Christians in Library and Information Services (CLIS) is the new name for the Librarians’ Christian Fellowship from January 2014.

Graham Hedges, Secretary of the organisation explains, “Our new name reflects the diverse working environments in which our members now find themselves, not all of which are adequately described by the traditional term ‘libraries’.  We are keen to recruit  Christians who work in libraries of all kinds  but we are also interested in attracting members who would describe themselves in other ways, for example as information officers, knowledge managers or archivists”.

CLIS will be officially re-launching itself under its new name at its annual conference “Moving Forward” on Saturday 5 April 2014. Attendance is not restricted to members of CLIS and the organisers are looking forward to a good attendance.  As part of the re-launch, CLIS is announcing an appeal for donations towards books and equipment for the Chaima Christian Institute Library in the South Sudan, where the Principal, Canon Patricia Wick, is a mission partner with the Church Mission Society.

Originally founded in 1976 as the Librarians’ Christian Fellowship, CLIS is an association of Christians from many different denominations and a  wide variety of library and information backgrounds. Members join together to  consider professional issues from the standpoint of the Christian faith and to provide a Christian voice within their chosen professions.  There are also opportunities for members to make their training and professional skills available to Christian organisations running libraries.  Activities include regular conferences and lectures, visits, e-mail newsletters, and a quarterly journal Christian Librarian.