Editorial
For or against, almost everyone has an opinion on CILIP’s recent proposal for flat-rate subscriptions. In case you have had your head buried in the sand for the last few months, the powers-that-be at CILIP have been looking at ways to make the membership renewals process more painless. Apparently, a large percentage of the membership do not/forget to renew each year in January for one reason or another. Much time and energy are therefore wasted on chasing up these renewals throughout the year, time which would be better spent recruiting new members. CILIP argues that the best way to move to an automatic renewals process is to move to a flat rate subscription, i.e. every member pays the same rate no matter what they earn, with the exception of those on very low incomes. Understandably, this has turned into a controversial issue amongst the CILIP membership. The Career Development Group - who represent a large proportion of newer members to the profession who are more likely to be on a low income – has been fairly vocal in opposing the proposal. In this issue we present views from both sides, as well as details of what the Career Development Group has been doing to raise awareness of the issue.
The Career Development Group is the only special interest group of CILIP to cater for information management and library students and as such we have a large student membership. This issue contains a student supplement highlighting how students can get involved in the Group, as well as an article on Graduate Traineeships and their related websites by Katja Airaksinen, a Graduate Trainee in Trinity College, Cambridge.
Of course, no matter how long ago you were a student, the library and information profession is one of lifelong learning and continuing professional development. We highlight CILIP/Online Information’s Personal Development Award in this issue by reprinting the previous winners’ entries. This Award recognizes the achievement of, and is open to, all CILIP members who have recently gained Chartered status. If this applies to you, perhaps this will inspire you to try your hand at entering the 2004 award?
Other articles of interest in this issue include a look at an innovative training programme for public library staff that the British Library – who sponsored our Presidential Reception earlier in the year – have developed, and also an interesting article on informal mentoring in library and information services, surely a topic of growing interest in the profession in light of the new framework for qualifications.
As ever, then, plenty to get your teeth into in this issue. Do please let us know your views on the proposal for flat-rate subscriptions – and please visit
http://www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org.uk/survey04.htm and fill in our online survey on the issue before October 16th.
Alana Macmillan
Joanne Kilgannon
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