Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal October 2006 Volume 4(5)

Honorary Memberships of CILIPS

The new Honorary Members of CILIPS were presented at Branch and Group Day. Rhona Brankin, Chair of SLIC (the Scottish Library and Information Council) 2003-05, was commended for her work in fostering a close working relationship between CILIPS and SLIC. Rhona was in office for the Scottish Parliament debate on public libraries, held to mark the 150th anniversary of public libraries in Scotland.

Alastair Johnston, previous CILIPS President and Operations Manager, Cultural Services, Dumfries and Galloway, was praised for his part in the Council’s innovative cybercafe. Set up in 1997, it was a bold move which acted as a working model for Scotland’s People’s Network. In his Presidential Address at last year’s Annual Conference, Alastair challenged everyone present to attract three new members to CILIPS. He was able to confirm some good news; CILIPS membership is up 10% since then and continues to rise.

Alison Turriff epitomises the ‘multi-tasker’ with her exhausting list of activities and interests. Alison, Principal Officer in Aberdeen City Council, was honoured specifically for her tireless work on the Chartership Board and support for professional qualifications in Scotland. She is also a trainer and a PhD student. Alison gets immense satisfaction from seeing people progressing upwards in terms of posts and involvement. She paid tribute to all the hardworking people offering support to chartership candidates – and gave thanks to the candidates themselves, some of whom face adverse conditions such as an overseas candidate living in a war zone. Not only was her library workplace burnt down but also her home, but she still managed to submit evidence for her chartership.

Frank Pignatelli OBE is Chief Executive of learndirect Scotland, and he was honoured for his support for libraries over the years in schools, and in partnerships with public libraries on literacy and reading. There are more than 100,000 courses listed on the learndirect Scotland database. Frank, turning to the theme of the day, was the first to make the point that no one can compete with Google, but delegates should retain their USP, “Position yourselves. Don’t try and compete with Google,” he said.

Thriving – with encouragement

The CILIPS Branch and Group Day on 27 September was a sell-out, and created a buzz around the profession.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(5) October 2006

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.