Presentation by CILIP CEO Nick Poole to the UWE Bristol MSc Information Science.

1. Knowledge and information in an age of disruptive change
Nick Poole, Chief Executive, CILIP
UWE Bristol MSc Information Management
26th September 2023

2. Agenda
• Introducing CILIP and our role in KM and IM
• The UK’s Knowledge Economy
• The Information Professional workforce
• Empowering users
• Future directions

4. Our role
Our impact
We change lives by improving education, literacy and prosperity for all.
We achieve this by raising standards in libraries, information and knowledge management.
Our charitable objects
We are the only organisation in the world operating under Royal Charter to support KM and IM:
“Work for the benefit of the public to promote education and knowledge through the establishment and
development of libraries and information services and to advance information science (being the science
and practice of the collection, collation, evaluation and organised dissemination of information)”.

5. Vision, mission, values
Our Vision
A professional community, dedicated to changing lives and promoting economic wellbeing through
quality information, services and expertise.
Our Mission
To be the leading professional membership association for people working in information, knowledge,
libraries and related sectors.
Our values
• Social justice
• Intellectual freedom
• Evidence-based practice

6. Plan-on-a-page

7. Who we are
CILIP’s membership spans all
levels of seniority in
information services, from
frontline staff to Directors and
senior execs.
12%
32%
37%
8%
11%
Director/CEO
Senior
Mid-level
Junior
Declined to say

8. Celebrating the CILIP 125
Georgia Adams
Knowledge Assistant, Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP
Wenqing Chen
Learning Technologist, University of Portsmouth
Hannah Gilbert
Information Manager, Defence Science & Technology
Laboratory (DSTL)
Katy Greenfield, Knowledge Assistant, NHS England
Luke Johnstone, Course Liaison Librarian, Defence
Academy of the United Kingdom
Molly Jones, Knowledge Project Coordinator, Arup
Georgina Lane, Precedents Administrator, Veale
Wasbrough Vizards LLP
Sze Tung Li, Assistant Knowledge and Information
Officer, Clifford Chance LLP
Niamh Malin, Data Analyst, University of Cambridge
Beth Montague-Hellen, Head of Library & Information
Services, Francis Crick Institute
Kathryn Ratcliffe, Head of Knowledge & Information
Management, Intellectual Property Office
Katie Wise, Library and Knowledge Specialist, Berkshire
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Hannah Wood, Knowledge Specialist, NHS England

9. Working with industry & Government

10. Introducing the K&IM SIG
The CILIP K&IM Special Interest
Group was established in 2018 to
reflect the growing proportion of
Knowledge and Information
Management practitioners in CILIP
membership.
The SIG provides a busy programme
of events, networking, peer-support
and thought-leadership in issues
relating to knowledge and
information management.
www.cilip.org.uk/KIMHub

11. KIM @ Conference
Since 2019, CILIP has provided a dedicated K&IM Strand as part of
our annual national conference.
• Driving business value through AI-powered knowledge
management
Rebecka Isaksson, AI Lab, Sweden
• Managing Knowledge at Scale
Sue Lacey Bryant, Chief Knowledge Officer, NHS England
• The role of KM Practitioners in fostering psychologically safe
environments
Helene Russel, The Knowledge Business
• The Great Resignation – avoiding the cost of knowledge loss
Hank Malik, Nuclear Waste Services

12. Annual K&IM Awards
The K&IM SIG runs the annual K&IM Awards to recognise
and celebrate excellence in knowledge and information
management
• Knowledge Manager of the Year
• KM Initiative of the Year
• The Information Resources Award
• The Walford Award
• Andrew Hutchinson Award for Career Support

13. Knowledge Management Chartership
CILIP is responsible for introducing the first
ever Chartered Knowledge Manager status,
providing a quality-assured mechanism to
recognise and support the development of
professional KM.
Chartered KM is aligned to the international ISO
DIS 30401 Standard for Knowledge Management
Systems – enabling organisations to develop their
capacity for compliance.
There is now a ‘bridge’ from Chartered Librarian
to Chartered Knowledge Manager
https://www.cilip.org.uk/ProfessionalRegistration
Dominique Poole-Avery, Global Head of Knowledge Management, Arup
Chartered Knowledge Manager

