Interview with CILIP (Chartered Institute of Information Professionals) CEO Nick Poole

CILIP CEO Nick Poole

In the afternoon he facilitated a workshop where current students on the MA Library and Information Management and information professionals from health, education, public libraries and other parts of the sector could share ideas and experiences with each other.

Whilst he was here we took the opportunity to talk to him about the MA Library and Information Management and where he sees the sector heading in the future.

How important is this MA for the sector and developing people’s skills and employability?

This MA is really important and rather unique, as it bridges the future skills needs of employers with the research knowledge and capability of the department. This results in a virtuous circle between what the students are learning and what the industry needs, with skills being developed around that. On top of that, around 45% of the sector’s workforce are hitting retirement age now, which will result in a massive skills shortage, so we need courses like this to help us fill the gap.

What do you like best about meeting people studying to work in your sector?

They are fearless. There is no orthodoxy about it – they want the sector to be better, and want to be able to innovate and to create new solutions. They’re very ambitious and want to get out there and make a difference. Talking to the people who are studying helps me to come up with new ideas, looking at the sector with a new perspective.

We have recently introduced a module on health librarianship to the MA – how do the skills needed for this differ from other aspects of the profession?

Where health goes, a lot of other sectors follow. Health librarianship is incredibly well-established and is explicitly recognised within the NHS as making a clear difference to patient outcomes, so it actually saves lives. And there’s a real commitment to changing and developing the practice, so this also gives us an opportunity to learn from how the health sector runs its’ libraries and bring that knowledge into all the other sectors we operate within.

How have jobs within the Information Management industry changed within the last 5-10 years? And where do you think the industry is heading in the future?

What we’re seeing is two major trends. One is the retirement wave, which means that there is a need for new talent and new capacity to come into the sector. The other is diversification of skill - in this industry you need to have a vast range of skills, including knowledge on the law and technology, along with great people skills, plus the skills needed are changing rapidly. This means that over the next 5-10 years we will see a real growth in demand for information professionals, but also a need for adaptability in their skill set, which is why courses like this are so important.

This is an information age, and everything is changing as a result. We are information professionals, and this is such an amazing time to be joining the industry, and we depend on courses like this to bring people in and give them the skills needed.

Fina out more about our MA Library and Information Management here.