CILIP believes that we are living and working in the early days of an economy and a society that are being transformed by data. If appropriately managed by ethical professionals, this transformation creates extraordinary opportunities
to improve people’s daily lives, their health and wellbeing and the services on which they depend.
We therefore welcome the Government’s initiative to develop a comprehensive and far-reaching National Data Strategy (NDS) in consultation with industry partners, including CILIP.
We believe that there is a clear line of continuity from the existing role of information professionals as ethical stewards of information-based services to a future role as accountable data stewards on behalf of the communities we serve.
We are pleased to publish our response to the National Data Strategy Consultation, developed in discussion with our professional community and following an open round-table of industry experts in November 2020.
Download the CILIP NDS Consultation response
Key points
- Data has the potential to be a tremendous force for positive social and economic development
- Information professionals are ideally positioned to help unlock this potential
- Any Government policy must promote the interests of empowered, data-literate citizens
- We call on Government to invest in data and information literacy alongside digital skills
- The implementation of the NDS must reinforce and protect the data rights of the individual
- We encourage HM Government to promote the adoption of Open Data across all industry sectors
- We support calls to embed a ‘data culture’ into the delivery and improvement of public services
Proposed programmes
We have used our response to the National Data Strategy consultation as an opportunity to propose a number of key programmes to Government which will help create the conditions for our future data economy:
To explore the introduction of Chartered status for Data practitioners (alongside CILIP’s new Chartered Knowledge Manager programme);
To pilot the use of the UK’s public libraries as ‘data trusts’;
To support programmes of Data Literacy development in schools, colleges and Universities, led by librarians and information professionals;
To work with information professionals in the corporate sector to help businesses and SME build their ‘data capability’.
In the years ahead, CILIP will actively be exploring our role as a professional association for information professionals including people working in data and informatics. If you would like to find out more, or be involved in these
developments, contact nick.poole@cilip.org.uk.
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