The CILIP Body of Professional Knowledge (BPK) establishes the unique knowledge which distinguishes library and information professionals from professionals within other disciplines.
In practical terms, a library or information professional must have an in-depth understanding of:
- The management of knowledge – classification schemes, taxonomies and thesauri
- Documentation storage and retrieval - data structures, subject indexes, information retrieval
- Collections development and management - selection, acquisition, disposal, storage, display, provision, cataloguing, classification, metadata, preservation, records management
- Information service provision - information literacy, website/ portal design & maintenance, information architecture
- The library and information profession ethical framework - professional standards, codes of practice, personal responsibility for professional actions
- Legal issues relating to the library and information profession - data protection, freedom of information, intellectual property, libel, obscenity, defamation, employment law, equal opportunities, health & safety
The BPK is designed to be flexible and adaptable so that it can evolve and develop over time to accommodate changing needs.
It is appropriate to library and information professionals across all sectors.
It also has a degree of overlap with the knowledge bases of other professions, such as the British Computer Society, the UK Council for Health Information Professionals and the Records Management Society, whose activities are also concerned with those carried out in the library and information environments.
The BPK does not indicate the level of knowledge or skill that should be achieved by individual practitioners seeking recognition and/or qualifications; these are indicated elsewhere in CILIP’s Framework of Qualifications.