetic! So my view is that you should in all conscience vote for the
>candidate that you believe will do the best job! I believe that CILIP
is
>more representative and effective than the LA - and that I couldn't do
my
>job without being in membership.
>
>I would like also to question the view that the CILIP Executive
>is 'entrenched'. In all my dealings - as member of a number of
committees
>I've found the staff and elected officers of CILIP to be open to new
ideas
>and keen to work for the benefit of members. What I think they have
lacked
>is a clear idea of what members want and, in some cases, the means to
>provide it.
>
>On the issue of whether electing someone for a short period will make a
>difference, only time can tell - and members must make their own
decision
>based on the information available. But I believe that I am someone who
>wants to bring about change and am only standing because I believe that
I
>can make a difference. Not on my own of course but in concert with the
>membership and other 'activists' like Tom Roper and other SIG chairs
and
>committee members. As there is effectively a three-year term (Elect;
>President; Past) then there is time to have lasting influence.
>
>I feel that I should be more specific on what I see as my role, if
elected -
> I don't want to take up too much space here so will post more on my
blog
>(http://snowley.typepad.com) in a day or so.
>
>But in summary, what I aim to do is:
>
>1) Engage with members (through discussion lists, email, meetings) and
beCcf1LIS-MEDICAL@JISC
>an advocate for their views within CILIP, at Council and Committees.
>2) To start a debate within CILIP about its role and future -
specifically
>in relation to representing the membership
>3) Encourage CILIP to focus its marketing effort to actively promote
the
>role and value of Librarians and Libraries (something I'm already
working
>on within the CILIP in London Committee)
>
>But all of this requires a membership that actively wants to engage
with
>CILIP, and play its part in changing things.
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