14. The UK’s Knowledge Economy

15. What is a ‘Knowledge Economy’?
Defined as “a group of specific sectors within
the economy that are knowledge intensive in
their activity. They deal extensively with
information/information technology and their
business focuses on the distribution or
exchange of the information that they hold.”
• Computing
• Telecommunications
• Media
• Research and development
• Business Services (legal and professional)
• Higher education
• Public services (libraries, archives, museums)
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
South Cambridgeshire
Hackney
Oxford
Westminster
Southwark
Cambridge
Camden
Islington
Tower Hamlets
City of London
UK authorities with highest proportion of KE jobs

16. Facts and figures
• 39% of UK businesses are classified as ‘knowledge intensive’ (Source: ONS 2021)
• £134bn investment in intangible (knowledge & information) assets (Source: ONS 2016)
• 2.5 million businesses are involved in the UK Knowledge Economy (Source: ONS 2021)
• £95bn GVA to the UK economy from knowledge-intensive businesses (Source: Universities UK)

17. 4 Key drivers
The 4 key drivers for success in a knowledge-intensive business are commonly identified as the ‘4 S’s’:
Spillovers
Innovations in one field are applied to commercial products in another – harnessing spillovers depends on
effective knowledge and information management.
Synergies
Finding ways to combine two intangible assets to create new products or services.
Sunk costs
Investments into intangible assets (knowledge, information, datasets) does not create a market-ready product
or service – they are ‘sunk costs’ requiring the addition of expertise to realise their value.
Scale
Intangible assets lend themselves to scale because they are inexhaustible (can be reproduced and
redistributed without being used up).
Source: Government Office for Technology Transfer

18. Some challenges
• KE jobs are highly concentrated in affluent parts of the UK (40% of Govt R&D in 3 cities)
• Knowledge-intensive employers tend not to employ large numbers of people
• The Knowledge Economy has led to the marketisation of academic research
• The Knowledge Economy promotes the enclosure of knowledge and information
• The Digital Divide leads to ‘information redlining’ and further inequality

19. Discussion
• Do you believe that the future of the UK’s economy lies in knowledge-intensive industries?
• What could Government/regulators do to mitigate against the risks?
• What is the role of information science in economy activity?
• What would an ethical Knowledge Economy look like?

20. The Information Professional workforce

21. UK Workforce Mapping Consortium
CILIP leads the UK Information Professional
Workforce Mapping Consortium, a UK-wide
group of organisations committed to the
ongoing development of accurate Workforce
data.
https://www.cilip.org.uk/WorkforceMapping

22. Demographics
We are emerging from a ‘retirement wave’, with a significant influx of younger professionals – 35.7% of
the information professional workforce is under 45.

23. Salaries spread
There is an unusually wide spread from <£20,000 p.a. to >£80,000 p.a. – reflecting differences in
earnings potential between professional sectors.

24. A long-term commitment
We have an incredibly stable workforce – once people find their ‘dream role’ they tend to stay in it, with
a significant proportion of the profession (42.5%) remaining in the same role for more than 20 years.
This can limit earnings and progression.

25. New insights
We asked what the best thing was about working in libraries, information and knowledge and what the
key barriers were to progression…
Best thing Holding me back
My team Nothing/there are no barriers
Autonomy Financial
Access to CPD Credentialism/qualifications
Flexible work Socio-economic background
Focus on wellbeing Location
Supportive culture Short-term contracts

26. Many ways in
Pathways into and through the information professions are becoming more plural and inclusive, while
still supporting professional standards and qualifications.

27. Committed to skills
A significantly higher proportion of our workforce have undertaken formal training in the last 12 months
than in most other unregulated sectors.

28. Training is online
The shift to online training has reduced slightly, but remains higher than pre-pandemic levels – the
majority of CPD and training now takes place online.

29. Diversity, Equality, Inclusion (DEI)
The 2023 Workforce Mapping Data shows a positive shift towards more diverse and inclusive
employment practices, and a positive sense that information workplaces are working to support their
teams.
• High-levels of positive support from Employers
• Clear evidence of impact of more diverse approaches to recruitment
• Strong performance in Records Management, Information Management and Knowledge Management
• Positive indicators in terms of support for Ethnic diversity
• Little overall progress on gender equality
• Strong underlying theme about the impact of Class and socio-economic background

