Aslib sustains mass defection to Aliss. Leading committee members break away from Assign in a bid for independence, writes Bobby Pickering.(Aslib's Social Sciences Information Group and Network, Association of Librarians and Information Professionals in the Social Sciences)

Leading members of the committee running Aslib's Social Sciences Information Group and Network (Assign) have deserted the group and resuscitated Aliss (the Association of Librarians and Information Professionals in the Social Sciences), one of the two groups that originally merged to form Assign in 2000.

Headed by LSE librarian Jane Secker, as chairperson, and Heather Dawson of the British Library of Political and Economic Science, as secretary, Aliss will have a full roster of events starting this summer. The next issue of ASSIGNation will be the last edited by Dawson, who will now become editor of Aliss Quarterly.

At the Assign AGM at the British Library on 25 April, a proposal for independence and draft constitution were discussed. The proposal acknowledged Aslib's previous support, but stated: "We now feel that their recent changes, in particular the shift from being a charitable organisation to a private company, mean that it would be more appropriate for Assign to break away to become an independent group."

Negotiations with CEO Roger Bowes to wind down the Aslib group have ended in an emphatic restatement of ...