Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) is a professional body representing librarians and other information professionals in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2002 by the merger of the Library Association and the Institute of Information Scientists. Membership is not compulsory for practice, but members can work towards chartership which entitles them to the postnominal letters MCLIP and subsequently FCLIP (sic). Affiliated members can also obtain ACLIP upon completing certification.

CILIP accredits degree programmes in library and information science at universities in the UK, including City University, London, Loughborough University, the University of Sheffield and University College London.

CILIP is perhaps best known to the general public for awarding the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals for children's books.

CILIP publishes a monthly magazine, Library & Information Update, and a fortnightly newsletter, Library & Information Gazette, including listings of job vacancies. It also runs a recruitment agency, INFOmatch and a publishing imprint: Facet Publishing. There are several local branches across the United Kingdom, 28 special interest groups and over 20 organsiations in liaison.

CILIP hosts a conference every two years called Umbrella.

Selected Special Interest Groups

• Affliated members
• Branch and mobile libaries
• Career development
• Cataloguing & Indexing
• Education librarians
• Government libraries
• Health libraries
• Industry and commercial
• Information Services
• Local Studies
• Patent & Trademark
• Public libraries
• Rare books
• prison libraries.

External links

• CILIP website
• Facet Publishing website
• 24 Hour Reference Service article by Ben Chan
• INFOmatch