30. The Employment ‘deal’
The new data on the ‘Employment deal’ is a metric of how people feel about their employer and their
workplace – highlighting a high degree of pride and commitment
• 83% feel proud of their role and confident in carrying it out
• Low levels of job security and concerns about pay (in all sectors)
• Under pressure to deliver more/take on additional responsibilities
• Generally, people are satisfied with their employer but feel they could do more to support staff
• The ‘balance of the deal’ (next slide) indicates people feel things are too skewed in favour of the employer at the
expense of the employee

31. Some challenges
• The longevity in-role risks people becoming ‘stuck’ in their career development
• A stable workforce risks becoming a ‘static’ workforce, with limited opportunities for diversity
• There is a reluctance in some sectors to ‘pivot’ to new roles
• The blurring of boundaries between professional identities
• Persistent inequities and biases are still skewing the workforce
• There remains a ‘glass ceiling’ that has not yet been disrupted

32. Discussion
• Do you see yourself as an ‘information professional’ or a ‘professional working with information’?
• What strategies could we put in place to address the inequities in our profession?
• Do you feel this data reflects your knowledge/experience?
• Do you think about a ‘career’, a ‘job’ or a ‘portfolio’?

33. Empowering Users

34. Introducing MILA

36. Overview of aims and objectives
Purpose
Our purpose is to promote media and information literacy in the UK as a fundamental building block of a
healthy, inclusive and democratic society.
Vision
Our vision is of a society in which everyone is empowered to engage critically with media and information.
Mission
Our mission is to champion media and information literacy and to provide an open platform for collaboration
and knowledge exchange.
www.mila.org.uk

37. What do the public think about MIL?
“If you are literate you are able
to communicate and interact
fully with people, both written
and verbally. Information
literacy is about researching
things and finding out what is
correct and not correct.”
“Not to assume that what
you're being told is completely
accurate, to question what
you've been told, and to be able
to challenge things that don't
feel right.”
“To be able to access
information that you can
use in your everyday
life.”

38. Why does it matter to people?
“It’s important because that's
what life is about. It affects how
you reach decisions on what to
do with your life and how you
interact with other people.”
“I believe it is important as
without it people are
susceptible to being misled and
potentially taken advantage of.
Without being critical of
information you absorb
someone's else's opinion rather
than forming your own.”
“Because it helps people
reach an informed decision -
and an informed decision is
one that they are less likely
to have regrets about,
especially from a careers
perspective.”

39. I can find reliable
health information to
make decisions to
manage my health and
to care for others.
I can use information
to make a positive
impact in my
community and for
those around me.
I can find trustworthy
information, fact check
it and make sense of it.
I can make the right
decisions for my own
personal and
professional
development and
support those around
me.
I can evaluate, choose
and use the right
online services and
information effectively
and responsibly.

40. Health and Digital Literacy
CILIP and NHS England are leading the UK Health
and Digital Literacy Partnership, with the ambition
to improve patient safety and health outcomes.
‘The personal characteristics and social resources
needed for individuals and communities to access,
understand, appraise and use information and
services to make decisions about health’
(WHO, 2015)
https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/health-and-digital

41. Censorship and intellectual freedom
CILIP has just launched the new national guidance
Managing Safe and Inclusive Services: A practical
guide, addressing the role of ethical information
professionals in four areas:
• Management & selection of stock/content
• Use of publicly-accessible spaces
• Events, programming and activities
• Access to IT and the internet
https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/safe-and-inclusive-guide

42. Enquiry-based learning
The paradigm of ‘learning by instruction’ is
changing fundamentally, with new
approaches to blended and group learning.
Information professionals have a central role
to play in formal education, including:
• Literacy and Reading Promotion
• Media and Information Literacy Instruction
• Inquiry Based Learning Models
• Technology Integration
• Professional Development for Teachers
www.greatschoollibraries.org.uk

43. Discussion
• We are in the middle of the ‘next great literacy project’
• Helping learners and information users to succeed means supporting them to develop complex literacies
• How can we develop more supportive information services without removing agency?
• The pact of change has been glacial – how do we accelerate the integration of new skills?
• What is our role as ethical information professionals in an ‘Attention Economy’?

