Protesting librarians fail to block controversial rebrand

CILIP is rebranding in a £35 000 project led by Spencer Dubois. It has consulted members on potential new names, which include ‘Information UK’, ‘Info Pro UK’ and ‘The Knowledge People’.

However, some members have protested at the proposed rebrand and brought a motion at today’s CILIP annual general meeting to oppose it.

The motion read, ‘This General Meeting believes the current rebranding exercise should be halted, believing it to be a distraction from the urgent tasks of advocacy for the profession and a waste of scarce resources.’

While 752 CILIP members voted in favour of scrapping the rebrand, 804 voted in favour of it, and the organisation will vote on the a new identity in September.

John Dolan, chair of the council at CILIP, says, ‘While I am delighted that a majority of members have agreed that the rebranding project continues I acknowledge the concerns that members have raised.

‘The rebrand is part of a bigger strategic programme to make sure we appeal to the breadth of the library, information and knowledge professions.’

The proposed CILIP rebrand, including a new name, strapline and visuals, will be presented to members over the summer. Other initial naming proposals included ‘Information Professionals UK’, ‘The Information Association’ and ‘Information Matters UK’.

A CILIP vote will be held on 21 September in which members will vote to either keep the current identity or introduce the new brand.