1. Towards a Workforce Strategy for Information Professionals
Agenda item 9
BOARD 18/26
5th July 2018
Towards a Workforce Strategy for Information Professionals
CILIP Board Discussion, Open Session, 4th July 2018

2. Securing the Future
We are living and working in the early days of a society and an economy that are being transformed by knowledge, data and information. We want to ensure that Information Professionals are positioned to lead this transformation.
Our Strategic Plan, Securing the Future, has 4 priorities:
Advocating for the profession
Developing a ‘future-ready’ workforce
Driving standards and innovation
Helping our members to succeed

3. Strategic workforce planning
We need to work with practitioners, employers, learning providers and other stakeholders to think beyond today – or even the near future – to plan strategically to meet the sector’s future skills and talent needs.
Who is the audience for this Strategy?
Future professionals
Professionals
Learning providers
Sector organisations
Funders
Government Departments
Employers

4. Emerging priorities…. Attract, retain and develop diverse talent
Prioritise diversity, equality, representation and inclusion
Position the profession as an attractive, accessible and aspirational career choice
Maximise the value of an intergenerational workforce
Embrace ‘leadership at every level’
Build a future-ready workforce through up-skilling and re-skilling (incl. AI, data and automation)
Connect the supply of skills with changing employer demand
Work in partnership with learning providers to ensure access to skills and CPD
Define a new, inclusive and progressive view of ‘professionalism’ in our sector
Understand our own regulatory or developmental role

5. The message from employers…
“Hire for attitude, train for skills”
Be user/customer-focussed
Transferable skills matter
Be ready to learn and adapt
Help our organisation learn and adapt
Help us harness knowledge, AI, automation, data
Help us develop and promote reading, literacy & skills
Embrace perpetual change
Adopt a ‘marketing mindset’

6. Information Professionals
Librarians
Public Librarians
School Librarians
Library Managers & Assistants
Health Librarians
Govt Librarians
Data Librarians
Academic & Research Librarians
Subject Librarians
Other Librarians
Information Managers
Information Architects
Information Governance Managers
Information Scientists
Information Rights Managers
Data Protection Officers
Taxonomy Specialists
Analysts
Cyber-security Managers
Web Managers
Knowledge Managers
Change Managers
Knowledge Architects
Knowledge Advisers
Chief Knowledge Officers
KM Facilitators
Know-How Managers
Data Professionals
Data Scientists
Machine Learning Specialists
Data Analytics Managers
Artificial Intelligence Specialists

7. * Source: CILIP/ARA 2015 Workforce Mapping

8. One profession, all industry sectors…
Consulting/independent information professionals
Prison
Further Education/Colleges
Public
Government and Armed Forces
Research
Health Care
School
Social Care
Special Collections
Higher Education (including LIS teaching staff)
Industry (Extraction)*
Law
Industry (Manufacturing)**
Museums, Archives, Galleries and Heritage
Industry (Commercial Services)***
National Libraries
Not working****
Not for profit/3rd sector/Charity
Other
* Any extraction industries, for example: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Quarrying
** Any Manufacturing industries, for example: Pharmaceutical, Aerospace, Automotive
*** Any commercial service industries: Business, Finance, Communications, Hospitality, Retail
**** Unemployed/Retired/Full-time Student/Career Break

9. * Source: CILIP/ARA 2015 Workforce Mapping

10. Attract, retain and develop talent
We need to put down ladders to welcome the next generation of librarians and leaders, from all backgrounds
Ensuring that people are aware of the options and opportunities that come from a career in libraries
Ensuring that we are an aspirational profession, which means working with employers to create jobs and opportunities to use our skills.
Lowering the barrier to entry through workplace-based development, apprenticeship and non-traditional career routes.
Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

11. Diversify the library & information workforce
Our workforce must reflect the full diversity of the communities we serve, across all protected characteristics and in terms of socio-economic status and class.
We need to work with employers and funders to target positive action to overcome systemic barriers and bias.
We want our profession to follow the example of the Civil Service & NHS and become an exemplar of good practice in building a diverse workforce.

12. Leadership at every level
We can’t afford to wait for economic conditions to improve before we start bringing forward the next generation of leaders in our profession.
If we have a significant proportion of librarians and information professionals remaining in-post for years, we need to develop strategies for leadership development outside the normal structures of career progression.

13. Redefining ‘professionalism’
We are launching the Professionalism Review to redefine what it means to be a professional working in libraries and information today
Embracing a progressive and inclusive vision of a professional as someone who:
Champions the profession
Leads and instigates change
Behaves ethically
Aspires to excellence
Is a reflective practitioner
Maintains their skills

14. Reconnecting with Ethics
Our 18-month Ethics Review has received more than 2,400 comments and representations, many from students and new professionals
A real interest in and enthusiasm for Ethics as a ‘living’ framework, directly relating to practice and standards, not as an abstract set of principles
An Ethics Framework at the heart of professionalism including:
7 Ethical Principles
A Code of Professional Conduct
A set of CILIP Commitments
Photo by Henrik Dønnestad on Unsplash

15. Taking a fresh look at Skills
CILIP provides the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) – an online self-assessment tool for professional development
Ensuring that the current and future skills needs of employers are fed back into the ‘curriculum’ for information professionals.
Now thinking about ‘specialisation’ – how do you move from being a generalist information professional to a specialist who can work effectively in, for example, a healthcare context or business?

16. Improving access to CPD
One of the first casualties of austerity is the training budget. Across the sector, the capacity to engage with CPD and training has reduced significantly.
We need to work with learning providers, trainers and others to improve access to CPD that is local and online, high-quality, affordable and relevant.
Establishing a ‘Library MOOC’ for members and non-members in YM Learning
Enhancing the provision of high-quality learning opportunities across city-regions and devolved nations
Photo by Taduuda on Unsplash

17. Q1.
What are the critical success factors in defining a Workforce Strategy for librarians and information professionals?

18. Q2.
What are the key risks which we need to take into account when developing this Workforce Strategy?

19. Q3.
What are we missing?

20. Emerging priorities…. Attract, retain and develop diverse talent
Prioritise diversity, equality, representation and inclusion
Position the profession as an attractive, accessible and aspirational career choice
Maximise the value of an intergenerational workforce
Embrace ‘leadership at every level’
Build a future-ready workforce through up-skilling and re-skilling (incl. AI, data and automation)
Connect the supply of skills with changing employer demand
Work in partnership with learning providers to ensure access to skills and CPD
Define a new, inclusive and progressive view of ‘professionalism’ in our sector
Understand our own regulatory or developmental role

21. Nick Poole
Chief Executive, CILIP
@NickPoole1
@CILIPinfo