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August 31, 2006
Paying for CILIP
In the flurry of comment that followed my piece about CILIP I learned one thing I had not previously understood.
The membership fees for CILIP are not paid by the members (in a public library service), they are paid (in some councils at least, perhaps in most) by the council tax payer directly.
I had assumed that the member, faced with an annual invoice would make a judgment about whether membership constituted value for money and so forth- but no, all that is needed is that the bill is presented to the council and they pay it
That's not right, is it? If it is the case it makes my point about CILIP being more aware of its public duty even more strongly. Anyhow, I don't think it should happen in that way- it means the management of CILIP is not sufficiently subject to a fair market for their service.
Posted by Tim Coates at August 31, 2006 9:04 PM
Comments
Tim, I have to correct you there.
CILIP membership is usually paid by individual members. Most employers expect potential librarians to be a member of CILIP but the majority of us pay out of our own pocket.
There are some councils which pay for membership but these are by far in the minority.
Posted by: Miriam Palfrey at August 31, 2006 10:23 PM