44. Future directions

45. “The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are
creating. The paths are not to be found but made and the act
of making them changes both the maker and the destination.”
Dame Deborah James, You, Me and the Big C

46. Our own perspective on the future
To borrow an idea from art
composition, a picture can be made
up of three elements, all of which
are defined by our vantage point:
The foreground which occupies your
immediate attention
The middle ground, which puts the
foreground in an immediate context
The background, which is less
clearly-drawn but adds depth and
distance to the picture

47. ‘Futures literacy’
‘Futures literacy’ is a phrase coined by UNESCO,
who are running a global project to help
communities think creatively about the future.
Defined as “the skill that allows people to better
understand the role of the future in what they
see and do. Being futures literate empowers the
imagination, enhances our ability to prepare,
recover and invent as changes occur.”
Better futures literacy is seen as a core part of
addressing the UN Sustainable Development
Goals.
https://en.unesco.org/futuresliteracy/

48. https://www.bbc.co.uk/gel/features/futures-bazaar-toolkit

49. The trends shaping all our lives
Our Futures Literacy workshops begin by
looking at the major current trends in 9
areas:
• Consumer trends and preferences
• Economy and Public Spending
• Families and communities
• Learning, education and literacy
• Public service reform
• Society and Demographic Change
• Technology and information
• Work, leisure and volunteering
• Environment and climate

51. Techno dystopia Jetpacks
Sea is on fire
Climate crisis averted

52. We are
sustainable
but at what
cost?
We innovate
our way to
sustainability
The
Doomsday
Clock is
digital
We party
until the
apocalypse
comes
Techno dystopia Jetpacks
Sea is on fire
Climate crisis averted

53. We face
the facts
about
climate
Cooler and
calmer
The blame
game
accelerates
We’re still
here but
no wiser
Net Zero fails Net zero works
Truth decay
Facts matter

54. Another
grey day
Blue
skies
Storm
warning
Sunshine
and
showers
Whatever your axes, and whatever possible
scenarios you develop, you come to realise the
fundamental truth, which is that you and your
library will always be somewhere in a cycle
between these states.
The real questions become:
• How well do you understand which state you
are in now?
• Do you recognise when you are moving from
one state to another?
• How well and quickly do you recognise and
complete the transition between states?

55. The first wave of generative AI is big,
expensive, noisy, environmentally-
costly and prone to make stupid
mistakes.
As ethical information professionals, can
we lead a 2nd wave that is smaller, more
elegant, more accountable, more
democratic and sustainable?
www.cilip.org.uk/researchreport
Responsible AI?

56. Extreme computation
AI has moved forward immensely, but only in
one direction – brute-force computation. In
truth, we have made very little progress
towards a Generalised Artificial Intelligence.
The advances of the past 2-3 years have been
built not on elegance or a deeper insight into
the human mind, but on data, computation-
as-a-service and connectivity.

57. http://anatomyof.ai

58. “Put simply: each small moment of
convenience – be it answering a
question, turning on a light, or playing
a song – requires a vast planetary
network, fuelled by the extraction of
non-renewable materials, labour, and
data.”
Ars Electronica, “Anatomy of AI”

59. A student with flawed teachers
This generation of AI operates in one of two main modes:
1. Use a gigantic training dataset (trillions of words) to try and predict the next word in a sentence, or;
2. Throw everything at solving a problem, and through feedback over many generations gradually home
in on a solution.
But a majority of use cases for today’s Large Language Models treat it like a service, a utility or an
application, not a learning process.
We are not users of ChatGPT – we are its teachers.

60. How should we respond as information professionals?
Our role as librarians and information professionals is
not to problematise new technologies but to engage
with them, understand them and to help improve
them in order to maximise their value to information
users.
DALL-E “Librarian responding to AI”

61. Other emerging trends
• Welcoming Informatics to the information professional community
• Building skills in data stewardship, analysis and visualisation
• Mobilising Knowledge at very large scales
• Managing mission-critical knowledge (Computable Biomedical Knowledge)
• ‘Finding Alpha’
• Moving towards ‘frictionless’ information environments

62. Discussion
• We are no longer defined by the building we’re in, the role title or the material we work with
• We are defined by a body of professional skills and competencies with a central set of ethical values
• How do we maintain our professional identity when ‘everyone is an information professional’?
• How do we move to embrace technology rather than problematising it?
• How can we keep evolving and adapting our skills in an age of persistent disruptive change?

63. Join us
Our professional community sits at the very
heart of the Knowledge Economy. We are
working every day to help our members
achieve success in their careers.
CILIP membership is the best investment you
can make in your ongoing professional
development:
• Thought leadership
• Training
• Networking
• Recognition
• Impact
www.cilip.org.uk/join