Library Association
Institute of Information Scientists

CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, was inaugurated on 1 April 2002, following the unification of two predecessor bodies - the Library Association (LA) and the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS). CILIP is primarily a personal membership organisation, with a Royal Charter and charitable status. CILIP speaks out on behalf of the profession to the media, government and decision makers and provides practical support for members on academic education, professional qualifications, job hunting and continuing professional development.

The LA was formed in 1877 and received its Royal Charter, which permitted it to award professional (Chartered) status to members, in 1898. It became a registered charity in 1963 and was awarded a supplemental Royal Charter in 1986. The Scottish Library Association was founded in 1908, and formally affiliated with the LA (of the UK) in 1931. The Welsh Library Association (WLA) was a branch of the UK LA, and a further branch existed in Northern Ireland.

In the late 1950s, a group of professionals working predominantly in scientific and technological research took the view that a separate body was required to meet their more specialist form of practice and split off to form the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) in 1958. The IIS was founded to promote and maintain high standards in scientific and technical information work and to establish qualifications for those engaged in the profession. Thereafter increasingly the IIS also attracted those working in the rapidly expanding field of financial and business information, and subsequent technological developments meant that its members were in a better position to pay close attention to developments in digital technology. Like the LA, it also had charitable status.