New beginnings for Aslib team

Aslib, the professional association charity that went into liquidation at Christmas owing £830,000, has now been acquired by its company secretary Roger Bowes, and is back in business.

Bowes is the sole owner of the new company, Global Information Management Services, which now owns all Aslib's remaining assets. He has moved the organisation's 10 staff into new premises at the Holywell Centre in Phipp St, London.

The charity's liquidation has allowed Aslib to extract itself from its previous lease, and the new premises are said to be "a sixth of the cost" and have better facilities for training and meetings.

In an exclusive interview with IWR, Bowes was at pains to reassure former members that the organisation will offer a full package of membership benefits as before - including Aslib journals from Emerald, a range of training courses, and the monthly Managing Information house journal.

Bowes said he'd been bombarding members with emails and letters as so many changes were taking place. In one letter, Bowes disclosed full details of the new company and bank account, adding that it is "being handled by the same team as before at Barclays".

Bowes said: "[Barclays] has supported me for 42 years, and it wants to go on supporting the [Aslib] staff and me. Ultimately, I'm the one taking the risks."

He said that Aslib's trainers, many of them freelance consultants who had taken hits of up to £3,500 as creditors, were now fully behind him again. Trainers named in the liquidation documents as being owed between £1,000 and £3,500 included Barbara Allen, David Bawden, Olivia Freeman, Caroline Moss-Gibbons, Paul Pedley, James Shearer and Ian Thomson.

Bowes said: "The trainers are all fully behind us. Many of them have had good work from Aslib over the years, and they want to see things returning to normal."

Bowes estimates that corporate membership "will remain at around 1,000, with actual members in the tens of thousands". However, one industry source said "they'll be lucky to sign up 500".

Bowes insisted that no corporate member had been adversely affected by the privatisation process. "In some respects, the timing acts in all our favours, as everyone got a whole year's services and products from us last year. Nobody missed out on anything."

The primary reason to welcome the rebirth of Aslib is that it means the continuing diversity of big organisations that serve the profession.

Take your pick: Cilip with its wide-ranging expertise across the librarian community, the SLA with its global reach, and Aslib with its emphasis on UK corporate membership.

Information professionals will welcome that choice, and the keenness that the ongoing competitive ethos will bring to all these organisations.

It means also that Aslib's staff, and the many freelance trainers and consultants who have supported the organisation in the past, will continue to be able to offer their expertise and services.

Roger Bowes undoubtedly has a tough year ahead. He says he has his bank, business partners and freelance trainers fully behind him - yet many of them were sizeable creditors.

Aslib will have to regain the confidence of the membership, while maintaining revenue streams and services in a tough marketplace. Both Cilip and SLA are proving formidable rivals, so it won?t be an easy task. We wish the Aslib team the best of luck.