Readers, do you know what CILIP stands for?

Dear Reader,

I'm your Music and Academic Services Librarian - and I'm a chartered librarian.  That means I'm a member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.  

So, apart from my music qualifications, I also have a postgraduate librarianship diploma, and the postnominals denoting my membership of CILIP.  Most chartered librarians use the initials, MCLIP - Member of the Chartered [Institute] of Library and Information Professionals.  

FCLIP, proudly elected

After doing my PhD, I decided to go for bust and apply to be elected a Fellow of CILIP - so now I'm FCLIP.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well, before CILIP was CILIP, it was the Library Association.  It sounded a bit old-fashioned, but people knew who we were and what we did.  CILIP is now having a consultation to see how they could improve our professional association's name again.  Do I want to be an Information Pro?  Not really.  Or a member of the Information People?  Give me strength!  The first sounds like Pro Plus in the stacks, and the second more like KwikFit or the worshippers of a book-loving deity than a professional organisation.  

I mean, there's the Law Society.  The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.  The General Teaching Council for Scotland.  And the General Medical Council. They all have a certain 'gravitas', as befits a profession in which you've worked hard to gain recognition.

 I completed CILIP's survey earlier today.  I couldn't come up with a suggestion for a new name, off the top of my head, with a cursor flashing in front of me.  

But how about The Association of Chartered Information Professionals?  Or, The Information Society? 

Because I really don't want to be a Fellow of the Information People, or a Fellow Information Pro, thank you very much!  Watch this space ...

Charlie Gore online (Scottish Fiddle Index now Scottish Music Index)

From printed Scottish Fiddle Music Index

... To online Scottish Music Index

Charlie Gore published his Scottish Fiddle Music Index in 1994. The Whittaker Library has a copy of this invaluable resource in its reference section, here at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  (Details here.)

You can find Scottish fiddle tunes, indexed by "intervals-going-up-and-down", and the book will tell you where to find the tune in hundreds of old fiddle books.  It was truly a labour of love, and worth every minute to people working with this repertoire.

Now, it's online.  (There should be a cyber drumroll and/or a fanfare to announce this.  It really is that important.)

The online version - note the new title!

Find Charlie's 21st-century new edition, The Scottish Music Index, here:-

• http://www.scottishmusicindex.org/

Day of Digital Archives 2011...

Day of Digital Archives 2011

As a contribution to the Day of Digital Archives, WhittakerLive.blogspot.com eagerly shares the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland We-are-celebrating-namechange informal digital archive.

We are celebrating ... 30 days

The 30 days is rolling to a close.  But the big day is next Monday, 3rd October, and there's always the WhittakerLive blogpage to look back at.  See what Steve Phillips and his team have been up to in September - here!