Dear colleagues,
I am writing to THANK Mike Hosking (whom I have never met) for 
bothering to contribute to this debate, and ALSO Phil Bradley, whom I 
have only met once.

I do hope that these exchanges, if they need to continue, will do so 
in a better-tempered and more constructive spirit.  I would be 
encouraged to read further contributions from them.  If I am honest I 
must say that when mails come in from certain writers MY HEART SINKS, 
and I immediately fear the worst.

As I retired (early) in 1999 and have not held any elected office for 
many years I have no idea what label folk would pin on me.  But I do 
feel that pinning any labels on people can be very dangerous and 
misleading.

Best wishes!  Robin.

In message <[log in to unmask]>
          Mike Hosking <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I don’t often join in on these exchanges, however as I am perhaps one
> of these “old guard” CILIP Trustees being mistakingly being referred
> to or thought of as such I thought I should respond with a few facts!

> Firstly this is my first spell on CILIP Council, and I have now been a
> Trustee for 30 months, so I hardly think I have been around very long,
> indeed I still have a lot to learn about CILIP the staff, services and
> our partners.

> Secondly there is an accusation that too many CILIP Councillors are no
> longer employed. In my case this is certainly true, however I was
> elected - yes elected on that basis, have said so in my manifesto. I
> felt privileged to be one of 4 Councillors elected from the 6 (or
> perhaps 7) that stood that year. I believe I am the only retired
> person to be elected to Council in recent years.

> Interestingly I would not have stood for Council if I were not
> retired, in the demanding job I was in, managing Libraries, Adult
> Learning and Community Services I most certainly could not have put
> the time in I felt such a position required. Having become Hon.
> Treasurer this year has brought this into even more perspective, as I
> have already spent 20 days away from home on CILIP business, ignoring
> time spent reading, mailing and getting frustrated by ill informed
> comment.  I would also refute the charge of being out of touch with
> the profession, I now feel much better informed and have a much wider
> perspective on the profession as a whole than when I  was relatively
> confined to the narrow world of public libraries.

> So I really don’t know who this old guard at CILIP is, a ghost of the
> past perhaps??  It is however interesting to reflect that there is
> indeed an old guard creating a lot of comment who keep saying they
> want CILIP to change but don’t like any of the change when it is
> proposed.

> As I am taking the time and effort to write, I will also comment on
> the factual position regarding the Governance review and perhaps this
> will also enable those who are making ill informed comment to
> acknowledge the real position.
>  ü  The proposals were thoroughly researched by a Working Group lead
> by the then President, Phil Bradley, and including external experts
> such as the Head of Governance at The British Library

>  ü  The research looked widely at best modern governance practice
> amongst membership bodies especially those who are also charities like
> CILIP.

>  ü  They have been subject to long and detailed debate at Council for
> over a year, starting in July 2013.  Even before that Council received
> regular updates on progress from the working group over a period of a
> year, and the research had started before I joined Council.

> ü  Following the initial decision to go forward at Council the
> proposals have been subject to extensive consultation with members,
> not only in written form via UPDATE etc., but also through visits to
> member interest groups etc. More than 25 of these visits took place
> and in ALL but 2 cases the member groups were very supportive of the
> overall direction.The detailed feedback from all of the consultations
> has been published and was used by Council to fine-tune the proposals,
> which will be going forward to the AGM. Council on the 8th July agreed
> these proposals with 11 votes for an 1 against.

>  ü  The decision to propose changes to the governance structure is
> driven by the need to ensure CILIP is governed and managed by Trustees
> who have the experience and skill to take responsibility for a £4.7m
> business, and who can deal effectively with crisis as and when they
> occur rather than set unbalanced deficit budgets and put off essential
> action. as as unfortunately happened in the past.

> In my real experience, having established 2 Charities (which are still
> operating), been on the Boards of 3 others and been an FE College
> Governor, leaving it entirely to chance that candidates come forward
> with the essential skills and experience needed to run a charity is
> foolhardy!

> Mike Hosking
> CILIP Hon Treasurer.

-- 
Robin Phillips,
NG9 1BT